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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/11358-0.txt b/11358-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6585722 --- /dev/null +++ b/11358-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8357 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11358 *** + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VIII.--OCTOBER, 1861.--NO. XLVIII. + + + + + + + +NEAR OXFORD. + + +On a fine morning in September, we set out on an excursion to +Blenheim,--the sculptor and myself being seated on the box of our +four-horse carriage, two more of the party in the dicky, and the +others less agreeably accommodated inside. We had no coachman, but two +postilions in short scarlet jackets and leather breeches with top-boots, +each astride of a horse; so that, all the way along, when not otherwise +attracted, we had the interesting spectacle of their up-and-down bobbing +in the saddle. It was a sunny and beautiful day, a specimen of the +perfect English weather, just warm enough for comfort,--indeed, a little +too warm, perhaps, in the noontide sun,--yet retaining a mere spice or +suspicion of austerity, which made it all the more enjoyable. + +The country between Oxford and Blenheim is not particularly interesting, +being almost level, or undulating very slightly; nor is Oxfordshire, +agriculturally, a rich part of England. We saw one or two hamlets, and I +especially remember a picturesque old gabled house at a turnpike-gate, +and, altogether, the wayside scenery had an aspect of old-fashioned +English life; but there was nothing very memorable till we reached +Woodstock, and stopped to water our horses at the Black Bear. This +neighborhood is called New Woodstock, but has by no means the brand-new +appearance of an American town, being a large village of stone houses, +most of them pretty well time-worn and weather-stained. The Black Bear +is an ancient inn, large and respectable, with balustraded staircases, +and intricate passages and corridors, and queer old pictures and +engravings hanging in the entries and apartments. We ordered a lunch +(the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be +ready against our return, and then resumed our drive to Blenheim. + +The park-gate of Blenheim stands close to the end of the village-street +of Woodstock. Immediately on passing through its portals, we saw the +stately palace in the distance, but made a wide circuit of the park +before approaching it. This noble park contains three thousand acres of +land, and is fourteen miles in circumference. Having been, in part, +a royal domain before it was granted to the Marlborough family, it +contains many trees of unsurpassed antiquity, and has doubtless been the +haunt of game and deer for centuries. We saw pheasants in abundance, +feeding in the open lawns and glades; and the stags tossed their antlers +and bounded away, not affrighted, but only shy and gamesome, as we +drove by. It is a magnificent pleasure-ground, not too tamely kept, nor +rigidly subjected within rule, but vast enough to have lapsed back into +Nature again, after all the pains that the landscape-gardeners of +Queen Anne's time bestowed on it, when the domain of Blenheim was +scientifically laid out. The great, knotted, slanting trunks of the old +oaks do not now look as if man had much intermeddled with their growth +and postures. The trees of later date, that were set out in the Great +Duke's time, are arranged on the plan of the order of battle in which +the illustrious commander ranked his troops at Blenheim; but the ground +covered is so extensive, and the trees now so luxuriant, that the +spectator is not disagreeably conscious of their standing in military +array, as if Orpheus had summoned them together by beat of drum. The +effect must have been very formal a hundred and fifty years ago, but has +ceased to be so,--although the trees, I presume, have kept their ranks +with even more fidelity than Marlborough's veterans did. + +One of the park-keepers, on horseback, rode beside our carriage, +pointing out the choice views, and glimpses at the palace, as we drove +through the domain. There is a very large artificial lake, (to say the +truth, it seemed to me fully worthy of being compared with the Welsh +lakes, at least, if not with those of Westmoreland,) which was created +by Capability Brown, and fills the basin that he scooped for it, just as +if Nature had poured these broad waters into one of her own valleys. +It is a most beautiful object at a distance, and not less so on its +immediate banks; for the water is very pure, being supplied by a small +river, of the choicest transparency, which was turned thitherward for +the purpose. And Blenheim owes not merely this water-scenery, but almost +all its other beauties, to the contrivance of man. Its natural features +are not striking; but Art has effected such wonderful things that the +uninstructed visitor would never guess that nearly the whole scene was +but the embodied thought of a human mind. A skilful painter hardly does +more for his blank sheet of canvas than the landscape-gardener, the +planter, the arranges of trees, has done for the monotonous surface +of Blenheim,--making the most of every undulation,--flinging down a +hillock, a big lump of earth out of a giant's hand, wherever it +was needed,--putting in beauty as often as there was a niche for +it,--opening vistas to every point that deserved to be seen, and +throwing a veil of impenetrable foliage around what ought to be +hidden;--and then, to be sure, the lapse of a century has softened the +harsh outline of man's labors, and has given the place back to Nature +again with the addition of what consummate science could achieve. + +After driving a good way, we came to a battlemented tower and adjoining +house, which used to be the residence of the Ranger of Woodstock +Park, who held charge of the property for the King before the Duke of +Marlborough possessed it. The keeper opened the door for us, and in the +entrance-hall we found various things that had to do with the chase and +woodland sports. We mounted the staircase, through several stories, +up to the top of the tower, whence there was a view of the spires +of Oxford, and of points much farther off,--very indistinctly seen, +however, as is usually the case with the misty distances of England. +Returning to the ground-floor, we were ushered into the room in which +died Wilmot, the wicked Earl of Rochester, who was Ranger of the Park in +Charles II.'s time. It is a low and bare little room, with a window in +front, and a smaller one behind; and in the contiguous entrance-room +there are the remains of an old bedstead, beneath the canopy of which, +perhaps, Rochester may have made the penitent end that Bishop Burnet +attributes to him. I hardly know what it is, in this poor fellow's +character, which affects us with greater tenderness on his behalf than +for all the other profligates of his day, who seem to have been neither +better nor worse than himself. I rather suspect that he had a human +heart which never quite died out of him, and the warmth of which is +still faintly perceptible amid the dissolute trash which he left behind. + +Methinks, if such good fortune ever befell a bookish man, I should +choose this lodge for my own residence, with the topmost room of the +tower for a study, and all the seclusion of cultivated wildness beneath +to ramble in. There being no such possibility, we drove on, catching +glimpses of the palace in new points of view, and by-and-by came to +Rosamond's Well. The particular tradition that connects Fair Rosamond +with it is not now in my memory; but if Rosamond ever lived and loved, +and ever had her abode in the maze of Woodstock, it may well be believed +that she and Henry sometimes sat beside this spring. It gushes out from +a bank, through some old stone-work, and dashes its little cascade +(about as abundant as one might turn out of a large pitcher) into a +pool, whence it steals away towards the lake, which is not far removed. +The water is exceedingly cold, and as pure as the legendary Rosamond was +not, and is fancied to possess medicinal virtues, like springs at which +saints have quenched their thirst. There were two or three old women +and some children in attendance with tumblers, which they present to +visitors, full of the consecrated water; but most of us filled the +tumblers for ourselves, and drank. + +Thence we drove to the Triumphal Pillar which was erected in honor of +the Great Duke, and on the summit of which he stands, in a Roman garb, +holding a winged figure of Victory in his hand, as an ordinary man might +hold a bird. The column is I know not how many feet high, but lofty +enough, at any rate, to elevate Marlborough far above the rest of +the world, and to be visible a long way off: and it is so placed in +reference to other objects, that, wherever the hero wandered about +his grounds, and especially as he issued from his mansion, he must +inevitably have been reminded of his glory. In truth, until I came to +Blenheim, I never had so positive and material an idea of what Fame +really is--of what the admiration of his country can do for a successful +warrior--as I carry away with me and shall always retain. Unless he +had the moral force of a thousand men together, his egotism (beholding +himself everywhere, imbuing the entire soil, growing in the woods, +rippling and gleaming in the water, and pervading the very air with +his greatness) must have been swollen within him like the liver of a +Strasbourg goose. On the huge tablets inlaid into the pedestal of the +column, the entire Act of Parliament, bestowing Blenheim on the Duke +of Marlborough and his posterity, is engraved in deep letters, painted +black on the marble ground. The pillar stands exactly a mile from the +principal front of the palace, in a straight line with the precise +centre of its entrance-hall; so that, as already said, it was the Duke's +principal object of contemplation. + +We now proceeded to the palace-gate, which is a great pillared archway, +of wonderful loftiness and state, giving admittance into a spacious +quadrangle. A stout, elderly, and rather surly footman in livery +appeared at the entrance, and took possession of whatever canes, +umbrellas, and parasols he could get hold of, in order to claim sixpence +on our departure. This had a somewhat ludicrous effect. There is +much public outcry against the meanness of the present Duke in his +arrangements for the admission of visitors (chiefly, of course, +his native countrymen) to view the magnificent palace which their +forefathers bestowed upon his own. In many cases, it seems hard that a +private abode should be exposed to the intrusion of the public merely +because the proprietor has inherited or created a splendor which +attracts general curiosity; insomuch that his home loses its sanctity +and seclusion for the very reason that it is better than other men's +houses. But in the case of Blenheim, the public have certainly an +equitable claim to admission, both because the fame of its first +inhabitant is a national possession, and because the mansion was a +national gift, one of the purposes of which was to be a token of +gratitude and glory to the English people themselves. If a man chooses +to be illustrious, he is very likely to incur some little inconveniences +himself, and entail them on his posterity. Nevertheless, his present +Grace of Marlborough absolutely ignores the public claim above +suggested, and (with a thrift of which even the hero of Blenheim himself +did not set the example) sells tickets admitting six persons at ten +shillings: if only one person enters the gate, he must pay for six; and +if there are seven in company, two tickets are required to admit them. +The attendants, who meet you everywhere in the park and palace, expect +fees on their own private account,--their noble master pocketing the ten +shillings. But, to be sure, the visitor gets his money's worth, since it +buys him the right to speak just as freely of the Duke of Marlborough as +if he were the keeper of the Cremorne Gardens.[A] + +[Footnote A: The above was written two or three years ago, or more; and +the Duke of that day has since transmitted his coronet to his successor, +who, we understand, has adopted much more liberal arrangements. There is +seldom anything to criticize or complain of, as regards the facility of +obtaining admission to interesting private houses in England.] + +Passing through a gateway on the opposite side of the quadrangle, we had +before us the noble classic front of the palace, with its two projecting +wings. We ascended the lofty steps of the portal, and were admitted into +the entrance-hall, the height of which, from floor to ceiling, is not +much less than seventy feet, being the entire height of the edifice. The +hall is lighted by windows in the upper story, and, it being a clear, +bright day, was very radiant with lofty sunshine, amid which a swallow +was flitting to and fro. The ceiling was painted by Sir James Thornhill +in some allegorical design, (doubtless commemorative of Marlborough's +victories,) the purport of which I did not take the trouble to make +out,--contenting myself with the general effect, which was most +splendidly and effectively ornamental. + +We were guided through the showrooms by a very civil person, who allowed +us to take pretty much our own time in looking at the pictures. The +collection is exceedingly valuable,--many of these works of Art having +been presented to the Great Duke by the crowned heads of England or the +Continent. One room was all aglow with pictures by Rubens; and there +were works of Raphael, and many other famous painters, any one of which +would be sufficient to illustrate the meanest house that might contain +it. I remember none of them, however, (not being in a picture-seeing +mood,) so well as Vandyck's large and familiar picture of Charles I on +horseback, with a figure and face of melancholy dignity such as never +by any other hand was put on canvas. Yet, on considering this face of +Charles, (which I find often repeated in half-lengths,) and translating +it from the ideal into literalism, I doubt whether the unfortunate king +was really a handsome or impressive-looking man: a high, thin-ridged +nose, a meagre, hatchet face, and reddish hair and beard,--these are the +literal facts. It is the painter's art that has thrown such pensive and +shadowy grace around him. + +On our passage through this beautiful suite of apartments, we saw, +through the vista of open doorways, a boy of ten or twelve years old +coming towards us from the farther rooms. He had on a straw hat, a linen +sack that had certainly been washed and re-washed for a summer or two, +and gray trousers a good deal worn,--a dress, in short, which an +American mother in middle station would have thought too shabby for her +darling school-boy's ordinary wear. This urchin's face was rather pale, +(as those of English children are apt to be, quite as often as our own,) +but he had pleasant eyes, an intelligent look, and an agreeable, boyish +manner. It was Lord Sunderland, grandson of the present Duke, and heir-- +though not, I think, in the direct line--of the blood of the great +Marlborough, and of the title and estate. + +After passing through the first suite of rooms, we were conducted +through a corresponding suite on the opposite side of the entrance-hall. +These latter apartments are most richly adorned with tapestries, wrought +and presented to the first Duke by a sisterhood of Flemish nuns; they +look like great, glowing pictures, and completely cover the walls of the +rooms. The designs purport to represent the Duke's battles and sieges; +and everywhere we see the hero himself, as large as life, and as +gorgeous in scarlet and gold as the holy sisters could make him, with a +three-cornered hat and flowing wig, reining in his horse, and extending +his leading-staff in the attitude of command. Next to Marlborough, +Prince Eugene is the most prominent figure. In the way of upholstery, +there can never have been anything more magnificent than these +tapestries; and, considered as works of Art, they have quite as much +merit as nine pictures out of ten. + +One whole wing of the palace is occupied by the library, a most noble +room, with a vast perspective length from end to end. Its atmosphere +is brighter and more cheerful than that of most libraries: a wonderful +contrast to the old college-libraries of Oxford, and perhaps less sombre +and suggestive of thoughtfulness than any large library ought to be; +inasmuch as so many studious brains as have left their deposit on the +shelves cannot have conspired without producing a very serious and +ponderous result. Both walls and ceiling are white, and there are +elaborate doorways and fireplaces of white marble. The floor is of oak, +so highly polished that our feet slipped upon it as if it had been +New-England ice. At one end of the room stands a statue of Queen Anne in +her royal robes, which are so admirably designed and exquisitely wrought +that the spectator certainly gets a strong conception of her royal +dignity; while the face of the statue, fleshy and feeble, doubtless +conveys a suitable idea of her personal character. The marble of this +work, long as it has stood there, is as white as snow just fallen, and +must have required most faithful and religious care to keep it so. As +for the volumes of the library, they are wired within the cases and turn +their gilded backs upon the visitor, keeping their treasures of wit and +wisdom just as intangible as if still in the unwrought mines of human +thought. + +I remember nothing else in the palace, except the chapel, to which we +were conducted last, and where we saw a splendid monument to the first +Duke and Duchess, sculptured by Rysbrach, at the cost, it is said, of +forty thousand pounds. The design includes the statues of the deceased +dignitaries, and various allegorical flourishes, fantasies, and +confusions; and beneath sleep the great Duke and his proud wife, their +veritable bones and dust, and probably all the Marlboroughs that have +since died. It is not quite a comfortable idea, that these mouldy +ancestors still inhabit, after their fashion, the house where their +successors spend the passing day; but the adulation lavished upon the +hero of Blenheim could not have been consummated, unless the palace of +his lifetime had become likewise a stately mausoleum over his remains, +--and such we felt it all to be, after gazing at his tomb. + +The next business was to see the private gardens. An old Scotch +under-gardener admitted us and led the way, and seemed to have a fair +prospect of earning the fee all by himself; but by-and-by another +respectable Scotchman made his appearance and took us in charge, proving +to be the head-gardener in person. He was extremely intelligent and +agreeable, talking both scientifically and lovingly about trees and +plants, of which there is every variety capable of English cultivation. +Positively, the Garden of Eden cannot have been more beautiful than this +private garden of Blenheim. It contains three hundred acres, and by +the artful circumlocution of the paths, and the undulations, and the +skilfully interposed clumps of trees, is made to appear limitless. The +sylvan delights of a whole country are compressed into this space, +as whole fields of Persian roses go to the concoction of an ounce of +precious attar. The world within that garden-fence is not the same weary +and dusty world with which we outside mortals are conversant; it is a +finer, lovelier, more harmonious Nature; and the Great Mother lends +herself kindly to the gardener's will, knowing that he will make evident +the half-obliterated traits of her pristine and ideal beauty, and allow +her to take all the credit and praise to herself. I doubt whether there +is ever any winter within that precinct,--any clouds, except the fleecy +ones of summer. The sunshine that I saw there rests upon my recollection +of it as if it were eternal. The lawns and glades are like the memory of +places where one has wandered when first in love. + +What a good and happy life might be spent in a paradise like this! And +yet, at that very moment, the besotted Duke (ah! I have let out a secret +which I meant to keep to myself; but the ten shillings must pay for all) +was in that very garden, (for the guide told us so, and cautioned +our young people not to be uproarious,) and, if in a condition for +arithmetic, was thinking of nothing nobler than how many ten-shilling +tickets had that day been sold. Republican as I am, I should still love +to think that noblemen lead noble lives, and that all this stately and +beautiful environment may serve to elevate them a little way above the +rest of us. If it fail to do so, the disgrace falls equally upon the +whole race of mortals as on themselves; because it proves that no +more favorable conditions of existence would eradicate our vices and +weaknesses. How sad, if this be so! Even a herd of swine, eating the +acorns under those magnificent oaks of Blenheim, would be cleanlier and +of better habits than ordinary swine. + +Well, all that I have written is pitifully meagre, as a description of +Blenheim; and I hate to leave it without some more adequate expression +of the noble edifice, with its rich domain, all as I saw them in that +beautiful sunshine; for, if a day had been chosen out of a hundred +years, it could not have been a finer one. But I must give up the +attempt; only further remarking that the finest trees here were cedars, +of which I saw one--and there may have been many such--immense in girth +and not less than three centuries old. I likewise saw a vast heap of +laurel, two hundred feet in circumference, all growing from one root; +and the gardener offered to show us another growth of twice that +stupendous size. If the Great Duke himself had been buried in that spot, +his heroic heart could not have been the seed of a more plentiful crop +of laurels. + +We now went back to the Black Bear, and sat down to a cold collation, of +which we ate abundantly, and drank (in the good old English fashion) a +due proportion of various delightful liquors. A stranger in England, +in his rambles to various quarters of the country, may learn little +in regard to wines, (for the ordinary English taste is simple, though +sound, in that particular,) but he makes acquaintance with more +varieties of hop and malt liquor than he previously supposed to exist. +I remember a sort of foaming stuff, called hop-champagne, which is very +vivacious, and appears to be a hybrid between ale and bottled cider. +Another excellent tipple for warm weather is concocted by mixing +brown-stout or bitter ale with ginger-beer, the foam of which stirs +up the heavier liquor from its depths, forming a compound of singular +vivacity and sufficient body. But of all things ever brewed from +malt, (unless it be the Trinity Ale of Cambridge, which I drank long +afterwards, and which Barry Cornwall has celebrated in immortal verse,) +commend me to the Archdeacon, as the Oxford scholars call it, in honor +of the jovial dignitary who first taught these erudite worthies how to +brew their favorite nectar. John Barleycorn has given his very heart to +this admirable liquor; it is a superior kind of ale, the Prince of Ales, +with a richer flavor and a mightier spirit than you can find elsewhere +in this weary world. Much have we been strengthened and encouraged by +the potent blood of the Archdeacon! + +A few days after our excursion to Blenheim, the same party set forth, +in two flies, on a tour to some other places of interest in the +neighborhood of Oxford. It was again a delightful day; and, in truth, +every day, of late, had been so pleasant that it seemed as if each must +be the very last of such perfect weather; and yet the long succession +had given us confidence in as many more to come. The climate of England +has been shamefully maligned; its sulkinesses and asperities are not +nearly so offensive as Englishmen tell us (their climate being the only +attribute of their country which they never overvalue); and the really +good summer weather is the very kindest and sweetest that the world +knows. + +We first drove to the village of Cumnor, about six miles from Oxford, +and alighted at the entrance of the church. Here, while waiting for the +keys, we looked at an old wall of the churchyard, piled up of loose gray +stones which are said to have once formed a portion of Cumnor Hall, +celebrated in Mickle's ballad and Scott's romance. The hall must have +been in very close vicinity to the church,--not more than twenty yards +off; and I waded through the long, dewy grass of the churchyard, and +tried to peep over the wall, in hopes to discover some tangible and +traceable remains of the edifice. But the wall was just too high to be +overlooked, and difficult to clamber over without tumbling down some of +the stones; so I took the word of one of our party, who had been here +before, that there is nothing interesting on the other side. The +churchyard is in rather a neglected state, and seems not to have been +mown for the benefit of the parson's cow; it contains a good many +gravestones, of which I remember only some upright memorials of slate to +individuals of the name of Tabbs. + +Soon a woman arrived with the key of the church-door, and we entered the +simple old edifice, which has the pavement of lettered tombstones, the +sturdy pillars and low arches, and other ordinary characteristics of +an English country-church. One or two pews, probably those of the +gentlefolk of the neighborhood, were better furnished than the rest, but +all in a modest style. Near the high altar, in the holiest place, there +is an oblong, angular, ponderous tomb of blue marble, built against the +wall, and surmounted by a carved canopy of the same material; and over +the tomb, and beneath the canopy, are two monumental brasses, such as we +oftener see inlaid into a church-pavement. On these brasses are engraved +the figures of a gentleman in armor and a lady in an antique garb, each +about a foot high, devoutly kneeling in prayer; and there is a long +Latin inscription likewise cut into the enduring brass, bestowing the +highest eulogies on the character of Anthony Forster, who, with his +virtuous dame, lies buried beneath this tombstone. His is the knightly +figure that kneels above; and if Sir Walter Scott ever saw this tomb, +he must have had an even greater than common disbelief in laudatory +epitaphs, to venture on depicting Anthony Forster in such hues as +blacken him in the romance. For my part, I read the inscription in full +faith, and believe the poor deceased gentleman to be a much-wronged +individual, with good grounds for bringing an action of slander in the +courts above. + +But the circumstance, lightly as we treat it, has its serious moral. +What nonsense it is, this anxiety, which so worries us, about our good +fame, or our bad fame, after death! If it were of the slightest real +moment, our reputations would have been placed by Providence more in our +own power, and less in other people's, than we now find them to be. If +poor Anthony Forster happens to have met Sir Walter in the other world, +I doubt whether he has ever thought it worth while to complain of the +latter's misrepresentations. + +We did not remain long in the church, as it contains nothing else of +interest; and driving through the village, we passed a pretty large and +rather antique-looking inn, bearing the sign of the Bear and Ragged +Staff. It could not be so old, however, by at least a hundred years, +as Giles Gosling's time; nor is there any other object to remind the +visitor of the Elizabethan age, unless it be a few ancient cottages, +that are perhaps of still earlier date. Cumnor is not nearly so large a +village, nor a place of such mark, as one anticipates from its romantic +and legendary fame; but, being still inaccessible by railway, it has +retained more of a sylvan character than we often find in English +country-towns. In this retired neighborhood the road is narrow and +bordered with grass, and sometimes interrupted by gates; the hedges grow +in unpruned luxuriance; there is not that close-shaven neatness and +trimness that characterize the ordinary English landscape. The +whole scene conveys the idea of seclusion and remoteness. We met no +travellers, whether on foot or otherwise. + +I cannot very distinctly trace out this day's peregrinations; but, after +leaving Cumnor a few miles behind us, I think we came to a ferry over +the Thames, where an old woman served as ferry-man, and pulled a boat +across by means of a rope stretching from shore to shore. Our +two vehicles being thus placed on the other side, we resumed our +drive,--first glancing, however, at the old woman's antique cottage, +with its stone floor, and the circular settle round the kitchen +fireplace, which was quite in the mediaeval English style. + +We next stopped at Stanton Harcourt, where we were received at the +parsonage with a hospitality which we should take delight in describing, +if it were allowable to make public acknowledgment of the private and +personal kindnesses which we never failed to find ready for our needs. +An American in an English house will soon adopt the opinion that the +English are the very kindest people on earth, and will retain that idea +as long, at least, as he remains on the inner side of the threshold. +Their magnetism is of a kind that repels strongly while you keep beyond +a certain limit, but attracts as forcibly if you get within the magic +line. + +It was at this place, if I remember right, that I heard a gentleman ask +a friend of mine whether he was the author of "The Red Letter A"; and, +after some consideration, (for he did not seem to recognize his own +book, at first, under this improved title,) our countryman responded, +doubtfully, that he believed so. The gentleman proceeded to inquire +whether our friend had spent much time in America,--evidently thinking +that he must have been caught young, and have had a tincture of English +breeding, at least, if not birth, to speak the language so tolerably, +and appear so much like other people. This insular narrowness is +exceedingly queer, and of very frequent occurrence, and is quite as much +a characteristic of men of education and culture as of clowns. + +Stanton Harcourt is a very curious old place. It was formerly the seat +of the ancient family of Harcourt, which now has its principal abode +at Nuneham Courtney, a few miles off. The parsonage is a relic of the +family-mansion, or castle, other portions of which are close at hand; +for, across the garden, rise two gray towers, both of them picturesquely +venerable, and interesting for more than their antiquity. One of these +towers, in its entire capacity, from height to depth, constituted the +kitchen of the ancient castle, and is still used for domestic purposes, +although it has not, nor ever had, a chimney; or we might rather say, it +is itself one vast chimney, with a hearth of thirty feet square, and +a flue and aperture of the same size. There are two huge fireplaces +within, and the interior walls of the tower are blackened with the smoke +that for centuries used to gush forth from them, and climb upward, +seeking an exit through some wide air-holes in the conical roof, full +seventy feet above. These lofty openings were capable of being so +arranged, with reference to the wind, that the cooks are said to have +been seldom troubled by the smoke; and here, no doubt, they were +accustomed to roast oxen whole, with as little fuss and ado as a modern +cook would roast a fowl. The inside of the tower is very dim and sombre, +(being nothing but rough stone walls, lighted only from the apertures +above mentioned,) and has still a pungent odor of smoke and soot, the +reminiscence of the fires and feasts of generations that have passed +away. Methinks the extremest range of domestic economy lies between an +American cooking-stove and the ancient kitchen, seventy dizzy feet in +height, of Stanton Harcourt. + +Now--the place being without a parallel in England, and therefore +necessarily beyond the experience of an American--it is somewhat +remarkable, that, while we stood gazing at this kitchen, I was haunted +and perplexed by an idea that somewhere or other I had seen just this +strange spectacle before. The height, the blackness, the dismal void, +before my eyes, seemed as familiar as the decorous neatness of my +grandmother's kitchen; only my unaccountable memory of the scene was +lighted up with an image of lurid fires blazing all round the dim +interior circuit of the tower. I had never before had so pertinacious an +attack, as I could not but suppose it, of that odd state of mind wherein +we fitfully and teasingly remember some previous scene or incident, of +which the one now passing appears to be but the echo and reduplication. +Though the explanation of the mystery did not for some time occur to me, +I may as well conclude the matter here. In a letter of Pope's, addressed +to the Duke of Buckingham, there is an account of Stanton Harcourt, (as +I now find, although the name is not mentioned,) where he resided while +translating a part of the "Iliad." It is one of the most admirable +pieces of description in the language,--playful and picturesque, with +fine touches of humorous pathos,--and conveys as perfect a picture as +ever was drawn of a decayed English country-house; and among other +rooms, most of which have since crumbled down and disappeared, he dashes +off the grim aspect of this kitchen,--which, moreover, he peoples with +witches, engaging Satan himself as head-cook, who stirs the infernal +caldrons that seethe and bubble over the fires. This letter, and others +relative to his abode here, were very familiar to my earlier reading, +and, remaining still fresh at the bottom of my memory, caused the weird +and ghostly sensation that came over me on beholding the real spectacle +that had formerly been made so vivid to my imagination. + +Our next visit was to the church, which stands close by, and is quite +as ancient as the remnants of the castle. In a chapel or side-aisle, +dedicated to the Harcourts, are found some very interesting +family-monuments,--and among them, recumbent on a tombstone, the figure +of an armed knight of the Lancastrian party, who was slain in the Wars +of the Roses. His features, dress, and armor are painted in colors, +still wonderfully fresh, and there still blushes the symbol of the Red +Rose, denoting the faction for which he fought and died. His head rests +on a marble or alabaster helmet; and on the tomb lies the veritable +helmet, it is to be presumed, which he wore in battle,--a ponderous iron +case, with the visor complete, and remnants of the gilding that once +covered it. The crest is a large peacock, not of metal, but of wood. +Very possibly, this helmet was but an heraldic adornment of his tomb; +and, indeed, it seems strange that it has not been stolen before +now, especially in Cromwell's time, when knightly tombs were little +respected, and when armor was in request. However, it is needless to +dispute with the dead knight about the identity of his iron pot, and +we may as well allow it to be the very same that so often gave him the +headache in his lifetime. Leaning against the wall, at the foot of the +tomb, is the shaft of a spear, with a wofully tattered and utterly faded +banner appended to it,--the knightly banner beneath which he marshalled +his followers in the field. As it was absolutely falling to pieces, I +tore off one little bit, no bigger than a finger-nail, and put it into +my waistcoat-pocket; but seeking it subsequently, it was not to be +found. + +On the opposite side of the little chapel, two or three yards from this +tomb, is another, on which lie, side by side, one of the same knightly +race of Harcourts, and his lady. The tradition of the family is, that +this knight was the standard-bearer of Henry of Richmond in the Battle +of Bosworth Field; and a banner, supposed to be the same that he earned, +now droops over his effigy. It is just such a colorless silk rag as the +one already described. The knight has the order of the Garter on his +knee, and the lady wears it on her left arm,--an odd place enough for a +garter; but, if worn in its proper locality, it could not be decorously +visible. The complete preservation and good condition of these statues, +even to the minutest adornment of the sculpture, and their very +noses,--the most vulnerable part of a marble man, as of a living one, +are miraculous. Except in Westminster Abbey, among the chapels of the +kings, I have seen none so well preserved. Perhaps they owe it to the +loyalty of Oxfordshire, diffused throughout its neighborhood by the +influence of the University, during the great Civil War and the rule +of the Parliament. It speaks well, too, for the upright and kindly +character of this old family, that the peasantry, among whom they had +lived for ages, did not desecrate their tombs, when it might have been +done with impunity. + +There are other and more recent memorials of the Harcourts, one of which +is the tomb of the last lord, who died about a hundred years ago. His +figure, like those of his ancestors, lies on the top of his tomb, clad, +not in armor, but in his robes as a peer. The title is now extinct, +but the family survives in a younger branch, and still holds this +patrimonial estate, though they have long since quitted it as a +residence. + +We next went to see the ancient fish-ponds appertaining to the mansion, +and which used to be of vast dietary importance to the family in +Catholic times, and when fish was not otherwise attainable. There are +two or three, or more, of these reservoirs, one of which is of very +respectable size,--large enough, indeed, to be really a picturesque +object, with its grass-green borders, and the trees drooping over +it, and the towers of the castle and the church reflected within the +weed-grown depths of its smooth mirror. A sweet fragrance, as it were, +of ancient time and present quiet and seclusion was breathing all +around; the sunshine of to-day had a mellow charm of antiquity in its +brightness. These ponds are said still to breed abundance of such fish +as love deep and quiet waters: but I saw only some minnows, and one or +two snakes, which were lying among the weeds on the top of the water, +sunning and bathing themselves at once. + +I mentioned that there were two towers remaining of the old castle: the +one containing the kitchen we have already visited; the other, still +more interesting, is next to be described. It is some seventy feet high, +gray and reverend, but in excellent repair, though I could not perceive +that anything had been done to renovate it. The basement story was once +the family-chapel, and is, of course, still a consecrated spot. At +one corner of the tower is a circular turret, within which a narrow +staircase, with worn steps of stone, winds round and round as it climbs +upward, giving access to a chamber on each floor, and finally emerging +on the battlemented roof. Ascending this turret-stair, and arriving at +the third story, we entered a chamber, not large, though occupying the +whole area of the tower, and lighted by a window on each side. It +was wainscoted from floor to ceiling with dark oak, and had a little +fireplace in one of the corners. The window-panes were small, and set in +lead. The curiosity of this room is, that it was once the residence of +Pope, and that he here wrote a considerable part of the translation of +Homer, and likewise, no doubt, the admirable letters to which I have +referred above. The room once contained a record by himself, scratched +with a diamond on one of the window-panes, (since removed for +safe-keeping to Nuneham Courtney, where it was shown me,) purporting +that he had here finished the fifth book of the "Iliad" on such a day. + +A poet has a fragrance about him, such as no other human being is gifted +withal; it is indestructible, and clings forevermore to everything that +he has touched. I was not impressed, at Blenheim, with any sense that +the mighty Duke still haunted the palace that was created for him; but +here, after a century and a half, we are still conscious of the presence +of that decrepit little figure of Queen Anne's time, although he was +merely a casual guest in the old tower, during one or two summer months. +However brief the time and slight the connection, his spirit cannot be +exorcised so long as the tower stands. In my mind, moreover, Pope, or +any other person with an available claim, is right in adhering to the +spot, dead or alive; for I never saw a chamber that I should like better +to inhabit,--so comfortably small, in such a safe and inaccessible +seclusion, and with a varied landscape from each window. One of +them looks upon the church, close at hand, and down into the green +churchyard, extending almost to the foot of the tower; the others have +views wide and far, over a gently undulating tract of country. If +desirous of a loftier elevation, about a dozen more steps of the +turret-stair will bring the occupant to the summit of the tower,--where +Pope used to come, no doubt, in the summer evenings, and peep--poor +little shrimp that he was!--through the embrasures of the battlement. + +From Stanton Harcourt we drove--I forget how far--to a point where a +boat was waiting for us upon the Thames, or some other stream; for I am +ashamed to confess my ignorance of the precise geographical whereabout. +We were, at any rate, some miles above Oxford, and, I should imagine, +pretty near one of the sources of England's mighty river. It was +little more than wide enough for the boat, with extended oars, to +pass,--shallow, too, and bordered with bulrushes and water-weeds, which, +in some places, quite overgrew the surface of the river from bank to +bank. The shores were flat and meadow-like, and sometimes, the boatman +told us, are overflowed by the rise of the stream. The water looked +clean and pure, but not particularly transparent, though enough so to +show us that the bottom is very much weed-grown; and I was told that the +weed is an American production, brought to England with importations of +timber, and now threatening to choke up the Thames and other English +rivers. I wonder it does not try its obstructive powers upon the +Merrimack, the Connecticut, or the Hudson,--not to speak of the St. +Lawrence or the Mississippi! + +It was an open boat, with cushioned seats astern, comfortably +accommodating our party; the day continued sunny and warm, and perfectly +still; the boatman, well trained to his business, managed the oars +skilfully and vigorously; and we went down the stream quite as swiftly +as it was desirable to go, the scene being so pleasant, and the passing +hour so thoroughly agreeable. The river grew a little wider and deeper, +perhaps, as we glided on, but was still an inconsiderable stream; for it +had a good deal more than a hundred miles to meander through before it +should bear fleets on its bosom, and reflect palaces and towers and +Parliament-houses and dingy and sordid piles of various structure, as it +rolled to and fro with the tide, dividing London asunder. Not, in truth, +that I ever saw any edifice whatever reflected in its turbid breast, +when the sylvan stream, as we beheld it now, is swollen into the Thames +at London. + +Once, on our voyage, we had to land, while the boatman and some other +persons drew our skiff round some rapids, which we could not otherwise +have passed; another time, the boat went through a lock. We, meanwhile, +stepped ashore to examine the ruins of the old nunnery of Godstowe, +where Fair Rosamond secluded herself, after being separated from her +royal lover. There is a long line of ruinous wall, and a shattered tower +at one of the angles; the whole much ivy-grown,--brimming over, indeed, +with clustering ivy, which is rooted inside of the walls. The nunnery is +now, I believe, held in lease by the city of Oxford, which has converted +its precincts into a barnyard. The gate was under lock and key, so that +we could merely look at the outside, and soon resumed our places in the +boat. + +At three o'clock, or thereabouts, (or sooner or later,--for I took +little heed of time, and only wished that these delightful wanderings +might last forever,) we reached Folly Bridge, at Oxford. Here we took +possession of a spacious barge, with a house in it, and a comfortable +dining-room or drawing-room within the house, and a level roof, on which +we could sit at ease, or dance, if so inclined. These barges are common +at Oxford,--some very splendid ones being owned by the students of +the different colleges, or by clubs. They are drawn by horses, like +canal-boats; and a horse being attached to our own barge, he trotted off +at a reasonable pace, and we slipped through the water behind him, with +a gentle and pleasant motion, which, save for the constant vicissitude +of cultivated scenery, was like no motion at all. It was life without +the trouble of living; nothing was ever more quietly agreeable. In this +happy state of mind and body we gazed at Christ-Church meadows, as we +passed, and at the receding spires and towers of Oxford, and on a good +deal of pleasant variety along the banks: young men rowing or fishing; +troops of naked boys bathing, as if this were Arcadia, in the simplicity +of the Golden Age; country-houses, cottages, water-side inns, all with +something fresh about them, as not being sprinkled with the dust of the +highway. We were a large party now; for a number of additional guests +had joined us at Folly Bridge, and we comprised poets, novelists, +scholars, sculptors, painters, architects, men and women of renown, dear +friends, genial, outspoken, open-hearted Englishmen,--all voyaging +onward together, like the wise ones of Gotham in a bowl. I remember not +a single annoyance, except, indeed, that a swarm of wasps came aboard of +us and alighted on the head of one of our young gentlemen, attracted by +the scent of the pomatum which he had been rubbing into his hair. He was +the only victim, and his small trouble the one little flaw in our day's +felicity, to put us in mind that we were mortal. + +Meanwhile a table had been laid in the interior of our barge, and +spread with cold ham, cold fowl, cold pigeon-pie, cold beef, and other +substantial cheer, such as the English love, and Yankees too,--besides +tarts, and cakes, and pears, and plums,--not forgetting, of course, a +goodly provision of port, sherry, and champagne, and bitter ale, +which is like mother's milk to an Englishman, and soon grows equally +acceptable to his American cousin. By the time these matters had been +properly attended to, we had arrived at that part of the Thames which +passes by Nuneham Courtney, a fine estate belonging to the Harcourts, +and the present residence of the family. Here we landed, and, climbing +a steep slope from the river-side, paused a moment or two to look at an +architectural object, called the Carfax, the purport of which I do not +well understand. Thence we proceeded onward, through the loveliest park +and woodland scenery I ever saw, and under as beautiful a declining +sunshine as heaven ever shed over earth, to the stately mansion-house. + +As we here cross a private threshold, it is not allowable to pursue +my feeble narrative of this delightful day with the same freedom as +heretofore; so, perhaps, I may as well bring it to a close. I may +mention, however, that I saw the library, a fine, large apartment, hung +round with portraits of eminent literary men, principally of the last +century, most of whom were familiar guests of the Harcourts. The house +itself is about eighty years old, and is built in the classic style, as +if the family had been anxious to diverge as far as possible from the +Gothic picturesqueness of their old abode at Stanton Harcourt. The +grounds were laid out in part by Capability Brown, and seemed to me even +more beautiful than those of Blenheim. Mason the poet, a friend of the +house, gave the design of a portion of the garden. Of the whole place I +will not be niggardly of my rude Transatlantic praise, but be bold +to say that it appeared to me as perfect as anything earthly can +be,--utterly and entirely finished, as if the years and generations +had done all that the hearts and minds of the successive owners could +contrive for a spot they dearly loved. Such homes as Nuneham Courtney +are among the splendid results of long hereditary possession; and we +Republicans, whose households melt away like new-fallen snow in a +spring morning, must content ourselves with our many counterbalancing +advantages,--for this one, so apparently desirable to the far-projecting +selfishness of our nature, we are certain never to attain. + +It must not be supposed, nevertheless, that Nuneham Courtney is one of +the great show-places of England. It is merely a fair specimen of the +better class of country-seats, and has a hundred rivals, and many +superiors, in the features of beauty, and expansive, manifold, redundant +comfort, which most impressed me. A moderate man might be content with +such a home,--that is all. + +And now I take leave of Oxford without even an attempt to describe +it,--there being no literary faculty, attainable or conceivable by me, +which can avail to put it adequately, or even tolerably, upon paper. It +must remain its own sole expression; and those whose sad fortune it may +be never to behold it have no better resource than to dream about +gray, weather-stained, ivy-grown edifices, wrought with quaint Gothic +ornament, and standing around grassy quadrangles, where cloistered walks +have echoed to the quiet footsteps of twenty generations,--lawns and +gardens of luxurious repose, shadowed with canopies of foliage, and +lit up with sunny glimpses through archways of great boughs,--spires, +towers, and turrets, each with its history and legend,--dimly +magnificent chapels, with painted windows of rare beauty and brilliantly +diversified hues, creating an atmosphere of richest gloom,--vast +college-halls, high-windowed, oaken-panelled, and hung round with +portraits of the men, in every age, whom the University has nurtured to +be illustrious,--long vistas of alcoved libraries, where the wisdom +and learned folly of all time is shelved,--kitchens, (we throw in this +feature by way of ballast, and because it would not be English Oxford +without its beef and beer,) with huge fireplaces, capable of roasting a +hundred joints at once,--and cavernous cellars, where rows of piled-up +hogsheads seethe and fume with that mighty malt-liquor which is the true +milk of Alma Mater: make all these things vivid in your dream, and you +will never know nor believe how inadequate is the result to represent +even the merest outside of Oxford. + +We feel a genuine reluctance to conclude this article without making our +grateful acknowledgements, by name, to a gentleman whose overflowing +kindness was the main condition of all our sight-seeings and enjoyments. +Delightful as will always be our recollection of Oxford and its +neighborhood, we partly suspect that it owes much of its happy coloring +to the genial medium through which the objects were presented to us,--to +the kindly magic of a hospitality unsurpassed, within our experience, in +the quality of making the guest contented with his host, with himself, +and everything about him. He has inseparably mingled his image with our +remembrance of the Spires of Oxford. + + + + +CYRIL WILDE. + + +For some reason which it does not concern us now to investigate, +Kentucky, under the dominion of the white man, has continued to justify +its native name of "Dark and Bloody Ground," in being the scene of a +remarkable number of tragedies in real life. + +One of these, less known to the public in later times, we think +transcends all the others in boldness of conception, regularity of plot, +variety of passion and character displayed, and horror and pathos of +catastrophe. It might have furnished a worthy subject to the pen of +Sophocles or Shakespeare, one that they would have found already cast +into a highly dramatic form, requiring only fitting words to convey the +passions of the actors. Little invention of situation or incident +would have been needed, for neither could be imagined more intensely +interesting; nor could the most finished artist have constructed a plot +more coherent in all its details, or more strictly in accordance with +the rules of composition,--even to the preservation of the Aristotelian +unities of time and place. So perfect, indeed, does it seem, that, +were it not substantiated in every point by the records of a judicial +tribunal, it might well be taken for the invention of some master of +human nature and the dramatic art. + +Captain Cyril Wilde, the hero, or rather the victim, of the events we +are about to narrate, was one of those perfectly happy men whom every +one has learned to regard as favorites of Fortune, and on whom no one +ever expects disaster to fall, simply because it never has done so. Well +descended, at a period when good birth was a positive honor in itself, +and connected, either by affinity or friendship, with the best society +of Kentucky, he held, by hereditary right, a high position among that +old aristocracy which then and for a long time afterward stoutly +maintained its own against the encroaching spirit of democratic +equality, and whose members still kept in mind many of the traditions, +honored in their own persons the dignity, and strove to preserve in +their households somewhat of the manners, of the Cavaliers of the Old +Dominion. Nor was wealth wanting to complete his happiness,--at least, +such wealth as was needed by one of his simple tastes and unostentatious +habits. He was rich beyond his disposition to spend, but not beyond his +capacity to enjoy,--a capacity multiplied by as many times as he had +friends to stimulate it;--summer friends, alas! too many of them proved +to be. His character was without reproach; his disposition easy and +genial; his mind of that happy middle order which always commands +respect, while it feels none of the restless ambition and impotent +longing for public recognition that usually attend the possession of +superior abilities. + +Such was the position of Captain Wilde, and such the character he bore +during the first thirty-eight years of his life. Not many have known +a more lengthened prosperity,--and few, very few, a more sudden and +terrible reverse. Fortune, like a fond mistress, had lavished her gifts +on him without stint,--but, like a jealous one, seemed resolved that he +should owe everything to her gratuitous bounty, and the moment he sought +to win an object of desire by his own exertions turned her face away +forever, persecuting her former favorite thenceforth with vindictive +malice. Continuing to yield, for a time, with apparent complacency, +every boon he sought, she treacherously concealed therein the germs of +all his woes. + +In the year 17--Captain Wilde was persuaded to better his already happy +condition by marriage. The lady he chose, or suffered to be chosen for +him, was a Miss M----, a scion of one of those extensive families, not +now so common as formerly, which by repeated intermarriage and always +settling together develop a spirit of clanship, so exclusive as to make +them almost incapable of any feeling of interest outside of their own +name and connection, and render them liable to regard any person +of different blood, who may happen to intermarry among them, as an +intruder. In some parts of the Union these clans may still be found +flourishing in considerable purity and vigor,--the same name sometimes +prevailing over a district of many miles,--a fact which an observant +traveller would surmise from a certain prevailing cast of form and +feature. + +It was with a family of this kind that Captain Wilde was, in an evil +hour, induced to ally himself,--a step which soon proved to be the first +in a long career of misfortune. The lady possessed that worst of +all tempers, a quick and irritable, but at the same time hard and +unforgiving one. And she soon showed, that, in her estimation, the +feelings and interests of her husband were as nothing in comparison with +those of her family, and that, in any variance, she would leave the +former and cleave to the latter. Such variances were, unfortunately, +almost inevitable; for the family of Mrs. Wilde differed both in +politics and religion from her husband,--a fact, it may here be +remarked, which had no small influence on his subsequent fate,--and the +narrow, bigoted exclusiveness of the wife was utterly incompatible with +the free and open-hearted fellowship with which the husband received +his acquaintances, of whatever sect or party. In a very few months, +therefore, it began to be whispered abroad that the hitherto happy and +joyous bachelor's-hall had become a scene of constant bickerings and +heartburnings. + +But mere incongruity of tempers and habits was not, as was supposed by +their neighbors, the only source of domestic discord. This might in time +have entirely disappeared; had conjugal confidence only been allowed its +natural growth, all might have been passably well in the end, in spite +of such serious drawbacks; for, from the necessity of his nature, the +husband would in time have become completely subservient to the sterner +spirit of his wife, which, in turn, might have been mollified in some +degree amid the peaceful duties of home;--a state of things that has +existed in many families, which have, nevertheless, enjoyed a fair +share of domestic happiness in spite of this inversion of the natural +relations of their heads. But Mrs. Wilde had brought into her husband's +house that deadliest foe of domestic peace, an elderly, ill-tempered, +suspicious female relative, serving in the capacity of _confidante_. +This curse was embodied in the person of a much older sister, who +happened to be neither maid, wife, nor widow, and, having once effected +an entrance under the pretence of assisting to arrange the disordered +household-affairs, easily contrived to render her position a permanent +one. So soon as this was achieved, she appears to have begun her hateful +work of sowing discord between the new-married pair. Having long since +blighted her own hopes of happiness, she seemed to find no consolation +so sweet as wrecking that of others;--not that she had no love for her +sister; on the contrary, her love, such as it was, was really strong +and lasting; and in her fierce grief for that sister's death she met +a punishment almost equal to her deserts. Nor was it long before she +provided herself with a most effectual means of accomplishing her +malicious object, of inflaming the troubles of the household into which +she had intruded herself. This was the discovery, real or pretended, of +a former illicit connection between her brother-in-law and a pretty and +intelligent mulatto girl, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, who +was still retained in the family in the capacity of housemaid. Having +once struck this jarring chord, she continued to play upon it with +diabolical skill. To those who watched the course of her unholy labors, +the energy and ingenuity with which this wretched woman wrought at her +task, and the completeness of her success, would have seemed a subject +of admiration, if the result had not been so deplorable as to merge all +other emotions in indignant detestation. + +So thoroughly had her design been accomplished in the course of a single +year, that the birth of as sweet a child as ever smiled upon fond +parents, instead of serving as a point of union between Captain Wilde +and his wife, only increased their estrangement by furnishing another +subject of contention. Alas! the peace of Eden was not more utterly +destroyed by the treacherous wiles of the serpent than that of this +ill-starred household by the whispers of this serpent in woman's shape. +Under her continual exasperations, Mrs. Wilde's temper, naturally harsh, +became at last so outrageous and unbridled as to render her unfortunate +husband's life one long course of humiliation and misery. Far from +taking any pains to hide their discords from the world, she seemed +to court observation by seizing every opportunity of inflicting +mortification upon him in public, reckless of the reflections such +improprieties might bring upon herself. + +But why, it may be asked, did not both parties seek a separation, when +affairs had reached such a state as this? First, because Captain Wilde, +though advised thereto, naturally shrank from the scandal such a step +always occasions; and, on the other side, because his wife was gifted +with one of those intolerable tempers that make some women cling to a +partner they hate with a jealous tenacity which love could scarcely +inspire, simply for the reason that a separation would put an end to +their power, so dearly prized, of inflicting pain;--for hatred has its +jealousy, as well as love. + +Of the perverse ingenuity of these two women in causing the deepest +mortification to the unfortunate gentleman, whenever Fate and his own +weakness gave them the power, we will notice one instance, on account of +the important influence it had in bringing about the denouement of this +domestic tragedy. + +According to the kindly custom of that time, Captain Wilde had on one +occasion requested the assistance of some of his neighbors in treading +out his grain; and the party had set to work at dawn, in order to avail +themselves of the cooler portion of the day. After waiting with longing +ears for the sound of the breakfast-horn, they finally, at a late hour, +repaired to the house, uncalled. Here the host, supposing all to be +ready, led his friends unceremoniously into the dining-room, where he +was astonished, and not a little angered, to find his wife and sister +seated composedly at their meal, which they had already nearly finished, +with only the three customary plates on the table, and no apparent +preparation for a larger number. On his beginning to remonstrate in a +rather heated tone, his wife arose, and, remarking that she had not been +used to eat in company with common laborers, swept disdainfully from the +room, followed by her sister. No more unpardonable insult could have +been offered to Kentucky farmers, at the very foundation of whose social +creed lay the principle of equality, and of whose character an intense +and jealous feeling of personal dignity was the most salient feature: +for these were men of independent means, who had come rather to +superintend the labors of their negroes than to labor themselves,--such +occasions being regarded only as pleasant opportunities for free and +unrestrained sociability, far more agreeable than formal and ceremonious +visits. On these occasions, the host would conduct his friends over +his farm to survey the condition of his crops, or point out to their +admiration his fine cattle, or obtain their opinion concerning some +contemplated improvement;--a most admirable means of drawing closer the +bonds of neighborly feeling and interest. A more bitter mortification, +therefore, could hardly have been devised for one who always prided +himself on his open-hearted Kentucky hospitality even to strangers. +Justly enraged by such foolish and ill-timed rudeness, he flung a knife, +which he had idly taken up, violently upon the table, swearing that his +friends should, in his house, be treated as gentlemen; at the same time +calling to the mulatto, Fanny, he bade her prepare breakfast, and added, +in a tone but half-suppressed, "You are the only woman on the place +who behaves like a lady." This imprudent remark was overheard by the +ever-present sister-in-law, and the use she made of it may be imagined. + +In this unpleasant state of his domestic relations, the character of +Captain Wilde Seemed to undergo an entire transformation. From being +remarkable for his love of quiet retirement, he became restless and +dissatisfied; and instead of laughing, as formerly, at public employment +as only vanity and vexation, he, now that a greater vexation assailed +him in his once peaceful home, eagerly sought relief, not, as a younger +or less virtuous man might have done, in dissipation, but in the +distractions of public business. But here again his evil fortune granted +the desired boon in a shape pregnant with future disaster. The hostility +of Mrs. Wilde's family, which had now become deeply excited,--combined +with his own political heterodoxy,--forbade any hope of attaining a +place by popular choice; and in an evil hour his friends succeeded in +procuring him the office of exciseman. + +Now there is no peculiarity more marked in all the branches of the +Anglo-Saxon race than the extreme impatience with which they submit to +any direct interference of the government in the private affairs of the +citizens; and no form of such interference has ever been so generally +odious as the excise, and, by consequence, no officer so generally +detested as the exciseman. This feeling, on account of the very large +number of persons engaged in distilling, was then formidably strong in +Kentucky,--all the more so that this form of taxation was a favorite +measure of the existing Federal Administration. Those who ventured to +accept so hateful an office at the hands of so hated a government were +sure to make themselves highly unpopular. In time, when the people began +to learn their own strength and the weakness of the authorities, +the enforcement of the law became dangerous, and at last altogether +impossible. The writer has been told, by a gentleman holding a +responsible position under our judicial system, that the name of his +grandfather--the last Kentucky exciseman--to this day stands charged on +the government-books with thousands of dollars arrears, although he was +a man of great courage and not at all likely to be deterred from the +discharge of his duty by any ordinary obstacle. + +Such was the place sought and obtained by the unfortunate Wilde as +a refuge from domestic wretchedness. The consequence it was easy to +foresee. In a few months, he who had been accustomed to universal +good-will became an object of almost as general dislike; and as people +are apt to attribute all sorts of evil to one who has by any means +incurred their hostility, and are never satisfied until they have +blackened the whole character in which they have found one offensive +quality, the family difficulties of the unpopular official soon became a +theme of common scandal, all the blame, of course, being laid upon him. +This state of things, disagreeable in itself, proved most unfortunate in +its influence on his subsequent fate; for, had he retained his previous +popularity in the county, the last deplorable catastrophe would +certainly never have happened: since every lawyer knows full well, that, +in capital cases especially, juries are merely the exponents of public +sentiment, and that the power of any judge to cause the excited +sympathies of a whole community to sink into calm indifference at the +railing of a jury-box is about as effective as was the command of the +Dane in arresting the in-rolling waters of the ocean. This is peculiarly +true in this country, where the people, both in theory and in fact, are +so completely sovereign that the institutions of government are only +instruments, having little capability of independent, and none at all of +antagonistic action. The skilful advocate, therefore, always watches the +crowd of eager faces without the bar, with eye as anxious and far more +prophetic than that with which he studies the formal countenances of the +panel whom he directly addresses. + +There was one circumstance, arising indirectly from his public +employment, that exercised no trivial influence upon Captain Wilde's +fate. On one occasion, while engaged with a brother-official in +arranging their books preparatory to the annual settlement, his wife, +becoming enraged because he failed to attend instantly to her orders +concerning some trifling domestic matter, rushed into his study and +caught up an armful of papers, which she attempted to throw into the +fire. The documents were of great importance; and to prevent her +carrying her childish purpose into execution, her husband was obliged +to seize her quickly and violently, and drag her from the hearth. The +reader will hardly recognize this incident in the form in which it was +afterward detailed from the witness-stand; and it is only on account +of the effect which this and other occurrences of like nature had in +bringing about the final event of our history, that we take the trouble +to narrate matters so trifling and uninteresting; for it appeared that +every incident of the kind was carefully registered in the memory of +the Erinnys of this devoted household, whence it came out magnified and +distorted into a brutal and unprovoked outrage. + +Wretched indeed must have been the state of that family in which such +scenes were allowed to meet the eyes of strangers; and again it may be +asked, Why did not Captain Wilde take measures to dissolve a union +that had resulted in so much unhappiness, and in which all hope of +improvement must now have disappeared? Such a step would certainly have +been wise; nor could the strictest moralist have found aught to censure +therein. But it was now too late. No observer of human affairs has +failed to notice how surely a stronger character gains ascendency over a +weaker with which it is brought into familiar contact. No law of man can +abrogate this great law of Nature. Talk as we may about the power of +knowledge or intellect or virtue, the whole ordering of society shows +that it is strength of character which fixes the relative status of +individuals. In whatever community we may live, we need only look around +to discover that its real leaders are not the merely intelligent, +educated, and good, but the energetic, the self-asserting, the +aggressive. Nor will mere passive strength of will prevent subjection; +for how often do we see a spirit, whose only prominent characteristic is +a restless and tireless pugnacity, hold in complete subserviency those +who are far superior in actual strength of mind, purely through the +apathy of the latter, and their indisposition to live in a state of +constant effort! It is because this petty domineering temper is found +much oftener in women than in men, that we see a score of henpecked +husbands to one ill-used wife. Woe to the man who falls into this kind +of slavery to a wicked woman! for through him she will commit acts she +would never dare in her own person; and a double woe to him, if he be +not as wicked and hardened as his mistress! The bargain of the old +Devil-bought magicians was profitable, compared with his; since he gets +nothing whatever for the soul he surrenders up. + +In the present case, a couple of years sufficed for the energetic and +ever-belligerent temper of the wife to subdue completely the mild and +peaceable nature of the husband. At her bidding most of his former +acquaintances were discarded; and even his warmest friends and nearest +relations, no longer meeting the old hearty welcome, gradually ceased +to visit his house. But the bitterest effect of this weak and culpable +abdication of his rights was experienced by his slaves. Sad indeed for +them was the change from the ease and abundance of the bachelor's-hall, +where slavery meant little more than a happy exemption from care, to +their present condition, in which it meant hopeless submission to the +power of a capricious and cruel mistress. The worst form of female +tyranny is that exhibited on a Southern plantation, under the sway of a +termagant. Her power to afflict is so complete and all-pervading, that +not an hour, nay, hardly a minute of the victim's life is exempt, if +the disposition exist to exercise it. Besides, this species of domestic +oppression has this in common with all the worst tyrannies which have +been most feared and hated by men: the severities are ordered by those +who neither execute them nor witness their execution,--that being +left to agents, usually hardened to their office, and who dare not be +merciful, even if so inclined. It adds two-fold to the bitterness of +such tyranny, that the tyrant is able to acquire a sort of exemption +from the weakness of pity. It is wisely ordered that few human beings +shall feel aught but pain in looking upon the extreme bodily anguish of +their fellow-men; and when a monster appears who seems to contradict +this benign law, he is embalmed as a monster, and transmitted to future +times along with such _rara aves_ as Caligula, Domitian, and Nana Sahib. +And here--as a Southern man, brought up in the midst of a household of +slaves--let me remark, that the worst feature of our system of slavery +is the possibility of the negroes falling into the hands of a brutal +owner capable of exercising all the power of inflicting misery which the +law gives him. + +But the natural law of compensation is universal; and if the most +wretched object in existence be a slave subject to the sway of a brutal +owner, certainly the next is the humane master who has to do with a +sullen, malicious, or dishonest negro,--while for one instance of the +former, there are a hundred of the latter who would willingly give up +the whole value of their human chattels in order to get rid of the +vexations they occasion. And where master and man were equally bad, we +have known cases in which it was really hard to say which contrived to +inflict most misery: the one might get used to blows and curses so as +not much to mind them, but the other could never escape the agonies of +rage into which his contumacious chattel was able to throw him at any +time. + +Captain Wilde's temper was more than usually mild and lenient; and he +was probably the most wretched being on his own plantation during the +last two years of his life,--a day seldom passing that he was not +compelled to inflict some sort of punishment upon his negroes. These, +however, never ceased to feel for him the respectful attachment inspired +by his kindness during the happy years of his bachelor-life; but, +strange as it may seem, that feeling was now mingled with a sort of +pity; for they well knew the painful reluctance with which he obeyed the +harsh commands of his wife. And of all who mourned the hapless fate +of this unfortunate gentleman, none mourned more bitterly, and few +cherished his memory so long or so tenderly, as these humble dependants, +who best knew his real character. + +But it was upon the mulatto girl Fanny, particularly, that the +tyrannical cruelty of Mrs. Wilde was poured out in all its severity. +From some cause,--whether because her duties rendered her more liable +to commit irritating faults, or whether, being always in sight, she was +simply the most convenient object of abuse, or whether on account of the +alleged former intimacy between this girl and her master,--certain it +is that the hatred with which the mistress pursued her had something in +it almost diabolical. And she seemed to take a peculiar satisfaction +in making her husband the instrument of her persecutions: an ingenious +method of punishing both her victims, if the motive were the last of +those above suggested. And truly bitter it must have been to both, when +the hand that had been only too kind was now forced to the infliction +even of stripes; so that one hardly knows which to pity most: though, +if the essence of punishment be degradation, certainly the legal slave +suffered less of it than the moral one who had fallen so low beneath the +dominion of a termagant wife. But let it be ever remembered to the honor +of this wretched daughter of bondage, that, in spite of all, she never +lost that devoted attachment for her master which in one of a more +favored race might be called by a softer name. For, whatever may have +been his feelings toward her, there can remain no doubt of the nature of +hers for him,--so touchingly displayed at a subsequent period, when she +cast away the terror of violent death, so strong in all her race, and +sought, by a voluntary confession of guilt never imputed to her, to +save him by taking his place upon the scaffold. Surely, such heroic +self-sacrifice suffices to + + "sublime + Her dark despair and plead for its one crime." + +It was probably on a discovery of this feeling in the girl that the +intermeddling sister-in-law founded her charge against the master. + +But there is a point beyond which human endurance cannot go,--at +which milder natures turn to voluntary death as a refuge from further +suffering, and fiercer ones begin to contemplate crime with savage +complacency. Towards this point the ruthless and persevering cruelty of +these two women was now rapidly driving their wretched victim, and soon, +very soon, they were to learn that they had been hunting, not a lamb, +but a tigress, whose single spring, when brought to bay, would be as +quick, as sure, and as deadly as was ever made from an Indian jungle. +For now, near the end of the third year of Captain Wilde's married life, +its wretched scenes of discord and tyranny were about to be closed in a +catastrophe that was to overwhelm a great community with consternation +and horror, and blot an entire family out of existence almost in a +single night,--a catastrophe in which Providence, true to that ideal of +perfect justice called poetical, working out the punishment of two +of the actors by means of their own inhumanity, at the same time +mysteriously involved two others,--one clothed in all the innocence +of infancy, and the other guilty only through weakness and as the +instrument of another. Seldom has destruction been more sudden or more +complete, and never, perhaps, was so annihilating a blow dealt by so +weak a hand. + +Those who remember the early times of Kentucky know that the place of +the agricultural and mechanics' fairs of the present day was supplied +by "big meetings," which, under the various names of associations, +camp-meetings, and basket-meetings, continued in full popularity to a +quite recent period, and were at last partially suppressed on account +of the immorality which they occasioned and encouraged. It was to these +holy fairs--as now to secular ones--that the wealth and fashion of +early Kentucky crowded for the purpose of displaying themselves most +conspicuously before the eyes of assembled counties. Mrs. Wilde, like +most women of her temper, was passionately fond of such public triumphs, +and had determined, at a camp-meeting soon to be held in the vicinity, +to outshine all her rural neighbors in splendor. For the full +realization of this ambition, a new carriage was, in her opinion, +absolutely necessary. This fact she communicated to her husband, and +upon some demur on his part, a thing now very rare, her temper, as +usual, broke forth in a storm of reproach and abuse, so that the poor +man, completely subdued, was glad to purchase peace by acquiescence +in what his judgment regarded as a foolish expense; and he prepared +immediately to set off for L---- to procure the coveted vehicle. But +before he had mounted, his wife, yet hot from their recent altercation, +discovered or affected to discover some negligence on the part of the +mulatto girl, who was engaged in nursing the child, which was at this +time suffering from a dangerous illness. Now the one tender trait of +this violent woman was intense love for her offspring; but it was a +love that, far from softening her manner toward others, partook, on the +contrary, of the fierceness of her general character, and became, like +that of a wild animal for its young, a source of constant apprehension +to those whose duty compelled them to approach its object. So now, +seizing the weeping culprit by the hair, she dragged her to the door, +and, after exhausting her own powers of maltreatment, called to her +husband and ordered him to bring, on his return, a new cowhide,--"For +you shall," cried she, in uncontrollable rage, "give this wretch, in the +morning, two hundred lashes!" It was a brutal threat, falling from the +lips of one who was called a lady: for, of all tortures, that of +the cowhide is for the moment the most intolerable, in its sharp, +penetrating agony, as is well known by those who remember even a +moderate application of it to their own person in school-boy days. The +victim knew that the execution of the barbarous menace would be strict +to the letter, and that it would be but little preferable to death +itself. Yet, in spite of this, she now, for the first time, failed to +cower and tremble, but arose and faced her oppressor, erect and defiant. +The last drop had now been dashed into the cup of endurance,--the final +blow had been struck, under which the human spirit either falls crushed +and prostrated forever, or from which it springs up tempered to +adamantine hardness, and incapable thenceforth of feeling either fear +for itself or pity for its smiter. That one moment had entirely reversed +the relations of the two, making the slave mistress of her mistress's +fate, while the latter thenceforward held her very existence at the will +of her slave. The cruel woman had raised up for herself that enemy more +terrible even to throned tyrants than an army with banners: for there +is something truly terrific in the almost omnipotent power of harm +possessed by any intelligent being, whom hatred, or fanaticism, or +suffering has wound up to that point of desperation where it is willing +to throw away its own life in order to reach that of an adversary, +--such desperation as inspired the gladiator Maternus, in his romantic +expedition from the woods of Transylvania through the marshes of +Pannonia and the Alpine passes, to strike the lord of the Roman world +in the recesses of his own palace, and in the presence of his thousand +guards. He who has provoked such hostility can know no safety, but in +the destruction of his enemy,--a fact well understood by the elder +Napoleon, who, however he might admire, never pardoned those whose +attempts on his person showed them utterly reckless of the safety of +their own. + +And now, for a few hours, the whole interest of our narrative centres in +her whom that moment had so completely transformed and made already a +murderess in heart and in purpose. And how thoroughly must that heart +have been steeled, and how entire must have been the banishment of all +counteracting feelings, when she could for a whole day, in the midst of +a household of fellow-servants, and under the watchful eyes of an angry +mistress, continue to discharge her usual tasks, bearing this deadly +purpose in her breast, yet never, by word, look, or gesture, betray the +slightest indication of its dreadful secret,--no, not even so much as to +draw suspicion toward herself after the discovery of the crime! There +was no time or opportunity for preparation, of which little was indeed +necessary; for human life is a frail thing, and a determined hand is +always strong. She had already undergone the most effectual preparation +for such a task,--that of the soul; and when that is once thoroughly +accomplished, not much more is needed: a fact which seems not to be +understood by those patriotic assassins--French and Italian--whose +elaborately contrived infernal-machines do but betray the anxious +precautions taken to insure lives which, according to their own +professions, have been rendered valueless by tyranny, and ought +therefore to be the more freely risked. Felton and Charlotte Corday +understood their business better; but even their preparations may be +called elaborate, compared with those of this poor slave-girl. + +Captain Wilde returned late in the evening with the coveted coach; and +the whole family, white and black, of course, turned out to admire that +crowning addition to the family splendor. But among the noisy group of +the latter there stood one who gazed upon the object of admiration +with thoughts far different from those of her companions; and soon the +careless mirth of all was checked and chilled into silent fear, when +they saw their master take from beneath one of the seats a new specimen +of the well-known green cow-skin, and hand it, with a troubled, +deprecating look, to his wife. Ah! they all knew that appealing look +well, and the hard, relentless frown by which it was answered, as well +as they knew the use of the dreaded instrument itself. But there was +only one among them who comprehended its immediate purpose. The glance +of cruel meaning which the tyranness, after having examined the lithe, +twisted rod critically for an instant, cast upon the object of her +malice, probably banished the last lingering hesitation from the breast +of the latter,--who turned away ostensibly to the performance of her +accustomed duties, but in reality to settle the details of a crime +unsurpassed in coolness and resolution by aught recorded of pirate or +highwayman. It was probably during the hours immediately succeeding +Captain Wilde's return that her deadly purpose shaped itself forth in +the plan finally executed; because it was not till then that she became +cognizant of all the circumstances which entered into its formation. +Seldom have more nicely calculated combinations entered into the plots +of criminals, and never was a plot depending on so many chances more +completely successful. Yet the pivot of the whole, as often in more +extensive schemes of homicide, is to be found in the reckless daring and +utter disregard of personal safety manifested throughout. For this alone +she seems to have made no calculations and taken no precautions; +her whole mind being bent apparently on the solution of one single +difficulty,--how to approach her enemy undetected. + +As to the details of this affair, let us mention one or two facts, and +then the conduct of the murderess will itself explain them. We have +already stated that the only child of Captain and Mrs. Wilde, an infant +about eighteen months old, was at this time dangerously ill. For a +fortnight it had been the custom of the parents to sit up with it on +alternate nights, this night it being the father's regular turn to +perform that duty; but his trip of twenty-five or thirty miles had +fatigued him so much that it was judged best for his wife to relieve +him,--his slumbers being usually so profound as to be almost lethargic, +so that, when once fairly asleep, the loudest noises even in the same +room would fail to arouse him, and it being feared, therefore, that the +little patient might suffer, if left to his care in his present state of +weariness. In the same room slept a young negro girl, whose duty it was +to carry the child into the open air when occasion required,--an office +which Fanny herself had more than once performed. The reader will note +how ingeniously every one of these circumstances was woven into the +girl's scheme of death, and how each was made subservient to the end in +view. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock on the night of the 18th of July, 17--, everything had +become quiet about that lonely farm-house, so completely isolated in the +midst of its wide plantation that the barking of the dogs at the nearest +dwellings was barely heard in the profound stillness. A dim light, as +if from a deeply shaded candle, shone from one of the casements to the +right of the hall-door, showing where the parents watched by the bed of +their suffering infant. Along the high-road, which, a few rods in front, +stretched white and silent in the moonlight between its long lines of +worm-fences, a solitary traveller on horseback was journeying at this +hour. This gentleman afterward remembered being more than usually +impressed by the air of peace and repose that reigned about the place, +as he rode under the tall locust-trees which skirted the yard and cast +their dark shadows over into the highway. But he did not see a female +form flitting furtively from the negro-quarters in the rear, toward the +house; and a shade of suspicion might have crossed his mind, had he +glanced back a moment later and beheld that form approach the lighted +window with stealthy, cautious steps, and peer long and intently through +the partially drawn curtains upon the scene within, then, stooping low, +glide along the moonlit wall and disappear beneath the short flight of +wooden steps that led up to the front-door. + +Here ensconced, safe from observation, the murderess lay listening to +every sound in the sick-room above. Ten,--eleven,--twelve,--one,--sounded +from the clock in the dining-room on the other side of the hall. +For three hours has she crouched there, but the opportunity +she expected has not yet come. The moon was setting and deep +darkness beginning to envelop the earth, when, just as she was about to +steal forth and regain her cabin unobserved, the door above her head +opened, and the young negro nurse, still half-asleep, came forth, stood +for a moment upon the topmost step to recover her senses, and then, with +the wailing infant in her arms, descended and passed round the corner of +the house. She had barely disappeared when the murderess crept from her +lair, and, swift and noiseless as a serpent or a cat, glided up the +steps through the open door, and in another moment had again concealed +herself beneath the leaves of a large table that stood in the hall +close to the door of the sick-room, which, standing ajar, gave her an +opportunity of studying once more the situation of things within. In the +corner farthest from her lurking-place stood the bed on which her master +was slumbering, concealing with its curtains the front-window against +which it was placed. At the foot of this, under the other front-window, +was the pallet of the nurse, and midway between it and the door through +which she peered was the low trundle-bed of the sick child, on which at +this moment lay the mother,--soon to become a mother again; while at +the farther end of the room a candle was burning dimly upon the hearth. +Thus, for half an hour, the murderess crouched within a few feet of her +victim and watched, noting every circumstance with the eye of a beast of +prey about to spring. At the end of that time the nurse returned, placed +the quieted child beside its mother, and, closing the door, retired to +her own pallet, whence her loud breathing almost immediately told that +she was asleep. Still with bated breath the mulatto waited, stooping +with her ear at the keyhole till the regular respirations of the mother +and the softened panting of the little invalid assured her that all +was safe. Then, at last, turning the handle of the latch silently and +gradually, she glided into the room and stood by the side of her victim. + +The whole range of imaginative literature cannot furnish an incident +of more absorbing interest; nor can the whole history of the theatre +exhibit a situation of more tremendous scenical power than was presented +at this moment in that chamber of doom. The four unconscious sleepers +with the murderess in the midst of them, bending with hard, glittering +eyes over her prey, while around them all the huge shadows cast by the +dim, untrimmed light, like uncouth monsters, rose, flitted, and fell, as +if in a goblin-dance of joy over the scene of approaching guilt. Sleep, +solemn at any time, becomes almost awful when we gaze upon it amid the +stillness of night, so mysterious is it, and so near akin to the deeper +mystery of death,--so peaceful, with a peace so much like that of the +grave: men could scarcely comprehend the idea of the one, if they were +not acquainted with the reality of the other. There lay the mother, with +her arms around her sleeping child, whose painful breathing showed that +it suffered even while it slept. Such a spectacle might have moved the +hardest heart to pity; but it possessed no such power over that of the +desperate slave, whose vindictive purpose never wavered for an instant. +Passing round the bed, she stooped and softly encircled the emaciated +little neck with her fingers. One quick, strong gripe,--the poor, weak +hands were thrown up, a soft gasp and a slight spasm, and it was done. +The frail young life, which had known little except suffering, and which +disease would probably have extinguished in a few hours or days, was +thus at once and almost painlessly cut short by the hand of violence. + +And now at last the way was clear. "I knew," said she afterwards, "the +situation of my mistress; and I thought that by jumping upon her with my +knees I should kill her at once." Disturbed by the slight struggle of +the dying child, Mrs. Wilde moved uneasily for a moment, and again sunk +into quietude, lying with her face--that hard, cold face--upward. This +was the opportunity for the destroyer. Bounding with all her might from +the floor, she came down with bended knees upon the body of her victim. +But the shock, though severe, was not fatal; and with a loud cry of +"Oh, Captain Wilde, help me!" she, by a convulsive effort, threw her +assailant to the floor. Though stunned and bewildered by the suddenness +and violence of the attack, the wretched woman in that terrible moment +recognized her enemy, and felt the desperate purpose with which she was +animated, and so recognizing and so feeling, must have known in that +momentary interval all that the human soul can know of despair and +terror. But it was only for a moment; for, before she could utter a +second cry for help, the baffled assailant was again upon her with the +bound of a tigress. A blind and breathless struggle ensued between the +desperate ferocity of the slave and the equally desperate terror of the +mistress; while faster and wilder went the huge, dim shadows in their +goblin-dance, as the yellow flame flared and flickered in the agitated +air. For a few moments, indeed, the result of the struggle seemed +doubtful, and Mrs. Wilde at length, by a violent effort, raised herself +almost upright, with the infuriated slave still hanging to her throat; +but the latter converted this into an advantage, by suddenly throwing +her whole weight upon the breast of her mistress, thus casting her +violently backward across the head-board of the bed, and dislocating the +spine. Another half-uttered cry, a convulsive struggle, and the deed was +accomplished. One slight shiver crept over the limbs, and then the body +hung limp and lifeless where it had fallen,--the head resting upon the +floor, on which the long raven hair was spread abroad in a disordered +mass. The victor gazed coolly on her work while recovering breath; and +then, to make assurance doubly sure, took up, as she thought, a stocking +from the bed and deliberately tied it tight round the neck of the +corpse. Then, gliding to the door, she quitted the scene of her fearful +labors as noiselessly as she had entered, leaving behind her not one +trace of her presence,--but leaving, unintentionally, a most fatal false +trace, which suspicion continued to follow until it had run an entirely +innocent man to his grave. The last act of the drama of woman's passion +and woman's revenge was over; the tragedy of man's suffering and +endurance still went on. + +How or by whom the terrible spectacle in that chamber of death was +first discovered we are not told. All we know, from the reports of the +negroes, is, that Captain Wilde, who seemed stupefied at first, suddenly +passed into a state of excitement little short of distraction,--now +raving, as if to an imaginary listener, and then questioning and +threatening those about him with incoherent violence. To these simple +observers such conduct was entirely incomprehensible; but we may easily +suppose that at this moment the unfortunate man first realized the +fearful nature of the circumstances which surrounded him, and perceived +the abyss which had yawned so suddenly at his feet. And no wonder that +he shrank back from the prospect, overwhelmed for the moment with +consternation and despair,--not the prospect of death, but of a +degradation far worse to the proud spirit of the Kentucky gentleman, +on whose good name even political hatred had never been able to fix a +stain. + +The terrified negroes carried the alarm to the nearest neighbors, and +soon the report of this appalling occurrence was flying like lightning +toward the utmost bounds of the county. The first stranger who reached +the scene of death was Mr. Summers, formerly an intimate friend of +Captain Wilde. When he entered the room, he found the poor gentleman +on his knees beside the body of his child, with his face buried in the +bed-clothes. At the sound of footsteps he raised his wild, tearless +eyes, exclaiming, "My God! my God! Mr. Summers, my wife has been +murdered here, in my own room, and it will be laid on me!" Shocked by +the almost insane excitement of his old friend, and sensible of the +imprudence of his words, Summers begged him to compose himself, pointing +out the danger of such language. But the terrible thought had mastered +his mind with a monomaniacal power, and to every effort at consolation +from those who successively came in the only reply was, "Oh, my God, +it will all be laid upon me!" Fortunately, those who heard these +expressions were old friends, who, although they had been long +unfamiliar, knew the native uprightness of the man, and still felt +kindly toward one whose estrangement they knew was the effect of weak +submission to the dictation of his wife, not the result of any change in +his own feelings. They regarded his wild words as only the incoherent +utterances of a mind bewildered by horror, and were anxious to put an +end to the harrowing scene, and remove the stricken man as soon as +possible from the observation of a mixed crowd that was now rapidly +assembling from all directions, many of whom knew Captain Wilde only +in his unpopular capacity of exciseman, and would therefore be apt to +suspect a darker explanation of his strange behavior. + +So shocking had been the sight presented to their eyes, on entering +the room, that hitherto no one had had sufficient presence of mind to +examine the bodies closely; but at last Mr. Summers, cooler than the +rest, approached to raise that of Mrs. Wilde, and then, for the first +time, perceived the bandage about her neck. It proved to be _a white +silk neckerchief_, which Summers removed and began to examine. As he +did so, his face was seen to grow suddenly pale as death. All pressed +anxiously forward to see, and a silent, but fearfully significant +look passed round the circle; for in one corner, embroidered in large +letters, was the name of _Cyril Wilde_. As silently every eye sought the +devoted man, and on many countenances the look of doubt settled at once +into one of conviction, when they saw that he wore no cravat; and to +many ears the heart-broken moan of the wretched husband and father, +which a moment before seemed only the foreboding of over-sensitive +innocence, now sounded like the voice of self-accusing guilt. So great +is the power of imagination in modifying our beliefs! + +After such a discovery an arrest followed as a matter of course; and a +popular feeling adverse to the accused quickly manifested itself in +the community. But it is pleasant to know, that, in spite of all +appearances, many of Captain Wilde's old friends never lost faith in his +innocence, or hesitated to renew in his hour of adversity the kindly +relations that had existed before his marriage; while his own +kindred stood by him and bravely fought his hopeless battle to the +last,--employing as his advocate the celebrated John Breckenridge, who +was then almost without a rival at the Kentucky bar. But, on the other +hand, his wife's family pursued their unfortunate relative with a +savageness of hatred hardly to be paralleled. Having hunted him to the +very foot of the scaffold, their persevering malice seemed unsated even +by the sight of their victim suspended as a felon before their very +eyes; for it was reported, at the time, that two of the murdered woman's +brothers were seen upon the ground during the execution. + +And now it was that the unpopularity resulting from Captain Wilde's +official employment manifested its most baleful effects. Had he +possessed at this crisis the same general good-will he had enjoyed four +years before, he might have bid defiance to the rage of his enemies, and +have escaped, in spite of all the suspicious circumstances by which he +stood environed. For the general drift of sentiment in the West has +always been against capital penalties, and it is next to impossible +to carry such penalties into effect against a popular favorite. In a +country like this we might as soon expect to see the hands of a clock +move in a direction contrary to the machinery by which it is governed, +as a jury to run counter to plainly declared popular feelings. There may +now and then be instances of their acquitting contrary to the general +sentiment, where that sentiment is unimpassioned; but we much doubt +whether there has ever occurred a single example of a jury convicting a +person in whose favor the sympathy of a whole community was warmly and +earnestly expressed. Of such sympathy Captain Wilde had none; for to the +great majority he was known only as the exciseman, and as such was an +object of hostility. Not that this hostility at any time took the form +of insult and abuse,--for we are proud to say that outside of the large +towns such disgraceful exhibitions of feeling are unknown,--but it +left the minds of the general mass liable to be operated on by all +the suspicious circumstances of the case, and by the slanders of the +personal enemies of the accused. + +On the 23d of November, an immense crowd of people, both men and women, +were assembled in the court-house at ---- to witness a trial which was +to fix a dark stain on the judicial annals of Kentucky, and in which, +for the thousandth time, a court of justice was to be led fatally astray +by the accursed thing called Circumstantial Evidence, and made the +instrument of that most deplorable of all human tragedies, a formal, +legalized murder. It is one of the most glaring inconsistencies of our +law, that it admits, in a trial where the life of a citizen is at stake, +a species of testimony which it regards as too inconclusive and too +liable to misconstruction to be allowed in a civil suit involving, it +may be, less than the value of a single dollar. True, it is a favorite +maxim of prosecutors, that "circumstances will not lie"; but it requires +little acquaintance with the history of criminal trials to prove that +circumstantial evidence has murdered more innocent men than all the +false witnesses and informers who ever disgraced courts of justice by +their presence; and the slightest reflection will convince us that this +shallow sophism contains even less practical truth than the general mass +of proverbs and maxims, proverbially false though they be. For not only +is the chance of falsehood, on the part of the witness who details the +circumstances, greater,--since a false impression can be conveyed with +far less risk of detection by distortion and exaggeration of a fact than +by the invention of a direct lie,--but there is the additional danger of +an honest misconception on his part; and every lawyer knows how hard +it is for a dull witness to distinguish between the facts and his +impressions of them, and how impossible it often is to make a witness +detail the former without interpolating the latter. But the greatest +risk of all is that the jury themselves may misconstrue the +circumstances, and draw unwarranted conclusions therefrom. It is an +awful assumption of responsibility to leap to conclusions in such cases, +and the leap too often proves to have been made in the dark. God help +the wretch who is arraigned on suspicious appearances before a jury who +believe that "circumstances won't lie"! for the Justice that presides at +such a trial is apt to prove as blind and capricious as Chance herself. +In reviewing the present trial in particular, one may well feel puzzled +to decide which of these deities presided over its conduct. A Greek or +Roman would have said, Neither,--but a greater than either,--Fate; and +we might almost adopt the old heathen notion, as we watch the downward +course of the doomed gentleman from this point, and note how invariably +every attempt to ward off destruction is defeated, as if by the +persevering malice of some superior power. We shall soon see the most +popular and influential attorney of the State driven from the case by an +awkward misunderstanding; another, hardly inferior, expire almost in +the very act of pleading it; and, finally, when the real criminal +comes forward, at the last moment, to avert the ruin which she has +involuntarily drawn down upon the head of her beloved master, and +take his place upon the scaffold, we shall behold her heroic offer of +self-sacrifice frustrated by influences the most unexpected,--political +influences which--with shame be it told--were sufficient to induce a +governor of Kentucky to withhold the exercise of executive clemency, the +most glorious prerogative intrusted to our chief magistrates, and +which it ought to have been a most pleasing privilege to grant: for, +incredible as it may seem, Governor ---- knew, when he signed the +death-warrant, that the man he was consigning to an ignominious grave +was innocent of the crime for which he was to suffer. + +The trial was opened in the presence of a crowded assembly, among whom +it was easy to discern that general conviction of the prisoner's guilt +so chilling to the spirits of a defendant and his counsel, and so much +deprecated by the latter, because he knows too well how far it goes +toward a prejudgment of his cause. Several of the most prominent members +of the bar had been retained by the family of Mrs. Wilde to assist the +State's attorney in the prosecution. In the defence John Breckenridge +stood alone, needing no help; for all knew that whatever man could do in +behalf of his client would be done by him. The prisoner himself, upon +whom all eyes were turned, appeared dejected, but calm, like one who had +resigned all hope. The ominous foreboding, which had so overcome him on +the fatal morning of the murder, had never left him for a single moment. +From that hour he had looked upon himself as doomed, and had yielded +only a passive acquiescence in the measures of defence proposed by +his friends, awaiting the fate which he regarded as inevitable with +a patience almost apathetic. Adversity brought out in bold relief +qualities that might have sustained a cause whose victories are +martyrdoms, but how useless to one requiring active heroism! + +All the damaging facts attending the discovery of the murder--the +failure of any signs of a stranger's presence in the apartment, the +peculiar behavior of the accused, the finding of his cravat on the neck +of the corpse, his acknowledgment of having worn it on the previous +day--were fully, but impartially, detailed by the witnesses for the +Commonwealth. No one could deny that the circumstances were strongly +against the prisoner: and these shadows, at best, and too often mere +delusive mirages of truth, the law allows to be weighed against the life +of a man. Against these shadows all the powers of Breckenridge were +taxed to the uttermost; and he might have succeeded, for his eloquence +was most persuasive, and his influence over the minds of the people +nearly unlimited, had not a false witness appeared to add strength by +deliberate perjuries to a case already strong. It was the ungrateful +sister-in-law of the accused, who had owed to him a home and an asylum +from the merited scorn of her family and the world, who now came forward +to complete the picture of her own detestable character, and put the +finishing hand to her unhallowed work, by swearing away that life which +her arts had rendered scarcely worth defending, could death have come +unaccompanied by disgrace. With a manner betraying suppressed, but +ill-concealed eagerness, and in language prompt and fluent, as if +reciting by rote a carefully kept journal, she went on to detail every +fault or neglect or impatient act of her relative, not sparing exposure +of the most delicate domestic events, at the same time carefully +suppressing all mention of his provocations. In reply to the question, +whether she had ever witnessed any violence that led her to fear +personal danger to her sister, she replied, that, on one occasion, +Captain Wilde, being displeased at something in relation to the +preparation of a meal, seized a large carving-knife and flung it at his +wife, who only escaped further outrage by flying from the house. On +another occasion, she remembered, he became furiously angry because her +sister wished him to see some guests, and, seizing her by the hair, +dragged her to the door of his study, and cast her into the hall so +violently that she lay senseless upon the floor until accidentally +discovered,--her husband not even calling assistance. It is easy to +imagine what an effect such exposures of the habitual brutality of the +man, narrated by a near relation of the sufferer, and interrupted at +proper intervals by sobs and tears, would have upon an impulsive jury, +obliged to derive their knowledge of the case wholly from such a source, +and already strongly impressed by the circumstantial details with a +presumption unfavorable to the defendant. Now, since there were other +persons in the court-house who had witnessed these two scenes of alleged +maltreatment, it may seem strange that they were not brought forward +to contradict this woman on those two points, which would at once have +destroyed the effect of her entire testimony,--the maxim, _Falsum in +uno, falsum in omnibus_, being always readily applied in such cases. Had +this been done, a reaction of popular feeling would almost certainly +have followed in favor of the accused, which might have borne him safely +through, in spite of all the presumptive proof against him. For nothing +is truer than Lord Clarendon's observation, that, "when a man is shown +to be less guilty than he is charged, people are very apt to consider +him more innocent than he may actually be." But in this case the +falsehood was secured from exposure by its very magnitude, until it was +too late for such exposure to be of any benefit to the prisoner. The +persons who had beheld the scenes as they really occurred never thought +of identifying them with brutal outrages, now narrated under oath, at +which their hearts grew hard toward the unmanly perpetrator as they +listened. + +Against the strong array of facts and fictions presented by the +prosecution the only circumstance that could be urged by the counsel for +the prisoner was, that the child was murdered along with the mother; +and this could only avail to strengthen a presumption of innocence, had +innocence been otherwise rendered probable; but when a conviction of +his guilt had been arrived at already, it merely served to increase the +atrocity of his crime, and to insure the enforcement of its penalty. + +After a two days' struggle, in which every resource of reason and +eloquence was exhausted by the defendant's counsel, the judge proceeded +to a summing up which left the jury scarcely an option, even had they +been inclined to acquit. The latter withdrew in the midst of a deep and +solemn silence, while the respectful demeanor of the spectators showed +that at last a feeling of pity was beginning to steal into their hearts +for the unhappy gentleman, who still sat, as he had done during those +two long days of suspense, with his face buried in his hands, as +motionless as a statue. A profound stillness reigned in the hall during +the absence of the jury, broken only occasionally by a stifled sob from +some of the ladies present. After an absence of less than an hour the +jury returned and handed in a written verdict; and as the fatal word +"Guilty" fell from the white lips of the agitated clerk, the calmest +face in that whole vast assembly was that of him whom it doomed to +the ignominious death of a felon. And calm he had been ever since the +dreadful morning of his arrest; for the vial of wrath had then been +broken upon his head, and he had tasted the whole bitterness of an agony +which can be endured but a short while, and can never be felt a second +time. For, as intense heat quickly destroys the vitality of the nerves +on which it acts, and as flesh once deeply cauterized by fire is +thenceforth insensible to impressions of pain, so the soul over which +one of the fiery agonies of life has passed can never experience a +repetition thereof. Besides, it is well known that the anticipation of +an unjust accusation is far more agitating to a virtuous man than the +reality, which is sure to arouse that strange martyr-spirit wherewith +injustice always arms its victim, and supported by which alone even the +most timid men have often suffered with fortitude, and the most unworthy +died with dignity. + +At that time the judicial arrangements of Kentucky allowed an appeal, +in criminal cases, from the Circuit to the District Court; and it +was determined to carry this cause before the latter tribunal, Mr. +Breckenridge declaring that he believed he should be able to reverse the +verdict. On what ground he founded this opinion we do not know: whether +he felt convinced that the local prejudice against his client and the +influence of his enemies in the County of ---- had mainly contributed to +bring about the unfavorable result of the present hearing, and he hoped +to escape these adverse agencies by a change of venue,--or whether +he counted on a change of public feeling after the first burst of +excitement had subsided, to bear him through,--or whether he had +discovered the falsehood of the testimony of the sister-in-law,--or, +finally, whether it was that he had obtained a clearer and more +favorable insight into the case, and recognized grounds of hope +therein,--it is impossible now to say. But it is certain, that to +the defendant and his friends he declared his confidence of a final +acquittal, if the cause were transferred to the appellate court; and +John Breckenridge was not a man to boast emptily, or to hold out hopes +which he knew could never be realized. But at this crisis occurred a +strange misunderstanding, which drove from the support of the wretched +victim of Fate the only man who thoroughly understood the case in all +its minutest details, and would have been most likely to conduct it to +a happy termination. When the preparations for the last struggle were +almost completed, and the time set for the final trial drew near, Mr. +McC----, who, as Captain Wilde's brother-in-law, had been most active +and zealous in his behalf, was informed by some officious intermeddler +that Breckenridge had said in confidential conversation among his +friends, "that the case was entirely desperate, that he had no hope +whatever of altering the verdict by an appeal, and the family would save +money by letting the law take its course, there being no doubt of the +justice of the sentence." Mr. McC----, believing that he might rely on +the word of his informant, unfortunately, without making any inquiry as +to the truth of the tale, and without assigning any reason, wrote to Mr. +Breckenridge a curt letter of dismissal, and immediately employed George +---- to conduct the further defence. This gentleman, surpassed by no +man in Kentucky as a logician, lawyer, and orator, was inferior to the +discarded attorney in that great requisite of a jury-lawyer, personal +popularity, besides laboring under the disadvantage of being new to the +case, and having but a short time to make himself acquainted with its +details. Personal pique and professional punctilio, of course, withheld +his predecessor from affording any further assistance or advice in a +business from which he had been so summarily dismissed. We cannot now +measure accurately the effect of this change of counsel; we only know, +that, at the time, it was considered most disastrous by those having the +best opportunities of judging. + +But if Mr. ---- went into the cause under this disadvantage, he was +spurred on by the consideration that in his client he was defending a +friend: for they had been friends in youth, and, though long separated, +the tie had never been interrupted. Hence he threw himself into the case +with an ardor which money could never have inspired, and in the course +of the few remaining days had succeeded in mastering all its essential +points. + +The interest excited by this second trial was as deep and far more +widely spread than by the first. Few proceedings of the kind in Kentucky +ever called together a crowd at once so large and intelligent, a great +proportion being lawyers, who had been induced to attend by the desire +to witness what it was expected would be one of the most brilliant +efforts of an eminent member of their fraternity. + +The principal difference between the two trials was, that, on this +occasion, the testimony of the sister-in-law was much damaged by the +exposure both of her exaggerations and suppressions of important facts +touching the incident at the breakfast-table. Having incautiously +allowed herself to be drawn into particularizing so minutely as to fix +the exact date, and so positively as to render retraction impossible, +she was, to her own evident discomfiture, flatly contradicted by more +than one of those present on that occasion, who described the scene +as it actually occurred. Of course, after such a revelation of +untruthfulness, her whole testimony became liable to suspicion, the +more violent that the falsehood was plainly intentional. Moreover, the +defendant was now provided with evidence of the constant and intolerable +provocations to which he had been subjected during the whole of his +married life. Of this, however, the most moderate and guarded use was to +be made; because, while it was necessary, by exposing the true character +and habitual violence of his wife, to relieve the prisoner of that load +of public indignation which had been excited against him on account +of his alleged brutality, it was even more important that no strong +resentment should be supposed to have grown up on his part against his +tormentor. This delicate task was managed by the attorney with such +consummate skill, that, when the evidence on both sides was closed, +public sympathy, if not public conviction, had undergone a very +perceptible change. The prosecutors, aware of this, felt the success of +their case endangered, and exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent +the tide, now almost in equilibrium, from ebbing back with a violence +proportionate to that of its flow. But the argument even of their ablest +champion, John ----, seemed almost puerile, in comparison with this, the +last effort of George ----,--an effort which was long remembered, even +less on account of its melancholy termination than for its extraordinary +eloquence. The Kentuckians of that day were accustomed to hear +Breckenridge, Clay, Talbot, Allen, and Grundy, all men of singular +oratorical fame,--but never, we have heard it affirmed, was a more +moving appeal poured into the ears of a Kentucky jury. Availing himself +of every resource of professional skill, he now demonstrated, to the +full satisfaction of many, the utter inadequacy of the circumstantial +evidence upon which so much stress had been laid to justify a +conviction,--sifting and weighing carefully every fact and detail, +and trying the conclusions that had been drawn therefrom by the most +rigorous and searching logic,--and then, assailing the credibility of +the testimony brought forward to prove the habitual cruelty of his +client, he gave utterance to a withering torrent of invective and +sarcasm, in which the character of the main hostile witness shrivelled +and blackened like paper in a flame. Then--having been eight hours on +his feet--he began to avail himself of that last dangerous resource +which genius only may use,--the final arrow in the lawyer's quiver, +which is so hard to handle rightly, and, failing, may prove worse than +useless, but, sped by a strong hand and true aim, often tells decisively +on a hesitating jury,--we mean a direct appeal to their feelings. Like a +skilful leader who gathers all his exhausted squadrons when he sees the +crisis of battle approaching, the great advocate seemed now to summon +every overtaxed power of body and spirit to his aid, as he felt that the +moment was come when he must wring an acquittal from the hearts of his +hearers. Nor did either soul or intellect fail at the call. Higher and +stronger surged the tide of passionate eloquence, until every one felt +that the icy barrier was beginning to yield,--for tears were already +seen on more than one of the faces now leaning breathlessly forward from +the jury-box to listen,--when all at once a dead silence fell throughout +the hall: the voice whose organ-tones had been filling its remotest +nook suddenly died away in a strange gurgle. Several physicians present +immediately divined what had happened; nor were the multitude near kept +long in doubt; for all saw, at the next moment, a crimson stream welling +forth from those lips just now so eloquent,--checking their eloquence, +alas, forever! It was quickly reported through the assembly that the +speaker had ruptured one of the larger blood-vessels in the lungs. The +accident was too dangerous for delay, and George ---- was borne almost +insensible from the scene of his struggles and his triumphs, to reënter, +as it proved, no more. He lived but three days longer,--long enough, +however, to learn that he had sacrificed his life in vain, the jury +having, after a lengthened consideration, affirmed the former verdict +against his friend and client. + +The unfortunate man stood up to receive this second sentence with the +same face of impassive misery with which he had listened to the first. +To the solemn mockery, "If he had anything to urge why sentence of death +should not be passed upon him," he shook his head wearily, and answered, +"Nothing." It was evident that his mind was failing fast under the +overwhelming weight of calamity. It was sad to see this high-born, +but ill-fated gentleman thus bowing humbly to a felon's doom; and the +remembrance of that scene must have been a life-long remorse to his +judges, when the events of a few weeks revealed to them the terrible +truth, that he was innocent of the crime for which they had condemned +him. + +We will not dwell upon the events alluded to; for even at the distance +of nearly three-quarters of a century they are too painful and +humiliating. Suffice it to say, that, when the murderess discovered that +her beloved master was to suffer for her crime, and that no other chance +of salvation remained, she made a full confession of the whole matter. +But the sentence had been pronounced, and the power of suspending its +execution rested with the Governor; and that dignitary--let his name, +in charity, remain unsaid--was about to be a candidate for reelection to +the office which he disgraced, while the family of the murdered lady was +one of the most extensive and influential in the State, the whole of +which influence was thrown into the scale against mercy and justice. +With what result was seen, when, on the morning of the ---- of April, +17--, the prison-doors were opened for the last time for his passage, +and Cyril Wilde was led forth to the execution of an iniquitous +sentence, though, even while the sad cart was moving slowly, very +slowly, through the crowded, strangely silent street, some of the very +men who had pronounced it were imploring the Governor almost on their +knees that it might be stayed. The prisoner alone seemed impatient to +hasten the reluctant march, and meet the final catastrophe. He knew of +the efforts that were making to save him, and the confession on which +they were founded. He had listened to hopeful words and confident +predictions; but no expression of hope had thereby been kindled for an +instant on his pale, dejected face. The ominous premonition which had +come upon him at the moment of that first overpowering realization of +his danger continued to gain strength with every successive stroke of +untoward Fate, until it had become the ruling idea of his mind, in which +there grew up the sort of desperate impatience with which we long for +any end we know to be inevitable. The waters of his life had been so +mingled with gall, and the bitter draught so long pressed to his lips, +that now he seemed only eager to drain at once the last dregs, and cast +the hated cup from him forever,--impatient to find peace and rest in +the grave, even if it were the grave of a felon, and at the foot of the +gallows. + +Here let the curtain fall upon the sad closing scene. We will only +remark, in conclusion, that the name and family of this ill-fated victim +of false and circumstantial evidence have long since disappeared from +the land where they had known such disgrace; and but few persons are +now living who can recall the foregoing details of the once celebrated +"Wilde Tragedy." + + + + +CRAWFORD'S STATUES AT RICHMOND. + + + Long I owe a song, my Brother, to thy dear and deathless claim; + Long I've paused before thy ashes, in my poverty and shame: + Something stirs me now from silence, with a fixed and awful breath; + 'Tis the offspring of thy genius, that was parent to thy death. + + They were murderous, these statues; as they left thy teeming brain, + Their hurry and their thronging rent the mother-mould in twain: + So the world that takes them sorrowful their beauties must deplore; + From the portals whence they issued lovely things shall pass no more. + + With a ghostly presence wait they in a stern and dark remorse, + As the marbles they are watching were sepulchral to thy corse; + Nay, one draws his cloak about him, and the other standeth free + With his patriot arms uplifted to the grasp of Liberty. + + Shall I speak to you, ye silent ones? Your father lies at rest, + With the mighty impulse folded, like a banner, to his breast; + Ye are crownèd with remembrance, and the glory of men's eyes; + But within that heart, low buried, some immortal virtue lies. + + When with heavy strain and pressure ye were lifted to your height, + Then his passive weight was lowered to the vaults of sorrowing Night: + They who lifted struggled sorely, ere your robes on high might wave; + They who lowered with a spasm laid such greatness in its grave. + + In the moonlight first I saw you,--with the dawn I take my leave; + Others come to gaze and wonder,--not, like me, to pause and grieve: + Sure, whatever heart doth hasten here, of master or of slave, + This aspect of true nobleness makes merciful and brave. + + But I know the spot they gave him, with the cool green earth above, + Where I saw the torchlight glitter on the tears of widowed love, + And we left his garlands fading;--to redeem that moment's pain, + Would that ye were yet in chaos, and your master back again! + + No! the tears have Nature's passport, but the wish is poor and vain, + Since every noblest human work such sacrifice doth gain; + God appoints the course of Genius, like the sweep of stars and sun: + Honor to the World's rejoicing, and the Will that must be done! + + + + +JOURNAL OF A PRIVATEERSMAN. + + +II. + + +We left our privateer, the Revenge, Captain Norton, of Newport, Rhode +Island, making sail for New Providence, with her lately captured prize. +There was an English Court of Admiralty established on this island, and +here the prize was to be condemned and sold. The Journal begins again on +Monday, 10th August, 1741. + + * * * * * + +_Monday, 10th._ Fine breeze of wind at N.W., with a large sea. At 5 A.M. +saw Hog Island & the island of Providence. Fired a gun & lay to for a +pilot to take us in. At 8 a pilot boat came off, & Jeremiah Harman, +Master of our prize, in her, having arrived the day before. Passed by +the Rose man of war, stationed here. We saluted her with 7 guns, & +she returned us 5. Ran aground for'ard & lay some time off of Major +Stewart's house, but the man of war sent his boat to carry out an anchor +for us, and we got off. The Cap't went ashore to wait on his Excellency, +& sent the pinnace off for the prisoners, who were immediately put in +jail. + +_Thursday, 13th._ Landed all our corn, and made a clear hole of the +prize. At 9 P.M. it began to thunder & lighten very hard. Our sloop +received great damage from a thunderbolt that struck our mast & shivered +it very much, besides tearing a large piece off the hounds. As it fell, +it tore up the bitts, broke in the hatch way, and burst through both our +sides, starting the planks under her wale, melting several cutlasses & +pistols, and firing off several small arms, the bullets of which stuck +in her beam. It was some time before we perceived that she leaked, being +all thunder struck; but when the Master stepped over the side to examine +her, he put his foot on a plank that was started, and all this time the +water had been pouring in. We immediately brought all our guns on the +other side to give her a heel, & sent the boat ashore for the Doctor, +a man having been hurt by the lightning. When we got her on a heel, +we tried the pumps, not being able to do it before, for our careful +carpenter had ne'er a pump box rigged or fit to work; so, had it not +been for the kind assistance of the man of war's people, who came off as +soon as they heard of our misfortune, & put our guns on board the prize, +we must certainly have sunk, most of our own hands being ashore. This +day, James Avery, our boatswain, was turned out for neglect of duty. + +_Friday, 14th._ This morning came on board Cap't Frankland to see the +misfortune we had suffered the night before, & offered to assist us +in all he could. He sent his carpenter, who viewed the mast & said he +thought he could make it do again. The Cap't, hearing of a piece of +timber for his purpose, waited on his Excellency to desire him to lay +his commands on Mr Thompson to spare it him. He sent Mr Scott, Judge of +the Admiralty, to get it in his name, promising to make it good to him +in case of any trouble arising from the timber not belonging to him. +Unloaded all our provisions & put them on board the prize, in order to +get ready for the carpenters to repair the sloop. + +_Saturday, 15th._ A court was called at 4 o'clock P.M., Cap't Norton's +petition read, and an agent appointed for the owners. The Company's +Quartermaster & myself were examined, with John Evergin & Samuel +Eldridge, the two English prisoners, concerning the prize, and so the +court was adjourned till Monday, at 10 of the clock, A.M. + +_Monday, 17th._ The court met according to adjournment. Jean Baptiste +Domas was examined concerning the freedom of the prisoners, and his +deposition taken in writing. All the evidence and depositions were then +read in court, sworn to, and signed, after which the court adjourned to +Wednesday at 10 of the clock. There are no lawyers in this place, the +only blessing that God could bestow on such a litigious people. + +_Wednesday, 19th._ At 10 A.M., the court being opened, & the libel read, +I begged leave of his Honour to be heard, which being granted, I spoke +as follows:[A]-- + +[Footnote A: The speech of Peter Vezian is characteristic of the times +and of the privateering spirit. It gives expression to the popular +hatred of the Spaniards and the Romanists, to the common false charges +against the brave Oglethorpe, to the general inhuman feeling toward +negroes, and to the distrust of the pretenders to religious experience +during the "Great Revival" under the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. +Its faults of diction add to its genuine flavor.] + +May it please your Honour,--As there is no advocate appointed by this +Hon'ble Court to appear in behalf of the Capturers of a sloop taken +by Don Pedro Estrado July the 5th, belonging to some of His Majesty's +subjects of Great Britain or Ireland, and retaken by Cap't Benj. Norton +& Comp'y in a private sloop of war called the Revenge, July the 20th, & +brought into this court for condemnation, I, as Captain's Quartermaster, +appear in behalf of the owners, Cap't, & Comp'y, to prove that the said +sloop & cargo, together with the three mulattoes & one negro, which are +all slaves, belonging to some of the vassals or subjects of the King of +Spain, ought to be condemned for the benefit & use of the capturers as +aforesaid. + +I'm certain I'm undertaking a task for which I am no ways qualified. But +as I have leave to speak in a court instituted by the laws of England, +and before a judge who I am certain is endued with the strictest honour +and justice, I don't doubt, that, if, through ignorance, I should omit +any proof that would be of advantage to us, your Honour will be so good +as to aid & assist me in it. + +It will be needless, I believe, Sir, to bring any further proof than +what has been already brought & sworn to in Court to prove the right & +power we had to seize this sloop & cargo on the high seas, & bring her +here for condemnation. There is a late act of parliament, made in the +12th year of his present Majesty's reign, wherein it says, that all +vessels belonging to His Majesty's subjects of Great Britain or Ireland, +which shall have been taken by the enemy, and have been in their +possession the space of 96 hours, if retaken by any private man of +war, shall belong one half to the capturers, as salvage, free from all +charges. As this has been fully proved in court, that the time the enemy +has had her in possession is above 96 hours, I don't doubt but the one +half, free of all charges, will be allotted us for salvage. The thing +about which there is any dispute is the three mulattoes & one negro, all +slaves, taken by the prize, & said to belong to some vassals or subjects +of the King of Spain; and it is put upon us by this court to prove +that they are so, which I hope to do by several circumstances, and the +insufficiency of the evidence in their favour, which amounts to nothing +more than hearsay. + +The first evidence in their favour is that of John Evergin, a native +of N'o Carolina, who professes himself to be a child of the Spirit. In +April last, having been taken prisoner by the said Don Pedro Estrado, & +brought to S't Augustine, he consented, for the value of a share in the +profits, to pilot them in the bowels of his native country, and betrayed +his countrymen to that cruel and barbarous nation. Can your Honour +confide in a man who has betrayed his countrymen, robbed them of their +lives, and what was dearer to them, their liberty? One who has exposed +his brethren to imminent danger & reduced them and their families to +extreme want by fire & sword, can the evidence, I say, of such a vile +wretch, who has forfeited his liege to his King by entering the enemy's +service, and unnaturally sold his countrymen, be of any weight in a +court of justice? No, I am certain, and I hope it will meet with none to +prove that these slaves are freemen; for all that he has said, by his +own confession, was only but hearsay. The other evidence is of a villain +of another stamp, a French runnagado, Jean Baptiste Domas. His evidence +is so contradictory that I hope it will meet the same fate as I think +will befall the first. I will own that he has sworn to it. But how? On a +piece of stick made in the shape of a thing they name a cross, said to +be blest and sanctified by the polluted words & hands of a wretched +priest, a spawn of the whore of Babylon, who is a monster of nature & +a servant to the Devil, who for a _real_ will pretend to absolve his +followers from perjury, incest, or parricide, and canonize them for +cruelties committed upon we heretics, as they style us, and even rank +them in the number of those cursed saints who by their barbarity have +rendered their names immortal & odious to all true believers. By devils +such as these they swear, and to them they pray. Can your Honour, then, +give credit to such evidence, when there is no doubt that it was agreed +between the witnesses to swear that the negroes were free? This they +might easily do, for there is no question but they told him so; and to +swear it was but a trifle, when absolution can be got so cheap. It does +not stand to reason, that slaves, who are in hopes of getting their +freedom, would acknowledge themselves to be slaves. Do not their +complexion and features tell all the world that they are the blood of +negroes, and have sucked slavery & cruelty from their infancy? Can any +one think, when we call to mind that barbarous action[B] committed +on his Majesty's brave subjects at the retaking of the fort at S't +Augustine, which was occasioned by the treachery of their vile General, +when he sacrificed them to that barbarous colour, that it was done by +any who had the least drop of blood either of liberty or Christianity +in them? No, I am confident your Honour can't think so; no, not even of +their Gov'r, under whose vile commission this was suffered to be done, +and went unpunished. It was headed by this Francisco, that cursed seed +of Cain, cursed from the foundation of the world, who has the impudence +to come into Court and plead that he is free. Slavery is too good for +such a savage; nay, all the cruelty invented by man will never make +amends for so vile a proceeding; and if I may be allowed to speak +freely, with submission, the torments of the world to come will not +suffice. God forgive me, if I judge unjustly! What a miserable state +must that man be in, who is under the jurisdiction of that vile & cruel +colour! I pity my poor fellow creatures who may have been made prisoners +in this war, and especially some that were lately sent to the Havanah, +and all by the treachery of that vile fellow, John Evergin, who says he +is possessed with the spirit of the inward man, but was possessed with +the spirit of Beelzebub, when he piloted the cursed Spaniards over the +bar of Obricock, as it has been proved in Court. + +[Footnote B: It was reported that the English and American prisoners of +war had been barbarously mutilated and tortured.] + +I don't doubt but this tragical act, acted at St Augustine, has reached +home before now. This case, perhaps, may travel as far; and when they +remember the sufferings of their countrymen under the command of this +Francisco, whom we have got in possession, together with some of his +comp'y who were concerned with him & under his command in that inhuman +act, they will agree, no doubt, as I hope your Honour will, that they +must be slaves who were concerned in it. I hope, therefore, that by the +contradictions which have been shown in Court between this Jean Baptiste +Domas, who affirms he never saw them till on board the privateer, and +the evidence of Francisco & Augustine, which proves that they knew him +some months before, and conversed with him, is proof enough they are +slaves; and I hope that by the old law of nations, where it says that +all prisoners of war, nay, even their posterity, are slaves, that by +that law Pedro Sanche & Andrew Estavie will be deemed such for the use +of the capturers. So I rest it with your Honour. + +Then the Judge gave his decree, that the sloop & cargo should be sold at +vendue, & the one half thereof should be paid the Capturers for salvage, +free from all charges; that Jean Baptiste Domas, Pedro Sanche, & Andrew +Estavie, according to the laws of England, should remain as prisoners of +war till ransomed; and that Augustine & Francisco, according to the +laws of the plantations, should be the slaves, & for the use of the +Capturers. So the Court broke up. + +_Friday, 21st._ This day made an end of selling the cargo of the prize. +Sold 55 bush. corn, 41 bb's pork, 6 bb's of beef, 4 bb's of oil, and +then set up Signor Cap't Francisco under the name of Don Blass. He was +sold to Mr. Stone for 34£ 8s. 8d. Pork & beef very much damnified. + +_Thursday, 27th._ Got all our sails & powder from on shore, and took an +inventory of the prize's rigging and furniture, as she was to be sold on +Saturday next. Capt Frankland came on board to view her, intending to +buy her, I believe. + +_Saturday, 29th._ To-day the sloop & furniture was sold, & bought by +Cap't Frankland. + +_Monday, 31st._ The captain settled with everybody, intending to sail +to-morrow. He took bills of Exchange of Capt Frankland on his brother, +Messrs. Frankland & Lightfoot, merchants in Boston, and endorsed by the +Company's Quartermaster, for 540£, New England currency. The first bill +he sent to Cap't Freebody by Capt Green, bound to Boston in the prize, +with a letter. + +_Wednesday, Sept. 2nd._ This morning at 8 A.M. weighed anchor, having a +pilot on board. The man of war's barge with their Lieut came on board to +search our hold & see that we did not carry any of his hands with us. + +_Thursday, 3d._ At 10 A.M. had a vendue at the mast of the plunder taken +in the prize, which was sold to the amount of 50£. + +_Friday, 4th._ Moderate weather till 4 A.M., when we hauled down our +mainsail to get clear of the keys & brought to under our ballast +mainsail, the wind blowing a mere hurricane. + +_Sunday, 6th._ Out both reefs our mainsail. Hope to God to have fine +weather. Got clear of the reefs, and stood out the hurricane, which +was terrible. Very few godly enough to return God thanks for their +deliverance. + +_Sunday, 13th._ The Captain gave the people a case bottle of rum, as a +tropick bottle for his pinnace. The people christened her and gave +her the name of _The Spaniard's Dread_. At 11 A.M. made the land of +Hispaniola & the island of Tortugas. We are now on cruising ground. The +Lord send us success against our enemies! + +_Monday, 14th._ Hard gales of wind. Brought to off Tortugas under our +foresail, and about 5 A.M. saw a sloop bearing down upon us. Got all +things ready to receive her, fired our bow chaser, hoisted our jib & +mainsail & gave chase, and, as we outsailed her, she was soon brought +to. She proved to be a sloop from Philadelphia, bound to Jamaica; and +as it blew a mere fret of wind from N.E., we brought to again under our +ballast mainsail. + +_Thursday, 17th._ Still cruising as above. At 7 P.M. saw 2 sloops, one +on our Starboard and the other on our Larboard bow, steering N.W. We +fired several shot to bring them to, but one of them was obstinate. +Capt. Hubbard, the Com'r of the other, came to at the first shot. He was +from Jamaica & bound to York, & informed us that there was a large fleet +just arrived from England to join the Admiral; that Admiral Vernon was +gone to St. Jago de Cuba; that there was a hot press both by sea & by +land; & that the Spanish Admiral was blown up in a large man of war at +the Havanah, which we hope may prove true. The other sloop, he said, was +one under Cap't Styles, bound also to York, and had sailed in comp'y +with him. Styles received some damage for his obstinacy in not bringing +to, for our shot hulled him and tore his sails. At 5 A.M. saw a top +sail schooner; but the master, while going to the mast head to see what +course she steered, had the misfortune to fall & break his arm just +above the wrist. Gave the vessel chase as far as Inagua Island, when she +came to. We made the Captain come on board with his papers, from which +we found that he came from Leogane, and was bound to Nantz in France, +loaded with sugars, indigo, and hides, and also 300 pieces of 8/8 sent +by the Intendant to the receiver of the customs of Nantz. We went aboard +in the Captain's yawl, and found the cargo agreeable to his bills of +lading, manifest, and clearance, and so let him pass. He informed us +that there was a brig belonging to the Spaniards at Leogane, that came +in there in distress, having lost his mast, which gentleman we hope to +have the honour of dining or supping with before long. + +_Saturday, 19th._ Moderate weather. Saw a sail and gave chase. + +_Sunday, 20th._ At 5 P.M. came up with the chase, which proved to be a +French ship that had been blown out of Leogane in the hurricane 6 days +ago. Her mizzen mast had been cut to get clear of the land; her quarters +stove in; her head carried away; and there was neither anchor nor cable +aboard. Of 16 hands, which were aboard, there was but one sailor, and he +was the master, and they were perishing for want of water. There was +on board 30 hhd sugar, 1 hhd & 1 bbl indigo, 13 hhd Bourdeaux wine, & +provisions in plenty. We ordered the master on board, and, as soon as he +came over the side, he fell on his knees and begged for help. When we +heard his deplorable case, we spared him some water, &, as he was an +entire stranger on the coast, put one of our hands aboard to navigate +his vessel. They kept company with us all night, and in the morning sent +us a hhd of wine. At 5 A.M., they being about a league to windward of +us, we made in for the Molo by Cape Nicholas, and she steering after us, +we brought her in. But the wind coming up ahead, & their ship out of +trim, they could not work up so far as we, so they came to an anchor a +league below us. The Cap't of the ship is named Doulteau, the ship La +Genereuse, Dutch built, and is from Rochelle in France. + +_Monday, 21st._ Our Lieu't with two hands went ashore to see if he could +kill any cattle. Some others of the people went for water and found 7 +wells. The people on board were busy in fishing, of which they caught +an abundance; but some of the hands who eat of the fish complained that +they were poisoned by them. + +_Wednesday, 23d._ At 6 P.M. the master of the ship came on board to +return thanks to our Cap't for his kind assistance, & offered him +anything he might have occasion for. He gave the people another hhd of +claret & some sugar, & to the Cap't a quarter cask of wine for his own +drinking, also 6 lengths of old junk. At 6 A.M. left the poor Frenchman +in hopes of letting his Cap't know where he was, weighed anchor from the +Molo, and, the weather being moderate, got on our cruising ground, the +North side of Cuba. + +_Saturday, 26th._ About 5 P.M. thought we saw a vessel at anchor under +the land. Lay off & on till 5 A.M., when we saw 2 sails, a brigantine & +a sloop. Gave them chase, the sloop laying to for us, & the brigantine +making the best of her way to the leeward. We presently came up with +the sloop, & when in gun shot, hoisted our pennant. The compliment was +returned with a Spanish ensign at mast head, and a gun to confirm it. We +then went alongside of him & received his broadside, which we cheerfully +returned. He then dropped astern, & bore away before the wind, crowding +all the sail he could, and we, having tacked and done the like, came +again within gun shot. While chasing, we shifted our bow guns to our +fore ports, and they had done the like with their after guns, moving +them to their cabin windows, from which they polled us with their stern +chasers, while we peppered them with our fore guns. At last, after some +brisk firing, they struck. We ordered their canoe on board, which was +directly manned, and brought their Capt, who delivered his commission & +sword to our Cap't, and surrendered himself a prisoner of war. He was +desperately wounded in the arm, & had received several small shot in his +head & body. Three of his hands were wounded, & one negro boy killed. +This vessel had been new fitted out in November last from the Havanah, +was on our coast early in the spring, & had taken several vessels and +brought them in to the Havanah, where in August she was again fitted +out, and had met with good success on the coast of Virginia. She +mounted 6 guns & 12 swivels, & had a crew of 30 hands, two of whom were +Englishmen, who had been taken prisoners, and had entered their service. +We now made all the sail we could crowd after the brigantine, which by +this time was almost out of sight. Our damage in the engagement was +not much; one man slightly wounded by a splinter, two more by a piece +accidentally going off after the fight, upwards of 20 shot in our sails, +2 through our mast, & 1 through our gunwale. This day the Revenge has +established her honour, which had almost been lost by letting the other +privateer go off with 4 ships, as before mentioned. Still in chase of +the brigantine, which is making for the land. + +_Sunday, 27th._ At 4 A.M. came up with the chase, fired two guns, & +brought her to. She had been taken by the privateer 23 days before, in +Lat. 26.° N., while coming from Barbadoes; was loaded with rum, sugar, & +some bags of cotton, & was bound to Boston. Her owners are Messrs. Lee & +Tyler, Merchants there, Thomas Smith was her commander, & there were 5 +Spaniards aboard, whom we took. + +_Monday, 28th._ Put the Lieut on board the privateer prize with 7 hands; +also put on board the brigantine Capt Tho. Smith, with verbal orders to +follow us until we could get letters written to send her to Rhode Island +to Cap't Freebody. + +_Tuesday, 29th._ Lost sight of both prizes, & lay to the best part of +the forenoon to let them come up with us. + +_Wednesday, 30th._ Saw our prize, [the sloop,] bore down on her, & +ordered her canoe on board. The Quartermaster went on board & brought +off her powder & other stores, leaving 7 hands to navigate her, with +verbal orders to keep us company. No news of the brigantine; we suppose +she is gone to the northward. She has one of our hands on board. + +_Thursday, Oct. 1st._ Calm weather, with thunder & rain. Brave living +with our people. Punch every day, which makes them dream strange things, +which foretells good success in our cruise. They dream of nothing but +mad bulls, Spaniards, & bags of gold. Examined the papers of the sloop, +& found several in Spanish & French, among which was the condemnation of +Cap't Stocking's sloop. + +_Friday, 2nd._ At 6 A.M. saw a ship under the land. Stretched in for +her, when she hoisted a French pennant & an English ensign. Hoisted our +Spanish Jack at mast head, and sent our pinnace aboard to discover what +it was. She proved to be a ship that had been taken by Don Francisco +Loranzo, our prisoner, off the Capes of Virginia. He had put a Lieu't, +10 hands, & 5 Englishmen to carry her to the Havanah. But the Spaniards +ran her ashore on purpose. We brought off the 5 Englishmen, the +Spaniards having run for it. We caught one & brought him on board, and +sent our prize alongside to save what goods we could, for the ship was +bilged. + +_Saturday, 3d._ The people busy in getting goods out of the ship, we +laying off & on. + +_Sunday, 4th._ Sent John Webb as master with 7 mariners on board the +prize, & with them a Bermudian negro, who had been taken prisoner in a +fishing boat by the Spanish Cap't off the Bermudas, & a mulatto prisoner +belonging to the Spaniards, with the instructions which are underneath. + +Latitude 22.° 50' N., Oct. 4th, 1741. + +MR. JOHN WEBB, + +You being appointed master of the sloop Invincible, late a Spanish +privateer, commanded by Cap't Don Francisco Loranzo, and taken by me & +company, we order you to keep company with us till farther orders. But +if, by some unforeseen accident, bad weather, or giving chase, we should +chance to part, then we order that you proceed directly with said sloop +& cargo to Rhode Island in New England. And if, by the Providence +of God, you safe arrive there, you must apply to Mr. John Freebody, +Merchant there, & deliver your sloop & cargo to him or his assigns. + +You are also ordered to take care that you speak to no vessel, nor +suffer any to speak with you, during your passage, nor permit any +disorder on board; but you must take a special care of the cargo that +none be embezzled, and, if weather permits, you must be diligent in +drying the goods, to hinder them from spoiling. Wishing you a good +voyage, we remain your friends. + +B.N. + +D.M. + +Copy of a letter sent to Capt Freebody per John Webb in the sloop. + +SIR,--I hope my sundry letters sent you by different hands are come +safe. + +This waits upon you with the agreeable news of our taking a Spanish +privateer on the 26th Sep't last, off Cape Roman, on the north side of +Cuba. She was conveying to the Havanah a brigantine which she had taken, +coming from Barbadoes & bound to Boston, & laden with rum, sugar, and +some bags of cotton. We had the pleasure of meeting him early in the +morning, & gave chase. When within about a mile of him we hoisted our +pennant, which compliment he immediately returned with his ensign at +mast head and a gun to confirm it. We received several shot from him, & +cheerfully returned them. He then made the best of his way off, crowding +all the sail he could; and we, doing the like, came again within gun +shot, and plied her with our bow chasers, which were shifted to the fore +ports for that purpose. They in return kept pelting us with their stern +chasers out of their cabin windows, but after some brisk firing they +struck. Our rigging, mast, & gunwale received some damage. Upwards of 25 +shot went through our sails, 2 through our mast in its weakest part just +below where it was fished, 1 cut our fore shroud on the Larboard side, & +another went through our Starboard gunwale, port & all. Only one of our +men was wounded by the enemy, and he slightly by a splinter. Two +others were hurt in the arm by one of the people's pieces going off +accidentally after the engagement. The poor Cap't of the privateer was +wounded in the arm and the bone fractured, one negro boy killed, +& others wounded. He was fitted out last November at the Havanah, +proceeded to S't. Augustine, & while on our coast early in the spring +took several vessels. In August last he was again fitted out, & had +taken several more vessels on our coast. But we had the good fortune to +stop his course. His name is Don Francisco Loranzo, & by all report, +though an enemy, a brave man, endued with a great deal of clemency, & +using his prisoners with a great deal of humanity. The like usage he +receives with us, for he justly deserves it. + +We have sent you the sloop commanded by John Webb, loaded with sundry +goods somewhat damaged, which I must desire you to unload directly & to +take care to get them dried. There is also a negro boy that is sickly, +a negro man said to have been taken off Bermudas by the privateer as he +was a fishing, & a mulatto belonging to some of the subjects or vassals +of the King of Spain, all of which we recommend to your care that they +may not elope. + +The number of Spanish prisoners taken on board, the Captain included, +is 48, out of which 11 are of the blood of negroes, for which we don't +doubt that we shall have his Majesty's bounty money, which is 5£ +sterling per head. We also desire that the vessel may not be condemned +till our arrival, but only unloaded & a just account taken of what was +on board. As to the brigantine, the Captain of her, whom we put in again +out of civility, has used us in a very rascally manner; for he ran away +from us in the night with the vessel, & no doubt designed to cheat us +out of our salvage, which is the half of brig & cargo, the enemy having +had possession of her for 22 days. As she is a vessel of value, I hope +you'l do your endeavors to recover our just dues, and apply to the +owners, who are, as we are credibly informed, Messrs Lee & Tyler of +Boston, both of whom are under the state of conviction since the gospel +of Whitfield & Tennant has been propagated in New England. So that we +are in hopes they will readily give a just account of her cargo & her +true value, & render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, which is +the moral preached by Whitefield. + +As this will require a lawsuit, I hope you will get the best advice you +possibly can, &, if she is at Boston or elsewhere, get her seized & +condemned. She was designed to be consigned to you, & the master was +sent on board to take possession, & get things in order to sail, while +we were writing letters & bills of lading, but he gave us the slip. So, +relying on your care, we don't doubt but you will recover her and +add her to the privateer prize. The brigantine was called the Sarah, +commanded by Tho's Smith, & had on board 11 hhd of rum, 23 hhd of sugar, +& 12 bags of cotton. She was well fitted with 4 swivels, one gun, & +other stores. She was a new, pink stern vessel, & carried off one of our +hands, who, no doubt, will acquaint you of the whole affair. We hope +you will show no favour to the Cap't for his ill usage, but get a just +account of his venture, one half of which is our due. This affair is +recommended to you by all the company, and we hope that you will serve +us to the utmost of your power, not doubting in the least of your +justice & equity. + +Inclosed you will receive Cap't Frankland's 2 Bills of Exchange on +his brother for 540£, also a list of the vessels which were taken by +Francisco Loranzo since he first went out on his cruise, which you may +use at pleasure either to publish or conceal. We are still cruising on +the Northern side of Cuba, & are in hopes of getting something worth +while in a short time. + +We are all in good health; so, having no more to add but my kind +remembrances to all friends, + +I remain + +sincerely yours, + +B.N. + +_Monday, 5th._ The company gave the Cap't a night gown, a spencer wig, & +4 pair of thread stockings, & to the Lieut a pair of buck skin breeches. +The Doctor bought a suit of broad cloth, which cost him 28 pieces of +eight and is carried to his account in the sloop's ledger. + + * * * * * + +Here Peter Vezian's journal abruptly comes to an end. But we know from +other papers, that the "Revenge," after a successful cruise, returned +safely to Newport; and thence in the next succeeding years often sailed +out against the Spaniards. Queer legends of those privateering days +still linger in Newport, and traces of ill-gotten wealth may still +be discovered there. The sailors of the old seaport are as bold and +adventurous as ever, but they are grown honester, and never again shall +a crew be found there to man either slave-trader or privateer. Northern +seamen have no liking for such occupation. + + + + +CONCERNING PEOPLE OF WHOM MORE MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE. + + +It is recorded in history, that at a certain public dinner in America +a Methodist preacher was called on to give a toast. It may be supposed +that the evening was so far advanced that every person present had been +toasted already, and also all the friends of every one present. It thus +happened that the Methodist preacher was in considerable perplexity as +to the question, What being, or class of beings, should form the subject +of his toast. But the good man was a person of large sympathies; and +some happy link of association recalled to his mind certain words with +which he had a professional familiarity, and which set forth a subject +of a most comprehensive character. Arising from his seat, the Methodist +preacher said, that, without troubling the assembled company with any +preliminary observations, he begged to propose the health of ALL PEOPLE +THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL. + +Not unnaturally, I have thought of that Methodist preacher and his +toast, as I begin to write this essay. For, though its subject was +suggested to me by various little things of very small concern to +mankind in general, though of great interest to one or two individual +beings, I now discern that the subject of this essay is in truth as +comprehensive as the subject of that toast. I have something to say +_Concerning People of whom More might have been Made_: I see now that +the class which I have named includes every human being. More might have +been made, in some respects, possibly in many respects, of _All +People that on Earth do Dwell_. Physically, intellectually, morally, +spiritually, more might have been made of all. Wise and diligent +training on the part of others, self-denial, industry, tact, decision, +promptitude, on the part of the man himself, might have made something +far better than he now is of every man that breathes. No one is made the +most of. There have been human beings who have been made the most of as +regards some one thing, who have had some single power developed to the +utmost; but no one is made the most of, all round; no one is even made +the most of as regards the two or three most important things of all. +And, indeed, it is curious to observe that the things in which human +beings seem to have attained to absolute perfection have for the most +part been things comparatively frivolous,--accomplishments which +certainly were not worth the labor and the time which it must have cost +to master them. Thus, M. Blondin has probably made as much of himself as +can be made of mortal, in the respect of walking on a rope stretched at +a great height from the ground. Hazlitt makes mention of a man who had +cultivated to the very highest degree the art of playing at rackets, and +who accordingly played at rackets incomparably better than any one else +ever did. A wealthy gentleman, lately deceased, by putting his whole +mind to the pursuit, esteemed himself to have reached entire perfection +in the matter of killing otters. Various individuals have probably +developed the power of turning somersets, of picking pockets, of +playing on the piano, jew's-harp, banjo, and penny trumpet, of mental +calculation in arithmetic, of insinuating evil about their neighbors +without directly asserting anything, to a measure as great as is +possible to man. Long practice and great concentration of mind upon +these things have sufficed to produce what might seem to tremble on the +verge of perfection,--what unquestionably leaves the attainments of +ordinary people at an inconceivable distance behind. But I do not call +it making the most of a man, to develop, even to perfection, the power +of turning somersets and playing at rackets. I call it making the most +of a man, when you make the best of his best powers and qualities,--when +you take those things about him which are the worthiest and most +admirable, and cultivate these up to their highest attainable degree. +And it is in this sense that the statement is to be understood, that +no one is made the most of. Even in the best, we see no more than the +rudiments of good qualities which might have been developed into a great +deal more; and in very many human beings, proper management might have +brought out qualities essentially different from those which these +beings now possess. It is not merely that they are rough diamonds, which +might have been polished into blazing ones,--not merely that they are +thoroughbred colts drawing coal-carts, which with fair training would +have been new Eclipses: it is that they are vinegar which might have +been wine, poison which might have been food, wild-cats which might have +been harmless lambs, soured miserable wretches who might have been happy +and useful, almost devils who might have been but a little lower than +the angels. Oh, the unutterable sadness that is in the thought of what +might have been! + +Not always, indeed. Sometimes, as we look back, it is with deep +thankfulness that we see the point at which we were (we cannot say how) +inclined to take the right turning, when we were all but resolved to +take that which we can now see would have landed us in wreck and ruin. +And it is fit that we should correct any morbid tendency to brood upon +the fancy of how much better we might have been, by remembering also how +much worse we might have been. Sometimes the present state of matters, +good or bad, is the result of long training, of influences that were at +work through many years, and that produced their effect so gradually +that we never remarked the steps of the process, till some day we waken +up to a sense of the fact, and find ourselves perhaps a great deal +better, probably a great deal worse, than we had been vaguely imagining. +But the case is not unfrequently otherwise. Sometimes one testing-time +decided whether we should go to the left or to the right. There are in +the moral world things analogous to the sudden accident which makes a +man blind or lame for life: in an instant there is wrought a permanent +deterioration. Perhaps a few minutes before man or woman took the step +which can never be retraced, which must banish forever from all they +hold dear, and compel to seek in some new country far away a place where +to hide their shame and misery, they had just as little thought of +taking that miserable step as you, my reader, have of taking one like +it. And perhaps there are human beings in this world, held in the +highest esteem, and with not a speck on their snow-white reputation, who +know within themselves that they have barely escaped the gulf, that +the moment has been in which all their future lot was trembling in the +balance, and that a grain's weight more in the scale of evil and by this +time they might have been reckoned among the most degraded and abandoned +of the race. But probably the first deviation, either to right or left, +is in most cases a very small one. You know, my friend, what is meant by +the _points_ upon a railway. By moving a lever, the rails upon which the +train is advancing are, at a certain place, broadened or narrowed by +about the eighth of an inch. That little movement decides whether +the train shall go north or south. Twenty carriages have come so far +together; but here is a junction station, and the train is to be +divided. The first ten carriages deviate from the main line by a +fraction of an inch at first; but in a few minutes the two portions of +the train are flying on, miles apart. You cannot see the one from the +other, save by distant puffs of white steam through the clumps of trees. +Perhaps already a high hill has intervened, and each train is on its +solitary way,--one to end its course, after some hours, amid the roar +and smoke and bare ugliness of some huge manufacturing town; and the +other to come through green fields to the quaint, quiet, dreamy-looking +little city, whose place is marked, across the plain, by the noble spire +of the gray cathedral rising into the summer blue. We come to such +points in our journey through life,--railway-points, as it were, which +decide not merely our lot in life, but even what kind of folk we shall +be, morally and intellectually. A hair's breadth may make the deviation +at first. Two situations are offered you at once: you think there is +hardly anything to choose between them. It does not matter which you +accept; and perhaps some slight and fanciful consideration is allowed to +turn the scale. But now you look back, and you can see that _there_ was +the turning-point in your life; it was because you went there to the +right, and not to the left, that you are now a great English prelate, +and not a humble Scotch professor. Was there not a time in a certain +great man's life, at which the lines of rail diverged, and at which the +question was settled, Should he be a minister of the Scotch Kirk, or +should he be Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain? I can imagine a +stage in the history of a lad in a counting-house, at which the little +angle of rail may be pushed in or pushed back that shall send the train +to one of two places five hundred miles asunder: it may depend upon +whether he shall take or not take that half-crown, whether, thirty years +after, he shall be taking the chair, a rubicund baronet, at a missionary +society meeting, and receive the commendations of philanthropic peers +and earnest bishops, or be laboring in chains at Norfolk Island, a +brutalized, cursing, hardened, scourge-scarred, despairing wretch, +without a hope for this life or the other. Oh, how much may turn upon a +little thing! Because the railway train in which you were coming to a +certain place was stopped by a snowstorm, the whole character of your +life may have been changed. Because some one was in the drawing-room +when you went to see Miss Smith on a certain day, resolved to put to her +a certain question, you missed the tide, you lost your chance, you went +away to Australia and never saw her more. It fell upon a day that +a ship, coming from Melbourne, was weathering a rocky point on an +iron-bound coast, and was driven close upon that perilous shore. They +tried to put her about; it was the last chance. It was a moment of awful +risk and decision. If the wind catches the sails, now shivering as the +ship comes up, on the right side, then all on board are safe. If the +wind catches the sails on the other side, then all on board must perish. +And so it all depends upon which surface of certain square yards of +canvas the uncertain breeze shall strike, whether John Smith, who is +coming home from the diggings with twenty thousand pounds, shall go +down and never be heard of again by his poor mother and sisters away in +Scotland,--or whether he shall get safely back, a rich man, to gladden +their hearts, and buy a pretty little place, and improve the house on it +into the pleasantest picture, and purchase, and ride, and drive various +horses, and be seen on market-days sauntering in the High Street of the +county-town, and get married, and run about the lawn before his door, +chasing his little children, and become a decent elder of the Church, +and live quietly and happily for many years. Yes, from what precise +point of the compass the next flaw of wind should come would decide the +question between the long homely life in Scotland and a nameless burial +deep in a foreign sea. + +It seems to me to be one of the main characteristics of human beings, +not that they actually are much, but that they are something of which +much may be made. There are untold potentialities in human nature. The +tree cut down, concerning which its heathen owner debated whether he +should make it into a god or into a three-legged stool, was positively +nothing in its capacity of coming to different ends and developments, +when we compare it with each human being born into this world. Man is +not so much a thing already, as he is the germ of something. He is, +so to speak, material formed to the hand of circumstances. He is +essentially a germ, either of good or evil. And he is not like the seed +of a plant, in whose development the tether allows no wider range than +that between the more or less successful manifestation of its inherent +nature. Give a young tree fair play, good soil and abundant air,--tend +it carefully, in short, and you will have a noble tree. Treat the young +tree unfairly,--give it a bad soil, deprive it of needful air and light, +and it will grow up a stunted and poor tree. But in the case of the +human being, there is more than this difference in degree. There may be +a difference in kind. The human being may grow up to be, as it were, +a fair and healthful fruit-tree, or to be a poisonous one. There is +something positively awful about the potentialities that are in +human nature. The Archbishop of Canterbury might have grown up under +influences which would have made him a bloodthirsty pirate or a sneaking +pickpocket. The pirate or the pickpocket, taken at the right time, and +trained in the right way, might have been made a pious, exemplary man. +You remember that good divine, two hundred years since, who, standing in +the market-place of a certain town, and seeing a poor wretch led by him +to the gallows, said, "There goes myself, but for the grace of God." Of +course, it is needful that human laws should hold all men as equally +responsible. The punishment of such an offence is such an infliction, no +matter who committed the offence. At least the mitigating circumstances +which human laws can take into account must be all of a very plain and +intelligible character. It would not do to recognize anything like a +graduated scale of responsibility. A very bad training in youth would be +in a certain limited sense regarded as lessening the guilt of any wrong +thing done; and you may remember, accordingly, how that magnanimous +monarch, Charles II., urged to the Scotch lords, in extenuation of the +wrong things he had done, that his father had given him a very bad +education. But though human laws and judges may vainly and clumsily +endeavor to fix each wrongdoer's place in the scale of responsibility, +and though they must, in a rough way, do what is rough justice in five +cases out of six, still we may well believe that in the view of the +Supreme Judge the responsibilities of men are most delicately graduated +to their opportunities. There is One who will appreciate with entire +accuracy the amount of guilt that is in each wrong deed of each +wrong-doer, and mercifully allow for such as never had a chance of being +anything but wrong-doers. And it will not matter whether it was from +original constitution or from unhappy training that these poor creatures +never had that chance. I was lately quite astonished to learn that some +sincere, but stupid American divines have fallen foul of the eloquent +author of "Elsie Venner," and accused him of fearful heresy, because he +declared his confident belief that "God would never make a man with a +crooked spine and then punish him for not standing upright." Why, that +statement of the "Autocrat" appears to me at least as certain as that +two and two make four. It may, indeed, contain some recondite and +malignant reference which the stupid American divines know, and which +I do not; it may be a mystic Shibboleth, indicating far more than it +asserts; as at one time in Scotland it was esteemed as proof that a +clergyman preached unsound doctrine, if he made use of the Lord's +Prayer. But, understanding it simply as meaning that the Judge of all +the Earth will do right, it appears to me an axiom beyond all question. +And I take it as putting in a compact form the spirit of what I have +been arguing for,--to wit, that, though human law must of necessity hold +all rational beings as alike responsible, yet in the eye of God the +difference may be immense. The graceful vase, that stands in the +drawing-room under a glass shade, and never goes to the well, has no +great right to despise the rough pitcher that goes often and is broken +at last. It is fearful to think what malleable material we are in the +hands of circumstances. + +And a certain Authority, considerably wiser and incomparably more +charitable than the American divines already mentioned, recognized the +fact, when He taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation!" We shall +think, in a little while, of certain influences which may make or mar +the human being; but it may be said here that I firmly believe that +happiness is one of the best of disciplines. As a general rule, if +people were happier, they would be better. When you see a poor cabman +on a winter-day, soaked with rain, and fevered with gin, violently +thrashing the wretched horse he is driving, and perhaps howling at it, +you may be sure that it is just because the poor cabman is so miserable +that he is doing all that. It was a sudden glimpse, perhaps, of his bare +home and hungry children, and of the dreary future which lay before +himself and them, that was the true cause of those two or three furious +lashes you saw him deal upon the unhappy screw's ribs. Whenever I read +any article in a review, which is manifestly malignant, and intended not +to improve an author, but to give him pain, I cannot help immediately +wondering what may have been the matter with the man who wrote the +malignant article. Something must have been making him very unhappy, +I think. I do not allude to playful attacks upon a man, made in pure +thoughtlessness and buoyancy of spirit,--but to attacks which indicate a +settled, deliberate, calculating rancor. Never be angry with the man who +makes such an attack; you ought to be sorry for him. It is out of great +misery that malignity for the most part proceeds. To give the ordinary +mortal a fair chance, let him be reasonably successful and happy. Do not +worry a man into nervous irritability, and he will be amiable. Do not +dip a man in water, and he will not be wet. + +Of course, my friend, I know who is to you the most interesting of all +beings, and whose history is the most interesting of all histories. +_You_ are to yourself the centre of this world, and of all the interests +of this world. And this is quite right. + +There is no selfishness about all this, except that selfishness which +forms an essential element in personality,--that selfishness which must +go with the fact of one's having a self. You cannot help looking at all +things as they appear from your own point of view; and things press +themselves upon your attention and your feeling as they affect yourself. +And apart from anything like egotism, or like vain self-conceit, it is +probable that you may know that a great deal depends upon your exertion +and your life. There are those at home who would fare but poorly, if you +were just now to die. There are those who must rise with you, if you +rise, and sink with you, if you sink. Does it sometimes suddenly strike +you, what a little object you are, to have so much depending on you? +Vaguely, in your thinking and feeling, you add your circumstances +and your lot to your personality; and these make up an object of +considerable extension. You do so with other people as well as with +yourself. You have all their belongings as a background to the picture +of them which you have in your mind; and they look very little when +you see them in fact, because you see them without these belongings. +I remember, when a boy, how disappointed I was at first seeing the +Archbishop of Canterbury. It was Archbishop Howley. There he was, +a slender, pale old gentleman, sitting in an arm-chair at a public +meeting. I was chiefly disappointed, because there was _so little_ of +him. There was just the human being. There was no background of grand +accessories. The idea of the Primate of England which I had in some +confused manner in my mind included a vision of the venerable towers of +Lambeth,--of a long array of solemn predecessors, from Thomas à Becket +downwards,--of great historical occasions on which the Archbishop of +Canterbury had been a prominent figure; and in some way I fancied, +vaguely, that you would see the primate surrounded by all these things. +You remember the Highlander in "Waverley," who was much mortified when +his chief came to meet an English guest, unattended by any retinue, and +who exclaimed, in consternation and sorrow, "He has come without his +tail!" Even such was my early feeling. You understand later that +associations are not visible, and that they do not add to a man's +extension in space. But (to go back) you do, as regards yourself, what +you do as regards greater men: you add your lot to your personality, +and thus you make up a bigger object. And when you see yourself in your +tailor's shop, in a large mirror (one of a series) wherein you see your +figure all round, reflected several times, your feeling will probably +be, What a little thing you are! If you are a wise man, you will go away +somewhat humbled, and possibly somewhat the better for the sight. You +have, to a certain extent, done what Burns thought it would do all men +much good to do: you have "seen yourself as others see you." And even +to do so physically is a step towards a juster and humbler estimate of +yourself in more important things. It may here be said, as a further +illustration of the principle set forth, that people who stay very much +at home feel their stature, bodily and mental, much lessened when they +go far away from home, and spend a little time among strange scenes and +people. For, going thus away from home, you take only yourself. It is +but a small part of your extension that goes. You go; but you leave +behind your house, your study, your children, your servants, your +horses, your garden. And not only do you leave them behind, but they +grow misty and unsubstantial when you are far away from them. And +somehow you feel, that, when you make the acquaintance of a new friend +some hundreds of miles off, who never saw your home and your family, you +present yourself before him only a twentieth part or so of what you feel +yourself to be when you have all your belongings about you. Do you not +feel all that? And do you not feel, that, if you were to go away to +Australia forever, almost as the English coast turned blue and then +invisible on the horizon, your life in England would first turn +cloud-like, and then melt away? + +But without further discussing the philosophy of how it comes to be, I +return to the statement that you yourself, as you live in your home, are +to yourself the centre of this world,--and that you feel the force of +any great principle most deeply, when you feel it in your own case. +And though every worthy mortal must be often taken out of himself, +especially by seeing the deep sorrows and great failures of other men, +still, in thinking of people of whom more might have been made, it +touches you most to discern that you are one of these. It is a very sad +thing to think of yourself, and to see how much more might have been +made of you. Sit down by the fire in winter, or go out now in summer and +sit down under a tree, and look back on the moral discipline you have +gone through,--look back on what you have done and suffered. Oh, how +much better and happier you might have been! And how very near you have +often been to what would have made you so much happier and better! If +you had taken the other turning when you took the wrong one, after much +perplexity,--if you had refrained from saying such a hasty word,--if you +had not thoughtlessly made such a man your enemy! Such a little thing +may have changed the entire complexion of your life. Ah, it was because +the points were turned the wrong way at that junction, that you are now +running along a line of railway through wild moorlands, leaving the warm +champaign below ever more hopelessly behind. Hastily, or pettedly, +or despairingly, you took the wrong turning; or you might have been +dwelling now amid verdant fields and silver waters in the country of +contentment and success. Many men and women, in the temporary bitterness +of some disappointment, have hastily made marriages which will embitter +all their future life,--or which at least make it certain that in this +world they will never know a joyous heart any more. Men have died +as almost briefless barristers, toiling into old age in heartless +wrangling, who had their chance of high places on the bench, but +ambitiously resolved to wait for something higher, and so missed the +tide. Men in the church have taken the wrong path at some critical time, +and doomed themselves to all the pangs of disappointed ambition. But I +think a sincere man in the church has a great advantage over almost all +ordinary disappointed men. He has less temptation, reading affairs by +the light of after-time, to look back with bitterness on any mistake he +may have made. For, if he be the man I mean, he took the decisive step +not without seeking the best of guidance; and the whole training of his +mind has fitted him for seeing a higher Hand in the allotment of human +conditions. And if a man acted for the best, according to the light he +had, and if he truly believes that God puts all in their places in +life, he may look back without bitterness upon what may appear the +most grievous mistakes. I must be suffered to add, that, if he is able +heartily to hold certain great truths and to rest on certain sure +promises, hardly any conceivable earthly lot should stamp him a soured +or disappointed man. If it be a sober truth, that "all things shall work +together for good" to a certain order of mankind, and if the deepest +sorrows in this world may serve to prepare us for a better,--why, then, +I think that one might hold by a certain ancient philosopher (and +something more) who said, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, +therewith to be content." + + * * * * * + +You see, reader, that, in thinking of _People of whom More might have +been Made_, we are limiting the scope of the subject. I am not thinking +how more might have been made of us originally. No doubt, the potter +had power over the clay. Give a larger brain, of finer quality, and +the commonplace man might have been a Milton. A little change in the +chemical composition of the gray matter of that little organ which is +unquestionably connected with the mind's working as no other organ of +the body is, and, oh, what a different order of thought would have +rolled off from your pen, when you sat down and tried to write your +best! If we are to believe Robert Burns, some people have been made more +of than was originally intended. A certain poem records how that which, +in his homely phrase, he calls "stuff to mak' a swine," was ultimately +converted into a very poor specimen of a human being. The poet had no +irreverent intention, I dare say; but I am not about to go into the +field of speculation which is opened up by his words. I know, indeed, +that, in the hands of the Creator, each of us might have been made +a different man. The pounds of material which were fashioned into +Shakspeare might have made a bumpkin with little thought beyond pigs +and turnips, or, by some slight difference beyond man's skill to trace, +might have made an idiot. A little infusion of energy into the mental +constitution might have made the mild, pensive day-dreamer who is +wandering listlessly by the river-side, sometimes chancing upon noble +thoughts, which he does not carry out into action, and does not even +write down on paper, into an active worker, with Arnold's keen look, who +would have carved out a great career for himself, and exercised a real +influence over the views and conduct of numbers of other men. A very +little alteration in feature might have made a plain face into +a beautiful one; and some slight change in the position or the +contractibility of certain of the muscles might have made the most +awkward of manners and gaits into the most dignified and graceful. All +_that_ we all understand. But my present subject is the making which is +in circumstances after our natural disposition is fixed,--the training, +coming from a hundred quarters, which forms the material supplied by +Nature into the character which each of us actually bears. And setting +apart the case of great genius, whose bent towards the thing in which it +will excel is so strong that it will find its own field by inevitable +selection, and whose strength is such that no unfavorable circumstances +can hold it down, almost any ordinary human being may be formed into +almost any development. I know a huge massive beam of rough iron, which +supports a great weight. Whenever I pass it, I cannot help giving it a +pat with my hand, and saying to it, "You might have been hair-springs +for watches." I know an odd-looking little man attached to a certain +railway-station, whose business it is, when a train comes in, to go +round it with a large box of a yellow concoction and supply grease to +the wheels. I have often looked out of the carriage-window at that +odd little man and thought to myself, "Now you might have been a +chief-justice." And, indeed, I can say from personal observation that +the stuff ultimately converted into cabinet-ministers does not at an +early stage at all appreciably differ from that which never becomes more +than country-parsons. There is a great gulf between the human being who +gratefully receives a shilling, and touches his cap as he receives it, +and the human being whose income is paid in yearly or half-yearly sums, +and to whom a pecuniary tip would appear as an insult; yet, of course, +that great gulf is the result of training alone. John Smith the laborer, +with twelve shillings a week, and the bishop with eight thousand a +year, had, by original constitution, precisely the same kind of feeling +towards that much-sought, yet much-abused reality which provides the +means of life. Who shall reckon up by what millions of slight touches +from the hand of circumstance, extending over many years, the one man is +gradually formed into the giving of the shilling, and the other man into +the receiving of it with that touch of his hat? Who shall read back the +forming influences at work since the days in the cradle, that gradually +formed one man into sitting down to dinner, and another man into waiting +behind his chair? I think it would be occasionally a comfort, if one +could believe, as American planters profess to believe about their +slaves, that there is an original and essential difference between men; +for, truly, the difference in their positions is often so tremendous +that it is painful to think that it is the self-same clay and the +self-same common mind that are promoted to dignity and degraded to +servitude. And if _you_ sometimes feel _that_,--_you_, in whose favor +the arrangement tends,--what do you suppose your servants sometimes +think upon the subject? It was no wonder that the millions of Russia +were ready to grovel before their Czar, while they believed that he +was "an emanation from the Deity." But in countries where it is quite +understood that every man is just as much an emanation from the Deity +as any other, you will not long have that sort of thing. You remember +Goldsmith's noble lines, which Dr. Johnson never could read without +tears, concerning the English character. Is it not true that it is just +because the humble, but intelligent Englishman understands distinctly +that we are all of us _people of whom more might have been made_, that +he has "learnt to venerate himself as man"? And thinking of influences +which form the character, there is a sad reflection which has often +occurred to me. It is, that circumstances often develop a character +which it is hard to contemplate without anger and disgust. And yet, in +many such cases, it is rather pity that is due. The more disgusting the +character formed in some men, the more you should pity them. Yet it is +hard to do _that_. You easily pity the man whom circumstances have +made poor and miserable; how much more you should pity the man whom +circumstances have made bad! You pity the man from whom some terrible +accident has taken a limb or a hand; but how much more should you pity +the man from whom the influences of years have taken a conscience and a +heart! And something is to be said for even the most unamiable and worst +of the race. No doubt, it is mainly their own fault that they are so +bad; but still it is hard work to be always rowing against wind and +tide, and some people could be good only by doing _that_ ceaselessly. I +am not thinking now of pirates and pickpockets. But take the case of a +sour, backbiting, malicious, wrong-headed, lying old woman, who gives +her life to saying disagreeable things and making mischief between +friends. There are not many mortals with whom one is less disposed to +have patience. But yet, if you knew all, you would not be so severe in +what you think and say of her. You do not know the physical irritability +of nerve and weakness of constitution which that poor creature may have +inherited; you do not know the singular twist of mind which she may have +got from Nature and from bad and unkind treatment in youth; you do not +know the bitterness of heart she has felt at the polite snubbings and +ladylike tortures which in excellent society are often the share of the +poor and the dependent. If you knew all these things, you would bear +more patiently with my friend Miss Limejuice, though I confess that +sometimes you would find it uncommonly hard to do so. + +As I wrote that last paragraph, I began dimly to fancy that somewhere I +had seen the idea which is its subject treated by an abler hand by far +than mine. The idea, you may be sure, was not suggested to me by books, +but by what I have seen of men and women. But it is a pleasant thing to +find that a thought which at the time is strongly impressing one's self +has impressed other men. And a modest person, who knows very nearly what +his humble mark is, will be quite pleased to find that another man has +not only anticipated his thoughts, but has expressed them much better +than he could have done. Yes, let me turn to that incomparable essay of +John Foster, "On a Man's writing Memoirs of Himself." Here it is. + +"Make the supposition that any given number of persons,--a hundred, +for instance,--taken promiscuously, should be able to write memoirs of +themselves so clear and perfect as to explain, to your discernment at +least, the entire process by which their minds have attained their +present state, recounting all the most impressive circumstances. If they +should read these memoirs to you in succession, while your benevolence, +and the moral principles according to which you felt and estimated, +were kept at the highest pitch, you would often, during the disclosure, +regret to observe how many things may be the causes of irretrievable +mischief. 'Why is the path of life,' you would say, 'so haunted as if +with evil spirits of every diversity of noxious agency, some of which +may patiently accompany, or others of which may suddenly cross, the +unfortunate wanderer?' And you would regret to observe into how many +forms of intellectual and moral perversion the human mind readily yields +itself to be modified. + + * * * * * + +"'I compassionate you,' would, in a very benevolent hour, be your +language to the wealthy, unfeeling _tyrant of a family and a +neighborhood_, who seeks, in the overawed timidity and unretaliated +injuries of the unfortunate beings within his power, the gratification +that should have been sought in their affections. Unless you had brought +into the world some extraordinary refractoriness to the influence of +evil, the process that you have undergone could not easily fail of being +efficacious. If your parents idolized their own importance in their +son so much that they never opposed your inclinations themselves nor +permitted it to be done by any subject to their authority,--if the +humble companion, sometimes summoned to the honor of amusing you, bore +your caprices and insolence with the meekness without which he had +lost his enviable privilege,--if you could despoil the garden of some +nameless dependent neighbor of the carefully reared flowers, and torment +his little dog or cat, without his daring to punish you or to appeal +to your infatuated parents,--if aged men addressed you in a submissive +tone, and with the appellation of 'Sir,' and their aged wives uttered +their wonder at your condescension, and pushed their grandchildren away +from around the fire for your sake, if you happened, though with the +strut of pertness, and your hat on your head, to enter one of their +cottages, perhaps to express your contempt of the homely dwelling, +furniture, and fare,--if, in maturer life, you associated with vile +persons, who would forego the contest of equality to be your allies in +trampling on inferiors,--and if, both then and since, you have been +suffered to deem your wealth the compendium or equivalent of every +ability and every good quality,--it would indeed be immensely strange, +if you had not become in due time the miscreant who may thank the power +of the laws in civilized society that he is not assaulted with clubs +and stones, to whom one could cordially wish the opportunity and the +consequences of attempting his tyranny among some such people as those +_submissive_ sons of Nature in the forests of North America, and whose +dependants and domestic relatives may be almost forgiven when they shall +one day rejoice at his funeral." + +What do you think of _that_, my reader, as a specimen of embittered +eloquence and nervous pith? It is something to read massive and +energetic sense, in days wherein mystical twaddle, and subtlety which +hopelessly defies all logic, are sometimes thought extremely fine, if +they are set out in a style which is refined into mere effeminacy. + + * * * * * + +I cherish a very strong conviction, (as has been said,) that, at least +in the case of educated people, happiness is a grand discipline for +bringing out what is amiable and excellent. You understand, of course, +what I mean by happiness. We all know, of course, that light-heartedness +is not very familiar to grown-up people, who are doing the work of life, +who feel its many cares, and who do not forget the many risks which hang +over it. I am not thinking of the kind of thing which is suggested to +the minds of children, when they read, at the end of a tale, concerning +its heroine and hero, that "they lived happily ever after." No, we don't +look for that. By happiness I mean freedom from terrible anxiety and +from pervading depression of spirits, the consciousness that we are +filling our place in life with decent success and approbation, religious +principle and character, fair physical health throughout the family, and +moderate good temper and good sense. And I hold, with Sydney Smith, and +with that keen practical philosopher, Becky Sharpe, that happiness and +success tend very greatly to make people passably good. Well, I see an +answer to the statement, as I do to most statements; but, at least, the +beam is never subjected to the strain which would break it. I have seen +the gradual working of what I call happiness and success in ameliorating +character. I have known a man who, by necessity, by the pressure of +poverty, was driven to write for the magazines,--a kind of work for +which he had no special talent or liking, and which he had never +intended to attempt. There was no more miserable, nervous, anxious, +disappointed being on earth than he was, when he began his writing for +the press. And sure enough, his articles were bitter and ill-set to a +high degree. They were thoroughly ill-natured and bad. They were not +devoid of a certain cleverness; but they were the sour products of +a soured nature. But that man gradually got into comfortable +circumstances: and with equal step with his lot the tone of his writings +mended, till, as a writer, he became conspicuous for the healthful, +cheerful, and kindly nature of all he produced. I remember seeing a +portrait of an eminent author, taken a good many years ago, at a time +when he was struggling into notice, and when he was being very severely +handled by the critics. That portrait was really truculent of aspect. +It was sour, and even ferocious-looking. Years afterwards I saw that +author, at a time when he had attained vast success, and was universally +recognized as a great man. How improved that face! All the savage lines +were gone; the bitter look was gone; the great man looked quite genial +and amiable. And I came to know that he really was all he looked. Bitter +judgments of men, imputations of evil motives, disbelief in anything +noble or generous, a disposition to repeat tales to the prejudice of +others, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness,--all these +things may possibly come out of a bad heart; but they certainly come out +of a miserable one. The happier any human being is, the better and more +kindly he thinks of all. It is the man who is always worried, whose +means are uncertain, whose home is uncomfortable, whose nerves are +rasped by some kind friend who daily repeats and enlarges upon +everything disagreeable for him to hear,--it is he who thinks hardly +of the character and prospects of humankind, and who believes in the +essential and unimprovable badness of the race. + + * * * * * + +This is not a treatise on the formation of character: it pretends to +nothing like completeness. If this essay were to extend to a volume of +about three hundred and eighty pages, I might be able to set out and +discuss, in something like a full and orderly fashion, the influences +under which human beings grow up, and the way in which to make the best +of the best of these influences, and to evade or neutralize the worst. +And if, after great thought and labor, I had produced such a volume, I +am well aware that nobody would read it. So I prefer to briefly glance +at a few aspects of a great subject just as they present themselves, +leaving the complete discussion of it to solid individuals with more +leisure at their command. + + * * * * * + +Physically, no man is made the most of. Look at an acrobat or a boxer: +_there_ is what your limbs might have been made for strength and +agility: _that_ is the potential which is in human nature in these +respects. I never witnessed a prize-fight, and assuredly I never will +witness one: but I am told, that, when the champions appear in the ring, +stripped for the combat, (however bestial and blackguard-looking their +countenances may be,) the clearness and beauty of their skin testify +that by skilful physical discipline a great deal more may be made of +that human hide than is usually made of it. Then, if you wish to see +what may be made of the human muscles as regards rapid dexterity, look +at the Wizard of the North or at an Indian juggler. I am very far, +indeed, from saying or thinking that this peculiar preëminence is worth +the pains it must cost to acquire it. Not that I have a word to say +against the man who maintains his children by bringing some one faculty +of the body to absolute perfection: I am ready even to admit that it is +a very right and fit thing that one man in five or six millions should +devote his life to showing the very utmost that can be made of the human +fingers, or the human muscular system as a whole. It is fit that a rare +man here and there should cultivate some accomplishment to a perfection +that looks magical, just as it is fit that a man here and there should +live in a house that cost a million of pounds to build, and round which +a wide tract of country shows what may be made of trees and fields where +unlimited wealth and exquisite taste have done their best to improve +Nature to the fairest forms of which it is capable. But even if it were +possible, it would not be desirable that all human beings should live in +dwellings like Hamilton Palace or Arundel Castle; and it would serve no +good end at all, certainly no end worth the cost, to have all educated +men muscular as Tom Sayers, or swift of hand as Robert Houdin. Practical +efficiency is what is wanted for the business of this world, not +absolute perfection: life is too short to allow any but exceptional +individuals, few and far between, to acquire the power of playing at +rackets as well as rackets can possibly be played. We are obliged to +have a great number of irons in the fire: it is needful that we should +do decently well a great number of things; and we must not devote +ourselves to one thing, to the exclusion of all the rest. And +accordingly, though we may desire to be reasonably muscular and +reasonably active, it will not disturb us to think that in both these +respects we are people of whom more might have been made. It may here +be said that probably there is hardly an influence which tends so +powerfully to produce extreme self-complacency as the conviction, that, +as regards some one physical accomplishment, one is a person of whom +more could not have been made. It is a proud thing to think that you +stand decidedly ahead of all mankind: that Eclipse is first, and the +rest nowhere; even in the matter of keeping up six balls at once, or of +noting and remembering twenty different objects in a shop-window as you +walk past it at five miles an hour. I do not think I ever beheld a human +being whose aspect was of such unutterable pride as a man I lately saw +playing the drum as one of a certain splendid military band. He was +playing in a piece in which the drum music was very conspicuous; and +even an unskilled observer could remark that his playing was absolute +perfection. He had the thorough mastery of his instrument. He did the +most difficult things not only with admirable precision, but without +the least appearance of effort. He was a great, tall fellow: and it was +really a fine sight to see him standing very upright, and immovable save +as to his arms, looking fixedly into distance, and his bosom swelling +with the lofty belief, that, out of four or five thousand persons who +were present, there was not one who, to save his life, could have done +what he was doing so easily. + +So much of physical dexterity. As for physical grace, it will be +admitted that in that respect more might be made of most human beings. +It is not merely that they are ugly and awkward naturally, but that they +are ugly and awkward artificially. Sir Bulwer Lytton, in his earlier +writings, was accustomed to maintain, that, just as it is a man's duty +to cultivate his mental powers, so is it his duty to cultivate his +bodily appearance. And doubtless all the gifts of Nature are talents +committed to us to be improved; they are things intrusted to us to make +the best of. It may be difficult to fix the point at which the care +of personal appearance in man or woman becomes excessive. It does +so unquestionably when it engrosses the mind to the neglect of more +important things. But I suppose that all reasonable people now believe +that scrupulous attention to personal cleanliness, freshness, and +neatness is a Christian duty. The days are past, almost everywhere, in +which piety was held to be associated with dirt. Nobody would mention +now, as a proof how saintly a human being was, that, for the love of +God, he had never washed his face or brushed his hair for thirty +years. And even scrupulous neatness need bring with it no suspicion of +puppyism. The most trim and tidy of old men was good John Wesley; and +he conveyed to the minds of all who saw him the notion of a man whose +treasure was laid up beyond this world, quite as much as if he had +dressed in such a fashion as to make himself an object of ridicule, +or as if he had forsworn the use of soap. Some people fancy that +slovenliness of attire indicates a mind above petty details. I have seen +an eminent preacher ascend the pulpit with his bands hanging over his +right shoulder, his gown apparently put on by being dropped upon him +from the vestry ceiling, and his hair apparently unbrushed for several +weeks. There was no suspicion of affectation about that good man; yet I +regarded his untidiness as a defect, and not as an excellence. He gave +a most eloquent sermon; yet I thought it would have been well, had the +lofty mind that treated so admirably some of the grandest realities of +life and of immortality been able to address itself a little to the care +of lesser things. I confess, that, when I heard the Bishop of Oxford +preach, I thought the effect of his sermon was increased by the decorous +and careful fashion in which he was arrayed in his robes. And it is +to be admitted that the grace of the human aspect may be in no small +measure enhanced by bestowing a little pains upon it. You, youthful +matron, when you take your little children to have their photographs +taken, and when their nurse, in contemplation of that event, attired +them in their most tasteful dresses and arranged their hair in its +prettiest curls, you know that the little things looked a great deal +better than they do on common days. It is pure nonsense to say that +beauty when unadorned is adorned the most. For that is as much as to say +that a pretty young woman, in the matter of physical appearance, is a +person of whom no more can be made. Now taste and skill can make more of +almost anything. And you will set down Thomson's lines as flatly opposed +to fact, when your lively young cousin walks into your room to let you +see her before she goes out to an evening party, and when you compare +that radiant vision, in her robes of misty texture, and with hair +arranged in folds the most complicated, wreathed, and satin-shoed, +with the homely figure that took a walk with you that afternoon, +russet-gowned, tartan-plaided, and shod with serviceable boots for +tramping through country mud. One does not think of loveliness in the +case of men, because they have not got any; but their aspect, such as it +is, is mainly made by their tailors. And it is a lamentable thought, +how very ill the clothes of most men are made. I think that the art of +draping the male human body has been brought to much less excellence +by the mass of those who practise it than any other of the useful and +ornamental arts. Tailors, even in great cities, are generally extremely +bad. Or it may be that the providing the human frame with decent and +well-fitting garments is so very difficult a thing that (save by a great +genius here and there) it can be no more than approximated to. As for +tailors in little country villages, their power of distorting and +disfiguring is wonderful. When I used to be a country clergyman, I +remember how, when I went to the funeral of some simple rustic, I was +filled with surprise to see the tall, strapping, fine young country +lads, arrayed in their black suits. What awkward figures they looked +in those unwonted garments! How different from their easy, natural +appearance in their every-day fustian! Here you would see a young fellow +with a coat whose huge collar covered half his head when you looked at +him from behind; a very common thing was to have sleeves which entirely +concealed the hands; and the wrinkled and baggy aspect of the whole +suits could be imagined only by such as have seen them. It may be +remarked here, that those strong country lads were in another respect +people of whom more might have been physically made. Oh for a +drill-sergeant to teach them to stand upright, and to turn out their +toes, and to get rid of that slouching, hulking gait which gives such +a look of clumsiness and stupidity! If you could but have the +well-developed muscles and the fresh complexion of the country with the +smartness and alertness of the town! You have there the rough material +of which a vast deal may be made; you have the water-worn pebble which +will take on a beautiful polish. Take from the moorland cottage the +shepherd lad of sixteen; send him to a Scotch college for four years; +let him be tutor in a good family for a year or two; and if he be an +observant fellow, you will find in him the quiet, self-possessed air +and the easy address of the gentleman who has seen the world. And it is +curious to see one brother of a family thus educated and polished into +refinement, while the other three or four, remaining in their father's +simple lot, retain its rough manners and its unsophisticated feelings. +Well, look at the man who has been made a gentleman,--probably by the +hard labor and sore self-denial of the others,--and see in him what each +of the others might have been! Look with respect on the diamond which +needed only to be polished! Reverence the undeveloped potential which +circumstances have held down! Look with interest on these people of whom +more might have been made! + +Such a sight as this sometimes sets us thinking how many germs of +excellence are in this world turned to no account. You see the polished +diamond and the rough one side by side. It is too late now; but the dull +colorless pebble might have been the bright glancing gem. And you may +polish the material diamond at any time; but if you miss your season in +the case of the human one, the loss can never be repaired. The bumpkin +who is a bumpkin at thirty must remain a bumpkin to threescore and ten. +But another thing that makes us think how many fair possibilities are +lost is to remark the fortuitous way in which great things have often +been done,--and done by people who never dreamt that they had in them +the power to do anything particular. These cases, one cannot but think, +are samples of millions more. There have been very popular writers who +were brought out by mere accident. They did not know what precious vein +of thought they had at command, till they stumbled upon it as if by +chance, like the Indian at the mines of Potosi. It is not much that we +know of Shakspeare, but it seems certain that it was in patching up +old plays for acting that he discovered within himself a capacity for +producing that which men will not easily let die. When a young military +man, disheartened with the service, sought for an appointment as an +Irish Commissioner of Excise, and was sadly disappointed because he did +not get it, it is probable that he had as little idea as any one else +had that he possessed that aptitude for the conduct of war which was +to make him the Duke of Wellington. And when a young mathematician, +entirely devoid of ambition, desired to settle quietly down and devote +all his life to that unexciting study, he was not aware that he was a +person of whom more was to be made,--who was to grow into the great +Emperor Napoleon. I had other instances in my mind, but after these last +it is needless to mention them. But such cases suggest to us that there +may have been many Folletts who never held a brief, many Keans who never +acted but in barns, many Vandyks who never earned more than sixpence a +day, many Goldsmiths who never were better than penny-a-liners, many +Michaels who never built their St. Peters,--and perhaps a Shakspeare who +held horses at the theatre-door for pence, as the Shakspeare we know of +did, and who stopped there. + +Let it here be suggested, that it is highly illogical to conclude that +you are yourself a person of whom a great deal more might have been +made, merely because you are a person of whom it is the fact that very +little has actually been made. This suggestion may appear a truism; but +it is one of those simple truths of which we all need to be occasionally +reminded. After all, the great test of what a man can do must be what a +man does. But there are folk who live on the reputation of being pebbles +capable of receiving a very high polish, though from circumstances +they did not choose to be polished. There are people who stand high in +general estimation on the ground of what they might have done, if they +had liked. You will find students who took no honors at the university, +but who endeavor to impress their friends with the notion, that, if +they had chosen, they could have attained to unexampled eminence. And +sometimes, no doubt, there are great powers that run to waste. There +have been men whose doings, splendid as they were, were no more than a +hint of how much more they could have done. In such a case as that of +Coleridge, you see how the lack of steady industry and of all sense of +responsibility abated the tangible result of the noble intellect God +gave him. But as a general rule, and in the case of ordinary people, you +need not give a man credit for the possession of any powers beyond those +which he has actually exhibited. If a boy is at the bottom of his class, +it is probably because he could not attain its top. My friend Mr. +Snarling thinks he can write much better articles than those which +appear in the "Atlantic Monthly"; but as he has not done so, I am not +inclined to give him credit for the achievement. But you can see that +this principle of estimating people's abilities, not by what they have +done, but by what they think they could do, will be much approved by +persons who are stupid and at the same time conceited. It is a pleasing +arrangement, that every man should fix his own mental mark, and hold by +his estimate of himself. And then, never measuring his strength with +others, he can suppose that he could have beat them, if he had tried. + + * * * * * + +Yes, we are all mainly fashioned by circumstances; and had the +circumstances been more propitious, they might have made a great deal +more of us. You sometimes think, middle-aged man, who never have passed +the limits of Britain, what an effect might have been produced upon your +views and character by foreign travel. You think what an indefinite +expansion of mind it might have caused,--how many narrow prejudices it +might have rubbed away,--how much wiser and better a man it might have +made you. Or more society and wider reading in your early youth might +have improved you,--might have taken away the shyness and the intrusive +individuality which you sometimes feel painfully,--might have called out +one cannot say what of greater confidence and larger sympathy. How very +little, you think to yourself, you have seen and known! While others +skim great libraries, you read the same few books over and over; while +others come to know many lands and cities, and the faces and ways of +many men, you look, year after year, on the same few square miles of +this world, and you have to form your notion of human nature from the +study of but few human beings, and these very commonplace. Perhaps it is +as well. It is not so certain that more would have been made of you, if +you had enjoyed what might seem greater advantages. Perhaps you learned +more, by studying the little field before you earnestly and long, than +you would have learned, if you had bestowed a cursory glance upon fields +more extensive by far. Perhaps there was compensation for the fewness of +the cases you had to observe in the keenness with which you were able +to observe them. Perhaps the Great Disposer saw that in your case the +pebble got nearly all the polishing it would stand,--the man nearly all +the chances he could improve. + +If there be soundness and justice in this suggestion, it may afford +consolation to a considerable class of men and women: I mean those +people who, feeling within themselves many defects of character, and +discerning in their outward lot much which they would wish other than +it is, are ready to think that some one thing would have put them +right,--that some one thing would put them right even yet,--but +something which they have hopelessly missed, something which can never +be. There was just one testing event which stood between them and their +being made a vast deal more of. They would have been far better and far +happier, they think, had some single malign influence been kept away +which has darkened all their life, or had some single blessing been +given which would have made it happy. If you had got such a parish, +which you did not get,--if you had married such a woman,--if your little +child had not died,--if you had always the society and sympathy of such +an energetic and hopeful friend,--if the scenery round your dwelling +were of a different character,--if the neighboring town were four miles +off, instead of fifteen,--if any one of these circumstances had been +altered, what a different man you might have been! Probably many people, +even of middle age, conscious that the manifold cares and worries of +life forbid that it should be evenly joyous, do yet cherish at the +bottom of their heart some vague, yet rooted fancy, that, if but one +thing were given on which they have set their hearts, or one care +removed forever, they would be perfectly happy, even here. Perhaps you +overrate the effect which would have been produced on your character by +such a single cause. It might not have made you much better; it might +not even have made you very different. And assuredly you are wrong in +fancying that any such single thing could have made you happy,--that is, +entirely happy. Nothing in this world could ever make you _that_. It is +not God's purpose that we should be entirely happy here, "This is not +our rest." The day will never come which will _not_ bring its worry. And +the possibility of terrible misfortune and sorrow hangs over all. There +is but One Place where we shall be right; and _that_ is far away. + + * * * * * + +Yes, more might have been made of all of us; probably, in the case of +most, not much more _will_ be made in this world. We are now, if we +have reached middle life, very much what we shall be to the end of the +chapter. We shall not, in this world, be much better; let us humbly +trust that we shall not be worse. Yet, if there be an undefinable +sadness in looking at the marred material of which so much more might +have been made, there is a sublime hopefulness in the contemplation of +material, bodily and mental, of which a great deal more and better will +certainly yet be made. Not much more may be made of any of us in life; +but who shall estimate what may be made of us in immortality? Think of a +"spiritual body"! think of a perfectly pure and happy soul! I thought of +this, on a beautiful evening of this summer, walking with a much valued +friend through a certain grand ducal domain. In front of a noble +sepulchre, where is laid up much aristocratic dust, there are +sculptured, by some great artist, three colossal faces, which are meant +to represent Life, Death, and Immortality. It was easy to represent +Death: the face was one of solemn rest, with closed eyes; and the +sculptor's skill was mainly shown in distinguishing Life from +Immortality. And he had done it well. _There_ was Life: a care-worn, +anxious, weary face, that seemed to look at you earnestly, and with +a vague inquiry for something,--the something that is lacking in all +things here. And _there_ was Immortality: life-like, but, oh, how +different from mortal Life! _There_ was the beautiful face, calm, +satisfied, self-possessed, sublime, and with eyes looking far away. I +see it yet, the crimson sunset warming the gray stone,--and a great +hawthorn-tree, covered with blossoms, standing by. Yes, _there_ was +Immortality; and you felt, as you looked at it,--that it was MORE MADE +OF LIFE! + + * * * * * + + +MY FRIEND'S LIBRARY. + + +That exquisite writer, Horae Subsecivae Brown, quotes, (without +comment,) as a motto to one of his volumes, an anecdote from Pierce +Egan, which I reproduce here:-- + +"A lady, resident in Devonshire, going into one of her parlors, +discovered a young ass, who had found its way into the room, and +carefully closed the door upon himself. He had evidently not been long +in this situation before he had nibbled a part of Cicero's Orations, +and eaten nearly all the index of a folio edition of Seneca in Latin, a +large part of a volume of La Bruyère's 'Maxims' in French, and several +pages of 'Cecilia.' He had done no other mischief whatever." + +Spare your wit, Sir, or Madam! Why should _you_ laugh, and apply the +sting in Mr. Egan's story to the case of "Yours Truly"? + + * * * * * + +I scarcely know a greater pleasure than to be allowed for a whole day to +spend the hours unmolested in my friend's library. So much _privilege_ +abounds there, I call it _Urbanity Hall_. It is a plain, modestly +appointed apartment, overlooking a broad sheet of water; and I can see, +from where I like to sit and read, the sail-boats go tilting by, and +glancing across the bay. Sometimes, when a rainy day sets in, I run down +to my friend's house, and ask leave to browse about the library,--not +so much for the sake of reading, as for the intense enjoyment I have in +turning over the books that have a personal history as it were. Many of +them once belonged to authors whose libraries have been dispersed. My +friend has enriched her editions with autographic notes of those fine +spirits who wrote the books which illumine her shelves, so that one is +constantly coming upon some fresh treasure in the way of a literary +curiosity. I am apt to discover something new every time I take down a +folio or a miniature volume. As I ramble on from shelf to shelf, + + "Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures," + +and the hours often slip by into the afternoon, and glide noiselessly +into twilight, before dinner-time is remembered. Drifting about only a +few days ago, I came by accident upon a magic quarto, shabby enough +in its exterior, with one of the covers hanging by the eyelids, and +otherwise sadly battered, to the great disfigurement of its external +aspect. I did not remember even to have seen it in the library before, +(it turned out to be a new comer,) and was about to pass it by with an +unkind thought as to its pauper condition, when it occurred to me, as +the lettering was obliterated from the back, I might as well open to the +title-page and learn the name at least of the tattered stranger. And I +was amply rewarded for the attention. It turned out to be "The Novels +and Tales of the Renowned John Boccacio, The first Refiner of Italian +Prose: containing A Hundred Curious Novels, by Seven Honorable Ladies +and Three Noble Gentlemen, Framed in Ten Days." It was printed in London +in 1684, "for Awnsham Churchill, at the Black Swan at Amen Corner." But +what makes this old yellow-leaved book a treasure-volume for all time is +the inscription on the first fly-leaf, in the handwriting of a man of +genius, who, many years ago, wrote thus on the blank page: + +"To MARIANNE HUNT. + +"Her Boccacio (_alter et idem_) come back to her after many years' +absence, for her good-nature in giving it away in a foreign country to a +traveller whose want of books was still worse than her own. + +"From her affectionate husband, + +"LEIGH HUNT. + +"August 23,1839--Chelsea, England." + +This record tells a most interesting story, and reveals to us an episode +in the life of the poet, well worth the knowing. I hope no accident +will ever cancel this old leather-bound veteran from the world's +bibliographic treasures. Spare it, Fire, Water, and Worms! for it does +the heart good to handle such a quarto. + + * * * * * + +One does not need to look far among the shelves in my friend's library +to find companion-gems of this antiquated tome. Among so many of + + "The assembled souls of all that men held + wise," + +there is no solitude of the mind. I reach out my hand at random, and, +lo! the first edition of Milton's "Paradise Lost"! It is a little brown +volume, "Printed by S. Simmons, and to be sold by S. Thomson at the +Bishop's-Head in Duck Lane, by H. Mortlack at the White Hart in +Westminster Hall, M. Walker under St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street, +and R. Boulten at the Turk's Head in Bishopsgate Street, 1668." Foolish +old Simmons deemed it necessary to insert over his own name the +following notice, which heads the Argument to the Poem:-- + +"THE PRINTER TO THE READER. + +"Courteous Reader, There was no Argument at first intended to the Book, +but for the satisfaction of many that have desired it, I have procured +it, and withall a reason of that which stumbled many others, why the +Poem Rimes not." + +The "Argument," which Milton omitted in subsequent editions, is very +curious throughout; and the reason which the author gives, at the +request of Mr. Publisher Simmons, why the poem "Rimes not," is quaint +and well worth transcribing an extract here, as it does not always +appear in more modern editions. Mr. Simmons's Poet is made to say,-- + +"The Measure is _English_ Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of _Homers_ +in _Greek_, and of _Virgil_ in _Latin_; Rime being no necessary Adjunct +or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but +the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame +Meeter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, +carried away by Custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and +constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse +then else they would have exprest them." + +We give the orthography precisely as Milton gave it in this his first +edition. + +There is a Table of Errata prefixed to this old copy, in which the +reader is told, + + "for hun_dreds_ read hun_derds_. + for _we_ read _wee_." + +Master Simmons's proof-reader was no adept in his art, if one may judge +from the countless errors which he allowed to creep into this immortal +poem when it first appeared in print. One can imagine the identical copy +now before us being handed over the counter in Duck Lane to some eager +scholar on the look-out for something new, and handed back again to Mr. +Thomson as too dull a looking poem for his perusal. Mr. Edmund Waller +entertained that idea of it, at any rate. + + * * * * * + +One of the sturdiest little books in my friend's library is a thick-set, +stumpy old copy of Richard Baxter's "Holy Commonwealth," written in +1659, and, as the title-page informs us, "at the invitation of James +Harrington Esquire,"--as one would take a glass of Canary,--by +_invitation!_ There is a preface addressed "To all those in the Army or +elsewhere, that have caused our many and great Eclipses since 1646." The +worms have made dagger-holes through and through the "inspired leaves" +of this fat little volume, till much strong thinking is now very +perforated printing. On the flyleaf is written, in a rough, straggling +hand, + + "WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, + + "Rydal Mount." + +The poet seems to have read the old book pretty closely, for there are +evident marks of his liking throughout its pages. + + * * * * * + +Connected with the Bard of the Lakes is another work in my friend's +library, which I always handle with a tender interest. It is a copy of +Wordsworth's Poetical Works, printed in 1815, with all the alterations +afterwards made in the pieces copied in by the poet from the edition +published in 1827. Some of the changes are marked improvements, and +nearly all make the meaning clearer. Now and then a prosaic phrase gives +place to a more poetical expression. The well-known lines, + + "Of Him who walked in glory and in joy, + Following his plough along the mountain-side," + +read at first, + + "_Behind_ his plough _upon_ the mountain-side." + + * * * * * + +In a well-preserved quarto copy of "Rasselas," with illustrations by +Smirke, which my friend picked up in London a few years ago, I found +the other day an unpublished autograph letter from Dr. Johnson, so +characteristic of the great man that it is worth transcribing. It is +addressed + +"_To the Reverend Mr. Compton. + +"To be sent to Mrs. Williams_." + +And it is thus worded:-- + +"Sir, + +"Your business, I suppose, is in a way of as easy progress as such +business ever has. It is seldom that event keeps pace with expectation. + +"The scheme of your book I cannot say that I fully comprehend. I would +not have you ask less than an hundred guineas, for it seems a large +octavo. + +"Go to Mr. Davis, in Russell Street, show him this letter, and show him +the book if he desires to see it. He will tell you what hopes you may +form, and to what Bookseller you should apply. + +"If you succeed in selling your book, you may do better than by +dedicating it to me. You may perhaps obtain permission to dedicate it to +the Bishop of London, or to Dr. Vyse, and make way by your book to more +advantage than I can procure you. + +"Please to tell Mrs. Williams that I grow better, and that I wish to +know how she goes on. You, Sir, may write for her to, + + "Sir, + + "Your most humble Servant, + + "SAM: JOHNSON. + + "Octo. 24, 1782." + +Dear kind-hearted old bear! On turning to Boswell's Life of his Ursine +Majesty, we learn who Mr. Compton was. When the Doctor visited France +in 1775, the Benedictine Monks in Paris entertained him in the most +friendly way. One of them, the Rev. James Compton, who had left England +at the early age of six to reside on the Continent, questioned him +pretty closely about the Protestant faith, and proposed, if at some +future time he should go to England to consider the subject more deeply, +to call at Bolt Court. In the summer of 1782 he paid the Doctor a +visit, and informed him of his desire to be admitted into the Church of +England. Johnson managed the matter satisfactorily for him, and he was +received into communion in St. James's Parish Church. Till the end of +January, 1783, he lived entirely at the Doctor's expense, his own means +being very scanty. Through Johnson's kindness he was nominated Chaplain +at the French Chapel of St. James's, and in 1802 we hear of him as being +quite in favor with the excellent Bishop Porteus and several other +distinguished Londoners. Thus, by the friendly hand of the hard-working, +earnest old lexicographer, Mr. Compton was led from deep poverty up to +a secure competency, and a place among the influential dignitaries of +London society. Poor enough himself, Johnson never shrank back, when +there was an honest person in distress to be helped on in the battle of +life. God's blessing on his memory for all his sympathy with struggling +humanity! + + * * * * * + +My friend has an ardent affection for Walter Scott and Charles Lamb. I +find the first edition of "Marmion," printed in 1808, "by J. Ballantyne +& Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh," most carefully +bound in savory Russia, standing in a pleasant corner of the room. Being +in quarto, the type is regal. Of course the copy is enriched with a +letter in the handwriting of Sir Walter. It is addressed to a personal +friend, and is dated April 17, 1825. The closing passage in it is of +especial interest. + +"I have seen Sheridan's last letter imploring Rogers to come to his +assistance. It stated that he was dying, and concluded abruptly +with these words 'they are throwing the things out of window.' The +memorialist certainly took pennyworths out of his friend's character.--I +sate three hours for my picture to Sir Thomas Lawrence during which the +whole conversation was filled up by Rogers with stories of Sheridan, for +the least of which if true he deserved the gallows." + +Ever Yours, "WALTER SCOTT." + +In the April of 1802 Scott was living in a pretty cottage at Lasswade; +and while there he sent off the following letter, which I find attached +with a wafer to my friend's copy of the Abbotsford edition of his works, +and written in a much plainer hand than he afterwards fell into. The +address is torn off. + +"SIR, + +"I esteem myself honored by the polite reception which you have given to +the Border Minstrelsy and am particularly flattered that so very good a +judge of poetical Antiquities finds any reason to be pleased with the +work.--There is no portrait of the _Flower of Yarrow_ in existence, +nor do I think it very probable that any was ever taken. Much family +anecdote concerning her has been preserved among her descendants of whom +I have the honor to be one. The epithet of '_Flower of Yarrow_' was in +later times bestowed upon one of her immediate posterity, Miss Mary +Lillias Scott, daughter of John Scott Esq. of Harden, and celebrated for +her beauty in the pastoral song of Tweedside,--I mean that set of modern +words which begins 'What beauty does Flora disclose.' This lady I myself +remember very well, and I mention her to you least you should receive +any inaccurate information owing to her being called like her +predecessor the 'Flower of Yarrow.' There was a portrait of this latter +lady in the collection at Hamilton which the present Duke transferred +through my hands to Lady Diana Scott relict of the late Walter Scott +Esq. of Harden, which picture was vulgarly but inaccurately supposed to +have been a resemblance of the original Mary Scott, daughter of Philip +Scott of Dryhope, and married to _Auld Wat_ of Harden in the middle of +the 16th century. + +"I shall be particularly happy if upon any future occasion I can in +the slightest degree contribute to advance your valuable and patriotic +labours, and I remain, Sir, + +"Your very faithful + +"and obt. Servant + +"WALTER SCOTT." + +This letter is worthy to be printed, and the readers of the "Atlantic +Monthly" now see it for the first time, I believe, set in type. + + * * * * * + +Old Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys in Fleet Street, brought out +in 1714 "The Rape of the Lock, an Heroi-Comical Poem, in Five Cantos, +written by Mr. Pope." He printed certain words in the title-page in red, +and other certain words in black ink. His own name and Mr. Pope's he +chose to exhibit in sanguinary tint. A copy of this edition, very much +thumbed and wanting half a dozen leaves, fell into the hands of Charles +Lamb more than a hundred years after it was published. Charles bore it +home, and set to work to supply, in his small neat hand, from another +edition, what was missing from the text in his stall-bought copy. As he +paid only sixpence for his prize, he could well afford the time it took +him to write in on blank leaves, which he inserted, the lines from + + "Thus far both armies to Belinda yield," + +onward to the couplet, + + "And thrice they twitch'd the Diamond in her Ear, + Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the Foe drew near." + +Besides this autographic addition, enhancing forever the value of this +old copy of Pope's immortal poem, I find the following little note, in +Lamb's clerkly chirography, addressed to + +"Mr. Wainright, on _Thursday_. + +"Dear Sir, + +"The _Wits_ (as Clare calls us) assemble at my cell (20 Russell Street, +Cov. Gar.) this evening at 1/4 before 7. Cold meat at 9. Puns at----a +little after. Mr. Cary wants to see you, to scold you. I hope you will +not fail. + +"Yours &c. &c. &c. + +"C. LAMB." + +There are two books in my friend's library which once belonged to the +author of the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard." One of them is "A Voyage +to and from the Island of Borneo, in the East Indies: printed for T. +Warner at the Black Boy, and F. Batley at the Dove, in 1718." It has the +name of T. Gray, written by himself, in the middle of the title-page, as +was his custom always. Before Gray owned this book, it belonged to Mr. +Antrobus, his uncle, who wrote many original notes in it. The volume has +also this manuscript memorandum on one of the fly-leaves, signed by a +well-known naturalist, now living in England:-- + +"August 28, 1851. + +"This book has Gray's autograph on the title page, written in his usual +neat hand. It has twice been my fate to witness the sale of Gray's most +interesting collection of manuscripts and books, and at the last sale +I purchased this volume. I present it to ---- as a little token of +affectionate regard by her old friend, now in his 85th year." + +Who will not be willing to admit the great good-luck of my friend in +having such a donor for an acquaintance? + +But one of the chief treasures in the library of which I write is Gray's +copy of Milton's "Poems upon several occasions. Both English and Latin. +Printed at the _Blew Anchor_ next Mitre Court over against Fetter +Lane in Fleet Street." When a boy at school, Gray owned and read this +charming old volume, and he has printed his name, school-boy fashion, +all over the title-page. Wherever there is a vacant space big enough to +hold _Thomas Gray_, there it stands in faded ink, still fading as time +rolls on. The Latin poems seem to have been most carefully conned by the +youthful Etonian, and we know how much he esteemed them in after-life. + + * * * * * + +Scholarly Robert Southey once owned a book that now towers aloft in my +friend's library. It is a princely copy of Ben Jonson, the Illustrious. +Southey lent it, when he possessed the _magnifico_, to Coleridge, who +has begemmed it all over with his fine pencillings. As Ben once handled +the trowel, and did other honorable work as a bricklayer, Coleridge +discourses with much golden gossip about the craft to which the great +dramatist once belonged. The editor of this magazine would hardly +thank me, if I filled ten of his pages with extracts from the rambling +dissertations in S.T.C.'s handwriting which I find in this rare folio, +but I could easily pick out that amount of readable matter from the +margins. One manuscript anecdote, however, I must transcribe from the +last leaf. I think Coleridge got the story from "The Seer." + +"An Irish laborer laid a wager with another hod bearer that the latter +could not carry him up the ladder to the top of a house in his hod, +without letting him fall. The bet is accepted, and up they go. There is +peril at every step. At the top of the ladder there is life and the loss +of the wager,--death and success below! The highest point is reached in +safety; the wagerer looks humbled and disappointed. 'Well,' said he, +'you have won; there is no doubt of that; worse luck to you another +time; but at the third story I HAD HOPES.'" + + * * * * * + +In a quaint old edition of "The Spectator," which seems to have been +through many sieges, and must have come to grief very early in its +existence, if one may judge anything from the various names which are +scrawled upon it in different years, reaching back almost to the date +of its publication, I find this note in the handwriting of Addison, +sticking fast on the reverse side of his portrait. It is addressed to +Ambrose Philips, and there is no doubt that he went where he was +bidden, and found the illustrious Joseph all ready to receive him at a +well-furnished table. + +"Tuesday Night. + +"Sir, + +"If you are at leisure for an hour, your company will be a great +obligation to + +"Yr. most humble sev't. + +"J. Addison. + +"Fountain Tavern." + +That night at the "Fountain," perchance, they discussed that war of +words which might then have been raging between the author of the +"Pastorals" and Pope, moistening their clay with a frequency to which +they were both somewhat notoriously inclined. + +My friend rides hard her hobby for choice editions, and she hunts with +a will whenever a good old copy of a well-beloved author is up for +pursuit. She is not a fop in binding, but she must have _appropriate_ +dresses for her favorites. She knows what + + "Adds a precious seeing to the eye" + +as well as Hayday himself, and never lets her folios shiver when they +ought to be warm. Moreover, she _reads_ her books, and, like the scholar +in Chaucer, would rather have + + "At her beddès head + A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red, + Of Aristotle and his philosophy, + Than robes rich, or fiddle, or psaltrie." + +I found her not long ago deep in a volume of "Mr. Welsted's Poems"; +and as that author is not particularly lively or inviting to a modern +reader, I begged to know why he was thus honored. "I was trying," said +she, "to learn, if possible, why Dicky Steele should have made his +daughter a birth-day gift of these poems. This copy I found on a stall +in Fleet Street many years ago, and it has in Sir Richard's handwriting +this inscription on one of the fly-leaves:-- + + "ELIZABETH STEELE + Her Book + Giv'n by Her Father + RICHARD STEELE. + March 20th, 1723. + +"Running my eye over the pieces, I find a poem in praise of 'Apple-Pye,' +and one of the passages in it is marked, as if to call the attention +of young Eliza to something worthy her notice. These are the lines the +young lady is charged to remember:-- + + "'Dear Nelly, learn with Care the Pastry-Art, + And mind the easy Precepts I impart: + Draw out your Dough elaborately thin. + And cease not to fatigue your Rolling-Pin: + Of Eggs and Butter see you mix enough; + For then the Paste will swell into a Puff, + Which will in crumpling Sounds your Praise report, + And eat, as Housewives speak, exceeding short.'" + +Who was Abou Ben Adhem? Was his existence merely in the poet's brain, +or did he walk this planet somewhere,--and when? In a copy of the +"Bibliothèque Orientale," which once belonged to the author of that +exquisite little gem of poesy beginning with a wish that Abou's tribe +might increase, I find (the leaf is lovingly turned down and otherwise +noted) the following account of the forever famous dreamer. + +"Adhem was the name of a Doctor celebrated for Mussulman traditions. He +was the contemporary of Aamarsch, another relater of traditions of the +first class. Adhem had a son noted for his doctrine and his piety. The +Mussulmans place him among the number of their Saints who have done +miracles. He was named Abou-Ishak-Ben-Adhem. It is said he was +distinguished for his piety from his earliest youth, and that he joined +the Sofis, or the Religious sect in Mecca, under the direction of +Fodhail. He went from there to Damas, where he died in the year 166 of +the Hegira. He undertook, it is said, to make a pilgrimage from Mecca, +and to pass through the desert alone and without provisions, making a +thousand genuflexions for every mile of the way. It is added that he was +twelve years in making this journey, during which he was often tempted +and alarmed by Demons. The Khalife Haroun Raschid, making the same +pilgrimage, met him upon the way and inquired after his welfare; the +Sofi answered him with an Arabian quatrain, of which this is the +meaning:-- + +"'We mend the rags of this worldly robe with the pieces of the robe of +Religion, which we tear apart for this end; + +"'And we do our work so thoroughly that nothing remains of the latter, + +"'And the garment we mend escapes out of our hands. + +"'Happy is the servant who has chosen God for his master, and who +employs his present good only to acquire those which he awaits.' + +"It is related also of Abou, that he saw in a dream an Angel who wrote, +and that having demanded what he was doing, the Angel answered, 'I +write the names of those who love God sincerely, those who perform +Malek-Ben-Dinár, Thaber-al-Benáni, Aioud-al-Sakhtiáni, etc.' Then said +he to the Angel, 'Am I not placed among these?' 'No,' replied the Angel. +'Ah, well,' said he, 'write me, then, I pray you, for love of these, as +the friend of all who love the Lord.' It is added, that the same Angel +revealed to him soon after that he had received an order from God to +place him at the head of all the rest. This is the same Abou who said +that he preferred Hell with the will of God to Paradise without it; or, +as another writer relates it: 'I love Hell, if I am doing the will of +God, better than the enjoyments of Paradise and disobedience.'" + + * * * * * + +With books printed by "B. Franklin, Philadelphia," my friend's library +is richly stored. One of them is "The Charter of Privileges, granted by +William Penn Esq: to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Territories." +"PRINTED AND SOLD BY B. FRANKLIN" looks odd enough on the dingy +title-page of this old volume, and the contents are full of interest. +Rough days were those when "Jehu Curtis" was "Speaker of the House," and +put his name to such documents as this:-- + +"And Be it Further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any +Person shall wilfully or premeditately be guilty of Blasphemy, and shall +thereof be legally convicted, the Person so offending shall, for every +such Offence, be set in the Pillory for the space of Two Hours, and be +branded on his or her Foreshead with the letter B, and be publickly +whipt, on his or her bare Back, with Thirty nine Lashes _well laid on_." + + * * * * * + +But I am rambling on too far and too fast for to-day. Here is one more +book, however, that I must say a word about, as it lies open on my knee, +the gift of PUIR ROBBIE BURNS to a female friend,--his own poems,--the +edition which gave him "so much real happiness to see in print." Laid in +this copy of his works is a sad letter, in the poet's handwriting, which +perhaps has never been printed. Addressed to Captain Hamilton, Dumfries, +it is in itself a touching record of dear Robin's poverty, and _a' +that_. + +"SIR, + +"It is needless to attempt an apology for my remissness to you in money +matters; my conduct is beyond all excuse.--Literally, Sir, I had it +not. The Distressful state of commerce at this town has this year taken +from my otherwise scanty income no less than £20.--That part of my +salary depends upon the Imposts, and they are no more for one year. I +inclose you three guineas; and shall soon settle all with you. I shall +not mention your goodness to me; it is beyond my power to describe +either the feelings of my wounded soul at not being able to pay you as I +ought; or the grateful respect with which I have the honor to be + +"Sir, Your deeply obliged humble servant, + +"ROBT. BURNS. + +"Dumfries, Jany. 29, 1795." + +And so I walk out of my friend's leafy paradise this July afternoon, +thinking of the bard who in all his songs and sorrows made + + "rustic life and poverty + Grow beautiful beneath his touch," + +and whose mission it was + + "To weigh the inborn worth of _man_." + + + + +THE NAME IN THE BARK. + + + The self of so long ago, + And the self I struggle to know, + I sometimes think we are two,--or are we shadows of one? + To-day the shadow I am + Comes back in the sweet summer calm + To trace where the earlier shadow flitted awhile in the sun. + + Once more in the dewy morn + I trod through the whispering corn, + Cool to my fevered cheek soft breezy kisses were blown; + The ribboned and tasselled grass + Leaned over the flattering glass, + And the sunny waters trilled the same low musical tone. + + To the gray old birch I came, + Where I whittled my school-boy name: + The nimble squirrel once more ran skippingly over the rail, + The blackbirds down among + The alders noisily sung, + And under the blackberry-brier whistled the serious quail. + + I came, remembering well + How my little shadow fell, + As I painfully reached and wrote to leave to the future a sign: + There, stooping a little, I found + A half-healed, curious wound, + An ancient scar in the bark, but no initial of mine! + + Then the wise old boughs overhead + Took counsel together, and said,-- + And the buzz of their leafy lips like a murmur of prophecy passed,-- + "He is busily carving a name + In the tough old wrinkles of fame; + But, cut he as deep as he may, the lines will close over at last!" + + Sadly I pondered awhile, + Then I lifted my soul with a smile, + And I said,--"Not cheerful men, but anxious children are we, + Still hurting ourselves with the knife, + As we toil at the letters of life, + Just marring a little the rind, never piercing the heart of the tree." + + And now by the rivulet's brink + I leisurely saunter, and think + How idle this strife will appear when circling ages have run, + If then the real I am + Descend from the heavenly calm, + To trace where the shadow I seem once flitted awhile in the sun. + + + + +AGNES OF SORRENTO. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PERPLEXITIES. + + +Agnes returned from the confessional with more sadness than her simple +life had ever known before. The agitation of her confessor, the +tremulous eagerness of his words, the alternations of severity and +tenderness in his manner to her, all struck her only as indications of +the very grave danger in which she was placed, and the awfulness of the +sin and condemnation which oppressed the soul of one for whom she was +conscious of a deep and strange interest. + +She had the undoubting, uninquiring reverence which a Christianly +educated child of those times might entertain for the visible head of +the Christian Church, all whose doings were to be regarded with an awful +veneration which never even raised a question. + +That the Papal throne was now filled by a man who had bought his +election with the wages of iniquity, and dispensed its powers and +offices with sole reference to the aggrandizement of a family proverbial +for brutality and obscenity, was a fact well known to the reasoning and +enlightened orders of society at this time; but it did not penetrate +into those lowly valleys where the sheep of the Lord humbly pastured, +innocently unconscious of the frauds and violence by which their dearest +interests were bought and sold. + +The Christian faith we now hold, who boast our enlightened +Protestantism, has been transmitted to us through the hearts and hands +of such,--who, while princes wrangled with Pope, and Pope with princes, +knew nothing of it all, but, in lowly ways of prayer and patient labor, +were one with us of modern times in the great central belief of the +Christian heart, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." + +As Agnes came slowly up the path towards the little garden, she was +conscious of a burden and weariness of spirit she had never known +before. She passed the little moist grotto, which in former times she +never failed to visit to see if there were any new-blown cyclamen, +without giving it even a thought. A crimson spray of gladiolus leaned +from the rock and seemed softly to kiss her cheek, yet she regarded +it not; and once stopping and gazing abstractedly upward on the +flower-tapestried walls of the gorge, as they rose in wreath and garland +and festoon above her, she felt as if the brilliant yellow of the broom +and the crimson of the gillyflowers, and all the fluttering, nodding +armies of brightness that were dancing in the sunlight, were too gay for +such a world as this, where mortal sins and sorrows made such havoc with +all that seemed brightest and best, and she longed to fly away and be at +rest. + +Just then she heard the cheerful voice of her uncle in the little garden +above, as he was singing at his painting. The words were those of that +old Latin hymn of Saint Bernard, which, in its English dress, has +thrilled many a Methodist class-meeting and many a Puritan conference, +telling, in the welcome they meet in each Christian soul, that there is +a unity in Christ's Church which is not outward,--a secret, invisible +bond, by which, under warring names and badges of opposition, His true +followers have yet been one in Him, even though they discerned it not. + + "Jesu dulcis memoria, + Dans vera cordi gaudia: + Sed super mel et omnia + Ejus dulcis praesentia. + + "Nil canitur suavius, + Nil auditur jocundius, + Nil cogitatur dulcius, + Quam Jesus Dei Filius. + + "Jesu, spes poenitentibus, + Quam pius es petentibus, + Quam bonus te quaerentibus, + Sed quis invenientibus! + Nec lingua valet dicere, + Nec littera exprimere: + Expertus potest credere + Quid sit Jesum diligere."[A] + +[Footnote A: + + Jesus, the very thought of thee + With sweetness fills my breast; + But sweeter far thy face to see, + And in thy presence rest! + + Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, + Nor can the memory find + A sweeter sound than thy blest name, + O Saviour of mankind! + + O hope of every contrite heart, + O joy of all the meek, + To those who fall how kind thou art, + How good to those who seek! + + But what to those who find! Ah, this + Nor tongue nor pen can show! + The love of Jesus, what it is + None but his loved ones know.] + +The old monk sang with all his heart; and his voice, which had been +a fine one in its day, had still that power which comes from the +expression of deep feeling. One often hears this peculiarity in the +voices of persons of genius and sensibility, even when destitute of any +real critical merit. They seem to be so interfused with the emotions of +the soul, that they strike upon the heart almost like the living touch +of a spirit. + +Agnes was soothed in listening to him. The Latin words, the sentiment of +which had been traditional in the Church from time immemorial, had to +her a sacred fragrance and odor; they were words apart from all common +usage, a sacramental language, never heard but in moments of devotion +and aspiration,--and they stilled the child's heart in its tossings and +tempest, as when of old the Jesus they spake of walked forth on the +stormy sea. + +"Yes, He gave His life for us!" she said; "He is ever reigning for us! + + "'Jesu dulcissime, e throno gloriae + Ovem deperditam venisti quaerere! + Jesu suavissime, pastor fidissime, + Ad te O trahe me, ut semper sequar te!'"[B] + +[Footnote B: + + Jesus most beautiful, from thrones in glory, + Seeking thy lost sheep, thou didst descend! + Jesus most tender, shepherd most faithful, + To thee, oh, draw thou me, that I may follow thee, + Follow thee faithfully world without end!] + +"What, my little one!" said the monk, looking over the wall; "I thought +I heard angels singing. Is it not a beautiful morning?" + +"Dear uncle, it is," said Agnes. "And I have been so glad to hear your +beautiful hymn!--it comforted me." + +"Comforted you, little heart? What a word is that! When you get as far +along on your journey as your old uncle, then you may talk of _comfort_. +But who thinks of comforting birds or butterflies or young lambs?" + +"Ah, dear uncle, I am not so very happy," said Agnes, the tears starting +into her eyes. + +"Not happy?" said the monk, looking up from his drawing. "Pray, what's +the matter now? Has a bee stung your finger? or have you lost your +nosegay over a rock? or what dreadful affliction has come upon +you?--hey, my little heart?" + +Agnes sat down on the corner of the marble fountain, and, covering her +face with her apron, sobbed as if her heart would break. + +"What has that old priest been saying to her in the confession?" said +Father Antonio to himself. "I dare say he cannot understand her. She is +as pure as a dew-drop on a cobweb, and as delicate; and these priests, +half of them don't know how to handle the Lord's lambs.--Come now, +little Agnes," he said, with a coaxing tone, "what is its trouble?--tell +its old uncle,--there's a dear!" + +"Ah, uncle, I can't!" said Agnes, between her sobs. + +"Can't tell its uncle!--there's a pretty go! Perhaps you will tell +grandmamma?" + +"Oh, no, no, no! not for the world!" said Agnes, sobbing still more +bitterly. + +"Why, really, little heart of mine, this is getting serious," said the +monk; "let your old uncle try to help you." + +"It isn't for myself," said Agnes, endeavoring to check her +feelings,--"it is not for myself,--it is for another,--for a soul lost. +Ah, my Jesus, have mercy!" + +"A soul lost? Our Mother forbid!" said the monk, crossing himself. +"Lost in this Christian land, so overflowing with the beauty of the +Lord?--lost out of this fair sheepfold of Paradise?" + +"Yes, lost," said Agnes, despairingly,--"and if somebody do not save +him, lost forever; and it is a brave and noble soul, too,--like one of +the angels that fell." + +"Who is it, dear?--tell me about it," said the monk. "I am one of the +shepherds whose place it is to go after that which is lost, even till I +find it." + +"Dear uncle, you remember the youth who suddenly appeared to us in the +moonlight here a few evenings ago?" + +"Ah, indeed!" said the monk,--"what of him?" + +"Father Francesco has told me dreadful things of him this morning." + +"What things?" + +"Uncle, he is excommunicated by our Holy Father the Pope." + +Father Antonio, as a member of one of the most enlightened and +cultivated religious orders of the times, and as an intimate companion +and disciple of Savonarola, had a full understanding of the character of +the reigning Pope, and therefore had his own private opinion of how much +his excommunication was likely to be worth in the invisible world. He +knew that the same doom had been threatened towards his saintly master, +for opposing and exposing the scandalous vices which disgraced the high +places of the Church; so that, on the whole, when he heard that this +young man was excommunicated, so far from being impressed with horror +towards him, he conceived the idea that he might be a particularly +honest fellow and good Christian. But then he did not hold it wise to +disturb the faith of the simple-hearted by revealing to them the truth +about the head of the Church on earth. + +While the disorders in those elevated regions filled the minds of the +intelligent classes with apprehension and alarm, they held it unwise +to disturb the trustful simplicity of the lower orders, whose faith in +Christianity itself they supposed might thus be shaken. In fact, they +were themselves somewhat puzzled how to reconcile the patent and +manifest fact, that the actual incumbent of the Holy See was not under +the guidance of any spirit, unless it were a diabolical one, with the +theory which supposed an infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit to +attend as a matter of course on that position. Some of the boldest of +them did not hesitate to declare that the Holy City had suffered a foul +invasion, and that a false usurper reigned in her sacred palaces in +place of the Father of Christendom. The greater part did as people now +do with the mysteries and discrepancies of a faith which on the whole +they revere: they turned their attention from the vexed question, and +sighed and longed for better days. + +Father Antonio did not, therefore, tell Agnes that the announcement +which had filled her with such distress was far less conclusive with +himself of the ill desert of the individual to whom it related. + +"My little heart," he answered, gravely, "did you learn the sin for +which this young man was excommunicated?" + +"Ah, me! my dear uncle, I fear he is an infidel,--an unbeliever. Indeed, +now I remember it, he confessed as much to me the other day." + +"Where did he tell you this?" + +"You remember, my uncle, when you were sent for to the dying man? When +you were gone, I kneeled down to pray for his soul; and when I rose from +prayer, this young cavalier was sitting right here, on this end of the +fountain. He was looking fixedly at me, with such sad eyes, so full +of longing and pain, that it was quite piteous; and he spoke to me so +sadly, I could not but pity him." + +"What did he say to you, child?" + +"Ah, father, he said that he was all alone in the world, without +friends, and utterly desolate, with no one to love him; but worse than +that, he said he had lost his faith, that he could not believe." + +"What did you say to him?" + +"Uncle, I tried, as a poor girl might, to do him some good. I prayed him +to confess and take the sacrament; but he looked almost fierce when I +said so. And yet I cannot but think, after all, that he has not lost all +grace, because he begged me so earnestly to pray for him; he said his +prayers could do no good, and wanted mine. And then I began to tell him +about you, dear uncle, and how you came from that blessed convent in +Florence, and about your master Savonarola; and that seemed to interest +him, for he looked quite excited, and spoke the name over, as if it were +one he had heard before. I wanted to urge him to come and open his case +to you; and I think perhaps I might have succeeded, but that just then +you and grandmamma came up the path; and when I heard you coming, I +begged him to go, because you know grandmamma would be very angry, if +she knew that I had given speech to a man, even for a few moments; she +thinks men are so dreadful." + +"I must seek this youth," said the monk, in a musing tone; "perhaps I +may find out what inward temptation hath driven him away from the fold." + +"Oh, do, dear uncle! do!" said Agnes, earnestly. "I am sure that he has +been grievously tempted and misled, for he seems to have a noble and +gentle nature; and he spoke so feelingly of his mother, who is a saint +in heaven; and he seemed so earnestly to long to return to the bosom of +the Church." + +"The Church is a tender mother to all her erring children," said the +monk. + +"And don't you think that our dear Holy Father the Pope will forgive +him?" said Agnes. "Surely, he will have all the meekness and gentleness +of Christ, who would rejoice in one sheep found more than in all the +ninety-and-nine who went not astray." + +The monk could scarcely repress a smile at imagining Alexander the +Sixth in this character of a good shepherd, as Agnes's enthusiastic +imagination painted the head of the Church; and then he gave an inward +sigh, and said, softly, "Lord, how long?" + +"I think," said Agnes, "that this young man is of noble birth, for his +words and his bearing and his tones of voice are not those of common +men; even though he speaks so humbly and gently, there is yet something +princely that looks out of his eyes, as if he were born to command; and +he wears strange jewels, the like of which I never saw, on his hands and +at the hilt of his dagger,--yet he seems to make nothing of them. But +yet, I know not why, he spoke of himself as one utterly desolate and +forlorn. Father Francesco told me that he was captain of a band of +robbers who live in the mountains. One cannot think it is so." + +"Little heart," said the monk, tenderly, "you can scarcely know what +things befall men in these distracted times, when faction wages war with +faction, and men pillage and burn and imprison, first on this side, +then on that. Many a son of a noble house may find himself homeless +and landless, and, chased by the enemy, may have no refuge but the +fastnesses of the mountains. Thank God, our lovely Italy hath a noble +backbone of these same mountains, which afford shelter to her children +in their straits." + +"Then you think it possible, dear uncle, that this may not be a bad man, +after all?" + +"Let us hope so, child. I will myself seek him out; and if his mind have +been chafed by violence or injustice, I will strive to bring him back +into the good ways of the Lord. Take heart, my little one,--all will yet +be well. Come now, little darling, wipe your bright eyes, and look at +these plans I have been making for the shrine we were talking of, in the +gorge. See here, I have drawn a goodly arch with a pinnacle. Under the +arch, you see, shall be the picture of our Lady with the blessed +Babe. The arch shall be cunningly sculptured with vines of ivy and +passion-flower; and on one side of it shall stand Saint Agnes with her +lamb,--and on the other, Saint Cecilia, crowned with roses; and on +this pinnacle, above all, Saint Michael, all in armor, shall stand +leaning,--one hand on his sword, and holding a shield with the cross +upon it." + +"Ah, that will be beautiful!" said Agnes. + +"You can scarcely tell," pursued the monk, "from this faint drawing, +what the picture of our Lady is to be; but I shall paint her to the +highest of my art, and with many prayers that I may work worthily. You +see, she shall be standing on a cloud with a background all of burnished +gold, like the streets of the New Jerusalem; and she shall be clothed in +a mantle of purest blue from head to foot, to represent the unclouded +sky of summer; and on her forehead she shall wear the evening star, +which ever shineth when we say the Ave Maria; and all the borders of her +blue vesture shall be cunningly wrought with fringes of stars; and the +dear Babe shall lean his little cheek to hers so peacefully, and there +shall be a clear shining of love through her face, and a heavenly +restfulness, that it shall do one's heart good to look at her. Many a +blessed hour shall I have over this picture,--many a hymn shall I sing +as my work goes on. I must go about to prepare the panels forthwith; and +it were well, if there be that young man who works in stone, to have him +summoned to our conference." + +"I think," said Agnes, "that you will find him in the town; he dwells +next to the cathedral." + +"I trust he is a youth of pious life and conversation," said the monk. +"I must call on him this afternoon; for he ought to be stirring himself +up by hymns and prayers, and by meditations on the beauty of saints and +angels, for so goodly a work. What higher honor or grace can befall a +creature than to be called upon to make visible to men that beauty of +invisible things which is divine and eternal? How many holy men have +given themselves to this work in Italy, till, from being overrun with +heathen temples, it is now full of most curious and wonderful churches, +shrines, and cathedrals, every stone of which is a miracle of beauty! I +would, dear daughter, you could see our great Duomo in Florence, which +is a mountain of precious marbles and many-colored mosaics; and the +Campanile that riseth thereby is like a lily of Paradise,--so tall, so +stately, with such an infinite grace, and adorned all the way up with +holy emblems and images of saints and angels; nor is there any part of +it, within or without, that is not finished sacredly with care, as an +offering to the most perfect God. Truly, our fair Florence, though she +be little, is worthy, by her sacred adornments, to be worn as the lily +of our Lady's girdle, even as she hath been dedicated to her." + +Agnes seemed pleased with the enthusiastic discourse of her uncle. The +tears gradually dried from her eyes as she listened to him, and the hope +so natural to the young and untried heart began to reassert itself. God +was merciful, the world beautiful; there was a tender Mother, a reigning +Saviour, protecting angels and guardian saints: surely, then, there +was no need to despair of the recall of any wanderer; and the softest +supplication of the most ignorant and unworthy would be taken up by so +many sympathetic voices in the invisible world, and borne on in so many +waves of brightness to the heavenly throne, that the most timid must +have hope in prayer. + +In the afternoon, the monk went to the town to seek the young artist, +and also to inquire for the stranger for whom his pastoral offices were +in requisition, and Agnes remained alone in the little solitary garden. + +It was one of those rich slumberous afternoons of spring that seem to +bathe earth and heaven with an Elysian softness; and from her little +lonely nook shrouded in dusky shadows by its orange-trees, Agnes looked +down the sombre gorge to where the open sea lay panting and palpitating +in blue and violet waves, while the little white sails of fishing-boats +drifted hither and thither, now silvered in the sunshine, now fading +away like a dream into the violet vapor bands that mantled the horizon. +The weather would have been oppressively sultry but for the gentle +breeze which constantly drifted landward with coolness in its wings. The +hum of the old town came to her ear softened by distance and mingled +with the patter of the fountain and the music of birds singing in the +trees overhead. Agnes tried to busy herself with her spinning; but her +mind constantly wandered away, and stirred and undulated with a thousand +dim and unshaped thoughts and emotions, of which she vaguely questioned +in her own mind. Why did Father Francesco warn her so solemnly against +an earthly love? Did he not know her vocation? But still he was wisest +and must know best; there must be danger, if he said so. But then, +this knight had spoken so modestly, so humbly,--so differently from +Giulietta's lovers!--for Giulietta had sometimes found a chance to +recount to Agnes some of her triumphs. How could it be that a knight so +brave and gentle, and so piously brought up, should become an infidel? +Ah, uncle Antonio was right,--he must have had some foul wrong, some +dreadful injury! When Agnes was a child, in travelling with her +grandmother through one of the highest passes of the Apennines, she had +chanced to discover a wounded eagle, whom an arrow had pierced, sitting +all alone by himself on a rock, with his feathers ruffled, and a film +coming over his great, clear, bright eye,--and, ever full of compassion, +she had taken him to nurse, and had travelled for a day with him in her +arms; and the mournful look of his regal eyes now came into her memory. +"Yes," she said to herself, "he is like my poor eagle! The archers have +wounded him, so that he is glad to find shelter even with a poor maid +like me; but it was easy to see my eagle had been king among birds, even +as this knight is among men. Certainly, God must love him,--he is so +beautiful and noble! I hope dear uncle will find him this afternoon; he +knows how to teach him;--as for me, I can only pray." + +Such were the thoughts that Agnes twisted into the shining white flax, +while her eyes wandered dreamily over the soft hazy landscape. At last, +lulled by the shivering sound of leaves, and the bird-songs, and wearied +with the agitations of the morning, her head lay back against the end of +the sculptured fountain, the spindle slowly dropped from her hand, and +her eyes were closed in sleep, the murmur of the fountain still sounding +in her dreams. In her dreams she seemed to be wandering far away among +the purple passes of the Apennines, where she had come years ago when +she was a little girl; with her grandmother she pushed through old +olive-groves, weird and twisted with many a quaint gnarl, and rustling +their pale silvery leaves in noonday twilight. Sometimes she seemed to +carry in her bosom a wounded eagle, and often she sat down to stroke it +and to try to give it food from her hand, and as often it looked upon +her with a proud, patient eye, and then her grandmother seemed to shake +her roughly by the arm and bid her throw the silly bird away;--but then +again the dream changed, and she saw a knight lie bleeding and dying in +a lonely hollow,--his garments torn, his sword broken, and his face pale +and faintly streaked with blood; and she kneeled by him, trying in vain +to stanch a deadly wound in his side, while he said reproachfully, +"Agnes, dear Agnes, why would you not save me?" and then she thought +he kissed her hand with his cold dying lips; and she shivered and +awoke,--to find that her hand was indeed held in that of the cavalier, +whose eyes met her own when first she unclosed them, and the same voice +that spoke in her dreams said, "Agnes, dear Agnes!" + +For a moment she seemed stupefied and confounded, and sat passively +regarding the knight, who kneeled at her feet and repeatedly kissed her +hand, calling her his saint, his star, his life, and whatever other +fair name poetry lends to love. All at once, however, her face flushed +crimson red, she drew her hand quickly away, and, rising up, made a +motion to retreat, saying, in a voice of alarm,-- + +"Oh, my Lord, this must not be! I am committing deadly sin to hear you. +Please, please go! please leave a poor girl!" + +"Agnes, what does this mean?" said the cavalier. "Only two days since, +in this place, you promised to love me; and that promise has brought me +from utter despair to love of life. Nay, since you told me that, I have +been able to pray once more; the whole world seems changed for me: and +now will you take it all away,--you, who are all I have on earth?" + +"My Lord, I did not know then that I was sinning. Our dear Mother knows +I said only what I thought was true and right, but I find it was a sin." + +"A sin _to love_, Agnes? Heaven must be full of sin, then; for there +they do nothing else." + +"Oh, my Lord, I must not argue with you; I am forbidden to listen even +for a moment. Please go. I will never forget you, Sir,--never forget to +pray for you, and to love you as they love in heaven; but I am forbidden +to speak with you. I fear I have sinned in hearing and saying even this +much." + +"Who forbids you, Agnes? Who has the right to forbid your good, kind +heart to love, where love is so deeply needed and so gratefully +received?" + +"My holy father, whom I am bound to obey as my soul's director," said +Agnes; "he has forbidden me so much as to listen to a word, and yet I +have listened to many. How could I help it?" + +"Ever these priests!" said the cavalier, his brow darkening with an +impatient frown; "wolves in sheep's clothing!" + +"Alas!" said Agnes, sorrowfully, "why will you"-- + +"Why will I what?" he said, facing suddenly toward her, and looking down +with a fierce, scornful determination. + +"Why will you be at war with the Holy Church? Why will you peril your +eternal salvation?" + +"Is there a Holy Church? Where is it? Would there were one! I am blind +and cannot see it. Little Agnes, you promised to lead me; but you drop +my hand in the darkness. Who will guide me, if _you_ will not?" + +"My Lord, I am most unfit to be your guide. I am a poor girl, without +any learning; but there is my uncle I spoke to you of. Oh, my Lord, if +you only would go to him, he is wise and gentle both. I must go in now, +my Lord,--indeed, I must. I must not sin further. I must do a heavy +penance for having listened and spoken to you, after the holy father had +forbidden me." + +"No, Agnes, you shall _not_ go in," said the cavalier, suddenly stepping +before her and placing himself across the doorway; "you _shall_ see me, +and hear me too. I take the sin on myself; you cannot help it. How will +you avoid me? Will you fly now down the path of the gorge? I will follow +you,--I am desperate. I had but one comfort on earth, but one hope of +heaven, and that through you; and you, cruel, are so ready to give me up +at the first word of your priest!" + +"God knows if I do it willingly," said Agnes; "but I know it is best; +for I feel I should love you too well, if I saw more of you. My Lord, +you are strong and can compel me, but I beg you to leave me." + +"Dear Agnes, could you really feel it possible that you might love me +too well?" said the cavalier, his whole manner changing. "Ah! could I +carry you far away to my home in the mountains, far up in the beautiful +blue mountains, where the air is so clear, and the weary, wrangling +world lies so far below that one forgets it entirely, you should be my +wife, my queen, my empress. You should lead me where you would; your +word should be my law. I will go with you wherever you will,--to +confession, to sacrament, to prayers, never so often; never will I rebel +against your word; if you decree, I will bend my neck to king or priest; +I will reconcile me with anybody or anything only for your sweet sake; +you shall lead me all my life; and when we die, I ask only that you may +lead me to our Mother's throne in heaven, and pray her to tolerate me +for your sake. Come, now, dear, is not even one unworthy soul worth +saving?" + +"My Lord, you have taught me how wise my holy father was in forbidding +me to listen to you. He knew better than I how weak was my heart, and +how I might be drawn on from step to step till----My Lord, I must be no +man's wife. I follow the blessed Saint Agnes. May God give me grace to +keep my vows without wavering!--for then I shall gain power to intercede +for you and bring down blessings on your soul. Oh, never, never speak to +me so again, my Lord!--you will make me very, _very_ unhappy. If there +is any truth in your words, my Lord, if you really love me, you will go, +and you will never try to speak to me again." + +"Never, Agnes? never? Think what you are saying!" + +"Oh, I do think! I know it must be best," said Agnes, much agitated; +"for, if I should see you often and hear your voice, I should lose all +my strength. I could never resist, and I should lose heaven for you and +me too. Leave me, and I will never, never forget to pray for you; and +go quickly too, for it is time for my grandmother to come home, and she +would be so angry,--she would never believe I had not been doing wrong, +and perhaps she would make me marry somebody that I do not wish to. She +has threatened that many times; but I beg her to leave me free to go to +my sweet home in the convent and my dear Mother Theresa." + +"They shall never marry you against your will, little Agnes, I pledge +you my knightly word. I will protect you from that. Promise me, dear, +that, if ever you be man's wife, you will be mine. Only promise me that, +and I will go." + +"Will you?" said Agnes, in an ecstasy of fear and apprehension, in which +there mingled some strange troubled gleams of happiness. "Well, then, I +will. Ah! I hope it is no sin." + +"Believe me, dearest, it is not," said the knight. "Say it again,--say, +that I may hear it,--say, 'If ever I am man's wife, I will be +thine,'--say it, and I will go." + +"Well, then, my Lord, if ever I am man's wife, I will be thine," said +Agnes. "But I will be no man's wife. My heart and hand are promised +elsewhere. Come, now, my Lord, your word must be kept." + +"Let me put this ring on your finger, lest you forget," said the +cavalier. "It was my mother's ring, and never during her lifetime heard +anything but prayers and hymns. It is saintly, and worthy of thee." + +"No, my Lord, I may not. Grandmother would inquire about it. I cannot +keep it; but fear not my forgetting: I shall never forget you." + +"Will you ever want to see me, Agnes?" + +"I hope not, since it is not best. But you do not go." + +"Well, then, farewell, my little wife! farewell, till I claim thee!" +said the cavalier, as he kissed her hand, and vaulted over the wall. + +"How strange that I _cannot_ make him understand!" said Agnes, when he +was gone. "I must have sinned, I must have done wrong; but I have been +trying all the while to do right. Why would he stay so and look at me so +with those deep eyes? I was very hard with him,--very! I trembled for +him, I was so severe; and yet it has not discouraged him enough. How +strange that he would call me so, after all, when I explained to him +I never could marry!--Must I tell all this to Father Francesco? How +dreadful! How he looked at me before! How he trembled and turned away +from me! What will he think now? Ah, me! why must I tell _him_? If I +could only confess to my mother Theresa, that would be easier. We have a +mother in heaven to hear us; why should we not have a mother on earth? +Father Francesco frightens me so! His eyes burn me! They seem to burn +into my soul, and he seems angry with me sometimes, and sometimes looks +at me so strangely! Dear, blessed Mother," she said, kneeling at the +shrine, "help thy little child! I do not want to do wrong: I want to do +right. Oh that I could come and live with thee!" + +Poor Agnes! a new experience had opened in her heretofore tranquil life, +and her day was one of conflict. Do what she would, the words that +had been spoken to her in the morning would return to her mind, and +sometimes she awoke with a shock of guilty surprise at finding she had +been dreaming over what the cavalier said to her of living with him +alone, in some clear, high, purple solitude of those beautiful mountains +which she remembered as an enchanted dream of her childhood. Would he +really always love her, then, always go with her to prayers and mass and +sacrament, and be reconciled to the Church, and should she indeed have +the joy of feeling that this noble soul was led back to heavenly peace +through her? Was not this better than a barren life of hymns and prayers +in a cold convent? Then the very voice that said these words, that voice +of veiled strength and manly daring, that spoke with such a gentle +pleading, and yet such an undertone of authority, as if he had a right +to claim her for himself,--she seemed to feel the tones of that voice in +every nerve;--and then the strange thrilling pleasure of thinking +that he loved her so. Why should he, this strange, beautiful knight? +Doubtless he had seen splendid high-born ladies,--he had seen even +queens and princesses,--and what could he find to like in her, a poor +little peasant? Nobody ever thought so much of her before, and he was so +unhappy without her;--it was strange he should be; but he said so, and +it must be true. After all, Father Francesco might be mistaken about his +being wicked. On the whole, she felt sure he was mistaken, at least in +part. Uncle Antonio did not seem to be so much shocked at what she told +him; he knew the temptations of men better, perhaps, because he did not +stay shut up in one convent, but travelled all about, preaching and +teaching. If only he could see him, and talk with him, and make him a +good Christian,--why, then, there would be no further need of her;--and +Agnes was surprised to find what a dreadful, dreary blank appeared +before her when she thought of this. Why should she wish him to remember +her, since she never could be his?--and yet nothing seemed so dreadful +as that he should forget her. So the poor little innocent fly beat and +fluttered in the mazes of that enchanted web, where thousands of her +frail sex have beat and fluttered before her. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MONK AND THE CAVALIER. + + +Father Antonio had been down through the streets of the old town of +Sorrento, searching for the young stonecutter, and, finding him, had +spent some time in enlightening him as to the details of the work he +wished him to execute. + +He found him not so easily kindled into devotional fervors as he had +fondly imagined, nor could all his most devout exhortations produce +one-quarter of the effect upon him that resulted from the discovery that +it was the fair Agnes who originated the design and was interested in +its execution. Then did the large black eyes of the youth kindle into +something of sympathetic fervor, and he willingly promised to do his +very best at the carving. + +"I used to know the fair Agnes well, years ago," he said, "but of late +she will not even look at me; yet I worship her none the less. Who can +help it that sees her? I don't think she is so hard-hearted as she +seems; but her grandmother and the priests won't so much as allow her to +lift up her eyes when one of us young fellows goes by. Twice these five +years past have I seen her eyes, and then it was when I contrived to get +near the holy water when there was a press round it of a saint's day, +and I reached some to her on my finger, and then she smiled upon me and +thanked me. Those two smiles are all I have had to live on for all +this time. Perhaps, if I work very well, she will give me another, and +perhaps she will say, 'Thank you, my good Pietro!' as she used to, when +I brought her birds' eggs or helped her across the ravine, years ago." + +"Well, my brave boy, do your best," said the monk, "and let the shrine +be of the fairest white marble. I will be answerable for the expense; I +will beg it of those who have substance." + +"So please you, holy father," said Pietro, "I know of a spot, a little +below here on the coast, where was a heathen temple in the old days; and +one can dig therefrom long pieces of fair white marble, all covered with +heathen images. I know not whether your Reverence would think them fit +for Christian purposes." + +"So much the better, boy! so much the better!" said the monk, heartily. +"Only let the marble be fine and white, and it is as good as converting +a heathen any time to baptize it to Christian uses. A few strokes of the +chisel will soon demolish their naked nymphs and other such rubbish, and +we can carve holy virgins, robed from head to foot in all modesty, as +becometh saints." + +"I will get my boat and go down this very afternoon," said Pietro; "and, +Sir, I hope I am not making too bold in asking you, when you see the +fair Agnes, to present unto her this lily, in memorial of her old +playfellow." + +"That I will, my boy! And now I think of it, she spoke kindly of you as +one that had been a companion in her childhood, but said her grandmother +would not allow her to speak to you now." + +"Ah, that is it!" said Pietro. "Old Elsie is a fierce old kite, with +strong beak and long claws, and will not let the poor girl have any good +of her youth. Some say she means to marry her to some rich old man, and +some say she will shut her up in a convent, which I should say was a +sore hurt and loss to the world. There are a plenty of women, whom +nobody wants to look at, for that sort of work; and a beautiful face is +a kind of psalm which makes one want to be good." + +"Well, well, my boy, work well and faithfully for the saints on this +shrine, and I dare promise you many a smile from this fair maiden; for +her heart is set upon the glory of God and his saints, and she will +smile on any one who helps on the good work. I shall look in on you +daily for a time, till I see the work well started." + +So saying, the old monk took his leave. Just as he was passing out of +the house, some one brushed rapidly by him, going down the street. As he +passed, the quick eye of the monk recognized the cavalier whom he had +seen in the garden but a few evenings before. It was not a face and form +easily forgotten, and the monk followed him at a little distance behind, +resolving, if he saw him turn in anywhere, to follow and crave an +audience of him. + +Accordingly, as he saw the cavalier entering under the low arch that +led to his hotel, he stepped up and addressed him with a gesture of +benediction. + +"God bless you, my son!" + +"What would you with me, father?" said the cavalier, with a hasty and +somewhat suspicious glance. + +"I would that you would give me an audience of a few moments on some +matters of importance," said the monk, mildly. + +The tones of his voice seemed to have excited some vague remembrance in +the mind of the cavalier; for he eyed him narrowly, and seemed trying +to recollect where he had seen him before. Suddenly a light appeared to +flash upon his mind; for his whole manner became at once more cordial. + +"My good father," he said, "my poor lodging and leisure are at your +service for any communication you may see fit to make." + +So saying, he led the way up the damp, ill-smelling stone staircase, and +opened the door of the deserted room where we have seen him once before. +Closing the door, and seating himself at the one rickety table which the +room afforded, he motioned to the monk to be seated also; then taking +off his plumed hat, he threw it negligently on the table beside him, and +passing his white, finely formed hand through the black curls of his +hair, he tossed them carelessly from his forehead, and, leaning his chin +in the hollow of his hand, fixed his glittering eyes on the monk in a +manner that seemed to demand his errand. + +"My Lord," said the monk, in those gentle, conciliating tones which +were natural to him, "I would ask a little help of you in regard of a +Christian undertaking which I have here in hand. The dear Lord hath put +it into the heart of a pious young maid of this vicinity to erect a +shrine to the honor of our Lady and her dear Son in this gorge of +Sorrento, hard by. It is a gloomy place in the night, and hath been said +to be haunted by evil spirits; and my fair niece, who is full of all +holy thoughts, desired me to draw the plan for this shrine, and, so far +as my poor skill may go, I have done so. See here, my Lord, are the +drawings." + +The monk laid them down on the table, his pale cheek flushing with a +faint glow of artistic enthusiasm and pride, as he explained to the +young man the plan and drawings. + +The cavalier listened courteously, but without much apparent interest, +till the monk drew from his portfolio a paper and said,-- + +"This, my Lord, is my poor and feeble conception of the most sacred form +of our Lady, which I am to paint for the centre of the shrine." + +He laid down the paper, and the cavalier, with a sudden exclamation, +snatched it up, looking at it eagerly. + +"It is she!" he said; "it is her very self!--the divine Agnes,--the lily +flower,--the sweet star,--the only one among women!" + +"I see you have recognized the likeness," said the monk, blushing. +"I know it hath been thought a practice of doubtful edification to +represent holy things under the image of aught earthly; but when any +mortal seems especially gifted with a heavenly spirit outshining in the +face, it may be that our Lady chooses that person to reveal herself in." + +The cavalier was gazing so intently on the picture that he scarcely +heard the apology of the monk; he held it up, and seemed to study it +with a long admiring gaze. + +"You have great skill with your pencil, my father," he said; "one would +not look for such things from under a monk's hood." + +"I belong to the San Marco in Florence, of which you may have heard," +said Father Antonio, "and am an unworthy disciple of the traditions of +the blessed Angelico, whose visions of heavenly things are ever before +us; and no less am I a disciple of the renowned Savonarola, of whose +fame all Italy hath heard before now." + +"Savonarola?" said the other, with eagerness,--"he that makes these vile +miscreants that call themselves Pope and Cardinals tremble? All Italy, +all Christendom, is groaning and stretching out the hand to him to free +them from these abominations. My father, tell me of Savonarola: how goes +he, and what success hath he?" + +"My son, it is now many months since I left Florence; since which time +I have been sojourning in by-places, repairing shrines and teaching the +poor of the Lord's flock, who are scattered and neglected by the idle +shepherds, who think only to eat the flesh and warm themselves with the +fleece of the sheep for whom the Good Shepherd gave his life. My duties +have been humble and quiet; for it is not given to me to wield the sword +of rebuke and controversy, like my great master." + +"And you have not heard, then," said the cavalier, eagerly, "that they +have excommunicated him?" + +"I knew that was threatened," said the monk, "but I did not think it +possible that it could befall a man of such shining holiness of life, +so signally and openly owned of God that the very gifts of the first +Apostles seem revived in him." + +"Does not Satan always hate the Lord," said the cavalier. "Alexander +and his councils are possessed of the Devil, if ever men were,--and are +sealed as his children by every abominable wickedness. The Devil sits in +Christ's seat, and hath stolen his signet-ring, to seal decrees against +the Lord's own followers. What are Christian men to do in such case?" + +The monk sighed and looked troubled. + +"It is hard to say," he answered. "So much I know,--that before I left +Florence our master wrote to the King of France touching the dreadful +state of things at Rome, and tried to stir him up to call a general +council of the Church. I much fear me this letter may have fallen into +the hands of the Pope." + +"I tell you, father," said the young man, starting up and laying his +hand on his sword, "_we must fight_! It is the sword that must decide +this matter! Was not the Holy Sepulchre saved from the Infidels by the +sword?--and once more the sword must save the Holy City from worse +infidels than the Turks. If such doings as these are allowed in the Holy +City, another generation there will be no Christians left on earth. +Alexander and Caesar Borgia and the Lady Lucrezia are enough to drive +religion from the world. They make us long to go back to the traditions +of our Roman fathers,--who were men of cleanly and honorable lives and +of heroic deeds, scorning bribery and deceit. They honored God by noble +lives, little as they knew of Him. But these men are a shame to the +mothers that bore them." + +"You speak too truly, my son," said the monk. "Alas! the creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain with these things. Many a time and oft +have I seen our master groaning and wrestling with God on this account. +For it is to small purpose that we have gone through Italy preaching and +stirring up the people to more holy lives, when from the very hill of +Zion, the height of the sanctuary, come down these streams of pollution. +It seems as if the time had come that the world could bear it no +longer." + +"Well, if it come to the trial of the sword, as come it must," said the +cavalier, "say to your master that Agostino Sarelli has a band of one +hundred tried men and an impregnable fastness in the mountains, where he +may take refuge, and where they will gladly hear the Word of God from +pure lips. They call us robbers,--us who have gone out from the assembly +of robbers, that we might lead honest and cleanly lives. There is not +one among us that hath not lost houses, lands, brothers, parents, +children, or friends, through their treacherous cruelty. There be those +whose wives and sisters have been forced into the Borgia harem; there be +those whose children have been tortured before their eyes,--those who +have seen the fairest and dearest slaughtered by these hell-hounds, who +yet sit in the seat of the Lord and give decrees in the name of Christ. +Is there a God? If there be, why is He silent?" + +"Yea, my son, there is a God," said the monk; "but His ways are not as +ours. A thousand years in His sight are but as yesterday, as a watch in +the night. He shall come, and shall not keep silence." + +"Perhaps you do not know, father," said the young man, "that I, too, +am excommunicated. I am excommunicated, because, Caesar Borgia having +killed my oldest brother, and dishonored and slain my sister, and seized +on all our possessions, and the Pope having protected and confirmed him +therein, I declare the Pope to be not of God, but of the Devil. I will +not submit to him, nor be ruled by him; and I and my fellows will make +good our mountains against him and his crew with such right arms as the +good Lord hath given us." + +"The Lord be with you, my son!" said the monk; "and the Lord bring His +Church out of these deep waters! Surely, it is a lovely and beautiful +Church, made dear and precious by innumerable saints and martyrs who +have given their sweet lives up willingly for it; and it is full of +records of righteousness, of prayers and alms and works of mercy that +have made even the very dust of our Italy precious and holy. Why hast +Thou abandoned this vine of Thy planting, O Lord? The boar out of the +wood doth waste it; the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, +we beseech Thee, and visit this vine of Thy planting!" + +The monk clasped his hands and looked upward pleadingly, the tears +running down his wasted cheeks. Ah, many such strivings and prayers +in those days went up from silent hearts in obscure solitudes, that +wrestled and groaned under that mighty burden which Luther at last +received strength to heave from the heart of the Church. + +"Then, father, you do admit that one may be banned by the Pope, and may +utterly refuse and disown him, and yet be a Christian?" + +"How can I otherwise?" said the monk. "Do I not see the greatest saint +this age or any age has ever seen under the excommunication of the +greatest sinner? Only, my son, let me warn you. Become not irreverent to +the true Church, because of a false usurper. Reverence the sacraments, +the hymns, the prayers all the more for this sad condition in which you +stand. What teacher is more faithful in these respects than my master? +Who hath more zeal for our blessed Lord Jesus, and a more living faith +in Him? Who hath a more filial love and tenderness towards our blessed +Mother? Who hath more reverent communion with all the saints than he? +Truly, he sometimes seems to me to walk encompassed by all the armies of +heaven,--such a power goes forth in his words, and such a holiness in +his life." + +"Ah," said Agostino, "would I had such a confessor! The sacraments might +once more have power for me, and I might cleanse my soul from unbelief." + +"Dear son," said the monk, "accept a most unworthy, but sincere follower +of this holy prophet, who yearns for thy salvation. Let me have the +happiness of granting to thee the sacraments of the Church, which, +doubtless, are thine by right as one of the flock of the Lord Jesus. +Come to me some day this week in confession, and thereafter thou shalt +receive the Lord within thee, and be once more united to Him." + +"My good father," said the young man, grasping his hand, and much +affected, "I will come. Your words have done me good; but I must think +more of them. I will come soon; but these things cannot be done without +pondering; it will take some time to bring my heart into charity with +all men." + +The monk rose up to depart, and began to gather up his drawings. + +"For this matter, father," said the cavalier, throwing several gold +pieces upon the table, "take these, and as many more as you need ask for +your good work. I would willingly pay any sum," he added, while a faint +blush rose to his cheek, "if you would give me a copy of this. Gold +would be nothing in comparison with it." + +"My son," said the monk, smiling, "would it be to thee an image of an +earthly or a heavenly love?" + +"Of both, father," said the young man. "For that dear face has been more +to me than prayer or hymn; it has been even as a sacrament to me, and +through it I know not what of holy and heavenly influences have come to +me." + +"Said I not well," said the monk, exulting, "that there were those on +whom our Mother shed such grace that their very beauty led heavenward? +Such are they whom the artist looks for, when he would adorn a shrine +where the faithful shall worship. Well, my son, I must use my poor art +for you; and as for gold, we of our convent take it not except for the +adorning of holy things, such as this shrine." + +"How soon shall it be done?" said the young man, eagerly. + +"Patience, patience, my Lord! Rome was not built in a day, and our art +must work by slow touches; but I will do my best. But wherefore, my +Lord, cherish this image?" + +"Father, are you of near kin to this maid?" + +"I am her mother's only brother." + +"Then I say to you, as the nearest of her male kin, that I seek this +maid in pure and honorable marriage; and she hath given me her promise, +that, if ever she be wife of mortal man, she will be mine." + +"But she looks not to be wife of any man," said the monk; "so, at least, +I have heard her say; though her grandmother would fain marry her to a +husband of her choosing. 'Tis a wilful woman, is my sister Elsie, and a +worldly,--not easy to persuade, and impossible to drive." + +"And she hath chosen for this fair angel some base peasant churl who +will have no sense of her exceeding loveliness? By the saints, if it +come to this, I will carry her away with the strong arm!" + +"That is not to be apprehended just at present. Sister Elsie is dotingly +fond of the girl, which hath slept in her bosom since infancy." + +"And why should I not demand her in marriage of your sister?" said the +young man. + +"My Lord, you are an excommunicated man, and she would have horror of +you. It is impossible; it would not be to edification to make the common +people judges in such matters. It is safest to let their faith rest +undisturbed, and that they be not taught to despise ecclesiastical +censures. This could not be explained to Elsie; she would drive you from +her doors with her distaff, and you would scarce wish to put your sword +against it. Besides, my Lord, if you were not excommunicated, you are of +noble blood, and this alone would be a fatal objection with my sister, +who hath sworn on the holy cross that Agnes shall never love one of your +race." + +"What is the cause of this hatred?" + +"Some foul wrong which a noble did her mother," said the monk; "for +Agnes is of gentle blood on her father's side." + +"I might have known it," said the cavalier to himself; "her words and +ways are unlike anything in her class.--Father," he added, touching his +sword, "we soldiers are fond of cutting all Gordian knots, whether of +love or religion, with this. The sword, father, is the best theologian, +the best casuist. The sword rights wrongs and punishes evil-doers, and +some day the sword may cut the way out of this embarrass also." + +"Gently, my son! gently!" said the monk; "nothing is lost by patience. +See how long it takes the good Lord to make a fair flower out of a +little seed; and He does all quietly, without bluster. Wait on Him a +little in peacefulness and prayer, and see what He will do for thee." + +"Perhaps you are right, my father," said the cavalier, cordially. "Your +counsels have done me good, and I shall seek them further. But do +not let them terrify my poor Agnes with dreadful stories of the +excommunication that hath befallen me. The dear saint is breaking +her good little heart for my sins, and her confessor evidently hath +forbidden her to speak to me or look at me. If her heart were left to +itself, it would fly to me like a little tame bird, and I would +cherish it forever; but now she sees sin in every innocent, womanly +thought,--poor little dear child-angel that she is!" + +"Her confessor is a Franciscan," said the monk, who, good as he was, +could not escape entirely from the ruling prejudice of his order,--"and, +from what I know of him, I should think might be unskilful in what +pertaineth to the nursing of so delicate a lamb. It is not every one to +whom is given the gift of rightly directing souls." + +"I'd like to carry her off from him!" said the cavalier, between his +teeth. "I will, too, if he is not careful!" Then he added aloud, +"Father, Agnes is mine,--mine by the right of the truest worship and +devotion that man could ever pay to woman,--mine because she loves me. +For I know she loves me; I know it far better than she knows it herself, +the dear innocent child! and I will not have her torn from me to waste +her life in a lonely, barren convent, or to be the wife of a stolid +peasant. I am a man of my word, and I will vindicate my right to her in +the face of God and man." + +"Well, well, my son, as I said before, patience,--one thing at a time. +Let us say our prayers and sleep to-night, to begin with, and to-morrow +will bring us fresh counsel." + +"Well, my father, you will be for me in this matter?" said the young +man. + +"My son, I wish you all happiness; and if this be for your best good and +that of my dear niece, I wish it. But, as I said, there must be time and +patience. The way must be made clear. I will see how the case stands; +and you may be sure, when I can in good conscience, I will befriend +you." + +"Thank you, my father, thank you!" said the young man, bending his knee +to receive the monk's parting benediction. + +"It seems to me not best," said the monk, turning once more, as he was +leaving the threshold, "that you should come to me at present where I +am,--it would only raise a storm that I could not allay; and so great +would be the power of the forces they might bring to bear on the child, +that her little heart might break and the saints claim her too soon." + +"Well, then, father, come hither to me to-morrow at this same hour, if I +be not too unworthy of your pastoral care." + +"I shall be too happy, my son," said the monk. "So be it." + +And he turned from the door just as the bell of the cathedral struck the +Ave Maria, and all in the street bowed in the evening act of worship. + + * * * * * + + +A NIGHT IN A WHERRY. + + +As the summer vacation drew near, and the closed shutters and +comparative quiet of the west end made one for a moment believe in the +phrase, "Nobody in town," I had, after some thought, determined to +resist the many temptations of a walking tour, and, instead of trusting +to shoe-leather, try what virtue lay in a stout pair of oars, and make a +trip by water instead of land. + +But first, in what direction? The careful search of a huge chart and +some knowledge of the Northern and Eastern seaboard led me to mark out a +course along the shore of Massachusetts and among the beautiful islands +which stud the coast of Maine. + +The cruise was at that time a novel one, and many were the doubts +expressed as to the seaworthiness of my boat. She was twenty-two feet +long, nine inches high, and thirty-two wide,--canvas-covered, except +about four feet of the middle section, with sufficient space to stow +two days' food and water, and to carry all the baggage necessary for a +week's voyage. The oars were made especially strong for the occasion, +of spruce, ten feet three inches in length, and nicely balanced. In +addition to provision and clothes, a gun, a couple of hundred feet of +stout line, and a boat-hook were stowed in the bottom. + +The day fixed for departure rose clear. An east wind tempered the heat +of the sun; but the tide, which by starting earlier would have been in +my favor, was dead low, and would turn before I could round the northern +point of the city. After all my traps had been put on board, seating +myself carefully, the oars were handed in, and a few strokes sent me +ahead of the raft. The tide was low, dead low, in the fullest meaning of +the word; the sea-weed slowly circled and eddied round, floating neither +up nor down; while the unrippled surface of the Back Bay reflected the +city and bridges so perfectly that it was hard to tell where reality +ended and seeming began. Passing beneath the Cambridge draw, I turned +the boat's head for the next one, and kept close to the northern point +of the city. Seven bridges must be passed ere the bay opened before me. +The boat had just cleared the last, when, remembering that no matches +had been provided, and not knowing where a landing might be made, I +decided to lay in a stock before putting to sea. With a narrow shave +past the Chelsea ferry-boat, I backed water, and came alongside a raft +of ship-timber seasoning near one of the docks, tenanted by a score +or more of semi-amphibious urchins, who were running races over the +half-sunken logs, and taking all sizes of duckings, from the slight +spatter to the complete souse. Engaging the services of one of these +water-rats, by a judicious promise of a larger sum as payment than the +one intrusted to him for the purchase, I had soon a sufficient supply, +and, resting the boat-hook on one of the logs, pushed off. East Boston +ferry was quickly passed, my boat lifting and falling gracefully in the +swell of the steamer, and I began to feel the flow of the rising tide +setting steadily against her. Governor's Island showed rather hazy three +miles off; Apple Island, tufted with trees, looked in the shimmering +light like one of the palm-crowned Atolls of the Pacific; and, just +discernible through the foggy air, Deer Island and the Hospital loomed +up. A straight course would have saved at least two miles and avoided +the strength of the tide; but, though my boat drew only three inches, +and there was water enough and to spare on the flats, the sea-weed, +growing thick as grain in the harvest-field, and half floating where the +depth was three or four feet, collecting round the sharp bow as a long +tress of hay gathers round a tooth of a rake, and burying the oar-blade, +impeded all progress, and obliged me to pull almost double the distance +against the rapid tide-set of the circuitous channels. I worked through +the bends and reaches, till the deep, strong current of Shirley Gut was +to be stemmed, where the tide runs with great force,--nearly fifty feet +in depth of pure green water, eddying and whirling round, all sorts of +ripples and small whirlpools dimpling its surface,--with the rushing +sound which deep and swift water makes against its banks. A few moments' +tough pulling brought me through, and, once outside Deer Island, nothing +lay between me and Nahant. The well-known beach and the sandy headland +called "Grover" stood out at the edge of Lynn Bay, and the rise and +fall of the white surf, too distant to be heard, marked the long reef +stretching seaward. After dining, and allowing the boat to drift while +rearranging my provisions, I took my place, and, getting the proper +bearings astern, bent on the oars. + +To those who have rowed only clumsy country-boats, with their awkward +row-locks and wretched oars, slimy, dirty, and leaking, trailing behind +tags and streamers of pond-weed, or who have only experimented with that +most uncivilized style of digging up the water called paddling, the real +pleasure of rowing is unknown. + +Grover's Head went astern; Nahant grew more and more distinct. There was +but little wind, and the boat went rocking over the long roll of the +huge waves, cutting smoothly through their wrinkled surface. In sight +to the south and the east were the Brewsters, the outer light, and the +sails of vessels of all sizes and shapes which were slowly making their +way into the harbor. The afternoon was cloudy; but now and then a +brilliant ray of sunshine would fall on islands and vessels, lighting +them up for an instant, and then closing over again. My route took me +about three miles outside Nahant and in full view of the end of the +promontory. There was now a clear course, except that occasionally a +huge patch of floating seaweed would suddenly deaden and then stop the +boat's headway, compelling me to back water and clear the bow of the +long strands. It was at first very startling to be thus checked when +running at full speed; the sensation being that some one has grasped +the boat and is pushing her back. With the resistance come the rush and +ripple, as the sharp stem plunges through the floating mass of weed. The +wind, which had been light and baffling all the forenoon, after I had +passed Nahant, and was abreast of Egg Rock with its little whitewashed +light-house, freshened, and, veering to the southeast, blew across my +track. The vessels began to lean to its force, and the waves to rise. I +was then outside Swampscott Bay, about eight miles from land. The shore +was plainly visible, with the buildings dotted along like specks of +white, and the outlying reefs showing by the sparkle of the foam upon +them. Phillips's Beach, and the island called by the romantic name of +Ram, were now opposite. Half-Way Rock, so named from being half way from +Boston to Gloucester, was the point towards which I had been pulling for +two hours, and it could now for the first time be seen. It came in sight +as the boat was rising on a huge wave which broke under her and went +rushing shoreward, roaring savagely, with long streaks of foam down its +green back. The elevation of the eyes above the water was so small, +that, when my boat sank away in the trough of the sea, nothing could be +seen above the top of the advancing wave. I had, therefore, to watch my +chance, and when she rose, get my bearings. + +Half-Way Rock is a water-washed mass of porphyritic stone, the top about +twenty feet above high tide, shaped much like a pyramid, and a few years +since was capped with a conical granite beacon, strongly built and +riveted down, but which had been two-thirds washed away by the +tremendous surf of the easterly storms. The rock stands at the outer +edge of a long sand-shoal, and is east of Salem. To the northward, a dim +blue line on the horizon, lay Cape Ann, by my reckoning, about eighteen +miles distant. I kept on pulling over the swell, which was growing +larger, not quite in the trough of the sea,--but when a particularly +large wave came easing up a little, so as to take the boat more on the +bow, the motion was not a pleasant one. It was a sort of half rolling, +half pitching,--very unlike the even, smooth slide of the early part of +the afternoon. The rock soon became plainer, and at last I rested on my +oars to watch the waves as they broke on its furrowed face. The great +rollers, which became higher as the water shoaled toward its foot, +fell upon it bursting into foam, and jetting the spray high above the +half-broken beacon. It was a beautiful sight as the spray broke under +the shadow of the seaward face and was thrown up into the sunlight. + +Not heeding whither I was drifting, a nasal hail suddenly roused me to +the fact that there were other navigators in those seas. "Bo-oat ahoy! +Whar' ye bo-ound?" Giving a stroke with the larboard oar, I saw, hove +to, a fishing-schooner,--her whole crew of skipper, three men, and a boy +standing at the gangway and looking with all their ten eyes to make out, +if possible, what strange kind of sea-monster had turned up. My boat +could not have seemed very seaworthy, only seven inches above water, +disappearing in the trough of every sea that passed, then lifting its +long and slender bow of brilliant crimson above the white foam, and the +occupant apparently on a level with the water. The hail was repeated. +The answer, "Cape Ann," did not satisfy them; and the question, "Wa-ant +any he-elp?" was next bawled out. My only reply was by a shake of the +head; and settling back into my place, I gave way on the oars, and left +my fishing friends still looking and evidently very uncertain whether it +were not better to make an attempt at a rescue. + +I now kept on about a mile farther toward the Cape, but found that +the time before sundown was too short to reach it. About seven miles +distant, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, was the hospitable +mansion of Mr. T., where I was sure of a welcome and a good berth for my +boat, and which snug harbor could just be reached by nightfall. The way +lay straight across Gooseberry Shoal, on the outside of which stands +Half-Way Rock. The sea for my small boat was very heavy; but, having +full confidence in her buoyancy, I drove straight on. Upon the shoal +the color of the water changed from deep to light green; the sea was +shorter, much higher, and broke quicker; the waves washed over the stern +of the boat, burying it two feet or more, and coming almost into the +seat-room. Then she would lift herself free, and ride high and clear on +the backs of the great rollers, which would break and crush down under +her, sending her well ahead. The sunlight, falling from behind, shone +through the body of each wave, making it of the most transparent +brilliant emerald, and tinting the foam with every hue of the rainbow. +Pulling with the sea is very easy work, if the boat be long enough to +keep from broaching to,--that is, swinging sideways and rolling over, a +performance which dories are apt to indulge in. There are on the shoal +several reefs, whose black ridges are just awash at high tide; past +these the inner edge of the water deepens and the sea becomes smoother. +About an hour brought me inside what is called by the dwellers +thereabout the "outer island,"--its gray-red rocks tufted here and there +with patches of coarse grass, and weather-worn and seamed by surf and +storm, with the usual accompaniment of mackerel-gulls screaming and +soaring aloft at the approach of a stranger. When within about a quarter +of a mile of the shore, I backed round to come upon the beach stern +foremost through the surf. If the surf be high, coming ashore is a +delicate operation; for, should the boat be turned broadside on, she +would be thrown over upon the oarsman, and both washed up the beach in a +flood of sandy salt-water; so it requires some little steadiness to sit +back to the coming wave, hear the increasing roar, and feel the sudden +lift and toss shoreward which each roller gives you as it plunges down +upon the sand. Just before coming to the outer edge of the surf, I was +seen by my friends, who hastened down the cliff-road to receive me. +Resting on my oars, I waited, till, hearing a large roller coming, whose +voice gained in strength and depth as it drew nearer to the shore, I +looked behind. The crest was already beginning to curl, as it dashed +under the boat and swept me in-shore, breaking, as the stern passed, the +top of the sea, and carrying me in, full speed, with the flood of foam +and spray. After three or four quick strokes I jerked the oars out of +the row-locks, jumped into the water knee-deep, and wading dragged the +boat backwards as far as she would float, when the receding surf let +her gently down upon the sand, and before the next wave the servant +had taken the bow and I the stern and lifted her high and dry upon +the beach. And so my afternoon's pull of thirty miles was safely +and successfully finished, my boat having proved herself thoroughly +seaworthy, though my friends could hardly believe that such a craft +could be safely trusted. After removing the stores and arranging other +matters, we took her up, placed her quietly upon the grass, and left her +for the night. + +The next morning was rather hazy. About nine o'clock I took my way to +the beach, and began to prepare for departure. Mr. T.'s house lies +several miles to the south and west of Cape Ann. Eastern Point, on +the Cape, was therefore the place to be steered for in a straight +line,--perhaps six miles distant. Two miles on, the white light-house on +the Point can be plainly seen. The tide was rising, and the two lines of +ripple met across the sand-bar which connects a little island with the +beach. My boat was now carried down from her night's resting-place and +set at the edge of the water. The oars being placed in readiness, two +of us waded out with her till she would just float, when, quickly and +cautiously stepping in, I met the advancing wave in time to ride over +it. The line of surf is hard to cross, unless one can catch the roller +before it begins to crest. Once outside the line, I turned and pulled +swiftly across the bar, over which the tide had risen a few inches, and, +bidding good-morning to my hospitable entertainers, set off for Eastern +Point. There was considerable swell, though not much wind. The shore +being familiar to me, I was rowing along leisurely, recognizing one +well-known cliff after another, as they came in sight, and was between +Kettle Island and the main, when a slight dampness in the air caused +me to turn my face to the eastward, and I saw coming in from the sea, +preceded by an advance guard of feathery mist, a dense bank of fog. It +swept in, blotting out sea, shore, everything but the view a few feet +around the boat. Fortunately knowing the place, and guided by the sound +of the surf, I soon neared the wet, brown rocks at the inner edge of +Kettle Island. Backing up into a little cove between two huge sea-weedy +boulders I waited, hoping that a turn in the wind might drive the mist +seaward and allow me to keep on. There I sat a full hour, watching the +star-fish, and the crabs scrambling about among the loose strands of the +olive-green and deep purple rock-weed, which looked almost black in +the shadow, while here and there, as it waved to and fro with the sea, +disclosing patches of yellow sand. Very beautiful was this natural +aquarium; but time was flying, and "The Shoals" were more than thirty +miles distant. The mist began to drive in long rifts, and a gleam of +sunshine came out, but only for a moment. I took advantage of it at +once, and pushed out from port. + +The opposite shore of the cove, in the mouth of which the island lies, +was dimly discernible, and the dense foliage of the willows surrounding +the fishermen's houses loomed up in the distance, while at the extreme +end of the Point the sea broke heavily on the long protruding reef which +slanted eastward. I made rapidly for the Point, and reached the outside +line of rollers just in time; for the fog, which had been drifting +backwards and forwards and torn in long rents, now closed over again, +shutting down darker than ever. It was with the utmost difficulty that +I could make out the faint gray line of cliff and surf. On the whole, +however, it appeared best to keep on and feel my way along the coast, +navigating rather by sound than by sight. The shore grows higher as you +go northward towards Gloucester harbor, and is, if possible, more rugged +and broken than to the south. The chief danger was from sunken rocks, +which every wave submerged three or four feet, and which in the hollow +of the sea were wholly above water. I came upon one very suddenly, as +the wave was swelling above it, and the rock-weed afloat on its sunken +head looked, for the instant, like the hair of a drowning person. My +boat went directly over it, and the next moment its black crest rose in +the trough of the wave. One such chance of wreck was enough, and so I +kept farther out, losing sight almost entirely of the cliffs. The sun, +meanwhile, was pouring down an intense heat, making the fog luminous, +but not rendering the coast any more visible. I knew that before me, +somewhere, lay the reef of Norman's Woe. The huge rock on the inside of +the reef, separated from the shore by a narrow strait, I judged must be +right ahead, but not knowing how near, I kept on, cautiously looking +behind, every few strokes, and began to think I must have passed it in +the fog, when suddenly, as if it had stepped in the way, it rose before +me, its top lost in the mist, and with the sullen drip and splash of the +sea on its almost perpendicular sides. I had to back water with some +force, and, skirting the reef, stood on till fairly outside,--when, +turning shoreward again, I went on to the edge of the surf. + +Resuming my former style of navigation, almost twisting my head off to +keep a sharp look-out for rocks and reefs, I came to what seemed to be +the mouth of Gloucester harbor, and there stopped for a moment. There +was no use in pulling up one side of the harbor and down the other, four +miles, while in a straight line to the Point it was only one and a half. +I had almost decided on rowing the longer distance, however, when I +heard a bell ringing somewhere in the direction of Eastern Point. It +was striking in measured time, and the sound came across the water with +great distinctness. It puzzled me a little, till I remembered there +was a fog-bell as well as a light-house on the Point. Hoping that the +tolling would continue, I aimed for the bell as straight as possible. +With a couple of strokes the shore vanished, and nothing could be seen +but fog. Rowing where there is plenty of light and yet nothing visible +is embarrassing business. One must rely wholly upon the sense of +hearing, as eyes are of no use in such a case. Fearing that the bell +might cease before I got across, I bent with a will upon the oars and +went racing through the fog. The sound grew more and more distinct with +each peal, when, suddenly as the apparition of Norman's Woe, right +before me sprang up the black dripping hull of a fishing-schooner, +becalmed, and rocking with the roll of the sea; one turn and I shot +beneath her bows, passed her, and was lost in the fog before the fat +darkey who was lazily fishing by the bowsprit could shift from one side +of the deck to the other to keep me in sight. The creaking of blocks +and the heavy flap of wet sails warned me of the neighborhood of other +vessels. In a short time I could hear the rusty grating of the pivot as +the bell turned; then my boat glided close under the rock on which the +light-house stands. At that moment the fog opened half across the bay, +showing clearly my track with more than a dozen vessels lying close by +it. The lifting was but for a moment; back rolled the cloud and all was +invisible again. I rounded the Point, however, and went ahead, pulling +along the eastern coast of the Cape in the fog. + +It was hard work, this groping through the mist, and made me wish for +the Janus power of gazing out of the back of my head to save the trouble +of continually turning. The look-out was now necessarily more vigilant +than when on the lower shore, as I was entirely ignorant of the coast +and could not see twenty feet before me. The sea was calm, save the +ever-swinging ground-swell, which does not show its power till it meets +with some resistance; and though without crest, the surf on the rocks +was very high. There was nothing to deaden the force of the sea, and +it came on in huge green masses, sliding bodily up on the rocks with +a sound like distant thunder, making one feel that a boat would be +shivered to splinters, should she fall into its power. Once the breakers +nearly caught me broadside on, as I had begun to pull along the shore, +compelling me to keep outside the line of surf and thus follow it till +the rocky headland loomed up on the other side of the bay, then past the +reefs again till another bay curved inward,--nothing to be seen but fog, +dim white surf, and dimmer rocks. Once, when passing an outlying point, +I saw, for a moment, a couple of men fishing; they shouted something +which the surf rendered inaudible; then rock and fishers melted away +into the mist. After rowing in this manner for about an hour, the water +shoaled, the fog lightened, and an island appeared to the east, with the +sea rippling over the sand-bar which joined it to the shore. I pulled +on and found the depth but a few inches, just enough to cross without +touching. The island was very picturesque, and the end towards the +west was broken into ledges, on which were perched eight or ten small +weather-beaten houses. Half floating by the beach under the cliff, +or drawn up on it, were a number of dories, while a troop of little +children were wading, splashing, and shouting in the shallow water on +the bar. They stopped when they saw me, clustered together watching as +I passed, and when I was fairly over set up a shout and resumed their +play. I rowed on until two in the afternoon, when the fog became +thinner, and finding myself between two rocky headlands, in "Milk Island +Strait," as I conjectured, and it being dinner-time, I went ashore in a +little inlet, took out my provisions, and dined. + +The mist, meanwhile, had disappeared, leaving the sky perfectly clear. +It was nearly three when dinner was finished. The Isles of Shoals were +full twenty-one miles distant, and if they were to be reached before +night, there was no time to be lost. So I backed out of the inlet, and, +getting the bearings, aimed for a point on the horizon where I supposed +the islands to be, and pulled without stopping for three hours. The wind +was fresh from the southeast, the sea high, and there was not the least +trace of the fog. The hills of Cape Ann, as I went on, changed from +green to blue, and the color grew fainter in the distance. The land, +which was ten miles inside to the westward, had now come nearer, and the +dark line of the woods was just visible. + +It was time to see the Shoals. I turned, but the heavy sea tossed the +boat about so that it was not at all certain whether they were or were +not in sight. The only objects in view were a few small white clouds +about the horizon and the distant sails of a schooner; so again bringing +the Cape astern, I rowed on till sunset. The hills had then almost sunk +below the water, and it was full time to see White Island and the light +which would be kindled in a few moments. The boat swung into the trough +of the sea, and when on the top of a wave I looked up to the northward. +The sight was not a pleasant one for an evening pull: the sky was +covered with the dark clouds of a gathering storm rapidly rolling up, +and my old friend the fog was again working in, as the wind had shifted +to the east and north. In the distance nothing could be seen but black +sky and blacker water, while nearer crept on the line of mist, shutting +out all prospect. The Shoals were doubtless somewhere in the darkness, +but just where I could not determine. Something must be done at once +before the fog reached me. Calling a council of war, I debated. There +was no certainty of hitting the Shoals, and if I did come on them in any +other than the exact spot, my boat would be beaten into chips in five +minutes on some of the reefs which abound in that region. It would be +entirely dark when I reached the islands, and the wind and sea were +rising; it looked very much like the beginning of an easterly gale. So +the council concluded to let the Shoals go for that night, and stay out +at sea till morning. Should the gale come on, the boat could be beached +on the coast to the westward; and if the wind lulled, as it probably +would for a few hours on the next day, there was time enough to get +ashore. I was from eight to ten miles at sea, and six miles east and +south of the Shoals, as nearly as I could reckon. It was necessary to +get more to the westward to clear the islands in the night, when the +tide set in. Rowing for half an hour brought me far enough in to stop. +The fog was again all around me, and the thick clouds made it so dark +that it was impossible to see twice my boat's length. Resting on my +oars for a moment, I began to stow a few things more closely in the +seat-room, when a huge sea broke just ahead, and, striking the bow a +little on one side, whirled the boat round and rolled her half over, +pitching the crest into the seat-room and filling it with water. I +caught her with the oars barely in time to save her, and turned her +again head to the sea, keeping a watchful eye to windward. Then baling +out the seat-room, I took some crackers and a draught of water, and +turned the boat stern foremost to the sea. + +It was, by guess, about nine o'clock; and there was no light except the +phosphorescence of the water. When a wave came rushing through the +fog, its black body invisible in the darkness, the crest glanced like +quicksilver and broke into ten thousand coruscations as the boat +balanced on the top,--pouring a flood of glittering water past the stern +and over the canvas cover, and dripping from the sides in sparkling +drops. Wherever a foam-bubble burst or oar dipped, it was like opening a +silver-lined casket. The boat left a luminous track, which rose with +the waves as they swelled behind her, and disappeared in the night. It +required a strong hand to keep her in her course; had she broached to, I +should have been rolled out and obliged to swim for it. A quick eye was +necessary to watch, lest, in spite of the oars, she might swing round +and turn over. The utter darkness and the storm so threatening at +sundown had come in full force. It was raining and blowing heavily, and +the strong wind driving the rain and mist in sheets across the water +deepened the hoarse roar of the sea. I was very wet, and not so fresh, +after my forty miles or more of hard, steady pulling, as in the morning; +I was also very sleepy, so that it was not easy to keep even one eye +open to look out for passing coasters,--the chief danger. My craft was +so slender they could have gone over her in the darkness and storm and +never have known it. The tide was still setting out, the sea was very +high, and there was not a ray of light from White Island. My best course +seemed to be to continue pulling slowly and keep the boat stern to the +sea till after midnight, when the tide would change and the wind would +lull for a short time,--unless it should prove to be the beginning of +the gale, and not its forerunner, as I had thought. The hours passed +slowly. There was much to do in heading straight and in easing up when +the great waves loomed through the fog. Midnight would decide whether at +day-dawn I must pull for it, and run, if possible, the line of breakers +on Rye Beach, with rather less than an even chance of coming out +right-end uppermost, or whether the wind and sea would go down so that I +could slip quietly ashore before the gale returned. + +Midnight came at last; the rain ceased and the wind began to shift to +the south, and I knew that now the probability of going ashore decently +was good. The tide having turned, the wind moderated, and the sea, +though still high, was longer and did not break so quickly. Still +farther to the south veered the wind, and a little after three, as well +as I could tell by my watch, the fog thinned, so that, looking up, I +caught the faint glimmer of a star; then another peeped through the +cloud. The mist broke in several places, then drifted over, then broke +again; and, chancing to look seaward, a light flared into full blaze +for a moment, swung smaller, then vanished. There was no mistaking +it,--White Island light at last! + +Backing with one oar, pulling with the other, I rose on the top of a +great sea, and caught the light again just as it began to come into +sight. Off I went, at a splendid pace, driving along in the trough and +over the crest of the waves, steering by a star behind me, for about ten +minutes; then light and stars sank back into the mist, and all was +black again. I waited a few moments, and again the light shone out; but +meantime the boat's bow had veered several points. Turning toward it, +I was off full speed this time for about five minutes, before the fog +swept in again. Then another rest on my oars. The fog drifted out and +drifted in backwards and forwards, now thinning here, then thinning +there; but no other glimpse of the light did I get that night. For a +moment, a shadowy-looking schooner glided slowly along a few hundred +feet ahead of me, and directly across my track,--then melted out into +the darkness. After waiting some time longer, finding no chance of +another glimpse of the light, I secured my oars, and, as the wind and +sea had decreased, got ready to turn in. The seat-room was only four +feet long,--two feet short of my length; and the washboard, which was +three inches in height, surrounded the seat-room and obliged me to use +the boat-sponge as a pillow. But trusting to chance that my craft would +come across nothing either fixed or floating, I retreated at once to the +land of Nod. What the weather was during the rest of that night, or what +might have been seen, I cannot say; for I did not wake till my watch +told seven in the morning. Then my eyes opened to, or rather in, as +choice a specimen of mist as had yet been met with. + +It was perfectly calm; the sea was undulating slightly, and not a breath +of wind stirring. I sat up and looked around. Nothing visible but misty +atmosphere and leaden-colored water; the phosphorescent sparkle had +quite gone out of it. I listened, and with the low dull roar of the surf +on Rye Beach on one side came the break of the waves on the Shoals, +but so faint that it was doubtful whether it were really audible, when +another most unmistakable sound assured me Landlord Laighton was blowing +his breakfast-horn on Appledore Island. The familiar notes of that +very peculiar performance came clearly through the fog. Had he kept on +blowing twenty minutes longer, he would have had another guest; but he +stopped before ten strokes could be taken. So, reluctantly turning my +boat for the other shore, I pulled for the sound of the surf, which +increased as I approached it. The beach was still several miles distant, +when the short, quick rap of oars came to my ears. I knew at once the +fisherman's stroke, and, supposing that he had put out from the shore +and did not mean to stay out long, I gave chase at once, and pulled till +he stopped rowing and was apparently near. Then I hailed, and after +a twenty minutes' hunt caught a glimpse of his dory and immediately +introduced myself. He was fishing with two lines, one on each side of +the boat, and was about returning when I came up. He had never before +beheld such a craft as mine, and did not know what to make of her as she +came through the fog. He soon, however, drew in his lines, and, acting +as pilot, set out for the beach, from which we were then three miles +distant. After various twistings and circlings through the mist, the row +of sandy hillocks which backs Rye Beach appeared, and in a few moments +we pulled through the surf and landed, thus ending one part of my +summer's cruise. + + * * * * * + + +A STORY OF TO-DAY. + + +PART I. + + +Let me tell you a story of To-Day,--very homely and narrow in its scope +and aim. Not of the To-Day whose significance in the history of humanity +only those shall read who will live when you and I are dead. Let us bear +the pain in silence, if our hearts are strong enough, while the nations +of the earth stand far off pitying. I have no word of this To-Day to +speak. I write from the border of the battle-field, and I find in it no +theme for shallow argument or flimsy rhymes. The shadow of death has +fallen on us; it chills the very heaven. No child laughs in my face as +I pass down the street. Men have forgotten to hope, forgotten to pray; +only in the bitterness of endurance they say "in the morning, 'Would God +it were even!' and in the evening, 'Would God it were morning!'" Neither +I nor you have the prophet's vision to see the age as its meaning stands +written before God. Those who shall live when we are dead may tell their +children, perhaps, how, out of anguish and darkness such as the world +seldom has borne, the enduring morning evolved of the true world and the +true man. It is not clear to us. Hands wet with a brother's blood for +the Right, a slavery of intolerance, the hackneyed cant of men or +the bloodthirstiness of women, utter no prophecy to us of the great +To-Morrow of content and right that holds the world. Yet the To-Morrow +is there; if God lives, it is there. The voice of the meek Nazarene, +which we have deafened down as ill-timed, unfit to teach the watchword +of the hour, renews the quiet promise of its coming in simple, humble +things. Let us go down and look for it. There is no need that we should +feebly vaunt and madden ourselves over our self-seen lights, whatever +they may be, forgetting what broken shadows they are of eternal truths +in that calm where He sits and with His quiet hand controls us. + +Patriotism and Chivalry are powers in the tranquil, unlimited lives to +come, as well as here, I know; but there are less partial truths, higher +hierarchies who serve the God-man, that do not speak to us in bayonets +and victories,--Humility, Mercy, and Love. Let us not quite neglect +them, however humble the voices they use may be. Why, the very low glow +of the fire upon the hearth tells me something of recompense coming in +the hereafter,--Christmas-days, and heartsome warmth; in these bare +hills trampled down by armed men, the yellow clay is quick with pulsing +fibres, hints of the great heart of life and love throbbing within; +God's slanted sunlight would show me, in these sullen smoke-clouds from +the camp, walls of amethyst and jasper, outer ramparts of the Promised +Land. Do not call us traitors, then, who choose to be cool and silent +through the fever of the hour,--who choose to search in common things +for auguries of the hopeful, helpful calm to come, finding even in these +poor sweet-peas, thrusting their tendrils through the brown mould, a +deeper, more healthful lesson for the eye and soul than warring evils or +truths. Do not call me a traitor, if I dare weakly to hint that there +are yet other characters besides that of Patriot in which a man may +appear creditably in the great masquerade, and not blush when it is +over; or if I tell you a story of To-Day, in which there shall be none +of the red glare of war,--only those homelier, subtler lights which we +have overlooked. If it prove to you that the sun of old times still +shines, and the God of old times still lives, is not that enough? + +My story is very crude and homely, as I said,--only a rough sketch of +one or two of those people whom you see every day, and call "dregs" +sometimes,--a dull, plain bit of prose, such as you might pick for +yourself out of any of these warehouses or back-streets. I expect you to +call it stale and plebeian, for I know the glimpses of life it +pleases you best to find here: New England idyls delicately tinted; +passion-veined hearts, cut bare for curious eyes; prophetic utterances, +concrete and clear; or some word of pathos or fun from the old friends +who have indenizened themselves in everybody's home. You want something, +in fact, to lift you out of this crowded, tobacco-stained commonplace, +to kindle and chafe and glow in you. I want you to dig into this +commonplace, this vulgar American life, and see what is in it. Sometimes +I think it has a new and awful significance that we do not see. + +Your ears are openest to the war-trumpet now. Ha! that is +spirit-stirring!--that wakes up the old Revolutionary blood! Your +manlier nature had been smothered under drudgery, the poor daily +necessity for bread and butter. I want you to go down into this common, +every-day drudgery, and consider if there might not be in it also a +great warfare. Not a serfish war; not altogether ignoble, though even +its only end may appear to be your daily food. A great warfare, I think, +with a history as old as the world, and not without its pathos. It has +its slain. Men and women, lean-jawed, crippled in the slow, silent +battle, are in your alleys, sit beside you at your table; its martyrs +sleep under every green hill-side. + +You must fight in it; money will buy you no discharge from that war. +There is room in it, believe me, whether your post be on a judge's +bench, or over a wash-tub, for heroism, for knightly honor, for purer +triumph than his who falls foremost in the breach. Your enemy, Self, +goes with you from the cradle to the coffin; it is a hand-to-hand +struggle all the sad, slow way, fought in solitude,--a battle that began +with the first heart-beat, and whose victory will come only when the +drops ooze out, and sudden halt in the veins,--a victory, if you can +gain it, that will drift you not a little way upon the coasts of the +wider, stronger range of being, beyond death. + +Let me roughly outline for you one or two lives that I have known, and +how they conquered or were worsted in the fight. Very common lives, I +know,--such as are swarming in yonder market-place; yet I dare to call +them voices of God,--all! + +My reason for choosing this story to tell you is simple enough. + +An old book, which I happened to find to-day, recalled it. It was a +ledger, iron-bound, with the name of the firm on the outside,--Knowles +& Co. You may have heard of the firm: they were large woollen +manufacturers: supplied the home market in Indiana for several years. +This ledger, you see by the writing, has been kept by a woman. That is +not unusual in Western trading towns, especially in factories where the +operatives are chiefly women. In such establishments, women can fill +every post successfully, but that of overseer: they are too hard with +the hands for that. + +The writing here is curious: concise, square, not flowing,--very +legible, however, exactly suited to its purpose. People who profess +to read character in chirography would decipher but little from these +cramped, quiet lines. Only this, probably: that the woman, whoever she +was, had not the usual fancy of her sex for dramatizing her soul in her +writing, her dress, her face,--kept it locked up instead, intact; that +her words and looks, like her writing, were most likely simple, mere +absorbents by which she drew what she needed of the outer world to her, +not flaunting helps to fling herself, or the tragedy or comedy that lay +within, before careless passers-by. The first page has the date, in red +letters, _October 2, 1860_, largely and clearly written. I am sure the +woman's hand trembled a little when she took up the pen; but there is no +sign of it here; for it was a new, desperate adventure to her, and she +was young, with no faith in herself. She did not look desperate, at +all,--a quiet, dark girl, coarsely dressed in brown. + +There was not much light in the office where she sat; for the factory +was in one of the close by-streets of the town, and the office they gave +her was only a small square closet in the seventh story. It had but one +window, which overlooked a back-yard full of dyeing vats. The sunlight +that did contrive to struggle in obliquely through the dusty panes and +cobwebs of the window had a sleepy odor of copperas latent in it. You +smelt it when you stirred. The manager, Pike, who brought her up, had +laid the day-books and this ledger open on the desk for her. As soon +as he was gone, she shut the door, listening until his heavy boots had +thumped creaking down the rickety ladder leading to the frame-rooms. +Then she climbed up on the high office-stool (climbed, I said, for she +was a little, little thing) and went to work, opening the books, and +copying from one to the other as steadily, monotonously, as if she had +been used to it all her life. Here are the first pages: see how sharp +the angles are of the blue and black lines, how even the long columns: +one would not think, that, as the steel pen traced them out, it seemed +to be lining out her life, narrow and black. If any such morbid fancy +were in the girl's head, there was no tear to betray it. The sordid, +hard figures seemed to her the types of the years coming, but she wrote +them down unflinchingly: perhaps life had nothing better for her, so +she did not care. She finished soon: they had given her only an hour or +two's work for the first day. She closed the books, wiped the pens in a +quaint, mechanical fashion, then got down and examined her new home. + +It was soon understood. There were the walls with their broken plaster, +showing the laths underneath, with here and there, over them, sketches +with burnt coal, showing that her predecessor had been an artist in his +way,--his name, P. Teagarden, emblazoned on the ceiling with the smoke +of a candle; heaps of hanks of yarn in the dusty corners; a half-used +broom; other heaps of yarn on the old toppling desk covered with dust; a +raisin-box, with P. Teagarden done on the lid in bas-relief, half full +of ends of cigars, a pack of cards, and a rotten apple. That was all, +except an impalpable sense of dust and worn-outness pervading the whole. +One thing more, odd enough there: a wire cage, hung on the wall, and in +it a miserable pecking chicken, peering dolefully with suspicious eyes +out at her, and then down at the mouldy bit of bread on the floor of his +cage,--left there, I suppose, by the departed Teagarden. That was all +inside. She looked out of the window. In it, as if set in a square +black frame, was the dead brick wall, and the opposite roof, with a cat +sitting on the scuttle. Going closer, two or three feet of sky appeared. +It looked as if it smelt of copperas, and she drew suddenly back. + +She sat down, waiting until it was time to go; quietly taking the dull +picture into her slow, unrevealing eyes; a sluggish, hackneyed weariness +creeping into her brain; a curious feeling, that all her life before had +been a silly dream, and this dust, these desks and ledgers, were real, +--all that was real. It was her birthday; she was twenty. As she +happened to remember that, another fancy floated up before her, oddly +life-like: of the old seat she made for herself under the currant-bushes +at home when she was a child, and the plans she laid for herself when +she should be a woman, sitting there,--how she would dig down into the +middle of the world, and find the kingdom of the griffins, or would go +after Mercy and Christiana in their pilgrimage. It was only a little +while ago since these things were more alive to her than anything else +in the world. The seat was under the currant-bushes still. Very little +time ago; but she was a woman now,--and, look here! A chance ray of +sunlight slanted in, falling barely on the dust, the hot heaps of wool, +waking a stronger smell of copperas; the chicken saw it, and began to +chirp a weak, dismal joy, more sorrowful than tears. She went to the +cage, and put her finger in for it to peck at. Standing there, if the +life coming rose up before her in that hard, vacant blare of sunlight, +she looked at it with the same still, waiting eyes, that told nothing. + +The door opened at last, and a man came in,--Dr. Knowles, the principal +owner of the factory. He nodded shortly to her, and, going to the desk, +turned over the books, peering suspiciously at her work. An old man, +overgrown, looking like a huge misshapen mass of flesh, as he stood +erect, facing her. + +"You can go now," he said, gruffly. "To-morrow you must wait for the +bell to ring, and go--with the rest of the hands." + +A curious smile flickered over her face like a shadow; but she said +nothing. He waited a moment. + +"So!" he growled, "the Howth blood does not blush to go down into the +slime of the gutter? is sufficient to itself?" + +A cool, attentive motion,--that was all. Then she stooped to tie her +sandals. The old man watched her, irritated. She had been used to the +keen scrutiny of his eyes since she was a baby, so was cool under it +always. The face watching her was one that repelled most men: dominant, +restless, flushing into red gusts of passion, a small, intolerant eye, +half hidden in folds of yellow fat,--the eye of a man who would give to +his master (whether God or Satan) the last drop of his own blood, and +exact the same of other men. + +She had tied her bonnet and fastened her shawl, and stood ready to go. + +"Is that all you want?" he demanded. "Are you waiting to hear that your +work is well done? Women go through life as babies learn to walk,--a +mouthful of pap every step, only they take it in praise or love. Pap is +better. Which do you want? Praise, I fancy." + +"Neither," she said, quietly brushing her shawl. "The work is well done, +I know." + +The old man's eye glittered for an instant, satisfied; then he turned +to the books. He thought she had gone, but, hearing a slight clicking +sound, turned round. She was taking the chicken out of the cage. + +"Let it alone!" he broke out, sharply. "Where are you going with it?" + +"Home," she said, with a queer, quizzical face. "Let it smell the green +fields, Doctor. Ledgers and copperas are not good food for a chicken's +soul, or body either." + +"Let it alone!" he growled. "You take it for a type of yourself, eh? It +has another work to do than to grow fat and sleep about the barnyard." + +She opened the cage. + +"I think I will take it." + +"No," he said, quietly. "It has a master here. Not P. Teagarden. Why, +Margaret," pushing his stubby finger between the tin bars, "do you think +the God you believe in would have sent it here without a work to do?" + +She looked up; there was a curious tremor in his flabby face, a shadow +in his rough voice. + +"If it dies here, its life won't have been lost. Nothing is lost. Let it +alone." + +"Not lost?" she said, slowly, refastening the cage. "Only I think"---- + +"What, child?" + +She glanced furtively at him. + +"It's a hard, scraping world where such a thing as that has work to do!" + +He vouchsafed no answer. She waited to see his lip curl bitterly, and +then, amused, went down the stairs. She had paid him for his sneer. + +The steps were but a long ladder set in the wall, not the great +staircase used by the hands: that was on the other side of the factory. +It was a huge, unwieldy building, such as crowd the suburbs of trading +towns. This one went round the four sides of a square, with the yard for +the vats in the middle. The ladders and passages she passed down were +on the inside, narrow and dimly lighted: she had to grope her way +sometimes. The floors shook constantly with the incessant thud of the +great looms that filled each story, like heavy, monotonous thunder. It +deafened her, made her dizzy, as she went down slowly. It was no short +walk to reach the lower hall, but she was down at last. Doors opened +from it into the ground-floor ware-rooms; glancing in, she saw vast, +dingy recesses of boxes piled up to the dark ceilings. There was a crowd +of porters and draymen cracking their whips, and lounging on the trucks +by the door, waiting for loads, talking politics, and smoking. The smell +of tobacco, copperas, and burning logwood was heavy to clamminess here. +She stopped, uncertain. One of the porters, a short, sickly man, who +stood aloof from the rest, pushed open a door for her with his staff. +Margaret had a quick memory for faces; she thought she had seen this one +before, as she passed,--a dark face, sullen, heavy-lipped, the hair cut +convict-fashion, close to the head. She thought, too, one of the men +muttered "jail-bird," jeering him for his forwardness. "Load for +Clinton! Western Railroad!" sung out a sharp voice behind her, and, as +she went into the street, a train of cars rushed into the hall to be +loaded, and men swarmed out of every corner,--red-faced and pale, +whiskey-bloated and heavy-brained, Irish, Dutch, black, with souls half +asleep somewhere, and the destiny of a nation in their grasp,--hands, +like herself, going through the slow, heavy work, for, as Pike the +manager would have told you, "three dollars a week,--good wages these +tight times." For nothing more? Some other meaning may have fallen +from their faces into this girl's quiet intuition in the instant's +glance,--cheerfuller, remoter aims, hidden in the most sensual +face,--homeliest home-scenes, low climbing ambitions, some delirium of +pleasure to come,--whiskey, if nothing better: aims in life like yours, +differing in degree, needing only to make them the same----did you say +what? + +She had reached the street now,--a back-street, a crooked sort of lane +rather, running between endless piles of ware-houses. She hurried down +it to gain the suburbs, for she lived out in the country. It was a +long, tiresome walk through the outskirts of the town, where the +dwelling-houses were,--long rows of two-story bricks drabbled with +soot-stains. It was two years since she had been in the town. +Remembering this, and the reason why she had shunned it, she quickened +her pace, her face growing stiller than before. One might have fancied +her a slave putting on a mask, fearing to meet her master. The town, +being unfamiliar to her, struck her newly. She saw the expression on its +face better. It was a large trading city, compactly built, shut in by +hills. It had an anxious, harassed look, like a speculator concluding a +keen bargain; the very dwelling-houses smelt of trade, having shops in +the lower stories; in the outskirts, where there are cottages in other +cities, there were mills here; the trees, which some deluded dreamer had +planted on the flat pavements, had all grown up into abrupt Lombardy +poplars, knowing their best policy was to keep out of the way; the boys, +playing marbles under them, played sharply "for keeps"; the bony old +dray-horses, plodding through the dusty crowds, had speculative eyes, +that measured their oats at night with a "you-don't-cheat-me" look. Even +the churches had not the grave repose of the old brown house yonder in +the hills, where the few field-people--Arians, Calvinists, Churchmen-- +gathered every Sunday, and air and sunshine and God's charity made the +day holy. These churches lifted their hard stone faces insolently, +registering their yearly alms in the morning journals. To be sure, the +back-seats were free for the poor; but the emblazoned crimson of the +windows, the carving of the arches, the very purity of the preacher's +style, said plainly that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye +of a needle than for a man in a red _warm-us_ to enter the kingdom of +heaven through that gate. + +Nature itself had turned her back on the town: the river turned aside, +and but half a river crept reluctant by; the hills were but bare banks +of yellow clay. There was a cinder-road leading through these. Margaret +climbed it slowly. The low town-hills, as I said, were bare, covered at +their bases with dingy stubble-fields. In the sides bordering the road +gaped the black mouths of the coal-pits that burrowed under the hills, +under the town. Trade everywhere,--on the earth and under it. No wonder +the girl called it a hard, scraping world. But when the road had crept +through these hills, it suddenly shook off the cinders, and turned into +the brown mould of the meadows,--turned its back on trade and the smoky +town, and speedily left it out of sight contemptuously, never looking +back once. This was the country now in earnest. + +Margaret slackened her step, drawing long breaths of the fresh cold air. +Far behind her, panting and puffing along, came a black, burly figure, +Dr. Knowles. She had seen him behind her all the way, but they did not +speak. Between the two there lay that repellant resemblance which made +them like close relations,--closer when they were silent. You know such +people? When you speak to them, the little sharp points clash. Yet they +are the people whom you surely know you will meet in the life beyond +death, "saved" or not. The Doctor came slowly along the quiet +country-road, watching the woman's figure going as slowly before him. He +had a curious interest in the girl,--a secret reason for the interest, +which as yet he kept darkly to himself. For this reason he tried to +fancy how her new life would seem to her. It should be hard enough, her +work,--he was determined on that; her strength and endurance must be +tested to the uttermost. He must know what stuff was in the weapon +before he used it. He had been reading the slow, cold thing for +years,--had not got into its secret yet. But there was power there, and +it was the power he wanted. Her history was simple enough: she was going +into the mill to support a helpless father and mother; it was a common +story; she had given up much for them;--other women did the same. He +gave her scanty praise. Two years ago (he had keen, watchful eyes, this +man) he had fancied that the poor homely girl had a dream, as most women +have, of love and marriage: she had put it aside, he thought, forever; +it was too expensive a luxury; she had to begin the life-long battle for +bread and butter. Her dream had been real and pure, perhaps; for she +accepted no sham love in its place: if it had left an empty hunger in +her heart, she had not tried to fill it. Well, well, it was the old +story. Yet he looked after her kindly, as he thought of it; as some +people look sorrowfully at children, going back to their own childhood. +For a moment he half relented in his purpose, thinking, perhaps, her +work for life was hard enough. But no: this woman had been planned and +kept by God for higher uses than daughter or wife or mother. It was his +part to put her work into her hands. + +The road was creeping drowsily now between high grass-banks, out through +the hills. A sleepy, quiet road. The restless dust of the town never had +been heard of out there. It (the road) went wandering lazily through the +corn-fields, down by the river, into the very depths of the woods,--the +low October sunshine slanting warmly down it all the way, touching the +grass-banks and the corn-fields with patches of russet gold. Nobody in +such a road could be in a hurry. The quiet was so deep, the free air, +the heavy trees, the sunshine, all so full and certain and fixed, one +could be sure of finding them the same a hundred years from now. Nobody +ever was in a hurry. The brown bees came along there, when their work +was over, and hummed into the great purple thistles on the roadside in a +voluptuous stupor of delight. The cows sauntered through the clover +by the fences, until they wound up by lying down in it and sleeping +outright. The country-people, jogging along to the mill, walked their +fat old nags through the stillness and warmth so slowly that even +Margaret left them far behind. As the road went deeper into the hills, +the solitude and quiet grew even more penetrating and certain,--so +certain in these grand old mountains that one called them eternal, and, +looking up to the peaks fixed in the clear blue, grew surer of a world +beyond this where there is neither change nor death. + +It was growing late; the evening air grew more motionless and cool; +the russet gold of the sunshine mottled only the hill-tops now; in the +valleys there was a duskier brown, deepening every moment. Margaret +turned from the road and went down the fields. One did not wonder, +feeling the silence of these hills and broad sweeps of meadow, that this +woman, coming down from among them, should be strangely still, with dark +questioning eyes dumb to their own secrets. + +Looking into her face now, you could be sure of one thing: that she had +left the town, the factory, the dust far away, shaken the thought of +them off her brain. No miles could measure the distance between her +home and them. At a stile across the field an old man sat waiting. She +hurried now, her cheek coloring. Dr. Knowles could see them going to the +house beyond, talking earnestly. He sat down in the darkening twilight +on the stile, and waited half an hour. He did not care to hear the story +of Margaret's first day at the mill, knowing how her father and mother +would writhe under it, soften it as she would. It was nothing to her, +he knew. So he waited. After a while he heard the old man's laugh, like +that of a pleased child, and then went in and took her place beside him. +She went out, but came back presently, every grain of dust gone, in her +clear dress of pearl gray. The neutral tint suited her well. As she +stood by the window, listening gravely to them, the homely face and +waiting figure came into full relief. Nature had made this woman in a +freak of rare sincerity. There were no reflected lights about her: no +gloss on her skin, no glitter in her eyes, no varnish on her soul. +Simple and dark and pure, there she was, for God and her master alone to +conquer and understand. Her flesh was cold and colorless,--there were no +surface tints on it,--it warmed sometimes slowly from far within; her +voice was quiet,--out of her heart; her hair, the only beauty of the +woman, was lustreless brown, lay in unpolished folds of dark shadow. I +saw such hair once, only once. It had been cut from the head of a man, +who, quiet and simple as a child, lived out the law of his nature, and +set the world at defiance,--Bysshe Shelley. + +The Doctor, talking to her father, watched the girl furtively, took in +every point, as one might critically survey a Damascus blade which he +was going to carry into battle. There was neither love nor scorn in +his look,--a mere fixedness of purpose to make use of her some day. He +talked, meanwhile, glancing at her now and then, as if the subject they +discussed were indirectly linked with his plan for her. If it were, she +was unconscious of it. She sat on the wooden step of the porch, looking +out on the melancholy sweep of meadow and hill range growing cool and +dimmer in the dun twilight, not hearing what they said, until the +sharpened, earnest tones roused her. + +"You will fail, Knowles." + +It was her father who spoke. + +"Nothing can save such a scheme from failure. Neither the French nor +German Socialists attempted to base their systems on the lowest class, +as you design." + +"I know," said Knowles. "That accounts for their partial success." + +"Let me understand your plan practically," eagerly demanded her father. + +She thought Knowles evaded the question,--wished to leave the subject. +Perhaps he did not regard the poor old schoolmaster as a practical judge +of practical matters. All his life he had called him thriftless and +unready. + +"It never will do, Knowles," he went on in his slow way. "Any plan, +Phalanstery or Community, call it what you please, founded on +self-government, is based on a sham, the tawdriest of shams." + +The old schoolmaster shook his head as one who knows, and tried to push +the thin gray hairs out of his eyes in a groping way. Margaret lifted +them back so quietly that he did not feel her. + +"You'll call the Republic a sham next!" said the Doctor, coolly +aggravating. + +"The Republic!" The old man quickened his tone, like a war-horse +scenting the battle near at hand. "There never was a thinner-crusted +Devil's egg in the world than democracy. I think I've told you that +before?" + +"I think you have," said the other, dryly. + +"You always were a Tory, Mr. Howth," said his wife, in her placid, +creamy way. "It is in the blood, I think, Doctor. The Howths fought +under Cornwallis, you know." + +The schoolmaster waited until his wife had ended. + +"Very true, Mrs. Howth," he said, with a grave smile. Then his thin face +grew hot again. + +"No, Dr. Knowles. Your scheme is but a sign of the mad age we live +in. Since the thirteenth century, when the anarchic element sprang +full-grown into the history of humanity, that history has been chaos. +And this republic is the culmination of chaos." + +"Out of chaos came the new-born earth," suggested the Doctor. + +"But its foundations were granite," rejoined the old man with nervous +eagerness,--"granite, not the slime of yesterday. When you found +empires, go to work as God worked." + +The Doctor did not answer; sat looking, instead, out into the dark +indifferently, as if the heresies which the old man hurled at him were +some old worn-out song. Seeing, however, that the schoolmaster's flush +of enthusiasm seemed on the point of dying out, he roused himself to +gibe it into life. + +"Well, Mr. Howth, what will you have? If the trodden rights of the human +soul are the slime of yesterday, how shall we found our empire to last? +On despotism? Civil or theocratic?" + +"Any despotism is better than that of newly enfranchised serfs," replied +the schoolmaster. + +The Doctor laughed. + +"What a successful politician you would have made! You would have had +such a winning way to the hearts of the great unwashed!" + +Mrs. Howth laid down her knitting. + +"My dear," she said, timidly, "I think that is treason." + +The angry heat died out of his face instantly, as he turned to her, +without the glimmer of a covert smile at her simplicity. She was a +woman; and when he spoke to the Doctor, it was in a tone less sharp. + +"What is it the boys used to declaim, their Yankee hearts throbbing +under their roundabouts? 'Happy, proud America!' Somehow in that way. +'Cursed, abased America!' better if they had said. Look at her, in the +warm vigor of her youth, most vigorous in decay! Look at the dregs of +nations, creeds, religions, fermenting together! As for the theory +of self-government, it will muddle down here, as in the three great +archetypes of the experiment, into a puling, miserable failure!" + +The Doctor did not hear. Some sharper shadow seemed to haunt him than +the downfall of the Republic. What help did he seek in this girl? His +keen, deep eyes never left her unconscious face. + +"No," Mr. Howth went on, having the field to himself,--"we left Order +back there in the ages you call dark, and Progress will trumpet the +world into the ditch." + +"Comte!" growled the Doctor. + +The schoolmaster's cane beat an angry tattoo on the hearth. + +"You sneer at Comte? Because, having the clearest eye, the widest +sweeping eye ever given to man, he had no more? It was to show how far +flesh can go alone. Could he help it, if God refused the prophet's +vision?" + +"I'm sure, Samuel," interrupted his wife with a sorrowful earnestness, +"your own eyes were as strong as a man's could be. It was ten years +after I wore spectacles that you began. Only for that miserable fever, +you could read short-hand now." + +Her own quiet eyes filled with tears. There was a sudden silence. +Margaret shivered, as if some pain stung her. Holding her father's bony +hand in hers, she patted it on her knee. The hand trembled a little. +Knowles's sharp eyes darted from one to the other; then, with a +smothered growl, he shook himself, and rushed headlong into the old +battle which he and the schoolmaster had been waging now, off and on, +some six years. That was a fight, I can tell you! None of your shallow, +polite clashing of modern theories,--no talk of your Jeffersonian +Democracy, your high-bred Federalism! They took hold of the matter by +the roots, clear at the beginning. + +Mrs. Howth's breath fairly left her, they went into the soul of the +matter in such a dangerous way. What if Joel should hear? No doubt he +would report that his master was an infidel,--that would be the next +thing they would hear. He was in the kitchen now: he finished his +wood-chopping an hour ago. Asleep, doubtless; that was one comfort. +Well, if he were awake, he could not understand. That class of +people----And Mrs. Howth (into whose kindly brain just enough of her +husband's creed had glimmered to make her say, "that class of people," +in the tone with which Abraham would _not_ have spoken of Dives over the +gulf) went tranquilly back to her knitting, wondering why Dr. Knowles +should come ten times now where he used to come once, to provoke Samuel +into these wearisome arguments. Ever since their misfortune came on +them, he had been there every night, always at it. She should think he +might be a little more considerate. Mr. Howth surely had enough to think +of, what with his--his misfortune, and the starvation waiting for them, +and poor Margaret's degradation, (she sighed here,) without bothering +his head about the theocratic principle, or the Battle of Armageddon. +She had hinted as much to Dr. Knowles one day, and he had muttered out +something about its being "the life of the dog, Ma'am." She wondered +what he meant by that! She looked over at his bearish figure, +snuff-drabbled waistcoat, and shock of black hair. Well, poor man, +he could not help it, if he were coarse, and an Abolitionist, and +a Fourierite, and----She was getting a little muddy now, she was +conscious, so turned her mind back to the repose of her stocking. +Margaret took it very quietly, seeing her father flaming so. But +Margaret never had any opinions to express. She was not like the +Parnells: they were noted for their clear judgment. Mrs. Howth was a +Parnell. + +"The combat deepens,--on, ye brave!" + +The Doctor's fat, leathery face was quite red now, and his sentences +were hurled out in a sarcastic bass, enough to wither the marrow of a +weak man. But the schoolmaster was no weak man. His foot was entirely on +his native heath, I assure you. He knew every inch of the ground, from +the domination of the absolute faith in the ages of Fetichism, to its +pseudo-presentment in the tenth century, and its actual subversion in +the nineteenth. Every step. Our politicians might have picked up an idea +or two there, I should think! Then he was so cool about it, so skilful! +He fairly rubbed his hands with glee, enjoying the combat. And he was so +sure that the Doctor was savagely in earnest: why, any one with half an +ear could hear that! He did not see how, in the very heat of the fray, +his eyes would wander off listlessly. But Mr. Howth did not wander; +there was nothing careless or two-sided in the making of this man,--no +sham about him, or borrowing. They came down gradually, or out,--for, as +I told you, they dug into the very heart of the matter at first,--they +came out gradually to modern times. Things began to assume a more +familiar aspect. Spinoza, Fichte, Saint Simon,--one heard about them +now. If you could but have heard the schoolmaster deal with these his +enemies! With what tender charity for the man, what relentless vengeance +for the belief, he pounced on them, dragging the soul out of their +systems, holding it up for slow slaughter! As for Humanity, (how Knowles +lingered on that word, with a tenderness curious in so uncouth a mass of +flesh!)--as for Humanity, it was a study to see it stripped and flouted +and thrown out of doors like a filthy rag by this poor old Howth, a man +too child-hearted to kill a spider. It was pleasanter to hear him when +he defended the great Past in which his ideal truth had been faintly +shadowed. How he caught the salient tints of the feudal life! How the +fine womanly nature of the man rose exulting in the free picturesque +glow of the day of crusader and heroic deed! How he crowded in traits of +perfected manhood in the conqueror, simple trust in the serf, to color +and weaken his argument, not seeing that he weakened it! How, when he +thought he had cornered the Doctor, he would color and laugh like a boy, +then suddenly check himself, lest he might wound him! A curious laugh, +genial, cheery,--bubbling out of his weak voice in a way that put you in +mind of some old and rare wine. When he would check himself in one of +these triumphant glows, he would turn to the Doctor with a deprecatory +gravity, and for a few moments be almost submissive in his reply. So +earnest and worn it looked then, the poor old face, in the dim light! +The black clothes he wore were so threadbare and shining at the knees +and elbows, the coarse leather shoes brought to so fine a polish! The +Doctor idly wondered who had blacked them, glancing at Margaret's +fingers. + +There was a flower stuck in the buttonhole of the schoolmaster's coat, a +pale tea-rose. If Dr. Knowles had been a man of fine instincts, (which +his opaque shining eyes would seem to deny,) he might have thought it +was not unapt or ill-placed even in the shabby, scuffed coat. A scholar, +a gentleman, though in patched shoes and trousers a world too short. Old +and gaunt, hunger-bitten even it may be, with loose-jointed, bony limbs, +and yellow face; clinging, loyal and brave, to the knightly honor, to +the quaint, delicate fancies of his youth, that were dust and ashes to +other men. In the very haggard face you could find the quiet purity of +the child he had been, and the old child's smile, fresh and credulous, +on the mouth. + +The Doctor had not spoken for a moment. It might be that he was careless +of the poetic lights with which Mr. Howth tenderly decorated his old +faith, or it might be that even he, with the terrible intentness of a +real life-purpose in his brain, was touched by the picture of the far +old chivalry, dead long ago. The master's voice grew low and lingering +now. It was a labor of love, this. Oh, it is so easy to go back out of +the broil of dust and meanness and barter into the clear shadow of that +old life where love and bravery stand eternal verities,--never to be +bought and sold in that dusty town yonder! To go back? To dream back, +rather. To drag out of our own hearts, as the hungry old master did, +whatever is truest and highest there, and clothe it with name and deed +in the dim days of chivalry. Make a poem of it,--so much easier than to +make a life! + +Knowles shuffled uneasily, watching the girl keenly, to know how the +picture touched her. Was, then, she thought, this grand dead Past so +shallow to him? These knights, pure, unstained, searching until death +for the Holy Greal, could he understand the life-long agony, the triumph +of their conflict over Self? These women, content to live in solitude +forever because they once had loved, could any man understand that? +Or the dead queen, dead that the man she loved might be free and +happy,--why, this _was_ life,--this death! But did pain, and martyrdom, +and victory lie back in the days of Galahad and Arthur alone? The +homely face grew stiller than before, looking out into the dun sweep of +moorland,--cold, unrevealing. It baffled the man that looked at it. He +shuffled, chewed tobacco vehemently, tilted his chair on two legs, broke +out in a thunder-gust at last. + +"Dead days for dead men! The world hears a bugle-call to-day more noble +than any of your piping troubadours. We have something better to fight +for than a vacant tomb." + +The old man drew himself up haughtily. + +"I know what you would say,--Liberty for the low and vile. It is a +good word. That was a better which they hid in their hearts in the old +time,--Honor!" + +Honor! I think, Calvinist though he was, that word was his religion. Men +have had worse. Perhaps the Doctor thought this; for he rose abruptly, +and, leaning on the old man's chair, said, gently,-- + +"It is better, even here. Yet you poison this child's mind. You make her +despise To-Day; make honor live for her now." + +"It does not," the schoolmaster said, bitterly. "The world's a failure. +All the great old dreams are dead. Your own phantom, your Republic, your +experiment to prove that all men are born free and equal,--what is it +to-day?" + +Knowles lifted his head, looking out into the brown twilight. Some word +of pregnant meaning flashed in his eye and trembled on his lip; but he +kept it back. His face glowed, though, and the glow and strength gave to +the huge misshapen features a grand repose. + +"You talk of To-Day," the old man continued, querulously. "I am tired of +it. Here is its type and history," touching a county newspaper,--"a fair +type, with its cant, and bigotry, and weight of uncomprehended +fact. Bargain and sale,--it taints our religion, our brains, our +flags,--yours and mine, Knowles, with the rest. Did you never hear of +those abject spirits who entered neither heaven nor hell, who were +neither faithful to God nor rebellious, caring only for themselves?" + +He paused, fairly out of breath. Margaret looked up. Knowles was +silent. There was a smothered look of pain on the coarse face; the +schoolmaster's words were sinking deeper than he knew. + +"No, father," said Margaret, hastily ending his quotation, "'_io non +averei creduto, che [vita] tanta n' avesse disfatta._'" + +Skilful Margaret! The broil must have been turbid in the old man's brain +which the grand, slow-stepping music of the Florentine could not calm. +She had learned that long ago, and used it as a nurse does some old song +to quiet her pettish infant. His face brightened instantly. + +"Do not believe, then, child," he said, after a pause. "It is a noble +doubt in Dante or in you." + +The Doctor had turned away; she could not see his face. The angry scorn +was gone from the old master's countenance; it was bent with its +usual wistful quiet on the floor. A moment after he looked up with a +flickering smile. + +"'_Onorate l' altissimo poeta!_'" he said, gently lifting his finger to +his forehead in a military fashion. "Where is my cane, Margaret? The +Doctor and I will go and walk on the porch before it grows dark." + +The sun had gone down long before, and the stars were out; but no one +spoke of this. Knowles lighted the schoolmaster's pipe and his own +cigar, and then moved the chairs out of their way, stepping softly that +the old man might not hear him. Margaret, in the room, watched them as +they went, seeing how gentle the rough, burly man was with her father, +and how, every time they passed the sweet-brier, he bent the branches +aside, that they might not touch his face. Slow, childish tears came +into her eyes as she saw it; for the schoolmaster was blind. This had +been their regular walk every evening, since it grew too cold for them +to go down under the lindens. The Doctor had not missed a night since +her father gave up the school, a month ago: at first, under pretence of +attending to his eyes; but since the day he had told them there was no +hope of cure, he had never spoken of it again. Only, since then, he had +grown doubly quarrelsome,--standing ready armed to dispute with the old +man every inch of every subject in earth or air, keeping the old man in +a state of boyish excitement during the long, idle days, looking forward +to this nightly battle. + +It was very still; for the house, with its half-dozen acres, lay in an +angle of the hills, looking out on the river, which shut out all +distant noises. Only the men's footsteps broke the silence, passing +and repassing the window. Without, the October starlight lay white and +frosty on the moors, the old barn, the sharp, dark hills, and the river, +which was half hidden by the orchard. One could hear it, like some huge +giant moaning in his sleep, at times, and see broad patches of steel +blue glittering through the thick apple-trees and the bushes. Her mother +had fallen into a doze. Margaret looked at her, thinking how sallow the +plump, fair face had grown, and how faded the kindly blue eyes were now. +Dim with crying,--she knew that, though she never saw her shed a tear. +Always cheery and quiet, going placidly about the house in her gray +dress and Quaker cap, as if there were no such things in the world as +debt or blindness. But Margaret knew, though she said nothing. When her +mother came in from those wonderful foraging expeditions in search of +late pease or corn, she could see the swollen circle round the eyes, +and hear her breath like that of a child which has sobbed itself tired. +Then, one night, when she had gone late into her mother's room, the blue +eyes were set in a wild, hopeless way, as if staring down into years of +starvation and misery. The fire on the hearth burned low and clear; the +old worn furniture stood out cheerfully in the red glow, and threw a +maze of twisted shadow on the floor. But the glow was all that was +cheerful. To-morrow, when the hard daylight should jeer away the +screening shadows, it would unbare a desolate, shabby home. She knew; +struck with the white leprosy of poverty; the blank walls, the faded +hangings, the old stone house itself, looking vacantly out on the fields +with a pitiful significance of loss. Upon the mantel-shelf there was a +small marble figure, one of the Dancing Graces: the other two were gone, +gone in pledge. This one was left, twirling her foot, and stretching out +her hands in a dreary sort of ecstasy, with no one to respond. For a +moment, so empty and bitter seemed her home and her life, that she +thought the lonely dancer with her flaunting joy mocked her,--taunted +them with the slow, gray desolation that had been creeping on them for +years. Only for a moment the morbid fancy hurt her. + +The red glow was healthier, suited her temperament better. She chose to +fancy the house as it had been once,--should be again, please God. +She chose to see the old comfort and the old beauty which the poor +schoolmaster had gathered about their home. Gone now. But it should +return. It was well, perhaps, that he was blind, he knew so little of +what had come on them. There, where the black marks were on the wall, +there had hung two pictures. Margaret and her father religiously +believed them to be a Tintoret and Copley. Well, they were gone now. He +had been used to dust them with a light brush every morning, himself, +but now he said,-- + +"You can clean the pictures to-day, Margaret. Be careful, my child." + +And Margaret would remember the greasy Irishman who had tucked them +under his arm, and flung them into a cart, her blood growing hotter in +her veins. + +It was the same through all the house; there was not a niche in the bare +rooms that did not recall a something gone,--something that should +return. She willed that, that evening, standing by the dim fire. What +women will, whose eyes are slow, attentive, still, as this Margaret's, +usually comes to pass. + +The red fire-glow suited her; another glow, warming her floating fancy, +mingled with it, giving her quiet purpose the trait of heroism. The +old spirit of the dead chivalry, of succor to the weak, life-long +self-denial,--did it need the sand waste of Palestine or a tournament to +call it into life? Down in that trading town, in the thick of its mills +and drays, it could live, she thought. That very night, perhaps, in some +of those fetid cellars or sunken shanties, there were vigils kept of +purpose as unselfish, prayer as heaven-commanding, as that of the old +aspirants for knighthood. She, too,--her quiet face stirred with a +simple, childish smile, like her father's. + +"Why, mother!" she said, stroking down the gray hair under the cap, +"shall you sleep here all night?" laughing. + +A cheery, tender laugh, this woman's was,--seldom heard,--not far from +tears. + +Mrs. Howth roused herself. Just then, a broad, high-shouldered man, in +a gray flannel shirt, and shoes redolent of the stable, appeared at the +door. Margaret looked at him as if he were an accusing spirit,--coming +down, as every woman must, from heights of self-renunciation or bold +resolve, to an undarned stocking or an uncooked meal. + +"Kittle's b'ilin'," he announced, flinging in the information as a +general gratuity. + +"That will do, Joel," said Mrs. Howth. + +The tone of stately blandness which Mrs. Howth erected as a shield +between herself and "that class of people" was a study: a success, I +think; the _résumé_ of her experience in the combat that had devoured +half her life, like that of other American housekeepers. "Be gentle, +but let them know their place, my dear!" The class having its type and +exponent in Joel stopped at the door, and hitched up its suspenders. + +"That will _do_, Joel," with a stern suavity. + +Some idea was in Joel's head under the brush of red hair,--probably the +"anarchic element." + +"Uh was wishin' toh read the G'zette." Whereupon he advanced into the +teeth of the enemy and bore off the newspaper, going before Margaret, +as she went to the kitchen, and seating himself beside a flaring +tallow-candle on the table. + +Reading, with Joel, was not the idle pastime that more trivial minds +find it: a thing, on the contrary, to be gone into with slow spelling, +and face knitted up into savage sternness, especially now, when, as he +gravely explained to Margaret, "in _his_ opinion the crissis was jest at +hand, and ev'ry man must be seein' ef the gover'ment was carryin' out +the views of the people." + +With which intent, Joel, in company with five thousand other sovereigns, +consulted, as definitive oracle, "The Daily Gazette" of Towbridge. The +schoolmaster need not have grumbled for the old time: feudality in the +days of Warwick and of "The Daily Gazette" was not so widely different +as he and Joel thought. + +Now and then, partly as an escape-valve for his overcharged conviction, +partly in compassion to the ignorance of women in political economics, +he threw off to Margaret divers commentaries on the text, as she passed +in and out. + +If she had risen to the full level of Joel's views, she might have +considered these views tinctured with radicalism, as they consisted in +the propriety of the immediate "impinging of the President." Besides, +(Joel was a good-natured man, too, merciful to his beast,) Nero-like, he +wished, with the tiger drop of blood that lies hid in everybody's heart, +that the few millions who differed with himself and the "Gazette" had +but one neck for their more convenient hanging. "It's all that'll save +the kentry," he said, and believed it, too. + +If Margaret fell suddenly from the peak of outlook on life to the +homely labor of cooking supper, some of the healthy heroic flush of +the knightly days and the hearth-fire went down with her, I think. It +brightened and reddened the square kitchen with its cracked stove and +meagre array of tins; she bustled about in her quaint way, as if it +had been filled up and running over with comforts. It brightened and +reddened her face when she came in to put the last dish on the table,--a +cozy, snug table, set for four. Heroic dreams with poets, I suppose, +make them unfit for food other than some feast such as Eve set for the +angel. But then Margaret was no poet. So, with the kindling of her hope, +its healthful light struck out, and warmed and glorified these common +things. Such common things! Only a coarse white cloth, redeemed by +neither silver nor china, the amber coffee, (some that Knowles had +brought out to her father,--"thrown on his hands; he couldn't use +it,--product of slave-labor!--never, Sir!") the delicate brown fish that +Joel had caught, the bread her mother had made, the golden butter,--all +of them touched her nerves with a quick sense of beauty and pleasure. +And more, the gaunt face of the blind old man, his bony hand trembling +as he raised the cup to his lips, her mother and the Doctor managing +silently to place everything he liked best near his plate. Wasn't it +all part of the fresh, hopeful glow burning in her consciousness? It +brightened and deepened. It blotted out the hard, dusty path of the +future, and showed warm and clear the success at the end. Not much +to show, you think. Only the old home as it once was, full of quiet +laughter and content; only her mother's eyes clear shining again; only +that gaunt old head raised proudly, owing no man anything but courtesy. +The glow deepened, as she thought of it. It was strange, too, that, with +the deep, slow-moving nature of this girl, she should have striven so +eagerly to throw this light over the future. Commoner natures have done +more and hoped less. It was a poor gift, you think, this of the labor of +a life for so plain a duty; hardly heroic. She knew it. Yet, if there +lay in this coming labor any pain, any wearing effort, she clung to it +desperately, as if this should banish, it might be, worse loss. She +tried desperately, I say, to clutch the far, uncertain hope at the end, +to make happiness out of it, to give it to her silent hungry heart to +feed on. She thrust out of sight all possible life that might have +called her true self into being, and clung to this present shallow duty +and shallow reward. Pitiful and vain so to cling! It is the way of +women. As if any human soul could bury that which might have been in +that which is! + +The Doctor, peering into her thought with sharp, suspicious eyes, heeded +the transient flush of enthusiasm but little. Even the pleasant cheery +talk that pleased her father so was but surface-deep, he knew. The woman +he must conquer for his great end lay beneath, dark and cold. It was +only for that end he cared for her. Through what cold depths of solitude +her soul breathed faintly mattered little. Yet an idle fancy touched +him, what a triumph the man had gained, whoever he might be, who had +held the master-key to a nature so rare as this, who had the kingly +power in his hand to break its silence into electric shivers of laughter +and tears,--terrible subtle pain, or joy as terrible. Did he hold the +power still, he wondered? Meanwhile she sat there quiet, unread. + +The evening came on, slow and cold. Life itself, the Doctor thought, +impatiently, was cool and tardy here among the hills. Even he fell into +the tranquil tone, and chafed under it. Nowhere else did the evening +gray and sombre into the mysterious night impalpably as here. The quiet, +wide and deep, folded him in, forced his trivial heat into silence and +thought. The world seemed to think there. Quiet in the dead seas of fog, +that filled the valleys like restless vapor curdled into silence; quiet +in the listening air, stretching gray up to the stars,--in the solemn +mountains, that stood motionless, like hoary-headed prophets, waiting +with uplifted hands, day and night, to hear the Voice, silent now +for centuries; the very air, heavy with the breath of the sleeping +pine-forests, moved slowly and cold, like some human voice weary with +preaching to unbelieving hearts of a peace on earth. This man's heart +was unbelieving; he chafed in the oppressive quiet; it was unfeeling +mockery to a sick and hungry world,--a dead torpor of indifference. +Years of hot and turbid pain had dulled his eyes to the eternal secret +of the night; his soul was too sore with stumbling, stung, inflamed with +the needs and suffering of the countless lives that hemmed him in, to +accept the great prophetic calm. He was blind to the prophecy written on +the earth since the day God first bade it tell thwarted man of the great +To-Morrow. + +He turned from the night in-doors. Human hearts were his proper study. +The old house, he thought, slept with the rest. One did not wonder that +the pendulum of the clock swung long and slow. The frantic, nervous +haste of town-clocks chorded better with the pulse of human life. Yet +life in the veins of these people flowed slow and cool; their sorrows +and joys were few and life-long. The slow, enduring air suited this +woman, Margaret Howth. Her blood could never ebb or flow with sudden +gusts of passion, like his own, throbbing, heating continually: one +current, absorbing, deep, would carry its tide from one eternity to the +other, one love or one hate. Whatever power was in the tide should +be his, in its entirety. It was his right. Was not his aim high, the +highest? It was his right. + +Margaret, looking up, saw the man's intolerant eye fixed on her. She met +it coolly. All her short life, this strange man, so tender to the weak, +had watched her with a sort of savage scorn, sneering at her apathy, her +childish, dreamy quiet, driving her from effort to effort with a scourge +of impatient contempt. What did he want now with her? Her duty was +light; she took it up,--she was glad to take it up; what more would he +have? She put the whole matter away from her. + +It grew late. She sat down by the lamp and began to read to her father, +as usual. Her mother put away her knitting; Joel came in half-asleep; +the Doctor put out his everlasting cigar, and listened, as he did +everything else, intently. It was an old story that she read,--the story +of a man who walked the fields and crowded streets of Galilee eighteen +hundred years ago. Knowles, with his heated brain, fancied that the +silence without in the night grew deeper, that the slow-moving air +stopped in its course to listen. Perhaps the simple story carried a +deeper meaning to these brooding mountains and this solemn sky than to +the purblind hearts within. It was a dim, far-off story to them,--very +far off. The old schoolmaster heard it with a lowered head, with the +proud obedience with which a cavalier would receive his leader's orders. +Was not the leader a knight, the knight of truest courage? All that was +high, chivalric in the old man sprang up to own him Lord. That he not +only preached to, but ate and drank with publicans and sinners, was a +requirement of his mission; nowadays----. Joel heard the "good word" +with a bewildered consciousness of certain rules of honesty to be +observed the next day, and a maze of crowns and harps shining somewhere +beyond. As for any immediate connection between the teachings of this +book and "The Daily Gazette," it was pure blasphemy to think of it. The +Lord held those old Jews in His hand, of course; but as for the election +next month, that was quite another thing. If Joel thrust the history out +of the touch of common life, the Doctor brought it down, and held it +there on trial. To him it was the story of a Reformer who had served +his day. Could he serve this day? Could he? The need was desperate. Was +there anything in this Christianity, freed from bigotry, to work out +the awful problem which the ages had left for America to solve? People +called this old Knowles an infidel, said his brain was as unnatural and +distorted as his body. God, looking down into his heart that night, saw +the fierce earnestness of the man to know the truth, and judged him with +other eyes than ours. + +When the girl had finished reading, she went out and stood in the cool +air. The Doctor passed her without notice. The story stood alive in his +throbbing brain, demanding a hearing; it stood there always, needing but +a touch to waken it. All things were real to this man, this uncouth mass +of flesh that his companions sneered at; most real of all the unhelped +pain of life, the great seething mire of dumb wretchedness in our +streets and alleys, the cry for aid from the starved souls of the world. +You and I have other work to do than to listen,--pleasanter. But this +man, coming out of the mire, his veins thick with the blood of a +despised race, had carried up their pain and hunger with him: it was the +most real thing on earth to him,--more real than his own share in the +unseen heaven or hell. By the reality, the peril of the world's instant +need, he tried the offered help from Calvary. It was the work of years, +not of this night. Perhaps, if they who preach Christ crucified had +first doubted and tried him as this man did, their place in the coming +heaven might be higher,--and ours, who hear them. + +He went, in his lumbering way, down the hill into the city. He was glad +to go back; the trustful, waiting quiet oppressed, taunted him. It sent +him back more mad against Destiny, his heart more bitter in its +great pity. Let him go back into the great city, with its stifling +gambling-hells, its negro-pens, its foul cellars. It is his place and +work. If he stumble blindly against unconquerable ills, and die, others +have so stumbled and so died. Do you think their work is lost? + + * * * * * + + +TIME'S HOUSEHOLD. + + + Time is a lowly peasant, with whom bred + Are sons of kings, of an immortal race. + Their garb to their condition they debase, + Eat of his fare, make on his straw their bed, + Conversing, use his homely dialect, + (Giving the words some meaning of their own,) + Till, half forgetting purple, sceptre, throne, + Themselves his children mere they nigh suspect. + And when, divinely moved, one goes away, + His royal right and glory to resume, + Loss of his rags appears his life's decay, + He weeps, and his companions mourn his doom. + Yet doth a voice in every bosom say, + "So perish buds while bursting into bloom." + + + + +WHAT WE ARE COMING TO. + + +In the year 1745 Charles Edward Stuart landed in the wilds of Moidart +and set up the standard of rebellion. The Kingdom of Scotland was then, +in nearly all but political rights, an independent nation. A very large +part of its population was of different blood from that of the southern +portion of the British Island. The Highland clans were as distinct in +manners, disposition, and race from their English neighbors as are the +Indian tribes remaining in our midst from the men of Massachusetts and +New York. They held to the old religion, the cardinal principle of which +is to admit the right of no other form, and which never has obtained the +upper hand without immediately attempting to put down all rivalry. They +were devotedly attached to their chiefs. They represented a patriarchal +system. They lived by means of a little agriculture and a great deal of +plunder. They were bred to arms, and despised every other calling. The +whole country of Scotland was possessed with an inextinguishable spirit +of nationality, stronger than that of Hungary or Poland. They were +traditional allies of France, the hereditary foe of England. Seven +hundred years of fighting had filled the border-land with battle-fields, +some of glorious and some of mournful memory, on which the Cross of +Saint Andrew had been matched against that of Saint George. Some of the +noblest families of the realm had won their knightly spurs and their +ancient earldoms by warlike prowess against the Southron. Flodden and +Bannockburn were household words, as potent as Agincourt and Cressy. Nor +had the conduct of the House of Hanover been such as to conciliate the +unwilling people. There was known to be a widespread disaffection even +in England to the German princes. These had governed their adopted for +the benefit of their native country. The sentiment of many counties was +thoroughly Jacobite. A corrupt and venal administration was filled with +secret adherents of the king over the water. One great university was in +sympathy with the fallen dynasty. A large part of the Church was imbued +with doctrines of divine right and passive obedience, of which the only +logical conclusion was the return of the Stuarts. + +Between the two countries there was an antagonism of customs, of +manners, of character, more marked, more offensively displayed, and +breeding more rancorous hatred than any which can now exist between the +people of Boston and Charleston, between the Knickerbockers of New +York and the Creoles of New Orleans. A Scotchman was to the South a +comprehensive name for a greedy, beggarly adventurer, knavish and +money-loving to the last degree, full of absurd pride of pedigree, +clannish and cold-blooded, vindictive as a Corsican, and treacherous +as a modern Greek. An Englishman was to the North a bullying, arrogant +coward,--purse-proud, yet cringing to rank,--without loyalty and without +sentiment,--given over to mere material interests, not comprehending the +idea of honor, and believing, as the fortieth of his religious articles, +that any injury, even to a blow, could be compensated by money. + +Into an island thus divided the heir of the ancient family to whom in +undoubted right of legitimacy the crown belonged, a young, gallant, and +handsome prince, had thrown himself with a chivalrous confidence +that touched every heart. There was every reason to suppose that the +interests of England's powerful enemy across the Channel were secretly +pledged to sustain his cause. Scotland was soon ablaze with sympathy and +devotion. The Prince advanced on Edinburgh. The city opened its gates. +He was acknowledged, and held his court in the old Palace of Holyrood, +where generation after generation of Stuarts had maintained their state. +The castle alone, closely beleaguered, held out like our own Sumter in +the centre of rebellion. A battle was fought almost beneath the walls of +the Scotch capital, and the first great army upon which the English hope +depended was ignominiously routed. A portion of the soldiery fled in +disgraceful panic; those who stood were cut to pieces by the charges +of a fiery valor against which discipline seemed powerless. The border +fortress of Carlisle was soon after taken. Liverpool, not the great +commercial port it now is, but of rising importance, and Manchester, +were menaced. Even London was in dismay. Men like Horace Walpole wrote +to their friends of a retreat to the garrets of Hanover. The funds fell. +The leading minister had been a man of eminently pacific policy, whose +chief state-maxim was _Quieta non movere_, and was taken by surprise. +There are many historians and students of history who now admit, +in looking back upon those times, that the fate of the established +government hung upon a thread, and that the daring advance of the +Pretender followed by another victory might have converted him into a +Possessor and Defender. Had any one then asked as to the possibilities +of a reconstruction of the severed Union, the answer would probably +have been not much unlike the predictions of the croakers of to-day who +clamor for acceptance of the Davisian olive-branch and an acknowledgment +of the fact of Secession. Yet the strength of numbers, of means, and of +public sentiment was altogether on the English side. Though paralyzed +somewhat by the sense of private treachery, with the feeling that all +branches of the public service were harboring men of doubtful loyalty, +and the knowledge that a great body of "submissionists" were ready +to acquiesce in the course of events, whatever that might be, the +Government prepared for an unconditional resistance. _From the outset +they treated it as a rebellion, and the adherents of the Stuarts as +rebels_. Time, the ablest of generals and wisest of statesmen, happened +to be on their side. The Pretender turned northward from Derby, and on +the field of Culloden the last hope of the exiled house was forever +broken. Yet it would even then seem as if reconstruction had been +rendered impossible. The Chevalier escaped to France, guarded by the +fond loyalty of men and women who defied alike torture and temptation. +While he lived, or the family remained, the danger continued to threaten +England, and the heart of Scotland to be fevered with a secret hope. +The old conflict of nationalities had been terribly envenomed by the +cruelties of Cumberland and the license of the conquering troops. There +was the same temptation ever lurking at the ear of France to whisper new +assaults upon England. Ireland was held as a subjugated province, and +was in a state of chronic discontent. To either wing of the British +empire, alliance with, nay, submission to France, was considered +preferable to remaining in the Union. + +Thus far we have been looking at probabilities from the stand-point of +their times. There is a curious parallelism in the essentials of that +conflict with the present attempt to elevate King Cotton to the throne +of this Republic. It is close enough to show that the same great +rules have hitherto governed human action with unerring fidelity. The +Government displayed at the outset the same vacillation; the people were +apparently as thoroughly indifferent to the Hanoverian cause as the +Northern merchants, before the fall of Sumter, to the prosperity of +Lincoln's administration. The Russell of 1745, writing to the French +court his views of the public sentiment of England and especially of +London, probably gave an account of it not very dissimilar to that +which the Russell of 1861 wrote to the London "Times" after his first +encounter with the feeling of New York. There were doubtless the same +assurances on the part of confident partisans that the whole framework +of the British government would crumble at the first attack. There were, +too, the same extravagant alarms, the same wild misrepresentations, the +same volunteer enthusiasm on the part of loyal subjects a little +later on in the history. There was on the part of the rebels the same +confidence in the justice of their cause, the same utter blindness to +results, as in the devotees of Slavery. There was then, as now, an +educated and cultivated set of plotters, moved by personal ambition, +swaying with almost absolute power the minds of an ignorant and +passionate class. It was the combat so often begun in the world, yet so +inevitably ending always in the same way, between misguided enthusiasm +and the great public conviction of the value of order, security, and +peace. + +The enmity seemed hopeless; the insurrection was a smouldering fire, +put out in one corner only to be renewed in another. If Virginia is a +country in which a guerrilla resistance can be indefinitely prolonged, +it is more open than the plains of Holland in comparison with +the Highlands of that era. Few Lowlanders had ever penetrated +them,--scarcely an Englishman. It was supposed that in those impregnable +fastnesses an army of hundreds might defy the thousands of the crown. At +Killiecrankie, Dundee and his Highlanders had beaten a well-appointed +and superior force. Dundee had himself been repulsed by a handful of +Covenanters at Loudoun Heath through the strength of their position. +Montrose had carried on a partisan war against apparently hopeless odds. +To overrun England might be a mad ambition, but to stand at bay in +Scotland was a thing which had been again and again attempted with no +inconsiderable success. + +The rebellion failed, and there were several causes for the failure: +Dissensions among the rebels, the want of efficient aid from France, +the want of money, _and the conviction of a large part of the Scots +themselves of the value of the Union_. The rebellion failed, and sullen +submission to confiscation, military cruelty, and political proscription +followed. + +On Sunday, the 18th of June, 1815, not quite seventy years after, there +charged side by side upon the _élite_ of a French army, with the men of +London, the Highlanders and Irish. A descendant of Cameron of Lochiel +fell leading them on. The last spark of Jacobite enthusiasm and Scottish +hatred of Englishmen had died out years before. Those who witnessed the +entry of the Chevalier into Edinburgh lived to see the whole nation +devouring with enthusiasm the novel of "Waverley,"--so entirely had the +bitterness of what had happened "sixty years since" passed from their +minds! + +We have thus selected two points of history as the short answer to the +cry, "You can never reconstruct the Union," which History, the impartial +judge on the bench, pronounces to the wranglers at the bar below. +"Never" is a long word to speak, if it be a short one to spell. Events +move fast, and the logic of Fate is more convincing than the arguments +of daily editors. The "_tout arrive en France_" is true of the world in +general, so far as relates to isolated circumstances. The very fact that +a threatened disruption of our Union has been possible ought to forbid +any one from concluding that reconstruction, or rather restoration, is +impossible. Twenty years after the Battle of Culloden, Jacobitism was a +dream; fifty years after, it was a memory; a century after, it was an +antiquarian study. + +The real question we are to ask concerning the present rebellion, and +the only one which is of importance, is, What is it based upon? an +eternal or an arbitrary principle? An eternal principle renews itself +till it succeeds,--if not in one century, then in another. An arbitrary +principle makes its fierce fight and then is slain, and men bury it as +soon as they can. The Stuarts represented an arbitrary principle. They +were the impersonation of unconstitutional power. Hereditary right +they had, and the Hanoverians had not. According to Mr. Thackeray, and +according to the strictest fact, we suspect the Georges were no +more personally estimable than the Jameses, and they were far less +kingly-mannered. But they were willing to govern England according to +law, and the Stuarts wore determined to govern according to prerogative. + +What is the present issue? It is a contest, when reduced to its ultimate +terms, between free labor and slavery. It is very true that this +secession was planned before slavery considered itself aggrieved, +before abolitionism became a word of war. But the antipathy between +the slaveholder and the payer or receiver of wages was none the less +radical. The systems were just as hostile. We admit that the South can +make out its title of legitimacy. It has a slave population it must take +care of and is bound to take care of till somebody can tell what better +to do with it. It can show a refined condition of its highest society, +which contrasts not unfavorably with the tawdry display and vulgar +ostentation of the _nouveaux riches_ whom sudden success in trade or +invention has made conspicuous at the North. There is a fascination +about the Southern life and character which charms those who do not look +at it too closely into ardent championship. Even Mr. Russell, so long as +he looked into white faces in South Carolina, was fascinated, and only +when he came to look into black faces along the Mississippi found the +disenchantment. The decisive difference is, that the North is purposing +to settle and possess this land according to the law of right, and the +South according to the law of might. + +We say, therefore, that the issue of the contest need not be doubtful. +The events of it may be very uncertain, but, from the parallel we have +sketched, we think we can indicate the four chief causes of the Scottish +failure as existing in the present crisis. + +DISSENSIONS AMONG THE REBELS. These of course are hid from us by the +veil of smoke that rises above Bull Run. But as between the party of +advance and the party of defence, between the would-be spoilers of New +York bank-vaults and Philadelphia mint-coffers, and the more prudent who +desire "to be let alone," there is already an issue created. There are +State jealousies, and that impatience of control which is inherent in +the Southern mind, as it was in that of the Highland chieftains. There +will be, as events move on, the same feud developed between the Palmetto +of Carolina and the Pride-of-China of the Georgian, as then burned +between Glen-Garry of that ilk and Vich Ian Vohr. There are rivalries of +interest quite as fierce as those which roused the anti-tariff _furor_ +of Mr. Calhoun. Much as Great Britain may covet the cotton of South +Carolina, she will not be disposed to encourage Louisiana to a +competition in sugar with her own Jamaica. Virginia will hardly brook +the opening of a rival Dahomey which shall cheapen into unprofitableness +her rearing of slaves. While fighting is to be done, these questions are +in abeyance; but so soon as men come to ask what they are fighting +for, they revive. There is selfishness inherent in the very idea of +secession. + +There is a capital story, we think, in the "Gesta Romanorum," of three +thieves who have robbed a man of a large sum of gold. They propose a +carouse over their booty, and one is sent to the town to buy wine. While +he is gone, the two left behind plot to murder him on his return, so +as to have a half instead of a third to their shares. He, meanwhile, +coveting the whole, buys poison to put into the wine. They cut his +throat and sit down to drinking, which soon finishes them. It is an +admirable illustration of the probable future of successful secession. +Something very like this ruined the cause of James III., and something +not unlike it may be even now damaging the cause of H.S.I.M.,--His +Sea-Island Majesty, Cotton the First. + +THE WANT OF EFFICIENT AID FROM ABROAD. We are not yet quite out of the +woods, and it behooveth us not to halloo that we certainly have found +the path. But it is more than probable that the Southern hope of English +or French aid has failed. Either nation by itself might be won over but +for the other. He is a bold and a good charioteer who can drive those +two steeds in double harness. + +Either without the other is simply an addition of _x--x_ to the +equation. If by next November we can get a single cotton-port open, we +shall have settled that Uncle Tom and the Duchess of Sutherland may +return to the social cabinet of Great Britain,--and that being so, the +political cabinet is of small account. + +With the want of foreign aid comes the next want, that of MONEY. The +Emperor of Austria has a convenient currency in his dominions, which +you can carry in sheets and clip off just what you need. But cross a +frontier and the very beggars' dogs turn up their noses at the _K.K. +Schein-Münze_. The Virginian and other Confederate scrip appears to be +at par of exchange with Austrian bank-notes,--in fact, of the same worth +as that "Brandon Money" of which Sol. Smith once brought away a hatful +from Vicksburg, and was fain to swap it for a box of cigars. The South +cannot long hold out under the wastefulness of war, unless relief come. +"With bread and gunpowder one may go anywhere," said Napoleon,--but with +limited hoecake and _no_ gunpowder, even Governor Wise would wisely +retreat. + +But most certain of all in the long run is THE CONVICTION OF THE MEN +OF THE SOUTH THEMSELVES OF THE VALUE OF THE UNION. It is said that the +Union feeling is all gone at the South. That may be, and yet the facts +on which it was based remain. Feeling is a thing which comes and goes. +The value to the South of Federal care, Federal offices, Federal mail +facilities, and the like, is not lessened. The weight of direct taxation +is a marvellous corrector of the exciting effects of rhetoric. It is +pleasanter to have Federal troops line State Street in Boston to guard +the homeward passage of Onesimus to the longing Philemon than to have +them receiving without a challenge the fugitive Contrabands. It is +pleasanter to have B.F. Butler, Esq., argue in favor of the Dred Scott +decision than to have General Butler enforcing the Fortress Monroe +doctrine. Better to look up to a whole galaxy of stars, and to live +under a baker's dozen of stripes, than to dwell in perpetual fear of +choosing between the calaboose and the drill-room of the Louisiana +Zouaves. We have noticed that the sympathizers of the North are quoting +the sentence from Mr. Lincoln's inaugural to this effect,--What is to be +gained after fighting? We have got to negotiate at last, be the war long +or short. This is a very potent argument, as Mr. Lincoln meant it. To +men who must sooner or later negotiate their way back into the Union, it +is a very important consideration how much fighting and how much money +they can afford before negotiating. To us who cannot at any cost afford +to stop until they are thus ready to negotiate, it is only comparatively +a question. He says to the South, as a lawyer sure of a judgment and +confident of execution to be thereafter satisfied might say to his +adversary's client,--"Don't litigate longer than you can help, for you +are only making costs which must come out of your own pocket." To his +own client, he says,--"They may delay, but they cannot hinder, our +judgment." + +Meanwhile what shall we do with the root of bitterness, the real cause +of antagonism? That will do for itself. We probably cannot do much to +help or hinder now. The negro and the white man will remain on the old +ground, but new relations must be established between them. What those +shall be will depend on many yet undeveloped contingencies. But--when +we reconstruct, it will be with a North stronger than ever before and a +government too strong for rebellion ever to touch it again. Under a +free government of majorities, such as ours, rebellion is simply the +resistance of a minority. Secession has been acted out to the bitter +end on a small scale ere now in this country. Daniel Shays tried it in +Massachusetts; Thomas Wilson Dorr tried it in Rhode Island. When they +had tried it sufficiently, they gave in. We remember the Dorr War, and +how bitterly the "Algerines," as they were called, were reviled. We +doubt if a remnant of that hostility could be dug up anywhere between +Beavertail Light and Woonsocket Falls. We have no doubt that men who +then were on the point of fighting with each other fought side by side +under Sprague, and fought all the better for having once before faced +the possibilities of real war. When the minority are satisfied that they +must give in, they do give in. + +We do not purpose to debate now the question of the mode of +reconstruction. When the seceded States return, though they come back to +the old Constitution, they will come under circumstances demanding new +conditions. The wisdom of legislation will be needed to establish as +rapidly as possible pacification. What the circumstances will be +none can now say. But we are better satisfied than ever of the +impracticability of permanent secession. The American Revolution is not +a parallel case. The only parallel in history that we can now recall is +the one we have used so freely in this article. It is one in which the +parallel fails chiefly in presenting stronger grounds for a permanent +disruption. Scotland struggled against a geographical necessity. She did +so under the influence of far more powerful motives than now exist at +the South. She had far less binding ties than now are still living +between us and our revolted States. A geographical necessity as vast and +potent now links the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The struggle is +a more gigantic one, and in its fierce convulsions men's minds may well +lose their present balance, and men's hearts their calm courage. + +But everlasting laws are not to be put aside. The tornadoes which sweep +the tropic seas seem for a time to reverse the course of Nature. The +waters become turbid with the sands of the ocean's bed. The air strikes +and smites down with a solid force. The heaviest stones and beams of +massy buildings fly like feathers on the blast. Vessels are found far +up on the land, with the torn stumps of trees driven through their +planking. Life and property are buried in utter ruin. But the storm +passes, the sunshine comes back into the darkened skies, and the blue +waves sparkle within their ancient limits. The awful tempest passes away +into history,--for it is God, and not man, who measures the waters in +the hollow of His hand, and sends forth and restrains the breath of the +blasting of His displeasure. + + * * * * * + + +PANIC TERROR. + + +In those long-gone days when the gods of Olympus were in all their +glory, and when those gods were in the habit of disturbing the domestic +peace of worthy men, there was born unto an Arcadian nymph a son, for +whom no proper father could be found. The father was Mercury, who was a +_Dieu à bonnes fortunes_, and he did not, like some Christian gentlemen +in similar circumstances, altogether neglect his boy; for (so goes the +story) the child was "such a fright" that his mother was shocked and his +nurse ran away (Richard III. did not make a worse first appearance); +whereupon Mercury seized him, and bore him to Olympus, where he showed +him, with paternal partiality, to all the gods, who were so pleased with +the little monster that they named him _Pan_, as evidence that they were +_All_ delighted with his charming ugliness,--they being, it should seem, +as fond of hideous pets as if they had been mere mortals, and endowed +with a liberal share of humanity's bad taste. There are other accounts +of the birth of Pan, one of which is, that he was the child of Penelope, +born while she was waiting for the return of the crafty Ulysses, and +that his fathers were _all_ the aspirants to her favor,--a piece of +scandal to be rejected, as reflecting very severely upon the reputation +of a lady who is mostly regarded as having been a very model of +chastity. It would have astonished the gods, who were so joyous over the +consequence of their associate's irregularities, had they been told that +their pet was destined to outlast them all, and to affect human affairs, +by his action, long after their sway should be over. Jupiter has been +dethroned for ages, and exists only in marble or bronze; and Apollo, +and Mercury, and Bacchus, and all the rest of the old deities, are but +names, or the shadows of names; but Pan is as active to-day as he was, +when, nearly four-and-twenty centuries ago, he asked the worship of +the Athenians, and intimated that he might be useful to them in +return,--which intimation he probably made good but a little later +on the immortal field of Marathon. For not only was Pan the god of +shepherds, and the protector of bees, and the patron of sportsmen, but +to him were attributed those terrors which have decided the event of +many battles. He is generally identified with the Faunus of the Latins, +and a new interest in the _Fauni_ has been created by the genius of +Hawthorne. If it be true that the popular idea of Satan is derived from +Pan, we have another evidence therein of the breadth as well as the +length of his dominion over human affairs; for Satan, judging from men's +conduct, was never more active, more successful, and more grimly joyous +than he is in this year of grace (and disgrace) one thousand eight +hundred and sixty-one. "The harmless Faun," says Bulwer Lytton, "has +been the figuration of the most implacable of fiends." Satan and Pan +ought to be one, if we regard the kind of work in which the latter has +lately been engaged. The former's sympathies are undoubtedly with the +Secessionists, and to his active aid we must attribute their successes, +both as thieves and as soldiers. + +The number of instances of panic terror in armies is enormous. Panics +have taken place in all armies, from that brief campaign in which Abram +smote the hosts of the plundering kings, hard by Damascus, to that +briefer campaign in which General McDowell did _not_ smite the +Secessionists, hard by Washington. The Athenians religiously believed +that Pan aided them at Marathon; and it would go far to account for +the defeat of the vast Oriental host, in that action, by a handful of +Greeks, if we could believe that that host became panic-stricken. At +Plataea, the allies of the Persians fell into a panic as soon as the +Persians were beaten, and fled without striking a blow. At the Battle +of Amphipolis, in the Peloponnesian War, and which was so fatal to the +Athenians, the Athenian left wing and centre fled in a panic, without +making any resistance. The Battle of Pydna, which placed the Macedonian +monarchy in the hands of the Romans, was decided by a panic befalling +the Macedonian cavalry after the phalanx had been broken. At Leuctra and +at Mantinea, battles so fatal to the Spartan supremacy in Greece, the +defeated armies suffered from panics. The decision at Pharsalia was in +some measure owing to a panic occurring among the Pompeian cavalry; and +at Thapsus, the panic terror that came upon the Pompeians gave to Caesar +so easy a victory that it cost him only fifty men, while the other +side were not only broken, but butchered. At Munda, the last and most +desperate of Caesar's battles, and in which he came very nearly losing +all that he had previously gained, a panic occurred in his army, from +the effects of which it recovered through admiration of its leader's +splendid personal example. The defeat of the Romans at Carrhae by the +Parthians was followed by a panic, against the effects of which not even +the discipline of the legions was a preventive. At the first Battle of +Philippi, the young Octavius came near being killed or captured, in +consequence of the success of Brutus's attack, which had the effect of +throwing his men into utter confusion, so that they fled in dismay. What +a change would have taken place in the ocean-stream of history, had the +future Augustus been slain or taken by the Republicans on that field on +which the Roman Republic fell forever! But the success of Antonius over +Cassius more than compensated for the failure of Octavius, and prepared +the way for the close of "the world's debate" at Actium. Actium, by the +way, was one of the few sea-fights which have had their decision through +the occurrence of panics, water not being so favorable to flight as +land. Whether the flight of Cleopatra was the result of terror, or +followed from preconcerted action, is still a question for discussion; +and one would not readily believe that the most gallant and manly of all +the Roman leaders--one of the very few of his race who were capable of +generous actions--was also capable of plotting deliberately to abandon +his followers, when the chances of battle had not been tried. Whether +that memorable flight was planned or not, the imitation of it by +Antonius created a panic in at least a portion of his fleet; and the +victory of the hard-minded Octavius over the "soft triumvir"--he was +"soft" in every sense on that day--was the speedy consequence of the +strangest exhibition of cowardice ever made by a brave man. + +In modern wars, panics have been as common as ever they were in the +contests of antiquity. No people has been exempt from them. It has +pleased the English critics on our defeat at Bull Run to speak with much +bitterness of the panic that occurred to the Union army on that field, +and in some instances to employ language that would leave the impression +that never before did it happen to an army to suffer from panic terror. +No reflecting American ought to object to severe foreign criticism on +our recent military history; for through such criticism, perhaps, our +faults may be amended, and so our cause finally be vindicated. The +spectacle of soldiers running from a field of battle is a tempting one +to the enemies of the country to whom such soldiers may belong, and few +critics are able to speak of it in any other than a contemptuous tone. +Would Americans have spoken with more justice of Englishmen than +Englishmen have spoken of Americans, had the English army failed at the +Alma through a panic, as our army failed at Bull Run? Not they! The +bitter comments of our countrymen on the inefficiency of the British +forces in the Crimea, and the general American tendency to attribute +the successes of the Allies in the Russian War to the French, to the +Sardinians, or to the Turks,--to anybody and everybody but to the +English, who really were the principal actors in it,--are in evidence +that we are drinking from a bitter cup the contents of which were brewed +by ourselves. It is wicked and it is foolish to accuse our armies of +cowardice and inefficiency because they have met with some painful +reverses; but the sin and the folly of foreigners in this respect are no +greater than the sin and the folly that have characterized most American +criticism on the recent military history of England. + +The most important fruitful battle mentioned in British history, next +to that of Hastings, is the Battle of Bannockburn, the event of which +secured the independence and nationality of Scotland, with all the +consequences thereof; and that event was the effect of a panic. The day +was with Bruce and his brave army; but it was by no means certain that +their success would be of that decisive character which endures forever, +until the English host became panic-stricken. Brilliant deeds had been +done by the Scotch, who had been successful in all their undertakings, +when Bruce brought up his reserve, which forced even the bravest of his +opponents either to retreat or to think of it; but their retreat might +have been conducted with order, and the English army have been saved +from utter destruction and for future work, had it not been for the +occurrence of one of those events, in which the elements of tragedy +and of farce are combined, by which the destinies of nations are often +decided, in spite of "the wisdom of the wise and the valor of the +brave." The followers of the Scottish camp, anxious to see how the +day went, or to obtain a share of the expected spoil, at that moment +appeared upon the ridge of an eminence, known as the Gillies' Hill, +behind their countrymen's line of battle, displaying horse-cloths and +similar articles for ensigns of war. The struggling English, believing +that they saw a new Scottish army rising as it were from the earth, were +struck with panic, and broke and fled; and all that followed was mere +butchery, though perfectly in accordance with the stern laws of the +field. The English army was routed even more completely than was the +French army, five centuries later, at Waterloo. Scott, with his usual +skill, has made use of this incident in "The Lord of the Isles," but he +ascribes to patriotic feeling what had a less lofty origin, which was an +exercise of his license as a poet.[A] + +[Footnote A: An incident closely resembling that which created the +English panic at Bannockburn happened, with the same results, in one of +the battles won by the Swiss over their invaders; but we cannot call to +mind the name of the action in which it occurred.] + + "To arms they flew,--axe, club, or spear,-- + And mimic ensigns high they rear, + And, like a bannered host afar, + Bear down on England's wearied war. + + "Already scattered o'er the plain, + Reproof, command, and counsel vain, + The rearward squadrons fled amain, + Or made but fearful stay: + But when they marked the seeming show + Of fresh and fierce and marshalled foe, + The boldest broke array." + +The last three lines describe almost exactly what, we are told, took +place at Bull Run, where our soldiers were beaten, it is asserted, in +consequence of the coming up of fresh men to the assistance of the +enemy, but who were not camp-followers, but the flower of that enemy's +force. The reinforcements, contrary to what was supposed, were not +numerous; but a fatigued, worn-out, ill-handled army cannot be expected +to be very clever at its arithmetic. Our men greatly overrated the +strength of the new column that presented itself,--at least, so we +judge from some powerful narratives of the crisis at Manassas that have +appeared. The eye of the mind did the counting, not the more trustworthy +bodily organ. They "looked, and saw what numbers numberless" "the sacred +soil of Virginia" appeared to be sending up to aid in its defence +against "the advance," and it cannot be surprising that their hearts +failed them at the moment, as has happened to veterans who had grown +gray since they had received the baptism of fire. Had there been a +couple of trained regiments at the command of General McDowell, at that +time, with which to have met the regiments that were restoring the +enemy's battle, the day would, perhaps, have remained with the Union +army; but, as there was no reserve force, trained or untrained, a +retreat became inevitable; and a retreat, in the case of a new army that +had become exhausted and alarmed, meant a rout, and could have meant +nothing else. We shall never hear the last of it, particularly from our +English friends, who are yet jeered and joked about the business at +Gladsmuir, in 1745, where and when their army was beaten in five minutes +and some odd seconds by Prince Charles Edward's Highlanders, their +cavalry running off in a panic, and their General never stopping +until he had put twenty miles between himself and the nearest of the +plaid-men. Indeed, he did not consider himself safe until he had left +even all Scotland behind him, and had got within his Britannic Majesty's +town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which, as it was well fortified, promised +him protection for the time. Four months later, at Falkirk, a portion of +another English army was thrown into a panic by the sight of "the wild +petticoat-men," and made capital time in getting out of their way. Two +regiments of cavalry rushed right over a body of infantry lying on the +ground, bellowing, as they galloped, "Dear brethren, we shall all be +massacred this day!" They did their best to make their prediction true. +A third regiment, and that composed of veterans, were so frightened, +that, though they ran away with the utmost celerity, they did not have +sense enough to run out of danger, but galloped along the Highland line, +and received its entire fire. Some of the infantry were literally +so swift to follow the example of the cavalry, that the Highlanders +believed they were shamming, and so did not follow up their success with +sufficient promptitude to reap its proper fruits. One of the regiments +that ran was the Scots Royals, seeing which, Lord John Drummond +exclaimed, "These men behaved admirably at Fontenoy: surely this is a +feint." This suspicion of the enemy's purpose to entrap them actually +paralyzed the Highland army for so long a time that the panic-stricken +English were enabled for the most part to escape; so that to the +completeness of their fright the English owed their power to rally their +army, which did not stop in its retreat until it reached Edinburgh, the +next day. In the same war, half a dozen MacIntosh Highlanders, commanded +by a blacksmith, so acted as to throw fifteen hundred men, under Lord +Loudoun, into a panic, which caused them all to fly; and though but +one of their number was hurt by the enemy, they did much mischief to +themselves. This incident is known as "The Rout of Moy," as Loudoun's +force was marching upon Moy Castle, the principal seat of the +MacIntoshes, for the purpose of capturing Prince Charles Edward, who was +the guest of Lady MacIntosh, whose husband was with Lord Loudoun. To +render the mortification of the flying party complete, the affair was +suggested by a woman, Lady MacIntosh herself. + +"The Races of Castlebar" are very renowned in the military history of +Britain. In 1798 _after_ the Irish Rebellion had been suppressed, a +small French force was landed at Killala, under command of General +Humbert, and soon established itself in that town. A British army, full +four thousand strong, was assembled to act against the invader, at the +head of which was General Lake, afterward Lord Lake,--elevated to the +peerage in reward of services performed in India, and one of the most +ruthless of those harsh and brutal proconsuls employed by England to +destroy the spirit of the people of Ireland. The two armies met at +Castlebar, the French numbering only eight hundred men, with whom were +about a thousand raw Irish peasants, most of whom had never had a +musket in their hands until within the few days that preceded the +battle,--races, we mean. A panic seized the British army, and it fled +from the field with the swiftness of the wind, but not with the wind's +power of destruction. The French had one small gun,--the British, +fourteen guns. Humbert afterward kept the whole British force at bay for +more than a fortnight, and did not surrender until his little army +had been surrounded by thirty thousand men. It is calculated that the +British made the best time from Castlebar that ever was made by a flying +army. It was no exaggeration to say that "the speed of thought was in +_their_ limbs" for a short time. Bull Run was a slow piece of business +compared to Castlebar; and our countrymen did not run from a foe that +was not half so strong as themselves, and who had neither position nor +artillery. The English have accused the Irish of not always standing +well to their work on the battle-field; but it would have required two +Irishmen to run half the distance in an hour that was made at Castlebar +by one Englishman. The most flagrant cases of panic that happened in the +'Forty-Five affair befell Englishmen, and rarely occurred to Irishmen or +to Scotchmen. The conduct of the Scots Royals at Falkirk was the only +striking exception to what closely approached to the nature of a general +rule. + +The civil war which ours most resembles is that which was waged in +England a little more than two centuries ago, and which is known in +English history as "The Great Civil War," though in fact it was but a +small affair, if we compare it with that which took place nearly two +centuries earlier than Cromwell's time,--the so-called Wars of the +Roses. The resemblance between our contest and that in which the English +rose against, fought with, defeated, dethroned, tried, and beheaded +their king, is not very strong, we must confess; but the main thing is, +that both contests belong to that class of wars in which, to borrow +Shakspeare's words, "Civil blood makes civil hands unclean." Were there +no exhibitions of fear in that war, no flights, no panics on the _grand +scale_? Unless history is as great a liar as Talleyrand said it was, +when he declared that it was founded on a general conspiracy against +truth,--and who could suppose an English historian capable of +lying?--shameful exhibitions of fear, flights of whole bodies of troops, +and displays of panic terror were very common things with our English +ancestors who fought and flourished _tempore Caroli Primi_. The first +battle between the forces of the King and those of the Parliament was +that of Edgehill, which was fought on _Sunday_, October 23d, 1642. +Prince Rupert led his Cavaliers to the charge, ordering them, like a +true soldier, to use only the sword, which is the weapon that horsemen +always should employ. "The Roundheads," says Mr. Warburton, "seemed +swept away by the very wind of that wild charge. No sword was crossed, +no saddle emptied, no trooper waited to abide the shock; they fled with +_frantic fear_, but fell fast under the sabres of their pursuers. The +cavalry galloped furiously until they reached such shelter as the town +could give them; nor did their infantry fare better. No sooner were +the Royal horse upon them than they broke and fled; Mandeville and +Cholmondely vainly strove to rally their _terror-stricken_ followers; +they were swept away by the fiery Cavaliers." If this was not exactly +the effect of a panic, then it was something worse: it followed from +abject, craven fear. The bravest and best of armies have been known to +suffer from panic terror, but none but cowards run away at the first +charge that is made upon them. It is said, by way of excuse for the men +who thus fled, in spite of the gallant efforts of their officers to +rally them, that they were new troops. So were our men at Bull Run +new troops; and this much can be said of them, that, if they became +panic-stricken, it was not until after they had fought for several +hours on a hot day, and that they were not well commanded, the officers +setting the example of abandoning the field, and not seeking to +encourage the soldiers, as was done by the English Parliamentary +commanders at Edgehill. Therefore the English Bull Run was a far more +disgraceful affair than was that of America. + +We shall not dwell upon the multitudinous panics and flights that +happened on both sides in the Great Civil War, but come at once to what +took place on the grand field-days of that contest,--Long-Marston Moor +and Naseby. At Long-Marston Moor, fought July 2, 1644, English, Irish, +and Scotch soldiers were present, so that all the island races were +on the field in the persons of some of the best of their number. The +Royalists charged the Scotch centre, and were twice repulsed; but their +third charge was more successful, and then most of the gallant Scotch +force broke in every direction, only some fragments of three regiments +standing their ground. "The Earl of Leven in vain hastened from one part +of the line to the other," says Mr. Langton Sanford, "endeavoring by +words and blows to keep the soldiers in the field, exclaiming, 'Though +you run from your enemies, yet leave not your general; though you fly +from them, yet forsake not me!' The Earl of Manchester, with great +exertions, rallied five hundred of the fugitives, and brought them back +to the battle. But these efforts to turn the fate of the day in this +quarter were fruitless, and at length the three generals of the +Parliament were compelled to seek safety in flight. Leven himself, +conceiving the battle utterly lost, in which he was confirmed by the +opinion of others then on the place near him, seeing they were fleeing +upon all hands toward Tadcaster and Cawood, was persuaded by his +attendants to retire and wait his better fortune. He did so, and never +drew bridle till he came to Leeds, nearly forty miles distant, having +ridden all that night with a cloak of _drap-de-berrie_ about him +belonging to the gentleman from whom we derive the information, then in +his retinue, with many other officers of good quality. Manchester and +Fairfax, carried away in the flight, soon returned to the field, but the +centre and right wing of their army were utterly broken. 'It was a sad +sight,' exclaims Mr. Ash, [an eye-witness of the affair,] 'to behold +many thousands posting away, amazed with _panic fears_!' Many fled +without striking a blow; _and multitudes of people that were spectators +ran away in such fear as daunted the soldiers still more_, some of the +horse never looking back till they got as far as Lincoln, some others +toward Hull, and others to Halifax and Wakefield, pursued by the enemy's +horse for nearly two miles from the field. Wherever they came, the +fugitives carried the news of the utter rout of the Parliament's +army."[B] This strong picture of the panic that prevailed in the very +army that won the Battle of Long-Marston Moor is confirmed by Sir Walter +Scott, who says that the Earl of Leven was driven from the field, and +was thirty miles distant, in full flight toward Scotland, when he was +overtaken by the news that his party had gained a complete victory. Yet +Leven was an experienced soldier, having served in the army of Gustavus +Adolphus, in which he rose to very high rank; and the Scottish forces +had many soldiers who had been trained in the same admirable school. +That there were many spectators of the battle, whose fright "daunted +the soldiers still more," shows that people were as fond of witnessing +battles in 1644 as they are in 1861, and that their presence on the Moor +was productive of almost as much evil to the Roundheads as the presence +of Congressmen and other civilians at Manassas was to the Federal troops +on the 21st of July. There would seem to be indeed nothing new under +the sun, and folly is eternally reproducing itself. One of the names +connected with our defeat is that of one of the most gallant of the +Parliament's commanders at Long-Marston: Fairfax being named after the +sixth Lord Fairfax, whose singular history furnished to Mr. Thackeray +the plan for his "Virginians." + +[Footnote B: Mr. Sanford quotes from a letter written by a spectator +of the panic at Long-Marston Moor, which is so descriptive of what we +should expect such a scene to be, that we copy it. "I could not," says +the writer, "meet the Prince [Rupert] until after the battle was joined; +and in fire, smoke, and confusion of the day I knew not for my soul +whither to incline. The runaways on both sides were so many, so +breathless, so speechless, so full of fears, that I should not have +taken them for men but by their motion, which still served them very +well, not a man of them being able to give me the least hope where the +Prince was to be found, both armies being mingled, both horse and foot, +no side keeping their own posts. In this terrible distraction did I +scour the country; here meeting with a shoal of Scots crying out, 'Wae's +me! We're a' undone!' and so full of lamentations and mourning, as if +their day of doom had overtaken them, and from which they knew not +whither to fly. And anon I met with a ragged troop, reduced to four and +a cornet; by-and-by, a little foot-officer, without a hat, band, or +indeed anything but feet, and so much tongue as would serve to inquire +the way to the next garrisons, which, to say truth, were well filled +with stragglers on both sides within a few hours, though they lay +distant from the place of fight twenty or thirty miles."--See _Studies +and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion_, (p. 606,) the best work ever +written on the grand constitutional struggle made by the English against +the usurpations of the Stuarts. The letter here quoted was written by an +English gentleman, Mr. Trevor, to the best of the Royalist leaders, the +Marquis (afterward first Duke) of Ormond.] + +The panic at Naseby (June 14, 1645) was not of so pronounced a character +as that at Long-Marston; but it helps to prove the Englishman's aptitude +for running, and shows, that, if we have skill in the use of heels, we +have inherited it: it is, in a double sense, matter of race. In spite of +the exertions of Ireton, the cavalry of the left wing of the Roundheads +was swept out of the field by Prince Rupert's dashing charge; while the +foot were as deaf to the entreaties of old Skippon that they would keep +their ranks. Later in the day the Cavaliers took their turn at the panic +business, their horse flying over the hills, and leaving the infantry +and the artillery, the women and the baggage, to the mercy of the +Puritans,--and everybody knows what that was. The Cavaliers were even +more subject to panics than the Puritans, as was but natural, seeing +that they could not or would not be disciplined; and there were many of +the leaders of the deboshed, godless crew of whom it could have been +sung, as it was of Peveril of the Peak,-- + + "There was bluff old Sir Geoffrey loved brandy and mum well, + And to see a beer-glass turned over the thumb well; + But he fled like the wind, before Fairfax and Cromwell, + Which nobody can deny!" + +Cromwell's last victory but one, that of Dunbar, (September 3, 1650,) +was due to the impertinent interference of "outsiders" with the business +of the Scotch general, and to the occurrence of a panic in the Scotch +army. The priests did for Leslie's army what the politicians are charged +with having done for that of General McDowell. The Scotch were mostly +raw troops, and soon fell into confusion; and then came one of those +scenes of slaughter which were so common after the Cromwellian +victories, and which, in spite of Mr. Carlyle's crazy admiration of +them, must ever be regarded by sane and humane people as the work of the +Devil. It is in dispute whether Cromwell's last great victory, that of +Worcester, (September 3, 1651,) was a panic affair or not; for while +Cromwell himself wrote that "indeed it was a stiff business," and that +the dimensions of the mercy were above his thoughts, he complacently +says, "Yet I do not think we have lost above two hundred men." Now, as +the English critics on the Battle of Bull Run will have it that it was +but a cowardly affair on our side, because but few men were at one +time reported to have fallen in it, it follows that Cromwell's army at +Worcester must have been an army of cowards, as it lost less than two +hundred men, though it had to fight hard for several hours for victory. +"As stiff a contest, for four or five hours," said the Lord-General, +"as ever I have seen." And what shall we think of the Scotch, who lost +fourteen thousand men? Mr. Lodge, whose sympathies are all with the +Cavaliers, says that the action is undeservedly called the Battle of +Worcester, "for it was in fact the mere rout of a _panic-stricken_ +army." Certainly all the circumstances of the day tend to confirm this +view of what occurred on it: the heavy loss of the Scotch, the small +loss of the English, and the all but total destruction of the Royal +army. That Cromwell should make the most of his victory, of the +"crowning mercy," as he hoped it might prove, was natural enough. +Nothing is more common than for the victor to sound the praises of the +vanquished, that being a delicate form of self-praise. If they were so +clever and so brave, how much greater must have been the cleverness and +bravery of the man who conquered them? The difficulty is in inducing +the vanquished to praise the victor. We have no doubt that General +Beauregard speaks very handsomely of General McDowell; but how speaks +General McDowell of General Beauregard? Wellington often spoke well of +Napoleon's conduct in the campaign of 1815; but among the bitterest +things ever said by one great man of another great man are Napoleon's +criticisms on the conduct of Wellington in that campaign. We are not to +suppose that Wellington was a more magnanimous person than Napoleon, +which he assuredly was not; but he was praising himself, after an +allowable fashion, when he praised Napoleon. There would have been a +complete change of words in the mouths of the two men, had the result of +Waterloo been, as it should have been, favorable to the French. Napoleon +said that he never saw the Prussians behave well but at Jena, where he +broke the army of the Great Frederick to pieces. He had not a word to +say in praise of the Prussians who fought at the Katzbach, at Dennewitz, +and at Waterloo. Human nature is a very small thing even in very great +men. + +As we see that the Roundheads triumphed in England, notwithstanding the +panics from which their armies suffered, subduing the descendants of +the conquering chivalry of Normandy, "to whom victory and triumph were +traditional, habitual, hereditary things," may we not hope that the +American descendants and successors of the Roundheads will be able +to subdue the descendants of the conquered chivalry of the South, a +chivalry that has as many parents as had the Romans who proceeded from +the loins of the "robbers and reivers" who had been assembled, as per +proclamation, at the Rogues' Asylum on the Palatine Hill? The bravery +of the Southern troops is not to be questioned, and it never has been +questioned by sensible men; but their pretensions to Cavalier descent +are at the head of the long list of historical false pretences, and tend +to destroy all confidence in their words. They may be aristocrats, but +they have not the shadow of a claim to aristocratical origin. + +Lord Macaulay's brilliant account of the Battle of Landen (July 19, +1693) establishes the fact, that it is possible for an army of veterans, +led by some of the best officers of their time, to become panic-stricken +while defending intrenchments and a strong position. "A little after +four in the afternoon," he says, "the whole line gave way." "Amidst +the rout and uproar, while arms and standards were flung away, while +multitudes of fugitives were choking up the bridges and fords of the +Gette or perishing in its waters, the King, [William III.,] having +directed Talmash to superintend the retreat, put himself at the head of +a few brave regiments, and by desperate efforts arrested the progress +of the enemy." Luxembourg failed to follow up his victory, or all would +have been lost. The French behaved as did the Southrons after Bull Run: +they gave their formidable foe time to rally, and to recover from the +effect of the panic that had covered the country with fugitives; and +time was all that was necessary for either the English King or the +American General to prevent defeat from being extended into conquest. + +Two of Marlborough's greatest victories were largely owing to the +occurrence of panic among the veteran troops of France. At Ramillies, +the French left, which was partially engaged in covering the retreat of +the rest of their army, were struck with a panic, fled, and were pursued +for five leagues. At Oudenarde, (July 11, 1708,) the French commander, +Vendôme, "urged the Duke of Burgundy and a crowd of panic-struck +generals to take advantage of the night, and restore order; but finding +his arguments nugatory, he gave the word for a retreat, and generals +and privates, horse and foot, instantly hurried in the utmost disorder +toward Ghent." The retreat of this crowd, which was a complete flight, +he covered by the aid of a few brave men whom he had rallied and formed, +and whose firm countenance prevented the entire destruction of +the French army. Yet the French soldiers of that time were men of +experience, and were accustomed to all the phases of war. + +At the Battle of Rossbach, (November 5, 1757,) the troops of France and +of the German Empire fell into a panic, and were routed by half their +number of Prussians. That defeat was the most disgraceful that ever +befell the arms of a military nation. The panic was complete, and no +body of terrified militia ever fled more rapidly than did the veteran +troops of Germany and France on that eventful day. Napoleon, half a +century later, said that Rossbach produced a permanent effect on the +French military, and on France, and was one of the causes of the +Revolution. The disgrace was laid to the account of the French +commander, the Prince de Soubise, who was a profligate, a coward, and a +booby, and who neither knew war nor was known by it. + +The English army experienced whatever of pleasure there may be in a +panic, or rather in a pair of panics, at the grand Battle of Fontenoy, +(May 11, 1745,) on which field they were so unutterably thrashed by the +French and the Irish. In the first part of the action, the Allies were +successful, when suddenly the Dutch troops fell into a panic, and fled +as fast as it is ever given to Dutchmen to fly. There is nothing so +contagious as panic terror, and the rest of the army, exposed as it was +to a tremendous fire, soon caught the disease, and was giving way under +it, when their commander, the Duke of Cumberland, who was well seconded +by his officers, succeeded in rallying them. They renewed the combat, +and their enemy became so alarmed in their turn that even the French +King, and his son the Dauphin, were in danger of being swept away in the +rout. Again there came a turn in the battle, and, mostly because of the +daring and dash of the famous Irish Brigade, the Allies were beaten and +forced to retreat. It is stated that the whole body of heroic British +Grenadiers who were engaged at Fontenoy gave a strong proof of the +effect of the panic upon their minds--and bodies; thus establishing the +fact that they had stomachs for something besides the fight. "Not to put +too fine a point upon it," they, with a unity of place and time that +speaks well for their discipline, did that which was done by the valiant +General Sterling Price at the Battle of Boonville, and which has caused +them to leave a deep impression on the historic page, though nothing can +be said in support of the attractiveness of the illustration which those +gallant men contributed to that page. + +There was a partial exhibition of panic terror made by the English +troops at the Battle of Bunker's Hill. They were twice made to run on +that Seventeenth of June of which something has been said during the +last six-and-eighty years; and they were brought up to the point +of making a third attack only by the greatest exertions of their +commanders, and after having been considerably reinforced. This third +attack would have been as promptly repulsed as its predecessors had +been, but that the American troops had used up all their powder, and few +of them had bayonets. The firmness, and skill as marksmen, of a body of +militia had caused a larger body of British veterans twice to retreat +in great disorder, and under circumstances much resembling those that +characterize what is known as a panic. Had a third repulse of the +assailants occurred, nothing could have prevented their flight to their +boats. But it was written that the Americans should retreat; and it is +safe to say that they showed much more steadiness in the retreat than +the enemy did alacrity in the pursuit. + +Panic terror was no uncommon thing during the Reign of Terror in France, +in the armies of the French Republic. The early efforts of the French +Republicans in the field sometimes failed because of panics occurring in +their armies; and they were not unknown to any of the armies that took +part in the long series of wars that began in 1792 and lasted, with +brief intervals of peace, down to the summer of 1815. At Marengo, both +armies suffered from panics. As early as ten o'clock in the forenoon, +a portion of Victor's corps retired in disorder, crying out, "All is +lost!" There were, in fact, three Battles of Marengo, the Austrians +winning the first and second, and losing the third, which was losing +all,--war not exactly resembling whist. When Desaix said, at three +o'clock in the afternoon, that the battle was lost, but there was time +enough to win another, he spoke the truth, and like a good soldier. The +new movements that followed his arrival and advice caused surprise to +the Austrians, and surprise soon passed into panic. The panic extended +to a portion of the cavalry, no one has ever been able to say why; +and it galloped off the field toward the Bormida, shouting, "To the +bridges!" The panic then reached to men of all arms, and cavalry, +artillery, and infantry were soon crowded together on the banks of the +stream which they had crossed in high hopes but a few hours before. The +artillery sought to cross by a ford, but failed, and the French made +prisoners, and seized guns, horses, baggage, and all the rest of +the trophies of victory. Thus a battle which confirmed the Consular +government of Bonaparte, which prepared the way for the creation of +the French Empire, and which settled the fate of Europe for years, was +decided by the panic cries of a few horse-soldiers. The Austrian cavalry +has long and justly been reputed second to no other in the world, and in +1800 it was a veteran body, and had been steadily engaged in war, with +small interruption, for eight years; but neither its experience, nor its +valor, nor regard for the character which it had to maintain, could save +it from the common lot of armies. It became terrified, and senselessly +fled, and its evil example was swiftly communicated to the other troops: +for there is nothing so contagious as a panic, every man that runs +thinking, that, while he is himself ignorant of the existence of any +peculiar danger, all the others must know of it, and are acting upon +their knowledge. That Austrian panic made the conqueror master of Italy, +and with France and Italy at his command he could aspire to the dominion +of Europe. The man who began the panic at Marengo really opened the way +to Vienna to the legions of France, and to Berlin, and (but that brought +compensation) to Moscow also. + +There were panics in most of the great battles of the French Empire, +or those battles were followed by panics. At Austerlitz the Austrians +suffered from them; and though the Russian soldiers are among the +steadiest of men, and keep up discipline under very extraordinary +difficulties, they fared no better than their associates on that +terrible field. They had more than one panic, and the confusion +was prodigious. It was while flying in terror, that the dense, yet +disorderly crowds sought to escape over some ponds, the ice of which +broke, and two thousand of them were ingulfed. One of their generals, +writing of that day, said,--"I had previously seen some lost battles, +but I had no conception of such a defeat." Jena was followed by panics +which extended throughout the army and over the monarchy, so that the +Prussian army and the Prussian kingdom disappeared in a month, though +Napoleon had anticipated a long, difficult, and doubtful contest with so +renowned a military organization as that which had been created by the +immortal Frederick; and he had remarked, at the beginning of the war, +that there would be much use for the spade in the course of it. In the +Austrian campaign of 1809, there was the beginning of a panic that might +have produced serious consequences. The Archduke John, the Patterson of +those days, was at the head of an Austrian army which was expected to +take part in the Battle of Wagram; but it was not until after that +battle had been gained by the French that that prince arrived near the +Marchfeld, in the rear of the victors. A panic broke out among +the persons who saw the heads of his columns,--camp-followers, +_vivandières_, long lines of soldiers bearing off wounded men, and +others. The young soldiers, who were exhausted by their labors and the +heat, were conspicuous among the runaways, and there was a general race +to "the banks of the dark-rolling Danube." Nay, it is said that the +panic was taken up on the other side of the river, and that quite a +number of individuals did not stop till they had reached Vienna. Terror +prevailed, and the confusion was fast spreading, when Napoleon, who had +been roused from an attempt to obtain some rest under a shelter formed +of drums, fit materials for a house for him, arrived on the scene. In +reply to his questions, Charles Lebrun, one of his officers, answered, +"It is nothing, Sire,--merely a few marauders." "What do you call +nothing?" exclaimed the Emperor. "Know, Sir, that there are no trifling +events in war: nothing endangers an army like an imprudent security. +Return and see what is the matter, and come back quickly and render me +an account." The Emperor succeeded in restoring order, but not without +difficulty, and the Archduke withdrew his forces without molestation. +The circumstances of the panic show, that, if he had arrived at his +intended place a few hours earlier, the French would have been beaten, +and probably the French Empire have fallen at Vienna in 1809, instead +of falling at Paris in 1814; and then the House of Austria would have +achieved one of those extraordinary triumphs over its most powerful +enemies that are so common in its extraordinary history. The incident +bears some resemblance to the singular panic that happened the day after +the Battle of Solferino, and which was brought on by the appearance of a +few Austrian hussars, who came out of their hiding-place to surrender, +many thousand men running for miles, and showing that the most +successful army of modern days could be converted into a mob by-- +nothing. + +Seldom has the world seen such a panic as followed the Battle of +Vittoria, in which Wellington dealt the French Empire the deadly blow +under which it reeled and fell; for, if that battle had not been fought +and won, the Allies would probably have made peace with Napoleon, +following up the armistice into which they had already entered with him; +but Vittoria encouraged them to hope for victory, and not in vain. The +French King of Spain there lost his crown and his carriage; the Marshal +of France commanding lost his _bâton_, and the honorable fame which he +had won nineteen years before at Fleurus; and the French army lost its +artillery, all but one piece, and, what was of more consequence, its +honor. It was the completest rout ever seen in that age of routs and +balls. And yet the defeated army was a veteran army, and most of its +officers were men whose skill was as little to be doubted as their +bravery. + +There were panics at Waterloo, not a few; and, what is remarkable, they +happened principally on the side of the victors, the French suffering +nothing from them till after the battle was lost, when the pressure of +circumstances threw their beaten army into much confusion, and it was +not possible that it should be otherwise. Bylandt's Dutch-Belgian +brigade ran away from the French about two o'clock in the afternoon, and +swept others with them in their rush, much to the rage of the British, +some of whom hissed, hooted, and cursed, forgetting that quite as +discreditable incidents had occurred in the course of the military +history of their own country. One portion of the British troops that +desired to fire upon those exhibitors of "Dutch courage" actually +belonged to the most conspicuous of the regiments that ran away at +Falkirk, seventy years before. At a later hour Trip's Dutch-Belgian +cavalry-brigade ran away in such haste and disorder that some squadrons +of German hussars experienced great difficulty in maintaining their +ground against the dense crowd of fugitives. The Cumberland regiment +of Hanoverian hussars was deliberately taken out of the field by its +colonel when the shot began to fall about it, and neither orders nor +entreaties nor arguments nor execrations could induce it to form under +fire. Nay, it refused to form across the high-road, _out_ of fire, but +"went altogether to the rear, spreading alarm and confusion all the +way to Brussels." Nothing but the coming up of the cavalry-brigades +of Vivian and Vandeleur, at a late hour, prevented large numbers of +Wellington's infantry from leaving the field. The troops of Nassau fell +"back _en masse_ against the horses' heads of the Tenth Hussars, who, +keeping their files closed, prevented further retreat." The Tenth +belonged to Vivian's command. D'Aubremé's Dutch-Belgian infantry-brigade +was prevented from running off when the Imperial Guard began their +charge, only because Vandeleur's cavalry-brigade was in their rear, with +even the squadron-intervals closed, so that they had to elect between +the French bayonet and the English sabre. There was something resembling +a temporary panic among Maitland's British Guards, after the repulse +of the first column of the Imperial Guard, but order was very promptly +restored. It is impossible to read any extended account of the Battle of +Waterloo without seeing that it was a desperate business on the part of +the Allies, and that, if the Prussians could have been kept out of the +action, their English friends would have had an excellent chance to keep +the field--as the killed and wounded. Wellington never had the ghost of +a chance without the aid of Bülow, Zieten, and Blücher.[C] + +[Footnote C: There is no great battle concerning which so much nonsense +has been written and spoken as that of Waterloo, which ought to console +us for the hundred-and-one accounts that are current concerning the +action of the 21st of July, no two of which are more alike than if the +one related to Culloden and the other to Arbela. The common belief is, +that toward the close of the day Napoleon formed two columns of the +_Old_ Guard, and sent them against the Allied line; that they advanced, +and were simultaneously repulsed by the weight and precision of the +English fire in front; and that, on seeing the columns of the Guard fall +into disorder, the French all fled, and Wellington immediately ordered +his whole line to advance, which prevented the French from rallying, +they flying in a disorderly mass, which was incapable of resistance. So +far is this view of the "Crisis of Waterloo" from being correct, that +the repulse of the Guard would not have earned with it the loss of the +battle, had it not been for a number of circumstances, some of +which made as directly in favor of the English as the others worked +unfavorably to the French. When Napoleon found that the operations of +Bülow's Prussians threatened to compromise his right flank and rear, he +determined to make a vigorous attempt to drive the Allies from their +position in his front, not merely by employing two columns of his Guard, +but by making a general attack on Wellington's line. For this purpose, +he formed one column of four battalions of the _Middle_ Guard, and +another of four other battalions of the _Middle_ Guard and two +battalions of the Old Guard. At the same time the corps of D'Erlon and +Reille were to advance, and a severe _tiraillade_ was opened by a great +number of skirmishers; and the attack was supported by a tremendous fire +from artillery. So animated and effective were the operations of the +various bodies of French not belonging to the Guard, that nothing but +the arrival of the cavalry brigades of Vandeleur and Vivian, from the +extreme left of the Allied line, prevented that line from being pierced +in several places. Those brigades had been relieved by the arrival of +the advance of Zieten's Prussian corps, and were made available for the +support of the points threatened by the French. They were drawn up in +rear of bodies of infantry, whom they would not permit to run away, +which they sought to do. The first column of the Guard was repulsed by +a fire of cannon and musketry, and when disordered it was charged by +Maitland's brigade of British Guards. The interval between the advance +of that column and that of the second column was from ten to twelve +minutes; and the appearance of the second column caused Maitland's +Guards to fall into confusion, and the whole body went to the rear. This +confusion, we are told, was not consequent upon either defeat or panic, +but resulted simply from a misunderstanding of the command. The coming +up of the second column led to a panic in a Dutch-Belgian brigade, which +would have left the field but for the presence of Vandeleur's cavalry, +through which the men could not penetrate; and yet the panic-stricken +men could not even see the soldiers before whose shouts they endeavored +to fly! The second column was partially supported, at first, by a body +of cavalry; but it failed in consequence of a flank attack made by the +Fifty-Second Regiment, which was aided by the operations of some other +regiments, all belonging to General Adam's brigade. This attack on its +left flank was assisted by the fire of a battery in front, and by the +musketry of the British Guards on its right flank. Thus assailed, the +defeat of the second column was inevitable. Had it been supported by +cavalry, so that it could not have been attacked on either flank, it +would have succeeded in its purpose. Adam's brigade followed up its +success, and Vivian's cavalry was ordered forward by Wellington, to +check the French cavalry, should it advance, and to deal generally +with the French reserves. Adam and Vivian did their work so well that +Wellington ordered his whole line of infantry to advance, supported by +cavalry and artillery. The French made considerable resistance after +this, but their retreat became inevitable, and soon degenerated into a +rout. An exception to the general disorganization was observed by the +victors, not unlike to an incident which we have seen mentioned in an +account of the Bull Run flight. In the midst of the crowd of fugitives +on the 21st of July, and forcing its way through that crowd, was seen a +company of infantry, marching as coolly and steadily as if on parade. So +it was after Waterloo, when the _grenadiers à cheval_ moved off at a +walk, "in close column, and in perfect order, as if disdaining to allow +itself to be contaminated by the confusion that prevailed around it." It +was unsuccessfully attacked, and the regiment "literally walked from the +field in the most orderly manner, moving majestically along the stream, +the surface of which was covered with the innumerable wrecks into which +the rest of the French army had been scattered." It was supposed that +this body of cavalry was engaged in protecting the retreat of the +Emperor, and, had all the French been as cool and determined as were +those veteran horsemen, the army might have been saved. Troops in +retreat, who hold firmly together, and show a bold countenance to the +enemy, are seldom made to suffer much.] + +The Russian War was not of a nature to afford room for the occurrence of +any panic on an extensive scale, but between that contest and ours there +is one point of resemblance that may be noted. The failures and losses +of the Allies, who had at their command unlimited means, and the bravest +of soldiers in the greatest numbers, were all owing to bad management; +and our reverses in every instance are owing to the same cause. The +disaster at Bull Run, and the inability of our men to keep the ground +they had won at Wilson's Creek, in Missouri, (August 10,) were the +legitimate consequences of action over which the mass of the soldiers +could have no control. It is due to the soldiers to say this, for it +is the truth, as every man knows who has observed the course of the +contest, and who has seen it proceed from a political squabble to the +dimensions of a mighty war, the end of which mortal vision cannot +foresee. + +It would be no difficult task to add a hundred instances to those we +have mentioned of the occurrence of panics in European armies; but it +is not necessary to pursue the subject farther. Nothing is better known +than that almost every eminent commander has suffered from panic terror +having taken control of the minds of his men, and nothing is more unjust +than to speak of the American panic of the 21st of July as if it were +something quite out of the common way of war. True, its origin has never +been fully explained; but in this point it only resembles most other +panics, the causes of which never have been explained and never will be. +It is characteristic of a panic that its occurrence cannot be accounted +for; and therefore it was that the ancients attributed it to the direct +interposition of a god, as arising from some cause quite beyond human +comprehension. If panics could be clearly explained, some device might +be hit upon, perhaps, for their prevention. But we see that they +occurred at the very dawn of history, that they have happened repeatedly +for five-and-twenty centuries, and that they are as common now in the +nineteenth Christian century as they were in those days when Pan was a +god. "Great Pan is _not_ dead," but sends armies to pot now as readily +as he did when there were hoplites and peltasts on earth. We can console +ourselves, though the consolation be but a poor one, with the reflection +that all military peoples have suffered from the same cause that has +brought so much mortification and so great loss immediately home to us. +Our panic is the greatest that ever was known only because it is the +latest one that has happened, and because it has happened to ourselves. +It is idle, and even laughable, to attempt to argue it out of sight. We +should admit its occurrence as freely as it is asserted by the bitterest +and most unfair of our critics; and we should recognize the truth of +what has been well said on the subject, that the only possible answer to +the attacks that have been made on the national character for military +capacity and courage is _victory_. If we shall succeed in this war, the +rout of Bull Run will no more destroy our character for manliness than +the rout of Landen destroyed the character of Englishmen for the same +virtue. If we fail, we must submit to be considered cowards: and we +shall deserve to be so held, if, with our superior numbers, and still +more superior means, we cannot maintain the Republic against the rebels. + + + + +OUR COUNTRY. + + + On primal rocks she wrote her name; + Her towers were reared on holy graves; + The golden seed that bore her came + Swift-winged with prayer o'er ocean waves. + + The Forest bowed his solemn crest, + And open flung his sylvan doors; + Meek Rivers led the appointed Guest + To clasp the wide-embracing shores; + + Till, fold by fold, the broidered land + To swell her virgin vestments grew, + While Sages, strong in heart and hand, + Her virtue's fiery girdle drew. + + O Exile of the wrath of kings! + O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty! + The refuge of divinest things, + Their record must abide in thee! + + First in the glories of thy front + Let the crown-jewel, Truth, be found; + Thy right hand fling, with generous wont, + Love's happy chain to farthest bound! + + Let Justice, with the faultless scales, + Hold fast the worship of thy sons; + Thy Commerce spread her shining sails + Where no dark tide of rapine runs! + + So link thy ways to those of God, + So follow firm the heavenly laws, + That stars may greet thee, warrior-browed, + And storm-sped Angels hail thy cause! + + O Land, the measure of our prayers, + Hope of the world in grief and wrong, + Be thine the tribute of the years, + The gift of Faith, the crown of Song! + + + + +THE WORMWOOD CORDIAL OF HISTORY. + +WITH A FABLE. + + +The great war which is upon us is shaking us down into solidity as corn +is shaken down in the measure. We were heaped up in our own opinion, +and sometimes running over in expressions of it. This rude jostling is +showing us the difference between bulk and weight, space and substance. + +In one point of view we have a right to be proud of our inexperience, +and hardly need to blush for our shortcomings. These are the tributes we +are paying to our own past innocence and tranquillity. We have lived +a peaceful life so long that the traditional cunning and cruelty of a +state of warfare have become almost obsolete among us. No wonder that +hard men, bred in foreign camps, find us too good-natured, wanting in +hatred towards our enemies. We can readily believe that it is a special +Providence which has suffered us to meet with a reverse or two, just +enough to sting, without crippling us, only to wake up the slumbering +passion which is the legitimate and chosen instrument of the higher +powers for working out the ends of justice and the good of man. + +There are a few far-seeing persons to whom our present sudden mighty +conflict may not have come as a surprise; but to all except these it +is a prodigy as startling as it would be, if the farmers of the North +should find a ripened harvest of blood-red ears of maize upon the +succulent stalks of midsummer. We have lived for peace: as individuals, +to get food, comfort, luxuries for ourselves and others; as communities, +to insure the best conditions we could for each human being, so that he +might become what God meant him to be. The verdict of the world was, +that we were succeeding. Many came to us from the old civilizations; +few went away from us, and most of these such as we could spare without +public loss. + +We had almost forgotten the meaning and use of the machinery of +destruction. We had come to look upon our fortresses as the ornaments, +rather than as the defences of our harbors. Our war-ships were the +Government's yacht-squadron, our arsenals museums for the entertainment +of peaceful visitors. The roar of cannon has roused us from this +Arcadian dream. A ship of the line, we said, reproachfully, costs as +much as a college; but we are finding out that its masts are a part of +the fence round the college. The Springfield Arsenal inspired a noble +poem; but that, as we are learning, was not all it was meant for. What +poets would be born to us in the future without the "_placida quies_" +which "_sub libertate_" the sword alone can secure for our children? + +It is all plain, but it has been an astonishment to us, as our war-comet +was to the astronomers. The comet, as some of them say, brushed us with +its tail as it passed; yet nobody finds us the worse for it. So, too, we +have been brushed lightly by mishap, as we ought to have been, and as we +ought to have prayed to be, no doubt, if we had known what was good for +us; yet at this very moment we stand stronger, more hopeful, more united +than ever before in our history. + +Misfortunes are no new things; yet a man suffering from furuncles will +often speak as if Job had never known anything about them. We will take +up a book lying by us, and find all the evils, or most of those we have +been complaining of, described in detail, as they happened eight or ten +generations before our time. + +It was in "a struggle for NATIONAL independence, liberty of conscience, +freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and _world-absorbing tyranny_." +A plotting despot is at the bottom of it. "While the _riches of the +Indies_ continue, he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other +princes." But England had soldiers and statesmen ready to fight, even +though "Indies"--the King Cotton of that day--were declared arbiter of +the contest. "I pray God," said one of them, "that I live not to see +this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion +throughout Christendom."--"The war doth defend England. Who is he that +will refuse to spend his life and living in it? If her Majesty consume +twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain +will double that strength to the realm."--_"The freehold of England will +be worth but little, if this action quail;_ and therefore I wish no +subject to spare his purse towards it."--"God hath stirred up this +action to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of +England, which through these long times of peace and quietness is +brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. Our +delicacy is such that we are already weary; yet this journey is nought +in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." + +"There can be no doubt," the historian remarks, "that the organization +and discipline of English troops were in anything but a satisfactory +state at that period."--"The soldiers required shoes and stockings, +bread and meat, and for those articles there were not the necessary +funds."--"There came no penny of treasure over."--"There is much still +due. They cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, _they perish for +want of victuals and clothing_ in great numbers. The whole are ready +to mutiny."--"There was no soldier yet able to buy himself _a pair of +hose_, and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and _it +kills their hearts to show themselves among men_."--These "poor subjects +were no better than abjects," said the Lieutenant-General. "There is but +a small number of the first bands left," said another,--"and those so +pitiful and unable to serve again as I leave to speak further of +them, to avoid grief to your heart. A monstrous fault there hath been +somewhere." Of what nature the "monstrous fault" was we may conjecture +from the language of the Commander-in-Chief. "There can be no doubt of +our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive +charges, if every one of us will put our minds to forward, _without +making a miserable gain by the wars_." (We give the Italics as we find +them in the text.) He believed that much of the work might be speedily +done; for he "would undertake to furnish from hence, upon two months' +warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and +mariners." + +In the mean time "there was a whisper of peace-overtures," "rumors +which, whether true or false, were most pernicious in their effects"; +for "it was war, not peace," that the despot "intended," and the "most +trusty counsellors [of England] knew to be inevitable." Worse than this, +there was treachery of the most dangerous kind. "Take heed whom you +trust," said the brother of the Commander-in-Chief to him; "for that +you have some false boys about you." In fact, "many of those nearest his +person and of highest credit out of England were his deadly foes, sworn +to compass his dishonor, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in +correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad." + +It was a sad state of things. The General "was much disgusted with the +raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable +troops." "Swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of London" +"were not the men to be intrusted with the honor of England at a +momentous crisis." "Our simplest men in show have been our best men, +and your _gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others_." (The +Italics again are the author's.) Yet, said the muster-master, "there is +good hope that his Excellency will shortly establish such good order +for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, badly +furnished, ill-armed, and worse trained bands, thus rawly left unto +him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, complete, gallant +companies as shall be found elsewhere in Europe." + +Very pleasant it must have been to the Commander-in-Chief to report to +his Government that in one of the first actions "five hundred Englishmen +of the best Flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away." +Yet this was the commencement of the struggle which ended with the +dispersion and defeat of the great Armada, and destroyed the projects of +the Spanish tyrant for introducing religious and political slavery into +England! It seems as if Mr. Motley's Seventh Chapter were a prophecy, +rather than a history. + + * * * * * + +An invasion and a conspiracy may always be expected to make head at +first. The men who plan such enterprises are not fools, but cunning, +managing people. They always have, or think they have, a _primâ facie_ +case to start with. They have been preparing just as the highwayman has +been preparing for his aggressive movement. They expect to find, +and they commonly do find, their victims only half ready, if at all +forewarned, and to take them at a disadvantage. If conspirators and +invaders do not strike heavy blows at once, their cause is desperate; if +they do, it proves very little, because that is the least they expected +to do. + +It is very easy to run up a score behind the door of a tavern; credit +is good, and chalk is cheap. But these little marks have all got to be +crossed out by-and-by, and the time will surely come for turning all +empty pockets wrong side out. The aggressors begin in a great passion, +and are violent and dangerous at first; the nation or community assailed +are surprised, dismayed, perhaps, like the good people in the coach, +when they see Dick Turpin's pistol thrust in at the window. + +The Romans were certainly a genuine fighting people. They kept the state +on a perpetual military footing. They were never without veterans, men +and leaders bred in camp and experienced in warfare. Yet what a piece of +work their African invader cut out for them! It seemed they had to learn +everything over again. Thousands upon thousands killed and driven into +Lake Trasimenus,--_fifteen thousand_ prisoners taken; total rout again +at Cannae,--rings picked from slain gentlemen's fingers by the peck or +bushel,--everything lost in battle, and a great revolt through the +Southern provinces as a natural consequence. What then? Rome was not to +be Africanized as yet. The great leader who had threatened the capital, +and scored these portentous victories, had at last to pay for them all +in defeat and humiliation on his own soil. + +Even the robber Spartacus beat the Roman armies at first, with their +consuls at their head, and laid waste a large part of the peninsula. +These violent uprisings and incursions are always dangerous at their +onset; they are just like new diseases, which the doctors tell us must +be studied by themselves, and which are rarely treated with great +success until near the period of their natural cessation. After a time +Fabius learns how to handle the hot Southern invaders, and Crassus the +way of fighting the fierce gladiators with their classical bowie-knives. + +Remember, _Rome_ never is beaten,--_Romans_ may be. It is inherent in +the very idea of a republic that its peaceful servants shall be liable +to be taken at fault. The counsels of the many, which are meant to +secure all men's rights in tranquil times, cannot in the nature of +things adapt themselves all at once to the sudden exigencies of war. +Consequently, a republic must expect to be beaten at first by any +concentrated power of nearly equal strength. After a time the +commander-in-chief emerges from the confused mass of counsellors, and +substitutes the action of one mind and will for the conflict of many. +The Romans recognized the Dictatorship as the necessary complement of +the Republic; and it is worthy of remark that that high office was +never abused so long as the people were worthy to be free. "_Ne quid +detrimenti respublica capiat_" was the formula according to which they +surrendered their liberty for the sake of their liberty. A great danger, +doubtless, for a people not leavened through and through with the spirit +of freedom; but not so where the army is only the representative of a +self-governing community. This army is not like to enslave itself or +the families it comes from, to please the leader whom it trusts for an +emergency. The pilot is absolute while the vessel is coming into harbor, +but the crew are not afraid of his remaining master of the ship. +Washington's reply to Nicola's letter, proposing to make him King, was +written at a time when the republican system under the shadow of which +three generations have been bred up to manhood was but as a grain of +mustard-seed compared to this mighty growth which now spreads over our +land. It is not likely that another man will make out so good a claim +to supremacy as he; it is pretty certain, that, if he does, he will not +have the opportunity of rejecting the insignia of royalty, and if this +should happen, he can hardly forget the great example before him. + +It is curious to see that the difficulties a general has to contend +with now are much the same that were found in the first Revolution: bad +food,--the poor surgeon at Valley Forge, whose diary was printed the +other day, could not keep it on his stomach at any rate,--insufficient +clothing, and no shoes at all, as the bloody snow bore witness,--and +among our own New England troops "a spirit of insubordination which they +took for independence," as Washington expressed himself. We do not think +the New England men have rendered themselves liable to this reproach +of late,--and this is a remarkable tribute to the influence of a true +republican training. But in various quarters there has been enough of +it, and the consequent disorganization of at least one free and easy +regiment is no more than might have been expected. + +A panic or two, with all the disgrace and suffering that attach to such +hysterical paroxysms, or at least a defeat, are the experiences through +which half-organized bodies often pass to teach them the meaning of +discipline and mechanical habit. An army must go through the annealing +process like glass; let a few regiments be cracked to pieces because +their leaders did not know how to withdraw them gradually from the +furnace of action, and the lesson will be all the better remembered +because taught by a costly example. Our early mishaps were all +predicted, sometimes in formal shape, as in various letters dated long +before the breaking out of hostilities, and very often in the common +talk of those about us. But, after all, when the first chastisement +from our hard schoolmaster, Experience, comes upon us, it is a kind of +surprise, in spite of all our preparation. + +A writer in the present number of this magazine shows us that there is a +complete literature of panics, not merely as occurring among new levies, +but seizing on the best-appointed armies, containing as much individual +bravery as any that never ran away from an enemy. The men of Israel gave +way before the men of Benjamin, "retired" in the language of Scripture, +in order to lead them into ambush. At a given signal they faced about, +and the men of Benjamin "were amazed" (panic-struck) and "turned their +backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness,"--took to +the woods, as we should say. Their enemies did not lie still or run as +fast the other way, like ours at Bull Run, but they "inclosed" them, and +"chased them, and trode them down with ease," and "gleaned of them in +the highways," and "pursued hard after them." Yet "all these were men of +valor." + +Not to return to our old classical friends, what modern nation has ever +known how to fight that had not learned how to be beaten and how to run? +The English ran ninety miles from Bannockburn, seared by the "gillies" +and the baggage-wagons. They paid back their debt at Culloden. The +Prussian armies were routed at Jena and Auerstädt. They had their +revenge in the "_sauve qui peut_" of Waterloo. The great armada, British +and French, undertook to bombard Sebastopol, and eight ships of the line +were so mauled that they had to go back to Toulon and Portsmouth for +repairs. Lord Raglan is said to have so far despaired of success as to +have contemplated raising the siege. + +Everybody remembers the feeling produced by the repeated fruitless +attacks on the fortifications, the three unsuccessful bombardments, +the divided counsels, the disappointment and death of Lord Raglan, the +complaints of Canrobert of the want of a single commanding intellect, +and the relinquishment of his own position to Pelissier, itself a +confession of failure. If there ever was a campaign begun with defeat +and disaster, it was that which ended with the fall of Sebastopol. + +Read the account of the retreat of the advanced force of our own army +at the Battle of Monmouth Court-House. Washington could not believe the +first story told him. Presently he met one fugitive after another, and +then Grayson's and Patton's regiments in disorderly retreat. He did not +know what to make of it. There had been no fighting except a successful +skirmish with the enemy's cavalry. He met Major Howard; this officer +could give no reason for the running,--had never seen the like. Another +officer swears they are flying from a shadow. Lee tries to account for +it,--troops confused by contradictory intelligence, by disobedience of +orders, by the meddling and blundering of individuals,--vague excuses +all, the plain truth being that they had given way to a panic. But for +Washington's fierce commands and threats, the retreat might have become +a total rout. + +It is curious to see how the little incidents, even, of our late +accelerated retrograde movement recall those of the old Revolutionary +story. Mr. Russell speaks thus of the fugitives: "Faces black and dusty, +_tongues out in the heat_, eyes staring,--it was a most wonderful +sight." If Mr. Russell had ever read Stedman's account of his own +countrymen's twenty-mile run from Concord to Bunker's Hill, he would +have learned that they "were so much exhausted with fatigue, that they +were obliged to lie down for rest on the ground, _their tongues hanging +out of their mouths_, like those of dogs after a chase." One rout is as +much like another as the scamper of one flock of sheep like that of all +others. + +A pleasing consequence of this war we are engaged in has hardly +been enough thought of. It is a rough way of introducing distant +fellow-citizens of the same land to each other's acquaintance. Next to +the intimacy of love is that of enmity. Nay, + + "Love itself could never pant + For all that beauty sighs to grant + With half the fervor hate bestows + Upon the last embrace of foes, + When, grappling in the fight, they fold + Those arms that ne'er shall lose their hold." + +"We shall learn to respect each other," as one of our conservative +friends said long ago. It is a great mistake to try to prove our own +countrymen cowards and degenerate from the old stock. It is worth the +price of some hard fighting to show the contrary to the satisfaction of +both parties. The Scotch and English called each other all possible hard +names in the time of their international warfare; but the day has come +for them, as it will surely come for us, when the rivals and enemies +must stand side by side and shoulder to shoulder, each proud of the +other's bravery. + + * * * * * + +For three-quarters of a century we have been melting our several +destinies in one common crucible, to mould a new and mighty empire such +as the world has never seen. Our partners cannot expect to be allowed +to break the crucible or the mould, or to carry away the once separate +portions now flowing in a single incandescent flood. We cannot sell and +they cannot buy our past. Our nation has pledged itself to unity by the +whole course of its united action. There is one debt alone that all +the cotton-fields of the South could never pay: it is the price of +our voluntary humiliation for the sake of keeping peace with the +slaveholders. We may be robbed of our inalienable nationality, if +treason is strong enough, but we are trustees of the life of three +generations for the benefit of all that are yet to be. We cannot sell. +We dare not break the entail of freedom and disinherit the first-born of +half a continent. + +When the Plebeians seceded to the Mons Sacer, some five hundred years +before the Christian era, the Consul Menenius Agrippa brought them back +by his well-known fable of the Belly and the Members. Perhaps it would +be too much to expect to call back our seceders with a fable which they +will hardly have the opportunity of reading in the present condition of +the postal service, but the state of the case may be put with a certain +degree of truth in this of + +THE FRONT-TEETH AND THE GRINDERS. + +Once on a time a mutiny arose among the teeth of a worthy man, in good +health and blessed with a sound constitution, commonly known as Uncle +Samuel. The cutting-teeth, or _incisors_, and the eye-teeth, or +_canines_, though not nearly so many, all counted, nor so large, nor so +strong as the grinders, and by no means so white, but, on the contrary, +very much discolored, began to find fault with the grinders as not good +enough company for them. The eye-teeth, being very sharp and fitted for +seizing and tearing, and standing out taller than the rest, claimed to +lead them. Presently, one of them complained that it ached very badly, +and then another and another. Very soon the cutting-teeth, which +pretended they were supplied by the same nerve, and were proud of +it, began to ache also. They all agreed that it was the fault of the +grinders. + +About this time, Uncle Samuel, having used his old tooth-brush (which +was never a good one, having no stiffness in the bristles) for four +years, took a new one, recommended to him by a great number of people as +a homely, but useful article. Thereupon all the front-teeth, one after +another, declared that Uncle Samuel meant to scour them white, which was +a thing they would never submit to, though the whole civilized world was +calling on them to do so. So they all insisted on getting out of the +sockets in which they had grown and stood for so many years. But the +wisdom-teeth spoke up for the others and said,-- + +"Nay, there be but twelve of you front-teeth, and there be twenty of us +grinders. We are the strongest, and a good deal nearest the muscles +and the joint, but we cannot spare you. We have put up with your black +stains, your jumping aches, and your snappish looks, and now we are not +going to let you go, under the pretence that you are to be scrubbed +white, if you stay. You don't work half so hard as we do, but you can +bite the food well enough, which we can grind so much better than you. +We belong to each other. You must stay." + +Thereupon the front-teeth, first the canines or dog-teeth, next the +incisors or cutting-teeth, proceeded to declare themselves out of their +sockets, and no longer belonging to the jaws of Uncle Samuel. + +Then Uncle Samuel arose in his wrath and shut his jaws tightly together, +and swore that he would keep them shut till those aching and discolored +teeth of his went to pieces in their sockets, if need were, rather than +have them drawn, standing, as some of them did, at the very opening of +his throat and stomach. + +And now, if you will please to observe, all those teeth are beginning +to ache worse than ever, and to decay very fast, so that it will take a +great deal of gold to stop the holes that are forming in them. But the +great white grinders are as sound as ever, and will remain so until +Uncle Samuel thinks the time has come for opening his mouth. In the mean +time they keep on grinding in a quiet way, though the others have had +to stop biting for a long time. When Uncle Samuel opens his mouth, they +will be as ready for work as ever; but those poor discolored teeth will +be tender for a great while, and never be so strong as they were before +they foolishly declared themselves out of their sockets. + + * * * * * + +The foregoing fable is respectfully dedicated to the Southern Plebs, +who, under the lead of their "Patrician" masters, have "seceded," like +their predecessors in the days of Menenius Agrippa. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11358 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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..9cd158b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11358 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11358) diff --git a/old/11358-8.txt b/old/11358-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbf3067 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11358-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8785 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, No. 48, October, +1861, 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 8, No. 48, October, 1861 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 28, 2004 [eBook #11358] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOLUME 8, NO. +48, OCTOBER, 1861*** + + +E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VIII.--OCTOBER, 1861.--NO. XLVIII. + + + + + + + +NEAR OXFORD. + + +On a fine morning in September, we set out on an excursion to +Blenheim,--the sculptor and myself being seated on the box of our +four-horse carriage, two more of the party in the dicky, and the +others less agreeably accommodated inside. We had no coachman, but two +postilions in short scarlet jackets and leather breeches with top-boots, +each astride of a horse; so that, all the way along, when not otherwise +attracted, we had the interesting spectacle of their up-and-down bobbing +in the saddle. It was a sunny and beautiful day, a specimen of the +perfect English weather, just warm enough for comfort,--indeed, a little +too warm, perhaps, in the noontide sun,--yet retaining a mere spice or +suspicion of austerity, which made it all the more enjoyable. + +The country between Oxford and Blenheim is not particularly interesting, +being almost level, or undulating very slightly; nor is Oxfordshire, +agriculturally, a rich part of England. We saw one or two hamlets, and I +especially remember a picturesque old gabled house at a turnpike-gate, +and, altogether, the wayside scenery had an aspect of old-fashioned +English life; but there was nothing very memorable till we reached +Woodstock, and stopped to water our horses at the Black Bear. This +neighborhood is called New Woodstock, but has by no means the brand-new +appearance of an American town, being a large village of stone houses, +most of them pretty well time-worn and weather-stained. The Black Bear +is an ancient inn, large and respectable, with balustraded staircases, +and intricate passages and corridors, and queer old pictures and +engravings hanging in the entries and apartments. We ordered a lunch +(the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be +ready against our return, and then resumed our drive to Blenheim. + +The park-gate of Blenheim stands close to the end of the village-street +of Woodstock. Immediately on passing through its portals, we saw the +stately palace in the distance, but made a wide circuit of the park +before approaching it. This noble park contains three thousand acres of +land, and is fourteen miles in circumference. Having been, in part, +a royal domain before it was granted to the Marlborough family, it +contains many trees of unsurpassed antiquity, and has doubtless been the +haunt of game and deer for centuries. We saw pheasants in abundance, +feeding in the open lawns and glades; and the stags tossed their antlers +and bounded away, not affrighted, but only shy and gamesome, as we +drove by. It is a magnificent pleasure-ground, not too tamely kept, nor +rigidly subjected within rule, but vast enough to have lapsed back into +Nature again, after all the pains that the landscape-gardeners of +Queen Anne's time bestowed on it, when the domain of Blenheim was +scientifically laid out. The great, knotted, slanting trunks of the old +oaks do not now look as if man had much intermeddled with their growth +and postures. The trees of later date, that were set out in the Great +Duke's time, are arranged on the plan of the order of battle in which +the illustrious commander ranked his troops at Blenheim; but the ground +covered is so extensive, and the trees now so luxuriant, that the +spectator is not disagreeably conscious of their standing in military +array, as if Orpheus had summoned them together by beat of drum. The +effect must have been very formal a hundred and fifty years ago, but has +ceased to be so,--although the trees, I presume, have kept their ranks +with even more fidelity than Marlborough's veterans did. + +One of the park-keepers, on horseback, rode beside our carriage, +pointing out the choice views, and glimpses at the palace, as we drove +through the domain. There is a very large artificial lake, (to say the +truth, it seemed to me fully worthy of being compared with the Welsh +lakes, at least, if not with those of Westmoreland,) which was created +by Capability Brown, and fills the basin that he scooped for it, just as +if Nature had poured these broad waters into one of her own valleys. +It is a most beautiful object at a distance, and not less so on its +immediate banks; for the water is very pure, being supplied by a small +river, of the choicest transparency, which was turned thitherward for +the purpose. And Blenheim owes not merely this water-scenery, but almost +all its other beauties, to the contrivance of man. Its natural features +are not striking; but Art has effected such wonderful things that the +uninstructed visitor would never guess that nearly the whole scene was +but the embodied thought of a human mind. A skilful painter hardly does +more for his blank sheet of canvas than the landscape-gardener, the +planter, the arranges of trees, has done for the monotonous surface +of Blenheim,--making the most of every undulation,--flinging down a +hillock, a big lump of earth out of a giant's hand, wherever it +was needed,--putting in beauty as often as there was a niche for +it,--opening vistas to every point that deserved to be seen, and +throwing a veil of impenetrable foliage around what ought to be +hidden;--and then, to be sure, the lapse of a century has softened the +harsh outline of man's labors, and has given the place back to Nature +again with the addition of what consummate science could achieve. + +After driving a good way, we came to a battlemented tower and adjoining +house, which used to be the residence of the Ranger of Woodstock +Park, who held charge of the property for the King before the Duke of +Marlborough possessed it. The keeper opened the door for us, and in the +entrance-hall we found various things that had to do with the chase and +woodland sports. We mounted the staircase, through several stories, +up to the top of the tower, whence there was a view of the spires +of Oxford, and of points much farther off,--very indistinctly seen, +however, as is usually the case with the misty distances of England. +Returning to the ground-floor, we were ushered into the room in which +died Wilmot, the wicked Earl of Rochester, who was Ranger of the Park in +Charles II.'s time. It is a low and bare little room, with a window in +front, and a smaller one behind; and in the contiguous entrance-room +there are the remains of an old bedstead, beneath the canopy of which, +perhaps, Rochester may have made the penitent end that Bishop Burnet +attributes to him. I hardly know what it is, in this poor fellow's +character, which affects us with greater tenderness on his behalf than +for all the other profligates of his day, who seem to have been neither +better nor worse than himself. I rather suspect that he had a human +heart which never quite died out of him, and the warmth of which is +still faintly perceptible amid the dissolute trash which he left behind. + +Methinks, if such good fortune ever befell a bookish man, I should +choose this lodge for my own residence, with the topmost room of the +tower for a study, and all the seclusion of cultivated wildness beneath +to ramble in. There being no such possibility, we drove on, catching +glimpses of the palace in new points of view, and by-and-by came to +Rosamond's Well. The particular tradition that connects Fair Rosamond +with it is not now in my memory; but if Rosamond ever lived and loved, +and ever had her abode in the maze of Woodstock, it may well be believed +that she and Henry sometimes sat beside this spring. It gushes out from +a bank, through some old stone-work, and dashes its little cascade +(about as abundant as one might turn out of a large pitcher) into a +pool, whence it steals away towards the lake, which is not far removed. +The water is exceedingly cold, and as pure as the legendary Rosamond was +not, and is fancied to possess medicinal virtues, like springs at which +saints have quenched their thirst. There were two or three old women +and some children in attendance with tumblers, which they present to +visitors, full of the consecrated water; but most of us filled the +tumblers for ourselves, and drank. + +Thence we drove to the Triumphal Pillar which was erected in honor of +the Great Duke, and on the summit of which he stands, in a Roman garb, +holding a winged figure of Victory in his hand, as an ordinary man might +hold a bird. The column is I know not how many feet high, but lofty +enough, at any rate, to elevate Marlborough far above the rest of +the world, and to be visible a long way off: and it is so placed in +reference to other objects, that, wherever the hero wandered about +his grounds, and especially as he issued from his mansion, he must +inevitably have been reminded of his glory. In truth, until I came to +Blenheim, I never had so positive and material an idea of what Fame +really is--of what the admiration of his country can do for a successful +warrior--as I carry away with me and shall always retain. Unless he +had the moral force of a thousand men together, his egotism (beholding +himself everywhere, imbuing the entire soil, growing in the woods, +rippling and gleaming in the water, and pervading the very air with +his greatness) must have been swollen within him like the liver of a +Strasbourg goose. On the huge tablets inlaid into the pedestal of the +column, the entire Act of Parliament, bestowing Blenheim on the Duke +of Marlborough and his posterity, is engraved in deep letters, painted +black on the marble ground. The pillar stands exactly a mile from the +principal front of the palace, in a straight line with the precise +centre of its entrance-hall; so that, as already said, it was the Duke's +principal object of contemplation. + +We now proceeded to the palace-gate, which is a great pillared archway, +of wonderful loftiness and state, giving admittance into a spacious +quadrangle. A stout, elderly, and rather surly footman in livery +appeared at the entrance, and took possession of whatever canes, +umbrellas, and parasols he could get hold of, in order to claim sixpence +on our departure. This had a somewhat ludicrous effect. There is +much public outcry against the meanness of the present Duke in his +arrangements for the admission of visitors (chiefly, of course, +his native countrymen) to view the magnificent palace which their +forefathers bestowed upon his own. In many cases, it seems hard that a +private abode should be exposed to the intrusion of the public merely +because the proprietor has inherited or created a splendor which +attracts general curiosity; insomuch that his home loses its sanctity +and seclusion for the very reason that it is better than other men's +houses. But in the case of Blenheim, the public have certainly an +equitable claim to admission, both because the fame of its first +inhabitant is a national possession, and because the mansion was a +national gift, one of the purposes of which was to be a token of +gratitude and glory to the English people themselves. If a man chooses +to be illustrious, he is very likely to incur some little inconveniences +himself, and entail them on his posterity. Nevertheless, his present +Grace of Marlborough absolutely ignores the public claim above +suggested, and (with a thrift of which even the hero of Blenheim himself +did not set the example) sells tickets admitting six persons at ten +shillings: if only one person enters the gate, he must pay for six; and +if there are seven in company, two tickets are required to admit them. +The attendants, who meet you everywhere in the park and palace, expect +fees on their own private account,--their noble master pocketing the ten +shillings. But, to be sure, the visitor gets his money's worth, since it +buys him the right to speak just as freely of the Duke of Marlborough as +if he were the keeper of the Cremorne Gardens.[A] + +[Footnote A: The above was written two or three years ago, or more; and +the Duke of that day has since transmitted his coronet to his successor, +who, we understand, has adopted much more liberal arrangements. There is +seldom anything to criticize or complain of, as regards the facility of +obtaining admission to interesting private houses in England.] + +Passing through a gateway on the opposite side of the quadrangle, we had +before us the noble classic front of the palace, with its two projecting +wings. We ascended the lofty steps of the portal, and were admitted into +the entrance-hall, the height of which, from floor to ceiling, is not +much less than seventy feet, being the entire height of the edifice. The +hall is lighted by windows in the upper story, and, it being a clear, +bright day, was very radiant with lofty sunshine, amid which a swallow +was flitting to and fro. The ceiling was painted by Sir James Thornhill +in some allegorical design, (doubtless commemorative of Marlborough's +victories,) the purport of which I did not take the trouble to make +out,--contenting myself with the general effect, which was most +splendidly and effectively ornamental. + +We were guided through the showrooms by a very civil person, who allowed +us to take pretty much our own time in looking at the pictures. The +collection is exceedingly valuable,--many of these works of Art having +been presented to the Great Duke by the crowned heads of England or the +Continent. One room was all aglow with pictures by Rubens; and there +were works of Raphael, and many other famous painters, any one of which +would be sufficient to illustrate the meanest house that might contain +it. I remember none of them, however, (not being in a picture-seeing +mood,) so well as Vandyck's large and familiar picture of Charles I on +horseback, with a figure and face of melancholy dignity such as never +by any other hand was put on canvas. Yet, on considering this face of +Charles, (which I find often repeated in half-lengths,) and translating +it from the ideal into literalism, I doubt whether the unfortunate king +was really a handsome or impressive-looking man: a high, thin-ridged +nose, a meagre, hatchet face, and reddish hair and beard,--these are the +literal facts. It is the painter's art that has thrown such pensive and +shadowy grace around him. + +On our passage through this beautiful suite of apartments, we saw, +through the vista of open doorways, a boy of ten or twelve years old +coming towards us from the farther rooms. He had on a straw hat, a linen +sack that had certainly been washed and re-washed for a summer or two, +and gray trousers a good deal worn,--a dress, in short, which an +American mother in middle station would have thought too shabby for her +darling school-boy's ordinary wear. This urchin's face was rather pale, +(as those of English children are apt to be, quite as often as our own,) +but he had pleasant eyes, an intelligent look, and an agreeable, boyish +manner. It was Lord Sunderland, grandson of the present Duke, and heir-- +though not, I think, in the direct line--of the blood of the great +Marlborough, and of the title and estate. + +After passing through the first suite of rooms, we were conducted +through a corresponding suite on the opposite side of the entrance-hall. +These latter apartments are most richly adorned with tapestries, wrought +and presented to the first Duke by a sisterhood of Flemish nuns; they +look like great, glowing pictures, and completely cover the walls of the +rooms. The designs purport to represent the Duke's battles and sieges; +and everywhere we see the hero himself, as large as life, and as +gorgeous in scarlet and gold as the holy sisters could make him, with a +three-cornered hat and flowing wig, reining in his horse, and extending +his leading-staff in the attitude of command. Next to Marlborough, +Prince Eugene is the most prominent figure. In the way of upholstery, +there can never have been anything more magnificent than these +tapestries; and, considered as works of Art, they have quite as much +merit as nine pictures out of ten. + +One whole wing of the palace is occupied by the library, a most noble +room, with a vast perspective length from end to end. Its atmosphere +is brighter and more cheerful than that of most libraries: a wonderful +contrast to the old college-libraries of Oxford, and perhaps less sombre +and suggestive of thoughtfulness than any large library ought to be; +inasmuch as so many studious brains as have left their deposit on the +shelves cannot have conspired without producing a very serious and +ponderous result. Both walls and ceiling are white, and there are +elaborate doorways and fireplaces of white marble. The floor is of oak, +so highly polished that our feet slipped upon it as if it had been +New-England ice. At one end of the room stands a statue of Queen Anne in +her royal robes, which are so admirably designed and exquisitely wrought +that the spectator certainly gets a strong conception of her royal +dignity; while the face of the statue, fleshy and feeble, doubtless +conveys a suitable idea of her personal character. The marble of this +work, long as it has stood there, is as white as snow just fallen, and +must have required most faithful and religious care to keep it so. As +for the volumes of the library, they are wired within the cases and turn +their gilded backs upon the visitor, keeping their treasures of wit and +wisdom just as intangible as if still in the unwrought mines of human +thought. + +I remember nothing else in the palace, except the chapel, to which we +were conducted last, and where we saw a splendid monument to the first +Duke and Duchess, sculptured by Rysbrach, at the cost, it is said, of +forty thousand pounds. The design includes the statues of the deceased +dignitaries, and various allegorical flourishes, fantasies, and +confusions; and beneath sleep the great Duke and his proud wife, their +veritable bones and dust, and probably all the Marlboroughs that have +since died. It is not quite a comfortable idea, that these mouldy +ancestors still inhabit, after their fashion, the house where their +successors spend the passing day; but the adulation lavished upon the +hero of Blenheim could not have been consummated, unless the palace of +his lifetime had become likewise a stately mausoleum over his remains, +--and such we felt it all to be, after gazing at his tomb. + +The next business was to see the private gardens. An old Scotch +under-gardener admitted us and led the way, and seemed to have a fair +prospect of earning the fee all by himself; but by-and-by another +respectable Scotchman made his appearance and took us in charge, proving +to be the head-gardener in person. He was extremely intelligent and +agreeable, talking both scientifically and lovingly about trees and +plants, of which there is every variety capable of English cultivation. +Positively, the Garden of Eden cannot have been more beautiful than this +private garden of Blenheim. It contains three hundred acres, and by +the artful circumlocution of the paths, and the undulations, and the +skilfully interposed clumps of trees, is made to appear limitless. The +sylvan delights of a whole country are compressed into this space, +as whole fields of Persian roses go to the concoction of an ounce of +precious attar. The world within that garden-fence is not the same weary +and dusty world with which we outside mortals are conversant; it is a +finer, lovelier, more harmonious Nature; and the Great Mother lends +herself kindly to the gardener's will, knowing that he will make evident +the half-obliterated traits of her pristine and ideal beauty, and allow +her to take all the credit and praise to herself. I doubt whether there +is ever any winter within that precinct,--any clouds, except the fleecy +ones of summer. The sunshine that I saw there rests upon my recollection +of it as if it were eternal. The lawns and glades are like the memory of +places where one has wandered when first in love. + +What a good and happy life might be spent in a paradise like this! And +yet, at that very moment, the besotted Duke (ah! I have let out a secret +which I meant to keep to myself; but the ten shillings must pay for all) +was in that very garden, (for the guide told us so, and cautioned +our young people not to be uproarious,) and, if in a condition for +arithmetic, was thinking of nothing nobler than how many ten-shilling +tickets had that day been sold. Republican as I am, I should still love +to think that noblemen lead noble lives, and that all this stately and +beautiful environment may serve to elevate them a little way above the +rest of us. If it fail to do so, the disgrace falls equally upon the +whole race of mortals as on themselves; because it proves that no +more favorable conditions of existence would eradicate our vices and +weaknesses. How sad, if this be so! Even a herd of swine, eating the +acorns under those magnificent oaks of Blenheim, would be cleanlier and +of better habits than ordinary swine. + +Well, all that I have written is pitifully meagre, as a description of +Blenheim; and I hate to leave it without some more adequate expression +of the noble edifice, with its rich domain, all as I saw them in that +beautiful sunshine; for, if a day had been chosen out of a hundred +years, it could not have been a finer one. But I must give up the +attempt; only further remarking that the finest trees here were cedars, +of which I saw one--and there may have been many such--immense in girth +and not less than three centuries old. I likewise saw a vast heap of +laurel, two hundred feet in circumference, all growing from one root; +and the gardener offered to show us another growth of twice that +stupendous size. If the Great Duke himself had been buried in that spot, +his heroic heart could not have been the seed of a more plentiful crop +of laurels. + +We now went back to the Black Bear, and sat down to a cold collation, of +which we ate abundantly, and drank (in the good old English fashion) a +due proportion of various delightful liquors. A stranger in England, +in his rambles to various quarters of the country, may learn little +in regard to wines, (for the ordinary English taste is simple, though +sound, in that particular,) but he makes acquaintance with more +varieties of hop and malt liquor than he previously supposed to exist. +I remember a sort of foaming stuff, called hop-champagne, which is very +vivacious, and appears to be a hybrid between ale and bottled cider. +Another excellent tipple for warm weather is concocted by mixing +brown-stout or bitter ale with ginger-beer, the foam of which stirs +up the heavier liquor from its depths, forming a compound of singular +vivacity and sufficient body. But of all things ever brewed from +malt, (unless it be the Trinity Ale of Cambridge, which I drank long +afterwards, and which Barry Cornwall has celebrated in immortal verse,) +commend me to the Archdeacon, as the Oxford scholars call it, in honor +of the jovial dignitary who first taught these erudite worthies how to +brew their favorite nectar. John Barleycorn has given his very heart to +this admirable liquor; it is a superior kind of ale, the Prince of Ales, +with a richer flavor and a mightier spirit than you can find elsewhere +in this weary world. Much have we been strengthened and encouraged by +the potent blood of the Archdeacon! + +A few days after our excursion to Blenheim, the same party set forth, +in two flies, on a tour to some other places of interest in the +neighborhood of Oxford. It was again a delightful day; and, in truth, +every day, of late, had been so pleasant that it seemed as if each must +be the very last of such perfect weather; and yet the long succession +had given us confidence in as many more to come. The climate of England +has been shamefully maligned; its sulkinesses and asperities are not +nearly so offensive as Englishmen tell us (their climate being the only +attribute of their country which they never overvalue); and the really +good summer weather is the very kindest and sweetest that the world +knows. + +We first drove to the village of Cumnor, about six miles from Oxford, +and alighted at the entrance of the church. Here, while waiting for the +keys, we looked at an old wall of the churchyard, piled up of loose gray +stones which are said to have once formed a portion of Cumnor Hall, +celebrated in Mickle's ballad and Scott's romance. The hall must have +been in very close vicinity to the church,--not more than twenty yards +off; and I waded through the long, dewy grass of the churchyard, and +tried to peep over the wall, in hopes to discover some tangible and +traceable remains of the edifice. But the wall was just too high to be +overlooked, and difficult to clamber over without tumbling down some of +the stones; so I took the word of one of our party, who had been here +before, that there is nothing interesting on the other side. The +churchyard is in rather a neglected state, and seems not to have been +mown for the benefit of the parson's cow; it contains a good many +gravestones, of which I remember only some upright memorials of slate to +individuals of the name of Tabbs. + +Soon a woman arrived with the key of the church-door, and we entered the +simple old edifice, which has the pavement of lettered tombstones, the +sturdy pillars and low arches, and other ordinary characteristics of +an English country-church. One or two pews, probably those of the +gentlefolk of the neighborhood, were better furnished than the rest, but +all in a modest style. Near the high altar, in the holiest place, there +is an oblong, angular, ponderous tomb of blue marble, built against the +wall, and surmounted by a carved canopy of the same material; and over +the tomb, and beneath the canopy, are two monumental brasses, such as we +oftener see inlaid into a church-pavement. On these brasses are engraved +the figures of a gentleman in armor and a lady in an antique garb, each +about a foot high, devoutly kneeling in prayer; and there is a long +Latin inscription likewise cut into the enduring brass, bestowing the +highest eulogies on the character of Anthony Forster, who, with his +virtuous dame, lies buried beneath this tombstone. His is the knightly +figure that kneels above; and if Sir Walter Scott ever saw this tomb, +he must have had an even greater than common disbelief in laudatory +epitaphs, to venture on depicting Anthony Forster in such hues as +blacken him in the romance. For my part, I read the inscription in full +faith, and believe the poor deceased gentleman to be a much-wronged +individual, with good grounds for bringing an action of slander in the +courts above. + +But the circumstance, lightly as we treat it, has its serious moral. +What nonsense it is, this anxiety, which so worries us, about our good +fame, or our bad fame, after death! If it were of the slightest real +moment, our reputations would have been placed by Providence more in our +own power, and less in other people's, than we now find them to be. If +poor Anthony Forster happens to have met Sir Walter in the other world, +I doubt whether he has ever thought it worth while to complain of the +latter's misrepresentations. + +We did not remain long in the church, as it contains nothing else of +interest; and driving through the village, we passed a pretty large and +rather antique-looking inn, bearing the sign of the Bear and Ragged +Staff. It could not be so old, however, by at least a hundred years, +as Giles Gosling's time; nor is there any other object to remind the +visitor of the Elizabethan age, unless it be a few ancient cottages, +that are perhaps of still earlier date. Cumnor is not nearly so large a +village, nor a place of such mark, as one anticipates from its romantic +and legendary fame; but, being still inaccessible by railway, it has +retained more of a sylvan character than we often find in English +country-towns. In this retired neighborhood the road is narrow and +bordered with grass, and sometimes interrupted by gates; the hedges grow +in unpruned luxuriance; there is not that close-shaven neatness and +trimness that characterize the ordinary English landscape. The +whole scene conveys the idea of seclusion and remoteness. We met no +travellers, whether on foot or otherwise. + +I cannot very distinctly trace out this day's peregrinations; but, after +leaving Cumnor a few miles behind us, I think we came to a ferry over +the Thames, where an old woman served as ferry-man, and pulled a boat +across by means of a rope stretching from shore to shore. Our +two vehicles being thus placed on the other side, we resumed our +drive,--first glancing, however, at the old woman's antique cottage, +with its stone floor, and the circular settle round the kitchen +fireplace, which was quite in the mediaeval English style. + +We next stopped at Stanton Harcourt, where we were received at the +parsonage with a hospitality which we should take delight in describing, +if it were allowable to make public acknowledgment of the private and +personal kindnesses which we never failed to find ready for our needs. +An American in an English house will soon adopt the opinion that the +English are the very kindest people on earth, and will retain that idea +as long, at least, as he remains on the inner side of the threshold. +Their magnetism is of a kind that repels strongly while you keep beyond +a certain limit, but attracts as forcibly if you get within the magic +line. + +It was at this place, if I remember right, that I heard a gentleman ask +a friend of mine whether he was the author of "The Red Letter A"; and, +after some consideration, (for he did not seem to recognize his own +book, at first, under this improved title,) our countryman responded, +doubtfully, that he believed so. The gentleman proceeded to inquire +whether our friend had spent much time in America,--evidently thinking +that he must have been caught young, and have had a tincture of English +breeding, at least, if not birth, to speak the language so tolerably, +and appear so much like other people. This insular narrowness is +exceedingly queer, and of very frequent occurrence, and is quite as much +a characteristic of men of education and culture as of clowns. + +Stanton Harcourt is a very curious old place. It was formerly the seat +of the ancient family of Harcourt, which now has its principal abode +at Nuneham Courtney, a few miles off. The parsonage is a relic of the +family-mansion, or castle, other portions of which are close at hand; +for, across the garden, rise two gray towers, both of them picturesquely +venerable, and interesting for more than their antiquity. One of these +towers, in its entire capacity, from height to depth, constituted the +kitchen of the ancient castle, and is still used for domestic purposes, +although it has not, nor ever had, a chimney; or we might rather say, it +is itself one vast chimney, with a hearth of thirty feet square, and +a flue and aperture of the same size. There are two huge fireplaces +within, and the interior walls of the tower are blackened with the smoke +that for centuries used to gush forth from them, and climb upward, +seeking an exit through some wide air-holes in the conical roof, full +seventy feet above. These lofty openings were capable of being so +arranged, with reference to the wind, that the cooks are said to have +been seldom troubled by the smoke; and here, no doubt, they were +accustomed to roast oxen whole, with as little fuss and ado as a modern +cook would roast a fowl. The inside of the tower is very dim and sombre, +(being nothing but rough stone walls, lighted only from the apertures +above mentioned,) and has still a pungent odor of smoke and soot, the +reminiscence of the fires and feasts of generations that have passed +away. Methinks the extremest range of domestic economy lies between an +American cooking-stove and the ancient kitchen, seventy dizzy feet in +height, of Stanton Harcourt. + +Now--the place being without a parallel in England, and therefore +necessarily beyond the experience of an American--it is somewhat +remarkable, that, while we stood gazing at this kitchen, I was haunted +and perplexed by an idea that somewhere or other I had seen just this +strange spectacle before. The height, the blackness, the dismal void, +before my eyes, seemed as familiar as the decorous neatness of my +grandmother's kitchen; only my unaccountable memory of the scene was +lighted up with an image of lurid fires blazing all round the dim +interior circuit of the tower. I had never before had so pertinacious an +attack, as I could not but suppose it, of that odd state of mind wherein +we fitfully and teasingly remember some previous scene or incident, of +which the one now passing appears to be but the echo and reduplication. +Though the explanation of the mystery did not for some time occur to me, +I may as well conclude the matter here. In a letter of Pope's, addressed +to the Duke of Buckingham, there is an account of Stanton Harcourt, (as +I now find, although the name is not mentioned,) where he resided while +translating a part of the "Iliad." It is one of the most admirable +pieces of description in the language,--playful and picturesque, with +fine touches of humorous pathos,--and conveys as perfect a picture as +ever was drawn of a decayed English country-house; and among other +rooms, most of which have since crumbled down and disappeared, he dashes +off the grim aspect of this kitchen,--which, moreover, he peoples with +witches, engaging Satan himself as head-cook, who stirs the infernal +caldrons that seethe and bubble over the fires. This letter, and others +relative to his abode here, were very familiar to my earlier reading, +and, remaining still fresh at the bottom of my memory, caused the weird +and ghostly sensation that came over me on beholding the real spectacle +that had formerly been made so vivid to my imagination. + +Our next visit was to the church, which stands close by, and is quite +as ancient as the remnants of the castle. In a chapel or side-aisle, +dedicated to the Harcourts, are found some very interesting +family-monuments,--and among them, recumbent on a tombstone, the figure +of an armed knight of the Lancastrian party, who was slain in the Wars +of the Roses. His features, dress, and armor are painted in colors, +still wonderfully fresh, and there still blushes the symbol of the Red +Rose, denoting the faction for which he fought and died. His head rests +on a marble or alabaster helmet; and on the tomb lies the veritable +helmet, it is to be presumed, which he wore in battle,--a ponderous iron +case, with the visor complete, and remnants of the gilding that once +covered it. The crest is a large peacock, not of metal, but of wood. +Very possibly, this helmet was but an heraldic adornment of his tomb; +and, indeed, it seems strange that it has not been stolen before +now, especially in Cromwell's time, when knightly tombs were little +respected, and when armor was in request. However, it is needless to +dispute with the dead knight about the identity of his iron pot, and +we may as well allow it to be the very same that so often gave him the +headache in his lifetime. Leaning against the wall, at the foot of the +tomb, is the shaft of a spear, with a wofully tattered and utterly faded +banner appended to it,--the knightly banner beneath which he marshalled +his followers in the field. As it was absolutely falling to pieces, I +tore off one little bit, no bigger than a finger-nail, and put it into +my waistcoat-pocket; but seeking it subsequently, it was not to be +found. + +On the opposite side of the little chapel, two or three yards from this +tomb, is another, on which lie, side by side, one of the same knightly +race of Harcourts, and his lady. The tradition of the family is, that +this knight was the standard-bearer of Henry of Richmond in the Battle +of Bosworth Field; and a banner, supposed to be the same that he earned, +now droops over his effigy. It is just such a colorless silk rag as the +one already described. The knight has the order of the Garter on his +knee, and the lady wears it on her left arm,--an odd place enough for a +garter; but, if worn in its proper locality, it could not be decorously +visible. The complete preservation and good condition of these statues, +even to the minutest adornment of the sculpture, and their very +noses,--the most vulnerable part of a marble man, as of a living one, +are miraculous. Except in Westminster Abbey, among the chapels of the +kings, I have seen none so well preserved. Perhaps they owe it to the +loyalty of Oxfordshire, diffused throughout its neighborhood by the +influence of the University, during the great Civil War and the rule +of the Parliament. It speaks well, too, for the upright and kindly +character of this old family, that the peasantry, among whom they had +lived for ages, did not desecrate their tombs, when it might have been +done with impunity. + +There are other and more recent memorials of the Harcourts, one of which +is the tomb of the last lord, who died about a hundred years ago. His +figure, like those of his ancestors, lies on the top of his tomb, clad, +not in armor, but in his robes as a peer. The title is now extinct, +but the family survives in a younger branch, and still holds this +patrimonial estate, though they have long since quitted it as a +residence. + +We next went to see the ancient fish-ponds appertaining to the mansion, +and which used to be of vast dietary importance to the family in +Catholic times, and when fish was not otherwise attainable. There are +two or three, or more, of these reservoirs, one of which is of very +respectable size,--large enough, indeed, to be really a picturesque +object, with its grass-green borders, and the trees drooping over +it, and the towers of the castle and the church reflected within the +weed-grown depths of its smooth mirror. A sweet fragrance, as it were, +of ancient time and present quiet and seclusion was breathing all +around; the sunshine of to-day had a mellow charm of antiquity in its +brightness. These ponds are said still to breed abundance of such fish +as love deep and quiet waters: but I saw only some minnows, and one or +two snakes, which were lying among the weeds on the top of the water, +sunning and bathing themselves at once. + +I mentioned that there were two towers remaining of the old castle: the +one containing the kitchen we have already visited; the other, still +more interesting, is next to be described. It is some seventy feet high, +gray and reverend, but in excellent repair, though I could not perceive +that anything had been done to renovate it. The basement story was once +the family-chapel, and is, of course, still a consecrated spot. At +one corner of the tower is a circular turret, within which a narrow +staircase, with worn steps of stone, winds round and round as it climbs +upward, giving access to a chamber on each floor, and finally emerging +on the battlemented roof. Ascending this turret-stair, and arriving at +the third story, we entered a chamber, not large, though occupying the +whole area of the tower, and lighted by a window on each side. It +was wainscoted from floor to ceiling with dark oak, and had a little +fireplace in one of the corners. The window-panes were small, and set in +lead. The curiosity of this room is, that it was once the residence of +Pope, and that he here wrote a considerable part of the translation of +Homer, and likewise, no doubt, the admirable letters to which I have +referred above. The room once contained a record by himself, scratched +with a diamond on one of the window-panes, (since removed for +safe-keeping to Nuneham Courtney, where it was shown me,) purporting +that he had here finished the fifth book of the "Iliad" on such a day. + +A poet has a fragrance about him, such as no other human being is gifted +withal; it is indestructible, and clings forevermore to everything that +he has touched. I was not impressed, at Blenheim, with any sense that +the mighty Duke still haunted the palace that was created for him; but +here, after a century and a half, we are still conscious of the presence +of that decrepit little figure of Queen Anne's time, although he was +merely a casual guest in the old tower, during one or two summer months. +However brief the time and slight the connection, his spirit cannot be +exorcised so long as the tower stands. In my mind, moreover, Pope, or +any other person with an available claim, is right in adhering to the +spot, dead or alive; for I never saw a chamber that I should like better +to inhabit,--so comfortably small, in such a safe and inaccessible +seclusion, and with a varied landscape from each window. One of +them looks upon the church, close at hand, and down into the green +churchyard, extending almost to the foot of the tower; the others have +views wide and far, over a gently undulating tract of country. If +desirous of a loftier elevation, about a dozen more steps of the +turret-stair will bring the occupant to the summit of the tower,--where +Pope used to come, no doubt, in the summer evenings, and peep--poor +little shrimp that he was!--through the embrasures of the battlement. + +From Stanton Harcourt we drove--I forget how far--to a point where a +boat was waiting for us upon the Thames, or some other stream; for I am +ashamed to confess my ignorance of the precise geographical whereabout. +We were, at any rate, some miles above Oxford, and, I should imagine, +pretty near one of the sources of England's mighty river. It was +little more than wide enough for the boat, with extended oars, to +pass,--shallow, too, and bordered with bulrushes and water-weeds, which, +in some places, quite overgrew the surface of the river from bank to +bank. The shores were flat and meadow-like, and sometimes, the boatman +told us, are overflowed by the rise of the stream. The water looked +clean and pure, but not particularly transparent, though enough so to +show us that the bottom is very much weed-grown; and I was told that the +weed is an American production, brought to England with importations of +timber, and now threatening to choke up the Thames and other English +rivers. I wonder it does not try its obstructive powers upon the +Merrimack, the Connecticut, or the Hudson,--not to speak of the St. +Lawrence or the Mississippi! + +It was an open boat, with cushioned seats astern, comfortably +accommodating our party; the day continued sunny and warm, and perfectly +still; the boatman, well trained to his business, managed the oars +skilfully and vigorously; and we went down the stream quite as swiftly +as it was desirable to go, the scene being so pleasant, and the passing +hour so thoroughly agreeable. The river grew a little wider and deeper, +perhaps, as we glided on, but was still an inconsiderable stream; for it +had a good deal more than a hundred miles to meander through before it +should bear fleets on its bosom, and reflect palaces and towers and +Parliament-houses and dingy and sordid piles of various structure, as it +rolled to and fro with the tide, dividing London asunder. Not, in truth, +that I ever saw any edifice whatever reflected in its turbid breast, +when the sylvan stream, as we beheld it now, is swollen into the Thames +at London. + +Once, on our voyage, we had to land, while the boatman and some other +persons drew our skiff round some rapids, which we could not otherwise +have passed; another time, the boat went through a lock. We, meanwhile, +stepped ashore to examine the ruins of the old nunnery of Godstowe, +where Fair Rosamond secluded herself, after being separated from her +royal lover. There is a long line of ruinous wall, and a shattered tower +at one of the angles; the whole much ivy-grown,--brimming over, indeed, +with clustering ivy, which is rooted inside of the walls. The nunnery is +now, I believe, held in lease by the city of Oxford, which has converted +its precincts into a barnyard. The gate was under lock and key, so that +we could merely look at the outside, and soon resumed our places in the +boat. + +At three o'clock, or thereabouts, (or sooner or later,--for I took +little heed of time, and only wished that these delightful wanderings +might last forever,) we reached Folly Bridge, at Oxford. Here we took +possession of a spacious barge, with a house in it, and a comfortable +dining-room or drawing-room within the house, and a level roof, on which +we could sit at ease, or dance, if so inclined. These barges are common +at Oxford,--some very splendid ones being owned by the students of +the different colleges, or by clubs. They are drawn by horses, like +canal-boats; and a horse being attached to our own barge, he trotted off +at a reasonable pace, and we slipped through the water behind him, with +a gentle and pleasant motion, which, save for the constant vicissitude +of cultivated scenery, was like no motion at all. It was life without +the trouble of living; nothing was ever more quietly agreeable. In this +happy state of mind and body we gazed at Christ-Church meadows, as we +passed, and at the receding spires and towers of Oxford, and on a good +deal of pleasant variety along the banks: young men rowing or fishing; +troops of naked boys bathing, as if this were Arcadia, in the simplicity +of the Golden Age; country-houses, cottages, water-side inns, all with +something fresh about them, as not being sprinkled with the dust of the +highway. We were a large party now; for a number of additional guests +had joined us at Folly Bridge, and we comprised poets, novelists, +scholars, sculptors, painters, architects, men and women of renown, dear +friends, genial, outspoken, open-hearted Englishmen,--all voyaging +onward together, like the wise ones of Gotham in a bowl. I remember not +a single annoyance, except, indeed, that a swarm of wasps came aboard of +us and alighted on the head of one of our young gentlemen, attracted by +the scent of the pomatum which he had been rubbing into his hair. He was +the only victim, and his small trouble the one little flaw in our day's +felicity, to put us in mind that we were mortal. + +Meanwhile a table had been laid in the interior of our barge, and +spread with cold ham, cold fowl, cold pigeon-pie, cold beef, and other +substantial cheer, such as the English love, and Yankees too,--besides +tarts, and cakes, and pears, and plums,--not forgetting, of course, a +goodly provision of port, sherry, and champagne, and bitter ale, +which is like mother's milk to an Englishman, and soon grows equally +acceptable to his American cousin. By the time these matters had been +properly attended to, we had arrived at that part of the Thames which +passes by Nuneham Courtney, a fine estate belonging to the Harcourts, +and the present residence of the family. Here we landed, and, climbing +a steep slope from the river-side, paused a moment or two to look at an +architectural object, called the Carfax, the purport of which I do not +well understand. Thence we proceeded onward, through the loveliest park +and woodland scenery I ever saw, and under as beautiful a declining +sunshine as heaven ever shed over earth, to the stately mansion-house. + +As we here cross a private threshold, it is not allowable to pursue +my feeble narrative of this delightful day with the same freedom as +heretofore; so, perhaps, I may as well bring it to a close. I may +mention, however, that I saw the library, a fine, large apartment, hung +round with portraits of eminent literary men, principally of the last +century, most of whom were familiar guests of the Harcourts. The house +itself is about eighty years old, and is built in the classic style, as +if the family had been anxious to diverge as far as possible from the +Gothic picturesqueness of their old abode at Stanton Harcourt. The +grounds were laid out in part by Capability Brown, and seemed to me even +more beautiful than those of Blenheim. Mason the poet, a friend of the +house, gave the design of a portion of the garden. Of the whole place I +will not be niggardly of my rude Transatlantic praise, but be bold +to say that it appeared to me as perfect as anything earthly can +be,--utterly and entirely finished, as if the years and generations +had done all that the hearts and minds of the successive owners could +contrive for a spot they dearly loved. Such homes as Nuneham Courtney +are among the splendid results of long hereditary possession; and we +Republicans, whose households melt away like new-fallen snow in a +spring morning, must content ourselves with our many counterbalancing +advantages,--for this one, so apparently desirable to the far-projecting +selfishness of our nature, we are certain never to attain. + +It must not be supposed, nevertheless, that Nuneham Courtney is one of +the great show-places of England. It is merely a fair specimen of the +better class of country-seats, and has a hundred rivals, and many +superiors, in the features of beauty, and expansive, manifold, redundant +comfort, which most impressed me. A moderate man might be content with +such a home,--that is all. + +And now I take leave of Oxford without even an attempt to describe +it,--there being no literary faculty, attainable or conceivable by me, +which can avail to put it adequately, or even tolerably, upon paper. It +must remain its own sole expression; and those whose sad fortune it may +be never to behold it have no better resource than to dream about +gray, weather-stained, ivy-grown edifices, wrought with quaint Gothic +ornament, and standing around grassy quadrangles, where cloistered walks +have echoed to the quiet footsteps of twenty generations,--lawns and +gardens of luxurious repose, shadowed with canopies of foliage, and +lit up with sunny glimpses through archways of great boughs,--spires, +towers, and turrets, each with its history and legend,--dimly +magnificent chapels, with painted windows of rare beauty and brilliantly +diversified hues, creating an atmosphere of richest gloom,--vast +college-halls, high-windowed, oaken-panelled, and hung round with +portraits of the men, in every age, whom the University has nurtured to +be illustrious,--long vistas of alcoved libraries, where the wisdom +and learned folly of all time is shelved,--kitchens, (we throw in this +feature by way of ballast, and because it would not be English Oxford +without its beef and beer,) with huge fireplaces, capable of roasting a +hundred joints at once,--and cavernous cellars, where rows of piled-up +hogsheads seethe and fume with that mighty malt-liquor which is the true +milk of Alma Mater: make all these things vivid in your dream, and you +will never know nor believe how inadequate is the result to represent +even the merest outside of Oxford. + +We feel a genuine reluctance to conclude this article without making our +grateful acknowledgements, by name, to a gentleman whose overflowing +kindness was the main condition of all our sight-seeings and enjoyments. +Delightful as will always be our recollection of Oxford and its +neighborhood, we partly suspect that it owes much of its happy coloring +to the genial medium through which the objects were presented to us,--to +the kindly magic of a hospitality unsurpassed, within our experience, in +the quality of making the guest contented with his host, with himself, +and everything about him. He has inseparably mingled his image with our +remembrance of the Spires of Oxford. + + + + +CYRIL WILDE. + + +For some reason which it does not concern us now to investigate, +Kentucky, under the dominion of the white man, has continued to justify +its native name of "Dark and Bloody Ground," in being the scene of a +remarkable number of tragedies in real life. + +One of these, less known to the public in later times, we think +transcends all the others in boldness of conception, regularity of plot, +variety of passion and character displayed, and horror and pathos of +catastrophe. It might have furnished a worthy subject to the pen of +Sophocles or Shakespeare, one that they would have found already cast +into a highly dramatic form, requiring only fitting words to convey the +passions of the actors. Little invention of situation or incident +would have been needed, for neither could be imagined more intensely +interesting; nor could the most finished artist have constructed a plot +more coherent in all its details, or more strictly in accordance with +the rules of composition,--even to the preservation of the Aristotelian +unities of time and place. So perfect, indeed, does it seem, that, +were it not substantiated in every point by the records of a judicial +tribunal, it might well be taken for the invention of some master of +human nature and the dramatic art. + +Captain Cyril Wilde, the hero, or rather the victim, of the events we +are about to narrate, was one of those perfectly happy men whom every +one has learned to regard as favorites of Fortune, and on whom no one +ever expects disaster to fall, simply because it never has done so. Well +descended, at a period when good birth was a positive honor in itself, +and connected, either by affinity or friendship, with the best society +of Kentucky, he held, by hereditary right, a high position among that +old aristocracy which then and for a long time afterward stoutly +maintained its own against the encroaching spirit of democratic +equality, and whose members still kept in mind many of the traditions, +honored in their own persons the dignity, and strove to preserve in +their households somewhat of the manners, of the Cavaliers of the Old +Dominion. Nor was wealth wanting to complete his happiness,--at least, +such wealth as was needed by one of his simple tastes and unostentatious +habits. He was rich beyond his disposition to spend, but not beyond his +capacity to enjoy,--a capacity multiplied by as many times as he had +friends to stimulate it;--summer friends, alas! too many of them proved +to be. His character was without reproach; his disposition easy and +genial; his mind of that happy middle order which always commands +respect, while it feels none of the restless ambition and impotent +longing for public recognition that usually attend the possession of +superior abilities. + +Such was the position of Captain Wilde, and such the character he bore +during the first thirty-eight years of his life. Not many have known +a more lengthened prosperity,--and few, very few, a more sudden and +terrible reverse. Fortune, like a fond mistress, had lavished her gifts +on him without stint,--but, like a jealous one, seemed resolved that he +should owe everything to her gratuitous bounty, and the moment he sought +to win an object of desire by his own exertions turned her face away +forever, persecuting her former favorite thenceforth with vindictive +malice. Continuing to yield, for a time, with apparent complacency, +every boon he sought, she treacherously concealed therein the germs of +all his woes. + +In the year 17--Captain Wilde was persuaded to better his already happy +condition by marriage. The lady he chose, or suffered to be chosen for +him, was a Miss M----, a scion of one of those extensive families, not +now so common as formerly, which by repeated intermarriage and always +settling together develop a spirit of clanship, so exclusive as to make +them almost incapable of any feeling of interest outside of their own +name and connection, and render them liable to regard any person +of different blood, who may happen to intermarry among them, as an +intruder. In some parts of the Union these clans may still be found +flourishing in considerable purity and vigor,--the same name sometimes +prevailing over a district of many miles,--a fact which an observant +traveller would surmise from a certain prevailing cast of form and +feature. + +It was with a family of this kind that Captain Wilde was, in an evil +hour, induced to ally himself,--a step which soon proved to be the first +in a long career of misfortune. The lady possessed that worst of +all tempers, a quick and irritable, but at the same time hard and +unforgiving one. And she soon showed, that, in her estimation, the +feelings and interests of her husband were as nothing in comparison with +those of her family, and that, in any variance, she would leave the +former and cleave to the latter. Such variances were, unfortunately, +almost inevitable; for the family of Mrs. Wilde differed both in +politics and religion from her husband,--a fact, it may here be +remarked, which had no small influence on his subsequent fate,--and the +narrow, bigoted exclusiveness of the wife was utterly incompatible with +the free and open-hearted fellowship with which the husband received +his acquaintances, of whatever sect or party. In a very few months, +therefore, it began to be whispered abroad that the hitherto happy and +joyous bachelor's-hall had become a scene of constant bickerings and +heartburnings. + +But mere incongruity of tempers and habits was not, as was supposed by +their neighbors, the only source of domestic discord. This might in time +have entirely disappeared; had conjugal confidence only been allowed its +natural growth, all might have been passably well in the end, in spite +of such serious drawbacks; for, from the necessity of his nature, the +husband would in time have become completely subservient to the sterner +spirit of his wife, which, in turn, might have been mollified in some +degree amid the peaceful duties of home;--a state of things that has +existed in many families, which have, nevertheless, enjoyed a fair +share of domestic happiness in spite of this inversion of the natural +relations of their heads. But Mrs. Wilde had brought into her husband's +house that deadliest foe of domestic peace, an elderly, ill-tempered, +suspicious female relative, serving in the capacity of _confidante_. +This curse was embodied in the person of a much older sister, who +happened to be neither maid, wife, nor widow, and, having once effected +an entrance under the pretence of assisting to arrange the disordered +household-affairs, easily contrived to render her position a permanent +one. So soon as this was achieved, she appears to have begun her hateful +work of sowing discord between the new-married pair. Having long since +blighted her own hopes of happiness, she seemed to find no consolation +so sweet as wrecking that of others;--not that she had no love for her +sister; on the contrary, her love, such as it was, was really strong +and lasting; and in her fierce grief for that sister's death she met +a punishment almost equal to her deserts. Nor was it long before she +provided herself with a most effectual means of accomplishing her +malicious object, of inflaming the troubles of the household into which +she had intruded herself. This was the discovery, real or pretended, of +a former illicit connection between her brother-in-law and a pretty and +intelligent mulatto girl, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, who +was still retained in the family in the capacity of housemaid. Having +once struck this jarring chord, she continued to play upon it with +diabolical skill. To those who watched the course of her unholy labors, +the energy and ingenuity with which this wretched woman wrought at her +task, and the completeness of her success, would have seemed a subject +of admiration, if the result had not been so deplorable as to merge all +other emotions in indignant detestation. + +So thoroughly had her design been accomplished in the course of a single +year, that the birth of as sweet a child as ever smiled upon fond +parents, instead of serving as a point of union between Captain Wilde +and his wife, only increased their estrangement by furnishing another +subject of contention. Alas! the peace of Eden was not more utterly +destroyed by the treacherous wiles of the serpent than that of this +ill-starred household by the whispers of this serpent in woman's shape. +Under her continual exasperations, Mrs. Wilde's temper, naturally harsh, +became at last so outrageous and unbridled as to render her unfortunate +husband's life one long course of humiliation and misery. Far from +taking any pains to hide their discords from the world, she seemed +to court observation by seizing every opportunity of inflicting +mortification upon him in public, reckless of the reflections such +improprieties might bring upon herself. + +But why, it may be asked, did not both parties seek a separation, when +affairs had reached such a state as this? First, because Captain Wilde, +though advised thereto, naturally shrank from the scandal such a step +always occasions; and, on the other side, because his wife was gifted +with one of those intolerable tempers that make some women cling to a +partner they hate with a jealous tenacity which love could scarcely +inspire, simply for the reason that a separation would put an end to +their power, so dearly prized, of inflicting pain;--for hatred has its +jealousy, as well as love. + +Of the perverse ingenuity of these two women in causing the deepest +mortification to the unfortunate gentleman, whenever Fate and his own +weakness gave them the power, we will notice one instance, on account of +the important influence it had in bringing about the denouement of this +domestic tragedy. + +According to the kindly custom of that time, Captain Wilde had on one +occasion requested the assistance of some of his neighbors in treading +out his grain; and the party had set to work at dawn, in order to avail +themselves of the cooler portion of the day. After waiting with longing +ears for the sound of the breakfast-horn, they finally, at a late hour, +repaired to the house, uncalled. Here the host, supposing all to be +ready, led his friends unceremoniously into the dining-room, where he +was astonished, and not a little angered, to find his wife and sister +seated composedly at their meal, which they had already nearly finished, +with only the three customary plates on the table, and no apparent +preparation for a larger number. On his beginning to remonstrate in a +rather heated tone, his wife arose, and, remarking that she had not been +used to eat in company with common laborers, swept disdainfully from the +room, followed by her sister. No more unpardonable insult could have +been offered to Kentucky farmers, at the very foundation of whose social +creed lay the principle of equality, and of whose character an intense +and jealous feeling of personal dignity was the most salient feature: +for these were men of independent means, who had come rather to +superintend the labors of their negroes than to labor themselves,--such +occasions being regarded only as pleasant opportunities for free and +unrestrained sociability, far more agreeable than formal and ceremonious +visits. On these occasions, the host would conduct his friends over +his farm to survey the condition of his crops, or point out to their +admiration his fine cattle, or obtain their opinion concerning some +contemplated improvement;--a most admirable means of drawing closer the +bonds of neighborly feeling and interest. A more bitter mortification, +therefore, could hardly have been devised for one who always prided +himself on his open-hearted Kentucky hospitality even to strangers. +Justly enraged by such foolish and ill-timed rudeness, he flung a knife, +which he had idly taken up, violently upon the table, swearing that his +friends should, in his house, be treated as gentlemen; at the same time +calling to the mulatto, Fanny, he bade her prepare breakfast, and added, +in a tone but half-suppressed, "You are the only woman on the place +who behaves like a lady." This imprudent remark was overheard by the +ever-present sister-in-law, and the use she made of it may be imagined. + +In this unpleasant state of his domestic relations, the character of +Captain Wilde Seemed to undergo an entire transformation. From being +remarkable for his love of quiet retirement, he became restless and +dissatisfied; and instead of laughing, as formerly, at public employment +as only vanity and vexation, he, now that a greater vexation assailed +him in his once peaceful home, eagerly sought relief, not, as a younger +or less virtuous man might have done, in dissipation, but in the +distractions of public business. But here again his evil fortune granted +the desired boon in a shape pregnant with future disaster. The hostility +of Mrs. Wilde's family, which had now become deeply excited,--combined +with his own political heterodoxy,--forbade any hope of attaining a +place by popular choice; and in an evil hour his friends succeeded in +procuring him the office of exciseman. + +Now there is no peculiarity more marked in all the branches of the +Anglo-Saxon race than the extreme impatience with which they submit to +any direct interference of the government in the private affairs of the +citizens; and no form of such interference has ever been so generally +odious as the excise, and, by consequence, no officer so generally +detested as the exciseman. This feeling, on account of the very large +number of persons engaged in distilling, was then formidably strong in +Kentucky,--all the more so that this form of taxation was a favorite +measure of the existing Federal Administration. Those who ventured to +accept so hateful an office at the hands of so hated a government were +sure to make themselves highly unpopular. In time, when the people began +to learn their own strength and the weakness of the authorities, +the enforcement of the law became dangerous, and at last altogether +impossible. The writer has been told, by a gentleman holding a +responsible position under our judicial system, that the name of his +grandfather--the last Kentucky exciseman--to this day stands charged on +the government-books with thousands of dollars arrears, although he was +a man of great courage and not at all likely to be deterred from the +discharge of his duty by any ordinary obstacle. + +Such was the place sought and obtained by the unfortunate Wilde as +a refuge from domestic wretchedness. The consequence it was easy to +foresee. In a few months, he who had been accustomed to universal +good-will became an object of almost as general dislike; and as people +are apt to attribute all sorts of evil to one who has by any means +incurred their hostility, and are never satisfied until they have +blackened the whole character in which they have found one offensive +quality, the family difficulties of the unpopular official soon became a +theme of common scandal, all the blame, of course, being laid upon him. +This state of things, disagreeable in itself, proved most unfortunate in +its influence on his subsequent fate; for, had he retained his previous +popularity in the county, the last deplorable catastrophe would +certainly never have happened: since every lawyer knows full well, that, +in capital cases especially, juries are merely the exponents of public +sentiment, and that the power of any judge to cause the excited +sympathies of a whole community to sink into calm indifference at the +railing of a jury-box is about as effective as was the command of the +Dane in arresting the in-rolling waters of the ocean. This is peculiarly +true in this country, where the people, both in theory and in fact, are +so completely sovereign that the institutions of government are only +instruments, having little capability of independent, and none at all of +antagonistic action. The skilful advocate, therefore, always watches the +crowd of eager faces without the bar, with eye as anxious and far more +prophetic than that with which he studies the formal countenances of the +panel whom he directly addresses. + +There was one circumstance, arising indirectly from his public +employment, that exercised no trivial influence upon Captain Wilde's +fate. On one occasion, while engaged with a brother-official in +arranging their books preparatory to the annual settlement, his wife, +becoming enraged because he failed to attend instantly to her orders +concerning some trifling domestic matter, rushed into his study and +caught up an armful of papers, which she attempted to throw into the +fire. The documents were of great importance; and to prevent her +carrying her childish purpose into execution, her husband was obliged +to seize her quickly and violently, and drag her from the hearth. The +reader will hardly recognize this incident in the form in which it was +afterward detailed from the witness-stand; and it is only on account +of the effect which this and other occurrences of like nature had in +bringing about the final event of our history, that we take the trouble +to narrate matters so trifling and uninteresting; for it appeared that +every incident of the kind was carefully registered in the memory of +the Erinnys of this devoted household, whence it came out magnified and +distorted into a brutal and unprovoked outrage. + +Wretched indeed must have been the state of that family in which such +scenes were allowed to meet the eyes of strangers; and again it may be +asked, Why did not Captain Wilde take measures to dissolve a union +that had resulted in so much unhappiness, and in which all hope of +improvement must now have disappeared? Such a step would certainly have +been wise; nor could the strictest moralist have found aught to censure +therein. But it was now too late. No observer of human affairs has +failed to notice how surely a stronger character gains ascendency over a +weaker with which it is brought into familiar contact. No law of man can +abrogate this great law of Nature. Talk as we may about the power of +knowledge or intellect or virtue, the whole ordering of society shows +that it is strength of character which fixes the relative status of +individuals. In whatever community we may live, we need only look around +to discover that its real leaders are not the merely intelligent, +educated, and good, but the energetic, the self-asserting, the +aggressive. Nor will mere passive strength of will prevent subjection; +for how often do we see a spirit, whose only prominent characteristic is +a restless and tireless pugnacity, hold in complete subserviency those +who are far superior in actual strength of mind, purely through the +apathy of the latter, and their indisposition to live in a state of +constant effort! It is because this petty domineering temper is found +much oftener in women than in men, that we see a score of henpecked +husbands to one ill-used wife. Woe to the man who falls into this kind +of slavery to a wicked woman! for through him she will commit acts she +would never dare in her own person; and a double woe to him, if he be +not as wicked and hardened as his mistress! The bargain of the old +Devil-bought magicians was profitable, compared with his; since he gets +nothing whatever for the soul he surrenders up. + +In the present case, a couple of years sufficed for the energetic and +ever-belligerent temper of the wife to subdue completely the mild and +peaceable nature of the husband. At her bidding most of his former +acquaintances were discarded; and even his warmest friends and nearest +relations, no longer meeting the old hearty welcome, gradually ceased +to visit his house. But the bitterest effect of this weak and culpable +abdication of his rights was experienced by his slaves. Sad indeed for +them was the change from the ease and abundance of the bachelor's-hall, +where slavery meant little more than a happy exemption from care, to +their present condition, in which it meant hopeless submission to the +power of a capricious and cruel mistress. The worst form of female +tyranny is that exhibited on a Southern plantation, under the sway of a +termagant. Her power to afflict is so complete and all-pervading, that +not an hour, nay, hardly a minute of the victim's life is exempt, if +the disposition exist to exercise it. Besides, this species of domestic +oppression has this in common with all the worst tyrannies which have +been most feared and hated by men: the severities are ordered by those +who neither execute them nor witness their execution,--that being +left to agents, usually hardened to their office, and who dare not be +merciful, even if so inclined. It adds two-fold to the bitterness of +such tyranny, that the tyrant is able to acquire a sort of exemption +from the weakness of pity. It is wisely ordered that few human beings +shall feel aught but pain in looking upon the extreme bodily anguish of +their fellow-men; and when a monster appears who seems to contradict +this benign law, he is embalmed as a monster, and transmitted to future +times along with such _rara aves_ as Caligula, Domitian, and Nana Sahib. +And here--as a Southern man, brought up in the midst of a household of +slaves--let me remark, that the worst feature of our system of slavery +is the possibility of the negroes falling into the hands of a brutal +owner capable of exercising all the power of inflicting misery which the +law gives him. + +But the natural law of compensation is universal; and if the most +wretched object in existence be a slave subject to the sway of a brutal +owner, certainly the next is the humane master who has to do with a +sullen, malicious, or dishonest negro,--while for one instance of the +former, there are a hundred of the latter who would willingly give up +the whole value of their human chattels in order to get rid of the +vexations they occasion. And where master and man were equally bad, we +have known cases in which it was really hard to say which contrived to +inflict most misery: the one might get used to blows and curses so as +not much to mind them, but the other could never escape the agonies of +rage into which his contumacious chattel was able to throw him at any +time. + +Captain Wilde's temper was more than usually mild and lenient; and he +was probably the most wretched being on his own plantation during the +last two years of his life,--a day seldom passing that he was not +compelled to inflict some sort of punishment upon his negroes. These, +however, never ceased to feel for him the respectful attachment inspired +by his kindness during the happy years of his bachelor-life; but, +strange as it may seem, that feeling was now mingled with a sort of +pity; for they well knew the painful reluctance with which he obeyed the +harsh commands of his wife. And of all who mourned the hapless fate +of this unfortunate gentleman, none mourned more bitterly, and few +cherished his memory so long or so tenderly, as these humble dependants, +who best knew his real character. + +But it was upon the mulatto girl Fanny, particularly, that the +tyrannical cruelty of Mrs. Wilde was poured out in all its severity. +From some cause,--whether because her duties rendered her more liable +to commit irritating faults, or whether, being always in sight, she was +simply the most convenient object of abuse, or whether on account of the +alleged former intimacy between this girl and her master,--certain it +is that the hatred with which the mistress pursued her had something in +it almost diabolical. And she seemed to take a peculiar satisfaction +in making her husband the instrument of her persecutions: an ingenious +method of punishing both her victims, if the motive were the last of +those above suggested. And truly bitter it must have been to both, when +the hand that had been only too kind was now forced to the infliction +even of stripes; so that one hardly knows which to pity most: though, +if the essence of punishment be degradation, certainly the legal slave +suffered less of it than the moral one who had fallen so low beneath the +dominion of a termagant wife. But let it be ever remembered to the honor +of this wretched daughter of bondage, that, in spite of all, she never +lost that devoted attachment for her master which in one of a more +favored race might be called by a softer name. For, whatever may have +been his feelings toward her, there can remain no doubt of the nature of +hers for him,--so touchingly displayed at a subsequent period, when she +cast away the terror of violent death, so strong in all her race, and +sought, by a voluntary confession of guilt never imputed to her, to +save him by taking his place upon the scaffold. Surely, such heroic +self-sacrifice suffices to + + "sublime + Her dark despair and plead for its one crime." + +It was probably on a discovery of this feeling in the girl that the +intermeddling sister-in-law founded her charge against the master. + +But there is a point beyond which human endurance cannot go,--at +which milder natures turn to voluntary death as a refuge from further +suffering, and fiercer ones begin to contemplate crime with savage +complacency. Towards this point the ruthless and persevering cruelty of +these two women was now rapidly driving their wretched victim, and soon, +very soon, they were to learn that they had been hunting, not a lamb, +but a tigress, whose single spring, when brought to bay, would be as +quick, as sure, and as deadly as was ever made from an Indian jungle. +For now, near the end of the third year of Captain Wilde's married life, +its wretched scenes of discord and tyranny were about to be closed in a +catastrophe that was to overwhelm a great community with consternation +and horror, and blot an entire family out of existence almost in a +single night,--a catastrophe in which Providence, true to that ideal of +perfect justice called poetical, working out the punishment of two +of the actors by means of their own inhumanity, at the same time +mysteriously involved two others,--one clothed in all the innocence +of infancy, and the other guilty only through weakness and as the +instrument of another. Seldom has destruction been more sudden or more +complete, and never, perhaps, was so annihilating a blow dealt by so +weak a hand. + +Those who remember the early times of Kentucky know that the place of +the agricultural and mechanics' fairs of the present day was supplied +by "big meetings," which, under the various names of associations, +camp-meetings, and basket-meetings, continued in full popularity to a +quite recent period, and were at last partially suppressed on account +of the immorality which they occasioned and encouraged. It was to these +holy fairs--as now to secular ones--that the wealth and fashion of +early Kentucky crowded for the purpose of displaying themselves most +conspicuously before the eyes of assembled counties. Mrs. Wilde, like +most women of her temper, was passionately fond of such public triumphs, +and had determined, at a camp-meeting soon to be held in the vicinity, +to outshine all her rural neighbors in splendor. For the full +realization of this ambition, a new carriage was, in her opinion, +absolutely necessary. This fact she communicated to her husband, and +upon some demur on his part, a thing now very rare, her temper, as +usual, broke forth in a storm of reproach and abuse, so that the poor +man, completely subdued, was glad to purchase peace by acquiescence +in what his judgment regarded as a foolish expense; and he prepared +immediately to set off for L---- to procure the coveted vehicle. But +before he had mounted, his wife, yet hot from their recent altercation, +discovered or affected to discover some negligence on the part of the +mulatto girl, who was engaged in nursing the child, which was at this +time suffering from a dangerous illness. Now the one tender trait of +this violent woman was intense love for her offspring; but it was a +love that, far from softening her manner toward others, partook, on the +contrary, of the fierceness of her general character, and became, like +that of a wild animal for its young, a source of constant apprehension +to those whose duty compelled them to approach its object. So now, +seizing the weeping culprit by the hair, she dragged her to the door, +and, after exhausting her own powers of maltreatment, called to her +husband and ordered him to bring, on his return, a new cowhide,--"For +you shall," cried she, in uncontrollable rage, "give this wretch, in the +morning, two hundred lashes!" It was a brutal threat, falling from the +lips of one who was called a lady: for, of all tortures, that of +the cowhide is for the moment the most intolerable, in its sharp, +penetrating agony, as is well known by those who remember even a +moderate application of it to their own person in school-boy days. The +victim knew that the execution of the barbarous menace would be strict +to the letter, and that it would be but little preferable to death +itself. Yet, in spite of this, she now, for the first time, failed to +cower and tremble, but arose and faced her oppressor, erect and defiant. +The last drop had now been dashed into the cup of endurance,--the final +blow had been struck, under which the human spirit either falls crushed +and prostrated forever, or from which it springs up tempered to +adamantine hardness, and incapable thenceforth of feeling either fear +for itself or pity for its smiter. That one moment had entirely reversed +the relations of the two, making the slave mistress of her mistress's +fate, while the latter thenceforward held her very existence at the will +of her slave. The cruel woman had raised up for herself that enemy more +terrible even to throned tyrants than an army with banners: for there +is something truly terrific in the almost omnipotent power of harm +possessed by any intelligent being, whom hatred, or fanaticism, or +suffering has wound up to that point of desperation where it is willing +to throw away its own life in order to reach that of an adversary, +--such desperation as inspired the gladiator Maternus, in his romantic +expedition from the woods of Transylvania through the marshes of +Pannonia and the Alpine passes, to strike the lord of the Roman world +in the recesses of his own palace, and in the presence of his thousand +guards. He who has provoked such hostility can know no safety, but in +the destruction of his enemy,--a fact well understood by the elder +Napoleon, who, however he might admire, never pardoned those whose +attempts on his person showed them utterly reckless of the safety of +their own. + +And now, for a few hours, the whole interest of our narrative centres in +her whom that moment had so completely transformed and made already a +murderess in heart and in purpose. And how thoroughly must that heart +have been steeled, and how entire must have been the banishment of all +counteracting feelings, when she could for a whole day, in the midst of +a household of fellow-servants, and under the watchful eyes of an angry +mistress, continue to discharge her usual tasks, bearing this deadly +purpose in her breast, yet never, by word, look, or gesture, betray the +slightest indication of its dreadful secret,--no, not even so much as to +draw suspicion toward herself after the discovery of the crime! There +was no time or opportunity for preparation, of which little was indeed +necessary; for human life is a frail thing, and a determined hand is +always strong. She had already undergone the most effectual preparation +for such a task,--that of the soul; and when that is once thoroughly +accomplished, not much more is needed: a fact which seems not to be +understood by those patriotic assassins--French and Italian--whose +elaborately contrived infernal-machines do but betray the anxious +precautions taken to insure lives which, according to their own +professions, have been rendered valueless by tyranny, and ought +therefore to be the more freely risked. Felton and Charlotte Corday +understood their business better; but even their preparations may be +called elaborate, compared with those of this poor slave-girl. + +Captain Wilde returned late in the evening with the coveted coach; and +the whole family, white and black, of course, turned out to admire that +crowning addition to the family splendor. But among the noisy group of +the latter there stood one who gazed upon the object of admiration +with thoughts far different from those of her companions; and soon the +careless mirth of all was checked and chilled into silent fear, when +they saw their master take from beneath one of the seats a new specimen +of the well-known green cow-skin, and hand it, with a troubled, +deprecating look, to his wife. Ah! they all knew that appealing look +well, and the hard, relentless frown by which it was answered, as well +as they knew the use of the dreaded instrument itself. But there was +only one among them who comprehended its immediate purpose. The glance +of cruel meaning which the tyranness, after having examined the lithe, +twisted rod critically for an instant, cast upon the object of her +malice, probably banished the last lingering hesitation from the breast +of the latter,--who turned away ostensibly to the performance of her +accustomed duties, but in reality to settle the details of a crime +unsurpassed in coolness and resolution by aught recorded of pirate or +highwayman. It was probably during the hours immediately succeeding +Captain Wilde's return that her deadly purpose shaped itself forth in +the plan finally executed; because it was not till then that she became +cognizant of all the circumstances which entered into its formation. +Seldom have more nicely calculated combinations entered into the plots +of criminals, and never was a plot depending on so many chances more +completely successful. Yet the pivot of the whole, as often in more +extensive schemes of homicide, is to be found in the reckless daring and +utter disregard of personal safety manifested throughout. For this alone +she seems to have made no calculations and taken no precautions; +her whole mind being bent apparently on the solution of one single +difficulty,--how to approach her enemy undetected. + +As to the details of this affair, let us mention one or two facts, and +then the conduct of the murderess will itself explain them. We have +already stated that the only child of Captain and Mrs. Wilde, an infant +about eighteen months old, was at this time dangerously ill. For a +fortnight it had been the custom of the parents to sit up with it on +alternate nights, this night it being the father's regular turn to +perform that duty; but his trip of twenty-five or thirty miles had +fatigued him so much that it was judged best for his wife to relieve +him,--his slumbers being usually so profound as to be almost lethargic, +so that, when once fairly asleep, the loudest noises even in the same +room would fail to arouse him, and it being feared, therefore, that the +little patient might suffer, if left to his care in his present state of +weariness. In the same room slept a young negro girl, whose duty it was +to carry the child into the open air when occasion required,--an office +which Fanny herself had more than once performed. The reader will note +how ingeniously every one of these circumstances was woven into the +girl's scheme of death, and how each was made subservient to the end in +view. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock on the night of the 18th of July, 17--, everything had +become quiet about that lonely farm-house, so completely isolated in the +midst of its wide plantation that the barking of the dogs at the nearest +dwellings was barely heard in the profound stillness. A dim light, as +if from a deeply shaded candle, shone from one of the casements to the +right of the hall-door, showing where the parents watched by the bed of +their suffering infant. Along the high-road, which, a few rods in front, +stretched white and silent in the moonlight between its long lines of +worm-fences, a solitary traveller on horseback was journeying at this +hour. This gentleman afterward remembered being more than usually +impressed by the air of peace and repose that reigned about the place, +as he rode under the tall locust-trees which skirted the yard and cast +their dark shadows over into the highway. But he did not see a female +form flitting furtively from the negro-quarters in the rear, toward the +house; and a shade of suspicion might have crossed his mind, had he +glanced back a moment later and beheld that form approach the lighted +window with stealthy, cautious steps, and peer long and intently through +the partially drawn curtains upon the scene within, then, stooping low, +glide along the moonlit wall and disappear beneath the short flight of +wooden steps that led up to the front-door. + +Here ensconced, safe from observation, the murderess lay listening to +every sound in the sick-room above. Ten,--eleven,--twelve,--one,--sounded +from the clock in the dining-room on the other side of the hall. +For three hours has she crouched there, but the opportunity +she expected has not yet come. The moon was setting and deep +darkness beginning to envelop the earth, when, just as she was about to +steal forth and regain her cabin unobserved, the door above her head +opened, and the young negro nurse, still half-asleep, came forth, stood +for a moment upon the topmost step to recover her senses, and then, with +the wailing infant in her arms, descended and passed round the corner of +the house. She had barely disappeared when the murderess crept from her +lair, and, swift and noiseless as a serpent or a cat, glided up the +steps through the open door, and in another moment had again concealed +herself beneath the leaves of a large table that stood in the hall +close to the door of the sick-room, which, standing ajar, gave her an +opportunity of studying once more the situation of things within. In the +corner farthest from her lurking-place stood the bed on which her master +was slumbering, concealing with its curtains the front-window against +which it was placed. At the foot of this, under the other front-window, +was the pallet of the nurse, and midway between it and the door through +which she peered was the low trundle-bed of the sick child, on which at +this moment lay the mother,--soon to become a mother again; while at +the farther end of the room a candle was burning dimly upon the hearth. +Thus, for half an hour, the murderess crouched within a few feet of her +victim and watched, noting every circumstance with the eye of a beast of +prey about to spring. At the end of that time the nurse returned, placed +the quieted child beside its mother, and, closing the door, retired to +her own pallet, whence her loud breathing almost immediately told that +she was asleep. Still with bated breath the mulatto waited, stooping +with her ear at the keyhole till the regular respirations of the mother +and the softened panting of the little invalid assured her that all +was safe. Then, at last, turning the handle of the latch silently and +gradually, she glided into the room and stood by the side of her victim. + +The whole range of imaginative literature cannot furnish an incident +of more absorbing interest; nor can the whole history of the theatre +exhibit a situation of more tremendous scenical power than was presented +at this moment in that chamber of doom. The four unconscious sleepers +with the murderess in the midst of them, bending with hard, glittering +eyes over her prey, while around them all the huge shadows cast by the +dim, untrimmed light, like uncouth monsters, rose, flitted, and fell, as +if in a goblin-dance of joy over the scene of approaching guilt. Sleep, +solemn at any time, becomes almost awful when we gaze upon it amid the +stillness of night, so mysterious is it, and so near akin to the deeper +mystery of death,--so peaceful, with a peace so much like that of the +grave: men could scarcely comprehend the idea of the one, if they were +not acquainted with the reality of the other. There lay the mother, with +her arms around her sleeping child, whose painful breathing showed that +it suffered even while it slept. Such a spectacle might have moved the +hardest heart to pity; but it possessed no such power over that of the +desperate slave, whose vindictive purpose never wavered for an instant. +Passing round the bed, she stooped and softly encircled the emaciated +little neck with her fingers. One quick, strong gripe,--the poor, weak +hands were thrown up, a soft gasp and a slight spasm, and it was done. +The frail young life, which had known little except suffering, and which +disease would probably have extinguished in a few hours or days, was +thus at once and almost painlessly cut short by the hand of violence. + +And now at last the way was clear. "I knew," said she afterwards, "the +situation of my mistress; and I thought that by jumping upon her with my +knees I should kill her at once." Disturbed by the slight struggle of +the dying child, Mrs. Wilde moved uneasily for a moment, and again sunk +into quietude, lying with her face--that hard, cold face--upward. This +was the opportunity for the destroyer. Bounding with all her might from +the floor, she came down with bended knees upon the body of her victim. +But the shock, though severe, was not fatal; and with a loud cry of +"Oh, Captain Wilde, help me!" she, by a convulsive effort, threw her +assailant to the floor. Though stunned and bewildered by the suddenness +and violence of the attack, the wretched woman in that terrible moment +recognized her enemy, and felt the desperate purpose with which she was +animated, and so recognizing and so feeling, must have known in that +momentary interval all that the human soul can know of despair and +terror. But it was only for a moment; for, before she could utter a +second cry for help, the baffled assailant was again upon her with the +bound of a tigress. A blind and breathless struggle ensued between the +desperate ferocity of the slave and the equally desperate terror of the +mistress; while faster and wilder went the huge, dim shadows in their +goblin-dance, as the yellow flame flared and flickered in the agitated +air. For a few moments, indeed, the result of the struggle seemed +doubtful, and Mrs. Wilde at length, by a violent effort, raised herself +almost upright, with the infuriated slave still hanging to her throat; +but the latter converted this into an advantage, by suddenly throwing +her whole weight upon the breast of her mistress, thus casting her +violently backward across the head-board of the bed, and dislocating the +spine. Another half-uttered cry, a convulsive struggle, and the deed was +accomplished. One slight shiver crept over the limbs, and then the body +hung limp and lifeless where it had fallen,--the head resting upon the +floor, on which the long raven hair was spread abroad in a disordered +mass. The victor gazed coolly on her work while recovering breath; and +then, to make assurance doubly sure, took up, as she thought, a stocking +from the bed and deliberately tied it tight round the neck of the +corpse. Then, gliding to the door, she quitted the scene of her fearful +labors as noiselessly as she had entered, leaving behind her not one +trace of her presence,--but leaving, unintentionally, a most fatal false +trace, which suspicion continued to follow until it had run an entirely +innocent man to his grave. The last act of the drama of woman's passion +and woman's revenge was over; the tragedy of man's suffering and +endurance still went on. + +How or by whom the terrible spectacle in that chamber of death was +first discovered we are not told. All we know, from the reports of the +negroes, is, that Captain Wilde, who seemed stupefied at first, suddenly +passed into a state of excitement little short of distraction,--now +raving, as if to an imaginary listener, and then questioning and +threatening those about him with incoherent violence. To these simple +observers such conduct was entirely incomprehensible; but we may easily +suppose that at this moment the unfortunate man first realized the +fearful nature of the circumstances which surrounded him, and perceived +the abyss which had yawned so suddenly at his feet. And no wonder that +he shrank back from the prospect, overwhelmed for the moment with +consternation and despair,--not the prospect of death, but of a +degradation far worse to the proud spirit of the Kentucky gentleman, +on whose good name even political hatred had never been able to fix a +stain. + +The terrified negroes carried the alarm to the nearest neighbors, and +soon the report of this appalling occurrence was flying like lightning +toward the utmost bounds of the county. The first stranger who reached +the scene of death was Mr. Summers, formerly an intimate friend of +Captain Wilde. When he entered the room, he found the poor gentleman +on his knees beside the body of his child, with his face buried in the +bed-clothes. At the sound of footsteps he raised his wild, tearless +eyes, exclaiming, "My God! my God! Mr. Summers, my wife has been +murdered here, in my own room, and it will be laid on me!" Shocked by +the almost insane excitement of his old friend, and sensible of the +imprudence of his words, Summers begged him to compose himself, pointing +out the danger of such language. But the terrible thought had mastered +his mind with a monomaniacal power, and to every effort at consolation +from those who successively came in the only reply was, "Oh, my God, +it will all be laid upon me!" Fortunately, those who heard these +expressions were old friends, who, although they had been long +unfamiliar, knew the native uprightness of the man, and still felt +kindly toward one whose estrangement they knew was the effect of weak +submission to the dictation of his wife, not the result of any change in +his own feelings. They regarded his wild words as only the incoherent +utterances of a mind bewildered by horror, and were anxious to put an +end to the harrowing scene, and remove the stricken man as soon as +possible from the observation of a mixed crowd that was now rapidly +assembling from all directions, many of whom knew Captain Wilde only +in his unpopular capacity of exciseman, and would therefore be apt to +suspect a darker explanation of his strange behavior. + +So shocking had been the sight presented to their eyes, on entering +the room, that hitherto no one had had sufficient presence of mind to +examine the bodies closely; but at last Mr. Summers, cooler than the +rest, approached to raise that of Mrs. Wilde, and then, for the first +time, perceived the bandage about her neck. It proved to be _a white +silk neckerchief_, which Summers removed and began to examine. As he +did so, his face was seen to grow suddenly pale as death. All pressed +anxiously forward to see, and a silent, but fearfully significant +look passed round the circle; for in one corner, embroidered in large +letters, was the name of _Cyril Wilde_. As silently every eye sought the +devoted man, and on many countenances the look of doubt settled at once +into one of conviction, when they saw that he wore no cravat; and to +many ears the heart-broken moan of the wretched husband and father, +which a moment before seemed only the foreboding of over-sensitive +innocence, now sounded like the voice of self-accusing guilt. So great +is the power of imagination in modifying our beliefs! + +After such a discovery an arrest followed as a matter of course; and a +popular feeling adverse to the accused quickly manifested itself in +the community. But it is pleasant to know, that, in spite of all +appearances, many of Captain Wilde's old friends never lost faith in his +innocence, or hesitated to renew in his hour of adversity the kindly +relations that had existed before his marriage; while his own +kindred stood by him and bravely fought his hopeless battle to the +last,--employing as his advocate the celebrated John Breckenridge, who +was then almost without a rival at the Kentucky bar. But, on the other +hand, his wife's family pursued their unfortunate relative with a +savageness of hatred hardly to be paralleled. Having hunted him to the +very foot of the scaffold, their persevering malice seemed unsated even +by the sight of their victim suspended as a felon before their very +eyes; for it was reported, at the time, that two of the murdered woman's +brothers were seen upon the ground during the execution. + +And now it was that the unpopularity resulting from Captain Wilde's +official employment manifested its most baleful effects. Had he +possessed at this crisis the same general good-will he had enjoyed four +years before, he might have bid defiance to the rage of his enemies, and +have escaped, in spite of all the suspicious circumstances by which he +stood environed. For the general drift of sentiment in the West has +always been against capital penalties, and it is next to impossible +to carry such penalties into effect against a popular favorite. In a +country like this we might as soon expect to see the hands of a clock +move in a direction contrary to the machinery by which it is governed, +as a jury to run counter to plainly declared popular feelings. There may +now and then be instances of their acquitting contrary to the general +sentiment, where that sentiment is unimpassioned; but we much doubt +whether there has ever occurred a single example of a jury convicting a +person in whose favor the sympathy of a whole community was warmly and +earnestly expressed. Of such sympathy Captain Wilde had none; for to the +great majority he was known only as the exciseman, and as such was an +object of hostility. Not that this hostility at any time took the form +of insult and abuse,--for we are proud to say that outside of the large +towns such disgraceful exhibitions of feeling are unknown,--but it +left the minds of the general mass liable to be operated on by all +the suspicious circumstances of the case, and by the slanders of the +personal enemies of the accused. + +On the 23d of November, an immense crowd of people, both men and women, +were assembled in the court-house at ---- to witness a trial which was +to fix a dark stain on the judicial annals of Kentucky, and in which, +for the thousandth time, a court of justice was to be led fatally astray +by the accursed thing called Circumstantial Evidence, and made the +instrument of that most deplorable of all human tragedies, a formal, +legalized murder. It is one of the most glaring inconsistencies of our +law, that it admits, in a trial where the life of a citizen is at stake, +a species of testimony which it regards as too inconclusive and too +liable to misconstruction to be allowed in a civil suit involving, it +may be, less than the value of a single dollar. True, it is a favorite +maxim of prosecutors, that "circumstances will not lie"; but it requires +little acquaintance with the history of criminal trials to prove that +circumstantial evidence has murdered more innocent men than all the +false witnesses and informers who ever disgraced courts of justice by +their presence; and the slightest reflection will convince us that this +shallow sophism contains even less practical truth than the general mass +of proverbs and maxims, proverbially false though they be. For not only +is the chance of falsehood, on the part of the witness who details the +circumstances, greater,--since a false impression can be conveyed with +far less risk of detection by distortion and exaggeration of a fact than +by the invention of a direct lie,--but there is the additional danger of +an honest misconception on his part; and every lawyer knows how hard +it is for a dull witness to distinguish between the facts and his +impressions of them, and how impossible it often is to make a witness +detail the former without interpolating the latter. But the greatest +risk of all is that the jury themselves may misconstrue the +circumstances, and draw unwarranted conclusions therefrom. It is an +awful assumption of responsibility to leap to conclusions in such cases, +and the leap too often proves to have been made in the dark. God help +the wretch who is arraigned on suspicious appearances before a jury who +believe that "circumstances won't lie"! for the Justice that presides at +such a trial is apt to prove as blind and capricious as Chance herself. +In reviewing the present trial in particular, one may well feel puzzled +to decide which of these deities presided over its conduct. A Greek or +Roman would have said, Neither,--but a greater than either,--Fate; and +we might almost adopt the old heathen notion, as we watch the downward +course of the doomed gentleman from this point, and note how invariably +every attempt to ward off destruction is defeated, as if by the +persevering malice of some superior power. We shall soon see the most +popular and influential attorney of the State driven from the case by an +awkward misunderstanding; another, hardly inferior, expire almost in +the very act of pleading it; and, finally, when the real criminal +comes forward, at the last moment, to avert the ruin which she has +involuntarily drawn down upon the head of her beloved master, and +take his place upon the scaffold, we shall behold her heroic offer of +self-sacrifice frustrated by influences the most unexpected,--political +influences which--with shame be it told--were sufficient to induce a +governor of Kentucky to withhold the exercise of executive clemency, the +most glorious prerogative intrusted to our chief magistrates, and +which it ought to have been a most pleasing privilege to grant: for, +incredible as it may seem, Governor ---- knew, when he signed the +death-warrant, that the man he was consigning to an ignominious grave +was innocent of the crime for which he was to suffer. + +The trial was opened in the presence of a crowded assembly, among whom +it was easy to discern that general conviction of the prisoner's guilt +so chilling to the spirits of a defendant and his counsel, and so much +deprecated by the latter, because he knows too well how far it goes +toward a prejudgment of his cause. Several of the most prominent members +of the bar had been retained by the family of Mrs. Wilde to assist the +State's attorney in the prosecution. In the defence John Breckenridge +stood alone, needing no help; for all knew that whatever man could do in +behalf of his client would be done by him. The prisoner himself, upon +whom all eyes were turned, appeared dejected, but calm, like one who had +resigned all hope. The ominous foreboding, which had so overcome him on +the fatal morning of the murder, had never left him for a single moment. +From that hour he had looked upon himself as doomed, and had yielded +only a passive acquiescence in the measures of defence proposed by +his friends, awaiting the fate which he regarded as inevitable with +a patience almost apathetic. Adversity brought out in bold relief +qualities that might have sustained a cause whose victories are +martyrdoms, but how useless to one requiring active heroism! + +All the damaging facts attending the discovery of the murder--the +failure of any signs of a stranger's presence in the apartment, the +peculiar behavior of the accused, the finding of his cravat on the neck +of the corpse, his acknowledgment of having worn it on the previous +day--were fully, but impartially, detailed by the witnesses for the +Commonwealth. No one could deny that the circumstances were strongly +against the prisoner: and these shadows, at best, and too often mere +delusive mirages of truth, the law allows to be weighed against the life +of a man. Against these shadows all the powers of Breckenridge were +taxed to the uttermost; and he might have succeeded, for his eloquence +was most persuasive, and his influence over the minds of the people +nearly unlimited, had not a false witness appeared to add strength by +deliberate perjuries to a case already strong. It was the ungrateful +sister-in-law of the accused, who had owed to him a home and an asylum +from the merited scorn of her family and the world, who now came forward +to complete the picture of her own detestable character, and put the +finishing hand to her unhallowed work, by swearing away that life which +her arts had rendered scarcely worth defending, could death have come +unaccompanied by disgrace. With a manner betraying suppressed, but +ill-concealed eagerness, and in language prompt and fluent, as if +reciting by rote a carefully kept journal, she went on to detail every +fault or neglect or impatient act of her relative, not sparing exposure +of the most delicate domestic events, at the same time carefully +suppressing all mention of his provocations. In reply to the question, +whether she had ever witnessed any violence that led her to fear +personal danger to her sister, she replied, that, on one occasion, +Captain Wilde, being displeased at something in relation to the +preparation of a meal, seized a large carving-knife and flung it at his +wife, who only escaped further outrage by flying from the house. On +another occasion, she remembered, he became furiously angry because her +sister wished him to see some guests, and, seizing her by the hair, +dragged her to the door of his study, and cast her into the hall so +violently that she lay senseless upon the floor until accidentally +discovered,--her husband not even calling assistance. It is easy to +imagine what an effect such exposures of the habitual brutality of the +man, narrated by a near relation of the sufferer, and interrupted at +proper intervals by sobs and tears, would have upon an impulsive jury, +obliged to derive their knowledge of the case wholly from such a source, +and already strongly impressed by the circumstantial details with a +presumption unfavorable to the defendant. Now, since there were other +persons in the court-house who had witnessed these two scenes of alleged +maltreatment, it may seem strange that they were not brought forward +to contradict this woman on those two points, which would at once have +destroyed the effect of her entire testimony,--the maxim, _Falsum in +uno, falsum in omnibus_, being always readily applied in such cases. Had +this been done, a reaction of popular feeling would almost certainly +have followed in favor of the accused, which might have borne him safely +through, in spite of all the presumptive proof against him. For nothing +is truer than Lord Clarendon's observation, that, "when a man is shown +to be less guilty than he is charged, people are very apt to consider +him more innocent than he may actually be." But in this case the +falsehood was secured from exposure by its very magnitude, until it was +too late for such exposure to be of any benefit to the prisoner. The +persons who had beheld the scenes as they really occurred never thought +of identifying them with brutal outrages, now narrated under oath, at +which their hearts grew hard toward the unmanly perpetrator as they +listened. + +Against the strong array of facts and fictions presented by the +prosecution the only circumstance that could be urged by the counsel for +the prisoner was, that the child was murdered along with the mother; +and this could only avail to strengthen a presumption of innocence, had +innocence been otherwise rendered probable; but when a conviction of +his guilt had been arrived at already, it merely served to increase the +atrocity of his crime, and to insure the enforcement of its penalty. + +After a two days' struggle, in which every resource of reason and +eloquence was exhausted by the defendant's counsel, the judge proceeded +to a summing up which left the jury scarcely an option, even had they +been inclined to acquit. The latter withdrew in the midst of a deep and +solemn silence, while the respectful demeanor of the spectators showed +that at last a feeling of pity was beginning to steal into their hearts +for the unhappy gentleman, who still sat, as he had done during those +two long days of suspense, with his face buried in his hands, as +motionless as a statue. A profound stillness reigned in the hall during +the absence of the jury, broken only occasionally by a stifled sob from +some of the ladies present. After an absence of less than an hour the +jury returned and handed in a written verdict; and as the fatal word +"Guilty" fell from the white lips of the agitated clerk, the calmest +face in that whole vast assembly was that of him whom it doomed to +the ignominious death of a felon. And calm he had been ever since the +dreadful morning of his arrest; for the vial of wrath had then been +broken upon his head, and he had tasted the whole bitterness of an agony +which can be endured but a short while, and can never be felt a second +time. For, as intense heat quickly destroys the vitality of the nerves +on which it acts, and as flesh once deeply cauterized by fire is +thenceforth insensible to impressions of pain, so the soul over which +one of the fiery agonies of life has passed can never experience a +repetition thereof. Besides, it is well known that the anticipation of +an unjust accusation is far more agitating to a virtuous man than the +reality, which is sure to arouse that strange martyr-spirit wherewith +injustice always arms its victim, and supported by which alone even the +most timid men have often suffered with fortitude, and the most unworthy +died with dignity. + +At that time the judicial arrangements of Kentucky allowed an appeal, +in criminal cases, from the Circuit to the District Court; and it +was determined to carry this cause before the latter tribunal, Mr. +Breckenridge declaring that he believed he should be able to reverse the +verdict. On what ground he founded this opinion we do not know: whether +he felt convinced that the local prejudice against his client and the +influence of his enemies in the County of ---- had mainly contributed to +bring about the unfavorable result of the present hearing, and he hoped +to escape these adverse agencies by a change of venue,--or whether +he counted on a change of public feeling after the first burst of +excitement had subsided, to bear him through,--or whether he had +discovered the falsehood of the testimony of the sister-in-law,--or, +finally, whether it was that he had obtained a clearer and more +favorable insight into the case, and recognized grounds of hope +therein,--it is impossible now to say. But it is certain, that to +the defendant and his friends he declared his confidence of a final +acquittal, if the cause were transferred to the appellate court; and +John Breckenridge was not a man to boast emptily, or to hold out hopes +which he knew could never be realized. But at this crisis occurred a +strange misunderstanding, which drove from the support of the wretched +victim of Fate the only man who thoroughly understood the case in all +its minutest details, and would have been most likely to conduct it to +a happy termination. When the preparations for the last struggle were +almost completed, and the time set for the final trial drew near, Mr. +McC----, who, as Captain Wilde's brother-in-law, had been most active +and zealous in his behalf, was informed by some officious intermeddler +that Breckenridge had said in confidential conversation among his +friends, "that the case was entirely desperate, that he had no hope +whatever of altering the verdict by an appeal, and the family would save +money by letting the law take its course, there being no doubt of the +justice of the sentence." Mr. McC----, believing that he might rely on +the word of his informant, unfortunately, without making any inquiry as +to the truth of the tale, and without assigning any reason, wrote to Mr. +Breckenridge a curt letter of dismissal, and immediately employed George +---- to conduct the further defence. This gentleman, surpassed by no +man in Kentucky as a logician, lawyer, and orator, was inferior to the +discarded attorney in that great requisite of a jury-lawyer, personal +popularity, besides laboring under the disadvantage of being new to the +case, and having but a short time to make himself acquainted with its +details. Personal pique and professional punctilio, of course, withheld +his predecessor from affording any further assistance or advice in a +business from which he had been so summarily dismissed. We cannot now +measure accurately the effect of this change of counsel; we only know, +that, at the time, it was considered most disastrous by those having the +best opportunities of judging. + +But if Mr. ---- went into the cause under this disadvantage, he was +spurred on by the consideration that in his client he was defending a +friend: for they had been friends in youth, and, though long separated, +the tie had never been interrupted. Hence he threw himself into the case +with an ardor which money could never have inspired, and in the course +of the few remaining days had succeeded in mastering all its essential +points. + +The interest excited by this second trial was as deep and far more +widely spread than by the first. Few proceedings of the kind in Kentucky +ever called together a crowd at once so large and intelligent, a great +proportion being lawyers, who had been induced to attend by the desire +to witness what it was expected would be one of the most brilliant +efforts of an eminent member of their fraternity. + +The principal difference between the two trials was, that, on this +occasion, the testimony of the sister-in-law was much damaged by the +exposure both of her exaggerations and suppressions of important facts +touching the incident at the breakfast-table. Having incautiously +allowed herself to be drawn into particularizing so minutely as to fix +the exact date, and so positively as to render retraction impossible, +she was, to her own evident discomfiture, flatly contradicted by more +than one of those present on that occasion, who described the scene +as it actually occurred. Of course, after such a revelation of +untruthfulness, her whole testimony became liable to suspicion, the +more violent that the falsehood was plainly intentional. Moreover, the +defendant was now provided with evidence of the constant and intolerable +provocations to which he had been subjected during the whole of his +married life. Of this, however, the most moderate and guarded use was to +be made; because, while it was necessary, by exposing the true character +and habitual violence of his wife, to relieve the prisoner of that load +of public indignation which had been excited against him on account +of his alleged brutality, it was even more important that no strong +resentment should be supposed to have grown up on his part against his +tormentor. This delicate task was managed by the attorney with such +consummate skill, that, when the evidence on both sides was closed, +public sympathy, if not public conviction, had undergone a very +perceptible change. The prosecutors, aware of this, felt the success of +their case endangered, and exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent +the tide, now almost in equilibrium, from ebbing back with a violence +proportionate to that of its flow. But the argument even of their ablest +champion, John ----, seemed almost puerile, in comparison with this, the +last effort of George ----,--an effort which was long remembered, even +less on account of its melancholy termination than for its extraordinary +eloquence. The Kentuckians of that day were accustomed to hear +Breckenridge, Clay, Talbot, Allen, and Grundy, all men of singular +oratorical fame,--but never, we have heard it affirmed, was a more +moving appeal poured into the ears of a Kentucky jury. Availing himself +of every resource of professional skill, he now demonstrated, to the +full satisfaction of many, the utter inadequacy of the circumstantial +evidence upon which so much stress had been laid to justify a +conviction,--sifting and weighing carefully every fact and detail, +and trying the conclusions that had been drawn therefrom by the most +rigorous and searching logic,--and then, assailing the credibility of +the testimony brought forward to prove the habitual cruelty of his +client, he gave utterance to a withering torrent of invective and +sarcasm, in which the character of the main hostile witness shrivelled +and blackened like paper in a flame. Then--having been eight hours on +his feet--he began to avail himself of that last dangerous resource +which genius only may use,--the final arrow in the lawyer's quiver, +which is so hard to handle rightly, and, failing, may prove worse than +useless, but, sped by a strong hand and true aim, often tells decisively +on a hesitating jury,--we mean a direct appeal to their feelings. Like a +skilful leader who gathers all his exhausted squadrons when he sees the +crisis of battle approaching, the great advocate seemed now to summon +every overtaxed power of body and spirit to his aid, as he felt that the +moment was come when he must wring an acquittal from the hearts of his +hearers. Nor did either soul or intellect fail at the call. Higher and +stronger surged the tide of passionate eloquence, until every one felt +that the icy barrier was beginning to yield,--for tears were already +seen on more than one of the faces now leaning breathlessly forward from +the jury-box to listen,--when all at once a dead silence fell throughout +the hall: the voice whose organ-tones had been filling its remotest +nook suddenly died away in a strange gurgle. Several physicians present +immediately divined what had happened; nor were the multitude near kept +long in doubt; for all saw, at the next moment, a crimson stream welling +forth from those lips just now so eloquent,--checking their eloquence, +alas, forever! It was quickly reported through the assembly that the +speaker had ruptured one of the larger blood-vessels in the lungs. The +accident was too dangerous for delay, and George ---- was borne almost +insensible from the scene of his struggles and his triumphs, to reënter, +as it proved, no more. He lived but three days longer,--long enough, +however, to learn that he had sacrificed his life in vain, the jury +having, after a lengthened consideration, affirmed the former verdict +against his friend and client. + +The unfortunate man stood up to receive this second sentence with the +same face of impassive misery with which he had listened to the first. +To the solemn mockery, "If he had anything to urge why sentence of death +should not be passed upon him," he shook his head wearily, and answered, +"Nothing." It was evident that his mind was failing fast under the +overwhelming weight of calamity. It was sad to see this high-born, +but ill-fated gentleman thus bowing humbly to a felon's doom; and the +remembrance of that scene must have been a life-long remorse to his +judges, when the events of a few weeks revealed to them the terrible +truth, that he was innocent of the crime for which they had condemned +him. + +We will not dwell upon the events alluded to; for even at the distance +of nearly three-quarters of a century they are too painful and +humiliating. Suffice it to say, that, when the murderess discovered that +her beloved master was to suffer for her crime, and that no other chance +of salvation remained, she made a full confession of the whole matter. +But the sentence had been pronounced, and the power of suspending its +execution rested with the Governor; and that dignitary--let his name, +in charity, remain unsaid--was about to be a candidate for reelection to +the office which he disgraced, while the family of the murdered lady was +one of the most extensive and influential in the State, the whole of +which influence was thrown into the scale against mercy and justice. +With what result was seen, when, on the morning of the ---- of April, +17--, the prison-doors were opened for the last time for his passage, +and Cyril Wilde was led forth to the execution of an iniquitous +sentence, though, even while the sad cart was moving slowly, very +slowly, through the crowded, strangely silent street, some of the very +men who had pronounced it were imploring the Governor almost on their +knees that it might be stayed. The prisoner alone seemed impatient to +hasten the reluctant march, and meet the final catastrophe. He knew of +the efforts that were making to save him, and the confession on which +they were founded. He had listened to hopeful words and confident +predictions; but no expression of hope had thereby been kindled for an +instant on his pale, dejected face. The ominous premonition which had +come upon him at the moment of that first overpowering realization of +his danger continued to gain strength with every successive stroke of +untoward Fate, until it had become the ruling idea of his mind, in which +there grew up the sort of desperate impatience with which we long for +any end we know to be inevitable. The waters of his life had been so +mingled with gall, and the bitter draught so long pressed to his lips, +that now he seemed only eager to drain at once the last dregs, and cast +the hated cup from him forever,--impatient to find peace and rest in +the grave, even if it were the grave of a felon, and at the foot of the +gallows. + +Here let the curtain fall upon the sad closing scene. We will only +remark, in conclusion, that the name and family of this ill-fated victim +of false and circumstantial evidence have long since disappeared from +the land where they had known such disgrace; and but few persons are +now living who can recall the foregoing details of the once celebrated +"Wilde Tragedy." + + + + +CRAWFORD'S STATUES AT RICHMOND. + + + Long I owe a song, my Brother, to thy dear and deathless claim; + Long I've paused before thy ashes, in my poverty and shame: + Something stirs me now from silence, with a fixed and awful breath; + 'Tis the offspring of thy genius, that was parent to thy death. + + They were murderous, these statues; as they left thy teeming brain, + Their hurry and their thronging rent the mother-mould in twain: + So the world that takes them sorrowful their beauties must deplore; + From the portals whence they issued lovely things shall pass no more. + + With a ghostly presence wait they in a stern and dark remorse, + As the marbles they are watching were sepulchral to thy corse; + Nay, one draws his cloak about him, and the other standeth free + With his patriot arms uplifted to the grasp of Liberty. + + Shall I speak to you, ye silent ones? Your father lies at rest, + With the mighty impulse folded, like a banner, to his breast; + Ye are crownèd with remembrance, and the glory of men's eyes; + But within that heart, low buried, some immortal virtue lies. + + When with heavy strain and pressure ye were lifted to your height, + Then his passive weight was lowered to the vaults of sorrowing Night: + They who lifted struggled sorely, ere your robes on high might wave; + They who lowered with a spasm laid such greatness in its grave. + + In the moonlight first I saw you,--with the dawn I take my leave; + Others come to gaze and wonder,--not, like me, to pause and grieve: + Sure, whatever heart doth hasten here, of master or of slave, + This aspect of true nobleness makes merciful and brave. + + But I know the spot they gave him, with the cool green earth above, + Where I saw the torchlight glitter on the tears of widowed love, + And we left his garlands fading;--to redeem that moment's pain, + Would that ye were yet in chaos, and your master back again! + + No! the tears have Nature's passport, but the wish is poor and vain, + Since every noblest human work such sacrifice doth gain; + God appoints the course of Genius, like the sweep of stars and sun: + Honor to the World's rejoicing, and the Will that must be done! + + + + +JOURNAL OF A PRIVATEERSMAN. + + +II. + + +We left our privateer, the Revenge, Captain Norton, of Newport, Rhode +Island, making sail for New Providence, with her lately captured prize. +There was an English Court of Admiralty established on this island, and +here the prize was to be condemned and sold. The Journal begins again on +Monday, 10th August, 1741. + + * * * * * + +_Monday, 10th._ Fine breeze of wind at N.W., with a large sea. At 5 A.M. +saw Hog Island & the island of Providence. Fired a gun & lay to for a +pilot to take us in. At 8 a pilot boat came off, & Jeremiah Harman, +Master of our prize, in her, having arrived the day before. Passed by +the Rose man of war, stationed here. We saluted her with 7 guns, & +she returned us 5. Ran aground for'ard & lay some time off of Major +Stewart's house, but the man of war sent his boat to carry out an anchor +for us, and we got off. The Cap't went ashore to wait on his Excellency, +& sent the pinnace off for the prisoners, who were immediately put in +jail. + +_Thursday, 13th._ Landed all our corn, and made a clear hole of the +prize. At 9 P.M. it began to thunder & lighten very hard. Our sloop +received great damage from a thunderbolt that struck our mast & shivered +it very much, besides tearing a large piece off the hounds. As it fell, +it tore up the bitts, broke in the hatch way, and burst through both our +sides, starting the planks under her wale, melting several cutlasses & +pistols, and firing off several small arms, the bullets of which stuck +in her beam. It was some time before we perceived that she leaked, being +all thunder struck; but when the Master stepped over the side to examine +her, he put his foot on a plank that was started, and all this time the +water had been pouring in. We immediately brought all our guns on the +other side to give her a heel, & sent the boat ashore for the Doctor, +a man having been hurt by the lightning. When we got her on a heel, +we tried the pumps, not being able to do it before, for our careful +carpenter had ne'er a pump box rigged or fit to work; so, had it not +been for the kind assistance of the man of war's people, who came off as +soon as they heard of our misfortune, & put our guns on board the prize, +we must certainly have sunk, most of our own hands being ashore. This +day, James Avery, our boatswain, was turned out for neglect of duty. + +_Friday, 14th._ This morning came on board Cap't Frankland to see the +misfortune we had suffered the night before, & offered to assist us +in all he could. He sent his carpenter, who viewed the mast & said he +thought he could make it do again. The Cap't, hearing of a piece of +timber for his purpose, waited on his Excellency to desire him to lay +his commands on Mr Thompson to spare it him. He sent Mr Scott, Judge of +the Admiralty, to get it in his name, promising to make it good to him +in case of any trouble arising from the timber not belonging to him. +Unloaded all our provisions & put them on board the prize, in order to +get ready for the carpenters to repair the sloop. + +_Saturday, 15th._ A court was called at 4 o'clock P.M., Cap't Norton's +petition read, and an agent appointed for the owners. The Company's +Quartermaster & myself were examined, with John Evergin & Samuel +Eldridge, the two English prisoners, concerning the prize, and so the +court was adjourned till Monday, at 10 of the clock, A.M. + +_Monday, 17th._ The court met according to adjournment. Jean Baptiste +Domas was examined concerning the freedom of the prisoners, and his +deposition taken in writing. All the evidence and depositions were then +read in court, sworn to, and signed, after which the court adjourned to +Wednesday at 10 of the clock. There are no lawyers in this place, the +only blessing that God could bestow on such a litigious people. + +_Wednesday, 19th._ At 10 A.M., the court being opened, & the libel read, +I begged leave of his Honour to be heard, which being granted, I spoke +as follows:[A]-- + +[Footnote A: The speech of Peter Vezian is characteristic of the times +and of the privateering spirit. It gives expression to the popular +hatred of the Spaniards and the Romanists, to the common false charges +against the brave Oglethorpe, to the general inhuman feeling toward +negroes, and to the distrust of the pretenders to religious experience +during the "Great Revival" under the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. +Its faults of diction add to its genuine flavor.] + +May it please your Honour,--As there is no advocate appointed by this +Hon'ble Court to appear in behalf of the Capturers of a sloop taken +by Don Pedro Estrado July the 5th, belonging to some of His Majesty's +subjects of Great Britain or Ireland, and retaken by Cap't Benj. Norton +& Comp'y in a private sloop of war called the Revenge, July the 20th, & +brought into this court for condemnation, I, as Captain's Quartermaster, +appear in behalf of the owners, Cap't, & Comp'y, to prove that the said +sloop & cargo, together with the three mulattoes & one negro, which are +all slaves, belonging to some of the vassals or subjects of the King of +Spain, ought to be condemned for the benefit & use of the capturers as +aforesaid. + +I'm certain I'm undertaking a task for which I am no ways qualified. But +as I have leave to speak in a court instituted by the laws of England, +and before a judge who I am certain is endued with the strictest honour +and justice, I don't doubt, that, if, through ignorance, I should omit +any proof that would be of advantage to us, your Honour will be so good +as to aid & assist me in it. + +It will be needless, I believe, Sir, to bring any further proof than +what has been already brought & sworn to in Court to prove the right & +power we had to seize this sloop & cargo on the high seas, & bring her +here for condemnation. There is a late act of parliament, made in the +12th year of his present Majesty's reign, wherein it says, that all +vessels belonging to His Majesty's subjects of Great Britain or Ireland, +which shall have been taken by the enemy, and have been in their +possession the space of 96 hours, if retaken by any private man of +war, shall belong one half to the capturers, as salvage, free from all +charges. As this has been fully proved in court, that the time the enemy +has had her in possession is above 96 hours, I don't doubt but the one +half, free of all charges, will be allotted us for salvage. The thing +about which there is any dispute is the three mulattoes & one negro, all +slaves, taken by the prize, & said to belong to some vassals or subjects +of the King of Spain; and it is put upon us by this court to prove +that they are so, which I hope to do by several circumstances, and the +insufficiency of the evidence in their favour, which amounts to nothing +more than hearsay. + +The first evidence in their favour is that of John Evergin, a native +of N'o Carolina, who professes himself to be a child of the Spirit. In +April last, having been taken prisoner by the said Don Pedro Estrado, & +brought to S't Augustine, he consented, for the value of a share in the +profits, to pilot them in the bowels of his native country, and betrayed +his countrymen to that cruel and barbarous nation. Can your Honour +confide in a man who has betrayed his countrymen, robbed them of their +lives, and what was dearer to them, their liberty? One who has exposed +his brethren to imminent danger & reduced them and their families to +extreme want by fire & sword, can the evidence, I say, of such a vile +wretch, who has forfeited his liege to his King by entering the enemy's +service, and unnaturally sold his countrymen, be of any weight in a +court of justice? No, I am certain, and I hope it will meet with none to +prove that these slaves are freemen; for all that he has said, by his +own confession, was only but hearsay. The other evidence is of a villain +of another stamp, a French runnagado, Jean Baptiste Domas. His evidence +is so contradictory that I hope it will meet the same fate as I think +will befall the first. I will own that he has sworn to it. But how? On a +piece of stick made in the shape of a thing they name a cross, said to +be blest and sanctified by the polluted words & hands of a wretched +priest, a spawn of the whore of Babylon, who is a monster of nature & +a servant to the Devil, who for a _real_ will pretend to absolve his +followers from perjury, incest, or parricide, and canonize them for +cruelties committed upon we heretics, as they style us, and even rank +them in the number of those cursed saints who by their barbarity have +rendered their names immortal & odious to all true believers. By devils +such as these they swear, and to them they pray. Can your Honour, then, +give credit to such evidence, when there is no doubt that it was agreed +between the witnesses to swear that the negroes were free? This they +might easily do, for there is no question but they told him so; and to +swear it was but a trifle, when absolution can be got so cheap. It does +not stand to reason, that slaves, who are in hopes of getting their +freedom, would acknowledge themselves to be slaves. Do not their +complexion and features tell all the world that they are the blood of +negroes, and have sucked slavery & cruelty from their infancy? Can any +one think, when we call to mind that barbarous action[B] committed +on his Majesty's brave subjects at the retaking of the fort at S't +Augustine, which was occasioned by the treachery of their vile General, +when he sacrificed them to that barbarous colour, that it was done by +any who had the least drop of blood either of liberty or Christianity +in them? No, I am confident your Honour can't think so; no, not even of +their Gov'r, under whose vile commission this was suffered to be done, +and went unpunished. It was headed by this Francisco, that cursed seed +of Cain, cursed from the foundation of the world, who has the impudence +to come into Court and plead that he is free. Slavery is too good for +such a savage; nay, all the cruelty invented by man will never make +amends for so vile a proceeding; and if I may be allowed to speak +freely, with submission, the torments of the world to come will not +suffice. God forgive me, if I judge unjustly! What a miserable state +must that man be in, who is under the jurisdiction of that vile & cruel +colour! I pity my poor fellow creatures who may have been made prisoners +in this war, and especially some that were lately sent to the Havanah, +and all by the treachery of that vile fellow, John Evergin, who says he +is possessed with the spirit of the inward man, but was possessed with +the spirit of Beelzebub, when he piloted the cursed Spaniards over the +bar of Obricock, as it has been proved in Court. + +[Footnote B: It was reported that the English and American prisoners of +war had been barbarously mutilated and tortured.] + +I don't doubt but this tragical act, acted at St Augustine, has reached +home before now. This case, perhaps, may travel as far; and when they +remember the sufferings of their countrymen under the command of this +Francisco, whom we have got in possession, together with some of his +comp'y who were concerned with him & under his command in that inhuman +act, they will agree, no doubt, as I hope your Honour will, that they +must be slaves who were concerned in it. I hope, therefore, that by the +contradictions which have been shown in Court between this Jean Baptiste +Domas, who affirms he never saw them till on board the privateer, and +the evidence of Francisco & Augustine, which proves that they knew him +some months before, and conversed with him, is proof enough they are +slaves; and I hope that by the old law of nations, where it says that +all prisoners of war, nay, even their posterity, are slaves, that by +that law Pedro Sanche & Andrew Estavie will be deemed such for the use +of the capturers. So I rest it with your Honour. + +Then the Judge gave his decree, that the sloop & cargo should be sold at +vendue, & the one half thereof should be paid the Capturers for salvage, +free from all charges; that Jean Baptiste Domas, Pedro Sanche, & Andrew +Estavie, according to the laws of England, should remain as prisoners of +war till ransomed; and that Augustine & Francisco, according to the +laws of the plantations, should be the slaves, & for the use of the +Capturers. So the Court broke up. + +_Friday, 21st._ This day made an end of selling the cargo of the prize. +Sold 55 bush. corn, 41 bb's pork, 6 bb's of beef, 4 bb's of oil, and +then set up Signor Cap't Francisco under the name of Don Blass. He was +sold to Mr. Stone for 34£ 8s. 8d. Pork & beef very much damnified. + +_Thursday, 27th._ Got all our sails & powder from on shore, and took an +inventory of the prize's rigging and furniture, as she was to be sold on +Saturday next. Capt Frankland came on board to view her, intending to +buy her, I believe. + +_Saturday, 29th._ To-day the sloop & furniture was sold, & bought by +Cap't Frankland. + +_Monday, 31st._ The captain settled with everybody, intending to sail +to-morrow. He took bills of Exchange of Capt Frankland on his brother, +Messrs. Frankland & Lightfoot, merchants in Boston, and endorsed by the +Company's Quartermaster, for 540£, New England currency. The first bill +he sent to Cap't Freebody by Capt Green, bound to Boston in the prize, +with a letter. + +_Wednesday, Sept. 2nd._ This morning at 8 A.M. weighed anchor, having a +pilot on board. The man of war's barge with their Lieut came on board to +search our hold & see that we did not carry any of his hands with us. + +_Thursday, 3d._ At 10 A.M. had a vendue at the mast of the plunder taken +in the prize, which was sold to the amount of 50£. + +_Friday, 4th._ Moderate weather till 4 A.M., when we hauled down our +mainsail to get clear of the keys & brought to under our ballast +mainsail, the wind blowing a mere hurricane. + +_Sunday, 6th._ Out both reefs our mainsail. Hope to God to have fine +weather. Got clear of the reefs, and stood out the hurricane, which +was terrible. Very few godly enough to return God thanks for their +deliverance. + +_Sunday, 13th._ The Captain gave the people a case bottle of rum, as a +tropick bottle for his pinnace. The people christened her and gave +her the name of _The Spaniard's Dread_. At 11 A.M. made the land of +Hispaniola & the island of Tortugas. We are now on cruising ground. The +Lord send us success against our enemies! + +_Monday, 14th._ Hard gales of wind. Brought to off Tortugas under our +foresail, and about 5 A.M. saw a sloop bearing down upon us. Got all +things ready to receive her, fired our bow chaser, hoisted our jib & +mainsail & gave chase, and, as we outsailed her, she was soon brought +to. She proved to be a sloop from Philadelphia, bound to Jamaica; and +as it blew a mere fret of wind from N.E., we brought to again under our +ballast mainsail. + +_Thursday, 17th._ Still cruising as above. At 7 P.M. saw 2 sloops, one +on our Starboard and the other on our Larboard bow, steering N.W. We +fired several shot to bring them to, but one of them was obstinate. +Capt. Hubbard, the Com'r of the other, came to at the first shot. He was +from Jamaica & bound to York, & informed us that there was a large fleet +just arrived from England to join the Admiral; that Admiral Vernon was +gone to St. Jago de Cuba; that there was a hot press both by sea & by +land; & that the Spanish Admiral was blown up in a large man of war at +the Havanah, which we hope may prove true. The other sloop, he said, was +one under Cap't Styles, bound also to York, and had sailed in comp'y +with him. Styles received some damage for his obstinacy in not bringing +to, for our shot hulled him and tore his sails. At 5 A.M. saw a top +sail schooner; but the master, while going to the mast head to see what +course she steered, had the misfortune to fall & break his arm just +above the wrist. Gave the vessel chase as far as Inagua Island, when she +came to. We made the Captain come on board with his papers, from which +we found that he came from Leogane, and was bound to Nantz in France, +loaded with sugars, indigo, and hides, and also 300 pieces of 8/8 sent +by the Intendant to the receiver of the customs of Nantz. We went aboard +in the Captain's yawl, and found the cargo agreeable to his bills of +lading, manifest, and clearance, and so let him pass. He informed us +that there was a brig belonging to the Spaniards at Leogane, that came +in there in distress, having lost his mast, which gentleman we hope to +have the honour of dining or supping with before long. + +_Saturday, 19th._ Moderate weather. Saw a sail and gave chase. + +_Sunday, 20th._ At 5 P.M. came up with the chase, which proved to be a +French ship that had been blown out of Leogane in the hurricane 6 days +ago. Her mizzen mast had been cut to get clear of the land; her quarters +stove in; her head carried away; and there was neither anchor nor cable +aboard. Of 16 hands, which were aboard, there was but one sailor, and he +was the master, and they were perishing for want of water. There was +on board 30 hhd sugar, 1 hhd & 1 bbl indigo, 13 hhd Bourdeaux wine, & +provisions in plenty. We ordered the master on board, and, as soon as he +came over the side, he fell on his knees and begged for help. When we +heard his deplorable case, we spared him some water, &, as he was an +entire stranger on the coast, put one of our hands aboard to navigate +his vessel. They kept company with us all night, and in the morning sent +us a hhd of wine. At 5 A.M., they being about a league to windward of +us, we made in for the Molo by Cape Nicholas, and she steering after us, +we brought her in. But the wind coming up ahead, & their ship out of +trim, they could not work up so far as we, so they came to an anchor a +league below us. The Cap't of the ship is named Doulteau, the ship La +Genereuse, Dutch built, and is from Rochelle in France. + +_Monday, 21st._ Our Lieu't with two hands went ashore to see if he could +kill any cattle. Some others of the people went for water and found 7 +wells. The people on board were busy in fishing, of which they caught +an abundance; but some of the hands who eat of the fish complained that +they were poisoned by them. + +_Wednesday, 23d._ At 6 P.M. the master of the ship came on board to +return thanks to our Cap't for his kind assistance, & offered him +anything he might have occasion for. He gave the people another hhd of +claret & some sugar, & to the Cap't a quarter cask of wine for his own +drinking, also 6 lengths of old junk. At 6 A.M. left the poor Frenchman +in hopes of letting his Cap't know where he was, weighed anchor from the +Molo, and, the weather being moderate, got on our cruising ground, the +North side of Cuba. + +_Saturday, 26th._ About 5 P.M. thought we saw a vessel at anchor under +the land. Lay off & on till 5 A.M., when we saw 2 sails, a brigantine & +a sloop. Gave them chase, the sloop laying to for us, & the brigantine +making the best of her way to the leeward. We presently came up with +the sloop, & when in gun shot, hoisted our pennant. The compliment was +returned with a Spanish ensign at mast head, and a gun to confirm it. We +then went alongside of him & received his broadside, which we cheerfully +returned. He then dropped astern, & bore away before the wind, crowding +all the sail he could, and we, having tacked and done the like, came +again within gun shot. While chasing, we shifted our bow guns to our +fore ports, and they had done the like with their after guns, moving +them to their cabin windows, from which they polled us with their stern +chasers, while we peppered them with our fore guns. At last, after some +brisk firing, they struck. We ordered their canoe on board, which was +directly manned, and brought their Capt, who delivered his commission & +sword to our Cap't, and surrendered himself a prisoner of war. He was +desperately wounded in the arm, & had received several small shot in his +head & body. Three of his hands were wounded, & one negro boy killed. +This vessel had been new fitted out in November last from the Havanah, +was on our coast early in the spring, & had taken several vessels and +brought them in to the Havanah, where in August she was again fitted +out, and had met with good success on the coast of Virginia. She +mounted 6 guns & 12 swivels, & had a crew of 30 hands, two of whom were +Englishmen, who had been taken prisoners, and had entered their service. +We now made all the sail we could crowd after the brigantine, which by +this time was almost out of sight. Our damage in the engagement was +not much; one man slightly wounded by a splinter, two more by a piece +accidentally going off after the fight, upwards of 20 shot in our sails, +2 through our mast, & 1 through our gunwale. This day the Revenge has +established her honour, which had almost been lost by letting the other +privateer go off with 4 ships, as before mentioned. Still in chase of +the brigantine, which is making for the land. + +_Sunday, 27th._ At 4 A.M. came up with the chase, fired two guns, & +brought her to. She had been taken by the privateer 23 days before, in +Lat. 26.° N., while coming from Barbadoes; was loaded with rum, sugar, & +some bags of cotton, & was bound to Boston. Her owners are Messrs. Lee & +Tyler, Merchants there, Thomas Smith was her commander, & there were 5 +Spaniards aboard, whom we took. + +_Monday, 28th._ Put the Lieut on board the privateer prize with 7 hands; +also put on board the brigantine Capt Tho. Smith, with verbal orders to +follow us until we could get letters written to send her to Rhode Island +to Cap't Freebody. + +_Tuesday, 29th._ Lost sight of both prizes, & lay to the best part of +the forenoon to let them come up with us. + +_Wednesday, 30th._ Saw our prize, [the sloop,] bore down on her, & +ordered her canoe on board. The Quartermaster went on board & brought +off her powder & other stores, leaving 7 hands to navigate her, with +verbal orders to keep us company. No news of the brigantine; we suppose +she is gone to the northward. She has one of our hands on board. + +_Thursday, Oct. 1st._ Calm weather, with thunder & rain. Brave living +with our people. Punch every day, which makes them dream strange things, +which foretells good success in our cruise. They dream of nothing but +mad bulls, Spaniards, & bags of gold. Examined the papers of the sloop, +& found several in Spanish & French, among which was the condemnation of +Cap't Stocking's sloop. + +_Friday, 2nd._ At 6 A.M. saw a ship under the land. Stretched in for +her, when she hoisted a French pennant & an English ensign. Hoisted our +Spanish Jack at mast head, and sent our pinnace aboard to discover what +it was. She proved to be a ship that had been taken by Don Francisco +Loranzo, our prisoner, off the Capes of Virginia. He had put a Lieu't, +10 hands, & 5 Englishmen to carry her to the Havanah. But the Spaniards +ran her ashore on purpose. We brought off the 5 Englishmen, the +Spaniards having run for it. We caught one & brought him on board, and +sent our prize alongside to save what goods we could, for the ship was +bilged. + +_Saturday, 3d._ The people busy in getting goods out of the ship, we +laying off & on. + +_Sunday, 4th._ Sent John Webb as master with 7 mariners on board the +prize, & with them a Bermudian negro, who had been taken prisoner in a +fishing boat by the Spanish Cap't off the Bermudas, & a mulatto prisoner +belonging to the Spaniards, with the instructions which are underneath. + +Latitude 22.° 50' N., Oct. 4th, 1741. + +MR. JOHN WEBB, + +You being appointed master of the sloop Invincible, late a Spanish +privateer, commanded by Cap't Don Francisco Loranzo, and taken by me & +company, we order you to keep company with us till farther orders. But +if, by some unforeseen accident, bad weather, or giving chase, we should +chance to part, then we order that you proceed directly with said sloop +& cargo to Rhode Island in New England. And if, by the Providence +of God, you safe arrive there, you must apply to Mr. John Freebody, +Merchant there, & deliver your sloop & cargo to him or his assigns. + +You are also ordered to take care that you speak to no vessel, nor +suffer any to speak with you, during your passage, nor permit any +disorder on board; but you must take a special care of the cargo that +none be embezzled, and, if weather permits, you must be diligent in +drying the goods, to hinder them from spoiling. Wishing you a good +voyage, we remain your friends. + +B.N. + +D.M. + +Copy of a letter sent to Capt Freebody per John Webb in the sloop. + +SIR,--I hope my sundry letters sent you by different hands are come +safe. + +This waits upon you with the agreeable news of our taking a Spanish +privateer on the 26th Sep't last, off Cape Roman, on the north side of +Cuba. She was conveying to the Havanah a brigantine which she had taken, +coming from Barbadoes & bound to Boston, & laden with rum, sugar, and +some bags of cotton. We had the pleasure of meeting him early in the +morning, & gave chase. When within about a mile of him we hoisted our +pennant, which compliment he immediately returned with his ensign at +mast head and a gun to confirm it. We received several shot from him, & +cheerfully returned them. He then made the best of his way off, crowding +all the sail he could; and we, doing the like, came again within gun +shot, and plied her with our bow chasers, which were shifted to the fore +ports for that purpose. They in return kept pelting us with their stern +chasers out of their cabin windows, but after some brisk firing they +struck. Our rigging, mast, & gunwale received some damage. Upwards of 25 +shot went through our sails, 2 through our mast in its weakest part just +below where it was fished, 1 cut our fore shroud on the Larboard side, & +another went through our Starboard gunwale, port & all. Only one of our +men was wounded by the enemy, and he slightly by a splinter. Two +others were hurt in the arm by one of the people's pieces going off +accidentally after the engagement. The poor Cap't of the privateer was +wounded in the arm and the bone fractured, one negro boy killed, +& others wounded. He was fitted out last November at the Havanah, +proceeded to S't. Augustine, & while on our coast early in the spring +took several vessels. In August last he was again fitted out, & had +taken several more vessels on our coast. But we had the good fortune to +stop his course. His name is Don Francisco Loranzo, & by all report, +though an enemy, a brave man, endued with a great deal of clemency, & +using his prisoners with a great deal of humanity. The like usage he +receives with us, for he justly deserves it. + +We have sent you the sloop commanded by John Webb, loaded with sundry +goods somewhat damaged, which I must desire you to unload directly & to +take care to get them dried. There is also a negro boy that is sickly, +a negro man said to have been taken off Bermudas by the privateer as he +was a fishing, & a mulatto belonging to some of the subjects or vassals +of the King of Spain, all of which we recommend to your care that they +may not elope. + +The number of Spanish prisoners taken on board, the Captain included, +is 48, out of which 11 are of the blood of negroes, for which we don't +doubt that we shall have his Majesty's bounty money, which is 5£ +sterling per head. We also desire that the vessel may not be condemned +till our arrival, but only unloaded & a just account taken of what was +on board. As to the brigantine, the Captain of her, whom we put in again +out of civility, has used us in a very rascally manner; for he ran away +from us in the night with the vessel, & no doubt designed to cheat us +out of our salvage, which is the half of brig & cargo, the enemy having +had possession of her for 22 days. As she is a vessel of value, I hope +you'l do your endeavors to recover our just dues, and apply to the +owners, who are, as we are credibly informed, Messrs Lee & Tyler of +Boston, both of whom are under the state of conviction since the gospel +of Whitfield & Tennant has been propagated in New England. So that we +are in hopes they will readily give a just account of her cargo & her +true value, & render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, which is +the moral preached by Whitefield. + +As this will require a lawsuit, I hope you will get the best advice you +possibly can, &, if she is at Boston or elsewhere, get her seized & +condemned. She was designed to be consigned to you, & the master was +sent on board to take possession, & get things in order to sail, while +we were writing letters & bills of lading, but he gave us the slip. So, +relying on your care, we don't doubt but you will recover her and +add her to the privateer prize. The brigantine was called the Sarah, +commanded by Tho's Smith, & had on board 11 hhd of rum, 23 hhd of sugar, +& 12 bags of cotton. She was well fitted with 4 swivels, one gun, & +other stores. She was a new, pink stern vessel, & carried off one of our +hands, who, no doubt, will acquaint you of the whole affair. We hope +you will show no favour to the Cap't for his ill usage, but get a just +account of his venture, one half of which is our due. This affair is +recommended to you by all the company, and we hope that you will serve +us to the utmost of your power, not doubting in the least of your +justice & equity. + +Inclosed you will receive Cap't Frankland's 2 Bills of Exchange on +his brother for 540£, also a list of the vessels which were taken by +Francisco Loranzo since he first went out on his cruise, which you may +use at pleasure either to publish or conceal. We are still cruising on +the Northern side of Cuba, & are in hopes of getting something worth +while in a short time. + +We are all in good health; so, having no more to add but my kind +remembrances to all friends, + +I remain + +sincerely yours, + +B.N. + +_Monday, 5th._ The company gave the Cap't a night gown, a spencer wig, & +4 pair of thread stockings, & to the Lieut a pair of buck skin breeches. +The Doctor bought a suit of broad cloth, which cost him 28 pieces of +eight and is carried to his account in the sloop's ledger. + + * * * * * + +Here Peter Vezian's journal abruptly comes to an end. But we know from +other papers, that the "Revenge," after a successful cruise, returned +safely to Newport; and thence in the next succeeding years often sailed +out against the Spaniards. Queer legends of those privateering days +still linger in Newport, and traces of ill-gotten wealth may still +be discovered there. The sailors of the old seaport are as bold and +adventurous as ever, but they are grown honester, and never again shall +a crew be found there to man either slave-trader or privateer. Northern +seamen have no liking for such occupation. + + + + +CONCERNING PEOPLE OF WHOM MORE MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE. + + +It is recorded in history, that at a certain public dinner in America +a Methodist preacher was called on to give a toast. It may be supposed +that the evening was so far advanced that every person present had been +toasted already, and also all the friends of every one present. It thus +happened that the Methodist preacher was in considerable perplexity as +to the question, What being, or class of beings, should form the subject +of his toast. But the good man was a person of large sympathies; and +some happy link of association recalled to his mind certain words with +which he had a professional familiarity, and which set forth a subject +of a most comprehensive character. Arising from his seat, the Methodist +preacher said, that, without troubling the assembled company with any +preliminary observations, he begged to propose the health of ALL PEOPLE +THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL. + +Not unnaturally, I have thought of that Methodist preacher and his +toast, as I begin to write this essay. For, though its subject was +suggested to me by various little things of very small concern to +mankind in general, though of great interest to one or two individual +beings, I now discern that the subject of this essay is in truth as +comprehensive as the subject of that toast. I have something to say +_Concerning People of whom More might have been Made_: I see now that +the class which I have named includes every human being. More might have +been made, in some respects, possibly in many respects, of _All +People that on Earth do Dwell_. Physically, intellectually, morally, +spiritually, more might have been made of all. Wise and diligent +training on the part of others, self-denial, industry, tact, decision, +promptitude, on the part of the man himself, might have made something +far better than he now is of every man that breathes. No one is made the +most of. There have been human beings who have been made the most of as +regards some one thing, who have had some single power developed to the +utmost; but no one is made the most of, all round; no one is even made +the most of as regards the two or three most important things of all. +And, indeed, it is curious to observe that the things in which human +beings seem to have attained to absolute perfection have for the most +part been things comparatively frivolous,--accomplishments which +certainly were not worth the labor and the time which it must have cost +to master them. Thus, M. Blondin has probably made as much of himself as +can be made of mortal, in the respect of walking on a rope stretched at +a great height from the ground. Hazlitt makes mention of a man who had +cultivated to the very highest degree the art of playing at rackets, and +who accordingly played at rackets incomparably better than any one else +ever did. A wealthy gentleman, lately deceased, by putting his whole +mind to the pursuit, esteemed himself to have reached entire perfection +in the matter of killing otters. Various individuals have probably +developed the power of turning somersets, of picking pockets, of +playing on the piano, jew's-harp, banjo, and penny trumpet, of mental +calculation in arithmetic, of insinuating evil about their neighbors +without directly asserting anything, to a measure as great as is +possible to man. Long practice and great concentration of mind upon +these things have sufficed to produce what might seem to tremble on the +verge of perfection,--what unquestionably leaves the attainments of +ordinary people at an inconceivable distance behind. But I do not call +it making the most of a man, to develop, even to perfection, the power +of turning somersets and playing at rackets. I call it making the most +of a man, when you make the best of his best powers and qualities,--when +you take those things about him which are the worthiest and most +admirable, and cultivate these up to their highest attainable degree. +And it is in this sense that the statement is to be understood, that +no one is made the most of. Even in the best, we see no more than the +rudiments of good qualities which might have been developed into a great +deal more; and in very many human beings, proper management might have +brought out qualities essentially different from those which these +beings now possess. It is not merely that they are rough diamonds, which +might have been polished into blazing ones,--not merely that they are +thoroughbred colts drawing coal-carts, which with fair training would +have been new Eclipses: it is that they are vinegar which might have +been wine, poison which might have been food, wild-cats which might have +been harmless lambs, soured miserable wretches who might have been happy +and useful, almost devils who might have been but a little lower than +the angels. Oh, the unutterable sadness that is in the thought of what +might have been! + +Not always, indeed. Sometimes, as we look back, it is with deep +thankfulness that we see the point at which we were (we cannot say how) +inclined to take the right turning, when we were all but resolved to +take that which we can now see would have landed us in wreck and ruin. +And it is fit that we should correct any morbid tendency to brood upon +the fancy of how much better we might have been, by remembering also how +much worse we might have been. Sometimes the present state of matters, +good or bad, is the result of long training, of influences that were at +work through many years, and that produced their effect so gradually +that we never remarked the steps of the process, till some day we waken +up to a sense of the fact, and find ourselves perhaps a great deal +better, probably a great deal worse, than we had been vaguely imagining. +But the case is not unfrequently otherwise. Sometimes one testing-time +decided whether we should go to the left or to the right. There are in +the moral world things analogous to the sudden accident which makes a +man blind or lame for life: in an instant there is wrought a permanent +deterioration. Perhaps a few minutes before man or woman took the step +which can never be retraced, which must banish forever from all they +hold dear, and compel to seek in some new country far away a place where +to hide their shame and misery, they had just as little thought of +taking that miserable step as you, my reader, have of taking one like +it. And perhaps there are human beings in this world, held in the +highest esteem, and with not a speck on their snow-white reputation, who +know within themselves that they have barely escaped the gulf, that +the moment has been in which all their future lot was trembling in the +balance, and that a grain's weight more in the scale of evil and by this +time they might have been reckoned among the most degraded and abandoned +of the race. But probably the first deviation, either to right or left, +is in most cases a very small one. You know, my friend, what is meant by +the _points_ upon a railway. By moving a lever, the rails upon which the +train is advancing are, at a certain place, broadened or narrowed by +about the eighth of an inch. That little movement decides whether +the train shall go north or south. Twenty carriages have come so far +together; but here is a junction station, and the train is to be +divided. The first ten carriages deviate from the main line by a +fraction of an inch at first; but in a few minutes the two portions of +the train are flying on, miles apart. You cannot see the one from the +other, save by distant puffs of white steam through the clumps of trees. +Perhaps already a high hill has intervened, and each train is on its +solitary way,--one to end its course, after some hours, amid the roar +and smoke and bare ugliness of some huge manufacturing town; and the +other to come through green fields to the quaint, quiet, dreamy-looking +little city, whose place is marked, across the plain, by the noble spire +of the gray cathedral rising into the summer blue. We come to such +points in our journey through life,--railway-points, as it were, which +decide not merely our lot in life, but even what kind of folk we shall +be, morally and intellectually. A hair's breadth may make the deviation +at first. Two situations are offered you at once: you think there is +hardly anything to choose between them. It does not matter which you +accept; and perhaps some slight and fanciful consideration is allowed to +turn the scale. But now you look back, and you can see that _there_ was +the turning-point in your life; it was because you went there to the +right, and not to the left, that you are now a great English prelate, +and not a humble Scotch professor. Was there not a time in a certain +great man's life, at which the lines of rail diverged, and at which the +question was settled, Should he be a minister of the Scotch Kirk, or +should he be Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain? I can imagine a +stage in the history of a lad in a counting-house, at which the little +angle of rail may be pushed in or pushed back that shall send the train +to one of two places five hundred miles asunder: it may depend upon +whether he shall take or not take that half-crown, whether, thirty years +after, he shall be taking the chair, a rubicund baronet, at a missionary +society meeting, and receive the commendations of philanthropic peers +and earnest bishops, or be laboring in chains at Norfolk Island, a +brutalized, cursing, hardened, scourge-scarred, despairing wretch, +without a hope for this life or the other. Oh, how much may turn upon a +little thing! Because the railway train in which you were coming to a +certain place was stopped by a snowstorm, the whole character of your +life may have been changed. Because some one was in the drawing-room +when you went to see Miss Smith on a certain day, resolved to put to her +a certain question, you missed the tide, you lost your chance, you went +away to Australia and never saw her more. It fell upon a day that +a ship, coming from Melbourne, was weathering a rocky point on an +iron-bound coast, and was driven close upon that perilous shore. They +tried to put her about; it was the last chance. It was a moment of awful +risk and decision. If the wind catches the sails, now shivering as the +ship comes up, on the right side, then all on board are safe. If the +wind catches the sails on the other side, then all on board must perish. +And so it all depends upon which surface of certain square yards of +canvas the uncertain breeze shall strike, whether John Smith, who is +coming home from the diggings with twenty thousand pounds, shall go +down and never be heard of again by his poor mother and sisters away in +Scotland,--or whether he shall get safely back, a rich man, to gladden +their hearts, and buy a pretty little place, and improve the house on it +into the pleasantest picture, and purchase, and ride, and drive various +horses, and be seen on market-days sauntering in the High Street of the +county-town, and get married, and run about the lawn before his door, +chasing his little children, and become a decent elder of the Church, +and live quietly and happily for many years. Yes, from what precise +point of the compass the next flaw of wind should come would decide the +question between the long homely life in Scotland and a nameless burial +deep in a foreign sea. + +It seems to me to be one of the main characteristics of human beings, +not that they actually are much, but that they are something of which +much may be made. There are untold potentialities in human nature. The +tree cut down, concerning which its heathen owner debated whether he +should make it into a god or into a three-legged stool, was positively +nothing in its capacity of coming to different ends and developments, +when we compare it with each human being born into this world. Man is +not so much a thing already, as he is the germ of something. He is, +so to speak, material formed to the hand of circumstances. He is +essentially a germ, either of good or evil. And he is not like the seed +of a plant, in whose development the tether allows no wider range than +that between the more or less successful manifestation of its inherent +nature. Give a young tree fair play, good soil and abundant air,--tend +it carefully, in short, and you will have a noble tree. Treat the young +tree unfairly,--give it a bad soil, deprive it of needful air and light, +and it will grow up a stunted and poor tree. But in the case of the +human being, there is more than this difference in degree. There may be +a difference in kind. The human being may grow up to be, as it were, +a fair and healthful fruit-tree, or to be a poisonous one. There is +something positively awful about the potentialities that are in +human nature. The Archbishop of Canterbury might have grown up under +influences which would have made him a bloodthirsty pirate or a sneaking +pickpocket. The pirate or the pickpocket, taken at the right time, and +trained in the right way, might have been made a pious, exemplary man. +You remember that good divine, two hundred years since, who, standing in +the market-place of a certain town, and seeing a poor wretch led by him +to the gallows, said, "There goes myself, but for the grace of God." Of +course, it is needful that human laws should hold all men as equally +responsible. The punishment of such an offence is such an infliction, no +matter who committed the offence. At least the mitigating circumstances +which human laws can take into account must be all of a very plain and +intelligible character. It would not do to recognize anything like a +graduated scale of responsibility. A very bad training in youth would be +in a certain limited sense regarded as lessening the guilt of any wrong +thing done; and you may remember, accordingly, how that magnanimous +monarch, Charles II., urged to the Scotch lords, in extenuation of the +wrong things he had done, that his father had given him a very bad +education. But though human laws and judges may vainly and clumsily +endeavor to fix each wrongdoer's place in the scale of responsibility, +and though they must, in a rough way, do what is rough justice in five +cases out of six, still we may well believe that in the view of the +Supreme Judge the responsibilities of men are most delicately graduated +to their opportunities. There is One who will appreciate with entire +accuracy the amount of guilt that is in each wrong deed of each +wrong-doer, and mercifully allow for such as never had a chance of being +anything but wrong-doers. And it will not matter whether it was from +original constitution or from unhappy training that these poor creatures +never had that chance. I was lately quite astonished to learn that some +sincere, but stupid American divines have fallen foul of the eloquent +author of "Elsie Venner," and accused him of fearful heresy, because he +declared his confident belief that "God would never make a man with a +crooked spine and then punish him for not standing upright." Why, that +statement of the "Autocrat" appears to me at least as certain as that +two and two make four. It may, indeed, contain some recondite and +malignant reference which the stupid American divines know, and which +I do not; it may be a mystic Shibboleth, indicating far more than it +asserts; as at one time in Scotland it was esteemed as proof that a +clergyman preached unsound doctrine, if he made use of the Lord's +Prayer. But, understanding it simply as meaning that the Judge of all +the Earth will do right, it appears to me an axiom beyond all question. +And I take it as putting in a compact form the spirit of what I have +been arguing for,--to wit, that, though human law must of necessity hold +all rational beings as alike responsible, yet in the eye of God the +difference may be immense. The graceful vase, that stands in the +drawing-room under a glass shade, and never goes to the well, has no +great right to despise the rough pitcher that goes often and is broken +at last. It is fearful to think what malleable material we are in the +hands of circumstances. + +And a certain Authority, considerably wiser and incomparably more +charitable than the American divines already mentioned, recognized the +fact, when He taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation!" We shall +think, in a little while, of certain influences which may make or mar +the human being; but it may be said here that I firmly believe that +happiness is one of the best of disciplines. As a general rule, if +people were happier, they would be better. When you see a poor cabman +on a winter-day, soaked with rain, and fevered with gin, violently +thrashing the wretched horse he is driving, and perhaps howling at it, +you may be sure that it is just because the poor cabman is so miserable +that he is doing all that. It was a sudden glimpse, perhaps, of his bare +home and hungry children, and of the dreary future which lay before +himself and them, that was the true cause of those two or three furious +lashes you saw him deal upon the unhappy screw's ribs. Whenever I read +any article in a review, which is manifestly malignant, and intended not +to improve an author, but to give him pain, I cannot help immediately +wondering what may have been the matter with the man who wrote the +malignant article. Something must have been making him very unhappy, +I think. I do not allude to playful attacks upon a man, made in pure +thoughtlessness and buoyancy of spirit,--but to attacks which indicate a +settled, deliberate, calculating rancor. Never be angry with the man who +makes such an attack; you ought to be sorry for him. It is out of great +misery that malignity for the most part proceeds. To give the ordinary +mortal a fair chance, let him be reasonably successful and happy. Do not +worry a man into nervous irritability, and he will be amiable. Do not +dip a man in water, and he will not be wet. + +Of course, my friend, I know who is to you the most interesting of all +beings, and whose history is the most interesting of all histories. +_You_ are to yourself the centre of this world, and of all the interests +of this world. And this is quite right. + +There is no selfishness about all this, except that selfishness which +forms an essential element in personality,--that selfishness which must +go with the fact of one's having a self. You cannot help looking at all +things as they appear from your own point of view; and things press +themselves upon your attention and your feeling as they affect yourself. +And apart from anything like egotism, or like vain self-conceit, it is +probable that you may know that a great deal depends upon your exertion +and your life. There are those at home who would fare but poorly, if you +were just now to die. There are those who must rise with you, if you +rise, and sink with you, if you sink. Does it sometimes suddenly strike +you, what a little object you are, to have so much depending on you? +Vaguely, in your thinking and feeling, you add your circumstances +and your lot to your personality; and these make up an object of +considerable extension. You do so with other people as well as with +yourself. You have all their belongings as a background to the picture +of them which you have in your mind; and they look very little when +you see them in fact, because you see them without these belongings. +I remember, when a boy, how disappointed I was at first seeing the +Archbishop of Canterbury. It was Archbishop Howley. There he was, +a slender, pale old gentleman, sitting in an arm-chair at a public +meeting. I was chiefly disappointed, because there was _so little_ of +him. There was just the human being. There was no background of grand +accessories. The idea of the Primate of England which I had in some +confused manner in my mind included a vision of the venerable towers of +Lambeth,--of a long array of solemn predecessors, from Thomas à Becket +downwards,--of great historical occasions on which the Archbishop of +Canterbury had been a prominent figure; and in some way I fancied, +vaguely, that you would see the primate surrounded by all these things. +You remember the Highlander in "Waverley," who was much mortified when +his chief came to meet an English guest, unattended by any retinue, and +who exclaimed, in consternation and sorrow, "He has come without his +tail!" Even such was my early feeling. You understand later that +associations are not visible, and that they do not add to a man's +extension in space. But (to go back) you do, as regards yourself, what +you do as regards greater men: you add your lot to your personality, +and thus you make up a bigger object. And when you see yourself in your +tailor's shop, in a large mirror (one of a series) wherein you see your +figure all round, reflected several times, your feeling will probably +be, What a little thing you are! If you are a wise man, you will go away +somewhat humbled, and possibly somewhat the better for the sight. You +have, to a certain extent, done what Burns thought it would do all men +much good to do: you have "seen yourself as others see you." And even +to do so physically is a step towards a juster and humbler estimate of +yourself in more important things. It may here be said, as a further +illustration of the principle set forth, that people who stay very much +at home feel their stature, bodily and mental, much lessened when they +go far away from home, and spend a little time among strange scenes and +people. For, going thus away from home, you take only yourself. It is +but a small part of your extension that goes. You go; but you leave +behind your house, your study, your children, your servants, your +horses, your garden. And not only do you leave them behind, but they +grow misty and unsubstantial when you are far away from them. And +somehow you feel, that, when you make the acquaintance of a new friend +some hundreds of miles off, who never saw your home and your family, you +present yourself before him only a twentieth part or so of what you feel +yourself to be when you have all your belongings about you. Do you not +feel all that? And do you not feel, that, if you were to go away to +Australia forever, almost as the English coast turned blue and then +invisible on the horizon, your life in England would first turn +cloud-like, and then melt away? + +But without further discussing the philosophy of how it comes to be, I +return to the statement that you yourself, as you live in your home, are +to yourself the centre of this world,--and that you feel the force of +any great principle most deeply, when you feel it in your own case. +And though every worthy mortal must be often taken out of himself, +especially by seeing the deep sorrows and great failures of other men, +still, in thinking of people of whom more might have been made, it +touches you most to discern that you are one of these. It is a very sad +thing to think of yourself, and to see how much more might have been +made of you. Sit down by the fire in winter, or go out now in summer and +sit down under a tree, and look back on the moral discipline you have +gone through,--look back on what you have done and suffered. Oh, how +much better and happier you might have been! And how very near you have +often been to what would have made you so much happier and better! If +you had taken the other turning when you took the wrong one, after much +perplexity,--if you had refrained from saying such a hasty word,--if you +had not thoughtlessly made such a man your enemy! Such a little thing +may have changed the entire complexion of your life. Ah, it was because +the points were turned the wrong way at that junction, that you are now +running along a line of railway through wild moorlands, leaving the warm +champaign below ever more hopelessly behind. Hastily, or pettedly, +or despairingly, you took the wrong turning; or you might have been +dwelling now amid verdant fields and silver waters in the country of +contentment and success. Many men and women, in the temporary bitterness +of some disappointment, have hastily made marriages which will embitter +all their future life,--or which at least make it certain that in this +world they will never know a joyous heart any more. Men have died +as almost briefless barristers, toiling into old age in heartless +wrangling, who had their chance of high places on the bench, but +ambitiously resolved to wait for something higher, and so missed the +tide. Men in the church have taken the wrong path at some critical time, +and doomed themselves to all the pangs of disappointed ambition. But I +think a sincere man in the church has a great advantage over almost all +ordinary disappointed men. He has less temptation, reading affairs by +the light of after-time, to look back with bitterness on any mistake he +may have made. For, if he be the man I mean, he took the decisive step +not without seeking the best of guidance; and the whole training of his +mind has fitted him for seeing a higher Hand in the allotment of human +conditions. And if a man acted for the best, according to the light he +had, and if he truly believes that God puts all in their places in +life, he may look back without bitterness upon what may appear the +most grievous mistakes. I must be suffered to add, that, if he is able +heartily to hold certain great truths and to rest on certain sure +promises, hardly any conceivable earthly lot should stamp him a soured +or disappointed man. If it be a sober truth, that "all things shall work +together for good" to a certain order of mankind, and if the deepest +sorrows in this world may serve to prepare us for a better,--why, then, +I think that one might hold by a certain ancient philosopher (and +something more) who said, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, +therewith to be content." + + * * * * * + +You see, reader, that, in thinking of _People of whom More might have +been Made_, we are limiting the scope of the subject. I am not thinking +how more might have been made of us originally. No doubt, the potter +had power over the clay. Give a larger brain, of finer quality, and +the commonplace man might have been a Milton. A little change in the +chemical composition of the gray matter of that little organ which is +unquestionably connected with the mind's working as no other organ of +the body is, and, oh, what a different order of thought would have +rolled off from your pen, when you sat down and tried to write your +best! If we are to believe Robert Burns, some people have been made more +of than was originally intended. A certain poem records how that which, +in his homely phrase, he calls "stuff to mak' a swine," was ultimately +converted into a very poor specimen of a human being. The poet had no +irreverent intention, I dare say; but I am not about to go into the +field of speculation which is opened up by his words. I know, indeed, +that, in the hands of the Creator, each of us might have been made +a different man. The pounds of material which were fashioned into +Shakspeare might have made a bumpkin with little thought beyond pigs +and turnips, or, by some slight difference beyond man's skill to trace, +might have made an idiot. A little infusion of energy into the mental +constitution might have made the mild, pensive day-dreamer who is +wandering listlessly by the river-side, sometimes chancing upon noble +thoughts, which he does not carry out into action, and does not even +write down on paper, into an active worker, with Arnold's keen look, who +would have carved out a great career for himself, and exercised a real +influence over the views and conduct of numbers of other men. A very +little alteration in feature might have made a plain face into +a beautiful one; and some slight change in the position or the +contractibility of certain of the muscles might have made the most +awkward of manners and gaits into the most dignified and graceful. All +_that_ we all understand. But my present subject is the making which is +in circumstances after our natural disposition is fixed,--the training, +coming from a hundred quarters, which forms the material supplied by +Nature into the character which each of us actually bears. And setting +apart the case of great genius, whose bent towards the thing in which it +will excel is so strong that it will find its own field by inevitable +selection, and whose strength is such that no unfavorable circumstances +can hold it down, almost any ordinary human being may be formed into +almost any development. I know a huge massive beam of rough iron, which +supports a great weight. Whenever I pass it, I cannot help giving it a +pat with my hand, and saying to it, "You might have been hair-springs +for watches." I know an odd-looking little man attached to a certain +railway-station, whose business it is, when a train comes in, to go +round it with a large box of a yellow concoction and supply grease to +the wheels. I have often looked out of the carriage-window at that +odd little man and thought to myself, "Now you might have been a +chief-justice." And, indeed, I can say from personal observation that +the stuff ultimately converted into cabinet-ministers does not at an +early stage at all appreciably differ from that which never becomes more +than country-parsons. There is a great gulf between the human being who +gratefully receives a shilling, and touches his cap as he receives it, +and the human being whose income is paid in yearly or half-yearly sums, +and to whom a pecuniary tip would appear as an insult; yet, of course, +that great gulf is the result of training alone. John Smith the laborer, +with twelve shillings a week, and the bishop with eight thousand a +year, had, by original constitution, precisely the same kind of feeling +towards that much-sought, yet much-abused reality which provides the +means of life. Who shall reckon up by what millions of slight touches +from the hand of circumstance, extending over many years, the one man is +gradually formed into the giving of the shilling, and the other man into +the receiving of it with that touch of his hat? Who shall read back the +forming influences at work since the days in the cradle, that gradually +formed one man into sitting down to dinner, and another man into waiting +behind his chair? I think it would be occasionally a comfort, if one +could believe, as American planters profess to believe about their +slaves, that there is an original and essential difference between men; +for, truly, the difference in their positions is often so tremendous +that it is painful to think that it is the self-same clay and the +self-same common mind that are promoted to dignity and degraded to +servitude. And if _you_ sometimes feel _that_,--_you_, in whose favor +the arrangement tends,--what do you suppose your servants sometimes +think upon the subject? It was no wonder that the millions of Russia +were ready to grovel before their Czar, while they believed that he +was "an emanation from the Deity." But in countries where it is quite +understood that every man is just as much an emanation from the Deity +as any other, you will not long have that sort of thing. You remember +Goldsmith's noble lines, which Dr. Johnson never could read without +tears, concerning the English character. Is it not true that it is just +because the humble, but intelligent Englishman understands distinctly +that we are all of us _people of whom more might have been made_, that +he has "learnt to venerate himself as man"? And thinking of influences +which form the character, there is a sad reflection which has often +occurred to me. It is, that circumstances often develop a character +which it is hard to contemplate without anger and disgust. And yet, in +many such cases, it is rather pity that is due. The more disgusting the +character formed in some men, the more you should pity them. Yet it is +hard to do _that_. You easily pity the man whom circumstances have +made poor and miserable; how much more you should pity the man whom +circumstances have made bad! You pity the man from whom some terrible +accident has taken a limb or a hand; but how much more should you pity +the man from whom the influences of years have taken a conscience and a +heart! And something is to be said for even the most unamiable and worst +of the race. No doubt, it is mainly their own fault that they are so +bad; but still it is hard work to be always rowing against wind and +tide, and some people could be good only by doing _that_ ceaselessly. I +am not thinking now of pirates and pickpockets. But take the case of a +sour, backbiting, malicious, wrong-headed, lying old woman, who gives +her life to saying disagreeable things and making mischief between +friends. There are not many mortals with whom one is less disposed to +have patience. But yet, if you knew all, you would not be so severe in +what you think and say of her. You do not know the physical irritability +of nerve and weakness of constitution which that poor creature may have +inherited; you do not know the singular twist of mind which she may have +got from Nature and from bad and unkind treatment in youth; you do not +know the bitterness of heart she has felt at the polite snubbings and +ladylike tortures which in excellent society are often the share of the +poor and the dependent. If you knew all these things, you would bear +more patiently with my friend Miss Limejuice, though I confess that +sometimes you would find it uncommonly hard to do so. + +As I wrote that last paragraph, I began dimly to fancy that somewhere I +had seen the idea which is its subject treated by an abler hand by far +than mine. The idea, you may be sure, was not suggested to me by books, +but by what I have seen of men and women. But it is a pleasant thing to +find that a thought which at the time is strongly impressing one's self +has impressed other men. And a modest person, who knows very nearly what +his humble mark is, will be quite pleased to find that another man has +not only anticipated his thoughts, but has expressed them much better +than he could have done. Yes, let me turn to that incomparable essay of +John Foster, "On a Man's writing Memoirs of Himself." Here it is. + +"Make the supposition that any given number of persons,--a hundred, +for instance,--taken promiscuously, should be able to write memoirs of +themselves so clear and perfect as to explain, to your discernment at +least, the entire process by which their minds have attained their +present state, recounting all the most impressive circumstances. If they +should read these memoirs to you in succession, while your benevolence, +and the moral principles according to which you felt and estimated, +were kept at the highest pitch, you would often, during the disclosure, +regret to observe how many things may be the causes of irretrievable +mischief. 'Why is the path of life,' you would say, 'so haunted as if +with evil spirits of every diversity of noxious agency, some of which +may patiently accompany, or others of which may suddenly cross, the +unfortunate wanderer?' And you would regret to observe into how many +forms of intellectual and moral perversion the human mind readily yields +itself to be modified. + + * * * * * + +"'I compassionate you,' would, in a very benevolent hour, be your +language to the wealthy, unfeeling _tyrant of a family and a +neighborhood_, who seeks, in the overawed timidity and unretaliated +injuries of the unfortunate beings within his power, the gratification +that should have been sought in their affections. Unless you had brought +into the world some extraordinary refractoriness to the influence of +evil, the process that you have undergone could not easily fail of being +efficacious. If your parents idolized their own importance in their +son so much that they never opposed your inclinations themselves nor +permitted it to be done by any subject to their authority,--if the +humble companion, sometimes summoned to the honor of amusing you, bore +your caprices and insolence with the meekness without which he had +lost his enviable privilege,--if you could despoil the garden of some +nameless dependent neighbor of the carefully reared flowers, and torment +his little dog or cat, without his daring to punish you or to appeal +to your infatuated parents,--if aged men addressed you in a submissive +tone, and with the appellation of 'Sir,' and their aged wives uttered +their wonder at your condescension, and pushed their grandchildren away +from around the fire for your sake, if you happened, though with the +strut of pertness, and your hat on your head, to enter one of their +cottages, perhaps to express your contempt of the homely dwelling, +furniture, and fare,--if, in maturer life, you associated with vile +persons, who would forego the contest of equality to be your allies in +trampling on inferiors,--and if, both then and since, you have been +suffered to deem your wealth the compendium or equivalent of every +ability and every good quality,--it would indeed be immensely strange, +if you had not become in due time the miscreant who may thank the power +of the laws in civilized society that he is not assaulted with clubs +and stones, to whom one could cordially wish the opportunity and the +consequences of attempting his tyranny among some such people as those +_submissive_ sons of Nature in the forests of North America, and whose +dependants and domestic relatives may be almost forgiven when they shall +one day rejoice at his funeral." + +What do you think of _that_, my reader, as a specimen of embittered +eloquence and nervous pith? It is something to read massive and +energetic sense, in days wherein mystical twaddle, and subtlety which +hopelessly defies all logic, are sometimes thought extremely fine, if +they are set out in a style which is refined into mere effeminacy. + + * * * * * + +I cherish a very strong conviction, (as has been said,) that, at least +in the case of educated people, happiness is a grand discipline for +bringing out what is amiable and excellent. You understand, of course, +what I mean by happiness. We all know, of course, that light-heartedness +is not very familiar to grown-up people, who are doing the work of life, +who feel its many cares, and who do not forget the many risks which hang +over it. I am not thinking of the kind of thing which is suggested to +the minds of children, when they read, at the end of a tale, concerning +its heroine and hero, that "they lived happily ever after." No, we don't +look for that. By happiness I mean freedom from terrible anxiety and +from pervading depression of spirits, the consciousness that we are +filling our place in life with decent success and approbation, religious +principle and character, fair physical health throughout the family, and +moderate good temper and good sense. And I hold, with Sydney Smith, and +with that keen practical philosopher, Becky Sharpe, that happiness and +success tend very greatly to make people passably good. Well, I see an +answer to the statement, as I do to most statements; but, at least, the +beam is never subjected to the strain which would break it. I have seen +the gradual working of what I call happiness and success in ameliorating +character. I have known a man who, by necessity, by the pressure of +poverty, was driven to write for the magazines,--a kind of work for +which he had no special talent or liking, and which he had never +intended to attempt. There was no more miserable, nervous, anxious, +disappointed being on earth than he was, when he began his writing for +the press. And sure enough, his articles were bitter and ill-set to a +high degree. They were thoroughly ill-natured and bad. They were not +devoid of a certain cleverness; but they were the sour products of +a soured nature. But that man gradually got into comfortable +circumstances: and with equal step with his lot the tone of his writings +mended, till, as a writer, he became conspicuous for the healthful, +cheerful, and kindly nature of all he produced. I remember seeing a +portrait of an eminent author, taken a good many years ago, at a time +when he was struggling into notice, and when he was being very severely +handled by the critics. That portrait was really truculent of aspect. +It was sour, and even ferocious-looking. Years afterwards I saw that +author, at a time when he had attained vast success, and was universally +recognized as a great man. How improved that face! All the savage lines +were gone; the bitter look was gone; the great man looked quite genial +and amiable. And I came to know that he really was all he looked. Bitter +judgments of men, imputations of evil motives, disbelief in anything +noble or generous, a disposition to repeat tales to the prejudice of +others, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness,--all these +things may possibly come out of a bad heart; but they certainly come out +of a miserable one. The happier any human being is, the better and more +kindly he thinks of all. It is the man who is always worried, whose +means are uncertain, whose home is uncomfortable, whose nerves are +rasped by some kind friend who daily repeats and enlarges upon +everything disagreeable for him to hear,--it is he who thinks hardly +of the character and prospects of humankind, and who believes in the +essential and unimprovable badness of the race. + + * * * * * + +This is not a treatise on the formation of character: it pretends to +nothing like completeness. If this essay were to extend to a volume of +about three hundred and eighty pages, I might be able to set out and +discuss, in something like a full and orderly fashion, the influences +under which human beings grow up, and the way in which to make the best +of the best of these influences, and to evade or neutralize the worst. +And if, after great thought and labor, I had produced such a volume, I +am well aware that nobody would read it. So I prefer to briefly glance +at a few aspects of a great subject just as they present themselves, +leaving the complete discussion of it to solid individuals with more +leisure at their command. + + * * * * * + +Physically, no man is made the most of. Look at an acrobat or a boxer: +_there_ is what your limbs might have been made for strength and +agility: _that_ is the potential which is in human nature in these +respects. I never witnessed a prize-fight, and assuredly I never will +witness one: but I am told, that, when the champions appear in the ring, +stripped for the combat, (however bestial and blackguard-looking their +countenances may be,) the clearness and beauty of their skin testify +that by skilful physical discipline a great deal more may be made of +that human hide than is usually made of it. Then, if you wish to see +what may be made of the human muscles as regards rapid dexterity, look +at the Wizard of the North or at an Indian juggler. I am very far, +indeed, from saying or thinking that this peculiar preëminence is worth +the pains it must cost to acquire it. Not that I have a word to say +against the man who maintains his children by bringing some one faculty +of the body to absolute perfection: I am ready even to admit that it is +a very right and fit thing that one man in five or six millions should +devote his life to showing the very utmost that can be made of the human +fingers, or the human muscular system as a whole. It is fit that a rare +man here and there should cultivate some accomplishment to a perfection +that looks magical, just as it is fit that a man here and there should +live in a house that cost a million of pounds to build, and round which +a wide tract of country shows what may be made of trees and fields where +unlimited wealth and exquisite taste have done their best to improve +Nature to the fairest forms of which it is capable. But even if it were +possible, it would not be desirable that all human beings should live in +dwellings like Hamilton Palace or Arundel Castle; and it would serve no +good end at all, certainly no end worth the cost, to have all educated +men muscular as Tom Sayers, or swift of hand as Robert Houdin. Practical +efficiency is what is wanted for the business of this world, not +absolute perfection: life is too short to allow any but exceptional +individuals, few and far between, to acquire the power of playing at +rackets as well as rackets can possibly be played. We are obliged to +have a great number of irons in the fire: it is needful that we should +do decently well a great number of things; and we must not devote +ourselves to one thing, to the exclusion of all the rest. And +accordingly, though we may desire to be reasonably muscular and +reasonably active, it will not disturb us to think that in both these +respects we are people of whom more might have been made. It may here +be said that probably there is hardly an influence which tends so +powerfully to produce extreme self-complacency as the conviction, that, +as regards some one physical accomplishment, one is a person of whom +more could not have been made. It is a proud thing to think that you +stand decidedly ahead of all mankind: that Eclipse is first, and the +rest nowhere; even in the matter of keeping up six balls at once, or of +noting and remembering twenty different objects in a shop-window as you +walk past it at five miles an hour. I do not think I ever beheld a human +being whose aspect was of such unutterable pride as a man I lately saw +playing the drum as one of a certain splendid military band. He was +playing in a piece in which the drum music was very conspicuous; and +even an unskilled observer could remark that his playing was absolute +perfection. He had the thorough mastery of his instrument. He did the +most difficult things not only with admirable precision, but without +the least appearance of effort. He was a great, tall fellow: and it was +really a fine sight to see him standing very upright, and immovable save +as to his arms, looking fixedly into distance, and his bosom swelling +with the lofty belief, that, out of four or five thousand persons who +were present, there was not one who, to save his life, could have done +what he was doing so easily. + +So much of physical dexterity. As for physical grace, it will be +admitted that in that respect more might be made of most human beings. +It is not merely that they are ugly and awkward naturally, but that they +are ugly and awkward artificially. Sir Bulwer Lytton, in his earlier +writings, was accustomed to maintain, that, just as it is a man's duty +to cultivate his mental powers, so is it his duty to cultivate his +bodily appearance. And doubtless all the gifts of Nature are talents +committed to us to be improved; they are things intrusted to us to make +the best of. It may be difficult to fix the point at which the care +of personal appearance in man or woman becomes excessive. It does +so unquestionably when it engrosses the mind to the neglect of more +important things. But I suppose that all reasonable people now believe +that scrupulous attention to personal cleanliness, freshness, and +neatness is a Christian duty. The days are past, almost everywhere, in +which piety was held to be associated with dirt. Nobody would mention +now, as a proof how saintly a human being was, that, for the love of +God, he had never washed his face or brushed his hair for thirty +years. And even scrupulous neatness need bring with it no suspicion of +puppyism. The most trim and tidy of old men was good John Wesley; and +he conveyed to the minds of all who saw him the notion of a man whose +treasure was laid up beyond this world, quite as much as if he had +dressed in such a fashion as to make himself an object of ridicule, +or as if he had forsworn the use of soap. Some people fancy that +slovenliness of attire indicates a mind above petty details. I have seen +an eminent preacher ascend the pulpit with his bands hanging over his +right shoulder, his gown apparently put on by being dropped upon him +from the vestry ceiling, and his hair apparently unbrushed for several +weeks. There was no suspicion of affectation about that good man; yet I +regarded his untidiness as a defect, and not as an excellence. He gave +a most eloquent sermon; yet I thought it would have been well, had the +lofty mind that treated so admirably some of the grandest realities of +life and of immortality been able to address itself a little to the care +of lesser things. I confess, that, when I heard the Bishop of Oxford +preach, I thought the effect of his sermon was increased by the decorous +and careful fashion in which he was arrayed in his robes. And it is +to be admitted that the grace of the human aspect may be in no small +measure enhanced by bestowing a little pains upon it. You, youthful +matron, when you take your little children to have their photographs +taken, and when their nurse, in contemplation of that event, attired +them in their most tasteful dresses and arranged their hair in its +prettiest curls, you know that the little things looked a great deal +better than they do on common days. It is pure nonsense to say that +beauty when unadorned is adorned the most. For that is as much as to say +that a pretty young woman, in the matter of physical appearance, is a +person of whom no more can be made. Now taste and skill can make more of +almost anything. And you will set down Thomson's lines as flatly opposed +to fact, when your lively young cousin walks into your room to let you +see her before she goes out to an evening party, and when you compare +that radiant vision, in her robes of misty texture, and with hair +arranged in folds the most complicated, wreathed, and satin-shoed, +with the homely figure that took a walk with you that afternoon, +russet-gowned, tartan-plaided, and shod with serviceable boots for +tramping through country mud. One does not think of loveliness in the +case of men, because they have not got any; but their aspect, such as it +is, is mainly made by their tailors. And it is a lamentable thought, +how very ill the clothes of most men are made. I think that the art of +draping the male human body has been brought to much less excellence +by the mass of those who practise it than any other of the useful and +ornamental arts. Tailors, even in great cities, are generally extremely +bad. Or it may be that the providing the human frame with decent and +well-fitting garments is so very difficult a thing that (save by a great +genius here and there) it can be no more than approximated to. As for +tailors in little country villages, their power of distorting and +disfiguring is wonderful. When I used to be a country clergyman, I +remember how, when I went to the funeral of some simple rustic, I was +filled with surprise to see the tall, strapping, fine young country +lads, arrayed in their black suits. What awkward figures they looked +in those unwonted garments! How different from their easy, natural +appearance in their every-day fustian! Here you would see a young fellow +with a coat whose huge collar covered half his head when you looked at +him from behind; a very common thing was to have sleeves which entirely +concealed the hands; and the wrinkled and baggy aspect of the whole +suits could be imagined only by such as have seen them. It may be +remarked here, that those strong country lads were in another respect +people of whom more might have been physically made. Oh for a +drill-sergeant to teach them to stand upright, and to turn out their +toes, and to get rid of that slouching, hulking gait which gives such +a look of clumsiness and stupidity! If you could but have the +well-developed muscles and the fresh complexion of the country with the +smartness and alertness of the town! You have there the rough material +of which a vast deal may be made; you have the water-worn pebble which +will take on a beautiful polish. Take from the moorland cottage the +shepherd lad of sixteen; send him to a Scotch college for four years; +let him be tutor in a good family for a year or two; and if he be an +observant fellow, you will find in him the quiet, self-possessed air +and the easy address of the gentleman who has seen the world. And it is +curious to see one brother of a family thus educated and polished into +refinement, while the other three or four, remaining in their father's +simple lot, retain its rough manners and its unsophisticated feelings. +Well, look at the man who has been made a gentleman,--probably by the +hard labor and sore self-denial of the others,--and see in him what each +of the others might have been! Look with respect on the diamond which +needed only to be polished! Reverence the undeveloped potential which +circumstances have held down! Look with interest on these people of whom +more might have been made! + +Such a sight as this sometimes sets us thinking how many germs of +excellence are in this world turned to no account. You see the polished +diamond and the rough one side by side. It is too late now; but the dull +colorless pebble might have been the bright glancing gem. And you may +polish the material diamond at any time; but if you miss your season in +the case of the human one, the loss can never be repaired. The bumpkin +who is a bumpkin at thirty must remain a bumpkin to threescore and ten. +But another thing that makes us think how many fair possibilities are +lost is to remark the fortuitous way in which great things have often +been done,--and done by people who never dreamt that they had in them +the power to do anything particular. These cases, one cannot but think, +are samples of millions more. There have been very popular writers who +were brought out by mere accident. They did not know what precious vein +of thought they had at command, till they stumbled upon it as if by +chance, like the Indian at the mines of Potosi. It is not much that we +know of Shakspeare, but it seems certain that it was in patching up +old plays for acting that he discovered within himself a capacity for +producing that which men will not easily let die. When a young military +man, disheartened with the service, sought for an appointment as an +Irish Commissioner of Excise, and was sadly disappointed because he did +not get it, it is probable that he had as little idea as any one else +had that he possessed that aptitude for the conduct of war which was +to make him the Duke of Wellington. And when a young mathematician, +entirely devoid of ambition, desired to settle quietly down and devote +all his life to that unexciting study, he was not aware that he was a +person of whom more was to be made,--who was to grow into the great +Emperor Napoleon. I had other instances in my mind, but after these last +it is needless to mention them. But such cases suggest to us that there +may have been many Folletts who never held a brief, many Keans who never +acted but in barns, many Vandyks who never earned more than sixpence a +day, many Goldsmiths who never were better than penny-a-liners, many +Michaels who never built their St. Peters,--and perhaps a Shakspeare who +held horses at the theatre-door for pence, as the Shakspeare we know of +did, and who stopped there. + +Let it here be suggested, that it is highly illogical to conclude that +you are yourself a person of whom a great deal more might have been +made, merely because you are a person of whom it is the fact that very +little has actually been made. This suggestion may appear a truism; but +it is one of those simple truths of which we all need to be occasionally +reminded. After all, the great test of what a man can do must be what a +man does. But there are folk who live on the reputation of being pebbles +capable of receiving a very high polish, though from circumstances +they did not choose to be polished. There are people who stand high in +general estimation on the ground of what they might have done, if they +had liked. You will find students who took no honors at the university, +but who endeavor to impress their friends with the notion, that, if +they had chosen, they could have attained to unexampled eminence. And +sometimes, no doubt, there are great powers that run to waste. There +have been men whose doings, splendid as they were, were no more than a +hint of how much more they could have done. In such a case as that of +Coleridge, you see how the lack of steady industry and of all sense of +responsibility abated the tangible result of the noble intellect God +gave him. But as a general rule, and in the case of ordinary people, you +need not give a man credit for the possession of any powers beyond those +which he has actually exhibited. If a boy is at the bottom of his class, +it is probably because he could not attain its top. My friend Mr. +Snarling thinks he can write much better articles than those which +appear in the "Atlantic Monthly"; but as he has not done so, I am not +inclined to give him credit for the achievement. But you can see that +this principle of estimating people's abilities, not by what they have +done, but by what they think they could do, will be much approved by +persons who are stupid and at the same time conceited. It is a pleasing +arrangement, that every man should fix his own mental mark, and hold by +his estimate of himself. And then, never measuring his strength with +others, he can suppose that he could have beat them, if he had tried. + + * * * * * + +Yes, we are all mainly fashioned by circumstances; and had the +circumstances been more propitious, they might have made a great deal +more of us. You sometimes think, middle-aged man, who never have passed +the limits of Britain, what an effect might have been produced upon your +views and character by foreign travel. You think what an indefinite +expansion of mind it might have caused,--how many narrow prejudices it +might have rubbed away,--how much wiser and better a man it might have +made you. Or more society and wider reading in your early youth might +have improved you,--might have taken away the shyness and the intrusive +individuality which you sometimes feel painfully,--might have called out +one cannot say what of greater confidence and larger sympathy. How very +little, you think to yourself, you have seen and known! While others +skim great libraries, you read the same few books over and over; while +others come to know many lands and cities, and the faces and ways of +many men, you look, year after year, on the same few square miles of +this world, and you have to form your notion of human nature from the +study of but few human beings, and these very commonplace. Perhaps it is +as well. It is not so certain that more would have been made of you, if +you had enjoyed what might seem greater advantages. Perhaps you learned +more, by studying the little field before you earnestly and long, than +you would have learned, if you had bestowed a cursory glance upon fields +more extensive by far. Perhaps there was compensation for the fewness of +the cases you had to observe in the keenness with which you were able +to observe them. Perhaps the Great Disposer saw that in your case the +pebble got nearly all the polishing it would stand,--the man nearly all +the chances he could improve. + +If there be soundness and justice in this suggestion, it may afford +consolation to a considerable class of men and women: I mean those +people who, feeling within themselves many defects of character, and +discerning in their outward lot much which they would wish other than +it is, are ready to think that some one thing would have put them +right,--that some one thing would put them right even yet,--but +something which they have hopelessly missed, something which can never +be. There was just one testing event which stood between them and their +being made a vast deal more of. They would have been far better and far +happier, they think, had some single malign influence been kept away +which has darkened all their life, or had some single blessing been +given which would have made it happy. If you had got such a parish, +which you did not get,--if you had married such a woman,--if your little +child had not died,--if you had always the society and sympathy of such +an energetic and hopeful friend,--if the scenery round your dwelling +were of a different character,--if the neighboring town were four miles +off, instead of fifteen,--if any one of these circumstances had been +altered, what a different man you might have been! Probably many people, +even of middle age, conscious that the manifold cares and worries of +life forbid that it should be evenly joyous, do yet cherish at the +bottom of their heart some vague, yet rooted fancy, that, if but one +thing were given on which they have set their hearts, or one care +removed forever, they would be perfectly happy, even here. Perhaps you +overrate the effect which would have been produced on your character by +such a single cause. It might not have made you much better; it might +not even have made you very different. And assuredly you are wrong in +fancying that any such single thing could have made you happy,--that is, +entirely happy. Nothing in this world could ever make you _that_. It is +not God's purpose that we should be entirely happy here, "This is not +our rest." The day will never come which will _not_ bring its worry. And +the possibility of terrible misfortune and sorrow hangs over all. There +is but One Place where we shall be right; and _that_ is far away. + + * * * * * + +Yes, more might have been made of all of us; probably, in the case of +most, not much more _will_ be made in this world. We are now, if we +have reached middle life, very much what we shall be to the end of the +chapter. We shall not, in this world, be much better; let us humbly +trust that we shall not be worse. Yet, if there be an undefinable +sadness in looking at the marred material of which so much more might +have been made, there is a sublime hopefulness in the contemplation of +material, bodily and mental, of which a great deal more and better will +certainly yet be made. Not much more may be made of any of us in life; +but who shall estimate what may be made of us in immortality? Think of a +"spiritual body"! think of a perfectly pure and happy soul! I thought of +this, on a beautiful evening of this summer, walking with a much valued +friend through a certain grand ducal domain. In front of a noble +sepulchre, where is laid up much aristocratic dust, there are +sculptured, by some great artist, three colossal faces, which are meant +to represent Life, Death, and Immortality. It was easy to represent +Death: the face was one of solemn rest, with closed eyes; and the +sculptor's skill was mainly shown in distinguishing Life from +Immortality. And he had done it well. _There_ was Life: a care-worn, +anxious, weary face, that seemed to look at you earnestly, and with +a vague inquiry for something,--the something that is lacking in all +things here. And _there_ was Immortality: life-like, but, oh, how +different from mortal Life! _There_ was the beautiful face, calm, +satisfied, self-possessed, sublime, and with eyes looking far away. I +see it yet, the crimson sunset warming the gray stone,--and a great +hawthorn-tree, covered with blossoms, standing by. Yes, _there_ was +Immortality; and you felt, as you looked at it,--that it was MORE MADE +OF LIFE! + + * * * * * + + +MY FRIEND'S LIBRARY. + + +That exquisite writer, Horae Subsecivae Brown, quotes, (without +comment,) as a motto to one of his volumes, an anecdote from Pierce +Egan, which I reproduce here:-- + +"A lady, resident in Devonshire, going into one of her parlors, +discovered a young ass, who had found its way into the room, and +carefully closed the door upon himself. He had evidently not been long +in this situation before he had nibbled a part of Cicero's Orations, +and eaten nearly all the index of a folio edition of Seneca in Latin, a +large part of a volume of La Bruyère's 'Maxims' in French, and several +pages of 'Cecilia.' He had done no other mischief whatever." + +Spare your wit, Sir, or Madam! Why should _you_ laugh, and apply the +sting in Mr. Egan's story to the case of "Yours Truly"? + + * * * * * + +I scarcely know a greater pleasure than to be allowed for a whole day to +spend the hours unmolested in my friend's library. So much _privilege_ +abounds there, I call it _Urbanity Hall_. It is a plain, modestly +appointed apartment, overlooking a broad sheet of water; and I can see, +from where I like to sit and read, the sail-boats go tilting by, and +glancing across the bay. Sometimes, when a rainy day sets in, I run down +to my friend's house, and ask leave to browse about the library,--not +so much for the sake of reading, as for the intense enjoyment I have in +turning over the books that have a personal history as it were. Many of +them once belonged to authors whose libraries have been dispersed. My +friend has enriched her editions with autographic notes of those fine +spirits who wrote the books which illumine her shelves, so that one is +constantly coming upon some fresh treasure in the way of a literary +curiosity. I am apt to discover something new every time I take down a +folio or a miniature volume. As I ramble on from shelf to shelf, + + "Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures," + +and the hours often slip by into the afternoon, and glide noiselessly +into twilight, before dinner-time is remembered. Drifting about only a +few days ago, I came by accident upon a magic quarto, shabby enough +in its exterior, with one of the covers hanging by the eyelids, and +otherwise sadly battered, to the great disfigurement of its external +aspect. I did not remember even to have seen it in the library before, +(it turned out to be a new comer,) and was about to pass it by with an +unkind thought as to its pauper condition, when it occurred to me, as +the lettering was obliterated from the back, I might as well open to the +title-page and learn the name at least of the tattered stranger. And I +was amply rewarded for the attention. It turned out to be "The Novels +and Tales of the Renowned John Boccacio, The first Refiner of Italian +Prose: containing A Hundred Curious Novels, by Seven Honorable Ladies +and Three Noble Gentlemen, Framed in Ten Days." It was printed in London +in 1684, "for Awnsham Churchill, at the Black Swan at Amen Corner." But +what makes this old yellow-leaved book a treasure-volume for all time is +the inscription on the first fly-leaf, in the handwriting of a man of +genius, who, many years ago, wrote thus on the blank page: + +"To MARIANNE HUNT. + +"Her Boccacio (_alter et idem_) come back to her after many years' +absence, for her good-nature in giving it away in a foreign country to a +traveller whose want of books was still worse than her own. + +"From her affectionate husband, + +"LEIGH HUNT. + +"August 23,1839--Chelsea, England." + +This record tells a most interesting story, and reveals to us an episode +in the life of the poet, well worth the knowing. I hope no accident +will ever cancel this old leather-bound veteran from the world's +bibliographic treasures. Spare it, Fire, Water, and Worms! for it does +the heart good to handle such a quarto. + + * * * * * + +One does not need to look far among the shelves in my friend's library +to find companion-gems of this antiquated tome. Among so many of + + "The assembled souls of all that men held + wise," + +there is no solitude of the mind. I reach out my hand at random, and, +lo! the first edition of Milton's "Paradise Lost"! It is a little brown +volume, "Printed by S. Simmons, and to be sold by S. Thomson at the +Bishop's-Head in Duck Lane, by H. Mortlack at the White Hart in +Westminster Hall, M. Walker under St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street, +and R. Boulten at the Turk's Head in Bishopsgate Street, 1668." Foolish +old Simmons deemed it necessary to insert over his own name the +following notice, which heads the Argument to the Poem:-- + +"THE PRINTER TO THE READER. + +"Courteous Reader, There was no Argument at first intended to the Book, +but for the satisfaction of many that have desired it, I have procured +it, and withall a reason of that which stumbled many others, why the +Poem Rimes not." + +The "Argument," which Milton omitted in subsequent editions, is very +curious throughout; and the reason which the author gives, at the +request of Mr. Publisher Simmons, why the poem "Rimes not," is quaint +and well worth transcribing an extract here, as it does not always +appear in more modern editions. Mr. Simmons's Poet is made to say,-- + +"The Measure is _English_ Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of _Homers_ +in _Greek_, and of _Virgil_ in _Latin_; Rime being no necessary Adjunct +or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but +the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame +Meeter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, +carried away by Custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and +constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse +then else they would have exprest them." + +We give the orthography precisely as Milton gave it in this his first +edition. + +There is a Table of Errata prefixed to this old copy, in which the +reader is told, + + "for hun_dreds_ read hun_derds_. + for _we_ read _wee_." + +Master Simmons's proof-reader was no adept in his art, if one may judge +from the countless errors which he allowed to creep into this immortal +poem when it first appeared in print. One can imagine the identical copy +now before us being handed over the counter in Duck Lane to some eager +scholar on the look-out for something new, and handed back again to Mr. +Thomson as too dull a looking poem for his perusal. Mr. Edmund Waller +entertained that idea of it, at any rate. + + * * * * * + +One of the sturdiest little books in my friend's library is a thick-set, +stumpy old copy of Richard Baxter's "Holy Commonwealth," written in +1659, and, as the title-page informs us, "at the invitation of James +Harrington Esquire,"--as one would take a glass of Canary,--by +_invitation!_ There is a preface addressed "To all those in the Army or +elsewhere, that have caused our many and great Eclipses since 1646." The +worms have made dagger-holes through and through the "inspired leaves" +of this fat little volume, till much strong thinking is now very +perforated printing. On the flyleaf is written, in a rough, straggling +hand, + + "WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, + + "Rydal Mount." + +The poet seems to have read the old book pretty closely, for there are +evident marks of his liking throughout its pages. + + * * * * * + +Connected with the Bard of the Lakes is another work in my friend's +library, which I always handle with a tender interest. It is a copy of +Wordsworth's Poetical Works, printed in 1815, with all the alterations +afterwards made in the pieces copied in by the poet from the edition +published in 1827. Some of the changes are marked improvements, and +nearly all make the meaning clearer. Now and then a prosaic phrase gives +place to a more poetical expression. The well-known lines, + + "Of Him who walked in glory and in joy, + Following his plough along the mountain-side," + +read at first, + + "_Behind_ his plough _upon_ the mountain-side." + + * * * * * + +In a well-preserved quarto copy of "Rasselas," with illustrations by +Smirke, which my friend picked up in London a few years ago, I found +the other day an unpublished autograph letter from Dr. Johnson, so +characteristic of the great man that it is worth transcribing. It is +addressed + +"_To the Reverend Mr. Compton. + +"To be sent to Mrs. Williams_." + +And it is thus worded:-- + +"Sir, + +"Your business, I suppose, is in a way of as easy progress as such +business ever has. It is seldom that event keeps pace with expectation. + +"The scheme of your book I cannot say that I fully comprehend. I would +not have you ask less than an hundred guineas, for it seems a large +octavo. + +"Go to Mr. Davis, in Russell Street, show him this letter, and show him +the book if he desires to see it. He will tell you what hopes you may +form, and to what Bookseller you should apply. + +"If you succeed in selling your book, you may do better than by +dedicating it to me. You may perhaps obtain permission to dedicate it to +the Bishop of London, or to Dr. Vyse, and make way by your book to more +advantage than I can procure you. + +"Please to tell Mrs. Williams that I grow better, and that I wish to +know how she goes on. You, Sir, may write for her to, + + "Sir, + + "Your most humble Servant, + + "SAM: JOHNSON. + + "Octo. 24, 1782." + +Dear kind-hearted old bear! On turning to Boswell's Life of his Ursine +Majesty, we learn who Mr. Compton was. When the Doctor visited France +in 1775, the Benedictine Monks in Paris entertained him in the most +friendly way. One of them, the Rev. James Compton, who had left England +at the early age of six to reside on the Continent, questioned him +pretty closely about the Protestant faith, and proposed, if at some +future time he should go to England to consider the subject more deeply, +to call at Bolt Court. In the summer of 1782 he paid the Doctor a +visit, and informed him of his desire to be admitted into the Church of +England. Johnson managed the matter satisfactorily for him, and he was +received into communion in St. James's Parish Church. Till the end of +January, 1783, he lived entirely at the Doctor's expense, his own means +being very scanty. Through Johnson's kindness he was nominated Chaplain +at the French Chapel of St. James's, and in 1802 we hear of him as being +quite in favor with the excellent Bishop Porteus and several other +distinguished Londoners. Thus, by the friendly hand of the hard-working, +earnest old lexicographer, Mr. Compton was led from deep poverty up to +a secure competency, and a place among the influential dignitaries of +London society. Poor enough himself, Johnson never shrank back, when +there was an honest person in distress to be helped on in the battle of +life. God's blessing on his memory for all his sympathy with struggling +humanity! + + * * * * * + +My friend has an ardent affection for Walter Scott and Charles Lamb. I +find the first edition of "Marmion," printed in 1808, "by J. Ballantyne +& Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh," most carefully +bound in savory Russia, standing in a pleasant corner of the room. Being +in quarto, the type is regal. Of course the copy is enriched with a +letter in the handwriting of Sir Walter. It is addressed to a personal +friend, and is dated April 17, 1825. The closing passage in it is of +especial interest. + +"I have seen Sheridan's last letter imploring Rogers to come to his +assistance. It stated that he was dying, and concluded abruptly +with these words 'they are throwing the things out of window.' The +memorialist certainly took pennyworths out of his friend's character.--I +sate three hours for my picture to Sir Thomas Lawrence during which the +whole conversation was filled up by Rogers with stories of Sheridan, for +the least of which if true he deserved the gallows." + +Ever Yours, "WALTER SCOTT." + +In the April of 1802 Scott was living in a pretty cottage at Lasswade; +and while there he sent off the following letter, which I find attached +with a wafer to my friend's copy of the Abbotsford edition of his works, +and written in a much plainer hand than he afterwards fell into. The +address is torn off. + +"SIR, + +"I esteem myself honored by the polite reception which you have given to +the Border Minstrelsy and am particularly flattered that so very good a +judge of poetical Antiquities finds any reason to be pleased with the +work.--There is no portrait of the _Flower of Yarrow_ in existence, +nor do I think it very probable that any was ever taken. Much family +anecdote concerning her has been preserved among her descendants of whom +I have the honor to be one. The epithet of '_Flower of Yarrow_' was in +later times bestowed upon one of her immediate posterity, Miss Mary +Lillias Scott, daughter of John Scott Esq. of Harden, and celebrated for +her beauty in the pastoral song of Tweedside,--I mean that set of modern +words which begins 'What beauty does Flora disclose.' This lady I myself +remember very well, and I mention her to you least you should receive +any inaccurate information owing to her being called like her +predecessor the 'Flower of Yarrow.' There was a portrait of this latter +lady in the collection at Hamilton which the present Duke transferred +through my hands to Lady Diana Scott relict of the late Walter Scott +Esq. of Harden, which picture was vulgarly but inaccurately supposed to +have been a resemblance of the original Mary Scott, daughter of Philip +Scott of Dryhope, and married to _Auld Wat_ of Harden in the middle of +the 16th century. + +"I shall be particularly happy if upon any future occasion I can in +the slightest degree contribute to advance your valuable and patriotic +labours, and I remain, Sir, + +"Your very faithful + +"and obt. Servant + +"WALTER SCOTT." + +This letter is worthy to be printed, and the readers of the "Atlantic +Monthly" now see it for the first time, I believe, set in type. + + * * * * * + +Old Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys in Fleet Street, brought out +in 1714 "The Rape of the Lock, an Heroi-Comical Poem, in Five Cantos, +written by Mr. Pope." He printed certain words in the title-page in red, +and other certain words in black ink. His own name and Mr. Pope's he +chose to exhibit in sanguinary tint. A copy of this edition, very much +thumbed and wanting half a dozen leaves, fell into the hands of Charles +Lamb more than a hundred years after it was published. Charles bore it +home, and set to work to supply, in his small neat hand, from another +edition, what was missing from the text in his stall-bought copy. As he +paid only sixpence for his prize, he could well afford the time it took +him to write in on blank leaves, which he inserted, the lines from + + "Thus far both armies to Belinda yield," + +onward to the couplet, + + "And thrice they twitch'd the Diamond in her Ear, + Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the Foe drew near." + +Besides this autographic addition, enhancing forever the value of this +old copy of Pope's immortal poem, I find the following little note, in +Lamb's clerkly chirography, addressed to + +"Mr. Wainright, on _Thursday_. + +"Dear Sir, + +"The _Wits_ (as Clare calls us) assemble at my cell (20 Russell Street, +Cov. Gar.) this evening at 1/4 before 7. Cold meat at 9. Puns at----a +little after. Mr. Cary wants to see you, to scold you. I hope you will +not fail. + +"Yours &c. &c. &c. + +"C. LAMB." + +There are two books in my friend's library which once belonged to the +author of the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard." One of them is "A Voyage +to and from the Island of Borneo, in the East Indies: printed for T. +Warner at the Black Boy, and F. Batley at the Dove, in 1718." It has the +name of T. Gray, written by himself, in the middle of the title-page, as +was his custom always. Before Gray owned this book, it belonged to Mr. +Antrobus, his uncle, who wrote many original notes in it. The volume has +also this manuscript memorandum on one of the fly-leaves, signed by a +well-known naturalist, now living in England:-- + +"August 28, 1851. + +"This book has Gray's autograph on the title page, written in his usual +neat hand. It has twice been my fate to witness the sale of Gray's most +interesting collection of manuscripts and books, and at the last sale +I purchased this volume. I present it to ---- as a little token of +affectionate regard by her old friend, now in his 85th year." + +Who will not be willing to admit the great good-luck of my friend in +having such a donor for an acquaintance? + +But one of the chief treasures in the library of which I write is Gray's +copy of Milton's "Poems upon several occasions. Both English and Latin. +Printed at the _Blew Anchor_ next Mitre Court over against Fetter +Lane in Fleet Street." When a boy at school, Gray owned and read this +charming old volume, and he has printed his name, school-boy fashion, +all over the title-page. Wherever there is a vacant space big enough to +hold _Thomas Gray_, there it stands in faded ink, still fading as time +rolls on. The Latin poems seem to have been most carefully conned by the +youthful Etonian, and we know how much he esteemed them in after-life. + + * * * * * + +Scholarly Robert Southey once owned a book that now towers aloft in my +friend's library. It is a princely copy of Ben Jonson, the Illustrious. +Southey lent it, when he possessed the _magnifico_, to Coleridge, who +has begemmed it all over with his fine pencillings. As Ben once handled +the trowel, and did other honorable work as a bricklayer, Coleridge +discourses with much golden gossip about the craft to which the great +dramatist once belonged. The editor of this magazine would hardly +thank me, if I filled ten of his pages with extracts from the rambling +dissertations in S.T.C.'s handwriting which I find in this rare folio, +but I could easily pick out that amount of readable matter from the +margins. One manuscript anecdote, however, I must transcribe from the +last leaf. I think Coleridge got the story from "The Seer." + +"An Irish laborer laid a wager with another hod bearer that the latter +could not carry him up the ladder to the top of a house in his hod, +without letting him fall. The bet is accepted, and up they go. There is +peril at every step. At the top of the ladder there is life and the loss +of the wager,--death and success below! The highest point is reached in +safety; the wagerer looks humbled and disappointed. 'Well,' said he, +'you have won; there is no doubt of that; worse luck to you another +time; but at the third story I HAD HOPES.'" + + * * * * * + +In a quaint old edition of "The Spectator," which seems to have been +through many sieges, and must have come to grief very early in its +existence, if one may judge anything from the various names which are +scrawled upon it in different years, reaching back almost to the date +of its publication, I find this note in the handwriting of Addison, +sticking fast on the reverse side of his portrait. It is addressed to +Ambrose Philips, and there is no doubt that he went where he was +bidden, and found the illustrious Joseph all ready to receive him at a +well-furnished table. + +"Tuesday Night. + +"Sir, + +"If you are at leisure for an hour, your company will be a great +obligation to + +"Yr. most humble sev't. + +"J. Addison. + +"Fountain Tavern." + +That night at the "Fountain," perchance, they discussed that war of +words which might then have been raging between the author of the +"Pastorals" and Pope, moistening their clay with a frequency to which +they were both somewhat notoriously inclined. + +My friend rides hard her hobby for choice editions, and she hunts with +a will whenever a good old copy of a well-beloved author is up for +pursuit. She is not a fop in binding, but she must have _appropriate_ +dresses for her favorites. She knows what + + "Adds a precious seeing to the eye" + +as well as Hayday himself, and never lets her folios shiver when they +ought to be warm. Moreover, she _reads_ her books, and, like the scholar +in Chaucer, would rather have + + "At her beddès head + A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red, + Of Aristotle and his philosophy, + Than robes rich, or fiddle, or psaltrie." + +I found her not long ago deep in a volume of "Mr. Welsted's Poems"; +and as that author is not particularly lively or inviting to a modern +reader, I begged to know why he was thus honored. "I was trying," said +she, "to learn, if possible, why Dicky Steele should have made his +daughter a birth-day gift of these poems. This copy I found on a stall +in Fleet Street many years ago, and it has in Sir Richard's handwriting +this inscription on one of the fly-leaves:-- + + "ELIZABETH STEELE + Her Book + Giv'n by Her Father + RICHARD STEELE. + March 20th, 1723. + +"Running my eye over the pieces, I find a poem in praise of 'Apple-Pye,' +and one of the passages in it is marked, as if to call the attention +of young Eliza to something worthy her notice. These are the lines the +young lady is charged to remember:-- + + "'Dear Nelly, learn with Care the Pastry-Art, + And mind the easy Precepts I impart: + Draw out your Dough elaborately thin. + And cease not to fatigue your Rolling-Pin: + Of Eggs and Butter see you mix enough; + For then the Paste will swell into a Puff, + Which will in crumpling Sounds your Praise report, + And eat, as Housewives speak, exceeding short.'" + +Who was Abou Ben Adhem? Was his existence merely in the poet's brain, +or did he walk this planet somewhere,--and when? In a copy of the +"Bibliothèque Orientale," which once belonged to the author of that +exquisite little gem of poesy beginning with a wish that Abou's tribe +might increase, I find (the leaf is lovingly turned down and otherwise +noted) the following account of the forever famous dreamer. + +"Adhem was the name of a Doctor celebrated for Mussulman traditions. He +was the contemporary of Aamarsch, another relater of traditions of the +first class. Adhem had a son noted for his doctrine and his piety. The +Mussulmans place him among the number of their Saints who have done +miracles. He was named Abou-Ishak-Ben-Adhem. It is said he was +distinguished for his piety from his earliest youth, and that he joined +the Sofis, or the Religious sect in Mecca, under the direction of +Fodhail. He went from there to Damas, where he died in the year 166 of +the Hegira. He undertook, it is said, to make a pilgrimage from Mecca, +and to pass through the desert alone and without provisions, making a +thousand genuflexions for every mile of the way. It is added that he was +twelve years in making this journey, during which he was often tempted +and alarmed by Demons. The Khalife Haroun Raschid, making the same +pilgrimage, met him upon the way and inquired after his welfare; the +Sofi answered him with an Arabian quatrain, of which this is the +meaning:-- + +"'We mend the rags of this worldly robe with the pieces of the robe of +Religion, which we tear apart for this end; + +"'And we do our work so thoroughly that nothing remains of the latter, + +"'And the garment we mend escapes out of our hands. + +"'Happy is the servant who has chosen God for his master, and who +employs his present good only to acquire those which he awaits.' + +"It is related also of Abou, that he saw in a dream an Angel who wrote, +and that having demanded what he was doing, the Angel answered, 'I +write the names of those who love God sincerely, those who perform +Malek-Ben-Dinár, Thaber-al-Benáni, Aioud-al-Sakhtiáni, etc.' Then said +he to the Angel, 'Am I not placed among these?' 'No,' replied the Angel. +'Ah, well,' said he, 'write me, then, I pray you, for love of these, as +the friend of all who love the Lord.' It is added, that the same Angel +revealed to him soon after that he had received an order from God to +place him at the head of all the rest. This is the same Abou who said +that he preferred Hell with the will of God to Paradise without it; or, +as another writer relates it: 'I love Hell, if I am doing the will of +God, better than the enjoyments of Paradise and disobedience.'" + + * * * * * + +With books printed by "B. Franklin, Philadelphia," my friend's library +is richly stored. One of them is "The Charter of Privileges, granted by +William Penn Esq: to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Territories." +"PRINTED AND SOLD BY B. FRANKLIN" looks odd enough on the dingy +title-page of this old volume, and the contents are full of interest. +Rough days were those when "Jehu Curtis" was "Speaker of the House," and +put his name to such documents as this:-- + +"And Be it Further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any +Person shall wilfully or premeditately be guilty of Blasphemy, and shall +thereof be legally convicted, the Person so offending shall, for every +such Offence, be set in the Pillory for the space of Two Hours, and be +branded on his or her Foreshead with the letter B, and be publickly +whipt, on his or her bare Back, with Thirty nine Lashes _well laid on_." + + * * * * * + +But I am rambling on too far and too fast for to-day. Here is one more +book, however, that I must say a word about, as it lies open on my knee, +the gift of PUIR ROBBIE BURNS to a female friend,--his own poems,--the +edition which gave him "so much real happiness to see in print." Laid in +this copy of his works is a sad letter, in the poet's handwriting, which +perhaps has never been printed. Addressed to Captain Hamilton, Dumfries, +it is in itself a touching record of dear Robin's poverty, and _a' +that_. + +"SIR, + +"It is needless to attempt an apology for my remissness to you in money +matters; my conduct is beyond all excuse.--Literally, Sir, I had it +not. The Distressful state of commerce at this town has this year taken +from my otherwise scanty income no less than £20.--That part of my +salary depends upon the Imposts, and they are no more for one year. I +inclose you three guineas; and shall soon settle all with you. I shall +not mention your goodness to me; it is beyond my power to describe +either the feelings of my wounded soul at not being able to pay you as I +ought; or the grateful respect with which I have the honor to be + +"Sir, Your deeply obliged humble servant, + +"ROBT. BURNS. + +"Dumfries, Jany. 29, 1795." + +And so I walk out of my friend's leafy paradise this July afternoon, +thinking of the bard who in all his songs and sorrows made + + "rustic life and poverty + Grow beautiful beneath his touch," + +and whose mission it was + + "To weigh the inborn worth of _man_." + + + + +THE NAME IN THE BARK. + + + The self of so long ago, + And the self I struggle to know, + I sometimes think we are two,--or are we shadows of one? + To-day the shadow I am + Comes back in the sweet summer calm + To trace where the earlier shadow flitted awhile in the sun. + + Once more in the dewy morn + I trod through the whispering corn, + Cool to my fevered cheek soft breezy kisses were blown; + The ribboned and tasselled grass + Leaned over the flattering glass, + And the sunny waters trilled the same low musical tone. + + To the gray old birch I came, + Where I whittled my school-boy name: + The nimble squirrel once more ran skippingly over the rail, + The blackbirds down among + The alders noisily sung, + And under the blackberry-brier whistled the serious quail. + + I came, remembering well + How my little shadow fell, + As I painfully reached and wrote to leave to the future a sign: + There, stooping a little, I found + A half-healed, curious wound, + An ancient scar in the bark, but no initial of mine! + + Then the wise old boughs overhead + Took counsel together, and said,-- + And the buzz of their leafy lips like a murmur of prophecy passed,-- + "He is busily carving a name + In the tough old wrinkles of fame; + But, cut he as deep as he may, the lines will close over at last!" + + Sadly I pondered awhile, + Then I lifted my soul with a smile, + And I said,--"Not cheerful men, but anxious children are we, + Still hurting ourselves with the knife, + As we toil at the letters of life, + Just marring a little the rind, never piercing the heart of the tree." + + And now by the rivulet's brink + I leisurely saunter, and think + How idle this strife will appear when circling ages have run, + If then the real I am + Descend from the heavenly calm, + To trace where the shadow I seem once flitted awhile in the sun. + + + + +AGNES OF SORRENTO. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PERPLEXITIES. + + +Agnes returned from the confessional with more sadness than her simple +life had ever known before. The agitation of her confessor, the +tremulous eagerness of his words, the alternations of severity and +tenderness in his manner to her, all struck her only as indications of +the very grave danger in which she was placed, and the awfulness of the +sin and condemnation which oppressed the soul of one for whom she was +conscious of a deep and strange interest. + +She had the undoubting, uninquiring reverence which a Christianly +educated child of those times might entertain for the visible head of +the Christian Church, all whose doings were to be regarded with an awful +veneration which never even raised a question. + +That the Papal throne was now filled by a man who had bought his +election with the wages of iniquity, and dispensed its powers and +offices with sole reference to the aggrandizement of a family proverbial +for brutality and obscenity, was a fact well known to the reasoning and +enlightened orders of society at this time; but it did not penetrate +into those lowly valleys where the sheep of the Lord humbly pastured, +innocently unconscious of the frauds and violence by which their dearest +interests were bought and sold. + +The Christian faith we now hold, who boast our enlightened +Protestantism, has been transmitted to us through the hearts and hands +of such,--who, while princes wrangled with Pope, and Pope with princes, +knew nothing of it all, but, in lowly ways of prayer and patient labor, +were one with us of modern times in the great central belief of the +Christian heart, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." + +As Agnes came slowly up the path towards the little garden, she was +conscious of a burden and weariness of spirit she had never known +before. She passed the little moist grotto, which in former times she +never failed to visit to see if there were any new-blown cyclamen, +without giving it even a thought. A crimson spray of gladiolus leaned +from the rock and seemed softly to kiss her cheek, yet she regarded +it not; and once stopping and gazing abstractedly upward on the +flower-tapestried walls of the gorge, as they rose in wreath and garland +and festoon above her, she felt as if the brilliant yellow of the broom +and the crimson of the gillyflowers, and all the fluttering, nodding +armies of brightness that were dancing in the sunlight, were too gay for +such a world as this, where mortal sins and sorrows made such havoc with +all that seemed brightest and best, and she longed to fly away and be at +rest. + +Just then she heard the cheerful voice of her uncle in the little garden +above, as he was singing at his painting. The words were those of that +old Latin hymn of Saint Bernard, which, in its English dress, has +thrilled many a Methodist class-meeting and many a Puritan conference, +telling, in the welcome they meet in each Christian soul, that there is +a unity in Christ's Church which is not outward,--a secret, invisible +bond, by which, under warring names and badges of opposition, His true +followers have yet been one in Him, even though they discerned it not. + + "Jesu dulcis memoria, + Dans vera cordi gaudia: + Sed super mel et omnia + Ejus dulcis praesentia. + + "Nil canitur suavius, + Nil auditur jocundius, + Nil cogitatur dulcius, + Quam Jesus Dei Filius. + + "Jesu, spes poenitentibus, + Quam pius es petentibus, + Quam bonus te quaerentibus, + Sed quis invenientibus! + Nec lingua valet dicere, + Nec littera exprimere: + Expertus potest credere + Quid sit Jesum diligere."[A] + +[Footnote A: + + Jesus, the very thought of thee + With sweetness fills my breast; + But sweeter far thy face to see, + And in thy presence rest! + + Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, + Nor can the memory find + A sweeter sound than thy blest name, + O Saviour of mankind! + + O hope of every contrite heart, + O joy of all the meek, + To those who fall how kind thou art, + How good to those who seek! + + But what to those who find! Ah, this + Nor tongue nor pen can show! + The love of Jesus, what it is + None but his loved ones know.] + +The old monk sang with all his heart; and his voice, which had been +a fine one in its day, had still that power which comes from the +expression of deep feeling. One often hears this peculiarity in the +voices of persons of genius and sensibility, even when destitute of any +real critical merit. They seem to be so interfused with the emotions of +the soul, that they strike upon the heart almost like the living touch +of a spirit. + +Agnes was soothed in listening to him. The Latin words, the sentiment of +which had been traditional in the Church from time immemorial, had to +her a sacred fragrance and odor; they were words apart from all common +usage, a sacramental language, never heard but in moments of devotion +and aspiration,--and they stilled the child's heart in its tossings and +tempest, as when of old the Jesus they spake of walked forth on the +stormy sea. + +"Yes, He gave His life for us!" she said; "He is ever reigning for us! + + "'Jesu dulcissime, e throno gloriae + Ovem deperditam venisti quaerere! + Jesu suavissime, pastor fidissime, + Ad te O trahe me, ut semper sequar te!'"[B] + +[Footnote B: + + Jesus most beautiful, from thrones in glory, + Seeking thy lost sheep, thou didst descend! + Jesus most tender, shepherd most faithful, + To thee, oh, draw thou me, that I may follow thee, + Follow thee faithfully world without end!] + +"What, my little one!" said the monk, looking over the wall; "I thought +I heard angels singing. Is it not a beautiful morning?" + +"Dear uncle, it is," said Agnes. "And I have been so glad to hear your +beautiful hymn!--it comforted me." + +"Comforted you, little heart? What a word is that! When you get as far +along on your journey as your old uncle, then you may talk of _comfort_. +But who thinks of comforting birds or butterflies or young lambs?" + +"Ah, dear uncle, I am not so very happy," said Agnes, the tears starting +into her eyes. + +"Not happy?" said the monk, looking up from his drawing. "Pray, what's +the matter now? Has a bee stung your finger? or have you lost your +nosegay over a rock? or what dreadful affliction has come upon +you?--hey, my little heart?" + +Agnes sat down on the corner of the marble fountain, and, covering her +face with her apron, sobbed as if her heart would break. + +"What has that old priest been saying to her in the confession?" said +Father Antonio to himself. "I dare say he cannot understand her. She is +as pure as a dew-drop on a cobweb, and as delicate; and these priests, +half of them don't know how to handle the Lord's lambs.--Come now, +little Agnes," he said, with a coaxing tone, "what is its trouble?--tell +its old uncle,--there's a dear!" + +"Ah, uncle, I can't!" said Agnes, between her sobs. + +"Can't tell its uncle!--there's a pretty go! Perhaps you will tell +grandmamma?" + +"Oh, no, no, no! not for the world!" said Agnes, sobbing still more +bitterly. + +"Why, really, little heart of mine, this is getting serious," said the +monk; "let your old uncle try to help you." + +"It isn't for myself," said Agnes, endeavoring to check her +feelings,--"it is not for myself,--it is for another,--for a soul lost. +Ah, my Jesus, have mercy!" + +"A soul lost? Our Mother forbid!" said the monk, crossing himself. +"Lost in this Christian land, so overflowing with the beauty of the +Lord?--lost out of this fair sheepfold of Paradise?" + +"Yes, lost," said Agnes, despairingly,--"and if somebody do not save +him, lost forever; and it is a brave and noble soul, too,--like one of +the angels that fell." + +"Who is it, dear?--tell me about it," said the monk. "I am one of the +shepherds whose place it is to go after that which is lost, even till I +find it." + +"Dear uncle, you remember the youth who suddenly appeared to us in the +moonlight here a few evenings ago?" + +"Ah, indeed!" said the monk,--"what of him?" + +"Father Francesco has told me dreadful things of him this morning." + +"What things?" + +"Uncle, he is excommunicated by our Holy Father the Pope." + +Father Antonio, as a member of one of the most enlightened and +cultivated religious orders of the times, and as an intimate companion +and disciple of Savonarola, had a full understanding of the character of +the reigning Pope, and therefore had his own private opinion of how much +his excommunication was likely to be worth in the invisible world. He +knew that the same doom had been threatened towards his saintly master, +for opposing and exposing the scandalous vices which disgraced the high +places of the Church; so that, on the whole, when he heard that this +young man was excommunicated, so far from being impressed with horror +towards him, he conceived the idea that he might be a particularly +honest fellow and good Christian. But then he did not hold it wise to +disturb the faith of the simple-hearted by revealing to them the truth +about the head of the Church on earth. + +While the disorders in those elevated regions filled the minds of the +intelligent classes with apprehension and alarm, they held it unwise +to disturb the trustful simplicity of the lower orders, whose faith in +Christianity itself they supposed might thus be shaken. In fact, they +were themselves somewhat puzzled how to reconcile the patent and +manifest fact, that the actual incumbent of the Holy See was not under +the guidance of any spirit, unless it were a diabolical one, with the +theory which supposed an infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit to +attend as a matter of course on that position. Some of the boldest of +them did not hesitate to declare that the Holy City had suffered a foul +invasion, and that a false usurper reigned in her sacred palaces in +place of the Father of Christendom. The greater part did as people now +do with the mysteries and discrepancies of a faith which on the whole +they revere: they turned their attention from the vexed question, and +sighed and longed for better days. + +Father Antonio did not, therefore, tell Agnes that the announcement +which had filled her with such distress was far less conclusive with +himself of the ill desert of the individual to whom it related. + +"My little heart," he answered, gravely, "did you learn the sin for +which this young man was excommunicated?" + +"Ah, me! my dear uncle, I fear he is an infidel,--an unbeliever. Indeed, +now I remember it, he confessed as much to me the other day." + +"Where did he tell you this?" + +"You remember, my uncle, when you were sent for to the dying man? When +you were gone, I kneeled down to pray for his soul; and when I rose from +prayer, this young cavalier was sitting right here, on this end of the +fountain. He was looking fixedly at me, with such sad eyes, so full +of longing and pain, that it was quite piteous; and he spoke to me so +sadly, I could not but pity him." + +"What did he say to you, child?" + +"Ah, father, he said that he was all alone in the world, without +friends, and utterly desolate, with no one to love him; but worse than +that, he said he had lost his faith, that he could not believe." + +"What did you say to him?" + +"Uncle, I tried, as a poor girl might, to do him some good. I prayed him +to confess and take the sacrament; but he looked almost fierce when I +said so. And yet I cannot but think, after all, that he has not lost all +grace, because he begged me so earnestly to pray for him; he said his +prayers could do no good, and wanted mine. And then I began to tell him +about you, dear uncle, and how you came from that blessed convent in +Florence, and about your master Savonarola; and that seemed to interest +him, for he looked quite excited, and spoke the name over, as if it were +one he had heard before. I wanted to urge him to come and open his case +to you; and I think perhaps I might have succeeded, but that just then +you and grandmamma came up the path; and when I heard you coming, I +begged him to go, because you know grandmamma would be very angry, if +she knew that I had given speech to a man, even for a few moments; she +thinks men are so dreadful." + +"I must seek this youth," said the monk, in a musing tone; "perhaps I +may find out what inward temptation hath driven him away from the fold." + +"Oh, do, dear uncle! do!" said Agnes, earnestly. "I am sure that he has +been grievously tempted and misled, for he seems to have a noble and +gentle nature; and he spoke so feelingly of his mother, who is a saint +in heaven; and he seemed so earnestly to long to return to the bosom of +the Church." + +"The Church is a tender mother to all her erring children," said the +monk. + +"And don't you think that our dear Holy Father the Pope will forgive +him?" said Agnes. "Surely, he will have all the meekness and gentleness +of Christ, who would rejoice in one sheep found more than in all the +ninety-and-nine who went not astray." + +The monk could scarcely repress a smile at imagining Alexander the +Sixth in this character of a good shepherd, as Agnes's enthusiastic +imagination painted the head of the Church; and then he gave an inward +sigh, and said, softly, "Lord, how long?" + +"I think," said Agnes, "that this young man is of noble birth, for his +words and his bearing and his tones of voice are not those of common +men; even though he speaks so humbly and gently, there is yet something +princely that looks out of his eyes, as if he were born to command; and +he wears strange jewels, the like of which I never saw, on his hands and +at the hilt of his dagger,--yet he seems to make nothing of them. But +yet, I know not why, he spoke of himself as one utterly desolate and +forlorn. Father Francesco told me that he was captain of a band of +robbers who live in the mountains. One cannot think it is so." + +"Little heart," said the monk, tenderly, "you can scarcely know what +things befall men in these distracted times, when faction wages war with +faction, and men pillage and burn and imprison, first on this side, +then on that. Many a son of a noble house may find himself homeless +and landless, and, chased by the enemy, may have no refuge but the +fastnesses of the mountains. Thank God, our lovely Italy hath a noble +backbone of these same mountains, which afford shelter to her children +in their straits." + +"Then you think it possible, dear uncle, that this may not be a bad man, +after all?" + +"Let us hope so, child. I will myself seek him out; and if his mind have +been chafed by violence or injustice, I will strive to bring him back +into the good ways of the Lord. Take heart, my little one,--all will yet +be well. Come now, little darling, wipe your bright eyes, and look at +these plans I have been making for the shrine we were talking of, in the +gorge. See here, I have drawn a goodly arch with a pinnacle. Under the +arch, you see, shall be the picture of our Lady with the blessed +Babe. The arch shall be cunningly sculptured with vines of ivy and +passion-flower; and on one side of it shall stand Saint Agnes with her +lamb,--and on the other, Saint Cecilia, crowned with roses; and on +this pinnacle, above all, Saint Michael, all in armor, shall stand +leaning,--one hand on his sword, and holding a shield with the cross +upon it." + +"Ah, that will be beautiful!" said Agnes. + +"You can scarcely tell," pursued the monk, "from this faint drawing, +what the picture of our Lady is to be; but I shall paint her to the +highest of my art, and with many prayers that I may work worthily. You +see, she shall be standing on a cloud with a background all of burnished +gold, like the streets of the New Jerusalem; and she shall be clothed in +a mantle of purest blue from head to foot, to represent the unclouded +sky of summer; and on her forehead she shall wear the evening star, +which ever shineth when we say the Ave Maria; and all the borders of her +blue vesture shall be cunningly wrought with fringes of stars; and the +dear Babe shall lean his little cheek to hers so peacefully, and there +shall be a clear shining of love through her face, and a heavenly +restfulness, that it shall do one's heart good to look at her. Many a +blessed hour shall I have over this picture,--many a hymn shall I sing +as my work goes on. I must go about to prepare the panels forthwith; and +it were well, if there be that young man who works in stone, to have him +summoned to our conference." + +"I think," said Agnes, "that you will find him in the town; he dwells +next to the cathedral." + +"I trust he is a youth of pious life and conversation," said the monk. +"I must call on him this afternoon; for he ought to be stirring himself +up by hymns and prayers, and by meditations on the beauty of saints and +angels, for so goodly a work. What higher honor or grace can befall a +creature than to be called upon to make visible to men that beauty of +invisible things which is divine and eternal? How many holy men have +given themselves to this work in Italy, till, from being overrun with +heathen temples, it is now full of most curious and wonderful churches, +shrines, and cathedrals, every stone of which is a miracle of beauty! I +would, dear daughter, you could see our great Duomo in Florence, which +is a mountain of precious marbles and many-colored mosaics; and the +Campanile that riseth thereby is like a lily of Paradise,--so tall, so +stately, with such an infinite grace, and adorned all the way up with +holy emblems and images of saints and angels; nor is there any part of +it, within or without, that is not finished sacredly with care, as an +offering to the most perfect God. Truly, our fair Florence, though she +be little, is worthy, by her sacred adornments, to be worn as the lily +of our Lady's girdle, even as she hath been dedicated to her." + +Agnes seemed pleased with the enthusiastic discourse of her uncle. The +tears gradually dried from her eyes as she listened to him, and the hope +so natural to the young and untried heart began to reassert itself. God +was merciful, the world beautiful; there was a tender Mother, a reigning +Saviour, protecting angels and guardian saints: surely, then, there +was no need to despair of the recall of any wanderer; and the softest +supplication of the most ignorant and unworthy would be taken up by so +many sympathetic voices in the invisible world, and borne on in so many +waves of brightness to the heavenly throne, that the most timid must +have hope in prayer. + +In the afternoon, the monk went to the town to seek the young artist, +and also to inquire for the stranger for whom his pastoral offices were +in requisition, and Agnes remained alone in the little solitary garden. + +It was one of those rich slumberous afternoons of spring that seem to +bathe earth and heaven with an Elysian softness; and from her little +lonely nook shrouded in dusky shadows by its orange-trees, Agnes looked +down the sombre gorge to where the open sea lay panting and palpitating +in blue and violet waves, while the little white sails of fishing-boats +drifted hither and thither, now silvered in the sunshine, now fading +away like a dream into the violet vapor bands that mantled the horizon. +The weather would have been oppressively sultry but for the gentle +breeze which constantly drifted landward with coolness in its wings. The +hum of the old town came to her ear softened by distance and mingled +with the patter of the fountain and the music of birds singing in the +trees overhead. Agnes tried to busy herself with her spinning; but her +mind constantly wandered away, and stirred and undulated with a thousand +dim and unshaped thoughts and emotions, of which she vaguely questioned +in her own mind. Why did Father Francesco warn her so solemnly against +an earthly love? Did he not know her vocation? But still he was wisest +and must know best; there must be danger, if he said so. But then, +this knight had spoken so modestly, so humbly,--so differently from +Giulietta's lovers!--for Giulietta had sometimes found a chance to +recount to Agnes some of her triumphs. How could it be that a knight so +brave and gentle, and so piously brought up, should become an infidel? +Ah, uncle Antonio was right,--he must have had some foul wrong, some +dreadful injury! When Agnes was a child, in travelling with her +grandmother through one of the highest passes of the Apennines, she had +chanced to discover a wounded eagle, whom an arrow had pierced, sitting +all alone by himself on a rock, with his feathers ruffled, and a film +coming over his great, clear, bright eye,--and, ever full of compassion, +she had taken him to nurse, and had travelled for a day with him in her +arms; and the mournful look of his regal eyes now came into her memory. +"Yes," she said to herself, "he is like my poor eagle! The archers have +wounded him, so that he is glad to find shelter even with a poor maid +like me; but it was easy to see my eagle had been king among birds, even +as this knight is among men. Certainly, God must love him,--he is so +beautiful and noble! I hope dear uncle will find him this afternoon; he +knows how to teach him;--as for me, I can only pray." + +Such were the thoughts that Agnes twisted into the shining white flax, +while her eyes wandered dreamily over the soft hazy landscape. At last, +lulled by the shivering sound of leaves, and the bird-songs, and wearied +with the agitations of the morning, her head lay back against the end of +the sculptured fountain, the spindle slowly dropped from her hand, and +her eyes were closed in sleep, the murmur of the fountain still sounding +in her dreams. In her dreams she seemed to be wandering far away among +the purple passes of the Apennines, where she had come years ago when +she was a little girl; with her grandmother she pushed through old +olive-groves, weird and twisted with many a quaint gnarl, and rustling +their pale silvery leaves in noonday twilight. Sometimes she seemed to +carry in her bosom a wounded eagle, and often she sat down to stroke it +and to try to give it food from her hand, and as often it looked upon +her with a proud, patient eye, and then her grandmother seemed to shake +her roughly by the arm and bid her throw the silly bird away;--but then +again the dream changed, and she saw a knight lie bleeding and dying in +a lonely hollow,--his garments torn, his sword broken, and his face pale +and faintly streaked with blood; and she kneeled by him, trying in vain +to stanch a deadly wound in his side, while he said reproachfully, +"Agnes, dear Agnes, why would you not save me?" and then she thought +he kissed her hand with his cold dying lips; and she shivered and +awoke,--to find that her hand was indeed held in that of the cavalier, +whose eyes met her own when first she unclosed them, and the same voice +that spoke in her dreams said, "Agnes, dear Agnes!" + +For a moment she seemed stupefied and confounded, and sat passively +regarding the knight, who kneeled at her feet and repeatedly kissed her +hand, calling her his saint, his star, his life, and whatever other +fair name poetry lends to love. All at once, however, her face flushed +crimson red, she drew her hand quickly away, and, rising up, made a +motion to retreat, saying, in a voice of alarm,-- + +"Oh, my Lord, this must not be! I am committing deadly sin to hear you. +Please, please go! please leave a poor girl!" + +"Agnes, what does this mean?" said the cavalier. "Only two days since, +in this place, you promised to love me; and that promise has brought me +from utter despair to love of life. Nay, since you told me that, I have +been able to pray once more; the whole world seems changed for me: and +now will you take it all away,--you, who are all I have on earth?" + +"My Lord, I did not know then that I was sinning. Our dear Mother knows +I said only what I thought was true and right, but I find it was a sin." + +"A sin _to love_, Agnes? Heaven must be full of sin, then; for there +they do nothing else." + +"Oh, my Lord, I must not argue with you; I am forbidden to listen even +for a moment. Please go. I will never forget you, Sir,--never forget to +pray for you, and to love you as they love in heaven; but I am forbidden +to speak with you. I fear I have sinned in hearing and saying even this +much." + +"Who forbids you, Agnes? Who has the right to forbid your good, kind +heart to love, where love is so deeply needed and so gratefully +received?" + +"My holy father, whom I am bound to obey as my soul's director," said +Agnes; "he has forbidden me so much as to listen to a word, and yet I +have listened to many. How could I help it?" + +"Ever these priests!" said the cavalier, his brow darkening with an +impatient frown; "wolves in sheep's clothing!" + +"Alas!" said Agnes, sorrowfully, "why will you"-- + +"Why will I what?" he said, facing suddenly toward her, and looking down +with a fierce, scornful determination. + +"Why will you be at war with the Holy Church? Why will you peril your +eternal salvation?" + +"Is there a Holy Church? Where is it? Would there were one! I am blind +and cannot see it. Little Agnes, you promised to lead me; but you drop +my hand in the darkness. Who will guide me, if _you_ will not?" + +"My Lord, I am most unfit to be your guide. I am a poor girl, without +any learning; but there is my uncle I spoke to you of. Oh, my Lord, if +you only would go to him, he is wise and gentle both. I must go in now, +my Lord,--indeed, I must. I must not sin further. I must do a heavy +penance for having listened and spoken to you, after the holy father had +forbidden me." + +"No, Agnes, you shall _not_ go in," said the cavalier, suddenly stepping +before her and placing himself across the doorway; "you _shall_ see me, +and hear me too. I take the sin on myself; you cannot help it. How will +you avoid me? Will you fly now down the path of the gorge? I will follow +you,--I am desperate. I had but one comfort on earth, but one hope of +heaven, and that through you; and you, cruel, are so ready to give me up +at the first word of your priest!" + +"God knows if I do it willingly," said Agnes; "but I know it is best; +for I feel I should love you too well, if I saw more of you. My Lord, +you are strong and can compel me, but I beg you to leave me." + +"Dear Agnes, could you really feel it possible that you might love me +too well?" said the cavalier, his whole manner changing. "Ah! could I +carry you far away to my home in the mountains, far up in the beautiful +blue mountains, where the air is so clear, and the weary, wrangling +world lies so far below that one forgets it entirely, you should be my +wife, my queen, my empress. You should lead me where you would; your +word should be my law. I will go with you wherever you will,--to +confession, to sacrament, to prayers, never so often; never will I rebel +against your word; if you decree, I will bend my neck to king or priest; +I will reconcile me with anybody or anything only for your sweet sake; +you shall lead me all my life; and when we die, I ask only that you may +lead me to our Mother's throne in heaven, and pray her to tolerate me +for your sake. Come, now, dear, is not even one unworthy soul worth +saving?" + +"My Lord, you have taught me how wise my holy father was in forbidding +me to listen to you. He knew better than I how weak was my heart, and +how I might be drawn on from step to step till----My Lord, I must be no +man's wife. I follow the blessed Saint Agnes. May God give me grace to +keep my vows without wavering!--for then I shall gain power to intercede +for you and bring down blessings on your soul. Oh, never, never speak to +me so again, my Lord!--you will make me very, _very_ unhappy. If there +is any truth in your words, my Lord, if you really love me, you will go, +and you will never try to speak to me again." + +"Never, Agnes? never? Think what you are saying!" + +"Oh, I do think! I know it must be best," said Agnes, much agitated; +"for, if I should see you often and hear your voice, I should lose all +my strength. I could never resist, and I should lose heaven for you and +me too. Leave me, and I will never, never forget to pray for you; and +go quickly too, for it is time for my grandmother to come home, and she +would be so angry,--she would never believe I had not been doing wrong, +and perhaps she would make me marry somebody that I do not wish to. She +has threatened that many times; but I beg her to leave me free to go to +my sweet home in the convent and my dear Mother Theresa." + +"They shall never marry you against your will, little Agnes, I pledge +you my knightly word. I will protect you from that. Promise me, dear, +that, if ever you be man's wife, you will be mine. Only promise me that, +and I will go." + +"Will you?" said Agnes, in an ecstasy of fear and apprehension, in which +there mingled some strange troubled gleams of happiness. "Well, then, I +will. Ah! I hope it is no sin." + +"Believe me, dearest, it is not," said the knight. "Say it again,--say, +that I may hear it,--say, 'If ever I am man's wife, I will be +thine,'--say it, and I will go." + +"Well, then, my Lord, if ever I am man's wife, I will be thine," said +Agnes. "But I will be no man's wife. My heart and hand are promised +elsewhere. Come, now, my Lord, your word must be kept." + +"Let me put this ring on your finger, lest you forget," said the +cavalier. "It was my mother's ring, and never during her lifetime heard +anything but prayers and hymns. It is saintly, and worthy of thee." + +"No, my Lord, I may not. Grandmother would inquire about it. I cannot +keep it; but fear not my forgetting: I shall never forget you." + +"Will you ever want to see me, Agnes?" + +"I hope not, since it is not best. But you do not go." + +"Well, then, farewell, my little wife! farewell, till I claim thee!" +said the cavalier, as he kissed her hand, and vaulted over the wall. + +"How strange that I _cannot_ make him understand!" said Agnes, when he +was gone. "I must have sinned, I must have done wrong; but I have been +trying all the while to do right. Why would he stay so and look at me so +with those deep eyes? I was very hard with him,--very! I trembled for +him, I was so severe; and yet it has not discouraged him enough. How +strange that he would call me so, after all, when I explained to him +I never could marry!--Must I tell all this to Father Francesco? How +dreadful! How he looked at me before! How he trembled and turned away +from me! What will he think now? Ah, me! why must I tell _him_? If I +could only confess to my mother Theresa, that would be easier. We have a +mother in heaven to hear us; why should we not have a mother on earth? +Father Francesco frightens me so! His eyes burn me! They seem to burn +into my soul, and he seems angry with me sometimes, and sometimes looks +at me so strangely! Dear, blessed Mother," she said, kneeling at the +shrine, "help thy little child! I do not want to do wrong: I want to do +right. Oh that I could come and live with thee!" + +Poor Agnes! a new experience had opened in her heretofore tranquil life, +and her day was one of conflict. Do what she would, the words that +had been spoken to her in the morning would return to her mind, and +sometimes she awoke with a shock of guilty surprise at finding she had +been dreaming over what the cavalier said to her of living with him +alone, in some clear, high, purple solitude of those beautiful mountains +which she remembered as an enchanted dream of her childhood. Would he +really always love her, then, always go with her to prayers and mass and +sacrament, and be reconciled to the Church, and should she indeed have +the joy of feeling that this noble soul was led back to heavenly peace +through her? Was not this better than a barren life of hymns and prayers +in a cold convent? Then the very voice that said these words, that voice +of veiled strength and manly daring, that spoke with such a gentle +pleading, and yet such an undertone of authority, as if he had a right +to claim her for himself,--she seemed to feel the tones of that voice in +every nerve;--and then the strange thrilling pleasure of thinking +that he loved her so. Why should he, this strange, beautiful knight? +Doubtless he had seen splendid high-born ladies,--he had seen even +queens and princesses,--and what could he find to like in her, a poor +little peasant? Nobody ever thought so much of her before, and he was so +unhappy without her;--it was strange he should be; but he said so, and +it must be true. After all, Father Francesco might be mistaken about his +being wicked. On the whole, she felt sure he was mistaken, at least in +part. Uncle Antonio did not seem to be so much shocked at what she told +him; he knew the temptations of men better, perhaps, because he did not +stay shut up in one convent, but travelled all about, preaching and +teaching. If only he could see him, and talk with him, and make him a +good Christian,--why, then, there would be no further need of her;--and +Agnes was surprised to find what a dreadful, dreary blank appeared +before her when she thought of this. Why should she wish him to remember +her, since she never could be his?--and yet nothing seemed so dreadful +as that he should forget her. So the poor little innocent fly beat and +fluttered in the mazes of that enchanted web, where thousands of her +frail sex have beat and fluttered before her. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MONK AND THE CAVALIER. + + +Father Antonio had been down through the streets of the old town of +Sorrento, searching for the young stonecutter, and, finding him, had +spent some time in enlightening him as to the details of the work he +wished him to execute. + +He found him not so easily kindled into devotional fervors as he had +fondly imagined, nor could all his most devout exhortations produce +one-quarter of the effect upon him that resulted from the discovery that +it was the fair Agnes who originated the design and was interested in +its execution. Then did the large black eyes of the youth kindle into +something of sympathetic fervor, and he willingly promised to do his +very best at the carving. + +"I used to know the fair Agnes well, years ago," he said, "but of late +she will not even look at me; yet I worship her none the less. Who can +help it that sees her? I don't think she is so hard-hearted as she +seems; but her grandmother and the priests won't so much as allow her to +lift up her eyes when one of us young fellows goes by. Twice these five +years past have I seen her eyes, and then it was when I contrived to get +near the holy water when there was a press round it of a saint's day, +and I reached some to her on my finger, and then she smiled upon me and +thanked me. Those two smiles are all I have had to live on for all +this time. Perhaps, if I work very well, she will give me another, and +perhaps she will say, 'Thank you, my good Pietro!' as she used to, when +I brought her birds' eggs or helped her across the ravine, years ago." + +"Well, my brave boy, do your best," said the monk, "and let the shrine +be of the fairest white marble. I will be answerable for the expense; I +will beg it of those who have substance." + +"So please you, holy father," said Pietro, "I know of a spot, a little +below here on the coast, where was a heathen temple in the old days; and +one can dig therefrom long pieces of fair white marble, all covered with +heathen images. I know not whether your Reverence would think them fit +for Christian purposes." + +"So much the better, boy! so much the better!" said the monk, heartily. +"Only let the marble be fine and white, and it is as good as converting +a heathen any time to baptize it to Christian uses. A few strokes of the +chisel will soon demolish their naked nymphs and other such rubbish, and +we can carve holy virgins, robed from head to foot in all modesty, as +becometh saints." + +"I will get my boat and go down this very afternoon," said Pietro; "and, +Sir, I hope I am not making too bold in asking you, when you see the +fair Agnes, to present unto her this lily, in memorial of her old +playfellow." + +"That I will, my boy! And now I think of it, she spoke kindly of you as +one that had been a companion in her childhood, but said her grandmother +would not allow her to speak to you now." + +"Ah, that is it!" said Pietro. "Old Elsie is a fierce old kite, with +strong beak and long claws, and will not let the poor girl have any good +of her youth. Some say she means to marry her to some rich old man, and +some say she will shut her up in a convent, which I should say was a +sore hurt and loss to the world. There are a plenty of women, whom +nobody wants to look at, for that sort of work; and a beautiful face is +a kind of psalm which makes one want to be good." + +"Well, well, my boy, work well and faithfully for the saints on this +shrine, and I dare promise you many a smile from this fair maiden; for +her heart is set upon the glory of God and his saints, and she will +smile on any one who helps on the good work. I shall look in on you +daily for a time, till I see the work well started." + +So saying, the old monk took his leave. Just as he was passing out of +the house, some one brushed rapidly by him, going down the street. As he +passed, the quick eye of the monk recognized the cavalier whom he had +seen in the garden but a few evenings before. It was not a face and form +easily forgotten, and the monk followed him at a little distance behind, +resolving, if he saw him turn in anywhere, to follow and crave an +audience of him. + +Accordingly, as he saw the cavalier entering under the low arch that +led to his hotel, he stepped up and addressed him with a gesture of +benediction. + +"God bless you, my son!" + +"What would you with me, father?" said the cavalier, with a hasty and +somewhat suspicious glance. + +"I would that you would give me an audience of a few moments on some +matters of importance," said the monk, mildly. + +The tones of his voice seemed to have excited some vague remembrance in +the mind of the cavalier; for he eyed him narrowly, and seemed trying +to recollect where he had seen him before. Suddenly a light appeared to +flash upon his mind; for his whole manner became at once more cordial. + +"My good father," he said, "my poor lodging and leisure are at your +service for any communication you may see fit to make." + +So saying, he led the way up the damp, ill-smelling stone staircase, and +opened the door of the deserted room where we have seen him once before. +Closing the door, and seating himself at the one rickety table which the +room afforded, he motioned to the monk to be seated also; then taking +off his plumed hat, he threw it negligently on the table beside him, and +passing his white, finely formed hand through the black curls of his +hair, he tossed them carelessly from his forehead, and, leaning his chin +in the hollow of his hand, fixed his glittering eyes on the monk in a +manner that seemed to demand his errand. + +"My Lord," said the monk, in those gentle, conciliating tones which +were natural to him, "I would ask a little help of you in regard of a +Christian undertaking which I have here in hand. The dear Lord hath put +it into the heart of a pious young maid of this vicinity to erect a +shrine to the honor of our Lady and her dear Son in this gorge of +Sorrento, hard by. It is a gloomy place in the night, and hath been said +to be haunted by evil spirits; and my fair niece, who is full of all +holy thoughts, desired me to draw the plan for this shrine, and, so far +as my poor skill may go, I have done so. See here, my Lord, are the +drawings." + +The monk laid them down on the table, his pale cheek flushing with a +faint glow of artistic enthusiasm and pride, as he explained to the +young man the plan and drawings. + +The cavalier listened courteously, but without much apparent interest, +till the monk drew from his portfolio a paper and said,-- + +"This, my Lord, is my poor and feeble conception of the most sacred form +of our Lady, which I am to paint for the centre of the shrine." + +He laid down the paper, and the cavalier, with a sudden exclamation, +snatched it up, looking at it eagerly. + +"It is she!" he said; "it is her very self!--the divine Agnes,--the lily +flower,--the sweet star,--the only one among women!" + +"I see you have recognized the likeness," said the monk, blushing. +"I know it hath been thought a practice of doubtful edification to +represent holy things under the image of aught earthly; but when any +mortal seems especially gifted with a heavenly spirit outshining in the +face, it may be that our Lady chooses that person to reveal herself in." + +The cavalier was gazing so intently on the picture that he scarcely +heard the apology of the monk; he held it up, and seemed to study it +with a long admiring gaze. + +"You have great skill with your pencil, my father," he said; "one would +not look for such things from under a monk's hood." + +"I belong to the San Marco in Florence, of which you may have heard," +said Father Antonio, "and am an unworthy disciple of the traditions of +the blessed Angelico, whose visions of heavenly things are ever before +us; and no less am I a disciple of the renowned Savonarola, of whose +fame all Italy hath heard before now." + +"Savonarola?" said the other, with eagerness,--"he that makes these vile +miscreants that call themselves Pope and Cardinals tremble? All Italy, +all Christendom, is groaning and stretching out the hand to him to free +them from these abominations. My father, tell me of Savonarola: how goes +he, and what success hath he?" + +"My son, it is now many months since I left Florence; since which time +I have been sojourning in by-places, repairing shrines and teaching the +poor of the Lord's flock, who are scattered and neglected by the idle +shepherds, who think only to eat the flesh and warm themselves with the +fleece of the sheep for whom the Good Shepherd gave his life. My duties +have been humble and quiet; for it is not given to me to wield the sword +of rebuke and controversy, like my great master." + +"And you have not heard, then," said the cavalier, eagerly, "that they +have excommunicated him?" + +"I knew that was threatened," said the monk, "but I did not think it +possible that it could befall a man of such shining holiness of life, +so signally and openly owned of God that the very gifts of the first +Apostles seem revived in him." + +"Does not Satan always hate the Lord," said the cavalier. "Alexander +and his councils are possessed of the Devil, if ever men were,--and are +sealed as his children by every abominable wickedness. The Devil sits in +Christ's seat, and hath stolen his signet-ring, to seal decrees against +the Lord's own followers. What are Christian men to do in such case?" + +The monk sighed and looked troubled. + +"It is hard to say," he answered. "So much I know,--that before I left +Florence our master wrote to the King of France touching the dreadful +state of things at Rome, and tried to stir him up to call a general +council of the Church. I much fear me this letter may have fallen into +the hands of the Pope." + +"I tell you, father," said the young man, starting up and laying his +hand on his sword, "_we must fight_! It is the sword that must decide +this matter! Was not the Holy Sepulchre saved from the Infidels by the +sword?--and once more the sword must save the Holy City from worse +infidels than the Turks. If such doings as these are allowed in the Holy +City, another generation there will be no Christians left on earth. +Alexander and Caesar Borgia and the Lady Lucrezia are enough to drive +religion from the world. They make us long to go back to the traditions +of our Roman fathers,--who were men of cleanly and honorable lives and +of heroic deeds, scorning bribery and deceit. They honored God by noble +lives, little as they knew of Him. But these men are a shame to the +mothers that bore them." + +"You speak too truly, my son," said the monk. "Alas! the creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain with these things. Many a time and oft +have I seen our master groaning and wrestling with God on this account. +For it is to small purpose that we have gone through Italy preaching and +stirring up the people to more holy lives, when from the very hill of +Zion, the height of the sanctuary, come down these streams of pollution. +It seems as if the time had come that the world could bear it no +longer." + +"Well, if it come to the trial of the sword, as come it must," said the +cavalier, "say to your master that Agostino Sarelli has a band of one +hundred tried men and an impregnable fastness in the mountains, where he +may take refuge, and where they will gladly hear the Word of God from +pure lips. They call us robbers,--us who have gone out from the assembly +of robbers, that we might lead honest and cleanly lives. There is not +one among us that hath not lost houses, lands, brothers, parents, +children, or friends, through their treacherous cruelty. There be those +whose wives and sisters have been forced into the Borgia harem; there be +those whose children have been tortured before their eyes,--those who +have seen the fairest and dearest slaughtered by these hell-hounds, who +yet sit in the seat of the Lord and give decrees in the name of Christ. +Is there a God? If there be, why is He silent?" + +"Yea, my son, there is a God," said the monk; "but His ways are not as +ours. A thousand years in His sight are but as yesterday, as a watch in +the night. He shall come, and shall not keep silence." + +"Perhaps you do not know, father," said the young man, "that I, too, +am excommunicated. I am excommunicated, because, Caesar Borgia having +killed my oldest brother, and dishonored and slain my sister, and seized +on all our possessions, and the Pope having protected and confirmed him +therein, I declare the Pope to be not of God, but of the Devil. I will +not submit to him, nor be ruled by him; and I and my fellows will make +good our mountains against him and his crew with such right arms as the +good Lord hath given us." + +"The Lord be with you, my son!" said the monk; "and the Lord bring His +Church out of these deep waters! Surely, it is a lovely and beautiful +Church, made dear and precious by innumerable saints and martyrs who +have given their sweet lives up willingly for it; and it is full of +records of righteousness, of prayers and alms and works of mercy that +have made even the very dust of our Italy precious and holy. Why hast +Thou abandoned this vine of Thy planting, O Lord? The boar out of the +wood doth waste it; the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, +we beseech Thee, and visit this vine of Thy planting!" + +The monk clasped his hands and looked upward pleadingly, the tears +running down his wasted cheeks. Ah, many such strivings and prayers +in those days went up from silent hearts in obscure solitudes, that +wrestled and groaned under that mighty burden which Luther at last +received strength to heave from the heart of the Church. + +"Then, father, you do admit that one may be banned by the Pope, and may +utterly refuse and disown him, and yet be a Christian?" + +"How can I otherwise?" said the monk. "Do I not see the greatest saint +this age or any age has ever seen under the excommunication of the +greatest sinner? Only, my son, let me warn you. Become not irreverent to +the true Church, because of a false usurper. Reverence the sacraments, +the hymns, the prayers all the more for this sad condition in which you +stand. What teacher is more faithful in these respects than my master? +Who hath more zeal for our blessed Lord Jesus, and a more living faith +in Him? Who hath a more filial love and tenderness towards our blessed +Mother? Who hath more reverent communion with all the saints than he? +Truly, he sometimes seems to me to walk encompassed by all the armies of +heaven,--such a power goes forth in his words, and such a holiness in +his life." + +"Ah," said Agostino, "would I had such a confessor! The sacraments might +once more have power for me, and I might cleanse my soul from unbelief." + +"Dear son," said the monk, "accept a most unworthy, but sincere follower +of this holy prophet, who yearns for thy salvation. Let me have the +happiness of granting to thee the sacraments of the Church, which, +doubtless, are thine by right as one of the flock of the Lord Jesus. +Come to me some day this week in confession, and thereafter thou shalt +receive the Lord within thee, and be once more united to Him." + +"My good father," said the young man, grasping his hand, and much +affected, "I will come. Your words have done me good; but I must think +more of them. I will come soon; but these things cannot be done without +pondering; it will take some time to bring my heart into charity with +all men." + +The monk rose up to depart, and began to gather up his drawings. + +"For this matter, father," said the cavalier, throwing several gold +pieces upon the table, "take these, and as many more as you need ask for +your good work. I would willingly pay any sum," he added, while a faint +blush rose to his cheek, "if you would give me a copy of this. Gold +would be nothing in comparison with it." + +"My son," said the monk, smiling, "would it be to thee an image of an +earthly or a heavenly love?" + +"Of both, father," said the young man. "For that dear face has been more +to me than prayer or hymn; it has been even as a sacrament to me, and +through it I know not what of holy and heavenly influences have come to +me." + +"Said I not well," said the monk, exulting, "that there were those on +whom our Mother shed such grace that their very beauty led heavenward? +Such are they whom the artist looks for, when he would adorn a shrine +where the faithful shall worship. Well, my son, I must use my poor art +for you; and as for gold, we of our convent take it not except for the +adorning of holy things, such as this shrine." + +"How soon shall it be done?" said the young man, eagerly. + +"Patience, patience, my Lord! Rome was not built in a day, and our art +must work by slow touches; but I will do my best. But wherefore, my +Lord, cherish this image?" + +"Father, are you of near kin to this maid?" + +"I am her mother's only brother." + +"Then I say to you, as the nearest of her male kin, that I seek this +maid in pure and honorable marriage; and she hath given me her promise, +that, if ever she be wife of mortal man, she will be mine." + +"But she looks not to be wife of any man," said the monk; "so, at least, +I have heard her say; though her grandmother would fain marry her to a +husband of her choosing. 'Tis a wilful woman, is my sister Elsie, and a +worldly,--not easy to persuade, and impossible to drive." + +"And she hath chosen for this fair angel some base peasant churl who +will have no sense of her exceeding loveliness? By the saints, if it +come to this, I will carry her away with the strong arm!" + +"That is not to be apprehended just at present. Sister Elsie is dotingly +fond of the girl, which hath slept in her bosom since infancy." + +"And why should I not demand her in marriage of your sister?" said the +young man. + +"My Lord, you are an excommunicated man, and she would have horror of +you. It is impossible; it would not be to edification to make the common +people judges in such matters. It is safest to let their faith rest +undisturbed, and that they be not taught to despise ecclesiastical +censures. This could not be explained to Elsie; she would drive you from +her doors with her distaff, and you would scarce wish to put your sword +against it. Besides, my Lord, if you were not excommunicated, you are of +noble blood, and this alone would be a fatal objection with my sister, +who hath sworn on the holy cross that Agnes shall never love one of your +race." + +"What is the cause of this hatred?" + +"Some foul wrong which a noble did her mother," said the monk; "for +Agnes is of gentle blood on her father's side." + +"I might have known it," said the cavalier to himself; "her words and +ways are unlike anything in her class.--Father," he added, touching his +sword, "we soldiers are fond of cutting all Gordian knots, whether of +love or religion, with this. The sword, father, is the best theologian, +the best casuist. The sword rights wrongs and punishes evil-doers, and +some day the sword may cut the way out of this embarrass also." + +"Gently, my son! gently!" said the monk; "nothing is lost by patience. +See how long it takes the good Lord to make a fair flower out of a +little seed; and He does all quietly, without bluster. Wait on Him a +little in peacefulness and prayer, and see what He will do for thee." + +"Perhaps you are right, my father," said the cavalier, cordially. "Your +counsels have done me good, and I shall seek them further. But do +not let them terrify my poor Agnes with dreadful stories of the +excommunication that hath befallen me. The dear saint is breaking +her good little heart for my sins, and her confessor evidently hath +forbidden her to speak to me or look at me. If her heart were left to +itself, it would fly to me like a little tame bird, and I would +cherish it forever; but now she sees sin in every innocent, womanly +thought,--poor little dear child-angel that she is!" + +"Her confessor is a Franciscan," said the monk, who, good as he was, +could not escape entirely from the ruling prejudice of his order,--"and, +from what I know of him, I should think might be unskilful in what +pertaineth to the nursing of so delicate a lamb. It is not every one to +whom is given the gift of rightly directing souls." + +"I'd like to carry her off from him!" said the cavalier, between his +teeth. "I will, too, if he is not careful!" Then he added aloud, +"Father, Agnes is mine,--mine by the right of the truest worship and +devotion that man could ever pay to woman,--mine because she loves me. +For I know she loves me; I know it far better than she knows it herself, +the dear innocent child! and I will not have her torn from me to waste +her life in a lonely, barren convent, or to be the wife of a stolid +peasant. I am a man of my word, and I will vindicate my right to her in +the face of God and man." + +"Well, well, my son, as I said before, patience,--one thing at a time. +Let us say our prayers and sleep to-night, to begin with, and to-morrow +will bring us fresh counsel." + +"Well, my father, you will be for me in this matter?" said the young +man. + +"My son, I wish you all happiness; and if this be for your best good and +that of my dear niece, I wish it. But, as I said, there must be time and +patience. The way must be made clear. I will see how the case stands; +and you may be sure, when I can in good conscience, I will befriend +you." + +"Thank you, my father, thank you!" said the young man, bending his knee +to receive the monk's parting benediction. + +"It seems to me not best," said the monk, turning once more, as he was +leaving the threshold, "that you should come to me at present where I +am,--it would only raise a storm that I could not allay; and so great +would be the power of the forces they might bring to bear on the child, +that her little heart might break and the saints claim her too soon." + +"Well, then, father, come hither to me to-morrow at this same hour, if I +be not too unworthy of your pastoral care." + +"I shall be too happy, my son," said the monk. "So be it." + +And he turned from the door just as the bell of the cathedral struck the +Ave Maria, and all in the street bowed in the evening act of worship. + + * * * * * + + +A NIGHT IN A WHERRY. + + +As the summer vacation drew near, and the closed shutters and +comparative quiet of the west end made one for a moment believe in the +phrase, "Nobody in town," I had, after some thought, determined to +resist the many temptations of a walking tour, and, instead of trusting +to shoe-leather, try what virtue lay in a stout pair of oars, and make a +trip by water instead of land. + +But first, in what direction? The careful search of a huge chart and +some knowledge of the Northern and Eastern seaboard led me to mark out a +course along the shore of Massachusetts and among the beautiful islands +which stud the coast of Maine. + +The cruise was at that time a novel one, and many were the doubts +expressed as to the seaworthiness of my boat. She was twenty-two feet +long, nine inches high, and thirty-two wide,--canvas-covered, except +about four feet of the middle section, with sufficient space to stow +two days' food and water, and to carry all the baggage necessary for a +week's voyage. The oars were made especially strong for the occasion, +of spruce, ten feet three inches in length, and nicely balanced. In +addition to provision and clothes, a gun, a couple of hundred feet of +stout line, and a boat-hook were stowed in the bottom. + +The day fixed for departure rose clear. An east wind tempered the heat +of the sun; but the tide, which by starting earlier would have been in +my favor, was dead low, and would turn before I could round the northern +point of the city. After all my traps had been put on board, seating +myself carefully, the oars were handed in, and a few strokes sent me +ahead of the raft. The tide was low, dead low, in the fullest meaning of +the word; the sea-weed slowly circled and eddied round, floating neither +up nor down; while the unrippled surface of the Back Bay reflected the +city and bridges so perfectly that it was hard to tell where reality +ended and seeming began. Passing beneath the Cambridge draw, I turned +the boat's head for the next one, and kept close to the northern point +of the city. Seven bridges must be passed ere the bay opened before me. +The boat had just cleared the last, when, remembering that no matches +had been provided, and not knowing where a landing might be made, I +decided to lay in a stock before putting to sea. With a narrow shave +past the Chelsea ferry-boat, I backed water, and came alongside a raft +of ship-timber seasoning near one of the docks, tenanted by a score +or more of semi-amphibious urchins, who were running races over the +half-sunken logs, and taking all sizes of duckings, from the slight +spatter to the complete souse. Engaging the services of one of these +water-rats, by a judicious promise of a larger sum as payment than the +one intrusted to him for the purchase, I had soon a sufficient supply, +and, resting the boat-hook on one of the logs, pushed off. East Boston +ferry was quickly passed, my boat lifting and falling gracefully in the +swell of the steamer, and I began to feel the flow of the rising tide +setting steadily against her. Governor's Island showed rather hazy three +miles off; Apple Island, tufted with trees, looked in the shimmering +light like one of the palm-crowned Atolls of the Pacific; and, just +discernible through the foggy air, Deer Island and the Hospital loomed +up. A straight course would have saved at least two miles and avoided +the strength of the tide; but, though my boat drew only three inches, +and there was water enough and to spare on the flats, the sea-weed, +growing thick as grain in the harvest-field, and half floating where the +depth was three or four feet, collecting round the sharp bow as a long +tress of hay gathers round a tooth of a rake, and burying the oar-blade, +impeded all progress, and obliged me to pull almost double the distance +against the rapid tide-set of the circuitous channels. I worked through +the bends and reaches, till the deep, strong current of Shirley Gut was +to be stemmed, where the tide runs with great force,--nearly fifty feet +in depth of pure green water, eddying and whirling round, all sorts of +ripples and small whirlpools dimpling its surface,--with the rushing +sound which deep and swift water makes against its banks. A few moments' +tough pulling brought me through, and, once outside Deer Island, nothing +lay between me and Nahant. The well-known beach and the sandy headland +called "Grover" stood out at the edge of Lynn Bay, and the rise and +fall of the white surf, too distant to be heard, marked the long reef +stretching seaward. After dining, and allowing the boat to drift while +rearranging my provisions, I took my place, and, getting the proper +bearings astern, bent on the oars. + +To those who have rowed only clumsy country-boats, with their awkward +row-locks and wretched oars, slimy, dirty, and leaking, trailing behind +tags and streamers of pond-weed, or who have only experimented with that +most uncivilized style of digging up the water called paddling, the real +pleasure of rowing is unknown. + +Grover's Head went astern; Nahant grew more and more distinct. There was +but little wind, and the boat went rocking over the long roll of the +huge waves, cutting smoothly through their wrinkled surface. In sight +to the south and the east were the Brewsters, the outer light, and the +sails of vessels of all sizes and shapes which were slowly making their +way into the harbor. The afternoon was cloudy; but now and then a +brilliant ray of sunshine would fall on islands and vessels, lighting +them up for an instant, and then closing over again. My route took me +about three miles outside Nahant and in full view of the end of the +promontory. There was now a clear course, except that occasionally a +huge patch of floating seaweed would suddenly deaden and then stop the +boat's headway, compelling me to back water and clear the bow of the +long strands. It was at first very startling to be thus checked when +running at full speed; the sensation being that some one has grasped +the boat and is pushing her back. With the resistance come the rush and +ripple, as the sharp stem plunges through the floating mass of weed. The +wind, which had been light and baffling all the forenoon, after I had +passed Nahant, and was abreast of Egg Rock with its little whitewashed +light-house, freshened, and, veering to the southeast, blew across my +track. The vessels began to lean to its force, and the waves to rise. I +was then outside Swampscott Bay, about eight miles from land. The shore +was plainly visible, with the buildings dotted along like specks of +white, and the outlying reefs showing by the sparkle of the foam upon +them. Phillips's Beach, and the island called by the romantic name of +Ram, were now opposite. Half-Way Rock, so named from being half way from +Boston to Gloucester, was the point towards which I had been pulling for +two hours, and it could now for the first time be seen. It came in sight +as the boat was rising on a huge wave which broke under her and went +rushing shoreward, roaring savagely, with long streaks of foam down its +green back. The elevation of the eyes above the water was so small, +that, when my boat sank away in the trough of the sea, nothing could be +seen above the top of the advancing wave. I had, therefore, to watch my +chance, and when she rose, get my bearings. + +Half-Way Rock is a water-washed mass of porphyritic stone, the top about +twenty feet above high tide, shaped much like a pyramid, and a few years +since was capped with a conical granite beacon, strongly built and +riveted down, but which had been two-thirds washed away by the +tremendous surf of the easterly storms. The rock stands at the outer +edge of a long sand-shoal, and is east of Salem. To the northward, a dim +blue line on the horizon, lay Cape Ann, by my reckoning, about eighteen +miles distant. I kept on pulling over the swell, which was growing +larger, not quite in the trough of the sea,--but when a particularly +large wave came easing up a little, so as to take the boat more on the +bow, the motion was not a pleasant one. It was a sort of half rolling, +half pitching,--very unlike the even, smooth slide of the early part of +the afternoon. The rock soon became plainer, and at last I rested on my +oars to watch the waves as they broke on its furrowed face. The great +rollers, which became higher as the water shoaled toward its foot, +fell upon it bursting into foam, and jetting the spray high above the +half-broken beacon. It was a beautiful sight as the spray broke under +the shadow of the seaward face and was thrown up into the sunlight. + +Not heeding whither I was drifting, a nasal hail suddenly roused me to +the fact that there were other navigators in those seas. "Bo-oat ahoy! +Whar' ye bo-ound?" Giving a stroke with the larboard oar, I saw, hove +to, a fishing-schooner,--her whole crew of skipper, three men, and a boy +standing at the gangway and looking with all their ten eyes to make out, +if possible, what strange kind of sea-monster had turned up. My boat +could not have seemed very seaworthy, only seven inches above water, +disappearing in the trough of every sea that passed, then lifting its +long and slender bow of brilliant crimson above the white foam, and the +occupant apparently on a level with the water. The hail was repeated. +The answer, "Cape Ann," did not satisfy them; and the question, "Wa-ant +any he-elp?" was next bawled out. My only reply was by a shake of the +head; and settling back into my place, I gave way on the oars, and left +my fishing friends still looking and evidently very uncertain whether it +were not better to make an attempt at a rescue. + +I now kept on about a mile farther toward the Cape, but found that +the time before sundown was too short to reach it. About seven miles +distant, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, was the hospitable +mansion of Mr. T., where I was sure of a welcome and a good berth for my +boat, and which snug harbor could just be reached by nightfall. The way +lay straight across Gooseberry Shoal, on the outside of which stands +Half-Way Rock. The sea for my small boat was very heavy; but, having +full confidence in her buoyancy, I drove straight on. Upon the shoal +the color of the water changed from deep to light green; the sea was +shorter, much higher, and broke quicker; the waves washed over the stern +of the boat, burying it two feet or more, and coming almost into the +seat-room. Then she would lift herself free, and ride high and clear on +the backs of the great rollers, which would break and crush down under +her, sending her well ahead. The sunlight, falling from behind, shone +through the body of each wave, making it of the most transparent +brilliant emerald, and tinting the foam with every hue of the rainbow. +Pulling with the sea is very easy work, if the boat be long enough to +keep from broaching to,--that is, swinging sideways and rolling over, a +performance which dories are apt to indulge in. There are on the shoal +several reefs, whose black ridges are just awash at high tide; past +these the inner edge of the water deepens and the sea becomes smoother. +About an hour brought me inside what is called by the dwellers +thereabout the "outer island,"--its gray-red rocks tufted here and there +with patches of coarse grass, and weather-worn and seamed by surf and +storm, with the usual accompaniment of mackerel-gulls screaming and +soaring aloft at the approach of a stranger. When within about a quarter +of a mile of the shore, I backed round to come upon the beach stern +foremost through the surf. If the surf be high, coming ashore is a +delicate operation; for, should the boat be turned broadside on, she +would be thrown over upon the oarsman, and both washed up the beach in a +flood of sandy salt-water; so it requires some little steadiness to sit +back to the coming wave, hear the increasing roar, and feel the sudden +lift and toss shoreward which each roller gives you as it plunges down +upon the sand. Just before coming to the outer edge of the surf, I was +seen by my friends, who hastened down the cliff-road to receive me. +Resting on my oars, I waited, till, hearing a large roller coming, whose +voice gained in strength and depth as it drew nearer to the shore, I +looked behind. The crest was already beginning to curl, as it dashed +under the boat and swept me in-shore, breaking, as the stern passed, the +top of the sea, and carrying me in, full speed, with the flood of foam +and spray. After three or four quick strokes I jerked the oars out of +the row-locks, jumped into the water knee-deep, and wading dragged the +boat backwards as far as she would float, when the receding surf let +her gently down upon the sand, and before the next wave the servant +had taken the bow and I the stern and lifted her high and dry upon +the beach. And so my afternoon's pull of thirty miles was safely +and successfully finished, my boat having proved herself thoroughly +seaworthy, though my friends could hardly believe that such a craft +could be safely trusted. After removing the stores and arranging other +matters, we took her up, placed her quietly upon the grass, and left her +for the night. + +The next morning was rather hazy. About nine o'clock I took my way to +the beach, and began to prepare for departure. Mr. T.'s house lies +several miles to the south and west of Cape Ann. Eastern Point, on +the Cape, was therefore the place to be steered for in a straight +line,--perhaps six miles distant. Two miles on, the white light-house on +the Point can be plainly seen. The tide was rising, and the two lines of +ripple met across the sand-bar which connects a little island with the +beach. My boat was now carried down from her night's resting-place and +set at the edge of the water. The oars being placed in readiness, two +of us waded out with her till she would just float, when, quickly and +cautiously stepping in, I met the advancing wave in time to ride over +it. The line of surf is hard to cross, unless one can catch the roller +before it begins to crest. Once outside the line, I turned and pulled +swiftly across the bar, over which the tide had risen a few inches, and, +bidding good-morning to my hospitable entertainers, set off for Eastern +Point. There was considerable swell, though not much wind. The shore +being familiar to me, I was rowing along leisurely, recognizing one +well-known cliff after another, as they came in sight, and was between +Kettle Island and the main, when a slight dampness in the air caused +me to turn my face to the eastward, and I saw coming in from the sea, +preceded by an advance guard of feathery mist, a dense bank of fog. It +swept in, blotting out sea, shore, everything but the view a few feet +around the boat. Fortunately knowing the place, and guided by the sound +of the surf, I soon neared the wet, brown rocks at the inner edge of +Kettle Island. Backing up into a little cove between two huge sea-weedy +boulders I waited, hoping that a turn in the wind might drive the mist +seaward and allow me to keep on. There I sat a full hour, watching the +star-fish, and the crabs scrambling about among the loose strands of the +olive-green and deep purple rock-weed, which looked almost black in +the shadow, while here and there, as it waved to and fro with the sea, +disclosing patches of yellow sand. Very beautiful was this natural +aquarium; but time was flying, and "The Shoals" were more than thirty +miles distant. The mist began to drive in long rifts, and a gleam of +sunshine came out, but only for a moment. I took advantage of it at +once, and pushed out from port. + +The opposite shore of the cove, in the mouth of which the island lies, +was dimly discernible, and the dense foliage of the willows surrounding +the fishermen's houses loomed up in the distance, while at the extreme +end of the Point the sea broke heavily on the long protruding reef which +slanted eastward. I made rapidly for the Point, and reached the outside +line of rollers just in time; for the fog, which had been drifting +backwards and forwards and torn in long rents, now closed over again, +shutting down darker than ever. It was with the utmost difficulty that +I could make out the faint gray line of cliff and surf. On the whole, +however, it appeared best to keep on and feel my way along the coast, +navigating rather by sound than by sight. The shore grows higher as you +go northward towards Gloucester harbor, and is, if possible, more rugged +and broken than to the south. The chief danger was from sunken rocks, +which every wave submerged three or four feet, and which in the hollow +of the sea were wholly above water. I came upon one very suddenly, as +the wave was swelling above it, and the rock-weed afloat on its sunken +head looked, for the instant, like the hair of a drowning person. My +boat went directly over it, and the next moment its black crest rose in +the trough of the wave. One such chance of wreck was enough, and so I +kept farther out, losing sight almost entirely of the cliffs. The sun, +meanwhile, was pouring down an intense heat, making the fog luminous, +but not rendering the coast any more visible. I knew that before me, +somewhere, lay the reef of Norman's Woe. The huge rock on the inside of +the reef, separated from the shore by a narrow strait, I judged must be +right ahead, but not knowing how near, I kept on, cautiously looking +behind, every few strokes, and began to think I must have passed it in +the fog, when suddenly, as if it had stepped in the way, it rose before +me, its top lost in the mist, and with the sullen drip and splash of the +sea on its almost perpendicular sides. I had to back water with some +force, and, skirting the reef, stood on till fairly outside,--when, +turning shoreward again, I went on to the edge of the surf. + +Resuming my former style of navigation, almost twisting my head off to +keep a sharp look-out for rocks and reefs, I came to what seemed to be +the mouth of Gloucester harbor, and there stopped for a moment. There +was no use in pulling up one side of the harbor and down the other, four +miles, while in a straight line to the Point it was only one and a half. +I had almost decided on rowing the longer distance, however, when I +heard a bell ringing somewhere in the direction of Eastern Point. It +was striking in measured time, and the sound came across the water with +great distinctness. It puzzled me a little, till I remembered there +was a fog-bell as well as a light-house on the Point. Hoping that the +tolling would continue, I aimed for the bell as straight as possible. +With a couple of strokes the shore vanished, and nothing could be seen +but fog. Rowing where there is plenty of light and yet nothing visible +is embarrassing business. One must rely wholly upon the sense of +hearing, as eyes are of no use in such a case. Fearing that the bell +might cease before I got across, I bent with a will upon the oars and +went racing through the fog. The sound grew more and more distinct with +each peal, when, suddenly as the apparition of Norman's Woe, right +before me sprang up the black dripping hull of a fishing-schooner, +becalmed, and rocking with the roll of the sea; one turn and I shot +beneath her bows, passed her, and was lost in the fog before the fat +darkey who was lazily fishing by the bowsprit could shift from one side +of the deck to the other to keep me in sight. The creaking of blocks +and the heavy flap of wet sails warned me of the neighborhood of other +vessels. In a short time I could hear the rusty grating of the pivot as +the bell turned; then my boat glided close under the rock on which the +light-house stands. At that moment the fog opened half across the bay, +showing clearly my track with more than a dozen vessels lying close by +it. The lifting was but for a moment; back rolled the cloud and all was +invisible again. I rounded the Point, however, and went ahead, pulling +along the eastern coast of the Cape in the fog. + +It was hard work, this groping through the mist, and made me wish for +the Janus power of gazing out of the back of my head to save the trouble +of continually turning. The look-out was now necessarily more vigilant +than when on the lower shore, as I was entirely ignorant of the coast +and could not see twenty feet before me. The sea was calm, save the +ever-swinging ground-swell, which does not show its power till it meets +with some resistance; and though without crest, the surf on the rocks +was very high. There was nothing to deaden the force of the sea, and +it came on in huge green masses, sliding bodily up on the rocks with +a sound like distant thunder, making one feel that a boat would be +shivered to splinters, should she fall into its power. Once the breakers +nearly caught me broadside on, as I had begun to pull along the shore, +compelling me to keep outside the line of surf and thus follow it till +the rocky headland loomed up on the other side of the bay, then past the +reefs again till another bay curved inward,--nothing to be seen but fog, +dim white surf, and dimmer rocks. Once, when passing an outlying point, +I saw, for a moment, a couple of men fishing; they shouted something +which the surf rendered inaudible; then rock and fishers melted away +into the mist. After rowing in this manner for about an hour, the water +shoaled, the fog lightened, and an island appeared to the east, with the +sea rippling over the sand-bar which joined it to the shore. I pulled +on and found the depth but a few inches, just enough to cross without +touching. The island was very picturesque, and the end towards the +west was broken into ledges, on which were perched eight or ten small +weather-beaten houses. Half floating by the beach under the cliff, +or drawn up on it, were a number of dories, while a troop of little +children were wading, splashing, and shouting in the shallow water on +the bar. They stopped when they saw me, clustered together watching as +I passed, and when I was fairly over set up a shout and resumed their +play. I rowed on until two in the afternoon, when the fog became +thinner, and finding myself between two rocky headlands, in "Milk Island +Strait," as I conjectured, and it being dinner-time, I went ashore in a +little inlet, took out my provisions, and dined. + +The mist, meanwhile, had disappeared, leaving the sky perfectly clear. +It was nearly three when dinner was finished. The Isles of Shoals were +full twenty-one miles distant, and if they were to be reached before +night, there was no time to be lost. So I backed out of the inlet, and, +getting the bearings, aimed for a point on the horizon where I supposed +the islands to be, and pulled without stopping for three hours. The wind +was fresh from the southeast, the sea high, and there was not the least +trace of the fog. The hills of Cape Ann, as I went on, changed from +green to blue, and the color grew fainter in the distance. The land, +which was ten miles inside to the westward, had now come nearer, and the +dark line of the woods was just visible. + +It was time to see the Shoals. I turned, but the heavy sea tossed the +boat about so that it was not at all certain whether they were or were +not in sight. The only objects in view were a few small white clouds +about the horizon and the distant sails of a schooner; so again bringing +the Cape astern, I rowed on till sunset. The hills had then almost sunk +below the water, and it was full time to see White Island and the light +which would be kindled in a few moments. The boat swung into the trough +of the sea, and when on the top of a wave I looked up to the northward. +The sight was not a pleasant one for an evening pull: the sky was +covered with the dark clouds of a gathering storm rapidly rolling up, +and my old friend the fog was again working in, as the wind had shifted +to the east and north. In the distance nothing could be seen but black +sky and blacker water, while nearer crept on the line of mist, shutting +out all prospect. The Shoals were doubtless somewhere in the darkness, +but just where I could not determine. Something must be done at once +before the fog reached me. Calling a council of war, I debated. There +was no certainty of hitting the Shoals, and if I did come on them in any +other than the exact spot, my boat would be beaten into chips in five +minutes on some of the reefs which abound in that region. It would be +entirely dark when I reached the islands, and the wind and sea were +rising; it looked very much like the beginning of an easterly gale. So +the council concluded to let the Shoals go for that night, and stay out +at sea till morning. Should the gale come on, the boat could be beached +on the coast to the westward; and if the wind lulled, as it probably +would for a few hours on the next day, there was time enough to get +ashore. I was from eight to ten miles at sea, and six miles east and +south of the Shoals, as nearly as I could reckon. It was necessary to +get more to the westward to clear the islands in the night, when the +tide set in. Rowing for half an hour brought me far enough in to stop. +The fog was again all around me, and the thick clouds made it so dark +that it was impossible to see twice my boat's length. Resting on my +oars for a moment, I began to stow a few things more closely in the +seat-room, when a huge sea broke just ahead, and, striking the bow a +little on one side, whirled the boat round and rolled her half over, +pitching the crest into the seat-room and filling it with water. I +caught her with the oars barely in time to save her, and turned her +again head to the sea, keeping a watchful eye to windward. Then baling +out the seat-room, I took some crackers and a draught of water, and +turned the boat stern foremost to the sea. + +It was, by guess, about nine o'clock; and there was no light except the +phosphorescence of the water. When a wave came rushing through the +fog, its black body invisible in the darkness, the crest glanced like +quicksilver and broke into ten thousand coruscations as the boat +balanced on the top,--pouring a flood of glittering water past the stern +and over the canvas cover, and dripping from the sides in sparkling +drops. Wherever a foam-bubble burst or oar dipped, it was like opening a +silver-lined casket. The boat left a luminous track, which rose with +the waves as they swelled behind her, and disappeared in the night. It +required a strong hand to keep her in her course; had she broached to, I +should have been rolled out and obliged to swim for it. A quick eye was +necessary to watch, lest, in spite of the oars, she might swing round +and turn over. The utter darkness and the storm so threatening at +sundown had come in full force. It was raining and blowing heavily, and +the strong wind driving the rain and mist in sheets across the water +deepened the hoarse roar of the sea. I was very wet, and not so fresh, +after my forty miles or more of hard, steady pulling, as in the morning; +I was also very sleepy, so that it was not easy to keep even one eye +open to look out for passing coasters,--the chief danger. My craft was +so slender they could have gone over her in the darkness and storm and +never have known it. The tide was still setting out, the sea was very +high, and there was not a ray of light from White Island. My best course +seemed to be to continue pulling slowly and keep the boat stern to the +sea till after midnight, when the tide would change and the wind would +lull for a short time,--unless it should prove to be the beginning of +the gale, and not its forerunner, as I had thought. The hours passed +slowly. There was much to do in heading straight and in easing up when +the great waves loomed through the fog. Midnight would decide whether at +day-dawn I must pull for it, and run, if possible, the line of breakers +on Rye Beach, with rather less than an even chance of coming out +right-end uppermost, or whether the wind and sea would go down so that I +could slip quietly ashore before the gale returned. + +Midnight came at last; the rain ceased and the wind began to shift to +the south, and I knew that now the probability of going ashore decently +was good. The tide having turned, the wind moderated, and the sea, +though still high, was longer and did not break so quickly. Still +farther to the south veered the wind, and a little after three, as well +as I could tell by my watch, the fog thinned, so that, looking up, I +caught the faint glimmer of a star; then another peeped through the +cloud. The mist broke in several places, then drifted over, then broke +again; and, chancing to look seaward, a light flared into full blaze +for a moment, swung smaller, then vanished. There was no mistaking +it,--White Island light at last! + +Backing with one oar, pulling with the other, I rose on the top of a +great sea, and caught the light again just as it began to come into +sight. Off I went, at a splendid pace, driving along in the trough and +over the crest of the waves, steering by a star behind me, for about ten +minutes; then light and stars sank back into the mist, and all was +black again. I waited a few moments, and again the light shone out; but +meantime the boat's bow had veered several points. Turning toward it, +I was off full speed this time for about five minutes, before the fog +swept in again. Then another rest on my oars. The fog drifted out and +drifted in backwards and forwards, now thinning here, then thinning +there; but no other glimpse of the light did I get that night. For a +moment, a shadowy-looking schooner glided slowly along a few hundred +feet ahead of me, and directly across my track,--then melted out into +the darkness. After waiting some time longer, finding no chance of +another glimpse of the light, I secured my oars, and, as the wind and +sea had decreased, got ready to turn in. The seat-room was only four +feet long,--two feet short of my length; and the washboard, which was +three inches in height, surrounded the seat-room and obliged me to use +the boat-sponge as a pillow. But trusting to chance that my craft would +come across nothing either fixed or floating, I retreated at once to the +land of Nod. What the weather was during the rest of that night, or what +might have been seen, I cannot say; for I did not wake till my watch +told seven in the morning. Then my eyes opened to, or rather in, as +choice a specimen of mist as had yet been met with. + +It was perfectly calm; the sea was undulating slightly, and not a breath +of wind stirring. I sat up and looked around. Nothing visible but misty +atmosphere and leaden-colored water; the phosphorescent sparkle had +quite gone out of it. I listened, and with the low dull roar of the surf +on Rye Beach on one side came the break of the waves on the Shoals, +but so faint that it was doubtful whether it were really audible, when +another most unmistakable sound assured me Landlord Laighton was blowing +his breakfast-horn on Appledore Island. The familiar notes of that +very peculiar performance came clearly through the fog. Had he kept on +blowing twenty minutes longer, he would have had another guest; but he +stopped before ten strokes could be taken. So, reluctantly turning my +boat for the other shore, I pulled for the sound of the surf, which +increased as I approached it. The beach was still several miles distant, +when the short, quick rap of oars came to my ears. I knew at once the +fisherman's stroke, and, supposing that he had put out from the shore +and did not mean to stay out long, I gave chase at once, and pulled till +he stopped rowing and was apparently near. Then I hailed, and after +a twenty minutes' hunt caught a glimpse of his dory and immediately +introduced myself. He was fishing with two lines, one on each side of +the boat, and was about returning when I came up. He had never before +beheld such a craft as mine, and did not know what to make of her as she +came through the fog. He soon, however, drew in his lines, and, acting +as pilot, set out for the beach, from which we were then three miles +distant. After various twistings and circlings through the mist, the row +of sandy hillocks which backs Rye Beach appeared, and in a few moments +we pulled through the surf and landed, thus ending one part of my +summer's cruise. + + * * * * * + + +A STORY OF TO-DAY. + + +PART I. + + +Let me tell you a story of To-Day,--very homely and narrow in its scope +and aim. Not of the To-Day whose significance in the history of humanity +only those shall read who will live when you and I are dead. Let us bear +the pain in silence, if our hearts are strong enough, while the nations +of the earth stand far off pitying. I have no word of this To-Day to +speak. I write from the border of the battle-field, and I find in it no +theme for shallow argument or flimsy rhymes. The shadow of death has +fallen on us; it chills the very heaven. No child laughs in my face as +I pass down the street. Men have forgotten to hope, forgotten to pray; +only in the bitterness of endurance they say "in the morning, 'Would God +it were even!' and in the evening, 'Would God it were morning!'" Neither +I nor you have the prophet's vision to see the age as its meaning stands +written before God. Those who shall live when we are dead may tell their +children, perhaps, how, out of anguish and darkness such as the world +seldom has borne, the enduring morning evolved of the true world and the +true man. It is not clear to us. Hands wet with a brother's blood for +the Right, a slavery of intolerance, the hackneyed cant of men or +the bloodthirstiness of women, utter no prophecy to us of the great +To-Morrow of content and right that holds the world. Yet the To-Morrow +is there; if God lives, it is there. The voice of the meek Nazarene, +which we have deafened down as ill-timed, unfit to teach the watchword +of the hour, renews the quiet promise of its coming in simple, humble +things. Let us go down and look for it. There is no need that we should +feebly vaunt and madden ourselves over our self-seen lights, whatever +they may be, forgetting what broken shadows they are of eternal truths +in that calm where He sits and with His quiet hand controls us. + +Patriotism and Chivalry are powers in the tranquil, unlimited lives to +come, as well as here, I know; but there are less partial truths, higher +hierarchies who serve the God-man, that do not speak to us in bayonets +and victories,--Humility, Mercy, and Love. Let us not quite neglect +them, however humble the voices they use may be. Why, the very low glow +of the fire upon the hearth tells me something of recompense coming in +the hereafter,--Christmas-days, and heartsome warmth; in these bare +hills trampled down by armed men, the yellow clay is quick with pulsing +fibres, hints of the great heart of life and love throbbing within; +God's slanted sunlight would show me, in these sullen smoke-clouds from +the camp, walls of amethyst and jasper, outer ramparts of the Promised +Land. Do not call us traitors, then, who choose to be cool and silent +through the fever of the hour,--who choose to search in common things +for auguries of the hopeful, helpful calm to come, finding even in these +poor sweet-peas, thrusting their tendrils through the brown mould, a +deeper, more healthful lesson for the eye and soul than warring evils or +truths. Do not call me a traitor, if I dare weakly to hint that there +are yet other characters besides that of Patriot in which a man may +appear creditably in the great masquerade, and not blush when it is +over; or if I tell you a story of To-Day, in which there shall be none +of the red glare of war,--only those homelier, subtler lights which we +have overlooked. If it prove to you that the sun of old times still +shines, and the God of old times still lives, is not that enough? + +My story is very crude and homely, as I said,--only a rough sketch of +one or two of those people whom you see every day, and call "dregs" +sometimes,--a dull, plain bit of prose, such as you might pick for +yourself out of any of these warehouses or back-streets. I expect you to +call it stale and plebeian, for I know the glimpses of life it +pleases you best to find here: New England idyls delicately tinted; +passion-veined hearts, cut bare for curious eyes; prophetic utterances, +concrete and clear; or some word of pathos or fun from the old friends +who have indenizened themselves in everybody's home. You want something, +in fact, to lift you out of this crowded, tobacco-stained commonplace, +to kindle and chafe and glow in you. I want you to dig into this +commonplace, this vulgar American life, and see what is in it. Sometimes +I think it has a new and awful significance that we do not see. + +Your ears are openest to the war-trumpet now. Ha! that is +spirit-stirring!--that wakes up the old Revolutionary blood! Your +manlier nature had been smothered under drudgery, the poor daily +necessity for bread and butter. I want you to go down into this common, +every-day drudgery, and consider if there might not be in it also a +great warfare. Not a serfish war; not altogether ignoble, though even +its only end may appear to be your daily food. A great warfare, I think, +with a history as old as the world, and not without its pathos. It has +its slain. Men and women, lean-jawed, crippled in the slow, silent +battle, are in your alleys, sit beside you at your table; its martyrs +sleep under every green hill-side. + +You must fight in it; money will buy you no discharge from that war. +There is room in it, believe me, whether your post be on a judge's +bench, or over a wash-tub, for heroism, for knightly honor, for purer +triumph than his who falls foremost in the breach. Your enemy, Self, +goes with you from the cradle to the coffin; it is a hand-to-hand +struggle all the sad, slow way, fought in solitude,--a battle that began +with the first heart-beat, and whose victory will come only when the +drops ooze out, and sudden halt in the veins,--a victory, if you can +gain it, that will drift you not a little way upon the coasts of the +wider, stronger range of being, beyond death. + +Let me roughly outline for you one or two lives that I have known, and +how they conquered or were worsted in the fight. Very common lives, I +know,--such as are swarming in yonder market-place; yet I dare to call +them voices of God,--all! + +My reason for choosing this story to tell you is simple enough. + +An old book, which I happened to find to-day, recalled it. It was a +ledger, iron-bound, with the name of the firm on the outside,--Knowles +& Co. You may have heard of the firm: they were large woollen +manufacturers: supplied the home market in Indiana for several years. +This ledger, you see by the writing, has been kept by a woman. That is +not unusual in Western trading towns, especially in factories where the +operatives are chiefly women. In such establishments, women can fill +every post successfully, but that of overseer: they are too hard with +the hands for that. + +The writing here is curious: concise, square, not flowing,--very +legible, however, exactly suited to its purpose. People who profess +to read character in chirography would decipher but little from these +cramped, quiet lines. Only this, probably: that the woman, whoever she +was, had not the usual fancy of her sex for dramatizing her soul in her +writing, her dress, her face,--kept it locked up instead, intact; that +her words and looks, like her writing, were most likely simple, mere +absorbents by which she drew what she needed of the outer world to her, +not flaunting helps to fling herself, or the tragedy or comedy that lay +within, before careless passers-by. The first page has the date, in red +letters, _October 2, 1860_, largely and clearly written. I am sure the +woman's hand trembled a little when she took up the pen; but there is no +sign of it here; for it was a new, desperate adventure to her, and she +was young, with no faith in herself. She did not look desperate, at +all,--a quiet, dark girl, coarsely dressed in brown. + +There was not much light in the office where she sat; for the factory +was in one of the close by-streets of the town, and the office they gave +her was only a small square closet in the seventh story. It had but one +window, which overlooked a back-yard full of dyeing vats. The sunlight +that did contrive to struggle in obliquely through the dusty panes and +cobwebs of the window had a sleepy odor of copperas latent in it. You +smelt it when you stirred. The manager, Pike, who brought her up, had +laid the day-books and this ledger open on the desk for her. As soon +as he was gone, she shut the door, listening until his heavy boots had +thumped creaking down the rickety ladder leading to the frame-rooms. +Then she climbed up on the high office-stool (climbed, I said, for she +was a little, little thing) and went to work, opening the books, and +copying from one to the other as steadily, monotonously, as if she had +been used to it all her life. Here are the first pages: see how sharp +the angles are of the blue and black lines, how even the long columns: +one would not think, that, as the steel pen traced them out, it seemed +to be lining out her life, narrow and black. If any such morbid fancy +were in the girl's head, there was no tear to betray it. The sordid, +hard figures seemed to her the types of the years coming, but she wrote +them down unflinchingly: perhaps life had nothing better for her, so +she did not care. She finished soon: they had given her only an hour or +two's work for the first day. She closed the books, wiped the pens in a +quaint, mechanical fashion, then got down and examined her new home. + +It was soon understood. There were the walls with their broken plaster, +showing the laths underneath, with here and there, over them, sketches +with burnt coal, showing that her predecessor had been an artist in his +way,--his name, P. Teagarden, emblazoned on the ceiling with the smoke +of a candle; heaps of hanks of yarn in the dusty corners; a half-used +broom; other heaps of yarn on the old toppling desk covered with dust; a +raisin-box, with P. Teagarden done on the lid in bas-relief, half full +of ends of cigars, a pack of cards, and a rotten apple. That was all, +except an impalpable sense of dust and worn-outness pervading the whole. +One thing more, odd enough there: a wire cage, hung on the wall, and in +it a miserable pecking chicken, peering dolefully with suspicious eyes +out at her, and then down at the mouldy bit of bread on the floor of his +cage,--left there, I suppose, by the departed Teagarden. That was all +inside. She looked out of the window. In it, as if set in a square +black frame, was the dead brick wall, and the opposite roof, with a cat +sitting on the scuttle. Going closer, two or three feet of sky appeared. +It looked as if it smelt of copperas, and she drew suddenly back. + +She sat down, waiting until it was time to go; quietly taking the dull +picture into her slow, unrevealing eyes; a sluggish, hackneyed weariness +creeping into her brain; a curious feeling, that all her life before had +been a silly dream, and this dust, these desks and ledgers, were real, +--all that was real. It was her birthday; she was twenty. As she +happened to remember that, another fancy floated up before her, oddly +life-like: of the old seat she made for herself under the currant-bushes +at home when she was a child, and the plans she laid for herself when +she should be a woman, sitting there,--how she would dig down into the +middle of the world, and find the kingdom of the griffins, or would go +after Mercy and Christiana in their pilgrimage. It was only a little +while ago since these things were more alive to her than anything else +in the world. The seat was under the currant-bushes still. Very little +time ago; but she was a woman now,--and, look here! A chance ray of +sunlight slanted in, falling barely on the dust, the hot heaps of wool, +waking a stronger smell of copperas; the chicken saw it, and began to +chirp a weak, dismal joy, more sorrowful than tears. She went to the +cage, and put her finger in for it to peck at. Standing there, if the +life coming rose up before her in that hard, vacant blare of sunlight, +she looked at it with the same still, waiting eyes, that told nothing. + +The door opened at last, and a man came in,--Dr. Knowles, the principal +owner of the factory. He nodded shortly to her, and, going to the desk, +turned over the books, peering suspiciously at her work. An old man, +overgrown, looking like a huge misshapen mass of flesh, as he stood +erect, facing her. + +"You can go now," he said, gruffly. "To-morrow you must wait for the +bell to ring, and go--with the rest of the hands." + +A curious smile flickered over her face like a shadow; but she said +nothing. He waited a moment. + +"So!" he growled, "the Howth blood does not blush to go down into the +slime of the gutter? is sufficient to itself?" + +A cool, attentive motion,--that was all. Then she stooped to tie her +sandals. The old man watched her, irritated. She had been used to the +keen scrutiny of his eyes since she was a baby, so was cool under it +always. The face watching her was one that repelled most men: dominant, +restless, flushing into red gusts of passion, a small, intolerant eye, +half hidden in folds of yellow fat,--the eye of a man who would give to +his master (whether God or Satan) the last drop of his own blood, and +exact the same of other men. + +She had tied her bonnet and fastened her shawl, and stood ready to go. + +"Is that all you want?" he demanded. "Are you waiting to hear that your +work is well done? Women go through life as babies learn to walk,--a +mouthful of pap every step, only they take it in praise or love. Pap is +better. Which do you want? Praise, I fancy." + +"Neither," she said, quietly brushing her shawl. "The work is well done, +I know." + +The old man's eye glittered for an instant, satisfied; then he turned +to the books. He thought she had gone, but, hearing a slight clicking +sound, turned round. She was taking the chicken out of the cage. + +"Let it alone!" he broke out, sharply. "Where are you going with it?" + +"Home," she said, with a queer, quizzical face. "Let it smell the green +fields, Doctor. Ledgers and copperas are not good food for a chicken's +soul, or body either." + +"Let it alone!" he growled. "You take it for a type of yourself, eh? It +has another work to do than to grow fat and sleep about the barnyard." + +She opened the cage. + +"I think I will take it." + +"No," he said, quietly. "It has a master here. Not P. Teagarden. Why, +Margaret," pushing his stubby finger between the tin bars, "do you think +the God you believe in would have sent it here without a work to do?" + +She looked up; there was a curious tremor in his flabby face, a shadow +in his rough voice. + +"If it dies here, its life won't have been lost. Nothing is lost. Let it +alone." + +"Not lost?" she said, slowly, refastening the cage. "Only I think"---- + +"What, child?" + +She glanced furtively at him. + +"It's a hard, scraping world where such a thing as that has work to do!" + +He vouchsafed no answer. She waited to see his lip curl bitterly, and +then, amused, went down the stairs. She had paid him for his sneer. + +The steps were but a long ladder set in the wall, not the great +staircase used by the hands: that was on the other side of the factory. +It was a huge, unwieldy building, such as crowd the suburbs of trading +towns. This one went round the four sides of a square, with the yard for +the vats in the middle. The ladders and passages she passed down were +on the inside, narrow and dimly lighted: she had to grope her way +sometimes. The floors shook constantly with the incessant thud of the +great looms that filled each story, like heavy, monotonous thunder. It +deafened her, made her dizzy, as she went down slowly. It was no short +walk to reach the lower hall, but she was down at last. Doors opened +from it into the ground-floor ware-rooms; glancing in, she saw vast, +dingy recesses of boxes piled up to the dark ceilings. There was a crowd +of porters and draymen cracking their whips, and lounging on the trucks +by the door, waiting for loads, talking politics, and smoking. The smell +of tobacco, copperas, and burning logwood was heavy to clamminess here. +She stopped, uncertain. One of the porters, a short, sickly man, who +stood aloof from the rest, pushed open a door for her with his staff. +Margaret had a quick memory for faces; she thought she had seen this one +before, as she passed,--a dark face, sullen, heavy-lipped, the hair cut +convict-fashion, close to the head. She thought, too, one of the men +muttered "jail-bird," jeering him for his forwardness. "Load for +Clinton! Western Railroad!" sung out a sharp voice behind her, and, as +she went into the street, a train of cars rushed into the hall to be +loaded, and men swarmed out of every corner,--red-faced and pale, +whiskey-bloated and heavy-brained, Irish, Dutch, black, with souls half +asleep somewhere, and the destiny of a nation in their grasp,--hands, +like herself, going through the slow, heavy work, for, as Pike the +manager would have told you, "three dollars a week,--good wages these +tight times." For nothing more? Some other meaning may have fallen +from their faces into this girl's quiet intuition in the instant's +glance,--cheerfuller, remoter aims, hidden in the most sensual +face,--homeliest home-scenes, low climbing ambitions, some delirium of +pleasure to come,--whiskey, if nothing better: aims in life like yours, +differing in degree, needing only to make them the same----did you say +what? + +She had reached the street now,--a back-street, a crooked sort of lane +rather, running between endless piles of ware-houses. She hurried down +it to gain the suburbs, for she lived out in the country. It was a +long, tiresome walk through the outskirts of the town, where the +dwelling-houses were,--long rows of two-story bricks drabbled with +soot-stains. It was two years since she had been in the town. +Remembering this, and the reason why she had shunned it, she quickened +her pace, her face growing stiller than before. One might have fancied +her a slave putting on a mask, fearing to meet her master. The town, +being unfamiliar to her, struck her newly. She saw the expression on its +face better. It was a large trading city, compactly built, shut in by +hills. It had an anxious, harassed look, like a speculator concluding a +keen bargain; the very dwelling-houses smelt of trade, having shops in +the lower stories; in the outskirts, where there are cottages in other +cities, there were mills here; the trees, which some deluded dreamer had +planted on the flat pavements, had all grown up into abrupt Lombardy +poplars, knowing their best policy was to keep out of the way; the boys, +playing marbles under them, played sharply "for keeps"; the bony old +dray-horses, plodding through the dusty crowds, had speculative eyes, +that measured their oats at night with a "you-don't-cheat-me" look. Even +the churches had not the grave repose of the old brown house yonder in +the hills, where the few field-people--Arians, Calvinists, Churchmen-- +gathered every Sunday, and air and sunshine and God's charity made the +day holy. These churches lifted their hard stone faces insolently, +registering their yearly alms in the morning journals. To be sure, the +back-seats were free for the poor; but the emblazoned crimson of the +windows, the carving of the arches, the very purity of the preacher's +style, said plainly that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye +of a needle than for a man in a red _warm-us_ to enter the kingdom of +heaven through that gate. + +Nature itself had turned her back on the town: the river turned aside, +and but half a river crept reluctant by; the hills were but bare banks +of yellow clay. There was a cinder-road leading through these. Margaret +climbed it slowly. The low town-hills, as I said, were bare, covered at +their bases with dingy stubble-fields. In the sides bordering the road +gaped the black mouths of the coal-pits that burrowed under the hills, +under the town. Trade everywhere,--on the earth and under it. No wonder +the girl called it a hard, scraping world. But when the road had crept +through these hills, it suddenly shook off the cinders, and turned into +the brown mould of the meadows,--turned its back on trade and the smoky +town, and speedily left it out of sight contemptuously, never looking +back once. This was the country now in earnest. + +Margaret slackened her step, drawing long breaths of the fresh cold air. +Far behind her, panting and puffing along, came a black, burly figure, +Dr. Knowles. She had seen him behind her all the way, but they did not +speak. Between the two there lay that repellant resemblance which made +them like close relations,--closer when they were silent. You know such +people? When you speak to them, the little sharp points clash. Yet they +are the people whom you surely know you will meet in the life beyond +death, "saved" or not. The Doctor came slowly along the quiet +country-road, watching the woman's figure going as slowly before him. He +had a curious interest in the girl,--a secret reason for the interest, +which as yet he kept darkly to himself. For this reason he tried to +fancy how her new life would seem to her. It should be hard enough, her +work,--he was determined on that; her strength and endurance must be +tested to the uttermost. He must know what stuff was in the weapon +before he used it. He had been reading the slow, cold thing for +years,--had not got into its secret yet. But there was power there, and +it was the power he wanted. Her history was simple enough: she was going +into the mill to support a helpless father and mother; it was a common +story; she had given up much for them;--other women did the same. He +gave her scanty praise. Two years ago (he had keen, watchful eyes, this +man) he had fancied that the poor homely girl had a dream, as most women +have, of love and marriage: she had put it aside, he thought, forever; +it was too expensive a luxury; she had to begin the life-long battle for +bread and butter. Her dream had been real and pure, perhaps; for she +accepted no sham love in its place: if it had left an empty hunger in +her heart, she had not tried to fill it. Well, well, it was the old +story. Yet he looked after her kindly, as he thought of it; as some +people look sorrowfully at children, going back to their own childhood. +For a moment he half relented in his purpose, thinking, perhaps, her +work for life was hard enough. But no: this woman had been planned and +kept by God for higher uses than daughter or wife or mother. It was his +part to put her work into her hands. + +The road was creeping drowsily now between high grass-banks, out through +the hills. A sleepy, quiet road. The restless dust of the town never had +been heard of out there. It (the road) went wandering lazily through the +corn-fields, down by the river, into the very depths of the woods,--the +low October sunshine slanting warmly down it all the way, touching the +grass-banks and the corn-fields with patches of russet gold. Nobody in +such a road could be in a hurry. The quiet was so deep, the free air, +the heavy trees, the sunshine, all so full and certain and fixed, one +could be sure of finding them the same a hundred years from now. Nobody +ever was in a hurry. The brown bees came along there, when their work +was over, and hummed into the great purple thistles on the roadside in a +voluptuous stupor of delight. The cows sauntered through the clover +by the fences, until they wound up by lying down in it and sleeping +outright. The country-people, jogging along to the mill, walked their +fat old nags through the stillness and warmth so slowly that even +Margaret left them far behind. As the road went deeper into the hills, +the solitude and quiet grew even more penetrating and certain,--so +certain in these grand old mountains that one called them eternal, and, +looking up to the peaks fixed in the clear blue, grew surer of a world +beyond this where there is neither change nor death. + +It was growing late; the evening air grew more motionless and cool; +the russet gold of the sunshine mottled only the hill-tops now; in the +valleys there was a duskier brown, deepening every moment. Margaret +turned from the road and went down the fields. One did not wonder, +feeling the silence of these hills and broad sweeps of meadow, that this +woman, coming down from among them, should be strangely still, with dark +questioning eyes dumb to their own secrets. + +Looking into her face now, you could be sure of one thing: that she had +left the town, the factory, the dust far away, shaken the thought of +them off her brain. No miles could measure the distance between her +home and them. At a stile across the field an old man sat waiting. She +hurried now, her cheek coloring. Dr. Knowles could see them going to the +house beyond, talking earnestly. He sat down in the darkening twilight +on the stile, and waited half an hour. He did not care to hear the story +of Margaret's first day at the mill, knowing how her father and mother +would writhe under it, soften it as she would. It was nothing to her, +he knew. So he waited. After a while he heard the old man's laugh, like +that of a pleased child, and then went in and took her place beside him. +She went out, but came back presently, every grain of dust gone, in her +clear dress of pearl gray. The neutral tint suited her well. As she +stood by the window, listening gravely to them, the homely face and +waiting figure came into full relief. Nature had made this woman in a +freak of rare sincerity. There were no reflected lights about her: no +gloss on her skin, no glitter in her eyes, no varnish on her soul. +Simple and dark and pure, there she was, for God and her master alone to +conquer and understand. Her flesh was cold and colorless,--there were no +surface tints on it,--it warmed sometimes slowly from far within; her +voice was quiet,--out of her heart; her hair, the only beauty of the +woman, was lustreless brown, lay in unpolished folds of dark shadow. I +saw such hair once, only once. It had been cut from the head of a man, +who, quiet and simple as a child, lived out the law of his nature, and +set the world at defiance,--Bysshe Shelley. + +The Doctor, talking to her father, watched the girl furtively, took in +every point, as one might critically survey a Damascus blade which he +was going to carry into battle. There was neither love nor scorn in +his look,--a mere fixedness of purpose to make use of her some day. He +talked, meanwhile, glancing at her now and then, as if the subject they +discussed were indirectly linked with his plan for her. If it were, she +was unconscious of it. She sat on the wooden step of the porch, looking +out on the melancholy sweep of meadow and hill range growing cool and +dimmer in the dun twilight, not hearing what they said, until the +sharpened, earnest tones roused her. + +"You will fail, Knowles." + +It was her father who spoke. + +"Nothing can save such a scheme from failure. Neither the French nor +German Socialists attempted to base their systems on the lowest class, +as you design." + +"I know," said Knowles. "That accounts for their partial success." + +"Let me understand your plan practically," eagerly demanded her father. + +She thought Knowles evaded the question,--wished to leave the subject. +Perhaps he did not regard the poor old schoolmaster as a practical judge +of practical matters. All his life he had called him thriftless and +unready. + +"It never will do, Knowles," he went on in his slow way. "Any plan, +Phalanstery or Community, call it what you please, founded on +self-government, is based on a sham, the tawdriest of shams." + +The old schoolmaster shook his head as one who knows, and tried to push +the thin gray hairs out of his eyes in a groping way. Margaret lifted +them back so quietly that he did not feel her. + +"You'll call the Republic a sham next!" said the Doctor, coolly +aggravating. + +"The Republic!" The old man quickened his tone, like a war-horse +scenting the battle near at hand. "There never was a thinner-crusted +Devil's egg in the world than democracy. I think I've told you that +before?" + +"I think you have," said the other, dryly. + +"You always were a Tory, Mr. Howth," said his wife, in her placid, +creamy way. "It is in the blood, I think, Doctor. The Howths fought +under Cornwallis, you know." + +The schoolmaster waited until his wife had ended. + +"Very true, Mrs. Howth," he said, with a grave smile. Then his thin face +grew hot again. + +"No, Dr. Knowles. Your scheme is but a sign of the mad age we live +in. Since the thirteenth century, when the anarchic element sprang +full-grown into the history of humanity, that history has been chaos. +And this republic is the culmination of chaos." + +"Out of chaos came the new-born earth," suggested the Doctor. + +"But its foundations were granite," rejoined the old man with nervous +eagerness,--"granite, not the slime of yesterday. When you found +empires, go to work as God worked." + +The Doctor did not answer; sat looking, instead, out into the dark +indifferently, as if the heresies which the old man hurled at him were +some old worn-out song. Seeing, however, that the schoolmaster's flush +of enthusiasm seemed on the point of dying out, he roused himself to +gibe it into life. + +"Well, Mr. Howth, what will you have? If the trodden rights of the human +soul are the slime of yesterday, how shall we found our empire to last? +On despotism? Civil or theocratic?" + +"Any despotism is better than that of newly enfranchised serfs," replied +the schoolmaster. + +The Doctor laughed. + +"What a successful politician you would have made! You would have had +such a winning way to the hearts of the great unwashed!" + +Mrs. Howth laid down her knitting. + +"My dear," she said, timidly, "I think that is treason." + +The angry heat died out of his face instantly, as he turned to her, +without the glimmer of a covert smile at her simplicity. She was a +woman; and when he spoke to the Doctor, it was in a tone less sharp. + +"What is it the boys used to declaim, their Yankee hearts throbbing +under their roundabouts? 'Happy, proud America!' Somehow in that way. +'Cursed, abased America!' better if they had said. Look at her, in the +warm vigor of her youth, most vigorous in decay! Look at the dregs of +nations, creeds, religions, fermenting together! As for the theory +of self-government, it will muddle down here, as in the three great +archetypes of the experiment, into a puling, miserable failure!" + +The Doctor did not hear. Some sharper shadow seemed to haunt him than +the downfall of the Republic. What help did he seek in this girl? His +keen, deep eyes never left her unconscious face. + +"No," Mr. Howth went on, having the field to himself,--"we left Order +back there in the ages you call dark, and Progress will trumpet the +world into the ditch." + +"Comte!" growled the Doctor. + +The schoolmaster's cane beat an angry tattoo on the hearth. + +"You sneer at Comte? Because, having the clearest eye, the widest +sweeping eye ever given to man, he had no more? It was to show how far +flesh can go alone. Could he help it, if God refused the prophet's +vision?" + +"I'm sure, Samuel," interrupted his wife with a sorrowful earnestness, +"your own eyes were as strong as a man's could be. It was ten years +after I wore spectacles that you began. Only for that miserable fever, +you could read short-hand now." + +Her own quiet eyes filled with tears. There was a sudden silence. +Margaret shivered, as if some pain stung her. Holding her father's bony +hand in hers, she patted it on her knee. The hand trembled a little. +Knowles's sharp eyes darted from one to the other; then, with a +smothered growl, he shook himself, and rushed headlong into the old +battle which he and the schoolmaster had been waging now, off and on, +some six years. That was a fight, I can tell you! None of your shallow, +polite clashing of modern theories,--no talk of your Jeffersonian +Democracy, your high-bred Federalism! They took hold of the matter by +the roots, clear at the beginning. + +Mrs. Howth's breath fairly left her, they went into the soul of the +matter in such a dangerous way. What if Joel should hear? No doubt he +would report that his master was an infidel,--that would be the next +thing they would hear. He was in the kitchen now: he finished his +wood-chopping an hour ago. Asleep, doubtless; that was one comfort. +Well, if he were awake, he could not understand. That class of +people----And Mrs. Howth (into whose kindly brain just enough of her +husband's creed had glimmered to make her say, "that class of people," +in the tone with which Abraham would _not_ have spoken of Dives over the +gulf) went tranquilly back to her knitting, wondering why Dr. Knowles +should come ten times now where he used to come once, to provoke Samuel +into these wearisome arguments. Ever since their misfortune came on +them, he had been there every night, always at it. She should think he +might be a little more considerate. Mr. Howth surely had enough to think +of, what with his--his misfortune, and the starvation waiting for them, +and poor Margaret's degradation, (she sighed here,) without bothering +his head about the theocratic principle, or the Battle of Armageddon. +She had hinted as much to Dr. Knowles one day, and he had muttered out +something about its being "the life of the dog, Ma'am." She wondered +what he meant by that! She looked over at his bearish figure, +snuff-drabbled waistcoat, and shock of black hair. Well, poor man, +he could not help it, if he were coarse, and an Abolitionist, and +a Fourierite, and----She was getting a little muddy now, she was +conscious, so turned her mind back to the repose of her stocking. +Margaret took it very quietly, seeing her father flaming so. But +Margaret never had any opinions to express. She was not like the +Parnells: they were noted for their clear judgment. Mrs. Howth was a +Parnell. + +"The combat deepens,--on, ye brave!" + +The Doctor's fat, leathery face was quite red now, and his sentences +were hurled out in a sarcastic bass, enough to wither the marrow of a +weak man. But the schoolmaster was no weak man. His foot was entirely on +his native heath, I assure you. He knew every inch of the ground, from +the domination of the absolute faith in the ages of Fetichism, to its +pseudo-presentment in the tenth century, and its actual subversion in +the nineteenth. Every step. Our politicians might have picked up an idea +or two there, I should think! Then he was so cool about it, so skilful! +He fairly rubbed his hands with glee, enjoying the combat. And he was so +sure that the Doctor was savagely in earnest: why, any one with half an +ear could hear that! He did not see how, in the very heat of the fray, +his eyes would wander off listlessly. But Mr. Howth did not wander; +there was nothing careless or two-sided in the making of this man,--no +sham about him, or borrowing. They came down gradually, or out,--for, as +I told you, they dug into the very heart of the matter at first,--they +came out gradually to modern times. Things began to assume a more +familiar aspect. Spinoza, Fichte, Saint Simon,--one heard about them +now. If you could but have heard the schoolmaster deal with these his +enemies! With what tender charity for the man, what relentless vengeance +for the belief, he pounced on them, dragging the soul out of their +systems, holding it up for slow slaughter! As for Humanity, (how Knowles +lingered on that word, with a tenderness curious in so uncouth a mass of +flesh!)--as for Humanity, it was a study to see it stripped and flouted +and thrown out of doors like a filthy rag by this poor old Howth, a man +too child-hearted to kill a spider. It was pleasanter to hear him when +he defended the great Past in which his ideal truth had been faintly +shadowed. How he caught the salient tints of the feudal life! How the +fine womanly nature of the man rose exulting in the free picturesque +glow of the day of crusader and heroic deed! How he crowded in traits of +perfected manhood in the conqueror, simple trust in the serf, to color +and weaken his argument, not seeing that he weakened it! How, when he +thought he had cornered the Doctor, he would color and laugh like a boy, +then suddenly check himself, lest he might wound him! A curious laugh, +genial, cheery,--bubbling out of his weak voice in a way that put you in +mind of some old and rare wine. When he would check himself in one of +these triumphant glows, he would turn to the Doctor with a deprecatory +gravity, and for a few moments be almost submissive in his reply. So +earnest and worn it looked then, the poor old face, in the dim light! +The black clothes he wore were so threadbare and shining at the knees +and elbows, the coarse leather shoes brought to so fine a polish! The +Doctor idly wondered who had blacked them, glancing at Margaret's +fingers. + +There was a flower stuck in the buttonhole of the schoolmaster's coat, a +pale tea-rose. If Dr. Knowles had been a man of fine instincts, (which +his opaque shining eyes would seem to deny,) he might have thought it +was not unapt or ill-placed even in the shabby, scuffed coat. A scholar, +a gentleman, though in patched shoes and trousers a world too short. Old +and gaunt, hunger-bitten even it may be, with loose-jointed, bony limbs, +and yellow face; clinging, loyal and brave, to the knightly honor, to +the quaint, delicate fancies of his youth, that were dust and ashes to +other men. In the very haggard face you could find the quiet purity of +the child he had been, and the old child's smile, fresh and credulous, +on the mouth. + +The Doctor had not spoken for a moment. It might be that he was careless +of the poetic lights with which Mr. Howth tenderly decorated his old +faith, or it might be that even he, with the terrible intentness of a +real life-purpose in his brain, was touched by the picture of the far +old chivalry, dead long ago. The master's voice grew low and lingering +now. It was a labor of love, this. Oh, it is so easy to go back out of +the broil of dust and meanness and barter into the clear shadow of that +old life where love and bravery stand eternal verities,--never to be +bought and sold in that dusty town yonder! To go back? To dream back, +rather. To drag out of our own hearts, as the hungry old master did, +whatever is truest and highest there, and clothe it with name and deed +in the dim days of chivalry. Make a poem of it,--so much easier than to +make a life! + +Knowles shuffled uneasily, watching the girl keenly, to know how the +picture touched her. Was, then, she thought, this grand dead Past so +shallow to him? These knights, pure, unstained, searching until death +for the Holy Greal, could he understand the life-long agony, the triumph +of their conflict over Self? These women, content to live in solitude +forever because they once had loved, could any man understand that? +Or the dead queen, dead that the man she loved might be free and +happy,--why, this _was_ life,--this death! But did pain, and martyrdom, +and victory lie back in the days of Galahad and Arthur alone? The +homely face grew stiller than before, looking out into the dun sweep of +moorland,--cold, unrevealing. It baffled the man that looked at it. He +shuffled, chewed tobacco vehemently, tilted his chair on two legs, broke +out in a thunder-gust at last. + +"Dead days for dead men! The world hears a bugle-call to-day more noble +than any of your piping troubadours. We have something better to fight +for than a vacant tomb." + +The old man drew himself up haughtily. + +"I know what you would say,--Liberty for the low and vile. It is a +good word. That was a better which they hid in their hearts in the old +time,--Honor!" + +Honor! I think, Calvinist though he was, that word was his religion. Men +have had worse. Perhaps the Doctor thought this; for he rose abruptly, +and, leaning on the old man's chair, said, gently,-- + +"It is better, even here. Yet you poison this child's mind. You make her +despise To-Day; make honor live for her now." + +"It does not," the schoolmaster said, bitterly. "The world's a failure. +All the great old dreams are dead. Your own phantom, your Republic, your +experiment to prove that all men are born free and equal,--what is it +to-day?" + +Knowles lifted his head, looking out into the brown twilight. Some word +of pregnant meaning flashed in his eye and trembled on his lip; but he +kept it back. His face glowed, though, and the glow and strength gave to +the huge misshapen features a grand repose. + +"You talk of To-Day," the old man continued, querulously. "I am tired of +it. Here is its type and history," touching a county newspaper,--"a fair +type, with its cant, and bigotry, and weight of uncomprehended +fact. Bargain and sale,--it taints our religion, our brains, our +flags,--yours and mine, Knowles, with the rest. Did you never hear of +those abject spirits who entered neither heaven nor hell, who were +neither faithful to God nor rebellious, caring only for themselves?" + +He paused, fairly out of breath. Margaret looked up. Knowles was +silent. There was a smothered look of pain on the coarse face; the +schoolmaster's words were sinking deeper than he knew. + +"No, father," said Margaret, hastily ending his quotation, "'_io non +averei creduto, che [vita] tanta n' avesse disfatta._'" + +Skilful Margaret! The broil must have been turbid in the old man's brain +which the grand, slow-stepping music of the Florentine could not calm. +She had learned that long ago, and used it as a nurse does some old song +to quiet her pettish infant. His face brightened instantly. + +"Do not believe, then, child," he said, after a pause. "It is a noble +doubt in Dante or in you." + +The Doctor had turned away; she could not see his face. The angry scorn +was gone from the old master's countenance; it was bent with its +usual wistful quiet on the floor. A moment after he looked up with a +flickering smile. + +"'_Onorate l' altissimo poeta!_'" he said, gently lifting his finger to +his forehead in a military fashion. "Where is my cane, Margaret? The +Doctor and I will go and walk on the porch before it grows dark." + +The sun had gone down long before, and the stars were out; but no one +spoke of this. Knowles lighted the schoolmaster's pipe and his own +cigar, and then moved the chairs out of their way, stepping softly that +the old man might not hear him. Margaret, in the room, watched them as +they went, seeing how gentle the rough, burly man was with her father, +and how, every time they passed the sweet-brier, he bent the branches +aside, that they might not touch his face. Slow, childish tears came +into her eyes as she saw it; for the schoolmaster was blind. This had +been their regular walk every evening, since it grew too cold for them +to go down under the lindens. The Doctor had not missed a night since +her father gave up the school, a month ago: at first, under pretence of +attending to his eyes; but since the day he had told them there was no +hope of cure, he had never spoken of it again. Only, since then, he had +grown doubly quarrelsome,--standing ready armed to dispute with the old +man every inch of every subject in earth or air, keeping the old man in +a state of boyish excitement during the long, idle days, looking forward +to this nightly battle. + +It was very still; for the house, with its half-dozen acres, lay in an +angle of the hills, looking out on the river, which shut out all +distant noises. Only the men's footsteps broke the silence, passing +and repassing the window. Without, the October starlight lay white and +frosty on the moors, the old barn, the sharp, dark hills, and the river, +which was half hidden by the orchard. One could hear it, like some huge +giant moaning in his sleep, at times, and see broad patches of steel +blue glittering through the thick apple-trees and the bushes. Her mother +had fallen into a doze. Margaret looked at her, thinking how sallow the +plump, fair face had grown, and how faded the kindly blue eyes were now. +Dim with crying,--she knew that, though she never saw her shed a tear. +Always cheery and quiet, going placidly about the house in her gray +dress and Quaker cap, as if there were no such things in the world as +debt or blindness. But Margaret knew, though she said nothing. When her +mother came in from those wonderful foraging expeditions in search of +late pease or corn, she could see the swollen circle round the eyes, +and hear her breath like that of a child which has sobbed itself tired. +Then, one night, when she had gone late into her mother's room, the blue +eyes were set in a wild, hopeless way, as if staring down into years of +starvation and misery. The fire on the hearth burned low and clear; the +old worn furniture stood out cheerfully in the red glow, and threw a +maze of twisted shadow on the floor. But the glow was all that was +cheerful. To-morrow, when the hard daylight should jeer away the +screening shadows, it would unbare a desolate, shabby home. She knew; +struck with the white leprosy of poverty; the blank walls, the faded +hangings, the old stone house itself, looking vacantly out on the fields +with a pitiful significance of loss. Upon the mantel-shelf there was a +small marble figure, one of the Dancing Graces: the other two were gone, +gone in pledge. This one was left, twirling her foot, and stretching out +her hands in a dreary sort of ecstasy, with no one to respond. For a +moment, so empty and bitter seemed her home and her life, that she +thought the lonely dancer with her flaunting joy mocked her,--taunted +them with the slow, gray desolation that had been creeping on them for +years. Only for a moment the morbid fancy hurt her. + +The red glow was healthier, suited her temperament better. She chose to +fancy the house as it had been once,--should be again, please God. +She chose to see the old comfort and the old beauty which the poor +schoolmaster had gathered about their home. Gone now. But it should +return. It was well, perhaps, that he was blind, he knew so little of +what had come on them. There, where the black marks were on the wall, +there had hung two pictures. Margaret and her father religiously +believed them to be a Tintoret and Copley. Well, they were gone now. He +had been used to dust them with a light brush every morning, himself, +but now he said,-- + +"You can clean the pictures to-day, Margaret. Be careful, my child." + +And Margaret would remember the greasy Irishman who had tucked them +under his arm, and flung them into a cart, her blood growing hotter in +her veins. + +It was the same through all the house; there was not a niche in the bare +rooms that did not recall a something gone,--something that should +return. She willed that, that evening, standing by the dim fire. What +women will, whose eyes are slow, attentive, still, as this Margaret's, +usually comes to pass. + +The red fire-glow suited her; another glow, warming her floating fancy, +mingled with it, giving her quiet purpose the trait of heroism. The +old spirit of the dead chivalry, of succor to the weak, life-long +self-denial,--did it need the sand waste of Palestine or a tournament to +call it into life? Down in that trading town, in the thick of its mills +and drays, it could live, she thought. That very night, perhaps, in some +of those fetid cellars or sunken shanties, there were vigils kept of +purpose as unselfish, prayer as heaven-commanding, as that of the old +aspirants for knighthood. She, too,--her quiet face stirred with a +simple, childish smile, like her father's. + +"Why, mother!" she said, stroking down the gray hair under the cap, +"shall you sleep here all night?" laughing. + +A cheery, tender laugh, this woman's was,--seldom heard,--not far from +tears. + +Mrs. Howth roused herself. Just then, a broad, high-shouldered man, in +a gray flannel shirt, and shoes redolent of the stable, appeared at the +door. Margaret looked at him as if he were an accusing spirit,--coming +down, as every woman must, from heights of self-renunciation or bold +resolve, to an undarned stocking or an uncooked meal. + +"Kittle's b'ilin'," he announced, flinging in the information as a +general gratuity. + +"That will do, Joel," said Mrs. Howth. + +The tone of stately blandness which Mrs. Howth erected as a shield +between herself and "that class of people" was a study: a success, I +think; the _résumé_ of her experience in the combat that had devoured +half her life, like that of other American housekeepers. "Be gentle, +but let them know their place, my dear!" The class having its type and +exponent in Joel stopped at the door, and hitched up its suspenders. + +"That will _do_, Joel," with a stern suavity. + +Some idea was in Joel's head under the brush of red hair,--probably the +"anarchic element." + +"Uh was wishin' toh read the G'zette." Whereupon he advanced into the +teeth of the enemy and bore off the newspaper, going before Margaret, +as she went to the kitchen, and seating himself beside a flaring +tallow-candle on the table. + +Reading, with Joel, was not the idle pastime that more trivial minds +find it: a thing, on the contrary, to be gone into with slow spelling, +and face knitted up into savage sternness, especially now, when, as he +gravely explained to Margaret, "in _his_ opinion the crissis was jest at +hand, and ev'ry man must be seein' ef the gover'ment was carryin' out +the views of the people." + +With which intent, Joel, in company with five thousand other sovereigns, +consulted, as definitive oracle, "The Daily Gazette" of Towbridge. The +schoolmaster need not have grumbled for the old time: feudality in the +days of Warwick and of "The Daily Gazette" was not so widely different +as he and Joel thought. + +Now and then, partly as an escape-valve for his overcharged conviction, +partly in compassion to the ignorance of women in political economics, +he threw off to Margaret divers commentaries on the text, as she passed +in and out. + +If she had risen to the full level of Joel's views, she might have +considered these views tinctured with radicalism, as they consisted in +the propriety of the immediate "impinging of the President." Besides, +(Joel was a good-natured man, too, merciful to his beast,) Nero-like, he +wished, with the tiger drop of blood that lies hid in everybody's heart, +that the few millions who differed with himself and the "Gazette" had +but one neck for their more convenient hanging. "It's all that'll save +the kentry," he said, and believed it, too. + +If Margaret fell suddenly from the peak of outlook on life to the +homely labor of cooking supper, some of the healthy heroic flush of +the knightly days and the hearth-fire went down with her, I think. It +brightened and reddened the square kitchen with its cracked stove and +meagre array of tins; she bustled about in her quaint way, as if it +had been filled up and running over with comforts. It brightened and +reddened her face when she came in to put the last dish on the table,--a +cozy, snug table, set for four. Heroic dreams with poets, I suppose, +make them unfit for food other than some feast such as Eve set for the +angel. But then Margaret was no poet. So, with the kindling of her hope, +its healthful light struck out, and warmed and glorified these common +things. Such common things! Only a coarse white cloth, redeemed by +neither silver nor china, the amber coffee, (some that Knowles had +brought out to her father,--"thrown on his hands; he couldn't use +it,--product of slave-labor!--never, Sir!") the delicate brown fish that +Joel had caught, the bread her mother had made, the golden butter,--all +of them touched her nerves with a quick sense of beauty and pleasure. +And more, the gaunt face of the blind old man, his bony hand trembling +as he raised the cup to his lips, her mother and the Doctor managing +silently to place everything he liked best near his plate. Wasn't it +all part of the fresh, hopeful glow burning in her consciousness? It +brightened and deepened. It blotted out the hard, dusty path of the +future, and showed warm and clear the success at the end. Not much +to show, you think. Only the old home as it once was, full of quiet +laughter and content; only her mother's eyes clear shining again; only +that gaunt old head raised proudly, owing no man anything but courtesy. +The glow deepened, as she thought of it. It was strange, too, that, with +the deep, slow-moving nature of this girl, she should have striven so +eagerly to throw this light over the future. Commoner natures have done +more and hoped less. It was a poor gift, you think, this of the labor of +a life for so plain a duty; hardly heroic. She knew it. Yet, if there +lay in this coming labor any pain, any wearing effort, she clung to it +desperately, as if this should banish, it might be, worse loss. She +tried desperately, I say, to clutch the far, uncertain hope at the end, +to make happiness out of it, to give it to her silent hungry heart to +feed on. She thrust out of sight all possible life that might have +called her true self into being, and clung to this present shallow duty +and shallow reward. Pitiful and vain so to cling! It is the way of +women. As if any human soul could bury that which might have been in +that which is! + +The Doctor, peering into her thought with sharp, suspicious eyes, heeded +the transient flush of enthusiasm but little. Even the pleasant cheery +talk that pleased her father so was but surface-deep, he knew. The woman +he must conquer for his great end lay beneath, dark and cold. It was +only for that end he cared for her. Through what cold depths of solitude +her soul breathed faintly mattered little. Yet an idle fancy touched +him, what a triumph the man had gained, whoever he might be, who had +held the master-key to a nature so rare as this, who had the kingly +power in his hand to break its silence into electric shivers of laughter +and tears,--terrible subtle pain, or joy as terrible. Did he hold the +power still, he wondered? Meanwhile she sat there quiet, unread. + +The evening came on, slow and cold. Life itself, the Doctor thought, +impatiently, was cool and tardy here among the hills. Even he fell into +the tranquil tone, and chafed under it. Nowhere else did the evening +gray and sombre into the mysterious night impalpably as here. The quiet, +wide and deep, folded him in, forced his trivial heat into silence and +thought. The world seemed to think there. Quiet in the dead seas of fog, +that filled the valleys like restless vapor curdled into silence; quiet +in the listening air, stretching gray up to the stars,--in the solemn +mountains, that stood motionless, like hoary-headed prophets, waiting +with uplifted hands, day and night, to hear the Voice, silent now +for centuries; the very air, heavy with the breath of the sleeping +pine-forests, moved slowly and cold, like some human voice weary with +preaching to unbelieving hearts of a peace on earth. This man's heart +was unbelieving; he chafed in the oppressive quiet; it was unfeeling +mockery to a sick and hungry world,--a dead torpor of indifference. +Years of hot and turbid pain had dulled his eyes to the eternal secret +of the night; his soul was too sore with stumbling, stung, inflamed with +the needs and suffering of the countless lives that hemmed him in, to +accept the great prophetic calm. He was blind to the prophecy written on +the earth since the day God first bade it tell thwarted man of the great +To-Morrow. + +He turned from the night in-doors. Human hearts were his proper study. +The old house, he thought, slept with the rest. One did not wonder that +the pendulum of the clock swung long and slow. The frantic, nervous +haste of town-clocks chorded better with the pulse of human life. Yet +life in the veins of these people flowed slow and cool; their sorrows +and joys were few and life-long. The slow, enduring air suited this +woman, Margaret Howth. Her blood could never ebb or flow with sudden +gusts of passion, like his own, throbbing, heating continually: one +current, absorbing, deep, would carry its tide from one eternity to the +other, one love or one hate. Whatever power was in the tide should +be his, in its entirety. It was his right. Was not his aim high, the +highest? It was his right. + +Margaret, looking up, saw the man's intolerant eye fixed on her. She met +it coolly. All her short life, this strange man, so tender to the weak, +had watched her with a sort of savage scorn, sneering at her apathy, her +childish, dreamy quiet, driving her from effort to effort with a scourge +of impatient contempt. What did he want now with her? Her duty was +light; she took it up,--she was glad to take it up; what more would he +have? She put the whole matter away from her. + +It grew late. She sat down by the lamp and began to read to her father, +as usual. Her mother put away her knitting; Joel came in half-asleep; +the Doctor put out his everlasting cigar, and listened, as he did +everything else, intently. It was an old story that she read,--the story +of a man who walked the fields and crowded streets of Galilee eighteen +hundred years ago. Knowles, with his heated brain, fancied that the +silence without in the night grew deeper, that the slow-moving air +stopped in its course to listen. Perhaps the simple story carried a +deeper meaning to these brooding mountains and this solemn sky than to +the purblind hearts within. It was a dim, far-off story to them,--very +far off. The old schoolmaster heard it with a lowered head, with the +proud obedience with which a cavalier would receive his leader's orders. +Was not the leader a knight, the knight of truest courage? All that was +high, chivalric in the old man sprang up to own him Lord. That he not +only preached to, but ate and drank with publicans and sinners, was a +requirement of his mission; nowadays----. Joel heard the "good word" +with a bewildered consciousness of certain rules of honesty to be +observed the next day, and a maze of crowns and harps shining somewhere +beyond. As for any immediate connection between the teachings of this +book and "The Daily Gazette," it was pure blasphemy to think of it. The +Lord held those old Jews in His hand, of course; but as for the election +next month, that was quite another thing. If Joel thrust the history out +of the touch of common life, the Doctor brought it down, and held it +there on trial. To him it was the story of a Reformer who had served +his day. Could he serve this day? Could he? The need was desperate. Was +there anything in this Christianity, freed from bigotry, to work out +the awful problem which the ages had left for America to solve? People +called this old Knowles an infidel, said his brain was as unnatural and +distorted as his body. God, looking down into his heart that night, saw +the fierce earnestness of the man to know the truth, and judged him with +other eyes than ours. + +When the girl had finished reading, she went out and stood in the cool +air. The Doctor passed her without notice. The story stood alive in his +throbbing brain, demanding a hearing; it stood there always, needing but +a touch to waken it. All things were real to this man, this uncouth mass +of flesh that his companions sneered at; most real of all the unhelped +pain of life, the great seething mire of dumb wretchedness in our +streets and alleys, the cry for aid from the starved souls of the world. +You and I have other work to do than to listen,--pleasanter. But this +man, coming out of the mire, his veins thick with the blood of a +despised race, had carried up their pain and hunger with him: it was the +most real thing on earth to him,--more real than his own share in the +unseen heaven or hell. By the reality, the peril of the world's instant +need, he tried the offered help from Calvary. It was the work of years, +not of this night. Perhaps, if they who preach Christ crucified had +first doubted and tried him as this man did, their place in the coming +heaven might be higher,--and ours, who hear them. + +He went, in his lumbering way, down the hill into the city. He was glad +to go back; the trustful, waiting quiet oppressed, taunted him. It sent +him back more mad against Destiny, his heart more bitter in its +great pity. Let him go back into the great city, with its stifling +gambling-hells, its negro-pens, its foul cellars. It is his place and +work. If he stumble blindly against unconquerable ills, and die, others +have so stumbled and so died. Do you think their work is lost? + + * * * * * + + +TIME'S HOUSEHOLD. + + + Time is a lowly peasant, with whom bred + Are sons of kings, of an immortal race. + Their garb to their condition they debase, + Eat of his fare, make on his straw their bed, + Conversing, use his homely dialect, + (Giving the words some meaning of their own,) + Till, half forgetting purple, sceptre, throne, + Themselves his children mere they nigh suspect. + And when, divinely moved, one goes away, + His royal right and glory to resume, + Loss of his rags appears his life's decay, + He weeps, and his companions mourn his doom. + Yet doth a voice in every bosom say, + "So perish buds while bursting into bloom." + + + + +WHAT WE ARE COMING TO. + + +In the year 1745 Charles Edward Stuart landed in the wilds of Moidart +and set up the standard of rebellion. The Kingdom of Scotland was then, +in nearly all but political rights, an independent nation. A very large +part of its population was of different blood from that of the southern +portion of the British Island. The Highland clans were as distinct in +manners, disposition, and race from their English neighbors as are the +Indian tribes remaining in our midst from the men of Massachusetts and +New York. They held to the old religion, the cardinal principle of which +is to admit the right of no other form, and which never has obtained the +upper hand without immediately attempting to put down all rivalry. They +were devotedly attached to their chiefs. They represented a patriarchal +system. They lived by means of a little agriculture and a great deal of +plunder. They were bred to arms, and despised every other calling. The +whole country of Scotland was possessed with an inextinguishable spirit +of nationality, stronger than that of Hungary or Poland. They were +traditional allies of France, the hereditary foe of England. Seven +hundred years of fighting had filled the border-land with battle-fields, +some of glorious and some of mournful memory, on which the Cross of +Saint Andrew had been matched against that of Saint George. Some of the +noblest families of the realm had won their knightly spurs and their +ancient earldoms by warlike prowess against the Southron. Flodden and +Bannockburn were household words, as potent as Agincourt and Cressy. Nor +had the conduct of the House of Hanover been such as to conciliate the +unwilling people. There was known to be a widespread disaffection even +in England to the German princes. These had governed their adopted for +the benefit of their native country. The sentiment of many counties was +thoroughly Jacobite. A corrupt and venal administration was filled with +secret adherents of the king over the water. One great university was in +sympathy with the fallen dynasty. A large part of the Church was imbued +with doctrines of divine right and passive obedience, of which the only +logical conclusion was the return of the Stuarts. + +Between the two countries there was an antagonism of customs, of +manners, of character, more marked, more offensively displayed, and +breeding more rancorous hatred than any which can now exist between the +people of Boston and Charleston, between the Knickerbockers of New +York and the Creoles of New Orleans. A Scotchman was to the South a +comprehensive name for a greedy, beggarly adventurer, knavish and +money-loving to the last degree, full of absurd pride of pedigree, +clannish and cold-blooded, vindictive as a Corsican, and treacherous +as a modern Greek. An Englishman was to the North a bullying, arrogant +coward,--purse-proud, yet cringing to rank,--without loyalty and without +sentiment,--given over to mere material interests, not comprehending the +idea of honor, and believing, as the fortieth of his religious articles, +that any injury, even to a blow, could be compensated by money. + +Into an island thus divided the heir of the ancient family to whom in +undoubted right of legitimacy the crown belonged, a young, gallant, and +handsome prince, had thrown himself with a chivalrous confidence +that touched every heart. There was every reason to suppose that the +interests of England's powerful enemy across the Channel were secretly +pledged to sustain his cause. Scotland was soon ablaze with sympathy and +devotion. The Prince advanced on Edinburgh. The city opened its gates. +He was acknowledged, and held his court in the old Palace of Holyrood, +where generation after generation of Stuarts had maintained their state. +The castle alone, closely beleaguered, held out like our own Sumter in +the centre of rebellion. A battle was fought almost beneath the walls of +the Scotch capital, and the first great army upon which the English hope +depended was ignominiously routed. A portion of the soldiery fled in +disgraceful panic; those who stood were cut to pieces by the charges +of a fiery valor against which discipline seemed powerless. The border +fortress of Carlisle was soon after taken. Liverpool, not the great +commercial port it now is, but of rising importance, and Manchester, +were menaced. Even London was in dismay. Men like Horace Walpole wrote +to their friends of a retreat to the garrets of Hanover. The funds fell. +The leading minister had been a man of eminently pacific policy, whose +chief state-maxim was _Quieta non movere_, and was taken by surprise. +There are many historians and students of history who now admit, +in looking back upon those times, that the fate of the established +government hung upon a thread, and that the daring advance of the +Pretender followed by another victory might have converted him into a +Possessor and Defender. Had any one then asked as to the possibilities +of a reconstruction of the severed Union, the answer would probably +have been not much unlike the predictions of the croakers of to-day who +clamor for acceptance of the Davisian olive-branch and an acknowledgment +of the fact of Secession. Yet the strength of numbers, of means, and of +public sentiment was altogether on the English side. Though paralyzed +somewhat by the sense of private treachery, with the feeling that all +branches of the public service were harboring men of doubtful loyalty, +and the knowledge that a great body of "submissionists" were ready +to acquiesce in the course of events, whatever that might be, the +Government prepared for an unconditional resistance. _From the outset +they treated it as a rebellion, and the adherents of the Stuarts as +rebels_. Time, the ablest of generals and wisest of statesmen, happened +to be on their side. The Pretender turned northward from Derby, and on +the field of Culloden the last hope of the exiled house was forever +broken. Yet it would even then seem as if reconstruction had been +rendered impossible. The Chevalier escaped to France, guarded by the +fond loyalty of men and women who defied alike torture and temptation. +While he lived, or the family remained, the danger continued to threaten +England, and the heart of Scotland to be fevered with a secret hope. +The old conflict of nationalities had been terribly envenomed by the +cruelties of Cumberland and the license of the conquering troops. There +was the same temptation ever lurking at the ear of France to whisper new +assaults upon England. Ireland was held as a subjugated province, and +was in a state of chronic discontent. To either wing of the British +empire, alliance with, nay, submission to France, was considered +preferable to remaining in the Union. + +Thus far we have been looking at probabilities from the stand-point of +their times. There is a curious parallelism in the essentials of that +conflict with the present attempt to elevate King Cotton to the throne +of this Republic. It is close enough to show that the same great +rules have hitherto governed human action with unerring fidelity. The +Government displayed at the outset the same vacillation; the people were +apparently as thoroughly indifferent to the Hanoverian cause as the +Northern merchants, before the fall of Sumter, to the prosperity of +Lincoln's administration. The Russell of 1745, writing to the French +court his views of the public sentiment of England and especially of +London, probably gave an account of it not very dissimilar to that +which the Russell of 1861 wrote to the London "Times" after his first +encounter with the feeling of New York. There were doubtless the same +assurances on the part of confident partisans that the whole framework +of the British government would crumble at the first attack. There were, +too, the same extravagant alarms, the same wild misrepresentations, the +same volunteer enthusiasm on the part of loyal subjects a little +later on in the history. There was on the part of the rebels the same +confidence in the justice of their cause, the same utter blindness to +results, as in the devotees of Slavery. There was then, as now, an +educated and cultivated set of plotters, moved by personal ambition, +swaying with almost absolute power the minds of an ignorant and +passionate class. It was the combat so often begun in the world, yet so +inevitably ending always in the same way, between misguided enthusiasm +and the great public conviction of the value of order, security, and +peace. + +The enmity seemed hopeless; the insurrection was a smouldering fire, +put out in one corner only to be renewed in another. If Virginia is a +country in which a guerrilla resistance can be indefinitely prolonged, +it is more open than the plains of Holland in comparison with +the Highlands of that era. Few Lowlanders had ever penetrated +them,--scarcely an Englishman. It was supposed that in those impregnable +fastnesses an army of hundreds might defy the thousands of the crown. At +Killiecrankie, Dundee and his Highlanders had beaten a well-appointed +and superior force. Dundee had himself been repulsed by a handful of +Covenanters at Loudoun Heath through the strength of their position. +Montrose had carried on a partisan war against apparently hopeless odds. +To overrun England might be a mad ambition, but to stand at bay in +Scotland was a thing which had been again and again attempted with no +inconsiderable success. + +The rebellion failed, and there were several causes for the failure: +Dissensions among the rebels, the want of efficient aid from France, +the want of money, _and the conviction of a large part of the Scots +themselves of the value of the Union_. The rebellion failed, and sullen +submission to confiscation, military cruelty, and political proscription +followed. + +On Sunday, the 18th of June, 1815, not quite seventy years after, there +charged side by side upon the _élite_ of a French army, with the men of +London, the Highlanders and Irish. A descendant of Cameron of Lochiel +fell leading them on. The last spark of Jacobite enthusiasm and Scottish +hatred of Englishmen had died out years before. Those who witnessed the +entry of the Chevalier into Edinburgh lived to see the whole nation +devouring with enthusiasm the novel of "Waverley,"--so entirely had the +bitterness of what had happened "sixty years since" passed from their +minds! + +We have thus selected two points of history as the short answer to the +cry, "You can never reconstruct the Union," which History, the impartial +judge on the bench, pronounces to the wranglers at the bar below. +"Never" is a long word to speak, if it be a short one to spell. Events +move fast, and the logic of Fate is more convincing than the arguments +of daily editors. The "_tout arrive en France_" is true of the world in +general, so far as relates to isolated circumstances. The very fact that +a threatened disruption of our Union has been possible ought to forbid +any one from concluding that reconstruction, or rather restoration, is +impossible. Twenty years after the Battle of Culloden, Jacobitism was a +dream; fifty years after, it was a memory; a century after, it was an +antiquarian study. + +The real question we are to ask concerning the present rebellion, and +the only one which is of importance, is, What is it based upon? an +eternal or an arbitrary principle? An eternal principle renews itself +till it succeeds,--if not in one century, then in another. An arbitrary +principle makes its fierce fight and then is slain, and men bury it as +soon as they can. The Stuarts represented an arbitrary principle. They +were the impersonation of unconstitutional power. Hereditary right +they had, and the Hanoverians had not. According to Mr. Thackeray, and +according to the strictest fact, we suspect the Georges were no +more personally estimable than the Jameses, and they were far less +kingly-mannered. But they were willing to govern England according to +law, and the Stuarts wore determined to govern according to prerogative. + +What is the present issue? It is a contest, when reduced to its ultimate +terms, between free labor and slavery. It is very true that this +secession was planned before slavery considered itself aggrieved, +before abolitionism became a word of war. But the antipathy between +the slaveholder and the payer or receiver of wages was none the less +radical. The systems were just as hostile. We admit that the South can +make out its title of legitimacy. It has a slave population it must take +care of and is bound to take care of till somebody can tell what better +to do with it. It can show a refined condition of its highest society, +which contrasts not unfavorably with the tawdry display and vulgar +ostentation of the _nouveaux riches_ whom sudden success in trade or +invention has made conspicuous at the North. There is a fascination +about the Southern life and character which charms those who do not look +at it too closely into ardent championship. Even Mr. Russell, so long as +he looked into white faces in South Carolina, was fascinated, and only +when he came to look into black faces along the Mississippi found the +disenchantment. The decisive difference is, that the North is purposing +to settle and possess this land according to the law of right, and the +South according to the law of might. + +We say, therefore, that the issue of the contest need not be doubtful. +The events of it may be very uncertain, but, from the parallel we have +sketched, we think we can indicate the four chief causes of the Scottish +failure as existing in the present crisis. + +DISSENSIONS AMONG THE REBELS. These of course are hid from us by the +veil of smoke that rises above Bull Run. But as between the party of +advance and the party of defence, between the would-be spoilers of New +York bank-vaults and Philadelphia mint-coffers, and the more prudent who +desire "to be let alone," there is already an issue created. There are +State jealousies, and that impatience of control which is inherent in +the Southern mind, as it was in that of the Highland chieftains. There +will be, as events move on, the same feud developed between the Palmetto +of Carolina and the Pride-of-China of the Georgian, as then burned +between Glen-Garry of that ilk and Vich Ian Vohr. There are rivalries of +interest quite as fierce as those which roused the anti-tariff _furor_ +of Mr. Calhoun. Much as Great Britain may covet the cotton of South +Carolina, she will not be disposed to encourage Louisiana to a +competition in sugar with her own Jamaica. Virginia will hardly brook +the opening of a rival Dahomey which shall cheapen into unprofitableness +her rearing of slaves. While fighting is to be done, these questions are +in abeyance; but so soon as men come to ask what they are fighting +for, they revive. There is selfishness inherent in the very idea of +secession. + +There is a capital story, we think, in the "Gesta Romanorum," of three +thieves who have robbed a man of a large sum of gold. They propose a +carouse over their booty, and one is sent to the town to buy wine. While +he is gone, the two left behind plot to murder him on his return, so +as to have a half instead of a third to their shares. He, meanwhile, +coveting the whole, buys poison to put into the wine. They cut his +throat and sit down to drinking, which soon finishes them. It is an +admirable illustration of the probable future of successful secession. +Something very like this ruined the cause of James III., and something +not unlike it may be even now damaging the cause of H.S.I.M.,--His +Sea-Island Majesty, Cotton the First. + +THE WANT OF EFFICIENT AID FROM ABROAD. We are not yet quite out of the +woods, and it behooveth us not to halloo that we certainly have found +the path. But it is more than probable that the Southern hope of English +or French aid has failed. Either nation by itself might be won over but +for the other. He is a bold and a good charioteer who can drive those +two steeds in double harness. + +Either without the other is simply an addition of _x--x_ to the +equation. If by next November we can get a single cotton-port open, we +shall have settled that Uncle Tom and the Duchess of Sutherland may +return to the social cabinet of Great Britain,--and that being so, the +political cabinet is of small account. + +With the want of foreign aid comes the next want, that of MONEY. The +Emperor of Austria has a convenient currency in his dominions, which +you can carry in sheets and clip off just what you need. But cross a +frontier and the very beggars' dogs turn up their noses at the _K.K. +Schein-Münze_. The Virginian and other Confederate scrip appears to be +at par of exchange with Austrian bank-notes,--in fact, of the same worth +as that "Brandon Money" of which Sol. Smith once brought away a hatful +from Vicksburg, and was fain to swap it for a box of cigars. The South +cannot long hold out under the wastefulness of war, unless relief come. +"With bread and gunpowder one may go anywhere," said Napoleon,--but with +limited hoecake and _no_ gunpowder, even Governor Wise would wisely +retreat. + +But most certain of all in the long run is THE CONVICTION OF THE MEN +OF THE SOUTH THEMSELVES OF THE VALUE OF THE UNION. It is said that the +Union feeling is all gone at the South. That may be, and yet the facts +on which it was based remain. Feeling is a thing which comes and goes. +The value to the South of Federal care, Federal offices, Federal mail +facilities, and the like, is not lessened. The weight of direct taxation +is a marvellous corrector of the exciting effects of rhetoric. It is +pleasanter to have Federal troops line State Street in Boston to guard +the homeward passage of Onesimus to the longing Philemon than to have +them receiving without a challenge the fugitive Contrabands. It is +pleasanter to have B.F. Butler, Esq., argue in favor of the Dred Scott +decision than to have General Butler enforcing the Fortress Monroe +doctrine. Better to look up to a whole galaxy of stars, and to live +under a baker's dozen of stripes, than to dwell in perpetual fear of +choosing between the calaboose and the drill-room of the Louisiana +Zouaves. We have noticed that the sympathizers of the North are quoting +the sentence from Mr. Lincoln's inaugural to this effect,--What is to be +gained after fighting? We have got to negotiate at last, be the war long +or short. This is a very potent argument, as Mr. Lincoln meant it. To +men who must sooner or later negotiate their way back into the Union, it +is a very important consideration how much fighting and how much money +they can afford before negotiating. To us who cannot at any cost afford +to stop until they are thus ready to negotiate, it is only comparatively +a question. He says to the South, as a lawyer sure of a judgment and +confident of execution to be thereafter satisfied might say to his +adversary's client,--"Don't litigate longer than you can help, for you +are only making costs which must come out of your own pocket." To his +own client, he says,--"They may delay, but they cannot hinder, our +judgment." + +Meanwhile what shall we do with the root of bitterness, the real cause +of antagonism? That will do for itself. We probably cannot do much to +help or hinder now. The negro and the white man will remain on the old +ground, but new relations must be established between them. What those +shall be will depend on many yet undeveloped contingencies. But--when +we reconstruct, it will be with a North stronger than ever before and a +government too strong for rebellion ever to touch it again. Under a +free government of majorities, such as ours, rebellion is simply the +resistance of a minority. Secession has been acted out to the bitter +end on a small scale ere now in this country. Daniel Shays tried it in +Massachusetts; Thomas Wilson Dorr tried it in Rhode Island. When they +had tried it sufficiently, they gave in. We remember the Dorr War, and +how bitterly the "Algerines," as they were called, were reviled. We +doubt if a remnant of that hostility could be dug up anywhere between +Beavertail Light and Woonsocket Falls. We have no doubt that men who +then were on the point of fighting with each other fought side by side +under Sprague, and fought all the better for having once before faced +the possibilities of real war. When the minority are satisfied that they +must give in, they do give in. + +We do not purpose to debate now the question of the mode of +reconstruction. When the seceded States return, though they come back to +the old Constitution, they will come under circumstances demanding new +conditions. The wisdom of legislation will be needed to establish as +rapidly as possible pacification. What the circumstances will be +none can now say. But we are better satisfied than ever of the +impracticability of permanent secession. The American Revolution is not +a parallel case. The only parallel in history that we can now recall is +the one we have used so freely in this article. It is one in which the +parallel fails chiefly in presenting stronger grounds for a permanent +disruption. Scotland struggled against a geographical necessity. She did +so under the influence of far more powerful motives than now exist at +the South. She had far less binding ties than now are still living +between us and our revolted States. A geographical necessity as vast and +potent now links the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The struggle is +a more gigantic one, and in its fierce convulsions men's minds may well +lose their present balance, and men's hearts their calm courage. + +But everlasting laws are not to be put aside. The tornadoes which sweep +the tropic seas seem for a time to reverse the course of Nature. The +waters become turbid with the sands of the ocean's bed. The air strikes +and smites down with a solid force. The heaviest stones and beams of +massy buildings fly like feathers on the blast. Vessels are found far +up on the land, with the torn stumps of trees driven through their +planking. Life and property are buried in utter ruin. But the storm +passes, the sunshine comes back into the darkened skies, and the blue +waves sparkle within their ancient limits. The awful tempest passes away +into history,--for it is God, and not man, who measures the waters in +the hollow of His hand, and sends forth and restrains the breath of the +blasting of His displeasure. + + * * * * * + + +PANIC TERROR. + + +In those long-gone days when the gods of Olympus were in all their +glory, and when those gods were in the habit of disturbing the domestic +peace of worthy men, there was born unto an Arcadian nymph a son, for +whom no proper father could be found. The father was Mercury, who was a +_Dieu à bonnes fortunes_, and he did not, like some Christian gentlemen +in similar circumstances, altogether neglect his boy; for (so goes the +story) the child was "such a fright" that his mother was shocked and his +nurse ran away (Richard III. did not make a worse first appearance); +whereupon Mercury seized him, and bore him to Olympus, where he showed +him, with paternal partiality, to all the gods, who were so pleased with +the little monster that they named him _Pan_, as evidence that they were +_All_ delighted with his charming ugliness,--they being, it should seem, +as fond of hideous pets as if they had been mere mortals, and endowed +with a liberal share of humanity's bad taste. There are other accounts +of the birth of Pan, one of which is, that he was the child of Penelope, +born while she was waiting for the return of the crafty Ulysses, and +that his fathers were _all_ the aspirants to her favor,--a piece of +scandal to be rejected, as reflecting very severely upon the reputation +of a lady who is mostly regarded as having been a very model of +chastity. It would have astonished the gods, who were so joyous over the +consequence of their associate's irregularities, had they been told that +their pet was destined to outlast them all, and to affect human affairs, +by his action, long after their sway should be over. Jupiter has been +dethroned for ages, and exists only in marble or bronze; and Apollo, +and Mercury, and Bacchus, and all the rest of the old deities, are but +names, or the shadows of names; but Pan is as active to-day as he was, +when, nearly four-and-twenty centuries ago, he asked the worship of +the Athenians, and intimated that he might be useful to them in +return,--which intimation he probably made good but a little later +on the immortal field of Marathon. For not only was Pan the god of +shepherds, and the protector of bees, and the patron of sportsmen, but +to him were attributed those terrors which have decided the event of +many battles. He is generally identified with the Faunus of the Latins, +and a new interest in the _Fauni_ has been created by the genius of +Hawthorne. If it be true that the popular idea of Satan is derived from +Pan, we have another evidence therein of the breadth as well as the +length of his dominion over human affairs; for Satan, judging from men's +conduct, was never more active, more successful, and more grimly joyous +than he is in this year of grace (and disgrace) one thousand eight +hundred and sixty-one. "The harmless Faun," says Bulwer Lytton, "has +been the figuration of the most implacable of fiends." Satan and Pan +ought to be one, if we regard the kind of work in which the latter has +lately been engaged. The former's sympathies are undoubtedly with the +Secessionists, and to his active aid we must attribute their successes, +both as thieves and as soldiers. + +The number of instances of panic terror in armies is enormous. Panics +have taken place in all armies, from that brief campaign in which Abram +smote the hosts of the plundering kings, hard by Damascus, to that +briefer campaign in which General McDowell did _not_ smite the +Secessionists, hard by Washington. The Athenians religiously believed +that Pan aided them at Marathon; and it would go far to account for +the defeat of the vast Oriental host, in that action, by a handful of +Greeks, if we could believe that that host became panic-stricken. At +Plataea, the allies of the Persians fell into a panic as soon as the +Persians were beaten, and fled without striking a blow. At the Battle +of Amphipolis, in the Peloponnesian War, and which was so fatal to the +Athenians, the Athenian left wing and centre fled in a panic, without +making any resistance. The Battle of Pydna, which placed the Macedonian +monarchy in the hands of the Romans, was decided by a panic befalling +the Macedonian cavalry after the phalanx had been broken. At Leuctra and +at Mantinea, battles so fatal to the Spartan supremacy in Greece, the +defeated armies suffered from panics. The decision at Pharsalia was in +some measure owing to a panic occurring among the Pompeian cavalry; and +at Thapsus, the panic terror that came upon the Pompeians gave to Caesar +so easy a victory that it cost him only fifty men, while the other +side were not only broken, but butchered. At Munda, the last and most +desperate of Caesar's battles, and in which he came very nearly losing +all that he had previously gained, a panic occurred in his army, from +the effects of which it recovered through admiration of its leader's +splendid personal example. The defeat of the Romans at Carrhae by the +Parthians was followed by a panic, against the effects of which not even +the discipline of the legions was a preventive. At the first Battle of +Philippi, the young Octavius came near being killed or captured, in +consequence of the success of Brutus's attack, which had the effect of +throwing his men into utter confusion, so that they fled in dismay. What +a change would have taken place in the ocean-stream of history, had the +future Augustus been slain or taken by the Republicans on that field on +which the Roman Republic fell forever! But the success of Antonius over +Cassius more than compensated for the failure of Octavius, and prepared +the way for the close of "the world's debate" at Actium. Actium, by the +way, was one of the few sea-fights which have had their decision through +the occurrence of panics, water not being so favorable to flight as +land. Whether the flight of Cleopatra was the result of terror, or +followed from preconcerted action, is still a question for discussion; +and one would not readily believe that the most gallant and manly of all +the Roman leaders--one of the very few of his race who were capable of +generous actions--was also capable of plotting deliberately to abandon +his followers, when the chances of battle had not been tried. Whether +that memorable flight was planned or not, the imitation of it by +Antonius created a panic in at least a portion of his fleet; and the +victory of the hard-minded Octavius over the "soft triumvir"--he was +"soft" in every sense on that day--was the speedy consequence of the +strangest exhibition of cowardice ever made by a brave man. + +In modern wars, panics have been as common as ever they were in the +contests of antiquity. No people has been exempt from them. It has +pleased the English critics on our defeat at Bull Run to speak with much +bitterness of the panic that occurred to the Union army on that field, +and in some instances to employ language that would leave the impression +that never before did it happen to an army to suffer from panic terror. +No reflecting American ought to object to severe foreign criticism on +our recent military history; for through such criticism, perhaps, our +faults may be amended, and so our cause finally be vindicated. The +spectacle of soldiers running from a field of battle is a tempting one +to the enemies of the country to whom such soldiers may belong, and few +critics are able to speak of it in any other than a contemptuous tone. +Would Americans have spoken with more justice of Englishmen than +Englishmen have spoken of Americans, had the English army failed at the +Alma through a panic, as our army failed at Bull Run? Not they! The +bitter comments of our countrymen on the inefficiency of the British +forces in the Crimea, and the general American tendency to attribute +the successes of the Allies in the Russian War to the French, to the +Sardinians, or to the Turks,--to anybody and everybody but to the +English, who really were the principal actors in it,--are in evidence +that we are drinking from a bitter cup the contents of which were brewed +by ourselves. It is wicked and it is foolish to accuse our armies of +cowardice and inefficiency because they have met with some painful +reverses; but the sin and the folly of foreigners in this respect are no +greater than the sin and the folly that have characterized most American +criticism on the recent military history of England. + +The most important fruitful battle mentioned in British history, next +to that of Hastings, is the Battle of Bannockburn, the event of which +secured the independence and nationality of Scotland, with all the +consequences thereof; and that event was the effect of a panic. The day +was with Bruce and his brave army; but it was by no means certain that +their success would be of that decisive character which endures forever, +until the English host became panic-stricken. Brilliant deeds had been +done by the Scotch, who had been successful in all their undertakings, +when Bruce brought up his reserve, which forced even the bravest of his +opponents either to retreat or to think of it; but their retreat might +have been conducted with order, and the English army have been saved +from utter destruction and for future work, had it not been for the +occurrence of one of those events, in which the elements of tragedy +and of farce are combined, by which the destinies of nations are often +decided, in spite of "the wisdom of the wise and the valor of the +brave." The followers of the Scottish camp, anxious to see how the +day went, or to obtain a share of the expected spoil, at that moment +appeared upon the ridge of an eminence, known as the Gillies' Hill, +behind their countrymen's line of battle, displaying horse-cloths and +similar articles for ensigns of war. The struggling English, believing +that they saw a new Scottish army rising as it were from the earth, were +struck with panic, and broke and fled; and all that followed was mere +butchery, though perfectly in accordance with the stern laws of the +field. The English army was routed even more completely than was the +French army, five centuries later, at Waterloo. Scott, with his usual +skill, has made use of this incident in "The Lord of the Isles," but he +ascribes to patriotic feeling what had a less lofty origin, which was an +exercise of his license as a poet.[A] + +[Footnote A: An incident closely resembling that which created the +English panic at Bannockburn happened, with the same results, in one of +the battles won by the Swiss over their invaders; but we cannot call to +mind the name of the action in which it occurred.] + + "To arms they flew,--axe, club, or spear,-- + And mimic ensigns high they rear, + And, like a bannered host afar, + Bear down on England's wearied war. + + "Already scattered o'er the plain, + Reproof, command, and counsel vain, + The rearward squadrons fled amain, + Or made but fearful stay: + But when they marked the seeming show + Of fresh and fierce and marshalled foe, + The boldest broke array." + +The last three lines describe almost exactly what, we are told, took +place at Bull Run, where our soldiers were beaten, it is asserted, in +consequence of the coming up of fresh men to the assistance of the +enemy, but who were not camp-followers, but the flower of that enemy's +force. The reinforcements, contrary to what was supposed, were not +numerous; but a fatigued, worn-out, ill-handled army cannot be expected +to be very clever at its arithmetic. Our men greatly overrated the +strength of the new column that presented itself,--at least, so we +judge from some powerful narratives of the crisis at Manassas that have +appeared. The eye of the mind did the counting, not the more trustworthy +bodily organ. They "looked, and saw what numbers numberless" "the sacred +soil of Virginia" appeared to be sending up to aid in its defence +against "the advance," and it cannot be surprising that their hearts +failed them at the moment, as has happened to veterans who had grown +gray since they had received the baptism of fire. Had there been a +couple of trained regiments at the command of General McDowell, at that +time, with which to have met the regiments that were restoring the +enemy's battle, the day would, perhaps, have remained with the Union +army; but, as there was no reserve force, trained or untrained, a +retreat became inevitable; and a retreat, in the case of a new army that +had become exhausted and alarmed, meant a rout, and could have meant +nothing else. We shall never hear the last of it, particularly from our +English friends, who are yet jeered and joked about the business at +Gladsmuir, in 1745, where and when their army was beaten in five minutes +and some odd seconds by Prince Charles Edward's Highlanders, their +cavalry running off in a panic, and their General never stopping +until he had put twenty miles between himself and the nearest of the +plaid-men. Indeed, he did not consider himself safe until he had left +even all Scotland behind him, and had got within his Britannic Majesty's +town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which, as it was well fortified, promised +him protection for the time. Four months later, at Falkirk, a portion of +another English army was thrown into a panic by the sight of "the wild +petticoat-men," and made capital time in getting out of their way. Two +regiments of cavalry rushed right over a body of infantry lying on the +ground, bellowing, as they galloped, "Dear brethren, we shall all be +massacred this day!" They did their best to make their prediction true. +A third regiment, and that composed of veterans, were so frightened, +that, though they ran away with the utmost celerity, they did not have +sense enough to run out of danger, but galloped along the Highland line, +and received its entire fire. Some of the infantry were literally +so swift to follow the example of the cavalry, that the Highlanders +believed they were shamming, and so did not follow up their success with +sufficient promptitude to reap its proper fruits. One of the regiments +that ran was the Scots Royals, seeing which, Lord John Drummond +exclaimed, "These men behaved admirably at Fontenoy: surely this is a +feint." This suspicion of the enemy's purpose to entrap them actually +paralyzed the Highland army for so long a time that the panic-stricken +English were enabled for the most part to escape; so that to the +completeness of their fright the English owed their power to rally their +army, which did not stop in its retreat until it reached Edinburgh, the +next day. In the same war, half a dozen MacIntosh Highlanders, commanded +by a blacksmith, so acted as to throw fifteen hundred men, under Lord +Loudoun, into a panic, which caused them all to fly; and though but +one of their number was hurt by the enemy, they did much mischief to +themselves. This incident is known as "The Rout of Moy," as Loudoun's +force was marching upon Moy Castle, the principal seat of the +MacIntoshes, for the purpose of capturing Prince Charles Edward, who was +the guest of Lady MacIntosh, whose husband was with Lord Loudoun. To +render the mortification of the flying party complete, the affair was +suggested by a woman, Lady MacIntosh herself. + +"The Races of Castlebar" are very renowned in the military history of +Britain. In 1798 _after_ the Irish Rebellion had been suppressed, a +small French force was landed at Killala, under command of General +Humbert, and soon established itself in that town. A British army, full +four thousand strong, was assembled to act against the invader, at the +head of which was General Lake, afterward Lord Lake,--elevated to the +peerage in reward of services performed in India, and one of the most +ruthless of those harsh and brutal proconsuls employed by England to +destroy the spirit of the people of Ireland. The two armies met at +Castlebar, the French numbering only eight hundred men, with whom were +about a thousand raw Irish peasants, most of whom had never had a +musket in their hands until within the few days that preceded the +battle,--races, we mean. A panic seized the British army, and it fled +from the field with the swiftness of the wind, but not with the wind's +power of destruction. The French had one small gun,--the British, +fourteen guns. Humbert afterward kept the whole British force at bay for +more than a fortnight, and did not surrender until his little army +had been surrounded by thirty thousand men. It is calculated that the +British made the best time from Castlebar that ever was made by a flying +army. It was no exaggeration to say that "the speed of thought was in +_their_ limbs" for a short time. Bull Run was a slow piece of business +compared to Castlebar; and our countrymen did not run from a foe that +was not half so strong as themselves, and who had neither position nor +artillery. The English have accused the Irish of not always standing +well to their work on the battle-field; but it would have required two +Irishmen to run half the distance in an hour that was made at Castlebar +by one Englishman. The most flagrant cases of panic that happened in the +'Forty-Five affair befell Englishmen, and rarely occurred to Irishmen or +to Scotchmen. The conduct of the Scots Royals at Falkirk was the only +striking exception to what closely approached to the nature of a general +rule. + +The civil war which ours most resembles is that which was waged in +England a little more than two centuries ago, and which is known in +English history as "The Great Civil War," though in fact it was but a +small affair, if we compare it with that which took place nearly two +centuries earlier than Cromwell's time,--the so-called Wars of the +Roses. The resemblance between our contest and that in which the English +rose against, fought with, defeated, dethroned, tried, and beheaded +their king, is not very strong, we must confess; but the main thing is, +that both contests belong to that class of wars in which, to borrow +Shakspeare's words, "Civil blood makes civil hands unclean." Were there +no exhibitions of fear in that war, no flights, no panics on the _grand +scale_? Unless history is as great a liar as Talleyrand said it was, +when he declared that it was founded on a general conspiracy against +truth,--and who could suppose an English historian capable of +lying?--shameful exhibitions of fear, flights of whole bodies of troops, +and displays of panic terror were very common things with our English +ancestors who fought and flourished _tempore Caroli Primi_. The first +battle between the forces of the King and those of the Parliament was +that of Edgehill, which was fought on _Sunday_, October 23d, 1642. +Prince Rupert led his Cavaliers to the charge, ordering them, like a +true soldier, to use only the sword, which is the weapon that horsemen +always should employ. "The Roundheads," says Mr. Warburton, "seemed +swept away by the very wind of that wild charge. No sword was crossed, +no saddle emptied, no trooper waited to abide the shock; they fled with +_frantic fear_, but fell fast under the sabres of their pursuers. The +cavalry galloped furiously until they reached such shelter as the town +could give them; nor did their infantry fare better. No sooner were +the Royal horse upon them than they broke and fled; Mandeville and +Cholmondely vainly strove to rally their _terror-stricken_ followers; +they were swept away by the fiery Cavaliers." If this was not exactly +the effect of a panic, then it was something worse: it followed from +abject, craven fear. The bravest and best of armies have been known to +suffer from panic terror, but none but cowards run away at the first +charge that is made upon them. It is said, by way of excuse for the men +who thus fled, in spite of the gallant efforts of their officers to +rally them, that they were new troops. So were our men at Bull Run +new troops; and this much can be said of them, that, if they became +panic-stricken, it was not until after they had fought for several +hours on a hot day, and that they were not well commanded, the officers +setting the example of abandoning the field, and not seeking to +encourage the soldiers, as was done by the English Parliamentary +commanders at Edgehill. Therefore the English Bull Run was a far more +disgraceful affair than was that of America. + +We shall not dwell upon the multitudinous panics and flights that +happened on both sides in the Great Civil War, but come at once to what +took place on the grand field-days of that contest,--Long-Marston Moor +and Naseby. At Long-Marston Moor, fought July 2, 1644, English, Irish, +and Scotch soldiers were present, so that all the island races were +on the field in the persons of some of the best of their number. The +Royalists charged the Scotch centre, and were twice repulsed; but their +third charge was more successful, and then most of the gallant Scotch +force broke in every direction, only some fragments of three regiments +standing their ground. "The Earl of Leven in vain hastened from one part +of the line to the other," says Mr. Langton Sanford, "endeavoring by +words and blows to keep the soldiers in the field, exclaiming, 'Though +you run from your enemies, yet leave not your general; though you fly +from them, yet forsake not me!' The Earl of Manchester, with great +exertions, rallied five hundred of the fugitives, and brought them back +to the battle. But these efforts to turn the fate of the day in this +quarter were fruitless, and at length the three generals of the +Parliament were compelled to seek safety in flight. Leven himself, +conceiving the battle utterly lost, in which he was confirmed by the +opinion of others then on the place near him, seeing they were fleeing +upon all hands toward Tadcaster and Cawood, was persuaded by his +attendants to retire and wait his better fortune. He did so, and never +drew bridle till he came to Leeds, nearly forty miles distant, having +ridden all that night with a cloak of _drap-de-berrie_ about him +belonging to the gentleman from whom we derive the information, then in +his retinue, with many other officers of good quality. Manchester and +Fairfax, carried away in the flight, soon returned to the field, but the +centre and right wing of their army were utterly broken. 'It was a sad +sight,' exclaims Mr. Ash, [an eye-witness of the affair,] 'to behold +many thousands posting away, amazed with _panic fears_!' Many fled +without striking a blow; _and multitudes of people that were spectators +ran away in such fear as daunted the soldiers still more_, some of the +horse never looking back till they got as far as Lincoln, some others +toward Hull, and others to Halifax and Wakefield, pursued by the enemy's +horse for nearly two miles from the field. Wherever they came, the +fugitives carried the news of the utter rout of the Parliament's +army."[B] This strong picture of the panic that prevailed in the very +army that won the Battle of Long-Marston Moor is confirmed by Sir Walter +Scott, who says that the Earl of Leven was driven from the field, and +was thirty miles distant, in full flight toward Scotland, when he was +overtaken by the news that his party had gained a complete victory. Yet +Leven was an experienced soldier, having served in the army of Gustavus +Adolphus, in which he rose to very high rank; and the Scottish forces +had many soldiers who had been trained in the same admirable school. +That there were many spectators of the battle, whose fright "daunted +the soldiers still more," shows that people were as fond of witnessing +battles in 1644 as they are in 1861, and that their presence on the Moor +was productive of almost as much evil to the Roundheads as the presence +of Congressmen and other civilians at Manassas was to the Federal troops +on the 21st of July. There would seem to be indeed nothing new under +the sun, and folly is eternally reproducing itself. One of the names +connected with our defeat is that of one of the most gallant of the +Parliament's commanders at Long-Marston: Fairfax being named after the +sixth Lord Fairfax, whose singular history furnished to Mr. Thackeray +the plan for his "Virginians." + +[Footnote B: Mr. Sanford quotes from a letter written by a spectator +of the panic at Long-Marston Moor, which is so descriptive of what we +should expect such a scene to be, that we copy it. "I could not," says +the writer, "meet the Prince [Rupert] until after the battle was joined; +and in fire, smoke, and confusion of the day I knew not for my soul +whither to incline. The runaways on both sides were so many, so +breathless, so speechless, so full of fears, that I should not have +taken them for men but by their motion, which still served them very +well, not a man of them being able to give me the least hope where the +Prince was to be found, both armies being mingled, both horse and foot, +no side keeping their own posts. In this terrible distraction did I +scour the country; here meeting with a shoal of Scots crying out, 'Wae's +me! We're a' undone!' and so full of lamentations and mourning, as if +their day of doom had overtaken them, and from which they knew not +whither to fly. And anon I met with a ragged troop, reduced to four and +a cornet; by-and-by, a little foot-officer, without a hat, band, or +indeed anything but feet, and so much tongue as would serve to inquire +the way to the next garrisons, which, to say truth, were well filled +with stragglers on both sides within a few hours, though they lay +distant from the place of fight twenty or thirty miles."--See _Studies +and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion_, (p. 606,) the best work ever +written on the grand constitutional struggle made by the English against +the usurpations of the Stuarts. The letter here quoted was written by an +English gentleman, Mr. Trevor, to the best of the Royalist leaders, the +Marquis (afterward first Duke) of Ormond.] + +The panic at Naseby (June 14, 1645) was not of so pronounced a character +as that at Long-Marston; but it helps to prove the Englishman's aptitude +for running, and shows, that, if we have skill in the use of heels, we +have inherited it: it is, in a double sense, matter of race. In spite of +the exertions of Ireton, the cavalry of the left wing of the Roundheads +was swept out of the field by Prince Rupert's dashing charge; while the +foot were as deaf to the entreaties of old Skippon that they would keep +their ranks. Later in the day the Cavaliers took their turn at the panic +business, their horse flying over the hills, and leaving the infantry +and the artillery, the women and the baggage, to the mercy of the +Puritans,--and everybody knows what that was. The Cavaliers were even +more subject to panics than the Puritans, as was but natural, seeing +that they could not or would not be disciplined; and there were many of +the leaders of the deboshed, godless crew of whom it could have been +sung, as it was of Peveril of the Peak,-- + + "There was bluff old Sir Geoffrey loved brandy and mum well, + And to see a beer-glass turned over the thumb well; + But he fled like the wind, before Fairfax and Cromwell, + Which nobody can deny!" + +Cromwell's last victory but one, that of Dunbar, (September 3, 1650,) +was due to the impertinent interference of "outsiders" with the business +of the Scotch general, and to the occurrence of a panic in the Scotch +army. The priests did for Leslie's army what the politicians are charged +with having done for that of General McDowell. The Scotch were mostly +raw troops, and soon fell into confusion; and then came one of those +scenes of slaughter which were so common after the Cromwellian +victories, and which, in spite of Mr. Carlyle's crazy admiration of +them, must ever be regarded by sane and humane people as the work of the +Devil. It is in dispute whether Cromwell's last great victory, that of +Worcester, (September 3, 1651,) was a panic affair or not; for while +Cromwell himself wrote that "indeed it was a stiff business," and that +the dimensions of the mercy were above his thoughts, he complacently +says, "Yet I do not think we have lost above two hundred men." Now, as +the English critics on the Battle of Bull Run will have it that it was +but a cowardly affair on our side, because but few men were at one +time reported to have fallen in it, it follows that Cromwell's army at +Worcester must have been an army of cowards, as it lost less than two +hundred men, though it had to fight hard for several hours for victory. +"As stiff a contest, for four or five hours," said the Lord-General, +"as ever I have seen." And what shall we think of the Scotch, who lost +fourteen thousand men? Mr. Lodge, whose sympathies are all with the +Cavaliers, says that the action is undeservedly called the Battle of +Worcester, "for it was in fact the mere rout of a _panic-stricken_ +army." Certainly all the circumstances of the day tend to confirm this +view of what occurred on it: the heavy loss of the Scotch, the small +loss of the English, and the all but total destruction of the Royal +army. That Cromwell should make the most of his victory, of the +"crowning mercy," as he hoped it might prove, was natural enough. +Nothing is more common than for the victor to sound the praises of the +vanquished, that being a delicate form of self-praise. If they were so +clever and so brave, how much greater must have been the cleverness and +bravery of the man who conquered them? The difficulty is in inducing +the vanquished to praise the victor. We have no doubt that General +Beauregard speaks very handsomely of General McDowell; but how speaks +General McDowell of General Beauregard? Wellington often spoke well of +Napoleon's conduct in the campaign of 1815; but among the bitterest +things ever said by one great man of another great man are Napoleon's +criticisms on the conduct of Wellington in that campaign. We are not to +suppose that Wellington was a more magnanimous person than Napoleon, +which he assuredly was not; but he was praising himself, after an +allowable fashion, when he praised Napoleon. There would have been a +complete change of words in the mouths of the two men, had the result of +Waterloo been, as it should have been, favorable to the French. Napoleon +said that he never saw the Prussians behave well but at Jena, where he +broke the army of the Great Frederick to pieces. He had not a word to +say in praise of the Prussians who fought at the Katzbach, at Dennewitz, +and at Waterloo. Human nature is a very small thing even in very great +men. + +As we see that the Roundheads triumphed in England, notwithstanding the +panics from which their armies suffered, subduing the descendants of +the conquering chivalry of Normandy, "to whom victory and triumph were +traditional, habitual, hereditary things," may we not hope that the +American descendants and successors of the Roundheads will be able +to subdue the descendants of the conquered chivalry of the South, a +chivalry that has as many parents as had the Romans who proceeded from +the loins of the "robbers and reivers" who had been assembled, as per +proclamation, at the Rogues' Asylum on the Palatine Hill? The bravery +of the Southern troops is not to be questioned, and it never has been +questioned by sensible men; but their pretensions to Cavalier descent +are at the head of the long list of historical false pretences, and tend +to destroy all confidence in their words. They may be aristocrats, but +they have not the shadow of a claim to aristocratical origin. + +Lord Macaulay's brilliant account of the Battle of Landen (July 19, +1693) establishes the fact, that it is possible for an army of veterans, +led by some of the best officers of their time, to become panic-stricken +while defending intrenchments and a strong position. "A little after +four in the afternoon," he says, "the whole line gave way." "Amidst +the rout and uproar, while arms and standards were flung away, while +multitudes of fugitives were choking up the bridges and fords of the +Gette or perishing in its waters, the King, [William III.,] having +directed Talmash to superintend the retreat, put himself at the head of +a few brave regiments, and by desperate efforts arrested the progress +of the enemy." Luxembourg failed to follow up his victory, or all would +have been lost. The French behaved as did the Southrons after Bull Run: +they gave their formidable foe time to rally, and to recover from the +effect of the panic that had covered the country with fugitives; and +time was all that was necessary for either the English King or the +American General to prevent defeat from being extended into conquest. + +Two of Marlborough's greatest victories were largely owing to the +occurrence of panic among the veteran troops of France. At Ramillies, +the French left, which was partially engaged in covering the retreat of +the rest of their army, were struck with a panic, fled, and were pursued +for five leagues. At Oudenarde, (July 11, 1708,) the French commander, +Vendôme, "urged the Duke of Burgundy and a crowd of panic-struck +generals to take advantage of the night, and restore order; but finding +his arguments nugatory, he gave the word for a retreat, and generals +and privates, horse and foot, instantly hurried in the utmost disorder +toward Ghent." The retreat of this crowd, which was a complete flight, +he covered by the aid of a few brave men whom he had rallied and formed, +and whose firm countenance prevented the entire destruction of +the French army. Yet the French soldiers of that time were men of +experience, and were accustomed to all the phases of war. + +At the Battle of Rossbach, (November 5, 1757,) the troops of France and +of the German Empire fell into a panic, and were routed by half their +number of Prussians. That defeat was the most disgraceful that ever +befell the arms of a military nation. The panic was complete, and no +body of terrified militia ever fled more rapidly than did the veteran +troops of Germany and France on that eventful day. Napoleon, half a +century later, said that Rossbach produced a permanent effect on the +French military, and on France, and was one of the causes of the +Revolution. The disgrace was laid to the account of the French +commander, the Prince de Soubise, who was a profligate, a coward, and a +booby, and who neither knew war nor was known by it. + +The English army experienced whatever of pleasure there may be in a +panic, or rather in a pair of panics, at the grand Battle of Fontenoy, +(May 11, 1745,) on which field they were so unutterably thrashed by the +French and the Irish. In the first part of the action, the Allies were +successful, when suddenly the Dutch troops fell into a panic, and fled +as fast as it is ever given to Dutchmen to fly. There is nothing so +contagious as panic terror, and the rest of the army, exposed as it was +to a tremendous fire, soon caught the disease, and was giving way under +it, when their commander, the Duke of Cumberland, who was well seconded +by his officers, succeeded in rallying them. They renewed the combat, +and their enemy became so alarmed in their turn that even the French +King, and his son the Dauphin, were in danger of being swept away in the +rout. Again there came a turn in the battle, and, mostly because of the +daring and dash of the famous Irish Brigade, the Allies were beaten and +forced to retreat. It is stated that the whole body of heroic British +Grenadiers who were engaged at Fontenoy gave a strong proof of the +effect of the panic upon their minds--and bodies; thus establishing the +fact that they had stomachs for something besides the fight. "Not to put +too fine a point upon it," they, with a unity of place and time that +speaks well for their discipline, did that which was done by the valiant +General Sterling Price at the Battle of Boonville, and which has caused +them to leave a deep impression on the historic page, though nothing can +be said in support of the attractiveness of the illustration which those +gallant men contributed to that page. + +There was a partial exhibition of panic terror made by the English +troops at the Battle of Bunker's Hill. They were twice made to run on +that Seventeenth of June of which something has been said during the +last six-and-eighty years; and they were brought up to the point +of making a third attack only by the greatest exertions of their +commanders, and after having been considerably reinforced. This third +attack would have been as promptly repulsed as its predecessors had +been, but that the American troops had used up all their powder, and few +of them had bayonets. The firmness, and skill as marksmen, of a body of +militia had caused a larger body of British veterans twice to retreat +in great disorder, and under circumstances much resembling those that +characterize what is known as a panic. Had a third repulse of the +assailants occurred, nothing could have prevented their flight to their +boats. But it was written that the Americans should retreat; and it is +safe to say that they showed much more steadiness in the retreat than +the enemy did alacrity in the pursuit. + +Panic terror was no uncommon thing during the Reign of Terror in France, +in the armies of the French Republic. The early efforts of the French +Republicans in the field sometimes failed because of panics occurring in +their armies; and they were not unknown to any of the armies that took +part in the long series of wars that began in 1792 and lasted, with +brief intervals of peace, down to the summer of 1815. At Marengo, both +armies suffered from panics. As early as ten o'clock in the forenoon, +a portion of Victor's corps retired in disorder, crying out, "All is +lost!" There were, in fact, three Battles of Marengo, the Austrians +winning the first and second, and losing the third, which was losing +all,--war not exactly resembling whist. When Desaix said, at three +o'clock in the afternoon, that the battle was lost, but there was time +enough to win another, he spoke the truth, and like a good soldier. The +new movements that followed his arrival and advice caused surprise to +the Austrians, and surprise soon passed into panic. The panic extended +to a portion of the cavalry, no one has ever been able to say why; +and it galloped off the field toward the Bormida, shouting, "To the +bridges!" The panic then reached to men of all arms, and cavalry, +artillery, and infantry were soon crowded together on the banks of the +stream which they had crossed in high hopes but a few hours before. The +artillery sought to cross by a ford, but failed, and the French made +prisoners, and seized guns, horses, baggage, and all the rest of +the trophies of victory. Thus a battle which confirmed the Consular +government of Bonaparte, which prepared the way for the creation of +the French Empire, and which settled the fate of Europe for years, was +decided by the panic cries of a few horse-soldiers. The Austrian cavalry +has long and justly been reputed second to no other in the world, and in +1800 it was a veteran body, and had been steadily engaged in war, with +small interruption, for eight years; but neither its experience, nor its +valor, nor regard for the character which it had to maintain, could save +it from the common lot of armies. It became terrified, and senselessly +fled, and its evil example was swiftly communicated to the other troops: +for there is nothing so contagious as a panic, every man that runs +thinking, that, while he is himself ignorant of the existence of any +peculiar danger, all the others must know of it, and are acting upon +their knowledge. That Austrian panic made the conqueror master of Italy, +and with France and Italy at his command he could aspire to the dominion +of Europe. The man who began the panic at Marengo really opened the way +to Vienna to the legions of France, and to Berlin, and (but that brought +compensation) to Moscow also. + +There were panics in most of the great battles of the French Empire, +or those battles were followed by panics. At Austerlitz the Austrians +suffered from them; and though the Russian soldiers are among the +steadiest of men, and keep up discipline under very extraordinary +difficulties, they fared no better than their associates on that +terrible field. They had more than one panic, and the confusion +was prodigious. It was while flying in terror, that the dense, yet +disorderly crowds sought to escape over some ponds, the ice of which +broke, and two thousand of them were ingulfed. One of their generals, +writing of that day, said,--"I had previously seen some lost battles, +but I had no conception of such a defeat." Jena was followed by panics +which extended throughout the army and over the monarchy, so that the +Prussian army and the Prussian kingdom disappeared in a month, though +Napoleon had anticipated a long, difficult, and doubtful contest with so +renowned a military organization as that which had been created by the +immortal Frederick; and he had remarked, at the beginning of the war, +that there would be much use for the spade in the course of it. In the +Austrian campaign of 1809, there was the beginning of a panic that might +have produced serious consequences. The Archduke John, the Patterson of +those days, was at the head of an Austrian army which was expected to +take part in the Battle of Wagram; but it was not until after that +battle had been gained by the French that that prince arrived near the +Marchfeld, in the rear of the victors. A panic broke out among +the persons who saw the heads of his columns,--camp-followers, +_vivandières_, long lines of soldiers bearing off wounded men, and +others. The young soldiers, who were exhausted by their labors and the +heat, were conspicuous among the runaways, and there was a general race +to "the banks of the dark-rolling Danube." Nay, it is said that the +panic was taken up on the other side of the river, and that quite a +number of individuals did not stop till they had reached Vienna. Terror +prevailed, and the confusion was fast spreading, when Napoleon, who had +been roused from an attempt to obtain some rest under a shelter formed +of drums, fit materials for a house for him, arrived on the scene. In +reply to his questions, Charles Lebrun, one of his officers, answered, +"It is nothing, Sire,--merely a few marauders." "What do you call +nothing?" exclaimed the Emperor. "Know, Sir, that there are no trifling +events in war: nothing endangers an army like an imprudent security. +Return and see what is the matter, and come back quickly and render me +an account." The Emperor succeeded in restoring order, but not without +difficulty, and the Archduke withdrew his forces without molestation. +The circumstances of the panic show, that, if he had arrived at his +intended place a few hours earlier, the French would have been beaten, +and probably the French Empire have fallen at Vienna in 1809, instead +of falling at Paris in 1814; and then the House of Austria would have +achieved one of those extraordinary triumphs over its most powerful +enemies that are so common in its extraordinary history. The incident +bears some resemblance to the singular panic that happened the day after +the Battle of Solferino, and which was brought on by the appearance of a +few Austrian hussars, who came out of their hiding-place to surrender, +many thousand men running for miles, and showing that the most +successful army of modern days could be converted into a mob by-- +nothing. + +Seldom has the world seen such a panic as followed the Battle of +Vittoria, in which Wellington dealt the French Empire the deadly blow +under which it reeled and fell; for, if that battle had not been fought +and won, the Allies would probably have made peace with Napoleon, +following up the armistice into which they had already entered with him; +but Vittoria encouraged them to hope for victory, and not in vain. The +French King of Spain there lost his crown and his carriage; the Marshal +of France commanding lost his _bâton_, and the honorable fame which he +had won nineteen years before at Fleurus; and the French army lost its +artillery, all but one piece, and, what was of more consequence, its +honor. It was the completest rout ever seen in that age of routs and +balls. And yet the defeated army was a veteran army, and most of its +officers were men whose skill was as little to be doubted as their +bravery. + +There were panics at Waterloo, not a few; and, what is remarkable, they +happened principally on the side of the victors, the French suffering +nothing from them till after the battle was lost, when the pressure of +circumstances threw their beaten army into much confusion, and it was +not possible that it should be otherwise. Bylandt's Dutch-Belgian +brigade ran away from the French about two o'clock in the afternoon, and +swept others with them in their rush, much to the rage of the British, +some of whom hissed, hooted, and cursed, forgetting that quite as +discreditable incidents had occurred in the course of the military +history of their own country. One portion of the British troops that +desired to fire upon those exhibitors of "Dutch courage" actually +belonged to the most conspicuous of the regiments that ran away at +Falkirk, seventy years before. At a later hour Trip's Dutch-Belgian +cavalry-brigade ran away in such haste and disorder that some squadrons +of German hussars experienced great difficulty in maintaining their +ground against the dense crowd of fugitives. The Cumberland regiment +of Hanoverian hussars was deliberately taken out of the field by its +colonel when the shot began to fall about it, and neither orders nor +entreaties nor arguments nor execrations could induce it to form under +fire. Nay, it refused to form across the high-road, _out_ of fire, but +"went altogether to the rear, spreading alarm and confusion all the +way to Brussels." Nothing but the coming up of the cavalry-brigades +of Vivian and Vandeleur, at a late hour, prevented large numbers of +Wellington's infantry from leaving the field. The troops of Nassau fell +"back _en masse_ against the horses' heads of the Tenth Hussars, who, +keeping their files closed, prevented further retreat." The Tenth +belonged to Vivian's command. D'Aubremé's Dutch-Belgian infantry-brigade +was prevented from running off when the Imperial Guard began their +charge, only because Vandeleur's cavalry-brigade was in their rear, with +even the squadron-intervals closed, so that they had to elect between +the French bayonet and the English sabre. There was something resembling +a temporary panic among Maitland's British Guards, after the repulse +of the first column of the Imperial Guard, but order was very promptly +restored. It is impossible to read any extended account of the Battle of +Waterloo without seeing that it was a desperate business on the part of +the Allies, and that, if the Prussians could have been kept out of the +action, their English friends would have had an excellent chance to keep +the field--as the killed and wounded. Wellington never had the ghost of +a chance without the aid of Bülow, Zieten, and Blücher.[C] + +[Footnote C: There is no great battle concerning which so much nonsense +has been written and spoken as that of Waterloo, which ought to console +us for the hundred-and-one accounts that are current concerning the +action of the 21st of July, no two of which are more alike than if the +one related to Culloden and the other to Arbela. The common belief is, +that toward the close of the day Napoleon formed two columns of the +_Old_ Guard, and sent them against the Allied line; that they advanced, +and were simultaneously repulsed by the weight and precision of the +English fire in front; and that, on seeing the columns of the Guard fall +into disorder, the French all fled, and Wellington immediately ordered +his whole line to advance, which prevented the French from rallying, +they flying in a disorderly mass, which was incapable of resistance. So +far is this view of the "Crisis of Waterloo" from being correct, that +the repulse of the Guard would not have earned with it the loss of the +battle, had it not been for a number of circumstances, some of +which made as directly in favor of the English as the others worked +unfavorably to the French. When Napoleon found that the operations of +Bülow's Prussians threatened to compromise his right flank and rear, he +determined to make a vigorous attempt to drive the Allies from their +position in his front, not merely by employing two columns of his Guard, +but by making a general attack on Wellington's line. For this purpose, +he formed one column of four battalions of the _Middle_ Guard, and +another of four other battalions of the _Middle_ Guard and two +battalions of the Old Guard. At the same time the corps of D'Erlon and +Reille were to advance, and a severe _tiraillade_ was opened by a great +number of skirmishers; and the attack was supported by a tremendous fire +from artillery. So animated and effective were the operations of the +various bodies of French not belonging to the Guard, that nothing but +the arrival of the cavalry brigades of Vandeleur and Vivian, from the +extreme left of the Allied line, prevented that line from being pierced +in several places. Those brigades had been relieved by the arrival of +the advance of Zieten's Prussian corps, and were made available for the +support of the points threatened by the French. They were drawn up in +rear of bodies of infantry, whom they would not permit to run away, +which they sought to do. The first column of the Guard was repulsed by +a fire of cannon and musketry, and when disordered it was charged by +Maitland's brigade of British Guards. The interval between the advance +of that column and that of the second column was from ten to twelve +minutes; and the appearance of the second column caused Maitland's +Guards to fall into confusion, and the whole body went to the rear. This +confusion, we are told, was not consequent upon either defeat or panic, +but resulted simply from a misunderstanding of the command. The coming +up of the second column led to a panic in a Dutch-Belgian brigade, which +would have left the field but for the presence of Vandeleur's cavalry, +through which the men could not penetrate; and yet the panic-stricken +men could not even see the soldiers before whose shouts they endeavored +to fly! The second column was partially supported, at first, by a body +of cavalry; but it failed in consequence of a flank attack made by the +Fifty-Second Regiment, which was aided by the operations of some other +regiments, all belonging to General Adam's brigade. This attack on its +left flank was assisted by the fire of a battery in front, and by the +musketry of the British Guards on its right flank. Thus assailed, the +defeat of the second column was inevitable. Had it been supported by +cavalry, so that it could not have been attacked on either flank, it +would have succeeded in its purpose. Adam's brigade followed up its +success, and Vivian's cavalry was ordered forward by Wellington, to +check the French cavalry, should it advance, and to deal generally +with the French reserves. Adam and Vivian did their work so well that +Wellington ordered his whole line of infantry to advance, supported by +cavalry and artillery. The French made considerable resistance after +this, but their retreat became inevitable, and soon degenerated into a +rout. An exception to the general disorganization was observed by the +victors, not unlike to an incident which we have seen mentioned in an +account of the Bull Run flight. In the midst of the crowd of fugitives +on the 21st of July, and forcing its way through that crowd, was seen a +company of infantry, marching as coolly and steadily as if on parade. So +it was after Waterloo, when the _grenadiers à cheval_ moved off at a +walk, "in close column, and in perfect order, as if disdaining to allow +itself to be contaminated by the confusion that prevailed around it." It +was unsuccessfully attacked, and the regiment "literally walked from the +field in the most orderly manner, moving majestically along the stream, +the surface of which was covered with the innumerable wrecks into which +the rest of the French army had been scattered." It was supposed that +this body of cavalry was engaged in protecting the retreat of the +Emperor, and, had all the French been as cool and determined as were +those veteran horsemen, the army might have been saved. Troops in +retreat, who hold firmly together, and show a bold countenance to the +enemy, are seldom made to suffer much.] + +The Russian War was not of a nature to afford room for the occurrence of +any panic on an extensive scale, but between that contest and ours there +is one point of resemblance that may be noted. The failures and losses +of the Allies, who had at their command unlimited means, and the bravest +of soldiers in the greatest numbers, were all owing to bad management; +and our reverses in every instance are owing to the same cause. The +disaster at Bull Run, and the inability of our men to keep the ground +they had won at Wilson's Creek, in Missouri, (August 10,) were the +legitimate consequences of action over which the mass of the soldiers +could have no control. It is due to the soldiers to say this, for it +is the truth, as every man knows who has observed the course of the +contest, and who has seen it proceed from a political squabble to the +dimensions of a mighty war, the end of which mortal vision cannot +foresee. + +It would be no difficult task to add a hundred instances to those we +have mentioned of the occurrence of panics in European armies; but it +is not necessary to pursue the subject farther. Nothing is better known +than that almost every eminent commander has suffered from panic terror +having taken control of the minds of his men, and nothing is more unjust +than to speak of the American panic of the 21st of July as if it were +something quite out of the common way of war. True, its origin has never +been fully explained; but in this point it only resembles most other +panics, the causes of which never have been explained and never will be. +It is characteristic of a panic that its occurrence cannot be accounted +for; and therefore it was that the ancients attributed it to the direct +interposition of a god, as arising from some cause quite beyond human +comprehension. If panics could be clearly explained, some device might +be hit upon, perhaps, for their prevention. But we see that they +occurred at the very dawn of history, that they have happened repeatedly +for five-and-twenty centuries, and that they are as common now in the +nineteenth Christian century as they were in those days when Pan was a +god. "Great Pan is _not_ dead," but sends armies to pot now as readily +as he did when there were hoplites and peltasts on earth. We can console +ourselves, though the consolation be but a poor one, with the reflection +that all military peoples have suffered from the same cause that has +brought so much mortification and so great loss immediately home to us. +Our panic is the greatest that ever was known only because it is the +latest one that has happened, and because it has happened to ourselves. +It is idle, and even laughable, to attempt to argue it out of sight. We +should admit its occurrence as freely as it is asserted by the bitterest +and most unfair of our critics; and we should recognize the truth of +what has been well said on the subject, that the only possible answer to +the attacks that have been made on the national character for military +capacity and courage is _victory_. If we shall succeed in this war, the +rout of Bull Run will no more destroy our character for manliness than +the rout of Landen destroyed the character of Englishmen for the same +virtue. If we fail, we must submit to be considered cowards: and we +shall deserve to be so held, if, with our superior numbers, and still +more superior means, we cannot maintain the Republic against the rebels. + + + + +OUR COUNTRY. + + + On primal rocks she wrote her name; + Her towers were reared on holy graves; + The golden seed that bore her came + Swift-winged with prayer o'er ocean waves. + + The Forest bowed his solemn crest, + And open flung his sylvan doors; + Meek Rivers led the appointed Guest + To clasp the wide-embracing shores; + + Till, fold by fold, the broidered land + To swell her virgin vestments grew, + While Sages, strong in heart and hand, + Her virtue's fiery girdle drew. + + O Exile of the wrath of kings! + O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty! + The refuge of divinest things, + Their record must abide in thee! + + First in the glories of thy front + Let the crown-jewel, Truth, be found; + Thy right hand fling, with generous wont, + Love's happy chain to farthest bound! + + Let Justice, with the faultless scales, + Hold fast the worship of thy sons; + Thy Commerce spread her shining sails + Where no dark tide of rapine runs! + + So link thy ways to those of God, + So follow firm the heavenly laws, + That stars may greet thee, warrior-browed, + And storm-sped Angels hail thy cause! + + O Land, the measure of our prayers, + Hope of the world in grief and wrong, + Be thine the tribute of the years, + The gift of Faith, the crown of Song! + + + + +THE WORMWOOD CORDIAL OF HISTORY. + +WITH A FABLE. + + +The great war which is upon us is shaking us down into solidity as corn +is shaken down in the measure. We were heaped up in our own opinion, +and sometimes running over in expressions of it. This rude jostling is +showing us the difference between bulk and weight, space and substance. + +In one point of view we have a right to be proud of our inexperience, +and hardly need to blush for our shortcomings. These are the tributes we +are paying to our own past innocence and tranquillity. We have lived +a peaceful life so long that the traditional cunning and cruelty of a +state of warfare have become almost obsolete among us. No wonder that +hard men, bred in foreign camps, find us too good-natured, wanting in +hatred towards our enemies. We can readily believe that it is a special +Providence which has suffered us to meet with a reverse or two, just +enough to sting, without crippling us, only to wake up the slumbering +passion which is the legitimate and chosen instrument of the higher +powers for working out the ends of justice and the good of man. + +There are a few far-seeing persons to whom our present sudden mighty +conflict may not have come as a surprise; but to all except these it +is a prodigy as startling as it would be, if the farmers of the North +should find a ripened harvest of blood-red ears of maize upon the +succulent stalks of midsummer. We have lived for peace: as individuals, +to get food, comfort, luxuries for ourselves and others; as communities, +to insure the best conditions we could for each human being, so that he +might become what God meant him to be. The verdict of the world was, +that we were succeeding. Many came to us from the old civilizations; +few went away from us, and most of these such as we could spare without +public loss. + +We had almost forgotten the meaning and use of the machinery of +destruction. We had come to look upon our fortresses as the ornaments, +rather than as the defences of our harbors. Our war-ships were the +Government's yacht-squadron, our arsenals museums for the entertainment +of peaceful visitors. The roar of cannon has roused us from this +Arcadian dream. A ship of the line, we said, reproachfully, costs as +much as a college; but we are finding out that its masts are a part of +the fence round the college. The Springfield Arsenal inspired a noble +poem; but that, as we are learning, was not all it was meant for. What +poets would be born to us in the future without the "_placida quies_" +which "_sub libertate_" the sword alone can secure for our children? + +It is all plain, but it has been an astonishment to us, as our war-comet +was to the astronomers. The comet, as some of them say, brushed us with +its tail as it passed; yet nobody finds us the worse for it. So, too, we +have been brushed lightly by mishap, as we ought to have been, and as we +ought to have prayed to be, no doubt, if we had known what was good for +us; yet at this very moment we stand stronger, more hopeful, more united +than ever before in our history. + +Misfortunes are no new things; yet a man suffering from furuncles will +often speak as if Job had never known anything about them. We will take +up a book lying by us, and find all the evils, or most of those we have +been complaining of, described in detail, as they happened eight or ten +generations before our time. + +It was in "a struggle for NATIONAL independence, liberty of conscience, +freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and _world-absorbing tyranny_." +A plotting despot is at the bottom of it. "While the _riches of the +Indies_ continue, he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other +princes." But England had soldiers and statesmen ready to fight, even +though "Indies"--the King Cotton of that day--were declared arbiter of +the contest. "I pray God," said one of them, "that I live not to see +this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion +throughout Christendom."--"The war doth defend England. Who is he that +will refuse to spend his life and living in it? If her Majesty consume +twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain +will double that strength to the realm."--_"The freehold of England will +be worth but little, if this action quail;_ and therefore I wish no +subject to spare his purse towards it."--"God hath stirred up this +action to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of +England, which through these long times of peace and quietness is +brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. Our +delicacy is such that we are already weary; yet this journey is nought +in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." + +"There can be no doubt," the historian remarks, "that the organization +and discipline of English troops were in anything but a satisfactory +state at that period."--"The soldiers required shoes and stockings, +bread and meat, and for those articles there were not the necessary +funds."--"There came no penny of treasure over."--"There is much still +due. They cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, _they perish for +want of victuals and clothing_ in great numbers. The whole are ready +to mutiny."--"There was no soldier yet able to buy himself _a pair of +hose_, and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and _it +kills their hearts to show themselves among men_."--These "poor subjects +were no better than abjects," said the Lieutenant-General. "There is but +a small number of the first bands left," said another,--"and those so +pitiful and unable to serve again as I leave to speak further of +them, to avoid grief to your heart. A monstrous fault there hath been +somewhere." Of what nature the "monstrous fault" was we may conjecture +from the language of the Commander-in-Chief. "There can be no doubt of +our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive +charges, if every one of us will put our minds to forward, _without +making a miserable gain by the wars_." (We give the Italics as we find +them in the text.) He believed that much of the work might be speedily +done; for he "would undertake to furnish from hence, upon two months' +warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and +mariners." + +In the mean time "there was a whisper of peace-overtures," "rumors +which, whether true or false, were most pernicious in their effects"; +for "it was war, not peace," that the despot "intended," and the "most +trusty counsellors [of England] knew to be inevitable." Worse than this, +there was treachery of the most dangerous kind. "Take heed whom you +trust," said the brother of the Commander-in-Chief to him; "for that +you have some false boys about you." In fact, "many of those nearest his +person and of highest credit out of England were his deadly foes, sworn +to compass his dishonor, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in +correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad." + +It was a sad state of things. The General "was much disgusted with the +raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable +troops." "Swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of London" +"were not the men to be intrusted with the honor of England at a +momentous crisis." "Our simplest men in show have been our best men, +and your _gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others_." (The +Italics again are the author's.) Yet, said the muster-master, "there is +good hope that his Excellency will shortly establish such good order +for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, badly +furnished, ill-armed, and worse trained bands, thus rawly left unto +him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, complete, gallant +companies as shall be found elsewhere in Europe." + +Very pleasant it must have been to the Commander-in-Chief to report to +his Government that in one of the first actions "five hundred Englishmen +of the best Flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away." +Yet this was the commencement of the struggle which ended with the +dispersion and defeat of the great Armada, and destroyed the projects of +the Spanish tyrant for introducing religious and political slavery into +England! It seems as if Mr. Motley's Seventh Chapter were a prophecy, +rather than a history. + + * * * * * + +An invasion and a conspiracy may always be expected to make head at +first. The men who plan such enterprises are not fools, but cunning, +managing people. They always have, or think they have, a _primâ facie_ +case to start with. They have been preparing just as the highwayman has +been preparing for his aggressive movement. They expect to find, +and they commonly do find, their victims only half ready, if at all +forewarned, and to take them at a disadvantage. If conspirators and +invaders do not strike heavy blows at once, their cause is desperate; if +they do, it proves very little, because that is the least they expected +to do. + +It is very easy to run up a score behind the door of a tavern; credit +is good, and chalk is cheap. But these little marks have all got to be +crossed out by-and-by, and the time will surely come for turning all +empty pockets wrong side out. The aggressors begin in a great passion, +and are violent and dangerous at first; the nation or community assailed +are surprised, dismayed, perhaps, like the good people in the coach, +when they see Dick Turpin's pistol thrust in at the window. + +The Romans were certainly a genuine fighting people. They kept the state +on a perpetual military footing. They were never without veterans, men +and leaders bred in camp and experienced in warfare. Yet what a piece of +work their African invader cut out for them! It seemed they had to learn +everything over again. Thousands upon thousands killed and driven into +Lake Trasimenus,--_fifteen thousand_ prisoners taken; total rout again +at Cannae,--rings picked from slain gentlemen's fingers by the peck or +bushel,--everything lost in battle, and a great revolt through the +Southern provinces as a natural consequence. What then? Rome was not to +be Africanized as yet. The great leader who had threatened the capital, +and scored these portentous victories, had at last to pay for them all +in defeat and humiliation on his own soil. + +Even the robber Spartacus beat the Roman armies at first, with their +consuls at their head, and laid waste a large part of the peninsula. +These violent uprisings and incursions are always dangerous at their +onset; they are just like new diseases, which the doctors tell us must +be studied by themselves, and which are rarely treated with great +success until near the period of their natural cessation. After a time +Fabius learns how to handle the hot Southern invaders, and Crassus the +way of fighting the fierce gladiators with their classical bowie-knives. + +Remember, _Rome_ never is beaten,--_Romans_ may be. It is inherent in +the very idea of a republic that its peaceful servants shall be liable +to be taken at fault. The counsels of the many, which are meant to +secure all men's rights in tranquil times, cannot in the nature of +things adapt themselves all at once to the sudden exigencies of war. +Consequently, a republic must expect to be beaten at first by any +concentrated power of nearly equal strength. After a time the +commander-in-chief emerges from the confused mass of counsellors, and +substitutes the action of one mind and will for the conflict of many. +The Romans recognized the Dictatorship as the necessary complement of +the Republic; and it is worthy of remark that that high office was +never abused so long as the people were worthy to be free. "_Ne quid +detrimenti respublica capiat_" was the formula according to which they +surrendered their liberty for the sake of their liberty. A great danger, +doubtless, for a people not leavened through and through with the spirit +of freedom; but not so where the army is only the representative of a +self-governing community. This army is not like to enslave itself or +the families it comes from, to please the leader whom it trusts for an +emergency. The pilot is absolute while the vessel is coming into harbor, +but the crew are not afraid of his remaining master of the ship. +Washington's reply to Nicola's letter, proposing to make him King, was +written at a time when the republican system under the shadow of which +three generations have been bred up to manhood was but as a grain of +mustard-seed compared to this mighty growth which now spreads over our +land. It is not likely that another man will make out so good a claim +to supremacy as he; it is pretty certain, that, if he does, he will not +have the opportunity of rejecting the insignia of royalty, and if this +should happen, he can hardly forget the great example before him. + +It is curious to see that the difficulties a general has to contend +with now are much the same that were found in the first Revolution: bad +food,--the poor surgeon at Valley Forge, whose diary was printed the +other day, could not keep it on his stomach at any rate,--insufficient +clothing, and no shoes at all, as the bloody snow bore witness,--and +among our own New England troops "a spirit of insubordination which they +took for independence," as Washington expressed himself. We do not think +the New England men have rendered themselves liable to this reproach +of late,--and this is a remarkable tribute to the influence of a true +republican training. But in various quarters there has been enough of +it, and the consequent disorganization of at least one free and easy +regiment is no more than might have been expected. + +A panic or two, with all the disgrace and suffering that attach to such +hysterical paroxysms, or at least a defeat, are the experiences through +which half-organized bodies often pass to teach them the meaning of +discipline and mechanical habit. An army must go through the annealing +process like glass; let a few regiments be cracked to pieces because +their leaders did not know how to withdraw them gradually from the +furnace of action, and the lesson will be all the better remembered +because taught by a costly example. Our early mishaps were all +predicted, sometimes in formal shape, as in various letters dated long +before the breaking out of hostilities, and very often in the common +talk of those about us. But, after all, when the first chastisement +from our hard schoolmaster, Experience, comes upon us, it is a kind of +surprise, in spite of all our preparation. + +A writer in the present number of this magazine shows us that there is a +complete literature of panics, not merely as occurring among new levies, +but seizing on the best-appointed armies, containing as much individual +bravery as any that never ran away from an enemy. The men of Israel gave +way before the men of Benjamin, "retired" in the language of Scripture, +in order to lead them into ambush. At a given signal they faced about, +and the men of Benjamin "were amazed" (panic-struck) and "turned their +backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness,"--took to +the woods, as we should say. Their enemies did not lie still or run as +fast the other way, like ours at Bull Run, but they "inclosed" them, and +"chased them, and trode them down with ease," and "gleaned of them in +the highways," and "pursued hard after them." Yet "all these were men of +valor." + +Not to return to our old classical friends, what modern nation has ever +known how to fight that had not learned how to be beaten and how to run? +The English ran ninety miles from Bannockburn, seared by the "gillies" +and the baggage-wagons. They paid back their debt at Culloden. The +Prussian armies were routed at Jena and Auerstädt. They had their +revenge in the "_sauve qui peut_" of Waterloo. The great armada, British +and French, undertook to bombard Sebastopol, and eight ships of the line +were so mauled that they had to go back to Toulon and Portsmouth for +repairs. Lord Raglan is said to have so far despaired of success as to +have contemplated raising the siege. + +Everybody remembers the feeling produced by the repeated fruitless +attacks on the fortifications, the three unsuccessful bombardments, +the divided counsels, the disappointment and death of Lord Raglan, the +complaints of Canrobert of the want of a single commanding intellect, +and the relinquishment of his own position to Pelissier, itself a +confession of failure. If there ever was a campaign begun with defeat +and disaster, it was that which ended with the fall of Sebastopol. + +Read the account of the retreat of the advanced force of our own army +at the Battle of Monmouth Court-House. Washington could not believe the +first story told him. Presently he met one fugitive after another, and +then Grayson's and Patton's regiments in disorderly retreat. He did not +know what to make of it. There had been no fighting except a successful +skirmish with the enemy's cavalry. He met Major Howard; this officer +could give no reason for the running,--had never seen the like. Another +officer swears they are flying from a shadow. Lee tries to account for +it,--troops confused by contradictory intelligence, by disobedience of +orders, by the meddling and blundering of individuals,--vague excuses +all, the plain truth being that they had given way to a panic. But for +Washington's fierce commands and threats, the retreat might have become +a total rout. + +It is curious to see how the little incidents, even, of our late +accelerated retrograde movement recall those of the old Revolutionary +story. Mr. Russell speaks thus of the fugitives: "Faces black and dusty, +_tongues out in the heat_, eyes staring,--it was a most wonderful +sight." If Mr. Russell had ever read Stedman's account of his own +countrymen's twenty-mile run from Concord to Bunker's Hill, he would +have learned that they "were so much exhausted with fatigue, that they +were obliged to lie down for rest on the ground, _their tongues hanging +out of their mouths_, like those of dogs after a chase." One rout is as +much like another as the scamper of one flock of sheep like that of all +others. + +A pleasing consequence of this war we are engaged in has hardly +been enough thought of. It is a rough way of introducing distant +fellow-citizens of the same land to each other's acquaintance. Next to +the intimacy of love is that of enmity. Nay, + + "Love itself could never pant + For all that beauty sighs to grant + With half the fervor hate bestows + Upon the last embrace of foes, + When, grappling in the fight, they fold + Those arms that ne'er shall lose their hold." + +"We shall learn to respect each other," as one of our conservative +friends said long ago. It is a great mistake to try to prove our own +countrymen cowards and degenerate from the old stock. It is worth the +price of some hard fighting to show the contrary to the satisfaction of +both parties. The Scotch and English called each other all possible hard +names in the time of their international warfare; but the day has come +for them, as it will surely come for us, when the rivals and enemies +must stand side by side and shoulder to shoulder, each proud of the +other's bravery. + + * * * * * + +For three-quarters of a century we have been melting our several +destinies in one common crucible, to mould a new and mighty empire such +as the world has never seen. Our partners cannot expect to be allowed +to break the crucible or the mould, or to carry away the once separate +portions now flowing in a single incandescent flood. We cannot sell and +they cannot buy our past. Our nation has pledged itself to unity by the +whole course of its united action. There is one debt alone that all +the cotton-fields of the South could never pay: it is the price of +our voluntary humiliation for the sake of keeping peace with the +slaveholders. We may be robbed of our inalienable nationality, if +treason is strong enough, but we are trustees of the life of three +generations for the benefit of all that are yet to be. We cannot sell. +We dare not break the entail of freedom and disinherit the first-born of +half a continent. + +When the Plebeians seceded to the Mons Sacer, some five hundred years +before the Christian era, the Consul Menenius Agrippa brought them back +by his well-known fable of the Belly and the Members. Perhaps it would +be too much to expect to call back our seceders with a fable which they +will hardly have the opportunity of reading in the present condition of +the postal service, but the state of the case may be put with a certain +degree of truth in this of + +THE FRONT-TEETH AND THE GRINDERS. + +Once on a time a mutiny arose among the teeth of a worthy man, in good +health and blessed with a sound constitution, commonly known as Uncle +Samuel. The cutting-teeth, or _incisors_, and the eye-teeth, or +_canines_, though not nearly so many, all counted, nor so large, nor so +strong as the grinders, and by no means so white, but, on the contrary, +very much discolored, began to find fault with the grinders as not good +enough company for them. The eye-teeth, being very sharp and fitted for +seizing and tearing, and standing out taller than the rest, claimed to +lead them. Presently, one of them complained that it ached very badly, +and then another and another. Very soon the cutting-teeth, which +pretended they were supplied by the same nerve, and were proud of +it, began to ache also. They all agreed that it was the fault of the +grinders. + +About this time, Uncle Samuel, having used his old tooth-brush (which +was never a good one, having no stiffness in the bristles) for four +years, took a new one, recommended to him by a great number of people as +a homely, but useful article. Thereupon all the front-teeth, one after +another, declared that Uncle Samuel meant to scour them white, which was +a thing they would never submit to, though the whole civilized world was +calling on them to do so. So they all insisted on getting out of the +sockets in which they had grown and stood for so many years. But the +wisdom-teeth spoke up for the others and said,-- + +"Nay, there be but twelve of you front-teeth, and there be twenty of us +grinders. We are the strongest, and a good deal nearest the muscles +and the joint, but we cannot spare you. We have put up with your black +stains, your jumping aches, and your snappish looks, and now we are not +going to let you go, under the pretence that you are to be scrubbed +white, if you stay. You don't work half so hard as we do, but you can +bite the food well enough, which we can grind so much better than you. +We belong to each other. You must stay." + +Thereupon the front-teeth, first the canines or dog-teeth, next the +incisors or cutting-teeth, proceeded to declare themselves out of their +sockets, and no longer belonging to the jaws of Uncle Samuel. + +Then Uncle Samuel arose in his wrath and shut his jaws tightly together, +and swore that he would keep them shut till those aching and discolored +teeth of his went to pieces in their sockets, if need were, rather than +have them drawn, standing, as some of them did, at the very opening of +his throat and stomach. + +And now, if you will please to observe, all those teeth are beginning +to ache worse than ever, and to decay very fast, so that it will take a +great deal of gold to stop the holes that are forming in them. But the +great white grinders are as sound as ever, and will remain so until +Uncle Samuel thinks the time has come for opening his mouth. In the mean +time they keep on grinding in a quiet way, though the others have had +to stop biting for a long time. When Uncle Samuel opens his mouth, they +will be as ready for work as ever; but those poor discolored teeth will +be tender for a great while, and never be so strong as they were before +they foolishly declared themselves out of their sockets. + + * * * * * + +The foregoing fable is respectfully dedicated to the Southern Plebs, +who, under the lead of their "Patrician" masters, have "seceded," like +their predecessors in the days of Menenius Agrippa. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOLUME 8, NO. 48, +OCTOBER, 1861*** + + +******* This file should be named 11358-8.txt or 11358-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/5/11358 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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/11358-8.zip b/old/11358-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4656138 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11358-8.zip diff --git a/old/11358.txt b/old/11358.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3a5889 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11358.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8785 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, No. 48, October, +1861, 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 8, No. 48, October, 1861 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 28, 2004 [eBook #11358] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOLUME 8, NO. +48, OCTOBER, 1861*** + + +E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VIII.--OCTOBER, 1861.--NO. XLVIII. + + + + + + + +NEAR OXFORD. + + +On a fine morning in September, we set out on an excursion to +Blenheim,--the sculptor and myself being seated on the box of our +four-horse carriage, two more of the party in the dicky, and the +others less agreeably accommodated inside. We had no coachman, but two +postilions in short scarlet jackets and leather breeches with top-boots, +each astride of a horse; so that, all the way along, when not otherwise +attracted, we had the interesting spectacle of their up-and-down bobbing +in the saddle. It was a sunny and beautiful day, a specimen of the +perfect English weather, just warm enough for comfort,--indeed, a little +too warm, perhaps, in the noontide sun,--yet retaining a mere spice or +suspicion of austerity, which made it all the more enjoyable. + +The country between Oxford and Blenheim is not particularly interesting, +being almost level, or undulating very slightly; nor is Oxfordshire, +agriculturally, a rich part of England. We saw one or two hamlets, and I +especially remember a picturesque old gabled house at a turnpike-gate, +and, altogether, the wayside scenery had an aspect of old-fashioned +English life; but there was nothing very memorable till we reached +Woodstock, and stopped to water our horses at the Black Bear. This +neighborhood is called New Woodstock, but has by no means the brand-new +appearance of an American town, being a large village of stone houses, +most of them pretty well time-worn and weather-stained. The Black Bear +is an ancient inn, large and respectable, with balustraded staircases, +and intricate passages and corridors, and queer old pictures and +engravings hanging in the entries and apartments. We ordered a lunch +(the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be +ready against our return, and then resumed our drive to Blenheim. + +The park-gate of Blenheim stands close to the end of the village-street +of Woodstock. Immediately on passing through its portals, we saw the +stately palace in the distance, but made a wide circuit of the park +before approaching it. This noble park contains three thousand acres of +land, and is fourteen miles in circumference. Having been, in part, +a royal domain before it was granted to the Marlborough family, it +contains many trees of unsurpassed antiquity, and has doubtless been the +haunt of game and deer for centuries. We saw pheasants in abundance, +feeding in the open lawns and glades; and the stags tossed their antlers +and bounded away, not affrighted, but only shy and gamesome, as we +drove by. It is a magnificent pleasure-ground, not too tamely kept, nor +rigidly subjected within rule, but vast enough to have lapsed back into +Nature again, after all the pains that the landscape-gardeners of +Queen Anne's time bestowed on it, when the domain of Blenheim was +scientifically laid out. The great, knotted, slanting trunks of the old +oaks do not now look as if man had much intermeddled with their growth +and postures. The trees of later date, that were set out in the Great +Duke's time, are arranged on the plan of the order of battle in which +the illustrious commander ranked his troops at Blenheim; but the ground +covered is so extensive, and the trees now so luxuriant, that the +spectator is not disagreeably conscious of their standing in military +array, as if Orpheus had summoned them together by beat of drum. The +effect must have been very formal a hundred and fifty years ago, but has +ceased to be so,--although the trees, I presume, have kept their ranks +with even more fidelity than Marlborough's veterans did. + +One of the park-keepers, on horseback, rode beside our carriage, +pointing out the choice views, and glimpses at the palace, as we drove +through the domain. There is a very large artificial lake, (to say the +truth, it seemed to me fully worthy of being compared with the Welsh +lakes, at least, if not with those of Westmoreland,) which was created +by Capability Brown, and fills the basin that he scooped for it, just as +if Nature had poured these broad waters into one of her own valleys. +It is a most beautiful object at a distance, and not less so on its +immediate banks; for the water is very pure, being supplied by a small +river, of the choicest transparency, which was turned thitherward for +the purpose. And Blenheim owes not merely this water-scenery, but almost +all its other beauties, to the contrivance of man. Its natural features +are not striking; but Art has effected such wonderful things that the +uninstructed visitor would never guess that nearly the whole scene was +but the embodied thought of a human mind. A skilful painter hardly does +more for his blank sheet of canvas than the landscape-gardener, the +planter, the arranges of trees, has done for the monotonous surface +of Blenheim,--making the most of every undulation,--flinging down a +hillock, a big lump of earth out of a giant's hand, wherever it +was needed,--putting in beauty as often as there was a niche for +it,--opening vistas to every point that deserved to be seen, and +throwing a veil of impenetrable foliage around what ought to be +hidden;--and then, to be sure, the lapse of a century has softened the +harsh outline of man's labors, and has given the place back to Nature +again with the addition of what consummate science could achieve. + +After driving a good way, we came to a battlemented tower and adjoining +house, which used to be the residence of the Ranger of Woodstock +Park, who held charge of the property for the King before the Duke of +Marlborough possessed it. The keeper opened the door for us, and in the +entrance-hall we found various things that had to do with the chase and +woodland sports. We mounted the staircase, through several stories, +up to the top of the tower, whence there was a view of the spires +of Oxford, and of points much farther off,--very indistinctly seen, +however, as is usually the case with the misty distances of England. +Returning to the ground-floor, we were ushered into the room in which +died Wilmot, the wicked Earl of Rochester, who was Ranger of the Park in +Charles II.'s time. It is a low and bare little room, with a window in +front, and a smaller one behind; and in the contiguous entrance-room +there are the remains of an old bedstead, beneath the canopy of which, +perhaps, Rochester may have made the penitent end that Bishop Burnet +attributes to him. I hardly know what it is, in this poor fellow's +character, which affects us with greater tenderness on his behalf than +for all the other profligates of his day, who seem to have been neither +better nor worse than himself. I rather suspect that he had a human +heart which never quite died out of him, and the warmth of which is +still faintly perceptible amid the dissolute trash which he left behind. + +Methinks, if such good fortune ever befell a bookish man, I should +choose this lodge for my own residence, with the topmost room of the +tower for a study, and all the seclusion of cultivated wildness beneath +to ramble in. There being no such possibility, we drove on, catching +glimpses of the palace in new points of view, and by-and-by came to +Rosamond's Well. The particular tradition that connects Fair Rosamond +with it is not now in my memory; but if Rosamond ever lived and loved, +and ever had her abode in the maze of Woodstock, it may well be believed +that she and Henry sometimes sat beside this spring. It gushes out from +a bank, through some old stone-work, and dashes its little cascade +(about as abundant as one might turn out of a large pitcher) into a +pool, whence it steals away towards the lake, which is not far removed. +The water is exceedingly cold, and as pure as the legendary Rosamond was +not, and is fancied to possess medicinal virtues, like springs at which +saints have quenched their thirst. There were two or three old women +and some children in attendance with tumblers, which they present to +visitors, full of the consecrated water; but most of us filled the +tumblers for ourselves, and drank. + +Thence we drove to the Triumphal Pillar which was erected in honor of +the Great Duke, and on the summit of which he stands, in a Roman garb, +holding a winged figure of Victory in his hand, as an ordinary man might +hold a bird. The column is I know not how many feet high, but lofty +enough, at any rate, to elevate Marlborough far above the rest of +the world, and to be visible a long way off: and it is so placed in +reference to other objects, that, wherever the hero wandered about +his grounds, and especially as he issued from his mansion, he must +inevitably have been reminded of his glory. In truth, until I came to +Blenheim, I never had so positive and material an idea of what Fame +really is--of what the admiration of his country can do for a successful +warrior--as I carry away with me and shall always retain. Unless he +had the moral force of a thousand men together, his egotism (beholding +himself everywhere, imbuing the entire soil, growing in the woods, +rippling and gleaming in the water, and pervading the very air with +his greatness) must have been swollen within him like the liver of a +Strasbourg goose. On the huge tablets inlaid into the pedestal of the +column, the entire Act of Parliament, bestowing Blenheim on the Duke +of Marlborough and his posterity, is engraved in deep letters, painted +black on the marble ground. The pillar stands exactly a mile from the +principal front of the palace, in a straight line with the precise +centre of its entrance-hall; so that, as already said, it was the Duke's +principal object of contemplation. + +We now proceeded to the palace-gate, which is a great pillared archway, +of wonderful loftiness and state, giving admittance into a spacious +quadrangle. A stout, elderly, and rather surly footman in livery +appeared at the entrance, and took possession of whatever canes, +umbrellas, and parasols he could get hold of, in order to claim sixpence +on our departure. This had a somewhat ludicrous effect. There is +much public outcry against the meanness of the present Duke in his +arrangements for the admission of visitors (chiefly, of course, +his native countrymen) to view the magnificent palace which their +forefathers bestowed upon his own. In many cases, it seems hard that a +private abode should be exposed to the intrusion of the public merely +because the proprietor has inherited or created a splendor which +attracts general curiosity; insomuch that his home loses its sanctity +and seclusion for the very reason that it is better than other men's +houses. But in the case of Blenheim, the public have certainly an +equitable claim to admission, both because the fame of its first +inhabitant is a national possession, and because the mansion was a +national gift, one of the purposes of which was to be a token of +gratitude and glory to the English people themselves. If a man chooses +to be illustrious, he is very likely to incur some little inconveniences +himself, and entail them on his posterity. Nevertheless, his present +Grace of Marlborough absolutely ignores the public claim above +suggested, and (with a thrift of which even the hero of Blenheim himself +did not set the example) sells tickets admitting six persons at ten +shillings: if only one person enters the gate, he must pay for six; and +if there are seven in company, two tickets are required to admit them. +The attendants, who meet you everywhere in the park and palace, expect +fees on their own private account,--their noble master pocketing the ten +shillings. But, to be sure, the visitor gets his money's worth, since it +buys him the right to speak just as freely of the Duke of Marlborough as +if he were the keeper of the Cremorne Gardens.[A] + +[Footnote A: The above was written two or three years ago, or more; and +the Duke of that day has since transmitted his coronet to his successor, +who, we understand, has adopted much more liberal arrangements. There is +seldom anything to criticize or complain of, as regards the facility of +obtaining admission to interesting private houses in England.] + +Passing through a gateway on the opposite side of the quadrangle, we had +before us the noble classic front of the palace, with its two projecting +wings. We ascended the lofty steps of the portal, and were admitted into +the entrance-hall, the height of which, from floor to ceiling, is not +much less than seventy feet, being the entire height of the edifice. The +hall is lighted by windows in the upper story, and, it being a clear, +bright day, was very radiant with lofty sunshine, amid which a swallow +was flitting to and fro. The ceiling was painted by Sir James Thornhill +in some allegorical design, (doubtless commemorative of Marlborough's +victories,) the purport of which I did not take the trouble to make +out,--contenting myself with the general effect, which was most +splendidly and effectively ornamental. + +We were guided through the showrooms by a very civil person, who allowed +us to take pretty much our own time in looking at the pictures. The +collection is exceedingly valuable,--many of these works of Art having +been presented to the Great Duke by the crowned heads of England or the +Continent. One room was all aglow with pictures by Rubens; and there +were works of Raphael, and many other famous painters, any one of which +would be sufficient to illustrate the meanest house that might contain +it. I remember none of them, however, (not being in a picture-seeing +mood,) so well as Vandyck's large and familiar picture of Charles I on +horseback, with a figure and face of melancholy dignity such as never +by any other hand was put on canvas. Yet, on considering this face of +Charles, (which I find often repeated in half-lengths,) and translating +it from the ideal into literalism, I doubt whether the unfortunate king +was really a handsome or impressive-looking man: a high, thin-ridged +nose, a meagre, hatchet face, and reddish hair and beard,--these are the +literal facts. It is the painter's art that has thrown such pensive and +shadowy grace around him. + +On our passage through this beautiful suite of apartments, we saw, +through the vista of open doorways, a boy of ten or twelve years old +coming towards us from the farther rooms. He had on a straw hat, a linen +sack that had certainly been washed and re-washed for a summer or two, +and gray trousers a good deal worn,--a dress, in short, which an +American mother in middle station would have thought too shabby for her +darling school-boy's ordinary wear. This urchin's face was rather pale, +(as those of English children are apt to be, quite as often as our own,) +but he had pleasant eyes, an intelligent look, and an agreeable, boyish +manner. It was Lord Sunderland, grandson of the present Duke, and heir-- +though not, I think, in the direct line--of the blood of the great +Marlborough, and of the title and estate. + +After passing through the first suite of rooms, we were conducted +through a corresponding suite on the opposite side of the entrance-hall. +These latter apartments are most richly adorned with tapestries, wrought +and presented to the first Duke by a sisterhood of Flemish nuns; they +look like great, glowing pictures, and completely cover the walls of the +rooms. The designs purport to represent the Duke's battles and sieges; +and everywhere we see the hero himself, as large as life, and as +gorgeous in scarlet and gold as the holy sisters could make him, with a +three-cornered hat and flowing wig, reining in his horse, and extending +his leading-staff in the attitude of command. Next to Marlborough, +Prince Eugene is the most prominent figure. In the way of upholstery, +there can never have been anything more magnificent than these +tapestries; and, considered as works of Art, they have quite as much +merit as nine pictures out of ten. + +One whole wing of the palace is occupied by the library, a most noble +room, with a vast perspective length from end to end. Its atmosphere +is brighter and more cheerful than that of most libraries: a wonderful +contrast to the old college-libraries of Oxford, and perhaps less sombre +and suggestive of thoughtfulness than any large library ought to be; +inasmuch as so many studious brains as have left their deposit on the +shelves cannot have conspired without producing a very serious and +ponderous result. Both walls and ceiling are white, and there are +elaborate doorways and fireplaces of white marble. The floor is of oak, +so highly polished that our feet slipped upon it as if it had been +New-England ice. At one end of the room stands a statue of Queen Anne in +her royal robes, which are so admirably designed and exquisitely wrought +that the spectator certainly gets a strong conception of her royal +dignity; while the face of the statue, fleshy and feeble, doubtless +conveys a suitable idea of her personal character. The marble of this +work, long as it has stood there, is as white as snow just fallen, and +must have required most faithful and religious care to keep it so. As +for the volumes of the library, they are wired within the cases and turn +their gilded backs upon the visitor, keeping their treasures of wit and +wisdom just as intangible as if still in the unwrought mines of human +thought. + +I remember nothing else in the palace, except the chapel, to which we +were conducted last, and where we saw a splendid monument to the first +Duke and Duchess, sculptured by Rysbrach, at the cost, it is said, of +forty thousand pounds. The design includes the statues of the deceased +dignitaries, and various allegorical flourishes, fantasies, and +confusions; and beneath sleep the great Duke and his proud wife, their +veritable bones and dust, and probably all the Marlboroughs that have +since died. It is not quite a comfortable idea, that these mouldy +ancestors still inhabit, after their fashion, the house where their +successors spend the passing day; but the adulation lavished upon the +hero of Blenheim could not have been consummated, unless the palace of +his lifetime had become likewise a stately mausoleum over his remains, +--and such we felt it all to be, after gazing at his tomb. + +The next business was to see the private gardens. An old Scotch +under-gardener admitted us and led the way, and seemed to have a fair +prospect of earning the fee all by himself; but by-and-by another +respectable Scotchman made his appearance and took us in charge, proving +to be the head-gardener in person. He was extremely intelligent and +agreeable, talking both scientifically and lovingly about trees and +plants, of which there is every variety capable of English cultivation. +Positively, the Garden of Eden cannot have been more beautiful than this +private garden of Blenheim. It contains three hundred acres, and by +the artful circumlocution of the paths, and the undulations, and the +skilfully interposed clumps of trees, is made to appear limitless. The +sylvan delights of a whole country are compressed into this space, +as whole fields of Persian roses go to the concoction of an ounce of +precious attar. The world within that garden-fence is not the same weary +and dusty world with which we outside mortals are conversant; it is a +finer, lovelier, more harmonious Nature; and the Great Mother lends +herself kindly to the gardener's will, knowing that he will make evident +the half-obliterated traits of her pristine and ideal beauty, and allow +her to take all the credit and praise to herself. I doubt whether there +is ever any winter within that precinct,--any clouds, except the fleecy +ones of summer. The sunshine that I saw there rests upon my recollection +of it as if it were eternal. The lawns and glades are like the memory of +places where one has wandered when first in love. + +What a good and happy life might be spent in a paradise like this! And +yet, at that very moment, the besotted Duke (ah! I have let out a secret +which I meant to keep to myself; but the ten shillings must pay for all) +was in that very garden, (for the guide told us so, and cautioned +our young people not to be uproarious,) and, if in a condition for +arithmetic, was thinking of nothing nobler than how many ten-shilling +tickets had that day been sold. Republican as I am, I should still love +to think that noblemen lead noble lives, and that all this stately and +beautiful environment may serve to elevate them a little way above the +rest of us. If it fail to do so, the disgrace falls equally upon the +whole race of mortals as on themselves; because it proves that no +more favorable conditions of existence would eradicate our vices and +weaknesses. How sad, if this be so! Even a herd of swine, eating the +acorns under those magnificent oaks of Blenheim, would be cleanlier and +of better habits than ordinary swine. + +Well, all that I have written is pitifully meagre, as a description of +Blenheim; and I hate to leave it without some more adequate expression +of the noble edifice, with its rich domain, all as I saw them in that +beautiful sunshine; for, if a day had been chosen out of a hundred +years, it could not have been a finer one. But I must give up the +attempt; only further remarking that the finest trees here were cedars, +of which I saw one--and there may have been many such--immense in girth +and not less than three centuries old. I likewise saw a vast heap of +laurel, two hundred feet in circumference, all growing from one root; +and the gardener offered to show us another growth of twice that +stupendous size. If the Great Duke himself had been buried in that spot, +his heroic heart could not have been the seed of a more plentiful crop +of laurels. + +We now went back to the Black Bear, and sat down to a cold collation, of +which we ate abundantly, and drank (in the good old English fashion) a +due proportion of various delightful liquors. A stranger in England, +in his rambles to various quarters of the country, may learn little +in regard to wines, (for the ordinary English taste is simple, though +sound, in that particular,) but he makes acquaintance with more +varieties of hop and malt liquor than he previously supposed to exist. +I remember a sort of foaming stuff, called hop-champagne, which is very +vivacious, and appears to be a hybrid between ale and bottled cider. +Another excellent tipple for warm weather is concocted by mixing +brown-stout or bitter ale with ginger-beer, the foam of which stirs +up the heavier liquor from its depths, forming a compound of singular +vivacity and sufficient body. But of all things ever brewed from +malt, (unless it be the Trinity Ale of Cambridge, which I drank long +afterwards, and which Barry Cornwall has celebrated in immortal verse,) +commend me to the Archdeacon, as the Oxford scholars call it, in honor +of the jovial dignitary who first taught these erudite worthies how to +brew their favorite nectar. John Barleycorn has given his very heart to +this admirable liquor; it is a superior kind of ale, the Prince of Ales, +with a richer flavor and a mightier spirit than you can find elsewhere +in this weary world. Much have we been strengthened and encouraged by +the potent blood of the Archdeacon! + +A few days after our excursion to Blenheim, the same party set forth, +in two flies, on a tour to some other places of interest in the +neighborhood of Oxford. It was again a delightful day; and, in truth, +every day, of late, had been so pleasant that it seemed as if each must +be the very last of such perfect weather; and yet the long succession +had given us confidence in as many more to come. The climate of England +has been shamefully maligned; its sulkinesses and asperities are not +nearly so offensive as Englishmen tell us (their climate being the only +attribute of their country which they never overvalue); and the really +good summer weather is the very kindest and sweetest that the world +knows. + +We first drove to the village of Cumnor, about six miles from Oxford, +and alighted at the entrance of the church. Here, while waiting for the +keys, we looked at an old wall of the churchyard, piled up of loose gray +stones which are said to have once formed a portion of Cumnor Hall, +celebrated in Mickle's ballad and Scott's romance. The hall must have +been in very close vicinity to the church,--not more than twenty yards +off; and I waded through the long, dewy grass of the churchyard, and +tried to peep over the wall, in hopes to discover some tangible and +traceable remains of the edifice. But the wall was just too high to be +overlooked, and difficult to clamber over without tumbling down some of +the stones; so I took the word of one of our party, who had been here +before, that there is nothing interesting on the other side. The +churchyard is in rather a neglected state, and seems not to have been +mown for the benefit of the parson's cow; it contains a good many +gravestones, of which I remember only some upright memorials of slate to +individuals of the name of Tabbs. + +Soon a woman arrived with the key of the church-door, and we entered the +simple old edifice, which has the pavement of lettered tombstones, the +sturdy pillars and low arches, and other ordinary characteristics of +an English country-church. One or two pews, probably those of the +gentlefolk of the neighborhood, were better furnished than the rest, but +all in a modest style. Near the high altar, in the holiest place, there +is an oblong, angular, ponderous tomb of blue marble, built against the +wall, and surmounted by a carved canopy of the same material; and over +the tomb, and beneath the canopy, are two monumental brasses, such as we +oftener see inlaid into a church-pavement. On these brasses are engraved +the figures of a gentleman in armor and a lady in an antique garb, each +about a foot high, devoutly kneeling in prayer; and there is a long +Latin inscription likewise cut into the enduring brass, bestowing the +highest eulogies on the character of Anthony Forster, who, with his +virtuous dame, lies buried beneath this tombstone. His is the knightly +figure that kneels above; and if Sir Walter Scott ever saw this tomb, +he must have had an even greater than common disbelief in laudatory +epitaphs, to venture on depicting Anthony Forster in such hues as +blacken him in the romance. For my part, I read the inscription in full +faith, and believe the poor deceased gentleman to be a much-wronged +individual, with good grounds for bringing an action of slander in the +courts above. + +But the circumstance, lightly as we treat it, has its serious moral. +What nonsense it is, this anxiety, which so worries us, about our good +fame, or our bad fame, after death! If it were of the slightest real +moment, our reputations would have been placed by Providence more in our +own power, and less in other people's, than we now find them to be. If +poor Anthony Forster happens to have met Sir Walter in the other world, +I doubt whether he has ever thought it worth while to complain of the +latter's misrepresentations. + +We did not remain long in the church, as it contains nothing else of +interest; and driving through the village, we passed a pretty large and +rather antique-looking inn, bearing the sign of the Bear and Ragged +Staff. It could not be so old, however, by at least a hundred years, +as Giles Gosling's time; nor is there any other object to remind the +visitor of the Elizabethan age, unless it be a few ancient cottages, +that are perhaps of still earlier date. Cumnor is not nearly so large a +village, nor a place of such mark, as one anticipates from its romantic +and legendary fame; but, being still inaccessible by railway, it has +retained more of a sylvan character than we often find in English +country-towns. In this retired neighborhood the road is narrow and +bordered with grass, and sometimes interrupted by gates; the hedges grow +in unpruned luxuriance; there is not that close-shaven neatness and +trimness that characterize the ordinary English landscape. The +whole scene conveys the idea of seclusion and remoteness. We met no +travellers, whether on foot or otherwise. + +I cannot very distinctly trace out this day's peregrinations; but, after +leaving Cumnor a few miles behind us, I think we came to a ferry over +the Thames, where an old woman served as ferry-man, and pulled a boat +across by means of a rope stretching from shore to shore. Our +two vehicles being thus placed on the other side, we resumed our +drive,--first glancing, however, at the old woman's antique cottage, +with its stone floor, and the circular settle round the kitchen +fireplace, which was quite in the mediaeval English style. + +We next stopped at Stanton Harcourt, where we were received at the +parsonage with a hospitality which we should take delight in describing, +if it were allowable to make public acknowledgment of the private and +personal kindnesses which we never failed to find ready for our needs. +An American in an English house will soon adopt the opinion that the +English are the very kindest people on earth, and will retain that idea +as long, at least, as he remains on the inner side of the threshold. +Their magnetism is of a kind that repels strongly while you keep beyond +a certain limit, but attracts as forcibly if you get within the magic +line. + +It was at this place, if I remember right, that I heard a gentleman ask +a friend of mine whether he was the author of "The Red Letter A"; and, +after some consideration, (for he did not seem to recognize his own +book, at first, under this improved title,) our countryman responded, +doubtfully, that he believed so. The gentleman proceeded to inquire +whether our friend had spent much time in America,--evidently thinking +that he must have been caught young, and have had a tincture of English +breeding, at least, if not birth, to speak the language so tolerably, +and appear so much like other people. This insular narrowness is +exceedingly queer, and of very frequent occurrence, and is quite as much +a characteristic of men of education and culture as of clowns. + +Stanton Harcourt is a very curious old place. It was formerly the seat +of the ancient family of Harcourt, which now has its principal abode +at Nuneham Courtney, a few miles off. The parsonage is a relic of the +family-mansion, or castle, other portions of which are close at hand; +for, across the garden, rise two gray towers, both of them picturesquely +venerable, and interesting for more than their antiquity. One of these +towers, in its entire capacity, from height to depth, constituted the +kitchen of the ancient castle, and is still used for domestic purposes, +although it has not, nor ever had, a chimney; or we might rather say, it +is itself one vast chimney, with a hearth of thirty feet square, and +a flue and aperture of the same size. There are two huge fireplaces +within, and the interior walls of the tower are blackened with the smoke +that for centuries used to gush forth from them, and climb upward, +seeking an exit through some wide air-holes in the conical roof, full +seventy feet above. These lofty openings were capable of being so +arranged, with reference to the wind, that the cooks are said to have +been seldom troubled by the smoke; and here, no doubt, they were +accustomed to roast oxen whole, with as little fuss and ado as a modern +cook would roast a fowl. The inside of the tower is very dim and sombre, +(being nothing but rough stone walls, lighted only from the apertures +above mentioned,) and has still a pungent odor of smoke and soot, the +reminiscence of the fires and feasts of generations that have passed +away. Methinks the extremest range of domestic economy lies between an +American cooking-stove and the ancient kitchen, seventy dizzy feet in +height, of Stanton Harcourt. + +Now--the place being without a parallel in England, and therefore +necessarily beyond the experience of an American--it is somewhat +remarkable, that, while we stood gazing at this kitchen, I was haunted +and perplexed by an idea that somewhere or other I had seen just this +strange spectacle before. The height, the blackness, the dismal void, +before my eyes, seemed as familiar as the decorous neatness of my +grandmother's kitchen; only my unaccountable memory of the scene was +lighted up with an image of lurid fires blazing all round the dim +interior circuit of the tower. I had never before had so pertinacious an +attack, as I could not but suppose it, of that odd state of mind wherein +we fitfully and teasingly remember some previous scene or incident, of +which the one now passing appears to be but the echo and reduplication. +Though the explanation of the mystery did not for some time occur to me, +I may as well conclude the matter here. In a letter of Pope's, addressed +to the Duke of Buckingham, there is an account of Stanton Harcourt, (as +I now find, although the name is not mentioned,) where he resided while +translating a part of the "Iliad." It is one of the most admirable +pieces of description in the language,--playful and picturesque, with +fine touches of humorous pathos,--and conveys as perfect a picture as +ever was drawn of a decayed English country-house; and among other +rooms, most of which have since crumbled down and disappeared, he dashes +off the grim aspect of this kitchen,--which, moreover, he peoples with +witches, engaging Satan himself as head-cook, who stirs the infernal +caldrons that seethe and bubble over the fires. This letter, and others +relative to his abode here, were very familiar to my earlier reading, +and, remaining still fresh at the bottom of my memory, caused the weird +and ghostly sensation that came over me on beholding the real spectacle +that had formerly been made so vivid to my imagination. + +Our next visit was to the church, which stands close by, and is quite +as ancient as the remnants of the castle. In a chapel or side-aisle, +dedicated to the Harcourts, are found some very interesting +family-monuments,--and among them, recumbent on a tombstone, the figure +of an armed knight of the Lancastrian party, who was slain in the Wars +of the Roses. His features, dress, and armor are painted in colors, +still wonderfully fresh, and there still blushes the symbol of the Red +Rose, denoting the faction for which he fought and died. His head rests +on a marble or alabaster helmet; and on the tomb lies the veritable +helmet, it is to be presumed, which he wore in battle,--a ponderous iron +case, with the visor complete, and remnants of the gilding that once +covered it. The crest is a large peacock, not of metal, but of wood. +Very possibly, this helmet was but an heraldic adornment of his tomb; +and, indeed, it seems strange that it has not been stolen before +now, especially in Cromwell's time, when knightly tombs were little +respected, and when armor was in request. However, it is needless to +dispute with the dead knight about the identity of his iron pot, and +we may as well allow it to be the very same that so often gave him the +headache in his lifetime. Leaning against the wall, at the foot of the +tomb, is the shaft of a spear, with a wofully tattered and utterly faded +banner appended to it,--the knightly banner beneath which he marshalled +his followers in the field. As it was absolutely falling to pieces, I +tore off one little bit, no bigger than a finger-nail, and put it into +my waistcoat-pocket; but seeking it subsequently, it was not to be +found. + +On the opposite side of the little chapel, two or three yards from this +tomb, is another, on which lie, side by side, one of the same knightly +race of Harcourts, and his lady. The tradition of the family is, that +this knight was the standard-bearer of Henry of Richmond in the Battle +of Bosworth Field; and a banner, supposed to be the same that he earned, +now droops over his effigy. It is just such a colorless silk rag as the +one already described. The knight has the order of the Garter on his +knee, and the lady wears it on her left arm,--an odd place enough for a +garter; but, if worn in its proper locality, it could not be decorously +visible. The complete preservation and good condition of these statues, +even to the minutest adornment of the sculpture, and their very +noses,--the most vulnerable part of a marble man, as of a living one, +are miraculous. Except in Westminster Abbey, among the chapels of the +kings, I have seen none so well preserved. Perhaps they owe it to the +loyalty of Oxfordshire, diffused throughout its neighborhood by the +influence of the University, during the great Civil War and the rule +of the Parliament. It speaks well, too, for the upright and kindly +character of this old family, that the peasantry, among whom they had +lived for ages, did not desecrate their tombs, when it might have been +done with impunity. + +There are other and more recent memorials of the Harcourts, one of which +is the tomb of the last lord, who died about a hundred years ago. His +figure, like those of his ancestors, lies on the top of his tomb, clad, +not in armor, but in his robes as a peer. The title is now extinct, +but the family survives in a younger branch, and still holds this +patrimonial estate, though they have long since quitted it as a +residence. + +We next went to see the ancient fish-ponds appertaining to the mansion, +and which used to be of vast dietary importance to the family in +Catholic times, and when fish was not otherwise attainable. There are +two or three, or more, of these reservoirs, one of which is of very +respectable size,--large enough, indeed, to be really a picturesque +object, with its grass-green borders, and the trees drooping over +it, and the towers of the castle and the church reflected within the +weed-grown depths of its smooth mirror. A sweet fragrance, as it were, +of ancient time and present quiet and seclusion was breathing all +around; the sunshine of to-day had a mellow charm of antiquity in its +brightness. These ponds are said still to breed abundance of such fish +as love deep and quiet waters: but I saw only some minnows, and one or +two snakes, which were lying among the weeds on the top of the water, +sunning and bathing themselves at once. + +I mentioned that there were two towers remaining of the old castle: the +one containing the kitchen we have already visited; the other, still +more interesting, is next to be described. It is some seventy feet high, +gray and reverend, but in excellent repair, though I could not perceive +that anything had been done to renovate it. The basement story was once +the family-chapel, and is, of course, still a consecrated spot. At +one corner of the tower is a circular turret, within which a narrow +staircase, with worn steps of stone, winds round and round as it climbs +upward, giving access to a chamber on each floor, and finally emerging +on the battlemented roof. Ascending this turret-stair, and arriving at +the third story, we entered a chamber, not large, though occupying the +whole area of the tower, and lighted by a window on each side. It +was wainscoted from floor to ceiling with dark oak, and had a little +fireplace in one of the corners. The window-panes were small, and set in +lead. The curiosity of this room is, that it was once the residence of +Pope, and that he here wrote a considerable part of the translation of +Homer, and likewise, no doubt, the admirable letters to which I have +referred above. The room once contained a record by himself, scratched +with a diamond on one of the window-panes, (since removed for +safe-keeping to Nuneham Courtney, where it was shown me,) purporting +that he had here finished the fifth book of the "Iliad" on such a day. + +A poet has a fragrance about him, such as no other human being is gifted +withal; it is indestructible, and clings forevermore to everything that +he has touched. I was not impressed, at Blenheim, with any sense that +the mighty Duke still haunted the palace that was created for him; but +here, after a century and a half, we are still conscious of the presence +of that decrepit little figure of Queen Anne's time, although he was +merely a casual guest in the old tower, during one or two summer months. +However brief the time and slight the connection, his spirit cannot be +exorcised so long as the tower stands. In my mind, moreover, Pope, or +any other person with an available claim, is right in adhering to the +spot, dead or alive; for I never saw a chamber that I should like better +to inhabit,--so comfortably small, in such a safe and inaccessible +seclusion, and with a varied landscape from each window. One of +them looks upon the church, close at hand, and down into the green +churchyard, extending almost to the foot of the tower; the others have +views wide and far, over a gently undulating tract of country. If +desirous of a loftier elevation, about a dozen more steps of the +turret-stair will bring the occupant to the summit of the tower,--where +Pope used to come, no doubt, in the summer evenings, and peep--poor +little shrimp that he was!--through the embrasures of the battlement. + +From Stanton Harcourt we drove--I forget how far--to a point where a +boat was waiting for us upon the Thames, or some other stream; for I am +ashamed to confess my ignorance of the precise geographical whereabout. +We were, at any rate, some miles above Oxford, and, I should imagine, +pretty near one of the sources of England's mighty river. It was +little more than wide enough for the boat, with extended oars, to +pass,--shallow, too, and bordered with bulrushes and water-weeds, which, +in some places, quite overgrew the surface of the river from bank to +bank. The shores were flat and meadow-like, and sometimes, the boatman +told us, are overflowed by the rise of the stream. The water looked +clean and pure, but not particularly transparent, though enough so to +show us that the bottom is very much weed-grown; and I was told that the +weed is an American production, brought to England with importations of +timber, and now threatening to choke up the Thames and other English +rivers. I wonder it does not try its obstructive powers upon the +Merrimack, the Connecticut, or the Hudson,--not to speak of the St. +Lawrence or the Mississippi! + +It was an open boat, with cushioned seats astern, comfortably +accommodating our party; the day continued sunny and warm, and perfectly +still; the boatman, well trained to his business, managed the oars +skilfully and vigorously; and we went down the stream quite as swiftly +as it was desirable to go, the scene being so pleasant, and the passing +hour so thoroughly agreeable. The river grew a little wider and deeper, +perhaps, as we glided on, but was still an inconsiderable stream; for it +had a good deal more than a hundred miles to meander through before it +should bear fleets on its bosom, and reflect palaces and towers and +Parliament-houses and dingy and sordid piles of various structure, as it +rolled to and fro with the tide, dividing London asunder. Not, in truth, +that I ever saw any edifice whatever reflected in its turbid breast, +when the sylvan stream, as we beheld it now, is swollen into the Thames +at London. + +Once, on our voyage, we had to land, while the boatman and some other +persons drew our skiff round some rapids, which we could not otherwise +have passed; another time, the boat went through a lock. We, meanwhile, +stepped ashore to examine the ruins of the old nunnery of Godstowe, +where Fair Rosamond secluded herself, after being separated from her +royal lover. There is a long line of ruinous wall, and a shattered tower +at one of the angles; the whole much ivy-grown,--brimming over, indeed, +with clustering ivy, which is rooted inside of the walls. The nunnery is +now, I believe, held in lease by the city of Oxford, which has converted +its precincts into a barnyard. The gate was under lock and key, so that +we could merely look at the outside, and soon resumed our places in the +boat. + +At three o'clock, or thereabouts, (or sooner or later,--for I took +little heed of time, and only wished that these delightful wanderings +might last forever,) we reached Folly Bridge, at Oxford. Here we took +possession of a spacious barge, with a house in it, and a comfortable +dining-room or drawing-room within the house, and a level roof, on which +we could sit at ease, or dance, if so inclined. These barges are common +at Oxford,--some very splendid ones being owned by the students of +the different colleges, or by clubs. They are drawn by horses, like +canal-boats; and a horse being attached to our own barge, he trotted off +at a reasonable pace, and we slipped through the water behind him, with +a gentle and pleasant motion, which, save for the constant vicissitude +of cultivated scenery, was like no motion at all. It was life without +the trouble of living; nothing was ever more quietly agreeable. In this +happy state of mind and body we gazed at Christ-Church meadows, as we +passed, and at the receding spires and towers of Oxford, and on a good +deal of pleasant variety along the banks: young men rowing or fishing; +troops of naked boys bathing, as if this were Arcadia, in the simplicity +of the Golden Age; country-houses, cottages, water-side inns, all with +something fresh about them, as not being sprinkled with the dust of the +highway. We were a large party now; for a number of additional guests +had joined us at Folly Bridge, and we comprised poets, novelists, +scholars, sculptors, painters, architects, men and women of renown, dear +friends, genial, outspoken, open-hearted Englishmen,--all voyaging +onward together, like the wise ones of Gotham in a bowl. I remember not +a single annoyance, except, indeed, that a swarm of wasps came aboard of +us and alighted on the head of one of our young gentlemen, attracted by +the scent of the pomatum which he had been rubbing into his hair. He was +the only victim, and his small trouble the one little flaw in our day's +felicity, to put us in mind that we were mortal. + +Meanwhile a table had been laid in the interior of our barge, and +spread with cold ham, cold fowl, cold pigeon-pie, cold beef, and other +substantial cheer, such as the English love, and Yankees too,--besides +tarts, and cakes, and pears, and plums,--not forgetting, of course, a +goodly provision of port, sherry, and champagne, and bitter ale, +which is like mother's milk to an Englishman, and soon grows equally +acceptable to his American cousin. By the time these matters had been +properly attended to, we had arrived at that part of the Thames which +passes by Nuneham Courtney, a fine estate belonging to the Harcourts, +and the present residence of the family. Here we landed, and, climbing +a steep slope from the river-side, paused a moment or two to look at an +architectural object, called the Carfax, the purport of which I do not +well understand. Thence we proceeded onward, through the loveliest park +and woodland scenery I ever saw, and under as beautiful a declining +sunshine as heaven ever shed over earth, to the stately mansion-house. + +As we here cross a private threshold, it is not allowable to pursue +my feeble narrative of this delightful day with the same freedom as +heretofore; so, perhaps, I may as well bring it to a close. I may +mention, however, that I saw the library, a fine, large apartment, hung +round with portraits of eminent literary men, principally of the last +century, most of whom were familiar guests of the Harcourts. The house +itself is about eighty years old, and is built in the classic style, as +if the family had been anxious to diverge as far as possible from the +Gothic picturesqueness of their old abode at Stanton Harcourt. The +grounds were laid out in part by Capability Brown, and seemed to me even +more beautiful than those of Blenheim. Mason the poet, a friend of the +house, gave the design of a portion of the garden. Of the whole place I +will not be niggardly of my rude Transatlantic praise, but be bold +to say that it appeared to me as perfect as anything earthly can +be,--utterly and entirely finished, as if the years and generations +had done all that the hearts and minds of the successive owners could +contrive for a spot they dearly loved. Such homes as Nuneham Courtney +are among the splendid results of long hereditary possession; and we +Republicans, whose households melt away like new-fallen snow in a +spring morning, must content ourselves with our many counterbalancing +advantages,--for this one, so apparently desirable to the far-projecting +selfishness of our nature, we are certain never to attain. + +It must not be supposed, nevertheless, that Nuneham Courtney is one of +the great show-places of England. It is merely a fair specimen of the +better class of country-seats, and has a hundred rivals, and many +superiors, in the features of beauty, and expansive, manifold, redundant +comfort, which most impressed me. A moderate man might be content with +such a home,--that is all. + +And now I take leave of Oxford without even an attempt to describe +it,--there being no literary faculty, attainable or conceivable by me, +which can avail to put it adequately, or even tolerably, upon paper. It +must remain its own sole expression; and those whose sad fortune it may +be never to behold it have no better resource than to dream about +gray, weather-stained, ivy-grown edifices, wrought with quaint Gothic +ornament, and standing around grassy quadrangles, where cloistered walks +have echoed to the quiet footsteps of twenty generations,--lawns and +gardens of luxurious repose, shadowed with canopies of foliage, and +lit up with sunny glimpses through archways of great boughs,--spires, +towers, and turrets, each with its history and legend,--dimly +magnificent chapels, with painted windows of rare beauty and brilliantly +diversified hues, creating an atmosphere of richest gloom,--vast +college-halls, high-windowed, oaken-panelled, and hung round with +portraits of the men, in every age, whom the University has nurtured to +be illustrious,--long vistas of alcoved libraries, where the wisdom +and learned folly of all time is shelved,--kitchens, (we throw in this +feature by way of ballast, and because it would not be English Oxford +without its beef and beer,) with huge fireplaces, capable of roasting a +hundred joints at once,--and cavernous cellars, where rows of piled-up +hogsheads seethe and fume with that mighty malt-liquor which is the true +milk of Alma Mater: make all these things vivid in your dream, and you +will never know nor believe how inadequate is the result to represent +even the merest outside of Oxford. + +We feel a genuine reluctance to conclude this article without making our +grateful acknowledgements, by name, to a gentleman whose overflowing +kindness was the main condition of all our sight-seeings and enjoyments. +Delightful as will always be our recollection of Oxford and its +neighborhood, we partly suspect that it owes much of its happy coloring +to the genial medium through which the objects were presented to us,--to +the kindly magic of a hospitality unsurpassed, within our experience, in +the quality of making the guest contented with his host, with himself, +and everything about him. He has inseparably mingled his image with our +remembrance of the Spires of Oxford. + + + + +CYRIL WILDE. + + +For some reason which it does not concern us now to investigate, +Kentucky, under the dominion of the white man, has continued to justify +its native name of "Dark and Bloody Ground," in being the scene of a +remarkable number of tragedies in real life. + +One of these, less known to the public in later times, we think +transcends all the others in boldness of conception, regularity of plot, +variety of passion and character displayed, and horror and pathos of +catastrophe. It might have furnished a worthy subject to the pen of +Sophocles or Shakespeare, one that they would have found already cast +into a highly dramatic form, requiring only fitting words to convey the +passions of the actors. Little invention of situation or incident +would have been needed, for neither could be imagined more intensely +interesting; nor could the most finished artist have constructed a plot +more coherent in all its details, or more strictly in accordance with +the rules of composition,--even to the preservation of the Aristotelian +unities of time and place. So perfect, indeed, does it seem, that, +were it not substantiated in every point by the records of a judicial +tribunal, it might well be taken for the invention of some master of +human nature and the dramatic art. + +Captain Cyril Wilde, the hero, or rather the victim, of the events we +are about to narrate, was one of those perfectly happy men whom every +one has learned to regard as favorites of Fortune, and on whom no one +ever expects disaster to fall, simply because it never has done so. Well +descended, at a period when good birth was a positive honor in itself, +and connected, either by affinity or friendship, with the best society +of Kentucky, he held, by hereditary right, a high position among that +old aristocracy which then and for a long time afterward stoutly +maintained its own against the encroaching spirit of democratic +equality, and whose members still kept in mind many of the traditions, +honored in their own persons the dignity, and strove to preserve in +their households somewhat of the manners, of the Cavaliers of the Old +Dominion. Nor was wealth wanting to complete his happiness,--at least, +such wealth as was needed by one of his simple tastes and unostentatious +habits. He was rich beyond his disposition to spend, but not beyond his +capacity to enjoy,--a capacity multiplied by as many times as he had +friends to stimulate it;--summer friends, alas! too many of them proved +to be. His character was without reproach; his disposition easy and +genial; his mind of that happy middle order which always commands +respect, while it feels none of the restless ambition and impotent +longing for public recognition that usually attend the possession of +superior abilities. + +Such was the position of Captain Wilde, and such the character he bore +during the first thirty-eight years of his life. Not many have known +a more lengthened prosperity,--and few, very few, a more sudden and +terrible reverse. Fortune, like a fond mistress, had lavished her gifts +on him without stint,--but, like a jealous one, seemed resolved that he +should owe everything to her gratuitous bounty, and the moment he sought +to win an object of desire by his own exertions turned her face away +forever, persecuting her former favorite thenceforth with vindictive +malice. Continuing to yield, for a time, with apparent complacency, +every boon he sought, she treacherously concealed therein the germs of +all his woes. + +In the year 17--Captain Wilde was persuaded to better his already happy +condition by marriage. The lady he chose, or suffered to be chosen for +him, was a Miss M----, a scion of one of those extensive families, not +now so common as formerly, which by repeated intermarriage and always +settling together develop a spirit of clanship, so exclusive as to make +them almost incapable of any feeling of interest outside of their own +name and connection, and render them liable to regard any person +of different blood, who may happen to intermarry among them, as an +intruder. In some parts of the Union these clans may still be found +flourishing in considerable purity and vigor,--the same name sometimes +prevailing over a district of many miles,--a fact which an observant +traveller would surmise from a certain prevailing cast of form and +feature. + +It was with a family of this kind that Captain Wilde was, in an evil +hour, induced to ally himself,--a step which soon proved to be the first +in a long career of misfortune. The lady possessed that worst of +all tempers, a quick and irritable, but at the same time hard and +unforgiving one. And she soon showed, that, in her estimation, the +feelings and interests of her husband were as nothing in comparison with +those of her family, and that, in any variance, she would leave the +former and cleave to the latter. Such variances were, unfortunately, +almost inevitable; for the family of Mrs. Wilde differed both in +politics and religion from her husband,--a fact, it may here be +remarked, which had no small influence on his subsequent fate,--and the +narrow, bigoted exclusiveness of the wife was utterly incompatible with +the free and open-hearted fellowship with which the husband received +his acquaintances, of whatever sect or party. In a very few months, +therefore, it began to be whispered abroad that the hitherto happy and +joyous bachelor's-hall had become a scene of constant bickerings and +heartburnings. + +But mere incongruity of tempers and habits was not, as was supposed by +their neighbors, the only source of domestic discord. This might in time +have entirely disappeared; had conjugal confidence only been allowed its +natural growth, all might have been passably well in the end, in spite +of such serious drawbacks; for, from the necessity of his nature, the +husband would in time have become completely subservient to the sterner +spirit of his wife, which, in turn, might have been mollified in some +degree amid the peaceful duties of home;--a state of things that has +existed in many families, which have, nevertheless, enjoyed a fair +share of domestic happiness in spite of this inversion of the natural +relations of their heads. But Mrs. Wilde had brought into her husband's +house that deadliest foe of domestic peace, an elderly, ill-tempered, +suspicious female relative, serving in the capacity of _confidante_. +This curse was embodied in the person of a much older sister, who +happened to be neither maid, wife, nor widow, and, having once effected +an entrance under the pretence of assisting to arrange the disordered +household-affairs, easily contrived to render her position a permanent +one. So soon as this was achieved, she appears to have begun her hateful +work of sowing discord between the new-married pair. Having long since +blighted her own hopes of happiness, she seemed to find no consolation +so sweet as wrecking that of others;--not that she had no love for her +sister; on the contrary, her love, such as it was, was really strong +and lasting; and in her fierce grief for that sister's death she met +a punishment almost equal to her deserts. Nor was it long before she +provided herself with a most effectual means of accomplishing her +malicious object, of inflaming the troubles of the household into which +she had intruded herself. This was the discovery, real or pretended, of +a former illicit connection between her brother-in-law and a pretty and +intelligent mulatto girl, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, who +was still retained in the family in the capacity of housemaid. Having +once struck this jarring chord, she continued to play upon it with +diabolical skill. To those who watched the course of her unholy labors, +the energy and ingenuity with which this wretched woman wrought at her +task, and the completeness of her success, would have seemed a subject +of admiration, if the result had not been so deplorable as to merge all +other emotions in indignant detestation. + +So thoroughly had her design been accomplished in the course of a single +year, that the birth of as sweet a child as ever smiled upon fond +parents, instead of serving as a point of union between Captain Wilde +and his wife, only increased their estrangement by furnishing another +subject of contention. Alas! the peace of Eden was not more utterly +destroyed by the treacherous wiles of the serpent than that of this +ill-starred household by the whispers of this serpent in woman's shape. +Under her continual exasperations, Mrs. Wilde's temper, naturally harsh, +became at last so outrageous and unbridled as to render her unfortunate +husband's life one long course of humiliation and misery. Far from +taking any pains to hide their discords from the world, she seemed +to court observation by seizing every opportunity of inflicting +mortification upon him in public, reckless of the reflections such +improprieties might bring upon herself. + +But why, it may be asked, did not both parties seek a separation, when +affairs had reached such a state as this? First, because Captain Wilde, +though advised thereto, naturally shrank from the scandal such a step +always occasions; and, on the other side, because his wife was gifted +with one of those intolerable tempers that make some women cling to a +partner they hate with a jealous tenacity which love could scarcely +inspire, simply for the reason that a separation would put an end to +their power, so dearly prized, of inflicting pain;--for hatred has its +jealousy, as well as love. + +Of the perverse ingenuity of these two women in causing the deepest +mortification to the unfortunate gentleman, whenever Fate and his own +weakness gave them the power, we will notice one instance, on account of +the important influence it had in bringing about the denouement of this +domestic tragedy. + +According to the kindly custom of that time, Captain Wilde had on one +occasion requested the assistance of some of his neighbors in treading +out his grain; and the party had set to work at dawn, in order to avail +themselves of the cooler portion of the day. After waiting with longing +ears for the sound of the breakfast-horn, they finally, at a late hour, +repaired to the house, uncalled. Here the host, supposing all to be +ready, led his friends unceremoniously into the dining-room, where he +was astonished, and not a little angered, to find his wife and sister +seated composedly at their meal, which they had already nearly finished, +with only the three customary plates on the table, and no apparent +preparation for a larger number. On his beginning to remonstrate in a +rather heated tone, his wife arose, and, remarking that she had not been +used to eat in company with common laborers, swept disdainfully from the +room, followed by her sister. No more unpardonable insult could have +been offered to Kentucky farmers, at the very foundation of whose social +creed lay the principle of equality, and of whose character an intense +and jealous feeling of personal dignity was the most salient feature: +for these were men of independent means, who had come rather to +superintend the labors of their negroes than to labor themselves,--such +occasions being regarded only as pleasant opportunities for free and +unrestrained sociability, far more agreeable than formal and ceremonious +visits. On these occasions, the host would conduct his friends over +his farm to survey the condition of his crops, or point out to their +admiration his fine cattle, or obtain their opinion concerning some +contemplated improvement;--a most admirable means of drawing closer the +bonds of neighborly feeling and interest. A more bitter mortification, +therefore, could hardly have been devised for one who always prided +himself on his open-hearted Kentucky hospitality even to strangers. +Justly enraged by such foolish and ill-timed rudeness, he flung a knife, +which he had idly taken up, violently upon the table, swearing that his +friends should, in his house, be treated as gentlemen; at the same time +calling to the mulatto, Fanny, he bade her prepare breakfast, and added, +in a tone but half-suppressed, "You are the only woman on the place +who behaves like a lady." This imprudent remark was overheard by the +ever-present sister-in-law, and the use she made of it may be imagined. + +In this unpleasant state of his domestic relations, the character of +Captain Wilde Seemed to undergo an entire transformation. From being +remarkable for his love of quiet retirement, he became restless and +dissatisfied; and instead of laughing, as formerly, at public employment +as only vanity and vexation, he, now that a greater vexation assailed +him in his once peaceful home, eagerly sought relief, not, as a younger +or less virtuous man might have done, in dissipation, but in the +distractions of public business. But here again his evil fortune granted +the desired boon in a shape pregnant with future disaster. The hostility +of Mrs. Wilde's family, which had now become deeply excited,--combined +with his own political heterodoxy,--forbade any hope of attaining a +place by popular choice; and in an evil hour his friends succeeded in +procuring him the office of exciseman. + +Now there is no peculiarity more marked in all the branches of the +Anglo-Saxon race than the extreme impatience with which they submit to +any direct interference of the government in the private affairs of the +citizens; and no form of such interference has ever been so generally +odious as the excise, and, by consequence, no officer so generally +detested as the exciseman. This feeling, on account of the very large +number of persons engaged in distilling, was then formidably strong in +Kentucky,--all the more so that this form of taxation was a favorite +measure of the existing Federal Administration. Those who ventured to +accept so hateful an office at the hands of so hated a government were +sure to make themselves highly unpopular. In time, when the people began +to learn their own strength and the weakness of the authorities, +the enforcement of the law became dangerous, and at last altogether +impossible. The writer has been told, by a gentleman holding a +responsible position under our judicial system, that the name of his +grandfather--the last Kentucky exciseman--to this day stands charged on +the government-books with thousands of dollars arrears, although he was +a man of great courage and not at all likely to be deterred from the +discharge of his duty by any ordinary obstacle. + +Such was the place sought and obtained by the unfortunate Wilde as +a refuge from domestic wretchedness. The consequence it was easy to +foresee. In a few months, he who had been accustomed to universal +good-will became an object of almost as general dislike; and as people +are apt to attribute all sorts of evil to one who has by any means +incurred their hostility, and are never satisfied until they have +blackened the whole character in which they have found one offensive +quality, the family difficulties of the unpopular official soon became a +theme of common scandal, all the blame, of course, being laid upon him. +This state of things, disagreeable in itself, proved most unfortunate in +its influence on his subsequent fate; for, had he retained his previous +popularity in the county, the last deplorable catastrophe would +certainly never have happened: since every lawyer knows full well, that, +in capital cases especially, juries are merely the exponents of public +sentiment, and that the power of any judge to cause the excited +sympathies of a whole community to sink into calm indifference at the +railing of a jury-box is about as effective as was the command of the +Dane in arresting the in-rolling waters of the ocean. This is peculiarly +true in this country, where the people, both in theory and in fact, are +so completely sovereign that the institutions of government are only +instruments, having little capability of independent, and none at all of +antagonistic action. The skilful advocate, therefore, always watches the +crowd of eager faces without the bar, with eye as anxious and far more +prophetic than that with which he studies the formal countenances of the +panel whom he directly addresses. + +There was one circumstance, arising indirectly from his public +employment, that exercised no trivial influence upon Captain Wilde's +fate. On one occasion, while engaged with a brother-official in +arranging their books preparatory to the annual settlement, his wife, +becoming enraged because he failed to attend instantly to her orders +concerning some trifling domestic matter, rushed into his study and +caught up an armful of papers, which she attempted to throw into the +fire. The documents were of great importance; and to prevent her +carrying her childish purpose into execution, her husband was obliged +to seize her quickly and violently, and drag her from the hearth. The +reader will hardly recognize this incident in the form in which it was +afterward detailed from the witness-stand; and it is only on account +of the effect which this and other occurrences of like nature had in +bringing about the final event of our history, that we take the trouble +to narrate matters so trifling and uninteresting; for it appeared that +every incident of the kind was carefully registered in the memory of +the Erinnys of this devoted household, whence it came out magnified and +distorted into a brutal and unprovoked outrage. + +Wretched indeed must have been the state of that family in which such +scenes were allowed to meet the eyes of strangers; and again it may be +asked, Why did not Captain Wilde take measures to dissolve a union +that had resulted in so much unhappiness, and in which all hope of +improvement must now have disappeared? Such a step would certainly have +been wise; nor could the strictest moralist have found aught to censure +therein. But it was now too late. No observer of human affairs has +failed to notice how surely a stronger character gains ascendency over a +weaker with which it is brought into familiar contact. No law of man can +abrogate this great law of Nature. Talk as we may about the power of +knowledge or intellect or virtue, the whole ordering of society shows +that it is strength of character which fixes the relative status of +individuals. In whatever community we may live, we need only look around +to discover that its real leaders are not the merely intelligent, +educated, and good, but the energetic, the self-asserting, the +aggressive. Nor will mere passive strength of will prevent subjection; +for how often do we see a spirit, whose only prominent characteristic is +a restless and tireless pugnacity, hold in complete subserviency those +who are far superior in actual strength of mind, purely through the +apathy of the latter, and their indisposition to live in a state of +constant effort! It is because this petty domineering temper is found +much oftener in women than in men, that we see a score of henpecked +husbands to one ill-used wife. Woe to the man who falls into this kind +of slavery to a wicked woman! for through him she will commit acts she +would never dare in her own person; and a double woe to him, if he be +not as wicked and hardened as his mistress! The bargain of the old +Devil-bought magicians was profitable, compared with his; since he gets +nothing whatever for the soul he surrenders up. + +In the present case, a couple of years sufficed for the energetic and +ever-belligerent temper of the wife to subdue completely the mild and +peaceable nature of the husband. At her bidding most of his former +acquaintances were discarded; and even his warmest friends and nearest +relations, no longer meeting the old hearty welcome, gradually ceased +to visit his house. But the bitterest effect of this weak and culpable +abdication of his rights was experienced by his slaves. Sad indeed for +them was the change from the ease and abundance of the bachelor's-hall, +where slavery meant little more than a happy exemption from care, to +their present condition, in which it meant hopeless submission to the +power of a capricious and cruel mistress. The worst form of female +tyranny is that exhibited on a Southern plantation, under the sway of a +termagant. Her power to afflict is so complete and all-pervading, that +not an hour, nay, hardly a minute of the victim's life is exempt, if +the disposition exist to exercise it. Besides, this species of domestic +oppression has this in common with all the worst tyrannies which have +been most feared and hated by men: the severities are ordered by those +who neither execute them nor witness their execution,--that being +left to agents, usually hardened to their office, and who dare not be +merciful, even if so inclined. It adds two-fold to the bitterness of +such tyranny, that the tyrant is able to acquire a sort of exemption +from the weakness of pity. It is wisely ordered that few human beings +shall feel aught but pain in looking upon the extreme bodily anguish of +their fellow-men; and when a monster appears who seems to contradict +this benign law, he is embalmed as a monster, and transmitted to future +times along with such _rara aves_ as Caligula, Domitian, and Nana Sahib. +And here--as a Southern man, brought up in the midst of a household of +slaves--let me remark, that the worst feature of our system of slavery +is the possibility of the negroes falling into the hands of a brutal +owner capable of exercising all the power of inflicting misery which the +law gives him. + +But the natural law of compensation is universal; and if the most +wretched object in existence be a slave subject to the sway of a brutal +owner, certainly the next is the humane master who has to do with a +sullen, malicious, or dishonest negro,--while for one instance of the +former, there are a hundred of the latter who would willingly give up +the whole value of their human chattels in order to get rid of the +vexations they occasion. And where master and man were equally bad, we +have known cases in which it was really hard to say which contrived to +inflict most misery: the one might get used to blows and curses so as +not much to mind them, but the other could never escape the agonies of +rage into which his contumacious chattel was able to throw him at any +time. + +Captain Wilde's temper was more than usually mild and lenient; and he +was probably the most wretched being on his own plantation during the +last two years of his life,--a day seldom passing that he was not +compelled to inflict some sort of punishment upon his negroes. These, +however, never ceased to feel for him the respectful attachment inspired +by his kindness during the happy years of his bachelor-life; but, +strange as it may seem, that feeling was now mingled with a sort of +pity; for they well knew the painful reluctance with which he obeyed the +harsh commands of his wife. And of all who mourned the hapless fate +of this unfortunate gentleman, none mourned more bitterly, and few +cherished his memory so long or so tenderly, as these humble dependants, +who best knew his real character. + +But it was upon the mulatto girl Fanny, particularly, that the +tyrannical cruelty of Mrs. Wilde was poured out in all its severity. +From some cause,--whether because her duties rendered her more liable +to commit irritating faults, or whether, being always in sight, she was +simply the most convenient object of abuse, or whether on account of the +alleged former intimacy between this girl and her master,--certain it +is that the hatred with which the mistress pursued her had something in +it almost diabolical. And she seemed to take a peculiar satisfaction +in making her husband the instrument of her persecutions: an ingenious +method of punishing both her victims, if the motive were the last of +those above suggested. And truly bitter it must have been to both, when +the hand that had been only too kind was now forced to the infliction +even of stripes; so that one hardly knows which to pity most: though, +if the essence of punishment be degradation, certainly the legal slave +suffered less of it than the moral one who had fallen so low beneath the +dominion of a termagant wife. But let it be ever remembered to the honor +of this wretched daughter of bondage, that, in spite of all, she never +lost that devoted attachment for her master which in one of a more +favored race might be called by a softer name. For, whatever may have +been his feelings toward her, there can remain no doubt of the nature of +hers for him,--so touchingly displayed at a subsequent period, when she +cast away the terror of violent death, so strong in all her race, and +sought, by a voluntary confession of guilt never imputed to her, to +save him by taking his place upon the scaffold. Surely, such heroic +self-sacrifice suffices to + + "sublime + Her dark despair and plead for its one crime." + +It was probably on a discovery of this feeling in the girl that the +intermeddling sister-in-law founded her charge against the master. + +But there is a point beyond which human endurance cannot go,--at +which milder natures turn to voluntary death as a refuge from further +suffering, and fiercer ones begin to contemplate crime with savage +complacency. Towards this point the ruthless and persevering cruelty of +these two women was now rapidly driving their wretched victim, and soon, +very soon, they were to learn that they had been hunting, not a lamb, +but a tigress, whose single spring, when brought to bay, would be as +quick, as sure, and as deadly as was ever made from an Indian jungle. +For now, near the end of the third year of Captain Wilde's married life, +its wretched scenes of discord and tyranny were about to be closed in a +catastrophe that was to overwhelm a great community with consternation +and horror, and blot an entire family out of existence almost in a +single night,--a catastrophe in which Providence, true to that ideal of +perfect justice called poetical, working out the punishment of two +of the actors by means of their own inhumanity, at the same time +mysteriously involved two others,--one clothed in all the innocence +of infancy, and the other guilty only through weakness and as the +instrument of another. Seldom has destruction been more sudden or more +complete, and never, perhaps, was so annihilating a blow dealt by so +weak a hand. + +Those who remember the early times of Kentucky know that the place of +the agricultural and mechanics' fairs of the present day was supplied +by "big meetings," which, under the various names of associations, +camp-meetings, and basket-meetings, continued in full popularity to a +quite recent period, and were at last partially suppressed on account +of the immorality which they occasioned and encouraged. It was to these +holy fairs--as now to secular ones--that the wealth and fashion of +early Kentucky crowded for the purpose of displaying themselves most +conspicuously before the eyes of assembled counties. Mrs. Wilde, like +most women of her temper, was passionately fond of such public triumphs, +and had determined, at a camp-meeting soon to be held in the vicinity, +to outshine all her rural neighbors in splendor. For the full +realization of this ambition, a new carriage was, in her opinion, +absolutely necessary. This fact she communicated to her husband, and +upon some demur on his part, a thing now very rare, her temper, as +usual, broke forth in a storm of reproach and abuse, so that the poor +man, completely subdued, was glad to purchase peace by acquiescence +in what his judgment regarded as a foolish expense; and he prepared +immediately to set off for L---- to procure the coveted vehicle. But +before he had mounted, his wife, yet hot from their recent altercation, +discovered or affected to discover some negligence on the part of the +mulatto girl, who was engaged in nursing the child, which was at this +time suffering from a dangerous illness. Now the one tender trait of +this violent woman was intense love for her offspring; but it was a +love that, far from softening her manner toward others, partook, on the +contrary, of the fierceness of her general character, and became, like +that of a wild animal for its young, a source of constant apprehension +to those whose duty compelled them to approach its object. So now, +seizing the weeping culprit by the hair, she dragged her to the door, +and, after exhausting her own powers of maltreatment, called to her +husband and ordered him to bring, on his return, a new cowhide,--"For +you shall," cried she, in uncontrollable rage, "give this wretch, in the +morning, two hundred lashes!" It was a brutal threat, falling from the +lips of one who was called a lady: for, of all tortures, that of +the cowhide is for the moment the most intolerable, in its sharp, +penetrating agony, as is well known by those who remember even a +moderate application of it to their own person in school-boy days. The +victim knew that the execution of the barbarous menace would be strict +to the letter, and that it would be but little preferable to death +itself. Yet, in spite of this, she now, for the first time, failed to +cower and tremble, but arose and faced her oppressor, erect and defiant. +The last drop had now been dashed into the cup of endurance,--the final +blow had been struck, under which the human spirit either falls crushed +and prostrated forever, or from which it springs up tempered to +adamantine hardness, and incapable thenceforth of feeling either fear +for itself or pity for its smiter. That one moment had entirely reversed +the relations of the two, making the slave mistress of her mistress's +fate, while the latter thenceforward held her very existence at the will +of her slave. The cruel woman had raised up for herself that enemy more +terrible even to throned tyrants than an army with banners: for there +is something truly terrific in the almost omnipotent power of harm +possessed by any intelligent being, whom hatred, or fanaticism, or +suffering has wound up to that point of desperation where it is willing +to throw away its own life in order to reach that of an adversary, +--such desperation as inspired the gladiator Maternus, in his romantic +expedition from the woods of Transylvania through the marshes of +Pannonia and the Alpine passes, to strike the lord of the Roman world +in the recesses of his own palace, and in the presence of his thousand +guards. He who has provoked such hostility can know no safety, but in +the destruction of his enemy,--a fact well understood by the elder +Napoleon, who, however he might admire, never pardoned those whose +attempts on his person showed them utterly reckless of the safety of +their own. + +And now, for a few hours, the whole interest of our narrative centres in +her whom that moment had so completely transformed and made already a +murderess in heart and in purpose. And how thoroughly must that heart +have been steeled, and how entire must have been the banishment of all +counteracting feelings, when she could for a whole day, in the midst of +a household of fellow-servants, and under the watchful eyes of an angry +mistress, continue to discharge her usual tasks, bearing this deadly +purpose in her breast, yet never, by word, look, or gesture, betray the +slightest indication of its dreadful secret,--no, not even so much as to +draw suspicion toward herself after the discovery of the crime! There +was no time or opportunity for preparation, of which little was indeed +necessary; for human life is a frail thing, and a determined hand is +always strong. She had already undergone the most effectual preparation +for such a task,--that of the soul; and when that is once thoroughly +accomplished, not much more is needed: a fact which seems not to be +understood by those patriotic assassins--French and Italian--whose +elaborately contrived infernal-machines do but betray the anxious +precautions taken to insure lives which, according to their own +professions, have been rendered valueless by tyranny, and ought +therefore to be the more freely risked. Felton and Charlotte Corday +understood their business better; but even their preparations may be +called elaborate, compared with those of this poor slave-girl. + +Captain Wilde returned late in the evening with the coveted coach; and +the whole family, white and black, of course, turned out to admire that +crowning addition to the family splendor. But among the noisy group of +the latter there stood one who gazed upon the object of admiration +with thoughts far different from those of her companions; and soon the +careless mirth of all was checked and chilled into silent fear, when +they saw their master take from beneath one of the seats a new specimen +of the well-known green cow-skin, and hand it, with a troubled, +deprecating look, to his wife. Ah! they all knew that appealing look +well, and the hard, relentless frown by which it was answered, as well +as they knew the use of the dreaded instrument itself. But there was +only one among them who comprehended its immediate purpose. The glance +of cruel meaning which the tyranness, after having examined the lithe, +twisted rod critically for an instant, cast upon the object of her +malice, probably banished the last lingering hesitation from the breast +of the latter,--who turned away ostensibly to the performance of her +accustomed duties, but in reality to settle the details of a crime +unsurpassed in coolness and resolution by aught recorded of pirate or +highwayman. It was probably during the hours immediately succeeding +Captain Wilde's return that her deadly purpose shaped itself forth in +the plan finally executed; because it was not till then that she became +cognizant of all the circumstances which entered into its formation. +Seldom have more nicely calculated combinations entered into the plots +of criminals, and never was a plot depending on so many chances more +completely successful. Yet the pivot of the whole, as often in more +extensive schemes of homicide, is to be found in the reckless daring and +utter disregard of personal safety manifested throughout. For this alone +she seems to have made no calculations and taken no precautions; +her whole mind being bent apparently on the solution of one single +difficulty,--how to approach her enemy undetected. + +As to the details of this affair, let us mention one or two facts, and +then the conduct of the murderess will itself explain them. We have +already stated that the only child of Captain and Mrs. Wilde, an infant +about eighteen months old, was at this time dangerously ill. For a +fortnight it had been the custom of the parents to sit up with it on +alternate nights, this night it being the father's regular turn to +perform that duty; but his trip of twenty-five or thirty miles had +fatigued him so much that it was judged best for his wife to relieve +him,--his slumbers being usually so profound as to be almost lethargic, +so that, when once fairly asleep, the loudest noises even in the same +room would fail to arouse him, and it being feared, therefore, that the +little patient might suffer, if left to his care in his present state of +weariness. In the same room slept a young negro girl, whose duty it was +to carry the child into the open air when occasion required,--an office +which Fanny herself had more than once performed. The reader will note +how ingeniously every one of these circumstances was woven into the +girl's scheme of death, and how each was made subservient to the end in +view. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock on the night of the 18th of July, 17--, everything had +become quiet about that lonely farm-house, so completely isolated in the +midst of its wide plantation that the barking of the dogs at the nearest +dwellings was barely heard in the profound stillness. A dim light, as +if from a deeply shaded candle, shone from one of the casements to the +right of the hall-door, showing where the parents watched by the bed of +their suffering infant. Along the high-road, which, a few rods in front, +stretched white and silent in the moonlight between its long lines of +worm-fences, a solitary traveller on horseback was journeying at this +hour. This gentleman afterward remembered being more than usually +impressed by the air of peace and repose that reigned about the place, +as he rode under the tall locust-trees which skirted the yard and cast +their dark shadows over into the highway. But he did not see a female +form flitting furtively from the negro-quarters in the rear, toward the +house; and a shade of suspicion might have crossed his mind, had he +glanced back a moment later and beheld that form approach the lighted +window with stealthy, cautious steps, and peer long and intently through +the partially drawn curtains upon the scene within, then, stooping low, +glide along the moonlit wall and disappear beneath the short flight of +wooden steps that led up to the front-door. + +Here ensconced, safe from observation, the murderess lay listening to +every sound in the sick-room above. Ten,--eleven,--twelve,--one,--sounded +from the clock in the dining-room on the other side of the hall. +For three hours has she crouched there, but the opportunity +she expected has not yet come. The moon was setting and deep +darkness beginning to envelop the earth, when, just as she was about to +steal forth and regain her cabin unobserved, the door above her head +opened, and the young negro nurse, still half-asleep, came forth, stood +for a moment upon the topmost step to recover her senses, and then, with +the wailing infant in her arms, descended and passed round the corner of +the house. She had barely disappeared when the murderess crept from her +lair, and, swift and noiseless as a serpent or a cat, glided up the +steps through the open door, and in another moment had again concealed +herself beneath the leaves of a large table that stood in the hall +close to the door of the sick-room, which, standing ajar, gave her an +opportunity of studying once more the situation of things within. In the +corner farthest from her lurking-place stood the bed on which her master +was slumbering, concealing with its curtains the front-window against +which it was placed. At the foot of this, under the other front-window, +was the pallet of the nurse, and midway between it and the door through +which she peered was the low trundle-bed of the sick child, on which at +this moment lay the mother,--soon to become a mother again; while at +the farther end of the room a candle was burning dimly upon the hearth. +Thus, for half an hour, the murderess crouched within a few feet of her +victim and watched, noting every circumstance with the eye of a beast of +prey about to spring. At the end of that time the nurse returned, placed +the quieted child beside its mother, and, closing the door, retired to +her own pallet, whence her loud breathing almost immediately told that +she was asleep. Still with bated breath the mulatto waited, stooping +with her ear at the keyhole till the regular respirations of the mother +and the softened panting of the little invalid assured her that all +was safe. Then, at last, turning the handle of the latch silently and +gradually, she glided into the room and stood by the side of her victim. + +The whole range of imaginative literature cannot furnish an incident +of more absorbing interest; nor can the whole history of the theatre +exhibit a situation of more tremendous scenical power than was presented +at this moment in that chamber of doom. The four unconscious sleepers +with the murderess in the midst of them, bending with hard, glittering +eyes over her prey, while around them all the huge shadows cast by the +dim, untrimmed light, like uncouth monsters, rose, flitted, and fell, as +if in a goblin-dance of joy over the scene of approaching guilt. Sleep, +solemn at any time, becomes almost awful when we gaze upon it amid the +stillness of night, so mysterious is it, and so near akin to the deeper +mystery of death,--so peaceful, with a peace so much like that of the +grave: men could scarcely comprehend the idea of the one, if they were +not acquainted with the reality of the other. There lay the mother, with +her arms around her sleeping child, whose painful breathing showed that +it suffered even while it slept. Such a spectacle might have moved the +hardest heart to pity; but it possessed no such power over that of the +desperate slave, whose vindictive purpose never wavered for an instant. +Passing round the bed, she stooped and softly encircled the emaciated +little neck with her fingers. One quick, strong gripe,--the poor, weak +hands were thrown up, a soft gasp and a slight spasm, and it was done. +The frail young life, which had known little except suffering, and which +disease would probably have extinguished in a few hours or days, was +thus at once and almost painlessly cut short by the hand of violence. + +And now at last the way was clear. "I knew," said she afterwards, "the +situation of my mistress; and I thought that by jumping upon her with my +knees I should kill her at once." Disturbed by the slight struggle of +the dying child, Mrs. Wilde moved uneasily for a moment, and again sunk +into quietude, lying with her face--that hard, cold face--upward. This +was the opportunity for the destroyer. Bounding with all her might from +the floor, she came down with bended knees upon the body of her victim. +But the shock, though severe, was not fatal; and with a loud cry of +"Oh, Captain Wilde, help me!" she, by a convulsive effort, threw her +assailant to the floor. Though stunned and bewildered by the suddenness +and violence of the attack, the wretched woman in that terrible moment +recognized her enemy, and felt the desperate purpose with which she was +animated, and so recognizing and so feeling, must have known in that +momentary interval all that the human soul can know of despair and +terror. But it was only for a moment; for, before she could utter a +second cry for help, the baffled assailant was again upon her with the +bound of a tigress. A blind and breathless struggle ensued between the +desperate ferocity of the slave and the equally desperate terror of the +mistress; while faster and wilder went the huge, dim shadows in their +goblin-dance, as the yellow flame flared and flickered in the agitated +air. For a few moments, indeed, the result of the struggle seemed +doubtful, and Mrs. Wilde at length, by a violent effort, raised herself +almost upright, with the infuriated slave still hanging to her throat; +but the latter converted this into an advantage, by suddenly throwing +her whole weight upon the breast of her mistress, thus casting her +violently backward across the head-board of the bed, and dislocating the +spine. Another half-uttered cry, a convulsive struggle, and the deed was +accomplished. One slight shiver crept over the limbs, and then the body +hung limp and lifeless where it had fallen,--the head resting upon the +floor, on which the long raven hair was spread abroad in a disordered +mass. The victor gazed coolly on her work while recovering breath; and +then, to make assurance doubly sure, took up, as she thought, a stocking +from the bed and deliberately tied it tight round the neck of the +corpse. Then, gliding to the door, she quitted the scene of her fearful +labors as noiselessly as she had entered, leaving behind her not one +trace of her presence,--but leaving, unintentionally, a most fatal false +trace, which suspicion continued to follow until it had run an entirely +innocent man to his grave. The last act of the drama of woman's passion +and woman's revenge was over; the tragedy of man's suffering and +endurance still went on. + +How or by whom the terrible spectacle in that chamber of death was +first discovered we are not told. All we know, from the reports of the +negroes, is, that Captain Wilde, who seemed stupefied at first, suddenly +passed into a state of excitement little short of distraction,--now +raving, as if to an imaginary listener, and then questioning and +threatening those about him with incoherent violence. To these simple +observers such conduct was entirely incomprehensible; but we may easily +suppose that at this moment the unfortunate man first realized the +fearful nature of the circumstances which surrounded him, and perceived +the abyss which had yawned so suddenly at his feet. And no wonder that +he shrank back from the prospect, overwhelmed for the moment with +consternation and despair,--not the prospect of death, but of a +degradation far worse to the proud spirit of the Kentucky gentleman, +on whose good name even political hatred had never been able to fix a +stain. + +The terrified negroes carried the alarm to the nearest neighbors, and +soon the report of this appalling occurrence was flying like lightning +toward the utmost bounds of the county. The first stranger who reached +the scene of death was Mr. Summers, formerly an intimate friend of +Captain Wilde. When he entered the room, he found the poor gentleman +on his knees beside the body of his child, with his face buried in the +bed-clothes. At the sound of footsteps he raised his wild, tearless +eyes, exclaiming, "My God! my God! Mr. Summers, my wife has been +murdered here, in my own room, and it will be laid on me!" Shocked by +the almost insane excitement of his old friend, and sensible of the +imprudence of his words, Summers begged him to compose himself, pointing +out the danger of such language. But the terrible thought had mastered +his mind with a monomaniacal power, and to every effort at consolation +from those who successively came in the only reply was, "Oh, my God, +it will all be laid upon me!" Fortunately, those who heard these +expressions were old friends, who, although they had been long +unfamiliar, knew the native uprightness of the man, and still felt +kindly toward one whose estrangement they knew was the effect of weak +submission to the dictation of his wife, not the result of any change in +his own feelings. They regarded his wild words as only the incoherent +utterances of a mind bewildered by horror, and were anxious to put an +end to the harrowing scene, and remove the stricken man as soon as +possible from the observation of a mixed crowd that was now rapidly +assembling from all directions, many of whom knew Captain Wilde only +in his unpopular capacity of exciseman, and would therefore be apt to +suspect a darker explanation of his strange behavior. + +So shocking had been the sight presented to their eyes, on entering +the room, that hitherto no one had had sufficient presence of mind to +examine the bodies closely; but at last Mr. Summers, cooler than the +rest, approached to raise that of Mrs. Wilde, and then, for the first +time, perceived the bandage about her neck. It proved to be _a white +silk neckerchief_, which Summers removed and began to examine. As he +did so, his face was seen to grow suddenly pale as death. All pressed +anxiously forward to see, and a silent, but fearfully significant +look passed round the circle; for in one corner, embroidered in large +letters, was the name of _Cyril Wilde_. As silently every eye sought the +devoted man, and on many countenances the look of doubt settled at once +into one of conviction, when they saw that he wore no cravat; and to +many ears the heart-broken moan of the wretched husband and father, +which a moment before seemed only the foreboding of over-sensitive +innocence, now sounded like the voice of self-accusing guilt. So great +is the power of imagination in modifying our beliefs! + +After such a discovery an arrest followed as a matter of course; and a +popular feeling adverse to the accused quickly manifested itself in +the community. But it is pleasant to know, that, in spite of all +appearances, many of Captain Wilde's old friends never lost faith in his +innocence, or hesitated to renew in his hour of adversity the kindly +relations that had existed before his marriage; while his own +kindred stood by him and bravely fought his hopeless battle to the +last,--employing as his advocate the celebrated John Breckenridge, who +was then almost without a rival at the Kentucky bar. But, on the other +hand, his wife's family pursued their unfortunate relative with a +savageness of hatred hardly to be paralleled. Having hunted him to the +very foot of the scaffold, their persevering malice seemed unsated even +by the sight of their victim suspended as a felon before their very +eyes; for it was reported, at the time, that two of the murdered woman's +brothers were seen upon the ground during the execution. + +And now it was that the unpopularity resulting from Captain Wilde's +official employment manifested its most baleful effects. Had he +possessed at this crisis the same general good-will he had enjoyed four +years before, he might have bid defiance to the rage of his enemies, and +have escaped, in spite of all the suspicious circumstances by which he +stood environed. For the general drift of sentiment in the West has +always been against capital penalties, and it is next to impossible +to carry such penalties into effect against a popular favorite. In a +country like this we might as soon expect to see the hands of a clock +move in a direction contrary to the machinery by which it is governed, +as a jury to run counter to plainly declared popular feelings. There may +now and then be instances of their acquitting contrary to the general +sentiment, where that sentiment is unimpassioned; but we much doubt +whether there has ever occurred a single example of a jury convicting a +person in whose favor the sympathy of a whole community was warmly and +earnestly expressed. Of such sympathy Captain Wilde had none; for to the +great majority he was known only as the exciseman, and as such was an +object of hostility. Not that this hostility at any time took the form +of insult and abuse,--for we are proud to say that outside of the large +towns such disgraceful exhibitions of feeling are unknown,--but it +left the minds of the general mass liable to be operated on by all +the suspicious circumstances of the case, and by the slanders of the +personal enemies of the accused. + +On the 23d of November, an immense crowd of people, both men and women, +were assembled in the court-house at ---- to witness a trial which was +to fix a dark stain on the judicial annals of Kentucky, and in which, +for the thousandth time, a court of justice was to be led fatally astray +by the accursed thing called Circumstantial Evidence, and made the +instrument of that most deplorable of all human tragedies, a formal, +legalized murder. It is one of the most glaring inconsistencies of our +law, that it admits, in a trial where the life of a citizen is at stake, +a species of testimony which it regards as too inconclusive and too +liable to misconstruction to be allowed in a civil suit involving, it +may be, less than the value of a single dollar. True, it is a favorite +maxim of prosecutors, that "circumstances will not lie"; but it requires +little acquaintance with the history of criminal trials to prove that +circumstantial evidence has murdered more innocent men than all the +false witnesses and informers who ever disgraced courts of justice by +their presence; and the slightest reflection will convince us that this +shallow sophism contains even less practical truth than the general mass +of proverbs and maxims, proverbially false though they be. For not only +is the chance of falsehood, on the part of the witness who details the +circumstances, greater,--since a false impression can be conveyed with +far less risk of detection by distortion and exaggeration of a fact than +by the invention of a direct lie,--but there is the additional danger of +an honest misconception on his part; and every lawyer knows how hard +it is for a dull witness to distinguish between the facts and his +impressions of them, and how impossible it often is to make a witness +detail the former without interpolating the latter. But the greatest +risk of all is that the jury themselves may misconstrue the +circumstances, and draw unwarranted conclusions therefrom. It is an +awful assumption of responsibility to leap to conclusions in such cases, +and the leap too often proves to have been made in the dark. God help +the wretch who is arraigned on suspicious appearances before a jury who +believe that "circumstances won't lie"! for the Justice that presides at +such a trial is apt to prove as blind and capricious as Chance herself. +In reviewing the present trial in particular, one may well feel puzzled +to decide which of these deities presided over its conduct. A Greek or +Roman would have said, Neither,--but a greater than either,--Fate; and +we might almost adopt the old heathen notion, as we watch the downward +course of the doomed gentleman from this point, and note how invariably +every attempt to ward off destruction is defeated, as if by the +persevering malice of some superior power. We shall soon see the most +popular and influential attorney of the State driven from the case by an +awkward misunderstanding; another, hardly inferior, expire almost in +the very act of pleading it; and, finally, when the real criminal +comes forward, at the last moment, to avert the ruin which she has +involuntarily drawn down upon the head of her beloved master, and +take his place upon the scaffold, we shall behold her heroic offer of +self-sacrifice frustrated by influences the most unexpected,--political +influences which--with shame be it told--were sufficient to induce a +governor of Kentucky to withhold the exercise of executive clemency, the +most glorious prerogative intrusted to our chief magistrates, and +which it ought to have been a most pleasing privilege to grant: for, +incredible as it may seem, Governor ---- knew, when he signed the +death-warrant, that the man he was consigning to an ignominious grave +was innocent of the crime for which he was to suffer. + +The trial was opened in the presence of a crowded assembly, among whom +it was easy to discern that general conviction of the prisoner's guilt +so chilling to the spirits of a defendant and his counsel, and so much +deprecated by the latter, because he knows too well how far it goes +toward a prejudgment of his cause. Several of the most prominent members +of the bar had been retained by the family of Mrs. Wilde to assist the +State's attorney in the prosecution. In the defence John Breckenridge +stood alone, needing no help; for all knew that whatever man could do in +behalf of his client would be done by him. The prisoner himself, upon +whom all eyes were turned, appeared dejected, but calm, like one who had +resigned all hope. The ominous foreboding, which had so overcome him on +the fatal morning of the murder, had never left him for a single moment. +From that hour he had looked upon himself as doomed, and had yielded +only a passive acquiescence in the measures of defence proposed by +his friends, awaiting the fate which he regarded as inevitable with +a patience almost apathetic. Adversity brought out in bold relief +qualities that might have sustained a cause whose victories are +martyrdoms, but how useless to one requiring active heroism! + +All the damaging facts attending the discovery of the murder--the +failure of any signs of a stranger's presence in the apartment, the +peculiar behavior of the accused, the finding of his cravat on the neck +of the corpse, his acknowledgment of having worn it on the previous +day--were fully, but impartially, detailed by the witnesses for the +Commonwealth. No one could deny that the circumstances were strongly +against the prisoner: and these shadows, at best, and too often mere +delusive mirages of truth, the law allows to be weighed against the life +of a man. Against these shadows all the powers of Breckenridge were +taxed to the uttermost; and he might have succeeded, for his eloquence +was most persuasive, and his influence over the minds of the people +nearly unlimited, had not a false witness appeared to add strength by +deliberate perjuries to a case already strong. It was the ungrateful +sister-in-law of the accused, who had owed to him a home and an asylum +from the merited scorn of her family and the world, who now came forward +to complete the picture of her own detestable character, and put the +finishing hand to her unhallowed work, by swearing away that life which +her arts had rendered scarcely worth defending, could death have come +unaccompanied by disgrace. With a manner betraying suppressed, but +ill-concealed eagerness, and in language prompt and fluent, as if +reciting by rote a carefully kept journal, she went on to detail every +fault or neglect or impatient act of her relative, not sparing exposure +of the most delicate domestic events, at the same time carefully +suppressing all mention of his provocations. In reply to the question, +whether she had ever witnessed any violence that led her to fear +personal danger to her sister, she replied, that, on one occasion, +Captain Wilde, being displeased at something in relation to the +preparation of a meal, seized a large carving-knife and flung it at his +wife, who only escaped further outrage by flying from the house. On +another occasion, she remembered, he became furiously angry because her +sister wished him to see some guests, and, seizing her by the hair, +dragged her to the door of his study, and cast her into the hall so +violently that she lay senseless upon the floor until accidentally +discovered,--her husband not even calling assistance. It is easy to +imagine what an effect such exposures of the habitual brutality of the +man, narrated by a near relation of the sufferer, and interrupted at +proper intervals by sobs and tears, would have upon an impulsive jury, +obliged to derive their knowledge of the case wholly from such a source, +and already strongly impressed by the circumstantial details with a +presumption unfavorable to the defendant. Now, since there were other +persons in the court-house who had witnessed these two scenes of alleged +maltreatment, it may seem strange that they were not brought forward +to contradict this woman on those two points, which would at once have +destroyed the effect of her entire testimony,--the maxim, _Falsum in +uno, falsum in omnibus_, being always readily applied in such cases. Had +this been done, a reaction of popular feeling would almost certainly +have followed in favor of the accused, which might have borne him safely +through, in spite of all the presumptive proof against him. For nothing +is truer than Lord Clarendon's observation, that, "when a man is shown +to be less guilty than he is charged, people are very apt to consider +him more innocent than he may actually be." But in this case the +falsehood was secured from exposure by its very magnitude, until it was +too late for such exposure to be of any benefit to the prisoner. The +persons who had beheld the scenes as they really occurred never thought +of identifying them with brutal outrages, now narrated under oath, at +which their hearts grew hard toward the unmanly perpetrator as they +listened. + +Against the strong array of facts and fictions presented by the +prosecution the only circumstance that could be urged by the counsel for +the prisoner was, that the child was murdered along with the mother; +and this could only avail to strengthen a presumption of innocence, had +innocence been otherwise rendered probable; but when a conviction of +his guilt had been arrived at already, it merely served to increase the +atrocity of his crime, and to insure the enforcement of its penalty. + +After a two days' struggle, in which every resource of reason and +eloquence was exhausted by the defendant's counsel, the judge proceeded +to a summing up which left the jury scarcely an option, even had they +been inclined to acquit. The latter withdrew in the midst of a deep and +solemn silence, while the respectful demeanor of the spectators showed +that at last a feeling of pity was beginning to steal into their hearts +for the unhappy gentleman, who still sat, as he had done during those +two long days of suspense, with his face buried in his hands, as +motionless as a statue. A profound stillness reigned in the hall during +the absence of the jury, broken only occasionally by a stifled sob from +some of the ladies present. After an absence of less than an hour the +jury returned and handed in a written verdict; and as the fatal word +"Guilty" fell from the white lips of the agitated clerk, the calmest +face in that whole vast assembly was that of him whom it doomed to +the ignominious death of a felon. And calm he had been ever since the +dreadful morning of his arrest; for the vial of wrath had then been +broken upon his head, and he had tasted the whole bitterness of an agony +which can be endured but a short while, and can never be felt a second +time. For, as intense heat quickly destroys the vitality of the nerves +on which it acts, and as flesh once deeply cauterized by fire is +thenceforth insensible to impressions of pain, so the soul over which +one of the fiery agonies of life has passed can never experience a +repetition thereof. Besides, it is well known that the anticipation of +an unjust accusation is far more agitating to a virtuous man than the +reality, which is sure to arouse that strange martyr-spirit wherewith +injustice always arms its victim, and supported by which alone even the +most timid men have often suffered with fortitude, and the most unworthy +died with dignity. + +At that time the judicial arrangements of Kentucky allowed an appeal, +in criminal cases, from the Circuit to the District Court; and it +was determined to carry this cause before the latter tribunal, Mr. +Breckenridge declaring that he believed he should be able to reverse the +verdict. On what ground he founded this opinion we do not know: whether +he felt convinced that the local prejudice against his client and the +influence of his enemies in the County of ---- had mainly contributed to +bring about the unfavorable result of the present hearing, and he hoped +to escape these adverse agencies by a change of venue,--or whether +he counted on a change of public feeling after the first burst of +excitement had subsided, to bear him through,--or whether he had +discovered the falsehood of the testimony of the sister-in-law,--or, +finally, whether it was that he had obtained a clearer and more +favorable insight into the case, and recognized grounds of hope +therein,--it is impossible now to say. But it is certain, that to +the defendant and his friends he declared his confidence of a final +acquittal, if the cause were transferred to the appellate court; and +John Breckenridge was not a man to boast emptily, or to hold out hopes +which he knew could never be realized. But at this crisis occurred a +strange misunderstanding, which drove from the support of the wretched +victim of Fate the only man who thoroughly understood the case in all +its minutest details, and would have been most likely to conduct it to +a happy termination. When the preparations for the last struggle were +almost completed, and the time set for the final trial drew near, Mr. +McC----, who, as Captain Wilde's brother-in-law, had been most active +and zealous in his behalf, was informed by some officious intermeddler +that Breckenridge had said in confidential conversation among his +friends, "that the case was entirely desperate, that he had no hope +whatever of altering the verdict by an appeal, and the family would save +money by letting the law take its course, there being no doubt of the +justice of the sentence." Mr. McC----, believing that he might rely on +the word of his informant, unfortunately, without making any inquiry as +to the truth of the tale, and without assigning any reason, wrote to Mr. +Breckenridge a curt letter of dismissal, and immediately employed George +---- to conduct the further defence. This gentleman, surpassed by no +man in Kentucky as a logician, lawyer, and orator, was inferior to the +discarded attorney in that great requisite of a jury-lawyer, personal +popularity, besides laboring under the disadvantage of being new to the +case, and having but a short time to make himself acquainted with its +details. Personal pique and professional punctilio, of course, withheld +his predecessor from affording any further assistance or advice in a +business from which he had been so summarily dismissed. We cannot now +measure accurately the effect of this change of counsel; we only know, +that, at the time, it was considered most disastrous by those having the +best opportunities of judging. + +But if Mr. ---- went into the cause under this disadvantage, he was +spurred on by the consideration that in his client he was defending a +friend: for they had been friends in youth, and, though long separated, +the tie had never been interrupted. Hence he threw himself into the case +with an ardor which money could never have inspired, and in the course +of the few remaining days had succeeded in mastering all its essential +points. + +The interest excited by this second trial was as deep and far more +widely spread than by the first. Few proceedings of the kind in Kentucky +ever called together a crowd at once so large and intelligent, a great +proportion being lawyers, who had been induced to attend by the desire +to witness what it was expected would be one of the most brilliant +efforts of an eminent member of their fraternity. + +The principal difference between the two trials was, that, on this +occasion, the testimony of the sister-in-law was much damaged by the +exposure both of her exaggerations and suppressions of important facts +touching the incident at the breakfast-table. Having incautiously +allowed herself to be drawn into particularizing so minutely as to fix +the exact date, and so positively as to render retraction impossible, +she was, to her own evident discomfiture, flatly contradicted by more +than one of those present on that occasion, who described the scene +as it actually occurred. Of course, after such a revelation of +untruthfulness, her whole testimony became liable to suspicion, the +more violent that the falsehood was plainly intentional. Moreover, the +defendant was now provided with evidence of the constant and intolerable +provocations to which he had been subjected during the whole of his +married life. Of this, however, the most moderate and guarded use was to +be made; because, while it was necessary, by exposing the true character +and habitual violence of his wife, to relieve the prisoner of that load +of public indignation which had been excited against him on account +of his alleged brutality, it was even more important that no strong +resentment should be supposed to have grown up on his part against his +tormentor. This delicate task was managed by the attorney with such +consummate skill, that, when the evidence on both sides was closed, +public sympathy, if not public conviction, had undergone a very +perceptible change. The prosecutors, aware of this, felt the success of +their case endangered, and exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent +the tide, now almost in equilibrium, from ebbing back with a violence +proportionate to that of its flow. But the argument even of their ablest +champion, John ----, seemed almost puerile, in comparison with this, the +last effort of George ----,--an effort which was long remembered, even +less on account of its melancholy termination than for its extraordinary +eloquence. The Kentuckians of that day were accustomed to hear +Breckenridge, Clay, Talbot, Allen, and Grundy, all men of singular +oratorical fame,--but never, we have heard it affirmed, was a more +moving appeal poured into the ears of a Kentucky jury. Availing himself +of every resource of professional skill, he now demonstrated, to the +full satisfaction of many, the utter inadequacy of the circumstantial +evidence upon which so much stress had been laid to justify a +conviction,--sifting and weighing carefully every fact and detail, +and trying the conclusions that had been drawn therefrom by the most +rigorous and searching logic,--and then, assailing the credibility of +the testimony brought forward to prove the habitual cruelty of his +client, he gave utterance to a withering torrent of invective and +sarcasm, in which the character of the main hostile witness shrivelled +and blackened like paper in a flame. Then--having been eight hours on +his feet--he began to avail himself of that last dangerous resource +which genius only may use,--the final arrow in the lawyer's quiver, +which is so hard to handle rightly, and, failing, may prove worse than +useless, but, sped by a strong hand and true aim, often tells decisively +on a hesitating jury,--we mean a direct appeal to their feelings. Like a +skilful leader who gathers all his exhausted squadrons when he sees the +crisis of battle approaching, the great advocate seemed now to summon +every overtaxed power of body and spirit to his aid, as he felt that the +moment was come when he must wring an acquittal from the hearts of his +hearers. Nor did either soul or intellect fail at the call. Higher and +stronger surged the tide of passionate eloquence, until every one felt +that the icy barrier was beginning to yield,--for tears were already +seen on more than one of the faces now leaning breathlessly forward from +the jury-box to listen,--when all at once a dead silence fell throughout +the hall: the voice whose organ-tones had been filling its remotest +nook suddenly died away in a strange gurgle. Several physicians present +immediately divined what had happened; nor were the multitude near kept +long in doubt; for all saw, at the next moment, a crimson stream welling +forth from those lips just now so eloquent,--checking their eloquence, +alas, forever! It was quickly reported through the assembly that the +speaker had ruptured one of the larger blood-vessels in the lungs. The +accident was too dangerous for delay, and George ---- was borne almost +insensible from the scene of his struggles and his triumphs, to reenter, +as it proved, no more. He lived but three days longer,--long enough, +however, to learn that he had sacrificed his life in vain, the jury +having, after a lengthened consideration, affirmed the former verdict +against his friend and client. + +The unfortunate man stood up to receive this second sentence with the +same face of impassive misery with which he had listened to the first. +To the solemn mockery, "If he had anything to urge why sentence of death +should not be passed upon him," he shook his head wearily, and answered, +"Nothing." It was evident that his mind was failing fast under the +overwhelming weight of calamity. It was sad to see this high-born, +but ill-fated gentleman thus bowing humbly to a felon's doom; and the +remembrance of that scene must have been a life-long remorse to his +judges, when the events of a few weeks revealed to them the terrible +truth, that he was innocent of the crime for which they had condemned +him. + +We will not dwell upon the events alluded to; for even at the distance +of nearly three-quarters of a century they are too painful and +humiliating. Suffice it to say, that, when the murderess discovered that +her beloved master was to suffer for her crime, and that no other chance +of salvation remained, she made a full confession of the whole matter. +But the sentence had been pronounced, and the power of suspending its +execution rested with the Governor; and that dignitary--let his name, +in charity, remain unsaid--was about to be a candidate for reelection to +the office which he disgraced, while the family of the murdered lady was +one of the most extensive and influential in the State, the whole of +which influence was thrown into the scale against mercy and justice. +With what result was seen, when, on the morning of the ---- of April, +17--, the prison-doors were opened for the last time for his passage, +and Cyril Wilde was led forth to the execution of an iniquitous +sentence, though, even while the sad cart was moving slowly, very +slowly, through the crowded, strangely silent street, some of the very +men who had pronounced it were imploring the Governor almost on their +knees that it might be stayed. The prisoner alone seemed impatient to +hasten the reluctant march, and meet the final catastrophe. He knew of +the efforts that were making to save him, and the confession on which +they were founded. He had listened to hopeful words and confident +predictions; but no expression of hope had thereby been kindled for an +instant on his pale, dejected face. The ominous premonition which had +come upon him at the moment of that first overpowering realization of +his danger continued to gain strength with every successive stroke of +untoward Fate, until it had become the ruling idea of his mind, in which +there grew up the sort of desperate impatience with which we long for +any end we know to be inevitable. The waters of his life had been so +mingled with gall, and the bitter draught so long pressed to his lips, +that now he seemed only eager to drain at once the last dregs, and cast +the hated cup from him forever,--impatient to find peace and rest in +the grave, even if it were the grave of a felon, and at the foot of the +gallows. + +Here let the curtain fall upon the sad closing scene. We will only +remark, in conclusion, that the name and family of this ill-fated victim +of false and circumstantial evidence have long since disappeared from +the land where they had known such disgrace; and but few persons are +now living who can recall the foregoing details of the once celebrated +"Wilde Tragedy." + + + + +CRAWFORD'S STATUES AT RICHMOND. + + + Long I owe a song, my Brother, to thy dear and deathless claim; + Long I've paused before thy ashes, in my poverty and shame: + Something stirs me now from silence, with a fixed and awful breath; + 'Tis the offspring of thy genius, that was parent to thy death. + + They were murderous, these statues; as they left thy teeming brain, + Their hurry and their thronging rent the mother-mould in twain: + So the world that takes them sorrowful their beauties must deplore; + From the portals whence they issued lovely things shall pass no more. + + With a ghostly presence wait they in a stern and dark remorse, + As the marbles they are watching were sepulchral to thy corse; + Nay, one draws his cloak about him, and the other standeth free + With his patriot arms uplifted to the grasp of Liberty. + + Shall I speak to you, ye silent ones? Your father lies at rest, + With the mighty impulse folded, like a banner, to his breast; + Ye are crowned with remembrance, and the glory of men's eyes; + But within that heart, low buried, some immortal virtue lies. + + When with heavy strain and pressure ye were lifted to your height, + Then his passive weight was lowered to the vaults of sorrowing Night: + They who lifted struggled sorely, ere your robes on high might wave; + They who lowered with a spasm laid such greatness in its grave. + + In the moonlight first I saw you,--with the dawn I take my leave; + Others come to gaze and wonder,--not, like me, to pause and grieve: + Sure, whatever heart doth hasten here, of master or of slave, + This aspect of true nobleness makes merciful and brave. + + But I know the spot they gave him, with the cool green earth above, + Where I saw the torchlight glitter on the tears of widowed love, + And we left his garlands fading;--to redeem that moment's pain, + Would that ye were yet in chaos, and your master back again! + + No! the tears have Nature's passport, but the wish is poor and vain, + Since every noblest human work such sacrifice doth gain; + God appoints the course of Genius, like the sweep of stars and sun: + Honor to the World's rejoicing, and the Will that must be done! + + + + +JOURNAL OF A PRIVATEERSMAN. + + +II. + + +We left our privateer, the Revenge, Captain Norton, of Newport, Rhode +Island, making sail for New Providence, with her lately captured prize. +There was an English Court of Admiralty established on this island, and +here the prize was to be condemned and sold. The Journal begins again on +Monday, 10th August, 1741. + + * * * * * + +_Monday, 10th._ Fine breeze of wind at N.W., with a large sea. At 5 A.M. +saw Hog Island & the island of Providence. Fired a gun & lay to for a +pilot to take us in. At 8 a pilot boat came off, & Jeremiah Harman, +Master of our prize, in her, having arrived the day before. Passed by +the Rose man of war, stationed here. We saluted her with 7 guns, & +she returned us 5. Ran aground for'ard & lay some time off of Major +Stewart's house, but the man of war sent his boat to carry out an anchor +for us, and we got off. The Cap't went ashore to wait on his Excellency, +& sent the pinnace off for the prisoners, who were immediately put in +jail. + +_Thursday, 13th._ Landed all our corn, and made a clear hole of the +prize. At 9 P.M. it began to thunder & lighten very hard. Our sloop +received great damage from a thunderbolt that struck our mast & shivered +it very much, besides tearing a large piece off the hounds. As it fell, +it tore up the bitts, broke in the hatch way, and burst through both our +sides, starting the planks under her wale, melting several cutlasses & +pistols, and firing off several small arms, the bullets of which stuck +in her beam. It was some time before we perceived that she leaked, being +all thunder struck; but when the Master stepped over the side to examine +her, he put his foot on a plank that was started, and all this time the +water had been pouring in. We immediately brought all our guns on the +other side to give her a heel, & sent the boat ashore for the Doctor, +a man having been hurt by the lightning. When we got her on a heel, +we tried the pumps, not being able to do it before, for our careful +carpenter had ne'er a pump box rigged or fit to work; so, had it not +been for the kind assistance of the man of war's people, who came off as +soon as they heard of our misfortune, & put our guns on board the prize, +we must certainly have sunk, most of our own hands being ashore. This +day, James Avery, our boatswain, was turned out for neglect of duty. + +_Friday, 14th._ This morning came on board Cap't Frankland to see the +misfortune we had suffered the night before, & offered to assist us +in all he could. He sent his carpenter, who viewed the mast & said he +thought he could make it do again. The Cap't, hearing of a piece of +timber for his purpose, waited on his Excellency to desire him to lay +his commands on Mr Thompson to spare it him. He sent Mr Scott, Judge of +the Admiralty, to get it in his name, promising to make it good to him +in case of any trouble arising from the timber not belonging to him. +Unloaded all our provisions & put them on board the prize, in order to +get ready for the carpenters to repair the sloop. + +_Saturday, 15th._ A court was called at 4 o'clock P.M., Cap't Norton's +petition read, and an agent appointed for the owners. The Company's +Quartermaster & myself were examined, with John Evergin & Samuel +Eldridge, the two English prisoners, concerning the prize, and so the +court was adjourned till Monday, at 10 of the clock, A.M. + +_Monday, 17th._ The court met according to adjournment. Jean Baptiste +Domas was examined concerning the freedom of the prisoners, and his +deposition taken in writing. All the evidence and depositions were then +read in court, sworn to, and signed, after which the court adjourned to +Wednesday at 10 of the clock. There are no lawyers in this place, the +only blessing that God could bestow on such a litigious people. + +_Wednesday, 19th._ At 10 A.M., the court being opened, & the libel read, +I begged leave of his Honour to be heard, which being granted, I spoke +as follows:[A]-- + +[Footnote A: The speech of Peter Vezian is characteristic of the times +and of the privateering spirit. It gives expression to the popular +hatred of the Spaniards and the Romanists, to the common false charges +against the brave Oglethorpe, to the general inhuman feeling toward +negroes, and to the distrust of the pretenders to religious experience +during the "Great Revival" under the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. +Its faults of diction add to its genuine flavor.] + +May it please your Honour,--As there is no advocate appointed by this +Hon'ble Court to appear in behalf of the Capturers of a sloop taken +by Don Pedro Estrado July the 5th, belonging to some of His Majesty's +subjects of Great Britain or Ireland, and retaken by Cap't Benj. Norton +& Comp'y in a private sloop of war called the Revenge, July the 20th, & +brought into this court for condemnation, I, as Captain's Quartermaster, +appear in behalf of the owners, Cap't, & Comp'y, to prove that the said +sloop & cargo, together with the three mulattoes & one negro, which are +all slaves, belonging to some of the vassals or subjects of the King of +Spain, ought to be condemned for the benefit & use of the capturers as +aforesaid. + +I'm certain I'm undertaking a task for which I am no ways qualified. But +as I have leave to speak in a court instituted by the laws of England, +and before a judge who I am certain is endued with the strictest honour +and justice, I don't doubt, that, if, through ignorance, I should omit +any proof that would be of advantage to us, your Honour will be so good +as to aid & assist me in it. + +It will be needless, I believe, Sir, to bring any further proof than +what has been already brought & sworn to in Court to prove the right & +power we had to seize this sloop & cargo on the high seas, & bring her +here for condemnation. There is a late act of parliament, made in the +12th year of his present Majesty's reign, wherein it says, that all +vessels belonging to His Majesty's subjects of Great Britain or Ireland, +which shall have been taken by the enemy, and have been in their +possession the space of 96 hours, if retaken by any private man of +war, shall belong one half to the capturers, as salvage, free from all +charges. As this has been fully proved in court, that the time the enemy +has had her in possession is above 96 hours, I don't doubt but the one +half, free of all charges, will be allotted us for salvage. The thing +about which there is any dispute is the three mulattoes & one negro, all +slaves, taken by the prize, & said to belong to some vassals or subjects +of the King of Spain; and it is put upon us by this court to prove +that they are so, which I hope to do by several circumstances, and the +insufficiency of the evidence in their favour, which amounts to nothing +more than hearsay. + +The first evidence in their favour is that of John Evergin, a native +of N'o Carolina, who professes himself to be a child of the Spirit. In +April last, having been taken prisoner by the said Don Pedro Estrado, & +brought to S't Augustine, he consented, for the value of a share in the +profits, to pilot them in the bowels of his native country, and betrayed +his countrymen to that cruel and barbarous nation. Can your Honour +confide in a man who has betrayed his countrymen, robbed them of their +lives, and what was dearer to them, their liberty? One who has exposed +his brethren to imminent danger & reduced them and their families to +extreme want by fire & sword, can the evidence, I say, of such a vile +wretch, who has forfeited his liege to his King by entering the enemy's +service, and unnaturally sold his countrymen, be of any weight in a +court of justice? No, I am certain, and I hope it will meet with none to +prove that these slaves are freemen; for all that he has said, by his +own confession, was only but hearsay. The other evidence is of a villain +of another stamp, a French runnagado, Jean Baptiste Domas. His evidence +is so contradictory that I hope it will meet the same fate as I think +will befall the first. I will own that he has sworn to it. But how? On a +piece of stick made in the shape of a thing they name a cross, said to +be blest and sanctified by the polluted words & hands of a wretched +priest, a spawn of the whore of Babylon, who is a monster of nature & +a servant to the Devil, who for a _real_ will pretend to absolve his +followers from perjury, incest, or parricide, and canonize them for +cruelties committed upon we heretics, as they style us, and even rank +them in the number of those cursed saints who by their barbarity have +rendered their names immortal & odious to all true believers. By devils +such as these they swear, and to them they pray. Can your Honour, then, +give credit to such evidence, when there is no doubt that it was agreed +between the witnesses to swear that the negroes were free? This they +might easily do, for there is no question but they told him so; and to +swear it was but a trifle, when absolution can be got so cheap. It does +not stand to reason, that slaves, who are in hopes of getting their +freedom, would acknowledge themselves to be slaves. Do not their +complexion and features tell all the world that they are the blood of +negroes, and have sucked slavery & cruelty from their infancy? Can any +one think, when we call to mind that barbarous action[B] committed +on his Majesty's brave subjects at the retaking of the fort at S't +Augustine, which was occasioned by the treachery of their vile General, +when he sacrificed them to that barbarous colour, that it was done by +any who had the least drop of blood either of liberty or Christianity +in them? No, I am confident your Honour can't think so; no, not even of +their Gov'r, under whose vile commission this was suffered to be done, +and went unpunished. It was headed by this Francisco, that cursed seed +of Cain, cursed from the foundation of the world, who has the impudence +to come into Court and plead that he is free. Slavery is too good for +such a savage; nay, all the cruelty invented by man will never make +amends for so vile a proceeding; and if I may be allowed to speak +freely, with submission, the torments of the world to come will not +suffice. God forgive me, if I judge unjustly! What a miserable state +must that man be in, who is under the jurisdiction of that vile & cruel +colour! I pity my poor fellow creatures who may have been made prisoners +in this war, and especially some that were lately sent to the Havanah, +and all by the treachery of that vile fellow, John Evergin, who says he +is possessed with the spirit of the inward man, but was possessed with +the spirit of Beelzebub, when he piloted the cursed Spaniards over the +bar of Obricock, as it has been proved in Court. + +[Footnote B: It was reported that the English and American prisoners of +war had been barbarously mutilated and tortured.] + +I don't doubt but this tragical act, acted at St Augustine, has reached +home before now. This case, perhaps, may travel as far; and when they +remember the sufferings of their countrymen under the command of this +Francisco, whom we have got in possession, together with some of his +comp'y who were concerned with him & under his command in that inhuman +act, they will agree, no doubt, as I hope your Honour will, that they +must be slaves who were concerned in it. I hope, therefore, that by the +contradictions which have been shown in Court between this Jean Baptiste +Domas, who affirms he never saw them till on board the privateer, and +the evidence of Francisco & Augustine, which proves that they knew him +some months before, and conversed with him, is proof enough they are +slaves; and I hope that by the old law of nations, where it says that +all prisoners of war, nay, even their posterity, are slaves, that by +that law Pedro Sanche & Andrew Estavie will be deemed such for the use +of the capturers. So I rest it with your Honour. + +Then the Judge gave his decree, that the sloop & cargo should be sold at +vendue, & the one half thereof should be paid the Capturers for salvage, +free from all charges; that Jean Baptiste Domas, Pedro Sanche, & Andrew +Estavie, according to the laws of England, should remain as prisoners of +war till ransomed; and that Augustine & Francisco, according to the +laws of the plantations, should be the slaves, & for the use of the +Capturers. So the Court broke up. + +_Friday, 21st._ This day made an end of selling the cargo of the prize. +Sold 55 bush. corn, 41 bb's pork, 6 bb's of beef, 4 bb's of oil, and +then set up Signor Cap't Francisco under the name of Don Blass. He was +sold to Mr. Stone for 34L 8s. 8d. Pork & beef very much damnified. + +_Thursday, 27th._ Got all our sails & powder from on shore, and took an +inventory of the prize's rigging and furniture, as she was to be sold on +Saturday next. Capt Frankland came on board to view her, intending to +buy her, I believe. + +_Saturday, 29th._ To-day the sloop & furniture was sold, & bought by +Cap't Frankland. + +_Monday, 31st._ The captain settled with everybody, intending to sail +to-morrow. He took bills of Exchange of Capt Frankland on his brother, +Messrs. Frankland & Lightfoot, merchants in Boston, and endorsed by the +Company's Quartermaster, for 540L, New England currency. The first bill +he sent to Cap't Freebody by Capt Green, bound to Boston in the prize, +with a letter. + +_Wednesday, Sept. 2nd._ This morning at 8 A.M. weighed anchor, having a +pilot on board. The man of war's barge with their Lieut came on board to +search our hold & see that we did not carry any of his hands with us. + +_Thursday, 3d._ At 10 A.M. had a vendue at the mast of the plunder taken +in the prize, which was sold to the amount of 50L. + +_Friday, 4th._ Moderate weather till 4 A.M., when we hauled down our +mainsail to get clear of the keys & brought to under our ballast +mainsail, the wind blowing a mere hurricane. + +_Sunday, 6th._ Out both reefs our mainsail. Hope to God to have fine +weather. Got clear of the reefs, and stood out the hurricane, which +was terrible. Very few godly enough to return God thanks for their +deliverance. + +_Sunday, 13th._ The Captain gave the people a case bottle of rum, as a +tropick bottle for his pinnace. The people christened her and gave +her the name of _The Spaniard's Dread_. At 11 A.M. made the land of +Hispaniola & the island of Tortugas. We are now on cruising ground. The +Lord send us success against our enemies! + +_Monday, 14th._ Hard gales of wind. Brought to off Tortugas under our +foresail, and about 5 A.M. saw a sloop bearing down upon us. Got all +things ready to receive her, fired our bow chaser, hoisted our jib & +mainsail & gave chase, and, as we outsailed her, she was soon brought +to. She proved to be a sloop from Philadelphia, bound to Jamaica; and +as it blew a mere fret of wind from N.E., we brought to again under our +ballast mainsail. + +_Thursday, 17th._ Still cruising as above. At 7 P.M. saw 2 sloops, one +on our Starboard and the other on our Larboard bow, steering N.W. We +fired several shot to bring them to, but one of them was obstinate. +Capt. Hubbard, the Com'r of the other, came to at the first shot. He was +from Jamaica & bound to York, & informed us that there was a large fleet +just arrived from England to join the Admiral; that Admiral Vernon was +gone to St. Jago de Cuba; that there was a hot press both by sea & by +land; & that the Spanish Admiral was blown up in a large man of war at +the Havanah, which we hope may prove true. The other sloop, he said, was +one under Cap't Styles, bound also to York, and had sailed in comp'y +with him. Styles received some damage for his obstinacy in not bringing +to, for our shot hulled him and tore his sails. At 5 A.M. saw a top +sail schooner; but the master, while going to the mast head to see what +course she steered, had the misfortune to fall & break his arm just +above the wrist. Gave the vessel chase as far as Inagua Island, when she +came to. We made the Captain come on board with his papers, from which +we found that he came from Leogane, and was bound to Nantz in France, +loaded with sugars, indigo, and hides, and also 300 pieces of 8/8 sent +by the Intendant to the receiver of the customs of Nantz. We went aboard +in the Captain's yawl, and found the cargo agreeable to his bills of +lading, manifest, and clearance, and so let him pass. He informed us +that there was a brig belonging to the Spaniards at Leogane, that came +in there in distress, having lost his mast, which gentleman we hope to +have the honour of dining or supping with before long. + +_Saturday, 19th._ Moderate weather. Saw a sail and gave chase. + +_Sunday, 20th._ At 5 P.M. came up with the chase, which proved to be a +French ship that had been blown out of Leogane in the hurricane 6 days +ago. Her mizzen mast had been cut to get clear of the land; her quarters +stove in; her head carried away; and there was neither anchor nor cable +aboard. Of 16 hands, which were aboard, there was but one sailor, and he +was the master, and they were perishing for want of water. There was +on board 30 hhd sugar, 1 hhd & 1 bbl indigo, 13 hhd Bourdeaux wine, & +provisions in plenty. We ordered the master on board, and, as soon as he +came over the side, he fell on his knees and begged for help. When we +heard his deplorable case, we spared him some water, &, as he was an +entire stranger on the coast, put one of our hands aboard to navigate +his vessel. They kept company with us all night, and in the morning sent +us a hhd of wine. At 5 A.M., they being about a league to windward of +us, we made in for the Molo by Cape Nicholas, and she steering after us, +we brought her in. But the wind coming up ahead, & their ship out of +trim, they could not work up so far as we, so they came to an anchor a +league below us. The Cap't of the ship is named Doulteau, the ship La +Genereuse, Dutch built, and is from Rochelle in France. + +_Monday, 21st._ Our Lieu't with two hands went ashore to see if he could +kill any cattle. Some others of the people went for water and found 7 +wells. The people on board were busy in fishing, of which they caught +an abundance; but some of the hands who eat of the fish complained that +they were poisoned by them. + +_Wednesday, 23d._ At 6 P.M. the master of the ship came on board to +return thanks to our Cap't for his kind assistance, & offered him +anything he might have occasion for. He gave the people another hhd of +claret & some sugar, & to the Cap't a quarter cask of wine for his own +drinking, also 6 lengths of old junk. At 6 A.M. left the poor Frenchman +in hopes of letting his Cap't know where he was, weighed anchor from the +Molo, and, the weather being moderate, got on our cruising ground, the +North side of Cuba. + +_Saturday, 26th._ About 5 P.M. thought we saw a vessel at anchor under +the land. Lay off & on till 5 A.M., when we saw 2 sails, a brigantine & +a sloop. Gave them chase, the sloop laying to for us, & the brigantine +making the best of her way to the leeward. We presently came up with +the sloop, & when in gun shot, hoisted our pennant. The compliment was +returned with a Spanish ensign at mast head, and a gun to confirm it. We +then went alongside of him & received his broadside, which we cheerfully +returned. He then dropped astern, & bore away before the wind, crowding +all the sail he could, and we, having tacked and done the like, came +again within gun shot. While chasing, we shifted our bow guns to our +fore ports, and they had done the like with their after guns, moving +them to their cabin windows, from which they polled us with their stern +chasers, while we peppered them with our fore guns. At last, after some +brisk firing, they struck. We ordered their canoe on board, which was +directly manned, and brought their Capt, who delivered his commission & +sword to our Cap't, and surrendered himself a prisoner of war. He was +desperately wounded in the arm, & had received several small shot in his +head & body. Three of his hands were wounded, & one negro boy killed. +This vessel had been new fitted out in November last from the Havanah, +was on our coast early in the spring, & had taken several vessels and +brought them in to the Havanah, where in August she was again fitted +out, and had met with good success on the coast of Virginia. She +mounted 6 guns & 12 swivels, & had a crew of 30 hands, two of whom were +Englishmen, who had been taken prisoners, and had entered their service. +We now made all the sail we could crowd after the brigantine, which by +this time was almost out of sight. Our damage in the engagement was +not much; one man slightly wounded by a splinter, two more by a piece +accidentally going off after the fight, upwards of 20 shot in our sails, +2 through our mast, & 1 through our gunwale. This day the Revenge has +established her honour, which had almost been lost by letting the other +privateer go off with 4 ships, as before mentioned. Still in chase of +the brigantine, which is making for the land. + +_Sunday, 27th._ At 4 A.M. came up with the chase, fired two guns, & +brought her to. She had been taken by the privateer 23 days before, in +Lat. 26. deg. N., while coming from Barbadoes; was loaded with rum, sugar, & +some bags of cotton, & was bound to Boston. Her owners are Messrs. Lee & +Tyler, Merchants there, Thomas Smith was her commander, & there were 5 +Spaniards aboard, whom we took. + +_Monday, 28th._ Put the Lieut on board the privateer prize with 7 hands; +also put on board the brigantine Capt Tho. Smith, with verbal orders to +follow us until we could get letters written to send her to Rhode Island +to Cap't Freebody. + +_Tuesday, 29th._ Lost sight of both prizes, & lay to the best part of +the forenoon to let them come up with us. + +_Wednesday, 30th._ Saw our prize, [the sloop,] bore down on her, & +ordered her canoe on board. The Quartermaster went on board & brought +off her powder & other stores, leaving 7 hands to navigate her, with +verbal orders to keep us company. No news of the brigantine; we suppose +she is gone to the northward. She has one of our hands on board. + +_Thursday, Oct. 1st._ Calm weather, with thunder & rain. Brave living +with our people. Punch every day, which makes them dream strange things, +which foretells good success in our cruise. They dream of nothing but +mad bulls, Spaniards, & bags of gold. Examined the papers of the sloop, +& found several in Spanish & French, among which was the condemnation of +Cap't Stocking's sloop. + +_Friday, 2nd._ At 6 A.M. saw a ship under the land. Stretched in for +her, when she hoisted a French pennant & an English ensign. Hoisted our +Spanish Jack at mast head, and sent our pinnace aboard to discover what +it was. She proved to be a ship that had been taken by Don Francisco +Loranzo, our prisoner, off the Capes of Virginia. He had put a Lieu't, +10 hands, & 5 Englishmen to carry her to the Havanah. But the Spaniards +ran her ashore on purpose. We brought off the 5 Englishmen, the +Spaniards having run for it. We caught one & brought him on board, and +sent our prize alongside to save what goods we could, for the ship was +bilged. + +_Saturday, 3d._ The people busy in getting goods out of the ship, we +laying off & on. + +_Sunday, 4th._ Sent John Webb as master with 7 mariners on board the +prize, & with them a Bermudian negro, who had been taken prisoner in a +fishing boat by the Spanish Cap't off the Bermudas, & a mulatto prisoner +belonging to the Spaniards, with the instructions which are underneath. + +Latitude 22. deg. 50' N., Oct. 4th, 1741. + +MR. JOHN WEBB, + +You being appointed master of the sloop Invincible, late a Spanish +privateer, commanded by Cap't Don Francisco Loranzo, and taken by me & +company, we order you to keep company with us till farther orders. But +if, by some unforeseen accident, bad weather, or giving chase, we should +chance to part, then we order that you proceed directly with said sloop +& cargo to Rhode Island in New England. And if, by the Providence +of God, you safe arrive there, you must apply to Mr. John Freebody, +Merchant there, & deliver your sloop & cargo to him or his assigns. + +You are also ordered to take care that you speak to no vessel, nor +suffer any to speak with you, during your passage, nor permit any +disorder on board; but you must take a special care of the cargo that +none be embezzled, and, if weather permits, you must be diligent in +drying the goods, to hinder them from spoiling. Wishing you a good +voyage, we remain your friends. + +B.N. + +D.M. + +Copy of a letter sent to Capt Freebody per John Webb in the sloop. + +SIR,--I hope my sundry letters sent you by different hands are come +safe. + +This waits upon you with the agreeable news of our taking a Spanish +privateer on the 26th Sep't last, off Cape Roman, on the north side of +Cuba. She was conveying to the Havanah a brigantine which she had taken, +coming from Barbadoes & bound to Boston, & laden with rum, sugar, and +some bags of cotton. We had the pleasure of meeting him early in the +morning, & gave chase. When within about a mile of him we hoisted our +pennant, which compliment he immediately returned with his ensign at +mast head and a gun to confirm it. We received several shot from him, & +cheerfully returned them. He then made the best of his way off, crowding +all the sail he could; and we, doing the like, came again within gun +shot, and plied her with our bow chasers, which were shifted to the fore +ports for that purpose. They in return kept pelting us with their stern +chasers out of their cabin windows, but after some brisk firing they +struck. Our rigging, mast, & gunwale received some damage. Upwards of 25 +shot went through our sails, 2 through our mast in its weakest part just +below where it was fished, 1 cut our fore shroud on the Larboard side, & +another went through our Starboard gunwale, port & all. Only one of our +men was wounded by the enemy, and he slightly by a splinter. Two +others were hurt in the arm by one of the people's pieces going off +accidentally after the engagement. The poor Cap't of the privateer was +wounded in the arm and the bone fractured, one negro boy killed, +& others wounded. He was fitted out last November at the Havanah, +proceeded to S't. Augustine, & while on our coast early in the spring +took several vessels. In August last he was again fitted out, & had +taken several more vessels on our coast. But we had the good fortune to +stop his course. His name is Don Francisco Loranzo, & by all report, +though an enemy, a brave man, endued with a great deal of clemency, & +using his prisoners with a great deal of humanity. The like usage he +receives with us, for he justly deserves it. + +We have sent you the sloop commanded by John Webb, loaded with sundry +goods somewhat damaged, which I must desire you to unload directly & to +take care to get them dried. There is also a negro boy that is sickly, +a negro man said to have been taken off Bermudas by the privateer as he +was a fishing, & a mulatto belonging to some of the subjects or vassals +of the King of Spain, all of which we recommend to your care that they +may not elope. + +The number of Spanish prisoners taken on board, the Captain included, +is 48, out of which 11 are of the blood of negroes, for which we don't +doubt that we shall have his Majesty's bounty money, which is 5L +sterling per head. We also desire that the vessel may not be condemned +till our arrival, but only unloaded & a just account taken of what was +on board. As to the brigantine, the Captain of her, whom we put in again +out of civility, has used us in a very rascally manner; for he ran away +from us in the night with the vessel, & no doubt designed to cheat us +out of our salvage, which is the half of brig & cargo, the enemy having +had possession of her for 22 days. As she is a vessel of value, I hope +you'l do your endeavors to recover our just dues, and apply to the +owners, who are, as we are credibly informed, Messrs Lee & Tyler of +Boston, both of whom are under the state of conviction since the gospel +of Whitfield & Tennant has been propagated in New England. So that we +are in hopes they will readily give a just account of her cargo & her +true value, & render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, which is +the moral preached by Whitefield. + +As this will require a lawsuit, I hope you will get the best advice you +possibly can, &, if she is at Boston or elsewhere, get her seized & +condemned. She was designed to be consigned to you, & the master was +sent on board to take possession, & get things in order to sail, while +we were writing letters & bills of lading, but he gave us the slip. So, +relying on your care, we don't doubt but you will recover her and +add her to the privateer prize. The brigantine was called the Sarah, +commanded by Tho's Smith, & had on board 11 hhd of rum, 23 hhd of sugar, +& 12 bags of cotton. She was well fitted with 4 swivels, one gun, & +other stores. She was a new, pink stern vessel, & carried off one of our +hands, who, no doubt, will acquaint you of the whole affair. We hope +you will show no favour to the Cap't for his ill usage, but get a just +account of his venture, one half of which is our due. This affair is +recommended to you by all the company, and we hope that you will serve +us to the utmost of your power, not doubting in the least of your +justice & equity. + +Inclosed you will receive Cap't Frankland's 2 Bills of Exchange on +his brother for 540L, also a list of the vessels which were taken by +Francisco Loranzo since he first went out on his cruise, which you may +use at pleasure either to publish or conceal. We are still cruising on +the Northern side of Cuba, & are in hopes of getting something worth +while in a short time. + +We are all in good health; so, having no more to add but my kind +remembrances to all friends, + +I remain + +sincerely yours, + +B.N. + +_Monday, 5th._ The company gave the Cap't a night gown, a spencer wig, & +4 pair of thread stockings, & to the Lieut a pair of buck skin breeches. +The Doctor bought a suit of broad cloth, which cost him 28 pieces of +eight and is carried to his account in the sloop's ledger. + + * * * * * + +Here Peter Vezian's journal abruptly comes to an end. But we know from +other papers, that the "Revenge," after a successful cruise, returned +safely to Newport; and thence in the next succeeding years often sailed +out against the Spaniards. Queer legends of those privateering days +still linger in Newport, and traces of ill-gotten wealth may still +be discovered there. The sailors of the old seaport are as bold and +adventurous as ever, but they are grown honester, and never again shall +a crew be found there to man either slave-trader or privateer. Northern +seamen have no liking for such occupation. + + + + +CONCERNING PEOPLE OF WHOM MORE MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE. + + +It is recorded in history, that at a certain public dinner in America +a Methodist preacher was called on to give a toast. It may be supposed +that the evening was so far advanced that every person present had been +toasted already, and also all the friends of every one present. It thus +happened that the Methodist preacher was in considerable perplexity as +to the question, What being, or class of beings, should form the subject +of his toast. But the good man was a person of large sympathies; and +some happy link of association recalled to his mind certain words with +which he had a professional familiarity, and which set forth a subject +of a most comprehensive character. Arising from his seat, the Methodist +preacher said, that, without troubling the assembled company with any +preliminary observations, he begged to propose the health of ALL PEOPLE +THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL. + +Not unnaturally, I have thought of that Methodist preacher and his +toast, as I begin to write this essay. For, though its subject was +suggested to me by various little things of very small concern to +mankind in general, though of great interest to one or two individual +beings, I now discern that the subject of this essay is in truth as +comprehensive as the subject of that toast. I have something to say +_Concerning People of whom More might have been Made_: I see now that +the class which I have named includes every human being. More might have +been made, in some respects, possibly in many respects, of _All +People that on Earth do Dwell_. Physically, intellectually, morally, +spiritually, more might have been made of all. Wise and diligent +training on the part of others, self-denial, industry, tact, decision, +promptitude, on the part of the man himself, might have made something +far better than he now is of every man that breathes. No one is made the +most of. There have been human beings who have been made the most of as +regards some one thing, who have had some single power developed to the +utmost; but no one is made the most of, all round; no one is even made +the most of as regards the two or three most important things of all. +And, indeed, it is curious to observe that the things in which human +beings seem to have attained to absolute perfection have for the most +part been things comparatively frivolous,--accomplishments which +certainly were not worth the labor and the time which it must have cost +to master them. Thus, M. Blondin has probably made as much of himself as +can be made of mortal, in the respect of walking on a rope stretched at +a great height from the ground. Hazlitt makes mention of a man who had +cultivated to the very highest degree the art of playing at rackets, and +who accordingly played at rackets incomparably better than any one else +ever did. A wealthy gentleman, lately deceased, by putting his whole +mind to the pursuit, esteemed himself to have reached entire perfection +in the matter of killing otters. Various individuals have probably +developed the power of turning somersets, of picking pockets, of +playing on the piano, jew's-harp, banjo, and penny trumpet, of mental +calculation in arithmetic, of insinuating evil about their neighbors +without directly asserting anything, to a measure as great as is +possible to man. Long practice and great concentration of mind upon +these things have sufficed to produce what might seem to tremble on the +verge of perfection,--what unquestionably leaves the attainments of +ordinary people at an inconceivable distance behind. But I do not call +it making the most of a man, to develop, even to perfection, the power +of turning somersets and playing at rackets. I call it making the most +of a man, when you make the best of his best powers and qualities,--when +you take those things about him which are the worthiest and most +admirable, and cultivate these up to their highest attainable degree. +And it is in this sense that the statement is to be understood, that +no one is made the most of. Even in the best, we see no more than the +rudiments of good qualities which might have been developed into a great +deal more; and in very many human beings, proper management might have +brought out qualities essentially different from those which these +beings now possess. It is not merely that they are rough diamonds, which +might have been polished into blazing ones,--not merely that they are +thoroughbred colts drawing coal-carts, which with fair training would +have been new Eclipses: it is that they are vinegar which might have +been wine, poison which might have been food, wild-cats which might have +been harmless lambs, soured miserable wretches who might have been happy +and useful, almost devils who might have been but a little lower than +the angels. Oh, the unutterable sadness that is in the thought of what +might have been! + +Not always, indeed. Sometimes, as we look back, it is with deep +thankfulness that we see the point at which we were (we cannot say how) +inclined to take the right turning, when we were all but resolved to +take that which we can now see would have landed us in wreck and ruin. +And it is fit that we should correct any morbid tendency to brood upon +the fancy of how much better we might have been, by remembering also how +much worse we might have been. Sometimes the present state of matters, +good or bad, is the result of long training, of influences that were at +work through many years, and that produced their effect so gradually +that we never remarked the steps of the process, till some day we waken +up to a sense of the fact, and find ourselves perhaps a great deal +better, probably a great deal worse, than we had been vaguely imagining. +But the case is not unfrequently otherwise. Sometimes one testing-time +decided whether we should go to the left or to the right. There are in +the moral world things analogous to the sudden accident which makes a +man blind or lame for life: in an instant there is wrought a permanent +deterioration. Perhaps a few minutes before man or woman took the step +which can never be retraced, which must banish forever from all they +hold dear, and compel to seek in some new country far away a place where +to hide their shame and misery, they had just as little thought of +taking that miserable step as you, my reader, have of taking one like +it. And perhaps there are human beings in this world, held in the +highest esteem, and with not a speck on their snow-white reputation, who +know within themselves that they have barely escaped the gulf, that +the moment has been in which all their future lot was trembling in the +balance, and that a grain's weight more in the scale of evil and by this +time they might have been reckoned among the most degraded and abandoned +of the race. But probably the first deviation, either to right or left, +is in most cases a very small one. You know, my friend, what is meant by +the _points_ upon a railway. By moving a lever, the rails upon which the +train is advancing are, at a certain place, broadened or narrowed by +about the eighth of an inch. That little movement decides whether +the train shall go north or south. Twenty carriages have come so far +together; but here is a junction station, and the train is to be +divided. The first ten carriages deviate from the main line by a +fraction of an inch at first; but in a few minutes the two portions of +the train are flying on, miles apart. You cannot see the one from the +other, save by distant puffs of white steam through the clumps of trees. +Perhaps already a high hill has intervened, and each train is on its +solitary way,--one to end its course, after some hours, amid the roar +and smoke and bare ugliness of some huge manufacturing town; and the +other to come through green fields to the quaint, quiet, dreamy-looking +little city, whose place is marked, across the plain, by the noble spire +of the gray cathedral rising into the summer blue. We come to such +points in our journey through life,--railway-points, as it were, which +decide not merely our lot in life, but even what kind of folk we shall +be, morally and intellectually. A hair's breadth may make the deviation +at first. Two situations are offered you at once: you think there is +hardly anything to choose between them. It does not matter which you +accept; and perhaps some slight and fanciful consideration is allowed to +turn the scale. But now you look back, and you can see that _there_ was +the turning-point in your life; it was because you went there to the +right, and not to the left, that you are now a great English prelate, +and not a humble Scotch professor. Was there not a time in a certain +great man's life, at which the lines of rail diverged, and at which the +question was settled, Should he be a minister of the Scotch Kirk, or +should he be Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain? I can imagine a +stage in the history of a lad in a counting-house, at which the little +angle of rail may be pushed in or pushed back that shall send the train +to one of two places five hundred miles asunder: it may depend upon +whether he shall take or not take that half-crown, whether, thirty years +after, he shall be taking the chair, a rubicund baronet, at a missionary +society meeting, and receive the commendations of philanthropic peers +and earnest bishops, or be laboring in chains at Norfolk Island, a +brutalized, cursing, hardened, scourge-scarred, despairing wretch, +without a hope for this life or the other. Oh, how much may turn upon a +little thing! Because the railway train in which you were coming to a +certain place was stopped by a snowstorm, the whole character of your +life may have been changed. Because some one was in the drawing-room +when you went to see Miss Smith on a certain day, resolved to put to her +a certain question, you missed the tide, you lost your chance, you went +away to Australia and never saw her more. It fell upon a day that +a ship, coming from Melbourne, was weathering a rocky point on an +iron-bound coast, and was driven close upon that perilous shore. They +tried to put her about; it was the last chance. It was a moment of awful +risk and decision. If the wind catches the sails, now shivering as the +ship comes up, on the right side, then all on board are safe. If the +wind catches the sails on the other side, then all on board must perish. +And so it all depends upon which surface of certain square yards of +canvas the uncertain breeze shall strike, whether John Smith, who is +coming home from the diggings with twenty thousand pounds, shall go +down and never be heard of again by his poor mother and sisters away in +Scotland,--or whether he shall get safely back, a rich man, to gladden +their hearts, and buy a pretty little place, and improve the house on it +into the pleasantest picture, and purchase, and ride, and drive various +horses, and be seen on market-days sauntering in the High Street of the +county-town, and get married, and run about the lawn before his door, +chasing his little children, and become a decent elder of the Church, +and live quietly and happily for many years. Yes, from what precise +point of the compass the next flaw of wind should come would decide the +question between the long homely life in Scotland and a nameless burial +deep in a foreign sea. + +It seems to me to be one of the main characteristics of human beings, +not that they actually are much, but that they are something of which +much may be made. There are untold potentialities in human nature. The +tree cut down, concerning which its heathen owner debated whether he +should make it into a god or into a three-legged stool, was positively +nothing in its capacity of coming to different ends and developments, +when we compare it with each human being born into this world. Man is +not so much a thing already, as he is the germ of something. He is, +so to speak, material formed to the hand of circumstances. He is +essentially a germ, either of good or evil. And he is not like the seed +of a plant, in whose development the tether allows no wider range than +that between the more or less successful manifestation of its inherent +nature. Give a young tree fair play, good soil and abundant air,--tend +it carefully, in short, and you will have a noble tree. Treat the young +tree unfairly,--give it a bad soil, deprive it of needful air and light, +and it will grow up a stunted and poor tree. But in the case of the +human being, there is more than this difference in degree. There may be +a difference in kind. The human being may grow up to be, as it were, +a fair and healthful fruit-tree, or to be a poisonous one. There is +something positively awful about the potentialities that are in +human nature. The Archbishop of Canterbury might have grown up under +influences which would have made him a bloodthirsty pirate or a sneaking +pickpocket. The pirate or the pickpocket, taken at the right time, and +trained in the right way, might have been made a pious, exemplary man. +You remember that good divine, two hundred years since, who, standing in +the market-place of a certain town, and seeing a poor wretch led by him +to the gallows, said, "There goes myself, but for the grace of God." Of +course, it is needful that human laws should hold all men as equally +responsible. The punishment of such an offence is such an infliction, no +matter who committed the offence. At least the mitigating circumstances +which human laws can take into account must be all of a very plain and +intelligible character. It would not do to recognize anything like a +graduated scale of responsibility. A very bad training in youth would be +in a certain limited sense regarded as lessening the guilt of any wrong +thing done; and you may remember, accordingly, how that magnanimous +monarch, Charles II., urged to the Scotch lords, in extenuation of the +wrong things he had done, that his father had given him a very bad +education. But though human laws and judges may vainly and clumsily +endeavor to fix each wrongdoer's place in the scale of responsibility, +and though they must, in a rough way, do what is rough justice in five +cases out of six, still we may well believe that in the view of the +Supreme Judge the responsibilities of men are most delicately graduated +to their opportunities. There is One who will appreciate with entire +accuracy the amount of guilt that is in each wrong deed of each +wrong-doer, and mercifully allow for such as never had a chance of being +anything but wrong-doers. And it will not matter whether it was from +original constitution or from unhappy training that these poor creatures +never had that chance. I was lately quite astonished to learn that some +sincere, but stupid American divines have fallen foul of the eloquent +author of "Elsie Venner," and accused him of fearful heresy, because he +declared his confident belief that "God would never make a man with a +crooked spine and then punish him for not standing upright." Why, that +statement of the "Autocrat" appears to me at least as certain as that +two and two make four. It may, indeed, contain some recondite and +malignant reference which the stupid American divines know, and which +I do not; it may be a mystic Shibboleth, indicating far more than it +asserts; as at one time in Scotland it was esteemed as proof that a +clergyman preached unsound doctrine, if he made use of the Lord's +Prayer. But, understanding it simply as meaning that the Judge of all +the Earth will do right, it appears to me an axiom beyond all question. +And I take it as putting in a compact form the spirit of what I have +been arguing for,--to wit, that, though human law must of necessity hold +all rational beings as alike responsible, yet in the eye of God the +difference may be immense. The graceful vase, that stands in the +drawing-room under a glass shade, and never goes to the well, has no +great right to despise the rough pitcher that goes often and is broken +at last. It is fearful to think what malleable material we are in the +hands of circumstances. + +And a certain Authority, considerably wiser and incomparably more +charitable than the American divines already mentioned, recognized the +fact, when He taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation!" We shall +think, in a little while, of certain influences which may make or mar +the human being; but it may be said here that I firmly believe that +happiness is one of the best of disciplines. As a general rule, if +people were happier, they would be better. When you see a poor cabman +on a winter-day, soaked with rain, and fevered with gin, violently +thrashing the wretched horse he is driving, and perhaps howling at it, +you may be sure that it is just because the poor cabman is so miserable +that he is doing all that. It was a sudden glimpse, perhaps, of his bare +home and hungry children, and of the dreary future which lay before +himself and them, that was the true cause of those two or three furious +lashes you saw him deal upon the unhappy screw's ribs. Whenever I read +any article in a review, which is manifestly malignant, and intended not +to improve an author, but to give him pain, I cannot help immediately +wondering what may have been the matter with the man who wrote the +malignant article. Something must have been making him very unhappy, +I think. I do not allude to playful attacks upon a man, made in pure +thoughtlessness and buoyancy of spirit,--but to attacks which indicate a +settled, deliberate, calculating rancor. Never be angry with the man who +makes such an attack; you ought to be sorry for him. It is out of great +misery that malignity for the most part proceeds. To give the ordinary +mortal a fair chance, let him be reasonably successful and happy. Do not +worry a man into nervous irritability, and he will be amiable. Do not +dip a man in water, and he will not be wet. + +Of course, my friend, I know who is to you the most interesting of all +beings, and whose history is the most interesting of all histories. +_You_ are to yourself the centre of this world, and of all the interests +of this world. And this is quite right. + +There is no selfishness about all this, except that selfishness which +forms an essential element in personality,--that selfishness which must +go with the fact of one's having a self. You cannot help looking at all +things as they appear from your own point of view; and things press +themselves upon your attention and your feeling as they affect yourself. +And apart from anything like egotism, or like vain self-conceit, it is +probable that you may know that a great deal depends upon your exertion +and your life. There are those at home who would fare but poorly, if you +were just now to die. There are those who must rise with you, if you +rise, and sink with you, if you sink. Does it sometimes suddenly strike +you, what a little object you are, to have so much depending on you? +Vaguely, in your thinking and feeling, you add your circumstances +and your lot to your personality; and these make up an object of +considerable extension. You do so with other people as well as with +yourself. You have all their belongings as a background to the picture +of them which you have in your mind; and they look very little when +you see them in fact, because you see them without these belongings. +I remember, when a boy, how disappointed I was at first seeing the +Archbishop of Canterbury. It was Archbishop Howley. There he was, +a slender, pale old gentleman, sitting in an arm-chair at a public +meeting. I was chiefly disappointed, because there was _so little_ of +him. There was just the human being. There was no background of grand +accessories. The idea of the Primate of England which I had in some +confused manner in my mind included a vision of the venerable towers of +Lambeth,--of a long array of solemn predecessors, from Thomas a Becket +downwards,--of great historical occasions on which the Archbishop of +Canterbury had been a prominent figure; and in some way I fancied, +vaguely, that you would see the primate surrounded by all these things. +You remember the Highlander in "Waverley," who was much mortified when +his chief came to meet an English guest, unattended by any retinue, and +who exclaimed, in consternation and sorrow, "He has come without his +tail!" Even such was my early feeling. You understand later that +associations are not visible, and that they do not add to a man's +extension in space. But (to go back) you do, as regards yourself, what +you do as regards greater men: you add your lot to your personality, +and thus you make up a bigger object. And when you see yourself in your +tailor's shop, in a large mirror (one of a series) wherein you see your +figure all round, reflected several times, your feeling will probably +be, What a little thing you are! If you are a wise man, you will go away +somewhat humbled, and possibly somewhat the better for the sight. You +have, to a certain extent, done what Burns thought it would do all men +much good to do: you have "seen yourself as others see you." And even +to do so physically is a step towards a juster and humbler estimate of +yourself in more important things. It may here be said, as a further +illustration of the principle set forth, that people who stay very much +at home feel their stature, bodily and mental, much lessened when they +go far away from home, and spend a little time among strange scenes and +people. For, going thus away from home, you take only yourself. It is +but a small part of your extension that goes. You go; but you leave +behind your house, your study, your children, your servants, your +horses, your garden. And not only do you leave them behind, but they +grow misty and unsubstantial when you are far away from them. And +somehow you feel, that, when you make the acquaintance of a new friend +some hundreds of miles off, who never saw your home and your family, you +present yourself before him only a twentieth part or so of what you feel +yourself to be when you have all your belongings about you. Do you not +feel all that? And do you not feel, that, if you were to go away to +Australia forever, almost as the English coast turned blue and then +invisible on the horizon, your life in England would first turn +cloud-like, and then melt away? + +But without further discussing the philosophy of how it comes to be, I +return to the statement that you yourself, as you live in your home, are +to yourself the centre of this world,--and that you feel the force of +any great principle most deeply, when you feel it in your own case. +And though every worthy mortal must be often taken out of himself, +especially by seeing the deep sorrows and great failures of other men, +still, in thinking of people of whom more might have been made, it +touches you most to discern that you are one of these. It is a very sad +thing to think of yourself, and to see how much more might have been +made of you. Sit down by the fire in winter, or go out now in summer and +sit down under a tree, and look back on the moral discipline you have +gone through,--look back on what you have done and suffered. Oh, how +much better and happier you might have been! And how very near you have +often been to what would have made you so much happier and better! If +you had taken the other turning when you took the wrong one, after much +perplexity,--if you had refrained from saying such a hasty word,--if you +had not thoughtlessly made such a man your enemy! Such a little thing +may have changed the entire complexion of your life. Ah, it was because +the points were turned the wrong way at that junction, that you are now +running along a line of railway through wild moorlands, leaving the warm +champaign below ever more hopelessly behind. Hastily, or pettedly, +or despairingly, you took the wrong turning; or you might have been +dwelling now amid verdant fields and silver waters in the country of +contentment and success. Many men and women, in the temporary bitterness +of some disappointment, have hastily made marriages which will embitter +all their future life,--or which at least make it certain that in this +world they will never know a joyous heart any more. Men have died +as almost briefless barristers, toiling into old age in heartless +wrangling, who had their chance of high places on the bench, but +ambitiously resolved to wait for something higher, and so missed the +tide. Men in the church have taken the wrong path at some critical time, +and doomed themselves to all the pangs of disappointed ambition. But I +think a sincere man in the church has a great advantage over almost all +ordinary disappointed men. He has less temptation, reading affairs by +the light of after-time, to look back with bitterness on any mistake he +may have made. For, if he be the man I mean, he took the decisive step +not without seeking the best of guidance; and the whole training of his +mind has fitted him for seeing a higher Hand in the allotment of human +conditions. And if a man acted for the best, according to the light he +had, and if he truly believes that God puts all in their places in +life, he may look back without bitterness upon what may appear the +most grievous mistakes. I must be suffered to add, that, if he is able +heartily to hold certain great truths and to rest on certain sure +promises, hardly any conceivable earthly lot should stamp him a soured +or disappointed man. If it be a sober truth, that "all things shall work +together for good" to a certain order of mankind, and if the deepest +sorrows in this world may serve to prepare us for a better,--why, then, +I think that one might hold by a certain ancient philosopher (and +something more) who said, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, +therewith to be content." + + * * * * * + +You see, reader, that, in thinking of _People of whom More might have +been Made_, we are limiting the scope of the subject. I am not thinking +how more might have been made of us originally. No doubt, the potter +had power over the clay. Give a larger brain, of finer quality, and +the commonplace man might have been a Milton. A little change in the +chemical composition of the gray matter of that little organ which is +unquestionably connected with the mind's working as no other organ of +the body is, and, oh, what a different order of thought would have +rolled off from your pen, when you sat down and tried to write your +best! If we are to believe Robert Burns, some people have been made more +of than was originally intended. A certain poem records how that which, +in his homely phrase, he calls "stuff to mak' a swine," was ultimately +converted into a very poor specimen of a human being. The poet had no +irreverent intention, I dare say; but I am not about to go into the +field of speculation which is opened up by his words. I know, indeed, +that, in the hands of the Creator, each of us might have been made +a different man. The pounds of material which were fashioned into +Shakspeare might have made a bumpkin with little thought beyond pigs +and turnips, or, by some slight difference beyond man's skill to trace, +might have made an idiot. A little infusion of energy into the mental +constitution might have made the mild, pensive day-dreamer who is +wandering listlessly by the river-side, sometimes chancing upon noble +thoughts, which he does not carry out into action, and does not even +write down on paper, into an active worker, with Arnold's keen look, who +would have carved out a great career for himself, and exercised a real +influence over the views and conduct of numbers of other men. A very +little alteration in feature might have made a plain face into +a beautiful one; and some slight change in the position or the +contractibility of certain of the muscles might have made the most +awkward of manners and gaits into the most dignified and graceful. All +_that_ we all understand. But my present subject is the making which is +in circumstances after our natural disposition is fixed,--the training, +coming from a hundred quarters, which forms the material supplied by +Nature into the character which each of us actually bears. And setting +apart the case of great genius, whose bent towards the thing in which it +will excel is so strong that it will find its own field by inevitable +selection, and whose strength is such that no unfavorable circumstances +can hold it down, almost any ordinary human being may be formed into +almost any development. I know a huge massive beam of rough iron, which +supports a great weight. Whenever I pass it, I cannot help giving it a +pat with my hand, and saying to it, "You might have been hair-springs +for watches." I know an odd-looking little man attached to a certain +railway-station, whose business it is, when a train comes in, to go +round it with a large box of a yellow concoction and supply grease to +the wheels. I have often looked out of the carriage-window at that +odd little man and thought to myself, "Now you might have been a +chief-justice." And, indeed, I can say from personal observation that +the stuff ultimately converted into cabinet-ministers does not at an +early stage at all appreciably differ from that which never becomes more +than country-parsons. There is a great gulf between the human being who +gratefully receives a shilling, and touches his cap as he receives it, +and the human being whose income is paid in yearly or half-yearly sums, +and to whom a pecuniary tip would appear as an insult; yet, of course, +that great gulf is the result of training alone. John Smith the laborer, +with twelve shillings a week, and the bishop with eight thousand a +year, had, by original constitution, precisely the same kind of feeling +towards that much-sought, yet much-abused reality which provides the +means of life. Who shall reckon up by what millions of slight touches +from the hand of circumstance, extending over many years, the one man is +gradually formed into the giving of the shilling, and the other man into +the receiving of it with that touch of his hat? Who shall read back the +forming influences at work since the days in the cradle, that gradually +formed one man into sitting down to dinner, and another man into waiting +behind his chair? I think it would be occasionally a comfort, if one +could believe, as American planters profess to believe about their +slaves, that there is an original and essential difference between men; +for, truly, the difference in their positions is often so tremendous +that it is painful to think that it is the self-same clay and the +self-same common mind that are promoted to dignity and degraded to +servitude. And if _you_ sometimes feel _that_,--_you_, in whose favor +the arrangement tends,--what do you suppose your servants sometimes +think upon the subject? It was no wonder that the millions of Russia +were ready to grovel before their Czar, while they believed that he +was "an emanation from the Deity." But in countries where it is quite +understood that every man is just as much an emanation from the Deity +as any other, you will not long have that sort of thing. You remember +Goldsmith's noble lines, which Dr. Johnson never could read without +tears, concerning the English character. Is it not true that it is just +because the humble, but intelligent Englishman understands distinctly +that we are all of us _people of whom more might have been made_, that +he has "learnt to venerate himself as man"? And thinking of influences +which form the character, there is a sad reflection which has often +occurred to me. It is, that circumstances often develop a character +which it is hard to contemplate without anger and disgust. And yet, in +many such cases, it is rather pity that is due. The more disgusting the +character formed in some men, the more you should pity them. Yet it is +hard to do _that_. You easily pity the man whom circumstances have +made poor and miserable; how much more you should pity the man whom +circumstances have made bad! You pity the man from whom some terrible +accident has taken a limb or a hand; but how much more should you pity +the man from whom the influences of years have taken a conscience and a +heart! And something is to be said for even the most unamiable and worst +of the race. No doubt, it is mainly their own fault that they are so +bad; but still it is hard work to be always rowing against wind and +tide, and some people could be good only by doing _that_ ceaselessly. I +am not thinking now of pirates and pickpockets. But take the case of a +sour, backbiting, malicious, wrong-headed, lying old woman, who gives +her life to saying disagreeable things and making mischief between +friends. There are not many mortals with whom one is less disposed to +have patience. But yet, if you knew all, you would not be so severe in +what you think and say of her. You do not know the physical irritability +of nerve and weakness of constitution which that poor creature may have +inherited; you do not know the singular twist of mind which she may have +got from Nature and from bad and unkind treatment in youth; you do not +know the bitterness of heart she has felt at the polite snubbings and +ladylike tortures which in excellent society are often the share of the +poor and the dependent. If you knew all these things, you would bear +more patiently with my friend Miss Limejuice, though I confess that +sometimes you would find it uncommonly hard to do so. + +As I wrote that last paragraph, I began dimly to fancy that somewhere I +had seen the idea which is its subject treated by an abler hand by far +than mine. The idea, you may be sure, was not suggested to me by books, +but by what I have seen of men and women. But it is a pleasant thing to +find that a thought which at the time is strongly impressing one's self +has impressed other men. And a modest person, who knows very nearly what +his humble mark is, will be quite pleased to find that another man has +not only anticipated his thoughts, but has expressed them much better +than he could have done. Yes, let me turn to that incomparable essay of +John Foster, "On a Man's writing Memoirs of Himself." Here it is. + +"Make the supposition that any given number of persons,--a hundred, +for instance,--taken promiscuously, should be able to write memoirs of +themselves so clear and perfect as to explain, to your discernment at +least, the entire process by which their minds have attained their +present state, recounting all the most impressive circumstances. If they +should read these memoirs to you in succession, while your benevolence, +and the moral principles according to which you felt and estimated, +were kept at the highest pitch, you would often, during the disclosure, +regret to observe how many things may be the causes of irretrievable +mischief. 'Why is the path of life,' you would say, 'so haunted as if +with evil spirits of every diversity of noxious agency, some of which +may patiently accompany, or others of which may suddenly cross, the +unfortunate wanderer?' And you would regret to observe into how many +forms of intellectual and moral perversion the human mind readily yields +itself to be modified. + + * * * * * + +"'I compassionate you,' would, in a very benevolent hour, be your +language to the wealthy, unfeeling _tyrant of a family and a +neighborhood_, who seeks, in the overawed timidity and unretaliated +injuries of the unfortunate beings within his power, the gratification +that should have been sought in their affections. Unless you had brought +into the world some extraordinary refractoriness to the influence of +evil, the process that you have undergone could not easily fail of being +efficacious. If your parents idolized their own importance in their +son so much that they never opposed your inclinations themselves nor +permitted it to be done by any subject to their authority,--if the +humble companion, sometimes summoned to the honor of amusing you, bore +your caprices and insolence with the meekness without which he had +lost his enviable privilege,--if you could despoil the garden of some +nameless dependent neighbor of the carefully reared flowers, and torment +his little dog or cat, without his daring to punish you or to appeal +to your infatuated parents,--if aged men addressed you in a submissive +tone, and with the appellation of 'Sir,' and their aged wives uttered +their wonder at your condescension, and pushed their grandchildren away +from around the fire for your sake, if you happened, though with the +strut of pertness, and your hat on your head, to enter one of their +cottages, perhaps to express your contempt of the homely dwelling, +furniture, and fare,--if, in maturer life, you associated with vile +persons, who would forego the contest of equality to be your allies in +trampling on inferiors,--and if, both then and since, you have been +suffered to deem your wealth the compendium or equivalent of every +ability and every good quality,--it would indeed be immensely strange, +if you had not become in due time the miscreant who may thank the power +of the laws in civilized society that he is not assaulted with clubs +and stones, to whom one could cordially wish the opportunity and the +consequences of attempting his tyranny among some such people as those +_submissive_ sons of Nature in the forests of North America, and whose +dependants and domestic relatives may be almost forgiven when they shall +one day rejoice at his funeral." + +What do you think of _that_, my reader, as a specimen of embittered +eloquence and nervous pith? It is something to read massive and +energetic sense, in days wherein mystical twaddle, and subtlety which +hopelessly defies all logic, are sometimes thought extremely fine, if +they are set out in a style which is refined into mere effeminacy. + + * * * * * + +I cherish a very strong conviction, (as has been said,) that, at least +in the case of educated people, happiness is a grand discipline for +bringing out what is amiable and excellent. You understand, of course, +what I mean by happiness. We all know, of course, that light-heartedness +is not very familiar to grown-up people, who are doing the work of life, +who feel its many cares, and who do not forget the many risks which hang +over it. I am not thinking of the kind of thing which is suggested to +the minds of children, when they read, at the end of a tale, concerning +its heroine and hero, that "they lived happily ever after." No, we don't +look for that. By happiness I mean freedom from terrible anxiety and +from pervading depression of spirits, the consciousness that we are +filling our place in life with decent success and approbation, religious +principle and character, fair physical health throughout the family, and +moderate good temper and good sense. And I hold, with Sydney Smith, and +with that keen practical philosopher, Becky Sharpe, that happiness and +success tend very greatly to make people passably good. Well, I see an +answer to the statement, as I do to most statements; but, at least, the +beam is never subjected to the strain which would break it. I have seen +the gradual working of what I call happiness and success in ameliorating +character. I have known a man who, by necessity, by the pressure of +poverty, was driven to write for the magazines,--a kind of work for +which he had no special talent or liking, and which he had never +intended to attempt. There was no more miserable, nervous, anxious, +disappointed being on earth than he was, when he began his writing for +the press. And sure enough, his articles were bitter and ill-set to a +high degree. They were thoroughly ill-natured and bad. They were not +devoid of a certain cleverness; but they were the sour products of +a soured nature. But that man gradually got into comfortable +circumstances: and with equal step with his lot the tone of his writings +mended, till, as a writer, he became conspicuous for the healthful, +cheerful, and kindly nature of all he produced. I remember seeing a +portrait of an eminent author, taken a good many years ago, at a time +when he was struggling into notice, and when he was being very severely +handled by the critics. That portrait was really truculent of aspect. +It was sour, and even ferocious-looking. Years afterwards I saw that +author, at a time when he had attained vast success, and was universally +recognized as a great man. How improved that face! All the savage lines +were gone; the bitter look was gone; the great man looked quite genial +and amiable. And I came to know that he really was all he looked. Bitter +judgments of men, imputations of evil motives, disbelief in anything +noble or generous, a disposition to repeat tales to the prejudice of +others, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness,--all these +things may possibly come out of a bad heart; but they certainly come out +of a miserable one. The happier any human being is, the better and more +kindly he thinks of all. It is the man who is always worried, whose +means are uncertain, whose home is uncomfortable, whose nerves are +rasped by some kind friend who daily repeats and enlarges upon +everything disagreeable for him to hear,--it is he who thinks hardly +of the character and prospects of humankind, and who believes in the +essential and unimprovable badness of the race. + + * * * * * + +This is not a treatise on the formation of character: it pretends to +nothing like completeness. If this essay were to extend to a volume of +about three hundred and eighty pages, I might be able to set out and +discuss, in something like a full and orderly fashion, the influences +under which human beings grow up, and the way in which to make the best +of the best of these influences, and to evade or neutralize the worst. +And if, after great thought and labor, I had produced such a volume, I +am well aware that nobody would read it. So I prefer to briefly glance +at a few aspects of a great subject just as they present themselves, +leaving the complete discussion of it to solid individuals with more +leisure at their command. + + * * * * * + +Physically, no man is made the most of. Look at an acrobat or a boxer: +_there_ is what your limbs might have been made for strength and +agility: _that_ is the potential which is in human nature in these +respects. I never witnessed a prize-fight, and assuredly I never will +witness one: but I am told, that, when the champions appear in the ring, +stripped for the combat, (however bestial and blackguard-looking their +countenances may be,) the clearness and beauty of their skin testify +that by skilful physical discipline a great deal more may be made of +that human hide than is usually made of it. Then, if you wish to see +what may be made of the human muscles as regards rapid dexterity, look +at the Wizard of the North or at an Indian juggler. I am very far, +indeed, from saying or thinking that this peculiar preeminence is worth +the pains it must cost to acquire it. Not that I have a word to say +against the man who maintains his children by bringing some one faculty +of the body to absolute perfection: I am ready even to admit that it is +a very right and fit thing that one man in five or six millions should +devote his life to showing the very utmost that can be made of the human +fingers, or the human muscular system as a whole. It is fit that a rare +man here and there should cultivate some accomplishment to a perfection +that looks magical, just as it is fit that a man here and there should +live in a house that cost a million of pounds to build, and round which +a wide tract of country shows what may be made of trees and fields where +unlimited wealth and exquisite taste have done their best to improve +Nature to the fairest forms of which it is capable. But even if it were +possible, it would not be desirable that all human beings should live in +dwellings like Hamilton Palace or Arundel Castle; and it would serve no +good end at all, certainly no end worth the cost, to have all educated +men muscular as Tom Sayers, or swift of hand as Robert Houdin. Practical +efficiency is what is wanted for the business of this world, not +absolute perfection: life is too short to allow any but exceptional +individuals, few and far between, to acquire the power of playing at +rackets as well as rackets can possibly be played. We are obliged to +have a great number of irons in the fire: it is needful that we should +do decently well a great number of things; and we must not devote +ourselves to one thing, to the exclusion of all the rest. And +accordingly, though we may desire to be reasonably muscular and +reasonably active, it will not disturb us to think that in both these +respects we are people of whom more might have been made. It may here +be said that probably there is hardly an influence which tends so +powerfully to produce extreme self-complacency as the conviction, that, +as regards some one physical accomplishment, one is a person of whom +more could not have been made. It is a proud thing to think that you +stand decidedly ahead of all mankind: that Eclipse is first, and the +rest nowhere; even in the matter of keeping up six balls at once, or of +noting and remembering twenty different objects in a shop-window as you +walk past it at five miles an hour. I do not think I ever beheld a human +being whose aspect was of such unutterable pride as a man I lately saw +playing the drum as one of a certain splendid military band. He was +playing in a piece in which the drum music was very conspicuous; and +even an unskilled observer could remark that his playing was absolute +perfection. He had the thorough mastery of his instrument. He did the +most difficult things not only with admirable precision, but without +the least appearance of effort. He was a great, tall fellow: and it was +really a fine sight to see him standing very upright, and immovable save +as to his arms, looking fixedly into distance, and his bosom swelling +with the lofty belief, that, out of four or five thousand persons who +were present, there was not one who, to save his life, could have done +what he was doing so easily. + +So much of physical dexterity. As for physical grace, it will be +admitted that in that respect more might be made of most human beings. +It is not merely that they are ugly and awkward naturally, but that they +are ugly and awkward artificially. Sir Bulwer Lytton, in his earlier +writings, was accustomed to maintain, that, just as it is a man's duty +to cultivate his mental powers, so is it his duty to cultivate his +bodily appearance. And doubtless all the gifts of Nature are talents +committed to us to be improved; they are things intrusted to us to make +the best of. It may be difficult to fix the point at which the care +of personal appearance in man or woman becomes excessive. It does +so unquestionably when it engrosses the mind to the neglect of more +important things. But I suppose that all reasonable people now believe +that scrupulous attention to personal cleanliness, freshness, and +neatness is a Christian duty. The days are past, almost everywhere, in +which piety was held to be associated with dirt. Nobody would mention +now, as a proof how saintly a human being was, that, for the love of +God, he had never washed his face or brushed his hair for thirty +years. And even scrupulous neatness need bring with it no suspicion of +puppyism. The most trim and tidy of old men was good John Wesley; and +he conveyed to the minds of all who saw him the notion of a man whose +treasure was laid up beyond this world, quite as much as if he had +dressed in such a fashion as to make himself an object of ridicule, +or as if he had forsworn the use of soap. Some people fancy that +slovenliness of attire indicates a mind above petty details. I have seen +an eminent preacher ascend the pulpit with his bands hanging over his +right shoulder, his gown apparently put on by being dropped upon him +from the vestry ceiling, and his hair apparently unbrushed for several +weeks. There was no suspicion of affectation about that good man; yet I +regarded his untidiness as a defect, and not as an excellence. He gave +a most eloquent sermon; yet I thought it would have been well, had the +lofty mind that treated so admirably some of the grandest realities of +life and of immortality been able to address itself a little to the care +of lesser things. I confess, that, when I heard the Bishop of Oxford +preach, I thought the effect of his sermon was increased by the decorous +and careful fashion in which he was arrayed in his robes. And it is +to be admitted that the grace of the human aspect may be in no small +measure enhanced by bestowing a little pains upon it. You, youthful +matron, when you take your little children to have their photographs +taken, and when their nurse, in contemplation of that event, attired +them in their most tasteful dresses and arranged their hair in its +prettiest curls, you know that the little things looked a great deal +better than they do on common days. It is pure nonsense to say that +beauty when unadorned is adorned the most. For that is as much as to say +that a pretty young woman, in the matter of physical appearance, is a +person of whom no more can be made. Now taste and skill can make more of +almost anything. And you will set down Thomson's lines as flatly opposed +to fact, when your lively young cousin walks into your room to let you +see her before she goes out to an evening party, and when you compare +that radiant vision, in her robes of misty texture, and with hair +arranged in folds the most complicated, wreathed, and satin-shoed, +with the homely figure that took a walk with you that afternoon, +russet-gowned, tartan-plaided, and shod with serviceable boots for +tramping through country mud. One does not think of loveliness in the +case of men, because they have not got any; but their aspect, such as it +is, is mainly made by their tailors. And it is a lamentable thought, +how very ill the clothes of most men are made. I think that the art of +draping the male human body has been brought to much less excellence +by the mass of those who practise it than any other of the useful and +ornamental arts. Tailors, even in great cities, are generally extremely +bad. Or it may be that the providing the human frame with decent and +well-fitting garments is so very difficult a thing that (save by a great +genius here and there) it can be no more than approximated to. As for +tailors in little country villages, their power of distorting and +disfiguring is wonderful. When I used to be a country clergyman, I +remember how, when I went to the funeral of some simple rustic, I was +filled with surprise to see the tall, strapping, fine young country +lads, arrayed in their black suits. What awkward figures they looked +in those unwonted garments! How different from their easy, natural +appearance in their every-day fustian! Here you would see a young fellow +with a coat whose huge collar covered half his head when you looked at +him from behind; a very common thing was to have sleeves which entirely +concealed the hands; and the wrinkled and baggy aspect of the whole +suits could be imagined only by such as have seen them. It may be +remarked here, that those strong country lads were in another respect +people of whom more might have been physically made. Oh for a +drill-sergeant to teach them to stand upright, and to turn out their +toes, and to get rid of that slouching, hulking gait which gives such +a look of clumsiness and stupidity! If you could but have the +well-developed muscles and the fresh complexion of the country with the +smartness and alertness of the town! You have there the rough material +of which a vast deal may be made; you have the water-worn pebble which +will take on a beautiful polish. Take from the moorland cottage the +shepherd lad of sixteen; send him to a Scotch college for four years; +let him be tutor in a good family for a year or two; and if he be an +observant fellow, you will find in him the quiet, self-possessed air +and the easy address of the gentleman who has seen the world. And it is +curious to see one brother of a family thus educated and polished into +refinement, while the other three or four, remaining in their father's +simple lot, retain its rough manners and its unsophisticated feelings. +Well, look at the man who has been made a gentleman,--probably by the +hard labor and sore self-denial of the others,--and see in him what each +of the others might have been! Look with respect on the diamond which +needed only to be polished! Reverence the undeveloped potential which +circumstances have held down! Look with interest on these people of whom +more might have been made! + +Such a sight as this sometimes sets us thinking how many germs of +excellence are in this world turned to no account. You see the polished +diamond and the rough one side by side. It is too late now; but the dull +colorless pebble might have been the bright glancing gem. And you may +polish the material diamond at any time; but if you miss your season in +the case of the human one, the loss can never be repaired. The bumpkin +who is a bumpkin at thirty must remain a bumpkin to threescore and ten. +But another thing that makes us think how many fair possibilities are +lost is to remark the fortuitous way in which great things have often +been done,--and done by people who never dreamt that they had in them +the power to do anything particular. These cases, one cannot but think, +are samples of millions more. There have been very popular writers who +were brought out by mere accident. They did not know what precious vein +of thought they had at command, till they stumbled upon it as if by +chance, like the Indian at the mines of Potosi. It is not much that we +know of Shakspeare, but it seems certain that it was in patching up +old plays for acting that he discovered within himself a capacity for +producing that which men will not easily let die. When a young military +man, disheartened with the service, sought for an appointment as an +Irish Commissioner of Excise, and was sadly disappointed because he did +not get it, it is probable that he had as little idea as any one else +had that he possessed that aptitude for the conduct of war which was +to make him the Duke of Wellington. And when a young mathematician, +entirely devoid of ambition, desired to settle quietly down and devote +all his life to that unexciting study, he was not aware that he was a +person of whom more was to be made,--who was to grow into the great +Emperor Napoleon. I had other instances in my mind, but after these last +it is needless to mention them. But such cases suggest to us that there +may have been many Folletts who never held a brief, many Keans who never +acted but in barns, many Vandyks who never earned more than sixpence a +day, many Goldsmiths who never were better than penny-a-liners, many +Michaels who never built their St. Peters,--and perhaps a Shakspeare who +held horses at the theatre-door for pence, as the Shakspeare we know of +did, and who stopped there. + +Let it here be suggested, that it is highly illogical to conclude that +you are yourself a person of whom a great deal more might have been +made, merely because you are a person of whom it is the fact that very +little has actually been made. This suggestion may appear a truism; but +it is one of those simple truths of which we all need to be occasionally +reminded. After all, the great test of what a man can do must be what a +man does. But there are folk who live on the reputation of being pebbles +capable of receiving a very high polish, though from circumstances +they did not choose to be polished. There are people who stand high in +general estimation on the ground of what they might have done, if they +had liked. You will find students who took no honors at the university, +but who endeavor to impress their friends with the notion, that, if +they had chosen, they could have attained to unexampled eminence. And +sometimes, no doubt, there are great powers that run to waste. There +have been men whose doings, splendid as they were, were no more than a +hint of how much more they could have done. In such a case as that of +Coleridge, you see how the lack of steady industry and of all sense of +responsibility abated the tangible result of the noble intellect God +gave him. But as a general rule, and in the case of ordinary people, you +need not give a man credit for the possession of any powers beyond those +which he has actually exhibited. If a boy is at the bottom of his class, +it is probably because he could not attain its top. My friend Mr. +Snarling thinks he can write much better articles than those which +appear in the "Atlantic Monthly"; but as he has not done so, I am not +inclined to give him credit for the achievement. But you can see that +this principle of estimating people's abilities, not by what they have +done, but by what they think they could do, will be much approved by +persons who are stupid and at the same time conceited. It is a pleasing +arrangement, that every man should fix his own mental mark, and hold by +his estimate of himself. And then, never measuring his strength with +others, he can suppose that he could have beat them, if he had tried. + + * * * * * + +Yes, we are all mainly fashioned by circumstances; and had the +circumstances been more propitious, they might have made a great deal +more of us. You sometimes think, middle-aged man, who never have passed +the limits of Britain, what an effect might have been produced upon your +views and character by foreign travel. You think what an indefinite +expansion of mind it might have caused,--how many narrow prejudices it +might have rubbed away,--how much wiser and better a man it might have +made you. Or more society and wider reading in your early youth might +have improved you,--might have taken away the shyness and the intrusive +individuality which you sometimes feel painfully,--might have called out +one cannot say what of greater confidence and larger sympathy. How very +little, you think to yourself, you have seen and known! While others +skim great libraries, you read the same few books over and over; while +others come to know many lands and cities, and the faces and ways of +many men, you look, year after year, on the same few square miles of +this world, and you have to form your notion of human nature from the +study of but few human beings, and these very commonplace. Perhaps it is +as well. It is not so certain that more would have been made of you, if +you had enjoyed what might seem greater advantages. Perhaps you learned +more, by studying the little field before you earnestly and long, than +you would have learned, if you had bestowed a cursory glance upon fields +more extensive by far. Perhaps there was compensation for the fewness of +the cases you had to observe in the keenness with which you were able +to observe them. Perhaps the Great Disposer saw that in your case the +pebble got nearly all the polishing it would stand,--the man nearly all +the chances he could improve. + +If there be soundness and justice in this suggestion, it may afford +consolation to a considerable class of men and women: I mean those +people who, feeling within themselves many defects of character, and +discerning in their outward lot much which they would wish other than +it is, are ready to think that some one thing would have put them +right,--that some one thing would put them right even yet,--but +something which they have hopelessly missed, something which can never +be. There was just one testing event which stood between them and their +being made a vast deal more of. They would have been far better and far +happier, they think, had some single malign influence been kept away +which has darkened all their life, or had some single blessing been +given which would have made it happy. If you had got such a parish, +which you did not get,--if you had married such a woman,--if your little +child had not died,--if you had always the society and sympathy of such +an energetic and hopeful friend,--if the scenery round your dwelling +were of a different character,--if the neighboring town were four miles +off, instead of fifteen,--if any one of these circumstances had been +altered, what a different man you might have been! Probably many people, +even of middle age, conscious that the manifold cares and worries of +life forbid that it should be evenly joyous, do yet cherish at the +bottom of their heart some vague, yet rooted fancy, that, if but one +thing were given on which they have set their hearts, or one care +removed forever, they would be perfectly happy, even here. Perhaps you +overrate the effect which would have been produced on your character by +such a single cause. It might not have made you much better; it might +not even have made you very different. And assuredly you are wrong in +fancying that any such single thing could have made you happy,--that is, +entirely happy. Nothing in this world could ever make you _that_. It is +not God's purpose that we should be entirely happy here, "This is not +our rest." The day will never come which will _not_ bring its worry. And +the possibility of terrible misfortune and sorrow hangs over all. There +is but One Place where we shall be right; and _that_ is far away. + + * * * * * + +Yes, more might have been made of all of us; probably, in the case of +most, not much more _will_ be made in this world. We are now, if we +have reached middle life, very much what we shall be to the end of the +chapter. We shall not, in this world, be much better; let us humbly +trust that we shall not be worse. Yet, if there be an undefinable +sadness in looking at the marred material of which so much more might +have been made, there is a sublime hopefulness in the contemplation of +material, bodily and mental, of which a great deal more and better will +certainly yet be made. Not much more may be made of any of us in life; +but who shall estimate what may be made of us in immortality? Think of a +"spiritual body"! think of a perfectly pure and happy soul! I thought of +this, on a beautiful evening of this summer, walking with a much valued +friend through a certain grand ducal domain. In front of a noble +sepulchre, where is laid up much aristocratic dust, there are +sculptured, by some great artist, three colossal faces, which are meant +to represent Life, Death, and Immortality. It was easy to represent +Death: the face was one of solemn rest, with closed eyes; and the +sculptor's skill was mainly shown in distinguishing Life from +Immortality. And he had done it well. _There_ was Life: a care-worn, +anxious, weary face, that seemed to look at you earnestly, and with +a vague inquiry for something,--the something that is lacking in all +things here. And _there_ was Immortality: life-like, but, oh, how +different from mortal Life! _There_ was the beautiful face, calm, +satisfied, self-possessed, sublime, and with eyes looking far away. I +see it yet, the crimson sunset warming the gray stone,--and a great +hawthorn-tree, covered with blossoms, standing by. Yes, _there_ was +Immortality; and you felt, as you looked at it,--that it was MORE MADE +OF LIFE! + + * * * * * + + +MY FRIEND'S LIBRARY. + + +That exquisite writer, Horae Subsecivae Brown, quotes, (without +comment,) as a motto to one of his volumes, an anecdote from Pierce +Egan, which I reproduce here:-- + +"A lady, resident in Devonshire, going into one of her parlors, +discovered a young ass, who had found its way into the room, and +carefully closed the door upon himself. He had evidently not been long +in this situation before he had nibbled a part of Cicero's Orations, +and eaten nearly all the index of a folio edition of Seneca in Latin, a +large part of a volume of La Bruyere's 'Maxims' in French, and several +pages of 'Cecilia.' He had done no other mischief whatever." + +Spare your wit, Sir, or Madam! Why should _you_ laugh, and apply the +sting in Mr. Egan's story to the case of "Yours Truly"? + + * * * * * + +I scarcely know a greater pleasure than to be allowed for a whole day to +spend the hours unmolested in my friend's library. So much _privilege_ +abounds there, I call it _Urbanity Hall_. It is a plain, modestly +appointed apartment, overlooking a broad sheet of water; and I can see, +from where I like to sit and read, the sail-boats go tilting by, and +glancing across the bay. Sometimes, when a rainy day sets in, I run down +to my friend's house, and ask leave to browse about the library,--not +so much for the sake of reading, as for the intense enjoyment I have in +turning over the books that have a personal history as it were. Many of +them once belonged to authors whose libraries have been dispersed. My +friend has enriched her editions with autographic notes of those fine +spirits who wrote the books which illumine her shelves, so that one is +constantly coming upon some fresh treasure in the way of a literary +curiosity. I am apt to discover something new every time I take down a +folio or a miniature volume. As I ramble on from shelf to shelf, + + "Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures," + +and the hours often slip by into the afternoon, and glide noiselessly +into twilight, before dinner-time is remembered. Drifting about only a +few days ago, I came by accident upon a magic quarto, shabby enough +in its exterior, with one of the covers hanging by the eyelids, and +otherwise sadly battered, to the great disfigurement of its external +aspect. I did not remember even to have seen it in the library before, +(it turned out to be a new comer,) and was about to pass it by with an +unkind thought as to its pauper condition, when it occurred to me, as +the lettering was obliterated from the back, I might as well open to the +title-page and learn the name at least of the tattered stranger. And I +was amply rewarded for the attention. It turned out to be "The Novels +and Tales of the Renowned John Boccacio, The first Refiner of Italian +Prose: containing A Hundred Curious Novels, by Seven Honorable Ladies +and Three Noble Gentlemen, Framed in Ten Days." It was printed in London +in 1684, "for Awnsham Churchill, at the Black Swan at Amen Corner." But +what makes this old yellow-leaved book a treasure-volume for all time is +the inscription on the first fly-leaf, in the handwriting of a man of +genius, who, many years ago, wrote thus on the blank page: + +"To MARIANNE HUNT. + +"Her Boccacio (_alter et idem_) come back to her after many years' +absence, for her good-nature in giving it away in a foreign country to a +traveller whose want of books was still worse than her own. + +"From her affectionate husband, + +"LEIGH HUNT. + +"August 23,1839--Chelsea, England." + +This record tells a most interesting story, and reveals to us an episode +in the life of the poet, well worth the knowing. I hope no accident +will ever cancel this old leather-bound veteran from the world's +bibliographic treasures. Spare it, Fire, Water, and Worms! for it does +the heart good to handle such a quarto. + + * * * * * + +One does not need to look far among the shelves in my friend's library +to find companion-gems of this antiquated tome. Among so many of + + "The assembled souls of all that men held + wise," + +there is no solitude of the mind. I reach out my hand at random, and, +lo! the first edition of Milton's "Paradise Lost"! It is a little brown +volume, "Printed by S. Simmons, and to be sold by S. Thomson at the +Bishop's-Head in Duck Lane, by H. Mortlack at the White Hart in +Westminster Hall, M. Walker under St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street, +and R. Boulten at the Turk's Head in Bishopsgate Street, 1668." Foolish +old Simmons deemed it necessary to insert over his own name the +following notice, which heads the Argument to the Poem:-- + +"THE PRINTER TO THE READER. + +"Courteous Reader, There was no Argument at first intended to the Book, +but for the satisfaction of many that have desired it, I have procured +it, and withall a reason of that which stumbled many others, why the +Poem Rimes not." + +The "Argument," which Milton omitted in subsequent editions, is very +curious throughout; and the reason which the author gives, at the +request of Mr. Publisher Simmons, why the poem "Rimes not," is quaint +and well worth transcribing an extract here, as it does not always +appear in more modern editions. Mr. Simmons's Poet is made to say,-- + +"The Measure is _English_ Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of _Homers_ +in _Greek_, and of _Virgil_ in _Latin_; Rime being no necessary Adjunct +or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but +the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame +Meeter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, +carried away by Custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and +constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse +then else they would have exprest them." + +We give the orthography precisely as Milton gave it in this his first +edition. + +There is a Table of Errata prefixed to this old copy, in which the +reader is told, + + "for hun_dreds_ read hun_derds_. + for _we_ read _wee_." + +Master Simmons's proof-reader was no adept in his art, if one may judge +from the countless errors which he allowed to creep into this immortal +poem when it first appeared in print. One can imagine the identical copy +now before us being handed over the counter in Duck Lane to some eager +scholar on the look-out for something new, and handed back again to Mr. +Thomson as too dull a looking poem for his perusal. Mr. Edmund Waller +entertained that idea of it, at any rate. + + * * * * * + +One of the sturdiest little books in my friend's library is a thick-set, +stumpy old copy of Richard Baxter's "Holy Commonwealth," written in +1659, and, as the title-page informs us, "at the invitation of James +Harrington Esquire,"--as one would take a glass of Canary,--by +_invitation!_ There is a preface addressed "To all those in the Army or +elsewhere, that have caused our many and great Eclipses since 1646." The +worms have made dagger-holes through and through the "inspired leaves" +of this fat little volume, till much strong thinking is now very +perforated printing. On the flyleaf is written, in a rough, straggling +hand, + + "WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, + + "Rydal Mount." + +The poet seems to have read the old book pretty closely, for there are +evident marks of his liking throughout its pages. + + * * * * * + +Connected with the Bard of the Lakes is another work in my friend's +library, which I always handle with a tender interest. It is a copy of +Wordsworth's Poetical Works, printed in 1815, with all the alterations +afterwards made in the pieces copied in by the poet from the edition +published in 1827. Some of the changes are marked improvements, and +nearly all make the meaning clearer. Now and then a prosaic phrase gives +place to a more poetical expression. The well-known lines, + + "Of Him who walked in glory and in joy, + Following his plough along the mountain-side," + +read at first, + + "_Behind_ his plough _upon_ the mountain-side." + + * * * * * + +In a well-preserved quarto copy of "Rasselas," with illustrations by +Smirke, which my friend picked up in London a few years ago, I found +the other day an unpublished autograph letter from Dr. Johnson, so +characteristic of the great man that it is worth transcribing. It is +addressed + +"_To the Reverend Mr. Compton. + +"To be sent to Mrs. Williams_." + +And it is thus worded:-- + +"Sir, + +"Your business, I suppose, is in a way of as easy progress as such +business ever has. It is seldom that event keeps pace with expectation. + +"The scheme of your book I cannot say that I fully comprehend. I would +not have you ask less than an hundred guineas, for it seems a large +octavo. + +"Go to Mr. Davis, in Russell Street, show him this letter, and show him +the book if he desires to see it. He will tell you what hopes you may +form, and to what Bookseller you should apply. + +"If you succeed in selling your book, you may do better than by +dedicating it to me. You may perhaps obtain permission to dedicate it to +the Bishop of London, or to Dr. Vyse, and make way by your book to more +advantage than I can procure you. + +"Please to tell Mrs. Williams that I grow better, and that I wish to +know how she goes on. You, Sir, may write for her to, + + "Sir, + + "Your most humble Servant, + + "SAM: JOHNSON. + + "Octo. 24, 1782." + +Dear kind-hearted old bear! On turning to Boswell's Life of his Ursine +Majesty, we learn who Mr. Compton was. When the Doctor visited France +in 1775, the Benedictine Monks in Paris entertained him in the most +friendly way. One of them, the Rev. James Compton, who had left England +at the early age of six to reside on the Continent, questioned him +pretty closely about the Protestant faith, and proposed, if at some +future time he should go to England to consider the subject more deeply, +to call at Bolt Court. In the summer of 1782 he paid the Doctor a +visit, and informed him of his desire to be admitted into the Church of +England. Johnson managed the matter satisfactorily for him, and he was +received into communion in St. James's Parish Church. Till the end of +January, 1783, he lived entirely at the Doctor's expense, his own means +being very scanty. Through Johnson's kindness he was nominated Chaplain +at the French Chapel of St. James's, and in 1802 we hear of him as being +quite in favor with the excellent Bishop Porteus and several other +distinguished Londoners. Thus, by the friendly hand of the hard-working, +earnest old lexicographer, Mr. Compton was led from deep poverty up to +a secure competency, and a place among the influential dignitaries of +London society. Poor enough himself, Johnson never shrank back, when +there was an honest person in distress to be helped on in the battle of +life. God's blessing on his memory for all his sympathy with struggling +humanity! + + * * * * * + +My friend has an ardent affection for Walter Scott and Charles Lamb. I +find the first edition of "Marmion," printed in 1808, "by J. Ballantyne +& Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh," most carefully +bound in savory Russia, standing in a pleasant corner of the room. Being +in quarto, the type is regal. Of course the copy is enriched with a +letter in the handwriting of Sir Walter. It is addressed to a personal +friend, and is dated April 17, 1825. The closing passage in it is of +especial interest. + +"I have seen Sheridan's last letter imploring Rogers to come to his +assistance. It stated that he was dying, and concluded abruptly +with these words 'they are throwing the things out of window.' The +memorialist certainly took pennyworths out of his friend's character.--I +sate three hours for my picture to Sir Thomas Lawrence during which the +whole conversation was filled up by Rogers with stories of Sheridan, for +the least of which if true he deserved the gallows." + +Ever Yours, "WALTER SCOTT." + +In the April of 1802 Scott was living in a pretty cottage at Lasswade; +and while there he sent off the following letter, which I find attached +with a wafer to my friend's copy of the Abbotsford edition of his works, +and written in a much plainer hand than he afterwards fell into. The +address is torn off. + +"SIR, + +"I esteem myself honored by the polite reception which you have given to +the Border Minstrelsy and am particularly flattered that so very good a +judge of poetical Antiquities finds any reason to be pleased with the +work.--There is no portrait of the _Flower of Yarrow_ in existence, +nor do I think it very probable that any was ever taken. Much family +anecdote concerning her has been preserved among her descendants of whom +I have the honor to be one. The epithet of '_Flower of Yarrow_' was in +later times bestowed upon one of her immediate posterity, Miss Mary +Lillias Scott, daughter of John Scott Esq. of Harden, and celebrated for +her beauty in the pastoral song of Tweedside,--I mean that set of modern +words which begins 'What beauty does Flora disclose.' This lady I myself +remember very well, and I mention her to you least you should receive +any inaccurate information owing to her being called like her +predecessor the 'Flower of Yarrow.' There was a portrait of this latter +lady in the collection at Hamilton which the present Duke transferred +through my hands to Lady Diana Scott relict of the late Walter Scott +Esq. of Harden, which picture was vulgarly but inaccurately supposed to +have been a resemblance of the original Mary Scott, daughter of Philip +Scott of Dryhope, and married to _Auld Wat_ of Harden in the middle of +the 16th century. + +"I shall be particularly happy if upon any future occasion I can in +the slightest degree contribute to advance your valuable and patriotic +labours, and I remain, Sir, + +"Your very faithful + +"and obt. Servant + +"WALTER SCOTT." + +This letter is worthy to be printed, and the readers of the "Atlantic +Monthly" now see it for the first time, I believe, set in type. + + * * * * * + +Old Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys in Fleet Street, brought out +in 1714 "The Rape of the Lock, an Heroi-Comical Poem, in Five Cantos, +written by Mr. Pope." He printed certain words in the title-page in red, +and other certain words in black ink. His own name and Mr. Pope's he +chose to exhibit in sanguinary tint. A copy of this edition, very much +thumbed and wanting half a dozen leaves, fell into the hands of Charles +Lamb more than a hundred years after it was published. Charles bore it +home, and set to work to supply, in his small neat hand, from another +edition, what was missing from the text in his stall-bought copy. As he +paid only sixpence for his prize, he could well afford the time it took +him to write in on blank leaves, which he inserted, the lines from + + "Thus far both armies to Belinda yield," + +onward to the couplet, + + "And thrice they twitch'd the Diamond in her Ear, + Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the Foe drew near." + +Besides this autographic addition, enhancing forever the value of this +old copy of Pope's immortal poem, I find the following little note, in +Lamb's clerkly chirography, addressed to + +"Mr. Wainright, on _Thursday_. + +"Dear Sir, + +"The _Wits_ (as Clare calls us) assemble at my cell (20 Russell Street, +Cov. Gar.) this evening at 1/4 before 7. Cold meat at 9. Puns at----a +little after. Mr. Cary wants to see you, to scold you. I hope you will +not fail. + +"Yours &c. &c. &c. + +"C. LAMB." + +There are two books in my friend's library which once belonged to the +author of the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard." One of them is "A Voyage +to and from the Island of Borneo, in the East Indies: printed for T. +Warner at the Black Boy, and F. Batley at the Dove, in 1718." It has the +name of T. Gray, written by himself, in the middle of the title-page, as +was his custom always. Before Gray owned this book, it belonged to Mr. +Antrobus, his uncle, who wrote many original notes in it. The volume has +also this manuscript memorandum on one of the fly-leaves, signed by a +well-known naturalist, now living in England:-- + +"August 28, 1851. + +"This book has Gray's autograph on the title page, written in his usual +neat hand. It has twice been my fate to witness the sale of Gray's most +interesting collection of manuscripts and books, and at the last sale +I purchased this volume. I present it to ---- as a little token of +affectionate regard by her old friend, now in his 85th year." + +Who will not be willing to admit the great good-luck of my friend in +having such a donor for an acquaintance? + +But one of the chief treasures in the library of which I write is Gray's +copy of Milton's "Poems upon several occasions. Both English and Latin. +Printed at the _Blew Anchor_ next Mitre Court over against Fetter +Lane in Fleet Street." When a boy at school, Gray owned and read this +charming old volume, and he has printed his name, school-boy fashion, +all over the title-page. Wherever there is a vacant space big enough to +hold _Thomas Gray_, there it stands in faded ink, still fading as time +rolls on. The Latin poems seem to have been most carefully conned by the +youthful Etonian, and we know how much he esteemed them in after-life. + + * * * * * + +Scholarly Robert Southey once owned a book that now towers aloft in my +friend's library. It is a princely copy of Ben Jonson, the Illustrious. +Southey lent it, when he possessed the _magnifico_, to Coleridge, who +has begemmed it all over with his fine pencillings. As Ben once handled +the trowel, and did other honorable work as a bricklayer, Coleridge +discourses with much golden gossip about the craft to which the great +dramatist once belonged. The editor of this magazine would hardly +thank me, if I filled ten of his pages with extracts from the rambling +dissertations in S.T.C.'s handwriting which I find in this rare folio, +but I could easily pick out that amount of readable matter from the +margins. One manuscript anecdote, however, I must transcribe from the +last leaf. I think Coleridge got the story from "The Seer." + +"An Irish laborer laid a wager with another hod bearer that the latter +could not carry him up the ladder to the top of a house in his hod, +without letting him fall. The bet is accepted, and up they go. There is +peril at every step. At the top of the ladder there is life and the loss +of the wager,--death and success below! The highest point is reached in +safety; the wagerer looks humbled and disappointed. 'Well,' said he, +'you have won; there is no doubt of that; worse luck to you another +time; but at the third story I HAD HOPES.'" + + * * * * * + +In a quaint old edition of "The Spectator," which seems to have been +through many sieges, and must have come to grief very early in its +existence, if one may judge anything from the various names which are +scrawled upon it in different years, reaching back almost to the date +of its publication, I find this note in the handwriting of Addison, +sticking fast on the reverse side of his portrait. It is addressed to +Ambrose Philips, and there is no doubt that he went where he was +bidden, and found the illustrious Joseph all ready to receive him at a +well-furnished table. + +"Tuesday Night. + +"Sir, + +"If you are at leisure for an hour, your company will be a great +obligation to + +"Yr. most humble sev't. + +"J. Addison. + +"Fountain Tavern." + +That night at the "Fountain," perchance, they discussed that war of +words which might then have been raging between the author of the +"Pastorals" and Pope, moistening their clay with a frequency to which +they were both somewhat notoriously inclined. + +My friend rides hard her hobby for choice editions, and she hunts with +a will whenever a good old copy of a well-beloved author is up for +pursuit. She is not a fop in binding, but she must have _appropriate_ +dresses for her favorites. She knows what + + "Adds a precious seeing to the eye" + +as well as Hayday himself, and never lets her folios shiver when they +ought to be warm. Moreover, she _reads_ her books, and, like the scholar +in Chaucer, would rather have + + "At her beddes head + A twenty bokes, clothed in black and red, + Of Aristotle and his philosophy, + Than robes rich, or fiddle, or psaltrie." + +I found her not long ago deep in a volume of "Mr. Welsted's Poems"; +and as that author is not particularly lively or inviting to a modern +reader, I begged to know why he was thus honored. "I was trying," said +she, "to learn, if possible, why Dicky Steele should have made his +daughter a birth-day gift of these poems. This copy I found on a stall +in Fleet Street many years ago, and it has in Sir Richard's handwriting +this inscription on one of the fly-leaves:-- + + "ELIZABETH STEELE + Her Book + Giv'n by Her Father + RICHARD STEELE. + March 20th, 1723. + +"Running my eye over the pieces, I find a poem in praise of 'Apple-Pye,' +and one of the passages in it is marked, as if to call the attention +of young Eliza to something worthy her notice. These are the lines the +young lady is charged to remember:-- + + "'Dear Nelly, learn with Care the Pastry-Art, + And mind the easy Precepts I impart: + Draw out your Dough elaborately thin. + And cease not to fatigue your Rolling-Pin: + Of Eggs and Butter see you mix enough; + For then the Paste will swell into a Puff, + Which will in crumpling Sounds your Praise report, + And eat, as Housewives speak, exceeding short.'" + +Who was Abou Ben Adhem? Was his existence merely in the poet's brain, +or did he walk this planet somewhere,--and when? In a copy of the +"Bibliotheque Orientale," which once belonged to the author of that +exquisite little gem of poesy beginning with a wish that Abou's tribe +might increase, I find (the leaf is lovingly turned down and otherwise +noted) the following account of the forever famous dreamer. + +"Adhem was the name of a Doctor celebrated for Mussulman traditions. He +was the contemporary of Aamarsch, another relater of traditions of the +first class. Adhem had a son noted for his doctrine and his piety. The +Mussulmans place him among the number of their Saints who have done +miracles. He was named Abou-Ishak-Ben-Adhem. It is said he was +distinguished for his piety from his earliest youth, and that he joined +the Sofis, or the Religious sect in Mecca, under the direction of +Fodhail. He went from there to Damas, where he died in the year 166 of +the Hegira. He undertook, it is said, to make a pilgrimage from Mecca, +and to pass through the desert alone and without provisions, making a +thousand genuflexions for every mile of the way. It is added that he was +twelve years in making this journey, during which he was often tempted +and alarmed by Demons. The Khalife Haroun Raschid, making the same +pilgrimage, met him upon the way and inquired after his welfare; the +Sofi answered him with an Arabian quatrain, of which this is the +meaning:-- + +"'We mend the rags of this worldly robe with the pieces of the robe of +Religion, which we tear apart for this end; + +"'And we do our work so thoroughly that nothing remains of the latter, + +"'And the garment we mend escapes out of our hands. + +"'Happy is the servant who has chosen God for his master, and who +employs his present good only to acquire those which he awaits.' + +"It is related also of Abou, that he saw in a dream an Angel who wrote, +and that having demanded what he was doing, the Angel answered, 'I +write the names of those who love God sincerely, those who perform +Malek-Ben-Dinar, Thaber-al-Benani, Aioud-al-Sakhtiani, etc.' Then said +he to the Angel, 'Am I not placed among these?' 'No,' replied the Angel. +'Ah, well,' said he, 'write me, then, I pray you, for love of these, as +the friend of all who love the Lord.' It is added, that the same Angel +revealed to him soon after that he had received an order from God to +place him at the head of all the rest. This is the same Abou who said +that he preferred Hell with the will of God to Paradise without it; or, +as another writer relates it: 'I love Hell, if I am doing the will of +God, better than the enjoyments of Paradise and disobedience.'" + + * * * * * + +With books printed by "B. Franklin, Philadelphia," my friend's library +is richly stored. One of them is "The Charter of Privileges, granted by +William Penn Esq: to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Territories." +"PRINTED AND SOLD BY B. FRANKLIN" looks odd enough on the dingy +title-page of this old volume, and the contents are full of interest. +Rough days were those when "Jehu Curtis" was "Speaker of the House," and +put his name to such documents as this:-- + +"And Be it Further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any +Person shall wilfully or premeditately be guilty of Blasphemy, and shall +thereof be legally convicted, the Person so offending shall, for every +such Offence, be set in the Pillory for the space of Two Hours, and be +branded on his or her Foreshead with the letter B, and be publickly +whipt, on his or her bare Back, with Thirty nine Lashes _well laid on_." + + * * * * * + +But I am rambling on too far and too fast for to-day. Here is one more +book, however, that I must say a word about, as it lies open on my knee, +the gift of PUIR ROBBIE BURNS to a female friend,--his own poems,--the +edition which gave him "so much real happiness to see in print." Laid in +this copy of his works is a sad letter, in the poet's handwriting, which +perhaps has never been printed. Addressed to Captain Hamilton, Dumfries, +it is in itself a touching record of dear Robin's poverty, and _a' +that_. + +"SIR, + +"It is needless to attempt an apology for my remissness to you in money +matters; my conduct is beyond all excuse.--Literally, Sir, I had it +not. The Distressful state of commerce at this town has this year taken +from my otherwise scanty income no less than L20.--That part of my +salary depends upon the Imposts, and they are no more for one year. I +inclose you three guineas; and shall soon settle all with you. I shall +not mention your goodness to me; it is beyond my power to describe +either the feelings of my wounded soul at not being able to pay you as I +ought; or the grateful respect with which I have the honor to be + +"Sir, Your deeply obliged humble servant, + +"ROBT. BURNS. + +"Dumfries, Jany. 29, 1795." + +And so I walk out of my friend's leafy paradise this July afternoon, +thinking of the bard who in all his songs and sorrows made + + "rustic life and poverty + Grow beautiful beneath his touch," + +and whose mission it was + + "To weigh the inborn worth of _man_." + + + + +THE NAME IN THE BARK. + + + The self of so long ago, + And the self I struggle to know, + I sometimes think we are two,--or are we shadows of one? + To-day the shadow I am + Comes back in the sweet summer calm + To trace where the earlier shadow flitted awhile in the sun. + + Once more in the dewy morn + I trod through the whispering corn, + Cool to my fevered cheek soft breezy kisses were blown; + The ribboned and tasselled grass + Leaned over the flattering glass, + And the sunny waters trilled the same low musical tone. + + To the gray old birch I came, + Where I whittled my school-boy name: + The nimble squirrel once more ran skippingly over the rail, + The blackbirds down among + The alders noisily sung, + And under the blackberry-brier whistled the serious quail. + + I came, remembering well + How my little shadow fell, + As I painfully reached and wrote to leave to the future a sign: + There, stooping a little, I found + A half-healed, curious wound, + An ancient scar in the bark, but no initial of mine! + + Then the wise old boughs overhead + Took counsel together, and said,-- + And the buzz of their leafy lips like a murmur of prophecy passed,-- + "He is busily carving a name + In the tough old wrinkles of fame; + But, cut he as deep as he may, the lines will close over at last!" + + Sadly I pondered awhile, + Then I lifted my soul with a smile, + And I said,--"Not cheerful men, but anxious children are we, + Still hurting ourselves with the knife, + As we toil at the letters of life, + Just marring a little the rind, never piercing the heart of the tree." + + And now by the rivulet's brink + I leisurely saunter, and think + How idle this strife will appear when circling ages have run, + If then the real I am + Descend from the heavenly calm, + To trace where the shadow I seem once flitted awhile in the sun. + + + + +AGNES OF SORRENTO. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PERPLEXITIES. + + +Agnes returned from the confessional with more sadness than her simple +life had ever known before. The agitation of her confessor, the +tremulous eagerness of his words, the alternations of severity and +tenderness in his manner to her, all struck her only as indications of +the very grave danger in which she was placed, and the awfulness of the +sin and condemnation which oppressed the soul of one for whom she was +conscious of a deep and strange interest. + +She had the undoubting, uninquiring reverence which a Christianly +educated child of those times might entertain for the visible head of +the Christian Church, all whose doings were to be regarded with an awful +veneration which never even raised a question. + +That the Papal throne was now filled by a man who had bought his +election with the wages of iniquity, and dispensed its powers and +offices with sole reference to the aggrandizement of a family proverbial +for brutality and obscenity, was a fact well known to the reasoning and +enlightened orders of society at this time; but it did not penetrate +into those lowly valleys where the sheep of the Lord humbly pastured, +innocently unconscious of the frauds and violence by which their dearest +interests were bought and sold. + +The Christian faith we now hold, who boast our enlightened +Protestantism, has been transmitted to us through the hearts and hands +of such,--who, while princes wrangled with Pope, and Pope with princes, +knew nothing of it all, but, in lowly ways of prayer and patient labor, +were one with us of modern times in the great central belief of the +Christian heart, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." + +As Agnes came slowly up the path towards the little garden, she was +conscious of a burden and weariness of spirit she had never known +before. She passed the little moist grotto, which in former times she +never failed to visit to see if there were any new-blown cyclamen, +without giving it even a thought. A crimson spray of gladiolus leaned +from the rock and seemed softly to kiss her cheek, yet she regarded +it not; and once stopping and gazing abstractedly upward on the +flower-tapestried walls of the gorge, as they rose in wreath and garland +and festoon above her, she felt as if the brilliant yellow of the broom +and the crimson of the gillyflowers, and all the fluttering, nodding +armies of brightness that were dancing in the sunlight, were too gay for +such a world as this, where mortal sins and sorrows made such havoc with +all that seemed brightest and best, and she longed to fly away and be at +rest. + +Just then she heard the cheerful voice of her uncle in the little garden +above, as he was singing at his painting. The words were those of that +old Latin hymn of Saint Bernard, which, in its English dress, has +thrilled many a Methodist class-meeting and many a Puritan conference, +telling, in the welcome they meet in each Christian soul, that there is +a unity in Christ's Church which is not outward,--a secret, invisible +bond, by which, under warring names and badges of opposition, His true +followers have yet been one in Him, even though they discerned it not. + + "Jesu dulcis memoria, + Dans vera cordi gaudia: + Sed super mel et omnia + Ejus dulcis praesentia. + + "Nil canitur suavius, + Nil auditur jocundius, + Nil cogitatur dulcius, + Quam Jesus Dei Filius. + + "Jesu, spes poenitentibus, + Quam pius es petentibus, + Quam bonus te quaerentibus, + Sed quis invenientibus! + Nec lingua valet dicere, + Nec littera exprimere: + Expertus potest credere + Quid sit Jesum diligere."[A] + +[Footnote A: + + Jesus, the very thought of thee + With sweetness fills my breast; + But sweeter far thy face to see, + And in thy presence rest! + + Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, + Nor can the memory find + A sweeter sound than thy blest name, + O Saviour of mankind! + + O hope of every contrite heart, + O joy of all the meek, + To those who fall how kind thou art, + How good to those who seek! + + But what to those who find! Ah, this + Nor tongue nor pen can show! + The love of Jesus, what it is + None but his loved ones know.] + +The old monk sang with all his heart; and his voice, which had been +a fine one in its day, had still that power which comes from the +expression of deep feeling. One often hears this peculiarity in the +voices of persons of genius and sensibility, even when destitute of any +real critical merit. They seem to be so interfused with the emotions of +the soul, that they strike upon the heart almost like the living touch +of a spirit. + +Agnes was soothed in listening to him. The Latin words, the sentiment of +which had been traditional in the Church from time immemorial, had to +her a sacred fragrance and odor; they were words apart from all common +usage, a sacramental language, never heard but in moments of devotion +and aspiration,--and they stilled the child's heart in its tossings and +tempest, as when of old the Jesus they spake of walked forth on the +stormy sea. + +"Yes, He gave His life for us!" she said; "He is ever reigning for us! + + "'Jesu dulcissime, e throno gloriae + Ovem deperditam venisti quaerere! + Jesu suavissime, pastor fidissime, + Ad te O trahe me, ut semper sequar te!'"[B] + +[Footnote B: + + Jesus most beautiful, from thrones in glory, + Seeking thy lost sheep, thou didst descend! + Jesus most tender, shepherd most faithful, + To thee, oh, draw thou me, that I may follow thee, + Follow thee faithfully world without end!] + +"What, my little one!" said the monk, looking over the wall; "I thought +I heard angels singing. Is it not a beautiful morning?" + +"Dear uncle, it is," said Agnes. "And I have been so glad to hear your +beautiful hymn!--it comforted me." + +"Comforted you, little heart? What a word is that! When you get as far +along on your journey as your old uncle, then you may talk of _comfort_. +But who thinks of comforting birds or butterflies or young lambs?" + +"Ah, dear uncle, I am not so very happy," said Agnes, the tears starting +into her eyes. + +"Not happy?" said the monk, looking up from his drawing. "Pray, what's +the matter now? Has a bee stung your finger? or have you lost your +nosegay over a rock? or what dreadful affliction has come upon +you?--hey, my little heart?" + +Agnes sat down on the corner of the marble fountain, and, covering her +face with her apron, sobbed as if her heart would break. + +"What has that old priest been saying to her in the confession?" said +Father Antonio to himself. "I dare say he cannot understand her. She is +as pure as a dew-drop on a cobweb, and as delicate; and these priests, +half of them don't know how to handle the Lord's lambs.--Come now, +little Agnes," he said, with a coaxing tone, "what is its trouble?--tell +its old uncle,--there's a dear!" + +"Ah, uncle, I can't!" said Agnes, between her sobs. + +"Can't tell its uncle!--there's a pretty go! Perhaps you will tell +grandmamma?" + +"Oh, no, no, no! not for the world!" said Agnes, sobbing still more +bitterly. + +"Why, really, little heart of mine, this is getting serious," said the +monk; "let your old uncle try to help you." + +"It isn't for myself," said Agnes, endeavoring to check her +feelings,--"it is not for myself,--it is for another,--for a soul lost. +Ah, my Jesus, have mercy!" + +"A soul lost? Our Mother forbid!" said the monk, crossing himself. +"Lost in this Christian land, so overflowing with the beauty of the +Lord?--lost out of this fair sheepfold of Paradise?" + +"Yes, lost," said Agnes, despairingly,--"and if somebody do not save +him, lost forever; and it is a brave and noble soul, too,--like one of +the angels that fell." + +"Who is it, dear?--tell me about it," said the monk. "I am one of the +shepherds whose place it is to go after that which is lost, even till I +find it." + +"Dear uncle, you remember the youth who suddenly appeared to us in the +moonlight here a few evenings ago?" + +"Ah, indeed!" said the monk,--"what of him?" + +"Father Francesco has told me dreadful things of him this morning." + +"What things?" + +"Uncle, he is excommunicated by our Holy Father the Pope." + +Father Antonio, as a member of one of the most enlightened and +cultivated religious orders of the times, and as an intimate companion +and disciple of Savonarola, had a full understanding of the character of +the reigning Pope, and therefore had his own private opinion of how much +his excommunication was likely to be worth in the invisible world. He +knew that the same doom had been threatened towards his saintly master, +for opposing and exposing the scandalous vices which disgraced the high +places of the Church; so that, on the whole, when he heard that this +young man was excommunicated, so far from being impressed with horror +towards him, he conceived the idea that he might be a particularly +honest fellow and good Christian. But then he did not hold it wise to +disturb the faith of the simple-hearted by revealing to them the truth +about the head of the Church on earth. + +While the disorders in those elevated regions filled the minds of the +intelligent classes with apprehension and alarm, they held it unwise +to disturb the trustful simplicity of the lower orders, whose faith in +Christianity itself they supposed might thus be shaken. In fact, they +were themselves somewhat puzzled how to reconcile the patent and +manifest fact, that the actual incumbent of the Holy See was not under +the guidance of any spirit, unless it were a diabolical one, with the +theory which supposed an infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit to +attend as a matter of course on that position. Some of the boldest of +them did not hesitate to declare that the Holy City had suffered a foul +invasion, and that a false usurper reigned in her sacred palaces in +place of the Father of Christendom. The greater part did as people now +do with the mysteries and discrepancies of a faith which on the whole +they revere: they turned their attention from the vexed question, and +sighed and longed for better days. + +Father Antonio did not, therefore, tell Agnes that the announcement +which had filled her with such distress was far less conclusive with +himself of the ill desert of the individual to whom it related. + +"My little heart," he answered, gravely, "did you learn the sin for +which this young man was excommunicated?" + +"Ah, me! my dear uncle, I fear he is an infidel,--an unbeliever. Indeed, +now I remember it, he confessed as much to me the other day." + +"Where did he tell you this?" + +"You remember, my uncle, when you were sent for to the dying man? When +you were gone, I kneeled down to pray for his soul; and when I rose from +prayer, this young cavalier was sitting right here, on this end of the +fountain. He was looking fixedly at me, with such sad eyes, so full +of longing and pain, that it was quite piteous; and he spoke to me so +sadly, I could not but pity him." + +"What did he say to you, child?" + +"Ah, father, he said that he was all alone in the world, without +friends, and utterly desolate, with no one to love him; but worse than +that, he said he had lost his faith, that he could not believe." + +"What did you say to him?" + +"Uncle, I tried, as a poor girl might, to do him some good. I prayed him +to confess and take the sacrament; but he looked almost fierce when I +said so. And yet I cannot but think, after all, that he has not lost all +grace, because he begged me so earnestly to pray for him; he said his +prayers could do no good, and wanted mine. And then I began to tell him +about you, dear uncle, and how you came from that blessed convent in +Florence, and about your master Savonarola; and that seemed to interest +him, for he looked quite excited, and spoke the name over, as if it were +one he had heard before. I wanted to urge him to come and open his case +to you; and I think perhaps I might have succeeded, but that just then +you and grandmamma came up the path; and when I heard you coming, I +begged him to go, because you know grandmamma would be very angry, if +she knew that I had given speech to a man, even for a few moments; she +thinks men are so dreadful." + +"I must seek this youth," said the monk, in a musing tone; "perhaps I +may find out what inward temptation hath driven him away from the fold." + +"Oh, do, dear uncle! do!" said Agnes, earnestly. "I am sure that he has +been grievously tempted and misled, for he seems to have a noble and +gentle nature; and he spoke so feelingly of his mother, who is a saint +in heaven; and he seemed so earnestly to long to return to the bosom of +the Church." + +"The Church is a tender mother to all her erring children," said the +monk. + +"And don't you think that our dear Holy Father the Pope will forgive +him?" said Agnes. "Surely, he will have all the meekness and gentleness +of Christ, who would rejoice in one sheep found more than in all the +ninety-and-nine who went not astray." + +The monk could scarcely repress a smile at imagining Alexander the +Sixth in this character of a good shepherd, as Agnes's enthusiastic +imagination painted the head of the Church; and then he gave an inward +sigh, and said, softly, "Lord, how long?" + +"I think," said Agnes, "that this young man is of noble birth, for his +words and his bearing and his tones of voice are not those of common +men; even though he speaks so humbly and gently, there is yet something +princely that looks out of his eyes, as if he were born to command; and +he wears strange jewels, the like of which I never saw, on his hands and +at the hilt of his dagger,--yet he seems to make nothing of them. But +yet, I know not why, he spoke of himself as one utterly desolate and +forlorn. Father Francesco told me that he was captain of a band of +robbers who live in the mountains. One cannot think it is so." + +"Little heart," said the monk, tenderly, "you can scarcely know what +things befall men in these distracted times, when faction wages war with +faction, and men pillage and burn and imprison, first on this side, +then on that. Many a son of a noble house may find himself homeless +and landless, and, chased by the enemy, may have no refuge but the +fastnesses of the mountains. Thank God, our lovely Italy hath a noble +backbone of these same mountains, which afford shelter to her children +in their straits." + +"Then you think it possible, dear uncle, that this may not be a bad man, +after all?" + +"Let us hope so, child. I will myself seek him out; and if his mind have +been chafed by violence or injustice, I will strive to bring him back +into the good ways of the Lord. Take heart, my little one,--all will yet +be well. Come now, little darling, wipe your bright eyes, and look at +these plans I have been making for the shrine we were talking of, in the +gorge. See here, I have drawn a goodly arch with a pinnacle. Under the +arch, you see, shall be the picture of our Lady with the blessed +Babe. The arch shall be cunningly sculptured with vines of ivy and +passion-flower; and on one side of it shall stand Saint Agnes with her +lamb,--and on the other, Saint Cecilia, crowned with roses; and on +this pinnacle, above all, Saint Michael, all in armor, shall stand +leaning,--one hand on his sword, and holding a shield with the cross +upon it." + +"Ah, that will be beautiful!" said Agnes. + +"You can scarcely tell," pursued the monk, "from this faint drawing, +what the picture of our Lady is to be; but I shall paint her to the +highest of my art, and with many prayers that I may work worthily. You +see, she shall be standing on a cloud with a background all of burnished +gold, like the streets of the New Jerusalem; and she shall be clothed in +a mantle of purest blue from head to foot, to represent the unclouded +sky of summer; and on her forehead she shall wear the evening star, +which ever shineth when we say the Ave Maria; and all the borders of her +blue vesture shall be cunningly wrought with fringes of stars; and the +dear Babe shall lean his little cheek to hers so peacefully, and there +shall be a clear shining of love through her face, and a heavenly +restfulness, that it shall do one's heart good to look at her. Many a +blessed hour shall I have over this picture,--many a hymn shall I sing +as my work goes on. I must go about to prepare the panels forthwith; and +it were well, if there be that young man who works in stone, to have him +summoned to our conference." + +"I think," said Agnes, "that you will find him in the town; he dwells +next to the cathedral." + +"I trust he is a youth of pious life and conversation," said the monk. +"I must call on him this afternoon; for he ought to be stirring himself +up by hymns and prayers, and by meditations on the beauty of saints and +angels, for so goodly a work. What higher honor or grace can befall a +creature than to be called upon to make visible to men that beauty of +invisible things which is divine and eternal? How many holy men have +given themselves to this work in Italy, till, from being overrun with +heathen temples, it is now full of most curious and wonderful churches, +shrines, and cathedrals, every stone of which is a miracle of beauty! I +would, dear daughter, you could see our great Duomo in Florence, which +is a mountain of precious marbles and many-colored mosaics; and the +Campanile that riseth thereby is like a lily of Paradise,--so tall, so +stately, with such an infinite grace, and adorned all the way up with +holy emblems and images of saints and angels; nor is there any part of +it, within or without, that is not finished sacredly with care, as an +offering to the most perfect God. Truly, our fair Florence, though she +be little, is worthy, by her sacred adornments, to be worn as the lily +of our Lady's girdle, even as she hath been dedicated to her." + +Agnes seemed pleased with the enthusiastic discourse of her uncle. The +tears gradually dried from her eyes as she listened to him, and the hope +so natural to the young and untried heart began to reassert itself. God +was merciful, the world beautiful; there was a tender Mother, a reigning +Saviour, protecting angels and guardian saints: surely, then, there +was no need to despair of the recall of any wanderer; and the softest +supplication of the most ignorant and unworthy would be taken up by so +many sympathetic voices in the invisible world, and borne on in so many +waves of brightness to the heavenly throne, that the most timid must +have hope in prayer. + +In the afternoon, the monk went to the town to seek the young artist, +and also to inquire for the stranger for whom his pastoral offices were +in requisition, and Agnes remained alone in the little solitary garden. + +It was one of those rich slumberous afternoons of spring that seem to +bathe earth and heaven with an Elysian softness; and from her little +lonely nook shrouded in dusky shadows by its orange-trees, Agnes looked +down the sombre gorge to where the open sea lay panting and palpitating +in blue and violet waves, while the little white sails of fishing-boats +drifted hither and thither, now silvered in the sunshine, now fading +away like a dream into the violet vapor bands that mantled the horizon. +The weather would have been oppressively sultry but for the gentle +breeze which constantly drifted landward with coolness in its wings. The +hum of the old town came to her ear softened by distance and mingled +with the patter of the fountain and the music of birds singing in the +trees overhead. Agnes tried to busy herself with her spinning; but her +mind constantly wandered away, and stirred and undulated with a thousand +dim and unshaped thoughts and emotions, of which she vaguely questioned +in her own mind. Why did Father Francesco warn her so solemnly against +an earthly love? Did he not know her vocation? But still he was wisest +and must know best; there must be danger, if he said so. But then, +this knight had spoken so modestly, so humbly,--so differently from +Giulietta's lovers!--for Giulietta had sometimes found a chance to +recount to Agnes some of her triumphs. How could it be that a knight so +brave and gentle, and so piously brought up, should become an infidel? +Ah, uncle Antonio was right,--he must have had some foul wrong, some +dreadful injury! When Agnes was a child, in travelling with her +grandmother through one of the highest passes of the Apennines, she had +chanced to discover a wounded eagle, whom an arrow had pierced, sitting +all alone by himself on a rock, with his feathers ruffled, and a film +coming over his great, clear, bright eye,--and, ever full of compassion, +she had taken him to nurse, and had travelled for a day with him in her +arms; and the mournful look of his regal eyes now came into her memory. +"Yes," she said to herself, "he is like my poor eagle! The archers have +wounded him, so that he is glad to find shelter even with a poor maid +like me; but it was easy to see my eagle had been king among birds, even +as this knight is among men. Certainly, God must love him,--he is so +beautiful and noble! I hope dear uncle will find him this afternoon; he +knows how to teach him;--as for me, I can only pray." + +Such were the thoughts that Agnes twisted into the shining white flax, +while her eyes wandered dreamily over the soft hazy landscape. At last, +lulled by the shivering sound of leaves, and the bird-songs, and wearied +with the agitations of the morning, her head lay back against the end of +the sculptured fountain, the spindle slowly dropped from her hand, and +her eyes were closed in sleep, the murmur of the fountain still sounding +in her dreams. In her dreams she seemed to be wandering far away among +the purple passes of the Apennines, where she had come years ago when +she was a little girl; with her grandmother she pushed through old +olive-groves, weird and twisted with many a quaint gnarl, and rustling +their pale silvery leaves in noonday twilight. Sometimes she seemed to +carry in her bosom a wounded eagle, and often she sat down to stroke it +and to try to give it food from her hand, and as often it looked upon +her with a proud, patient eye, and then her grandmother seemed to shake +her roughly by the arm and bid her throw the silly bird away;--but then +again the dream changed, and she saw a knight lie bleeding and dying in +a lonely hollow,--his garments torn, his sword broken, and his face pale +and faintly streaked with blood; and she kneeled by him, trying in vain +to stanch a deadly wound in his side, while he said reproachfully, +"Agnes, dear Agnes, why would you not save me?" and then she thought +he kissed her hand with his cold dying lips; and she shivered and +awoke,--to find that her hand was indeed held in that of the cavalier, +whose eyes met her own when first she unclosed them, and the same voice +that spoke in her dreams said, "Agnes, dear Agnes!" + +For a moment she seemed stupefied and confounded, and sat passively +regarding the knight, who kneeled at her feet and repeatedly kissed her +hand, calling her his saint, his star, his life, and whatever other +fair name poetry lends to love. All at once, however, her face flushed +crimson red, she drew her hand quickly away, and, rising up, made a +motion to retreat, saying, in a voice of alarm,-- + +"Oh, my Lord, this must not be! I am committing deadly sin to hear you. +Please, please go! please leave a poor girl!" + +"Agnes, what does this mean?" said the cavalier. "Only two days since, +in this place, you promised to love me; and that promise has brought me +from utter despair to love of life. Nay, since you told me that, I have +been able to pray once more; the whole world seems changed for me: and +now will you take it all away,--you, who are all I have on earth?" + +"My Lord, I did not know then that I was sinning. Our dear Mother knows +I said only what I thought was true and right, but I find it was a sin." + +"A sin _to love_, Agnes? Heaven must be full of sin, then; for there +they do nothing else." + +"Oh, my Lord, I must not argue with you; I am forbidden to listen even +for a moment. Please go. I will never forget you, Sir,--never forget to +pray for you, and to love you as they love in heaven; but I am forbidden +to speak with you. I fear I have sinned in hearing and saying even this +much." + +"Who forbids you, Agnes? Who has the right to forbid your good, kind +heart to love, where love is so deeply needed and so gratefully +received?" + +"My holy father, whom I am bound to obey as my soul's director," said +Agnes; "he has forbidden me so much as to listen to a word, and yet I +have listened to many. How could I help it?" + +"Ever these priests!" said the cavalier, his brow darkening with an +impatient frown; "wolves in sheep's clothing!" + +"Alas!" said Agnes, sorrowfully, "why will you"-- + +"Why will I what?" he said, facing suddenly toward her, and looking down +with a fierce, scornful determination. + +"Why will you be at war with the Holy Church? Why will you peril your +eternal salvation?" + +"Is there a Holy Church? Where is it? Would there were one! I am blind +and cannot see it. Little Agnes, you promised to lead me; but you drop +my hand in the darkness. Who will guide me, if _you_ will not?" + +"My Lord, I am most unfit to be your guide. I am a poor girl, without +any learning; but there is my uncle I spoke to you of. Oh, my Lord, if +you only would go to him, he is wise and gentle both. I must go in now, +my Lord,--indeed, I must. I must not sin further. I must do a heavy +penance for having listened and spoken to you, after the holy father had +forbidden me." + +"No, Agnes, you shall _not_ go in," said the cavalier, suddenly stepping +before her and placing himself across the doorway; "you _shall_ see me, +and hear me too. I take the sin on myself; you cannot help it. How will +you avoid me? Will you fly now down the path of the gorge? I will follow +you,--I am desperate. I had but one comfort on earth, but one hope of +heaven, and that through you; and you, cruel, are so ready to give me up +at the first word of your priest!" + +"God knows if I do it willingly," said Agnes; "but I know it is best; +for I feel I should love you too well, if I saw more of you. My Lord, +you are strong and can compel me, but I beg you to leave me." + +"Dear Agnes, could you really feel it possible that you might love me +too well?" said the cavalier, his whole manner changing. "Ah! could I +carry you far away to my home in the mountains, far up in the beautiful +blue mountains, where the air is so clear, and the weary, wrangling +world lies so far below that one forgets it entirely, you should be my +wife, my queen, my empress. You should lead me where you would; your +word should be my law. I will go with you wherever you will,--to +confession, to sacrament, to prayers, never so often; never will I rebel +against your word; if you decree, I will bend my neck to king or priest; +I will reconcile me with anybody or anything only for your sweet sake; +you shall lead me all my life; and when we die, I ask only that you may +lead me to our Mother's throne in heaven, and pray her to tolerate me +for your sake. Come, now, dear, is not even one unworthy soul worth +saving?" + +"My Lord, you have taught me how wise my holy father was in forbidding +me to listen to you. He knew better than I how weak was my heart, and +how I might be drawn on from step to step till----My Lord, I must be no +man's wife. I follow the blessed Saint Agnes. May God give me grace to +keep my vows without wavering!--for then I shall gain power to intercede +for you and bring down blessings on your soul. Oh, never, never speak to +me so again, my Lord!--you will make me very, _very_ unhappy. If there +is any truth in your words, my Lord, if you really love me, you will go, +and you will never try to speak to me again." + +"Never, Agnes? never? Think what you are saying!" + +"Oh, I do think! I know it must be best," said Agnes, much agitated; +"for, if I should see you often and hear your voice, I should lose all +my strength. I could never resist, and I should lose heaven for you and +me too. Leave me, and I will never, never forget to pray for you; and +go quickly too, for it is time for my grandmother to come home, and she +would be so angry,--she would never believe I had not been doing wrong, +and perhaps she would make me marry somebody that I do not wish to. She +has threatened that many times; but I beg her to leave me free to go to +my sweet home in the convent and my dear Mother Theresa." + +"They shall never marry you against your will, little Agnes, I pledge +you my knightly word. I will protect you from that. Promise me, dear, +that, if ever you be man's wife, you will be mine. Only promise me that, +and I will go." + +"Will you?" said Agnes, in an ecstasy of fear and apprehension, in which +there mingled some strange troubled gleams of happiness. "Well, then, I +will. Ah! I hope it is no sin." + +"Believe me, dearest, it is not," said the knight. "Say it again,--say, +that I may hear it,--say, 'If ever I am man's wife, I will be +thine,'--say it, and I will go." + +"Well, then, my Lord, if ever I am man's wife, I will be thine," said +Agnes. "But I will be no man's wife. My heart and hand are promised +elsewhere. Come, now, my Lord, your word must be kept." + +"Let me put this ring on your finger, lest you forget," said the +cavalier. "It was my mother's ring, and never during her lifetime heard +anything but prayers and hymns. It is saintly, and worthy of thee." + +"No, my Lord, I may not. Grandmother would inquire about it. I cannot +keep it; but fear not my forgetting: I shall never forget you." + +"Will you ever want to see me, Agnes?" + +"I hope not, since it is not best. But you do not go." + +"Well, then, farewell, my little wife! farewell, till I claim thee!" +said the cavalier, as he kissed her hand, and vaulted over the wall. + +"How strange that I _cannot_ make him understand!" said Agnes, when he +was gone. "I must have sinned, I must have done wrong; but I have been +trying all the while to do right. Why would he stay so and look at me so +with those deep eyes? I was very hard with him,--very! I trembled for +him, I was so severe; and yet it has not discouraged him enough. How +strange that he would call me so, after all, when I explained to him +I never could marry!--Must I tell all this to Father Francesco? How +dreadful! How he looked at me before! How he trembled and turned away +from me! What will he think now? Ah, me! why must I tell _him_? If I +could only confess to my mother Theresa, that would be easier. We have a +mother in heaven to hear us; why should we not have a mother on earth? +Father Francesco frightens me so! His eyes burn me! They seem to burn +into my soul, and he seems angry with me sometimes, and sometimes looks +at me so strangely! Dear, blessed Mother," she said, kneeling at the +shrine, "help thy little child! I do not want to do wrong: I want to do +right. Oh that I could come and live with thee!" + +Poor Agnes! a new experience had opened in her heretofore tranquil life, +and her day was one of conflict. Do what she would, the words that +had been spoken to her in the morning would return to her mind, and +sometimes she awoke with a shock of guilty surprise at finding she had +been dreaming over what the cavalier said to her of living with him +alone, in some clear, high, purple solitude of those beautiful mountains +which she remembered as an enchanted dream of her childhood. Would he +really always love her, then, always go with her to prayers and mass and +sacrament, and be reconciled to the Church, and should she indeed have +the joy of feeling that this noble soul was led back to heavenly peace +through her? Was not this better than a barren life of hymns and prayers +in a cold convent? Then the very voice that said these words, that voice +of veiled strength and manly daring, that spoke with such a gentle +pleading, and yet such an undertone of authority, as if he had a right +to claim her for himself,--she seemed to feel the tones of that voice in +every nerve;--and then the strange thrilling pleasure of thinking +that he loved her so. Why should he, this strange, beautiful knight? +Doubtless he had seen splendid high-born ladies,--he had seen even +queens and princesses,--and what could he find to like in her, a poor +little peasant? Nobody ever thought so much of her before, and he was so +unhappy without her;--it was strange he should be; but he said so, and +it must be true. After all, Father Francesco might be mistaken about his +being wicked. On the whole, she felt sure he was mistaken, at least in +part. Uncle Antonio did not seem to be so much shocked at what she told +him; he knew the temptations of men better, perhaps, because he did not +stay shut up in one convent, but travelled all about, preaching and +teaching. If only he could see him, and talk with him, and make him a +good Christian,--why, then, there would be no further need of her;--and +Agnes was surprised to find what a dreadful, dreary blank appeared +before her when she thought of this. Why should she wish him to remember +her, since she never could be his?--and yet nothing seemed so dreadful +as that he should forget her. So the poor little innocent fly beat and +fluttered in the mazes of that enchanted web, where thousands of her +frail sex have beat and fluttered before her. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MONK AND THE CAVALIER. + + +Father Antonio had been down through the streets of the old town of +Sorrento, searching for the young stonecutter, and, finding him, had +spent some time in enlightening him as to the details of the work he +wished him to execute. + +He found him not so easily kindled into devotional fervors as he had +fondly imagined, nor could all his most devout exhortations produce +one-quarter of the effect upon him that resulted from the discovery that +it was the fair Agnes who originated the design and was interested in +its execution. Then did the large black eyes of the youth kindle into +something of sympathetic fervor, and he willingly promised to do his +very best at the carving. + +"I used to know the fair Agnes well, years ago," he said, "but of late +she will not even look at me; yet I worship her none the less. Who can +help it that sees her? I don't think she is so hard-hearted as she +seems; but her grandmother and the priests won't so much as allow her to +lift up her eyes when one of us young fellows goes by. Twice these five +years past have I seen her eyes, and then it was when I contrived to get +near the holy water when there was a press round it of a saint's day, +and I reached some to her on my finger, and then she smiled upon me and +thanked me. Those two smiles are all I have had to live on for all +this time. Perhaps, if I work very well, she will give me another, and +perhaps she will say, 'Thank you, my good Pietro!' as she used to, when +I brought her birds' eggs or helped her across the ravine, years ago." + +"Well, my brave boy, do your best," said the monk, "and let the shrine +be of the fairest white marble. I will be answerable for the expense; I +will beg it of those who have substance." + +"So please you, holy father," said Pietro, "I know of a spot, a little +below here on the coast, where was a heathen temple in the old days; and +one can dig therefrom long pieces of fair white marble, all covered with +heathen images. I know not whether your Reverence would think them fit +for Christian purposes." + +"So much the better, boy! so much the better!" said the monk, heartily. +"Only let the marble be fine and white, and it is as good as converting +a heathen any time to baptize it to Christian uses. A few strokes of the +chisel will soon demolish their naked nymphs and other such rubbish, and +we can carve holy virgins, robed from head to foot in all modesty, as +becometh saints." + +"I will get my boat and go down this very afternoon," said Pietro; "and, +Sir, I hope I am not making too bold in asking you, when you see the +fair Agnes, to present unto her this lily, in memorial of her old +playfellow." + +"That I will, my boy! And now I think of it, she spoke kindly of you as +one that had been a companion in her childhood, but said her grandmother +would not allow her to speak to you now." + +"Ah, that is it!" said Pietro. "Old Elsie is a fierce old kite, with +strong beak and long claws, and will not let the poor girl have any good +of her youth. Some say she means to marry her to some rich old man, and +some say she will shut her up in a convent, which I should say was a +sore hurt and loss to the world. There are a plenty of women, whom +nobody wants to look at, for that sort of work; and a beautiful face is +a kind of psalm which makes one want to be good." + +"Well, well, my boy, work well and faithfully for the saints on this +shrine, and I dare promise you many a smile from this fair maiden; for +her heart is set upon the glory of God and his saints, and she will +smile on any one who helps on the good work. I shall look in on you +daily for a time, till I see the work well started." + +So saying, the old monk took his leave. Just as he was passing out of +the house, some one brushed rapidly by him, going down the street. As he +passed, the quick eye of the monk recognized the cavalier whom he had +seen in the garden but a few evenings before. It was not a face and form +easily forgotten, and the monk followed him at a little distance behind, +resolving, if he saw him turn in anywhere, to follow and crave an +audience of him. + +Accordingly, as he saw the cavalier entering under the low arch that +led to his hotel, he stepped up and addressed him with a gesture of +benediction. + +"God bless you, my son!" + +"What would you with me, father?" said the cavalier, with a hasty and +somewhat suspicious glance. + +"I would that you would give me an audience of a few moments on some +matters of importance," said the monk, mildly. + +The tones of his voice seemed to have excited some vague remembrance in +the mind of the cavalier; for he eyed him narrowly, and seemed trying +to recollect where he had seen him before. Suddenly a light appeared to +flash upon his mind; for his whole manner became at once more cordial. + +"My good father," he said, "my poor lodging and leisure are at your +service for any communication you may see fit to make." + +So saying, he led the way up the damp, ill-smelling stone staircase, and +opened the door of the deserted room where we have seen him once before. +Closing the door, and seating himself at the one rickety table which the +room afforded, he motioned to the monk to be seated also; then taking +off his plumed hat, he threw it negligently on the table beside him, and +passing his white, finely formed hand through the black curls of his +hair, he tossed them carelessly from his forehead, and, leaning his chin +in the hollow of his hand, fixed his glittering eyes on the monk in a +manner that seemed to demand his errand. + +"My Lord," said the monk, in those gentle, conciliating tones which +were natural to him, "I would ask a little help of you in regard of a +Christian undertaking which I have here in hand. The dear Lord hath put +it into the heart of a pious young maid of this vicinity to erect a +shrine to the honor of our Lady and her dear Son in this gorge of +Sorrento, hard by. It is a gloomy place in the night, and hath been said +to be haunted by evil spirits; and my fair niece, who is full of all +holy thoughts, desired me to draw the plan for this shrine, and, so far +as my poor skill may go, I have done so. See here, my Lord, are the +drawings." + +The monk laid them down on the table, his pale cheek flushing with a +faint glow of artistic enthusiasm and pride, as he explained to the +young man the plan and drawings. + +The cavalier listened courteously, but without much apparent interest, +till the monk drew from his portfolio a paper and said,-- + +"This, my Lord, is my poor and feeble conception of the most sacred form +of our Lady, which I am to paint for the centre of the shrine." + +He laid down the paper, and the cavalier, with a sudden exclamation, +snatched it up, looking at it eagerly. + +"It is she!" he said; "it is her very self!--the divine Agnes,--the lily +flower,--the sweet star,--the only one among women!" + +"I see you have recognized the likeness," said the monk, blushing. +"I know it hath been thought a practice of doubtful edification to +represent holy things under the image of aught earthly; but when any +mortal seems especially gifted with a heavenly spirit outshining in the +face, it may be that our Lady chooses that person to reveal herself in." + +The cavalier was gazing so intently on the picture that he scarcely +heard the apology of the monk; he held it up, and seemed to study it +with a long admiring gaze. + +"You have great skill with your pencil, my father," he said; "one would +not look for such things from under a monk's hood." + +"I belong to the San Marco in Florence, of which you may have heard," +said Father Antonio, "and am an unworthy disciple of the traditions of +the blessed Angelico, whose visions of heavenly things are ever before +us; and no less am I a disciple of the renowned Savonarola, of whose +fame all Italy hath heard before now." + +"Savonarola?" said the other, with eagerness,--"he that makes these vile +miscreants that call themselves Pope and Cardinals tremble? All Italy, +all Christendom, is groaning and stretching out the hand to him to free +them from these abominations. My father, tell me of Savonarola: how goes +he, and what success hath he?" + +"My son, it is now many months since I left Florence; since which time +I have been sojourning in by-places, repairing shrines and teaching the +poor of the Lord's flock, who are scattered and neglected by the idle +shepherds, who think only to eat the flesh and warm themselves with the +fleece of the sheep for whom the Good Shepherd gave his life. My duties +have been humble and quiet; for it is not given to me to wield the sword +of rebuke and controversy, like my great master." + +"And you have not heard, then," said the cavalier, eagerly, "that they +have excommunicated him?" + +"I knew that was threatened," said the monk, "but I did not think it +possible that it could befall a man of such shining holiness of life, +so signally and openly owned of God that the very gifts of the first +Apostles seem revived in him." + +"Does not Satan always hate the Lord," said the cavalier. "Alexander +and his councils are possessed of the Devil, if ever men were,--and are +sealed as his children by every abominable wickedness. The Devil sits in +Christ's seat, and hath stolen his signet-ring, to seal decrees against +the Lord's own followers. What are Christian men to do in such case?" + +The monk sighed and looked troubled. + +"It is hard to say," he answered. "So much I know,--that before I left +Florence our master wrote to the King of France touching the dreadful +state of things at Rome, and tried to stir him up to call a general +council of the Church. I much fear me this letter may have fallen into +the hands of the Pope." + +"I tell you, father," said the young man, starting up and laying his +hand on his sword, "_we must fight_! It is the sword that must decide +this matter! Was not the Holy Sepulchre saved from the Infidels by the +sword?--and once more the sword must save the Holy City from worse +infidels than the Turks. If such doings as these are allowed in the Holy +City, another generation there will be no Christians left on earth. +Alexander and Caesar Borgia and the Lady Lucrezia are enough to drive +religion from the world. They make us long to go back to the traditions +of our Roman fathers,--who were men of cleanly and honorable lives and +of heroic deeds, scorning bribery and deceit. They honored God by noble +lives, little as they knew of Him. But these men are a shame to the +mothers that bore them." + +"You speak too truly, my son," said the monk. "Alas! the creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain with these things. Many a time and oft +have I seen our master groaning and wrestling with God on this account. +For it is to small purpose that we have gone through Italy preaching and +stirring up the people to more holy lives, when from the very hill of +Zion, the height of the sanctuary, come down these streams of pollution. +It seems as if the time had come that the world could bear it no +longer." + +"Well, if it come to the trial of the sword, as come it must," said the +cavalier, "say to your master that Agostino Sarelli has a band of one +hundred tried men and an impregnable fastness in the mountains, where he +may take refuge, and where they will gladly hear the Word of God from +pure lips. They call us robbers,--us who have gone out from the assembly +of robbers, that we might lead honest and cleanly lives. There is not +one among us that hath not lost houses, lands, brothers, parents, +children, or friends, through their treacherous cruelty. There be those +whose wives and sisters have been forced into the Borgia harem; there be +those whose children have been tortured before their eyes,--those who +have seen the fairest and dearest slaughtered by these hell-hounds, who +yet sit in the seat of the Lord and give decrees in the name of Christ. +Is there a God? If there be, why is He silent?" + +"Yea, my son, there is a God," said the monk; "but His ways are not as +ours. A thousand years in His sight are but as yesterday, as a watch in +the night. He shall come, and shall not keep silence." + +"Perhaps you do not know, father," said the young man, "that I, too, +am excommunicated. I am excommunicated, because, Caesar Borgia having +killed my oldest brother, and dishonored and slain my sister, and seized +on all our possessions, and the Pope having protected and confirmed him +therein, I declare the Pope to be not of God, but of the Devil. I will +not submit to him, nor be ruled by him; and I and my fellows will make +good our mountains against him and his crew with such right arms as the +good Lord hath given us." + +"The Lord be with you, my son!" said the monk; "and the Lord bring His +Church out of these deep waters! Surely, it is a lovely and beautiful +Church, made dear and precious by innumerable saints and martyrs who +have given their sweet lives up willingly for it; and it is full of +records of righteousness, of prayers and alms and works of mercy that +have made even the very dust of our Italy precious and holy. Why hast +Thou abandoned this vine of Thy planting, O Lord? The boar out of the +wood doth waste it; the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, +we beseech Thee, and visit this vine of Thy planting!" + +The monk clasped his hands and looked upward pleadingly, the tears +running down his wasted cheeks. Ah, many such strivings and prayers +in those days went up from silent hearts in obscure solitudes, that +wrestled and groaned under that mighty burden which Luther at last +received strength to heave from the heart of the Church. + +"Then, father, you do admit that one may be banned by the Pope, and may +utterly refuse and disown him, and yet be a Christian?" + +"How can I otherwise?" said the monk. "Do I not see the greatest saint +this age or any age has ever seen under the excommunication of the +greatest sinner? Only, my son, let me warn you. Become not irreverent to +the true Church, because of a false usurper. Reverence the sacraments, +the hymns, the prayers all the more for this sad condition in which you +stand. What teacher is more faithful in these respects than my master? +Who hath more zeal for our blessed Lord Jesus, and a more living faith +in Him? Who hath a more filial love and tenderness towards our blessed +Mother? Who hath more reverent communion with all the saints than he? +Truly, he sometimes seems to me to walk encompassed by all the armies of +heaven,--such a power goes forth in his words, and such a holiness in +his life." + +"Ah," said Agostino, "would I had such a confessor! The sacraments might +once more have power for me, and I might cleanse my soul from unbelief." + +"Dear son," said the monk, "accept a most unworthy, but sincere follower +of this holy prophet, who yearns for thy salvation. Let me have the +happiness of granting to thee the sacraments of the Church, which, +doubtless, are thine by right as one of the flock of the Lord Jesus. +Come to me some day this week in confession, and thereafter thou shalt +receive the Lord within thee, and be once more united to Him." + +"My good father," said the young man, grasping his hand, and much +affected, "I will come. Your words have done me good; but I must think +more of them. I will come soon; but these things cannot be done without +pondering; it will take some time to bring my heart into charity with +all men." + +The monk rose up to depart, and began to gather up his drawings. + +"For this matter, father," said the cavalier, throwing several gold +pieces upon the table, "take these, and as many more as you need ask for +your good work. I would willingly pay any sum," he added, while a faint +blush rose to his cheek, "if you would give me a copy of this. Gold +would be nothing in comparison with it." + +"My son," said the monk, smiling, "would it be to thee an image of an +earthly or a heavenly love?" + +"Of both, father," said the young man. "For that dear face has been more +to me than prayer or hymn; it has been even as a sacrament to me, and +through it I know not what of holy and heavenly influences have come to +me." + +"Said I not well," said the monk, exulting, "that there were those on +whom our Mother shed such grace that their very beauty led heavenward? +Such are they whom the artist looks for, when he would adorn a shrine +where the faithful shall worship. Well, my son, I must use my poor art +for you; and as for gold, we of our convent take it not except for the +adorning of holy things, such as this shrine." + +"How soon shall it be done?" said the young man, eagerly. + +"Patience, patience, my Lord! Rome was not built in a day, and our art +must work by slow touches; but I will do my best. But wherefore, my +Lord, cherish this image?" + +"Father, are you of near kin to this maid?" + +"I am her mother's only brother." + +"Then I say to you, as the nearest of her male kin, that I seek this +maid in pure and honorable marriage; and she hath given me her promise, +that, if ever she be wife of mortal man, she will be mine." + +"But she looks not to be wife of any man," said the monk; "so, at least, +I have heard her say; though her grandmother would fain marry her to a +husband of her choosing. 'Tis a wilful woman, is my sister Elsie, and a +worldly,--not easy to persuade, and impossible to drive." + +"And she hath chosen for this fair angel some base peasant churl who +will have no sense of her exceeding loveliness? By the saints, if it +come to this, I will carry her away with the strong arm!" + +"That is not to be apprehended just at present. Sister Elsie is dotingly +fond of the girl, which hath slept in her bosom since infancy." + +"And why should I not demand her in marriage of your sister?" said the +young man. + +"My Lord, you are an excommunicated man, and she would have horror of +you. It is impossible; it would not be to edification to make the common +people judges in such matters. It is safest to let their faith rest +undisturbed, and that they be not taught to despise ecclesiastical +censures. This could not be explained to Elsie; she would drive you from +her doors with her distaff, and you would scarce wish to put your sword +against it. Besides, my Lord, if you were not excommunicated, you are of +noble blood, and this alone would be a fatal objection with my sister, +who hath sworn on the holy cross that Agnes shall never love one of your +race." + +"What is the cause of this hatred?" + +"Some foul wrong which a noble did her mother," said the monk; "for +Agnes is of gentle blood on her father's side." + +"I might have known it," said the cavalier to himself; "her words and +ways are unlike anything in her class.--Father," he added, touching his +sword, "we soldiers are fond of cutting all Gordian knots, whether of +love or religion, with this. The sword, father, is the best theologian, +the best casuist. The sword rights wrongs and punishes evil-doers, and +some day the sword may cut the way out of this embarrass also." + +"Gently, my son! gently!" said the monk; "nothing is lost by patience. +See how long it takes the good Lord to make a fair flower out of a +little seed; and He does all quietly, without bluster. Wait on Him a +little in peacefulness and prayer, and see what He will do for thee." + +"Perhaps you are right, my father," said the cavalier, cordially. "Your +counsels have done me good, and I shall seek them further. But do +not let them terrify my poor Agnes with dreadful stories of the +excommunication that hath befallen me. The dear saint is breaking +her good little heart for my sins, and her confessor evidently hath +forbidden her to speak to me or look at me. If her heart were left to +itself, it would fly to me like a little tame bird, and I would +cherish it forever; but now she sees sin in every innocent, womanly +thought,--poor little dear child-angel that she is!" + +"Her confessor is a Franciscan," said the monk, who, good as he was, +could not escape entirely from the ruling prejudice of his order,--"and, +from what I know of him, I should think might be unskilful in what +pertaineth to the nursing of so delicate a lamb. It is not every one to +whom is given the gift of rightly directing souls." + +"I'd like to carry her off from him!" said the cavalier, between his +teeth. "I will, too, if he is not careful!" Then he added aloud, +"Father, Agnes is mine,--mine by the right of the truest worship and +devotion that man could ever pay to woman,--mine because she loves me. +For I know she loves me; I know it far better than she knows it herself, +the dear innocent child! and I will not have her torn from me to waste +her life in a lonely, barren convent, or to be the wife of a stolid +peasant. I am a man of my word, and I will vindicate my right to her in +the face of God and man." + +"Well, well, my son, as I said before, patience,--one thing at a time. +Let us say our prayers and sleep to-night, to begin with, and to-morrow +will bring us fresh counsel." + +"Well, my father, you will be for me in this matter?" said the young +man. + +"My son, I wish you all happiness; and if this be for your best good and +that of my dear niece, I wish it. But, as I said, there must be time and +patience. The way must be made clear. I will see how the case stands; +and you may be sure, when I can in good conscience, I will befriend +you." + +"Thank you, my father, thank you!" said the young man, bending his knee +to receive the monk's parting benediction. + +"It seems to me not best," said the monk, turning once more, as he was +leaving the threshold, "that you should come to me at present where I +am,--it would only raise a storm that I could not allay; and so great +would be the power of the forces they might bring to bear on the child, +that her little heart might break and the saints claim her too soon." + +"Well, then, father, come hither to me to-morrow at this same hour, if I +be not too unworthy of your pastoral care." + +"I shall be too happy, my son," said the monk. "So be it." + +And he turned from the door just as the bell of the cathedral struck the +Ave Maria, and all in the street bowed in the evening act of worship. + + * * * * * + + +A NIGHT IN A WHERRY. + + +As the summer vacation drew near, and the closed shutters and +comparative quiet of the west end made one for a moment believe in the +phrase, "Nobody in town," I had, after some thought, determined to +resist the many temptations of a walking tour, and, instead of trusting +to shoe-leather, try what virtue lay in a stout pair of oars, and make a +trip by water instead of land. + +But first, in what direction? The careful search of a huge chart and +some knowledge of the Northern and Eastern seaboard led me to mark out a +course along the shore of Massachusetts and among the beautiful islands +which stud the coast of Maine. + +The cruise was at that time a novel one, and many were the doubts +expressed as to the seaworthiness of my boat. She was twenty-two feet +long, nine inches high, and thirty-two wide,--canvas-covered, except +about four feet of the middle section, with sufficient space to stow +two days' food and water, and to carry all the baggage necessary for a +week's voyage. The oars were made especially strong for the occasion, +of spruce, ten feet three inches in length, and nicely balanced. In +addition to provision and clothes, a gun, a couple of hundred feet of +stout line, and a boat-hook were stowed in the bottom. + +The day fixed for departure rose clear. An east wind tempered the heat +of the sun; but the tide, which by starting earlier would have been in +my favor, was dead low, and would turn before I could round the northern +point of the city. After all my traps had been put on board, seating +myself carefully, the oars were handed in, and a few strokes sent me +ahead of the raft. The tide was low, dead low, in the fullest meaning of +the word; the sea-weed slowly circled and eddied round, floating neither +up nor down; while the unrippled surface of the Back Bay reflected the +city and bridges so perfectly that it was hard to tell where reality +ended and seeming began. Passing beneath the Cambridge draw, I turned +the boat's head for the next one, and kept close to the northern point +of the city. Seven bridges must be passed ere the bay opened before me. +The boat had just cleared the last, when, remembering that no matches +had been provided, and not knowing where a landing might be made, I +decided to lay in a stock before putting to sea. With a narrow shave +past the Chelsea ferry-boat, I backed water, and came alongside a raft +of ship-timber seasoning near one of the docks, tenanted by a score +or more of semi-amphibious urchins, who were running races over the +half-sunken logs, and taking all sizes of duckings, from the slight +spatter to the complete souse. Engaging the services of one of these +water-rats, by a judicious promise of a larger sum as payment than the +one intrusted to him for the purchase, I had soon a sufficient supply, +and, resting the boat-hook on one of the logs, pushed off. East Boston +ferry was quickly passed, my boat lifting and falling gracefully in the +swell of the steamer, and I began to feel the flow of the rising tide +setting steadily against her. Governor's Island showed rather hazy three +miles off; Apple Island, tufted with trees, looked in the shimmering +light like one of the palm-crowned Atolls of the Pacific; and, just +discernible through the foggy air, Deer Island and the Hospital loomed +up. A straight course would have saved at least two miles and avoided +the strength of the tide; but, though my boat drew only three inches, +and there was water enough and to spare on the flats, the sea-weed, +growing thick as grain in the harvest-field, and half floating where the +depth was three or four feet, collecting round the sharp bow as a long +tress of hay gathers round a tooth of a rake, and burying the oar-blade, +impeded all progress, and obliged me to pull almost double the distance +against the rapid tide-set of the circuitous channels. I worked through +the bends and reaches, till the deep, strong current of Shirley Gut was +to be stemmed, where the tide runs with great force,--nearly fifty feet +in depth of pure green water, eddying and whirling round, all sorts of +ripples and small whirlpools dimpling its surface,--with the rushing +sound which deep and swift water makes against its banks. A few moments' +tough pulling brought me through, and, once outside Deer Island, nothing +lay between me and Nahant. The well-known beach and the sandy headland +called "Grover" stood out at the edge of Lynn Bay, and the rise and +fall of the white surf, too distant to be heard, marked the long reef +stretching seaward. After dining, and allowing the boat to drift while +rearranging my provisions, I took my place, and, getting the proper +bearings astern, bent on the oars. + +To those who have rowed only clumsy country-boats, with their awkward +row-locks and wretched oars, slimy, dirty, and leaking, trailing behind +tags and streamers of pond-weed, or who have only experimented with that +most uncivilized style of digging up the water called paddling, the real +pleasure of rowing is unknown. + +Grover's Head went astern; Nahant grew more and more distinct. There was +but little wind, and the boat went rocking over the long roll of the +huge waves, cutting smoothly through their wrinkled surface. In sight +to the south and the east were the Brewsters, the outer light, and the +sails of vessels of all sizes and shapes which were slowly making their +way into the harbor. The afternoon was cloudy; but now and then a +brilliant ray of sunshine would fall on islands and vessels, lighting +them up for an instant, and then closing over again. My route took me +about three miles outside Nahant and in full view of the end of the +promontory. There was now a clear course, except that occasionally a +huge patch of floating seaweed would suddenly deaden and then stop the +boat's headway, compelling me to back water and clear the bow of the +long strands. It was at first very startling to be thus checked when +running at full speed; the sensation being that some one has grasped +the boat and is pushing her back. With the resistance come the rush and +ripple, as the sharp stem plunges through the floating mass of weed. The +wind, which had been light and baffling all the forenoon, after I had +passed Nahant, and was abreast of Egg Rock with its little whitewashed +light-house, freshened, and, veering to the southeast, blew across my +track. The vessels began to lean to its force, and the waves to rise. I +was then outside Swampscott Bay, about eight miles from land. The shore +was plainly visible, with the buildings dotted along like specks of +white, and the outlying reefs showing by the sparkle of the foam upon +them. Phillips's Beach, and the island called by the romantic name of +Ram, were now opposite. Half-Way Rock, so named from being half way from +Boston to Gloucester, was the point towards which I had been pulling for +two hours, and it could now for the first time be seen. It came in sight +as the boat was rising on a huge wave which broke under her and went +rushing shoreward, roaring savagely, with long streaks of foam down its +green back. The elevation of the eyes above the water was so small, +that, when my boat sank away in the trough of the sea, nothing could be +seen above the top of the advancing wave. I had, therefore, to watch my +chance, and when she rose, get my bearings. + +Half-Way Rock is a water-washed mass of porphyritic stone, the top about +twenty feet above high tide, shaped much like a pyramid, and a few years +since was capped with a conical granite beacon, strongly built and +riveted down, but which had been two-thirds washed away by the +tremendous surf of the easterly storms. The rock stands at the outer +edge of a long sand-shoal, and is east of Salem. To the northward, a dim +blue line on the horizon, lay Cape Ann, by my reckoning, about eighteen +miles distant. I kept on pulling over the swell, which was growing +larger, not quite in the trough of the sea,--but when a particularly +large wave came easing up a little, so as to take the boat more on the +bow, the motion was not a pleasant one. It was a sort of half rolling, +half pitching,--very unlike the even, smooth slide of the early part of +the afternoon. The rock soon became plainer, and at last I rested on my +oars to watch the waves as they broke on its furrowed face. The great +rollers, which became higher as the water shoaled toward its foot, +fell upon it bursting into foam, and jetting the spray high above the +half-broken beacon. It was a beautiful sight as the spray broke under +the shadow of the seaward face and was thrown up into the sunlight. + +Not heeding whither I was drifting, a nasal hail suddenly roused me to +the fact that there were other navigators in those seas. "Bo-oat ahoy! +Whar' ye bo-ound?" Giving a stroke with the larboard oar, I saw, hove +to, a fishing-schooner,--her whole crew of skipper, three men, and a boy +standing at the gangway and looking with all their ten eyes to make out, +if possible, what strange kind of sea-monster had turned up. My boat +could not have seemed very seaworthy, only seven inches above water, +disappearing in the trough of every sea that passed, then lifting its +long and slender bow of brilliant crimson above the white foam, and the +occupant apparently on a level with the water. The hail was repeated. +The answer, "Cape Ann," did not satisfy them; and the question, "Wa-ant +any he-elp?" was next bawled out. My only reply was by a shake of the +head; and settling back into my place, I gave way on the oars, and left +my fishing friends still looking and evidently very uncertain whether it +were not better to make an attempt at a rescue. + +I now kept on about a mile farther toward the Cape, but found that +the time before sundown was too short to reach it. About seven miles +distant, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, was the hospitable +mansion of Mr. T., where I was sure of a welcome and a good berth for my +boat, and which snug harbor could just be reached by nightfall. The way +lay straight across Gooseberry Shoal, on the outside of which stands +Half-Way Rock. The sea for my small boat was very heavy; but, having +full confidence in her buoyancy, I drove straight on. Upon the shoal +the color of the water changed from deep to light green; the sea was +shorter, much higher, and broke quicker; the waves washed over the stern +of the boat, burying it two feet or more, and coming almost into the +seat-room. Then she would lift herself free, and ride high and clear on +the backs of the great rollers, which would break and crush down under +her, sending her well ahead. The sunlight, falling from behind, shone +through the body of each wave, making it of the most transparent +brilliant emerald, and tinting the foam with every hue of the rainbow. +Pulling with the sea is very easy work, if the boat be long enough to +keep from broaching to,--that is, swinging sideways and rolling over, a +performance which dories are apt to indulge in. There are on the shoal +several reefs, whose black ridges are just awash at high tide; past +these the inner edge of the water deepens and the sea becomes smoother. +About an hour brought me inside what is called by the dwellers +thereabout the "outer island,"--its gray-red rocks tufted here and there +with patches of coarse grass, and weather-worn and seamed by surf and +storm, with the usual accompaniment of mackerel-gulls screaming and +soaring aloft at the approach of a stranger. When within about a quarter +of a mile of the shore, I backed round to come upon the beach stern +foremost through the surf. If the surf be high, coming ashore is a +delicate operation; for, should the boat be turned broadside on, she +would be thrown over upon the oarsman, and both washed up the beach in a +flood of sandy salt-water; so it requires some little steadiness to sit +back to the coming wave, hear the increasing roar, and feel the sudden +lift and toss shoreward which each roller gives you as it plunges down +upon the sand. Just before coming to the outer edge of the surf, I was +seen by my friends, who hastened down the cliff-road to receive me. +Resting on my oars, I waited, till, hearing a large roller coming, whose +voice gained in strength and depth as it drew nearer to the shore, I +looked behind. The crest was already beginning to curl, as it dashed +under the boat and swept me in-shore, breaking, as the stern passed, the +top of the sea, and carrying me in, full speed, with the flood of foam +and spray. After three or four quick strokes I jerked the oars out of +the row-locks, jumped into the water knee-deep, and wading dragged the +boat backwards as far as she would float, when the receding surf let +her gently down upon the sand, and before the next wave the servant +had taken the bow and I the stern and lifted her high and dry upon +the beach. And so my afternoon's pull of thirty miles was safely +and successfully finished, my boat having proved herself thoroughly +seaworthy, though my friends could hardly believe that such a craft +could be safely trusted. After removing the stores and arranging other +matters, we took her up, placed her quietly upon the grass, and left her +for the night. + +The next morning was rather hazy. About nine o'clock I took my way to +the beach, and began to prepare for departure. Mr. T.'s house lies +several miles to the south and west of Cape Ann. Eastern Point, on +the Cape, was therefore the place to be steered for in a straight +line,--perhaps six miles distant. Two miles on, the white light-house on +the Point can be plainly seen. The tide was rising, and the two lines of +ripple met across the sand-bar which connects a little island with the +beach. My boat was now carried down from her night's resting-place and +set at the edge of the water. The oars being placed in readiness, two +of us waded out with her till she would just float, when, quickly and +cautiously stepping in, I met the advancing wave in time to ride over +it. The line of surf is hard to cross, unless one can catch the roller +before it begins to crest. Once outside the line, I turned and pulled +swiftly across the bar, over which the tide had risen a few inches, and, +bidding good-morning to my hospitable entertainers, set off for Eastern +Point. There was considerable swell, though not much wind. The shore +being familiar to me, I was rowing along leisurely, recognizing one +well-known cliff after another, as they came in sight, and was between +Kettle Island and the main, when a slight dampness in the air caused +me to turn my face to the eastward, and I saw coming in from the sea, +preceded by an advance guard of feathery mist, a dense bank of fog. It +swept in, blotting out sea, shore, everything but the view a few feet +around the boat. Fortunately knowing the place, and guided by the sound +of the surf, I soon neared the wet, brown rocks at the inner edge of +Kettle Island. Backing up into a little cove between two huge sea-weedy +boulders I waited, hoping that a turn in the wind might drive the mist +seaward and allow me to keep on. There I sat a full hour, watching the +star-fish, and the crabs scrambling about among the loose strands of the +olive-green and deep purple rock-weed, which looked almost black in +the shadow, while here and there, as it waved to and fro with the sea, +disclosing patches of yellow sand. Very beautiful was this natural +aquarium; but time was flying, and "The Shoals" were more than thirty +miles distant. The mist began to drive in long rifts, and a gleam of +sunshine came out, but only for a moment. I took advantage of it at +once, and pushed out from port. + +The opposite shore of the cove, in the mouth of which the island lies, +was dimly discernible, and the dense foliage of the willows surrounding +the fishermen's houses loomed up in the distance, while at the extreme +end of the Point the sea broke heavily on the long protruding reef which +slanted eastward. I made rapidly for the Point, and reached the outside +line of rollers just in time; for the fog, which had been drifting +backwards and forwards and torn in long rents, now closed over again, +shutting down darker than ever. It was with the utmost difficulty that +I could make out the faint gray line of cliff and surf. On the whole, +however, it appeared best to keep on and feel my way along the coast, +navigating rather by sound than by sight. The shore grows higher as you +go northward towards Gloucester harbor, and is, if possible, more rugged +and broken than to the south. The chief danger was from sunken rocks, +which every wave submerged three or four feet, and which in the hollow +of the sea were wholly above water. I came upon one very suddenly, as +the wave was swelling above it, and the rock-weed afloat on its sunken +head looked, for the instant, like the hair of a drowning person. My +boat went directly over it, and the next moment its black crest rose in +the trough of the wave. One such chance of wreck was enough, and so I +kept farther out, losing sight almost entirely of the cliffs. The sun, +meanwhile, was pouring down an intense heat, making the fog luminous, +but not rendering the coast any more visible. I knew that before me, +somewhere, lay the reef of Norman's Woe. The huge rock on the inside of +the reef, separated from the shore by a narrow strait, I judged must be +right ahead, but not knowing how near, I kept on, cautiously looking +behind, every few strokes, and began to think I must have passed it in +the fog, when suddenly, as if it had stepped in the way, it rose before +me, its top lost in the mist, and with the sullen drip and splash of the +sea on its almost perpendicular sides. I had to back water with some +force, and, skirting the reef, stood on till fairly outside,--when, +turning shoreward again, I went on to the edge of the surf. + +Resuming my former style of navigation, almost twisting my head off to +keep a sharp look-out for rocks and reefs, I came to what seemed to be +the mouth of Gloucester harbor, and there stopped for a moment. There +was no use in pulling up one side of the harbor and down the other, four +miles, while in a straight line to the Point it was only one and a half. +I had almost decided on rowing the longer distance, however, when I +heard a bell ringing somewhere in the direction of Eastern Point. It +was striking in measured time, and the sound came across the water with +great distinctness. It puzzled me a little, till I remembered there +was a fog-bell as well as a light-house on the Point. Hoping that the +tolling would continue, I aimed for the bell as straight as possible. +With a couple of strokes the shore vanished, and nothing could be seen +but fog. Rowing where there is plenty of light and yet nothing visible +is embarrassing business. One must rely wholly upon the sense of +hearing, as eyes are of no use in such a case. Fearing that the bell +might cease before I got across, I bent with a will upon the oars and +went racing through the fog. The sound grew more and more distinct with +each peal, when, suddenly as the apparition of Norman's Woe, right +before me sprang up the black dripping hull of a fishing-schooner, +becalmed, and rocking with the roll of the sea; one turn and I shot +beneath her bows, passed her, and was lost in the fog before the fat +darkey who was lazily fishing by the bowsprit could shift from one side +of the deck to the other to keep me in sight. The creaking of blocks +and the heavy flap of wet sails warned me of the neighborhood of other +vessels. In a short time I could hear the rusty grating of the pivot as +the bell turned; then my boat glided close under the rock on which the +light-house stands. At that moment the fog opened half across the bay, +showing clearly my track with more than a dozen vessels lying close by +it. The lifting was but for a moment; back rolled the cloud and all was +invisible again. I rounded the Point, however, and went ahead, pulling +along the eastern coast of the Cape in the fog. + +It was hard work, this groping through the mist, and made me wish for +the Janus power of gazing out of the back of my head to save the trouble +of continually turning. The look-out was now necessarily more vigilant +than when on the lower shore, as I was entirely ignorant of the coast +and could not see twenty feet before me. The sea was calm, save the +ever-swinging ground-swell, which does not show its power till it meets +with some resistance; and though without crest, the surf on the rocks +was very high. There was nothing to deaden the force of the sea, and +it came on in huge green masses, sliding bodily up on the rocks with +a sound like distant thunder, making one feel that a boat would be +shivered to splinters, should she fall into its power. Once the breakers +nearly caught me broadside on, as I had begun to pull along the shore, +compelling me to keep outside the line of surf and thus follow it till +the rocky headland loomed up on the other side of the bay, then past the +reefs again till another bay curved inward,--nothing to be seen but fog, +dim white surf, and dimmer rocks. Once, when passing an outlying point, +I saw, for a moment, a couple of men fishing; they shouted something +which the surf rendered inaudible; then rock and fishers melted away +into the mist. After rowing in this manner for about an hour, the water +shoaled, the fog lightened, and an island appeared to the east, with the +sea rippling over the sand-bar which joined it to the shore. I pulled +on and found the depth but a few inches, just enough to cross without +touching. The island was very picturesque, and the end towards the +west was broken into ledges, on which were perched eight or ten small +weather-beaten houses. Half floating by the beach under the cliff, +or drawn up on it, were a number of dories, while a troop of little +children were wading, splashing, and shouting in the shallow water on +the bar. They stopped when they saw me, clustered together watching as +I passed, and when I was fairly over set up a shout and resumed their +play. I rowed on until two in the afternoon, when the fog became +thinner, and finding myself between two rocky headlands, in "Milk Island +Strait," as I conjectured, and it being dinner-time, I went ashore in a +little inlet, took out my provisions, and dined. + +The mist, meanwhile, had disappeared, leaving the sky perfectly clear. +It was nearly three when dinner was finished. The Isles of Shoals were +full twenty-one miles distant, and if they were to be reached before +night, there was no time to be lost. So I backed out of the inlet, and, +getting the bearings, aimed for a point on the horizon where I supposed +the islands to be, and pulled without stopping for three hours. The wind +was fresh from the southeast, the sea high, and there was not the least +trace of the fog. The hills of Cape Ann, as I went on, changed from +green to blue, and the color grew fainter in the distance. The land, +which was ten miles inside to the westward, had now come nearer, and the +dark line of the woods was just visible. + +It was time to see the Shoals. I turned, but the heavy sea tossed the +boat about so that it was not at all certain whether they were or were +not in sight. The only objects in view were a few small white clouds +about the horizon and the distant sails of a schooner; so again bringing +the Cape astern, I rowed on till sunset. The hills had then almost sunk +below the water, and it was full time to see White Island and the light +which would be kindled in a few moments. The boat swung into the trough +of the sea, and when on the top of a wave I looked up to the northward. +The sight was not a pleasant one for an evening pull: the sky was +covered with the dark clouds of a gathering storm rapidly rolling up, +and my old friend the fog was again working in, as the wind had shifted +to the east and north. In the distance nothing could be seen but black +sky and blacker water, while nearer crept on the line of mist, shutting +out all prospect. The Shoals were doubtless somewhere in the darkness, +but just where I could not determine. Something must be done at once +before the fog reached me. Calling a council of war, I debated. There +was no certainty of hitting the Shoals, and if I did come on them in any +other than the exact spot, my boat would be beaten into chips in five +minutes on some of the reefs which abound in that region. It would be +entirely dark when I reached the islands, and the wind and sea were +rising; it looked very much like the beginning of an easterly gale. So +the council concluded to let the Shoals go for that night, and stay out +at sea till morning. Should the gale come on, the boat could be beached +on the coast to the westward; and if the wind lulled, as it probably +would for a few hours on the next day, there was time enough to get +ashore. I was from eight to ten miles at sea, and six miles east and +south of the Shoals, as nearly as I could reckon. It was necessary to +get more to the westward to clear the islands in the night, when the +tide set in. Rowing for half an hour brought me far enough in to stop. +The fog was again all around me, and the thick clouds made it so dark +that it was impossible to see twice my boat's length. Resting on my +oars for a moment, I began to stow a few things more closely in the +seat-room, when a huge sea broke just ahead, and, striking the bow a +little on one side, whirled the boat round and rolled her half over, +pitching the crest into the seat-room and filling it with water. I +caught her with the oars barely in time to save her, and turned her +again head to the sea, keeping a watchful eye to windward. Then baling +out the seat-room, I took some crackers and a draught of water, and +turned the boat stern foremost to the sea. + +It was, by guess, about nine o'clock; and there was no light except the +phosphorescence of the water. When a wave came rushing through the +fog, its black body invisible in the darkness, the crest glanced like +quicksilver and broke into ten thousand coruscations as the boat +balanced on the top,--pouring a flood of glittering water past the stern +and over the canvas cover, and dripping from the sides in sparkling +drops. Wherever a foam-bubble burst or oar dipped, it was like opening a +silver-lined casket. The boat left a luminous track, which rose with +the waves as they swelled behind her, and disappeared in the night. It +required a strong hand to keep her in her course; had she broached to, I +should have been rolled out and obliged to swim for it. A quick eye was +necessary to watch, lest, in spite of the oars, she might swing round +and turn over. The utter darkness and the storm so threatening at +sundown had come in full force. It was raining and blowing heavily, and +the strong wind driving the rain and mist in sheets across the water +deepened the hoarse roar of the sea. I was very wet, and not so fresh, +after my forty miles or more of hard, steady pulling, as in the morning; +I was also very sleepy, so that it was not easy to keep even one eye +open to look out for passing coasters,--the chief danger. My craft was +so slender they could have gone over her in the darkness and storm and +never have known it. The tide was still setting out, the sea was very +high, and there was not a ray of light from White Island. My best course +seemed to be to continue pulling slowly and keep the boat stern to the +sea till after midnight, when the tide would change and the wind would +lull for a short time,--unless it should prove to be the beginning of +the gale, and not its forerunner, as I had thought. The hours passed +slowly. There was much to do in heading straight and in easing up when +the great waves loomed through the fog. Midnight would decide whether at +day-dawn I must pull for it, and run, if possible, the line of breakers +on Rye Beach, with rather less than an even chance of coming out +right-end uppermost, or whether the wind and sea would go down so that I +could slip quietly ashore before the gale returned. + +Midnight came at last; the rain ceased and the wind began to shift to +the south, and I knew that now the probability of going ashore decently +was good. The tide having turned, the wind moderated, and the sea, +though still high, was longer and did not break so quickly. Still +farther to the south veered the wind, and a little after three, as well +as I could tell by my watch, the fog thinned, so that, looking up, I +caught the faint glimmer of a star; then another peeped through the +cloud. The mist broke in several places, then drifted over, then broke +again; and, chancing to look seaward, a light flared into full blaze +for a moment, swung smaller, then vanished. There was no mistaking +it,--White Island light at last! + +Backing with one oar, pulling with the other, I rose on the top of a +great sea, and caught the light again just as it began to come into +sight. Off I went, at a splendid pace, driving along in the trough and +over the crest of the waves, steering by a star behind me, for about ten +minutes; then light and stars sank back into the mist, and all was +black again. I waited a few moments, and again the light shone out; but +meantime the boat's bow had veered several points. Turning toward it, +I was off full speed this time for about five minutes, before the fog +swept in again. Then another rest on my oars. The fog drifted out and +drifted in backwards and forwards, now thinning here, then thinning +there; but no other glimpse of the light did I get that night. For a +moment, a shadowy-looking schooner glided slowly along a few hundred +feet ahead of me, and directly across my track,--then melted out into +the darkness. After waiting some time longer, finding no chance of +another glimpse of the light, I secured my oars, and, as the wind and +sea had decreased, got ready to turn in. The seat-room was only four +feet long,--two feet short of my length; and the washboard, which was +three inches in height, surrounded the seat-room and obliged me to use +the boat-sponge as a pillow. But trusting to chance that my craft would +come across nothing either fixed or floating, I retreated at once to the +land of Nod. What the weather was during the rest of that night, or what +might have been seen, I cannot say; for I did not wake till my watch +told seven in the morning. Then my eyes opened to, or rather in, as +choice a specimen of mist as had yet been met with. + +It was perfectly calm; the sea was undulating slightly, and not a breath +of wind stirring. I sat up and looked around. Nothing visible but misty +atmosphere and leaden-colored water; the phosphorescent sparkle had +quite gone out of it. I listened, and with the low dull roar of the surf +on Rye Beach on one side came the break of the waves on the Shoals, +but so faint that it was doubtful whether it were really audible, when +another most unmistakable sound assured me Landlord Laighton was blowing +his breakfast-horn on Appledore Island. The familiar notes of that +very peculiar performance came clearly through the fog. Had he kept on +blowing twenty minutes longer, he would have had another guest; but he +stopped before ten strokes could be taken. So, reluctantly turning my +boat for the other shore, I pulled for the sound of the surf, which +increased as I approached it. The beach was still several miles distant, +when the short, quick rap of oars came to my ears. I knew at once the +fisherman's stroke, and, supposing that he had put out from the shore +and did not mean to stay out long, I gave chase at once, and pulled till +he stopped rowing and was apparently near. Then I hailed, and after +a twenty minutes' hunt caught a glimpse of his dory and immediately +introduced myself. He was fishing with two lines, one on each side of +the boat, and was about returning when I came up. He had never before +beheld such a craft as mine, and did not know what to make of her as she +came through the fog. He soon, however, drew in his lines, and, acting +as pilot, set out for the beach, from which we were then three miles +distant. After various twistings and circlings through the mist, the row +of sandy hillocks which backs Rye Beach appeared, and in a few moments +we pulled through the surf and landed, thus ending one part of my +summer's cruise. + + * * * * * + + +A STORY OF TO-DAY. + + +PART I. + + +Let me tell you a story of To-Day,--very homely and narrow in its scope +and aim. Not of the To-Day whose significance in the history of humanity +only those shall read who will live when you and I are dead. Let us bear +the pain in silence, if our hearts are strong enough, while the nations +of the earth stand far off pitying. I have no word of this To-Day to +speak. I write from the border of the battle-field, and I find in it no +theme for shallow argument or flimsy rhymes. The shadow of death has +fallen on us; it chills the very heaven. No child laughs in my face as +I pass down the street. Men have forgotten to hope, forgotten to pray; +only in the bitterness of endurance they say "in the morning, 'Would God +it were even!' and in the evening, 'Would God it were morning!'" Neither +I nor you have the prophet's vision to see the age as its meaning stands +written before God. Those who shall live when we are dead may tell their +children, perhaps, how, out of anguish and darkness such as the world +seldom has borne, the enduring morning evolved of the true world and the +true man. It is not clear to us. Hands wet with a brother's blood for +the Right, a slavery of intolerance, the hackneyed cant of men or +the bloodthirstiness of women, utter no prophecy to us of the great +To-Morrow of content and right that holds the world. Yet the To-Morrow +is there; if God lives, it is there. The voice of the meek Nazarene, +which we have deafened down as ill-timed, unfit to teach the watchword +of the hour, renews the quiet promise of its coming in simple, humble +things. Let us go down and look for it. There is no need that we should +feebly vaunt and madden ourselves over our self-seen lights, whatever +they may be, forgetting what broken shadows they are of eternal truths +in that calm where He sits and with His quiet hand controls us. + +Patriotism and Chivalry are powers in the tranquil, unlimited lives to +come, as well as here, I know; but there are less partial truths, higher +hierarchies who serve the God-man, that do not speak to us in bayonets +and victories,--Humility, Mercy, and Love. Let us not quite neglect +them, however humble the voices they use may be. Why, the very low glow +of the fire upon the hearth tells me something of recompense coming in +the hereafter,--Christmas-days, and heartsome warmth; in these bare +hills trampled down by armed men, the yellow clay is quick with pulsing +fibres, hints of the great heart of life and love throbbing within; +God's slanted sunlight would show me, in these sullen smoke-clouds from +the camp, walls of amethyst and jasper, outer ramparts of the Promised +Land. Do not call us traitors, then, who choose to be cool and silent +through the fever of the hour,--who choose to search in common things +for auguries of the hopeful, helpful calm to come, finding even in these +poor sweet-peas, thrusting their tendrils through the brown mould, a +deeper, more healthful lesson for the eye and soul than warring evils or +truths. Do not call me a traitor, if I dare weakly to hint that there +are yet other characters besides that of Patriot in which a man may +appear creditably in the great masquerade, and not blush when it is +over; or if I tell you a story of To-Day, in which there shall be none +of the red glare of war,--only those homelier, subtler lights which we +have overlooked. If it prove to you that the sun of old times still +shines, and the God of old times still lives, is not that enough? + +My story is very crude and homely, as I said,--only a rough sketch of +one or two of those people whom you see every day, and call "dregs" +sometimes,--a dull, plain bit of prose, such as you might pick for +yourself out of any of these warehouses or back-streets. I expect you to +call it stale and plebeian, for I know the glimpses of life it +pleases you best to find here: New England idyls delicately tinted; +passion-veined hearts, cut bare for curious eyes; prophetic utterances, +concrete and clear; or some word of pathos or fun from the old friends +who have indenizened themselves in everybody's home. You want something, +in fact, to lift you out of this crowded, tobacco-stained commonplace, +to kindle and chafe and glow in you. I want you to dig into this +commonplace, this vulgar American life, and see what is in it. Sometimes +I think it has a new and awful significance that we do not see. + +Your ears are openest to the war-trumpet now. Ha! that is +spirit-stirring!--that wakes up the old Revolutionary blood! Your +manlier nature had been smothered under drudgery, the poor daily +necessity for bread and butter. I want you to go down into this common, +every-day drudgery, and consider if there might not be in it also a +great warfare. Not a serfish war; not altogether ignoble, though even +its only end may appear to be your daily food. A great warfare, I think, +with a history as old as the world, and not without its pathos. It has +its slain. Men and women, lean-jawed, crippled in the slow, silent +battle, are in your alleys, sit beside you at your table; its martyrs +sleep under every green hill-side. + +You must fight in it; money will buy you no discharge from that war. +There is room in it, believe me, whether your post be on a judge's +bench, or over a wash-tub, for heroism, for knightly honor, for purer +triumph than his who falls foremost in the breach. Your enemy, Self, +goes with you from the cradle to the coffin; it is a hand-to-hand +struggle all the sad, slow way, fought in solitude,--a battle that began +with the first heart-beat, and whose victory will come only when the +drops ooze out, and sudden halt in the veins,--a victory, if you can +gain it, that will drift you not a little way upon the coasts of the +wider, stronger range of being, beyond death. + +Let me roughly outline for you one or two lives that I have known, and +how they conquered or were worsted in the fight. Very common lives, I +know,--such as are swarming in yonder market-place; yet I dare to call +them voices of God,--all! + +My reason for choosing this story to tell you is simple enough. + +An old book, which I happened to find to-day, recalled it. It was a +ledger, iron-bound, with the name of the firm on the outside,--Knowles +& Co. You may have heard of the firm: they were large woollen +manufacturers: supplied the home market in Indiana for several years. +This ledger, you see by the writing, has been kept by a woman. That is +not unusual in Western trading towns, especially in factories where the +operatives are chiefly women. In such establishments, women can fill +every post successfully, but that of overseer: they are too hard with +the hands for that. + +The writing here is curious: concise, square, not flowing,--very +legible, however, exactly suited to its purpose. People who profess +to read character in chirography would decipher but little from these +cramped, quiet lines. Only this, probably: that the woman, whoever she +was, had not the usual fancy of her sex for dramatizing her soul in her +writing, her dress, her face,--kept it locked up instead, intact; that +her words and looks, like her writing, were most likely simple, mere +absorbents by which she drew what she needed of the outer world to her, +not flaunting helps to fling herself, or the tragedy or comedy that lay +within, before careless passers-by. The first page has the date, in red +letters, _October 2, 1860_, largely and clearly written. I am sure the +woman's hand trembled a little when she took up the pen; but there is no +sign of it here; for it was a new, desperate adventure to her, and she +was young, with no faith in herself. She did not look desperate, at +all,--a quiet, dark girl, coarsely dressed in brown. + +There was not much light in the office where she sat; for the factory +was in one of the close by-streets of the town, and the office they gave +her was only a small square closet in the seventh story. It had but one +window, which overlooked a back-yard full of dyeing vats. The sunlight +that did contrive to struggle in obliquely through the dusty panes and +cobwebs of the window had a sleepy odor of copperas latent in it. You +smelt it when you stirred. The manager, Pike, who brought her up, had +laid the day-books and this ledger open on the desk for her. As soon +as he was gone, she shut the door, listening until his heavy boots had +thumped creaking down the rickety ladder leading to the frame-rooms. +Then she climbed up on the high office-stool (climbed, I said, for she +was a little, little thing) and went to work, opening the books, and +copying from one to the other as steadily, monotonously, as if she had +been used to it all her life. Here are the first pages: see how sharp +the angles are of the blue and black lines, how even the long columns: +one would not think, that, as the steel pen traced them out, it seemed +to be lining out her life, narrow and black. If any such morbid fancy +were in the girl's head, there was no tear to betray it. The sordid, +hard figures seemed to her the types of the years coming, but she wrote +them down unflinchingly: perhaps life had nothing better for her, so +she did not care. She finished soon: they had given her only an hour or +two's work for the first day. She closed the books, wiped the pens in a +quaint, mechanical fashion, then got down and examined her new home. + +It was soon understood. There were the walls with their broken plaster, +showing the laths underneath, with here and there, over them, sketches +with burnt coal, showing that her predecessor had been an artist in his +way,--his name, P. Teagarden, emblazoned on the ceiling with the smoke +of a candle; heaps of hanks of yarn in the dusty corners; a half-used +broom; other heaps of yarn on the old toppling desk covered with dust; a +raisin-box, with P. Teagarden done on the lid in bas-relief, half full +of ends of cigars, a pack of cards, and a rotten apple. That was all, +except an impalpable sense of dust and worn-outness pervading the whole. +One thing more, odd enough there: a wire cage, hung on the wall, and in +it a miserable pecking chicken, peering dolefully with suspicious eyes +out at her, and then down at the mouldy bit of bread on the floor of his +cage,--left there, I suppose, by the departed Teagarden. That was all +inside. She looked out of the window. In it, as if set in a square +black frame, was the dead brick wall, and the opposite roof, with a cat +sitting on the scuttle. Going closer, two or three feet of sky appeared. +It looked as if it smelt of copperas, and she drew suddenly back. + +She sat down, waiting until it was time to go; quietly taking the dull +picture into her slow, unrevealing eyes; a sluggish, hackneyed weariness +creeping into her brain; a curious feeling, that all her life before had +been a silly dream, and this dust, these desks and ledgers, were real, +--all that was real. It was her birthday; she was twenty. As she +happened to remember that, another fancy floated up before her, oddly +life-like: of the old seat she made for herself under the currant-bushes +at home when she was a child, and the plans she laid for herself when +she should be a woman, sitting there,--how she would dig down into the +middle of the world, and find the kingdom of the griffins, or would go +after Mercy and Christiana in their pilgrimage. It was only a little +while ago since these things were more alive to her than anything else +in the world. The seat was under the currant-bushes still. Very little +time ago; but she was a woman now,--and, look here! A chance ray of +sunlight slanted in, falling barely on the dust, the hot heaps of wool, +waking a stronger smell of copperas; the chicken saw it, and began to +chirp a weak, dismal joy, more sorrowful than tears. She went to the +cage, and put her finger in for it to peck at. Standing there, if the +life coming rose up before her in that hard, vacant blare of sunlight, +she looked at it with the same still, waiting eyes, that told nothing. + +The door opened at last, and a man came in,--Dr. Knowles, the principal +owner of the factory. He nodded shortly to her, and, going to the desk, +turned over the books, peering suspiciously at her work. An old man, +overgrown, looking like a huge misshapen mass of flesh, as he stood +erect, facing her. + +"You can go now," he said, gruffly. "To-morrow you must wait for the +bell to ring, and go--with the rest of the hands." + +A curious smile flickered over her face like a shadow; but she said +nothing. He waited a moment. + +"So!" he growled, "the Howth blood does not blush to go down into the +slime of the gutter? is sufficient to itself?" + +A cool, attentive motion,--that was all. Then she stooped to tie her +sandals. The old man watched her, irritated. She had been used to the +keen scrutiny of his eyes since she was a baby, so was cool under it +always. The face watching her was one that repelled most men: dominant, +restless, flushing into red gusts of passion, a small, intolerant eye, +half hidden in folds of yellow fat,--the eye of a man who would give to +his master (whether God or Satan) the last drop of his own blood, and +exact the same of other men. + +She had tied her bonnet and fastened her shawl, and stood ready to go. + +"Is that all you want?" he demanded. "Are you waiting to hear that your +work is well done? Women go through life as babies learn to walk,--a +mouthful of pap every step, only they take it in praise or love. Pap is +better. Which do you want? Praise, I fancy." + +"Neither," she said, quietly brushing her shawl. "The work is well done, +I know." + +The old man's eye glittered for an instant, satisfied; then he turned +to the books. He thought she had gone, but, hearing a slight clicking +sound, turned round. She was taking the chicken out of the cage. + +"Let it alone!" he broke out, sharply. "Where are you going with it?" + +"Home," she said, with a queer, quizzical face. "Let it smell the green +fields, Doctor. Ledgers and copperas are not good food for a chicken's +soul, or body either." + +"Let it alone!" he growled. "You take it for a type of yourself, eh? It +has another work to do than to grow fat and sleep about the barnyard." + +She opened the cage. + +"I think I will take it." + +"No," he said, quietly. "It has a master here. Not P. Teagarden. Why, +Margaret," pushing his stubby finger between the tin bars, "do you think +the God you believe in would have sent it here without a work to do?" + +She looked up; there was a curious tremor in his flabby face, a shadow +in his rough voice. + +"If it dies here, its life won't have been lost. Nothing is lost. Let it +alone." + +"Not lost?" she said, slowly, refastening the cage. "Only I think"---- + +"What, child?" + +She glanced furtively at him. + +"It's a hard, scraping world where such a thing as that has work to do!" + +He vouchsafed no answer. She waited to see his lip curl bitterly, and +then, amused, went down the stairs. She had paid him for his sneer. + +The steps were but a long ladder set in the wall, not the great +staircase used by the hands: that was on the other side of the factory. +It was a huge, unwieldy building, such as crowd the suburbs of trading +towns. This one went round the four sides of a square, with the yard for +the vats in the middle. The ladders and passages she passed down were +on the inside, narrow and dimly lighted: she had to grope her way +sometimes. The floors shook constantly with the incessant thud of the +great looms that filled each story, like heavy, monotonous thunder. It +deafened her, made her dizzy, as she went down slowly. It was no short +walk to reach the lower hall, but she was down at last. Doors opened +from it into the ground-floor ware-rooms; glancing in, she saw vast, +dingy recesses of boxes piled up to the dark ceilings. There was a crowd +of porters and draymen cracking their whips, and lounging on the trucks +by the door, waiting for loads, talking politics, and smoking. The smell +of tobacco, copperas, and burning logwood was heavy to clamminess here. +She stopped, uncertain. One of the porters, a short, sickly man, who +stood aloof from the rest, pushed open a door for her with his staff. +Margaret had a quick memory for faces; she thought she had seen this one +before, as she passed,--a dark face, sullen, heavy-lipped, the hair cut +convict-fashion, close to the head. She thought, too, one of the men +muttered "jail-bird," jeering him for his forwardness. "Load for +Clinton! Western Railroad!" sung out a sharp voice behind her, and, as +she went into the street, a train of cars rushed into the hall to be +loaded, and men swarmed out of every corner,--red-faced and pale, +whiskey-bloated and heavy-brained, Irish, Dutch, black, with souls half +asleep somewhere, and the destiny of a nation in their grasp,--hands, +like herself, going through the slow, heavy work, for, as Pike the +manager would have told you, "three dollars a week,--good wages these +tight times." For nothing more? Some other meaning may have fallen +from their faces into this girl's quiet intuition in the instant's +glance,--cheerfuller, remoter aims, hidden in the most sensual +face,--homeliest home-scenes, low climbing ambitions, some delirium of +pleasure to come,--whiskey, if nothing better: aims in life like yours, +differing in degree, needing only to make them the same----did you say +what? + +She had reached the street now,--a back-street, a crooked sort of lane +rather, running between endless piles of ware-houses. She hurried down +it to gain the suburbs, for she lived out in the country. It was a +long, tiresome walk through the outskirts of the town, where the +dwelling-houses were,--long rows of two-story bricks drabbled with +soot-stains. It was two years since she had been in the town. +Remembering this, and the reason why she had shunned it, she quickened +her pace, her face growing stiller than before. One might have fancied +her a slave putting on a mask, fearing to meet her master. The town, +being unfamiliar to her, struck her newly. She saw the expression on its +face better. It was a large trading city, compactly built, shut in by +hills. It had an anxious, harassed look, like a speculator concluding a +keen bargain; the very dwelling-houses smelt of trade, having shops in +the lower stories; in the outskirts, where there are cottages in other +cities, there were mills here; the trees, which some deluded dreamer had +planted on the flat pavements, had all grown up into abrupt Lombardy +poplars, knowing their best policy was to keep out of the way; the boys, +playing marbles under them, played sharply "for keeps"; the bony old +dray-horses, plodding through the dusty crowds, had speculative eyes, +that measured their oats at night with a "you-don't-cheat-me" look. Even +the churches had not the grave repose of the old brown house yonder in +the hills, where the few field-people--Arians, Calvinists, Churchmen-- +gathered every Sunday, and air and sunshine and God's charity made the +day holy. These churches lifted their hard stone faces insolently, +registering their yearly alms in the morning journals. To be sure, the +back-seats were free for the poor; but the emblazoned crimson of the +windows, the carving of the arches, the very purity of the preacher's +style, said plainly that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye +of a needle than for a man in a red _warm-us_ to enter the kingdom of +heaven through that gate. + +Nature itself had turned her back on the town: the river turned aside, +and but half a river crept reluctant by; the hills were but bare banks +of yellow clay. There was a cinder-road leading through these. Margaret +climbed it slowly. The low town-hills, as I said, were bare, covered at +their bases with dingy stubble-fields. In the sides bordering the road +gaped the black mouths of the coal-pits that burrowed under the hills, +under the town. Trade everywhere,--on the earth and under it. No wonder +the girl called it a hard, scraping world. But when the road had crept +through these hills, it suddenly shook off the cinders, and turned into +the brown mould of the meadows,--turned its back on trade and the smoky +town, and speedily left it out of sight contemptuously, never looking +back once. This was the country now in earnest. + +Margaret slackened her step, drawing long breaths of the fresh cold air. +Far behind her, panting and puffing along, came a black, burly figure, +Dr. Knowles. She had seen him behind her all the way, but they did not +speak. Between the two there lay that repellant resemblance which made +them like close relations,--closer when they were silent. You know such +people? When you speak to them, the little sharp points clash. Yet they +are the people whom you surely know you will meet in the life beyond +death, "saved" or not. The Doctor came slowly along the quiet +country-road, watching the woman's figure going as slowly before him. He +had a curious interest in the girl,--a secret reason for the interest, +which as yet he kept darkly to himself. For this reason he tried to +fancy how her new life would seem to her. It should be hard enough, her +work,--he was determined on that; her strength and endurance must be +tested to the uttermost. He must know what stuff was in the weapon +before he used it. He had been reading the slow, cold thing for +years,--had not got into its secret yet. But there was power there, and +it was the power he wanted. Her history was simple enough: she was going +into the mill to support a helpless father and mother; it was a common +story; she had given up much for them;--other women did the same. He +gave her scanty praise. Two years ago (he had keen, watchful eyes, this +man) he had fancied that the poor homely girl had a dream, as most women +have, of love and marriage: she had put it aside, he thought, forever; +it was too expensive a luxury; she had to begin the life-long battle for +bread and butter. Her dream had been real and pure, perhaps; for she +accepted no sham love in its place: if it had left an empty hunger in +her heart, she had not tried to fill it. Well, well, it was the old +story. Yet he looked after her kindly, as he thought of it; as some +people look sorrowfully at children, going back to their own childhood. +For a moment he half relented in his purpose, thinking, perhaps, her +work for life was hard enough. But no: this woman had been planned and +kept by God for higher uses than daughter or wife or mother. It was his +part to put her work into her hands. + +The road was creeping drowsily now between high grass-banks, out through +the hills. A sleepy, quiet road. The restless dust of the town never had +been heard of out there. It (the road) went wandering lazily through the +corn-fields, down by the river, into the very depths of the woods,--the +low October sunshine slanting warmly down it all the way, touching the +grass-banks and the corn-fields with patches of russet gold. Nobody in +such a road could be in a hurry. The quiet was so deep, the free air, +the heavy trees, the sunshine, all so full and certain and fixed, one +could be sure of finding them the same a hundred years from now. Nobody +ever was in a hurry. The brown bees came along there, when their work +was over, and hummed into the great purple thistles on the roadside in a +voluptuous stupor of delight. The cows sauntered through the clover +by the fences, until they wound up by lying down in it and sleeping +outright. The country-people, jogging along to the mill, walked their +fat old nags through the stillness and warmth so slowly that even +Margaret left them far behind. As the road went deeper into the hills, +the solitude and quiet grew even more penetrating and certain,--so +certain in these grand old mountains that one called them eternal, and, +looking up to the peaks fixed in the clear blue, grew surer of a world +beyond this where there is neither change nor death. + +It was growing late; the evening air grew more motionless and cool; +the russet gold of the sunshine mottled only the hill-tops now; in the +valleys there was a duskier brown, deepening every moment. Margaret +turned from the road and went down the fields. One did not wonder, +feeling the silence of these hills and broad sweeps of meadow, that this +woman, coming down from among them, should be strangely still, with dark +questioning eyes dumb to their own secrets. + +Looking into her face now, you could be sure of one thing: that she had +left the town, the factory, the dust far away, shaken the thought of +them off her brain. No miles could measure the distance between her +home and them. At a stile across the field an old man sat waiting. She +hurried now, her cheek coloring. Dr. Knowles could see them going to the +house beyond, talking earnestly. He sat down in the darkening twilight +on the stile, and waited half an hour. He did not care to hear the story +of Margaret's first day at the mill, knowing how her father and mother +would writhe under it, soften it as she would. It was nothing to her, +he knew. So he waited. After a while he heard the old man's laugh, like +that of a pleased child, and then went in and took her place beside him. +She went out, but came back presently, every grain of dust gone, in her +clear dress of pearl gray. The neutral tint suited her well. As she +stood by the window, listening gravely to them, the homely face and +waiting figure came into full relief. Nature had made this woman in a +freak of rare sincerity. There were no reflected lights about her: no +gloss on her skin, no glitter in her eyes, no varnish on her soul. +Simple and dark and pure, there she was, for God and her master alone to +conquer and understand. Her flesh was cold and colorless,--there were no +surface tints on it,--it warmed sometimes slowly from far within; her +voice was quiet,--out of her heart; her hair, the only beauty of the +woman, was lustreless brown, lay in unpolished folds of dark shadow. I +saw such hair once, only once. It had been cut from the head of a man, +who, quiet and simple as a child, lived out the law of his nature, and +set the world at defiance,--Bysshe Shelley. + +The Doctor, talking to her father, watched the girl furtively, took in +every point, as one might critically survey a Damascus blade which he +was going to carry into battle. There was neither love nor scorn in +his look,--a mere fixedness of purpose to make use of her some day. He +talked, meanwhile, glancing at her now and then, as if the subject they +discussed were indirectly linked with his plan for her. If it were, she +was unconscious of it. She sat on the wooden step of the porch, looking +out on the melancholy sweep of meadow and hill range growing cool and +dimmer in the dun twilight, not hearing what they said, until the +sharpened, earnest tones roused her. + +"You will fail, Knowles." + +It was her father who spoke. + +"Nothing can save such a scheme from failure. Neither the French nor +German Socialists attempted to base their systems on the lowest class, +as you design." + +"I know," said Knowles. "That accounts for their partial success." + +"Let me understand your plan practically," eagerly demanded her father. + +She thought Knowles evaded the question,--wished to leave the subject. +Perhaps he did not regard the poor old schoolmaster as a practical judge +of practical matters. All his life he had called him thriftless and +unready. + +"It never will do, Knowles," he went on in his slow way. "Any plan, +Phalanstery or Community, call it what you please, founded on +self-government, is based on a sham, the tawdriest of shams." + +The old schoolmaster shook his head as one who knows, and tried to push +the thin gray hairs out of his eyes in a groping way. Margaret lifted +them back so quietly that he did not feel her. + +"You'll call the Republic a sham next!" said the Doctor, coolly +aggravating. + +"The Republic!" The old man quickened his tone, like a war-horse +scenting the battle near at hand. "There never was a thinner-crusted +Devil's egg in the world than democracy. I think I've told you that +before?" + +"I think you have," said the other, dryly. + +"You always were a Tory, Mr. Howth," said his wife, in her placid, +creamy way. "It is in the blood, I think, Doctor. The Howths fought +under Cornwallis, you know." + +The schoolmaster waited until his wife had ended. + +"Very true, Mrs. Howth," he said, with a grave smile. Then his thin face +grew hot again. + +"No, Dr. Knowles. Your scheme is but a sign of the mad age we live +in. Since the thirteenth century, when the anarchic element sprang +full-grown into the history of humanity, that history has been chaos. +And this republic is the culmination of chaos." + +"Out of chaos came the new-born earth," suggested the Doctor. + +"But its foundations were granite," rejoined the old man with nervous +eagerness,--"granite, not the slime of yesterday. When you found +empires, go to work as God worked." + +The Doctor did not answer; sat looking, instead, out into the dark +indifferently, as if the heresies which the old man hurled at him were +some old worn-out song. Seeing, however, that the schoolmaster's flush +of enthusiasm seemed on the point of dying out, he roused himself to +gibe it into life. + +"Well, Mr. Howth, what will you have? If the trodden rights of the human +soul are the slime of yesterday, how shall we found our empire to last? +On despotism? Civil or theocratic?" + +"Any despotism is better than that of newly enfranchised serfs," replied +the schoolmaster. + +The Doctor laughed. + +"What a successful politician you would have made! You would have had +such a winning way to the hearts of the great unwashed!" + +Mrs. Howth laid down her knitting. + +"My dear," she said, timidly, "I think that is treason." + +The angry heat died out of his face instantly, as he turned to her, +without the glimmer of a covert smile at her simplicity. She was a +woman; and when he spoke to the Doctor, it was in a tone less sharp. + +"What is it the boys used to declaim, their Yankee hearts throbbing +under their roundabouts? 'Happy, proud America!' Somehow in that way. +'Cursed, abased America!' better if they had said. Look at her, in the +warm vigor of her youth, most vigorous in decay! Look at the dregs of +nations, creeds, religions, fermenting together! As for the theory +of self-government, it will muddle down here, as in the three great +archetypes of the experiment, into a puling, miserable failure!" + +The Doctor did not hear. Some sharper shadow seemed to haunt him than +the downfall of the Republic. What help did he seek in this girl? His +keen, deep eyes never left her unconscious face. + +"No," Mr. Howth went on, having the field to himself,--"we left Order +back there in the ages you call dark, and Progress will trumpet the +world into the ditch." + +"Comte!" growled the Doctor. + +The schoolmaster's cane beat an angry tattoo on the hearth. + +"You sneer at Comte? Because, having the clearest eye, the widest +sweeping eye ever given to man, he had no more? It was to show how far +flesh can go alone. Could he help it, if God refused the prophet's +vision?" + +"I'm sure, Samuel," interrupted his wife with a sorrowful earnestness, +"your own eyes were as strong as a man's could be. It was ten years +after I wore spectacles that you began. Only for that miserable fever, +you could read short-hand now." + +Her own quiet eyes filled with tears. There was a sudden silence. +Margaret shivered, as if some pain stung her. Holding her father's bony +hand in hers, she patted it on her knee. The hand trembled a little. +Knowles's sharp eyes darted from one to the other; then, with a +smothered growl, he shook himself, and rushed headlong into the old +battle which he and the schoolmaster had been waging now, off and on, +some six years. That was a fight, I can tell you! None of your shallow, +polite clashing of modern theories,--no talk of your Jeffersonian +Democracy, your high-bred Federalism! They took hold of the matter by +the roots, clear at the beginning. + +Mrs. Howth's breath fairly left her, they went into the soul of the +matter in such a dangerous way. What if Joel should hear? No doubt he +would report that his master was an infidel,--that would be the next +thing they would hear. He was in the kitchen now: he finished his +wood-chopping an hour ago. Asleep, doubtless; that was one comfort. +Well, if he were awake, he could not understand. That class of +people----And Mrs. Howth (into whose kindly brain just enough of her +husband's creed had glimmered to make her say, "that class of people," +in the tone with which Abraham would _not_ have spoken of Dives over the +gulf) went tranquilly back to her knitting, wondering why Dr. Knowles +should come ten times now where he used to come once, to provoke Samuel +into these wearisome arguments. Ever since their misfortune came on +them, he had been there every night, always at it. She should think he +might be a little more considerate. Mr. Howth surely had enough to think +of, what with his--his misfortune, and the starvation waiting for them, +and poor Margaret's degradation, (she sighed here,) without bothering +his head about the theocratic principle, or the Battle of Armageddon. +She had hinted as much to Dr. Knowles one day, and he had muttered out +something about its being "the life of the dog, Ma'am." She wondered +what he meant by that! She looked over at his bearish figure, +snuff-drabbled waistcoat, and shock of black hair. Well, poor man, +he could not help it, if he were coarse, and an Abolitionist, and +a Fourierite, and----She was getting a little muddy now, she was +conscious, so turned her mind back to the repose of her stocking. +Margaret took it very quietly, seeing her father flaming so. But +Margaret never had any opinions to express. She was not like the +Parnells: they were noted for their clear judgment. Mrs. Howth was a +Parnell. + +"The combat deepens,--on, ye brave!" + +The Doctor's fat, leathery face was quite red now, and his sentences +were hurled out in a sarcastic bass, enough to wither the marrow of a +weak man. But the schoolmaster was no weak man. His foot was entirely on +his native heath, I assure you. He knew every inch of the ground, from +the domination of the absolute faith in the ages of Fetichism, to its +pseudo-presentment in the tenth century, and its actual subversion in +the nineteenth. Every step. Our politicians might have picked up an idea +or two there, I should think! Then he was so cool about it, so skilful! +He fairly rubbed his hands with glee, enjoying the combat. And he was so +sure that the Doctor was savagely in earnest: why, any one with half an +ear could hear that! He did not see how, in the very heat of the fray, +his eyes would wander off listlessly. But Mr. Howth did not wander; +there was nothing careless or two-sided in the making of this man,--no +sham about him, or borrowing. They came down gradually, or out,--for, as +I told you, they dug into the very heart of the matter at first,--they +came out gradually to modern times. Things began to assume a more +familiar aspect. Spinoza, Fichte, Saint Simon,--one heard about them +now. If you could but have heard the schoolmaster deal with these his +enemies! With what tender charity for the man, what relentless vengeance +for the belief, he pounced on them, dragging the soul out of their +systems, holding it up for slow slaughter! As for Humanity, (how Knowles +lingered on that word, with a tenderness curious in so uncouth a mass of +flesh!)--as for Humanity, it was a study to see it stripped and flouted +and thrown out of doors like a filthy rag by this poor old Howth, a man +too child-hearted to kill a spider. It was pleasanter to hear him when +he defended the great Past in which his ideal truth had been faintly +shadowed. How he caught the salient tints of the feudal life! How the +fine womanly nature of the man rose exulting in the free picturesque +glow of the day of crusader and heroic deed! How he crowded in traits of +perfected manhood in the conqueror, simple trust in the serf, to color +and weaken his argument, not seeing that he weakened it! How, when he +thought he had cornered the Doctor, he would color and laugh like a boy, +then suddenly check himself, lest he might wound him! A curious laugh, +genial, cheery,--bubbling out of his weak voice in a way that put you in +mind of some old and rare wine. When he would check himself in one of +these triumphant glows, he would turn to the Doctor with a deprecatory +gravity, and for a few moments be almost submissive in his reply. So +earnest and worn it looked then, the poor old face, in the dim light! +The black clothes he wore were so threadbare and shining at the knees +and elbows, the coarse leather shoes brought to so fine a polish! The +Doctor idly wondered who had blacked them, glancing at Margaret's +fingers. + +There was a flower stuck in the buttonhole of the schoolmaster's coat, a +pale tea-rose. If Dr. Knowles had been a man of fine instincts, (which +his opaque shining eyes would seem to deny,) he might have thought it +was not unapt or ill-placed even in the shabby, scuffed coat. A scholar, +a gentleman, though in patched shoes and trousers a world too short. Old +and gaunt, hunger-bitten even it may be, with loose-jointed, bony limbs, +and yellow face; clinging, loyal and brave, to the knightly honor, to +the quaint, delicate fancies of his youth, that were dust and ashes to +other men. In the very haggard face you could find the quiet purity of +the child he had been, and the old child's smile, fresh and credulous, +on the mouth. + +The Doctor had not spoken for a moment. It might be that he was careless +of the poetic lights with which Mr. Howth tenderly decorated his old +faith, or it might be that even he, with the terrible intentness of a +real life-purpose in his brain, was touched by the picture of the far +old chivalry, dead long ago. The master's voice grew low and lingering +now. It was a labor of love, this. Oh, it is so easy to go back out of +the broil of dust and meanness and barter into the clear shadow of that +old life where love and bravery stand eternal verities,--never to be +bought and sold in that dusty town yonder! To go back? To dream back, +rather. To drag out of our own hearts, as the hungry old master did, +whatever is truest and highest there, and clothe it with name and deed +in the dim days of chivalry. Make a poem of it,--so much easier than to +make a life! + +Knowles shuffled uneasily, watching the girl keenly, to know how the +picture touched her. Was, then, she thought, this grand dead Past so +shallow to him? These knights, pure, unstained, searching until death +for the Holy Greal, could he understand the life-long agony, the triumph +of their conflict over Self? These women, content to live in solitude +forever because they once had loved, could any man understand that? +Or the dead queen, dead that the man she loved might be free and +happy,--why, this _was_ life,--this death! But did pain, and martyrdom, +and victory lie back in the days of Galahad and Arthur alone? The +homely face grew stiller than before, looking out into the dun sweep of +moorland,--cold, unrevealing. It baffled the man that looked at it. He +shuffled, chewed tobacco vehemently, tilted his chair on two legs, broke +out in a thunder-gust at last. + +"Dead days for dead men! The world hears a bugle-call to-day more noble +than any of your piping troubadours. We have something better to fight +for than a vacant tomb." + +The old man drew himself up haughtily. + +"I know what you would say,--Liberty for the low and vile. It is a +good word. That was a better which they hid in their hearts in the old +time,--Honor!" + +Honor! I think, Calvinist though he was, that word was his religion. Men +have had worse. Perhaps the Doctor thought this; for he rose abruptly, +and, leaning on the old man's chair, said, gently,-- + +"It is better, even here. Yet you poison this child's mind. You make her +despise To-Day; make honor live for her now." + +"It does not," the schoolmaster said, bitterly. "The world's a failure. +All the great old dreams are dead. Your own phantom, your Republic, your +experiment to prove that all men are born free and equal,--what is it +to-day?" + +Knowles lifted his head, looking out into the brown twilight. Some word +of pregnant meaning flashed in his eye and trembled on his lip; but he +kept it back. His face glowed, though, and the glow and strength gave to +the huge misshapen features a grand repose. + +"You talk of To-Day," the old man continued, querulously. "I am tired of +it. Here is its type and history," touching a county newspaper,--"a fair +type, with its cant, and bigotry, and weight of uncomprehended +fact. Bargain and sale,--it taints our religion, our brains, our +flags,--yours and mine, Knowles, with the rest. Did you never hear of +those abject spirits who entered neither heaven nor hell, who were +neither faithful to God nor rebellious, caring only for themselves?" + +He paused, fairly out of breath. Margaret looked up. Knowles was +silent. There was a smothered look of pain on the coarse face; the +schoolmaster's words were sinking deeper than he knew. + +"No, father," said Margaret, hastily ending his quotation, "'_io non +averei creduto, che [vita] tanta n' avesse disfatta._'" + +Skilful Margaret! The broil must have been turbid in the old man's brain +which the grand, slow-stepping music of the Florentine could not calm. +She had learned that long ago, and used it as a nurse does some old song +to quiet her pettish infant. His face brightened instantly. + +"Do not believe, then, child," he said, after a pause. "It is a noble +doubt in Dante or in you." + +The Doctor had turned away; she could not see his face. The angry scorn +was gone from the old master's countenance; it was bent with its +usual wistful quiet on the floor. A moment after he looked up with a +flickering smile. + +"'_Onorate l' altissimo poeta!_'" he said, gently lifting his finger to +his forehead in a military fashion. "Where is my cane, Margaret? The +Doctor and I will go and walk on the porch before it grows dark." + +The sun had gone down long before, and the stars were out; but no one +spoke of this. Knowles lighted the schoolmaster's pipe and his own +cigar, and then moved the chairs out of their way, stepping softly that +the old man might not hear him. Margaret, in the room, watched them as +they went, seeing how gentle the rough, burly man was with her father, +and how, every time they passed the sweet-brier, he bent the branches +aside, that they might not touch his face. Slow, childish tears came +into her eyes as she saw it; for the schoolmaster was blind. This had +been their regular walk every evening, since it grew too cold for them +to go down under the lindens. The Doctor had not missed a night since +her father gave up the school, a month ago: at first, under pretence of +attending to his eyes; but since the day he had told them there was no +hope of cure, he had never spoken of it again. Only, since then, he had +grown doubly quarrelsome,--standing ready armed to dispute with the old +man every inch of every subject in earth or air, keeping the old man in +a state of boyish excitement during the long, idle days, looking forward +to this nightly battle. + +It was very still; for the house, with its half-dozen acres, lay in an +angle of the hills, looking out on the river, which shut out all +distant noises. Only the men's footsteps broke the silence, passing +and repassing the window. Without, the October starlight lay white and +frosty on the moors, the old barn, the sharp, dark hills, and the river, +which was half hidden by the orchard. One could hear it, like some huge +giant moaning in his sleep, at times, and see broad patches of steel +blue glittering through the thick apple-trees and the bushes. Her mother +had fallen into a doze. Margaret looked at her, thinking how sallow the +plump, fair face had grown, and how faded the kindly blue eyes were now. +Dim with crying,--she knew that, though she never saw her shed a tear. +Always cheery and quiet, going placidly about the house in her gray +dress and Quaker cap, as if there were no such things in the world as +debt or blindness. But Margaret knew, though she said nothing. When her +mother came in from those wonderful foraging expeditions in search of +late pease or corn, she could see the swollen circle round the eyes, +and hear her breath like that of a child which has sobbed itself tired. +Then, one night, when she had gone late into her mother's room, the blue +eyes were set in a wild, hopeless way, as if staring down into years of +starvation and misery. The fire on the hearth burned low and clear; the +old worn furniture stood out cheerfully in the red glow, and threw a +maze of twisted shadow on the floor. But the glow was all that was +cheerful. To-morrow, when the hard daylight should jeer away the +screening shadows, it would unbare a desolate, shabby home. She knew; +struck with the white leprosy of poverty; the blank walls, the faded +hangings, the old stone house itself, looking vacantly out on the fields +with a pitiful significance of loss. Upon the mantel-shelf there was a +small marble figure, one of the Dancing Graces: the other two were gone, +gone in pledge. This one was left, twirling her foot, and stretching out +her hands in a dreary sort of ecstasy, with no one to respond. For a +moment, so empty and bitter seemed her home and her life, that she +thought the lonely dancer with her flaunting joy mocked her,--taunted +them with the slow, gray desolation that had been creeping on them for +years. Only for a moment the morbid fancy hurt her. + +The red glow was healthier, suited her temperament better. She chose to +fancy the house as it had been once,--should be again, please God. +She chose to see the old comfort and the old beauty which the poor +schoolmaster had gathered about their home. Gone now. But it should +return. It was well, perhaps, that he was blind, he knew so little of +what had come on them. There, where the black marks were on the wall, +there had hung two pictures. Margaret and her father religiously +believed them to be a Tintoret and Copley. Well, they were gone now. He +had been used to dust them with a light brush every morning, himself, +but now he said,-- + +"You can clean the pictures to-day, Margaret. Be careful, my child." + +And Margaret would remember the greasy Irishman who had tucked them +under his arm, and flung them into a cart, her blood growing hotter in +her veins. + +It was the same through all the house; there was not a niche in the bare +rooms that did not recall a something gone,--something that should +return. She willed that, that evening, standing by the dim fire. What +women will, whose eyes are slow, attentive, still, as this Margaret's, +usually comes to pass. + +The red fire-glow suited her; another glow, warming her floating fancy, +mingled with it, giving her quiet purpose the trait of heroism. The +old spirit of the dead chivalry, of succor to the weak, life-long +self-denial,--did it need the sand waste of Palestine or a tournament to +call it into life? Down in that trading town, in the thick of its mills +and drays, it could live, she thought. That very night, perhaps, in some +of those fetid cellars or sunken shanties, there were vigils kept of +purpose as unselfish, prayer as heaven-commanding, as that of the old +aspirants for knighthood. She, too,--her quiet face stirred with a +simple, childish smile, like her father's. + +"Why, mother!" she said, stroking down the gray hair under the cap, +"shall you sleep here all night?" laughing. + +A cheery, tender laugh, this woman's was,--seldom heard,--not far from +tears. + +Mrs. Howth roused herself. Just then, a broad, high-shouldered man, in +a gray flannel shirt, and shoes redolent of the stable, appeared at the +door. Margaret looked at him as if he were an accusing spirit,--coming +down, as every woman must, from heights of self-renunciation or bold +resolve, to an undarned stocking or an uncooked meal. + +"Kittle's b'ilin'," he announced, flinging in the information as a +general gratuity. + +"That will do, Joel," said Mrs. Howth. + +The tone of stately blandness which Mrs. Howth erected as a shield +between herself and "that class of people" was a study: a success, I +think; the _resume_ of her experience in the combat that had devoured +half her life, like that of other American housekeepers. "Be gentle, +but let them know their place, my dear!" The class having its type and +exponent in Joel stopped at the door, and hitched up its suspenders. + +"That will _do_, Joel," with a stern suavity. + +Some idea was in Joel's head under the brush of red hair,--probably the +"anarchic element." + +"Uh was wishin' toh read the G'zette." Whereupon he advanced into the +teeth of the enemy and bore off the newspaper, going before Margaret, +as she went to the kitchen, and seating himself beside a flaring +tallow-candle on the table. + +Reading, with Joel, was not the idle pastime that more trivial minds +find it: a thing, on the contrary, to be gone into with slow spelling, +and face knitted up into savage sternness, especially now, when, as he +gravely explained to Margaret, "in _his_ opinion the crissis was jest at +hand, and ev'ry man must be seein' ef the gover'ment was carryin' out +the views of the people." + +With which intent, Joel, in company with five thousand other sovereigns, +consulted, as definitive oracle, "The Daily Gazette" of Towbridge. The +schoolmaster need not have grumbled for the old time: feudality in the +days of Warwick and of "The Daily Gazette" was not so widely different +as he and Joel thought. + +Now and then, partly as an escape-valve for his overcharged conviction, +partly in compassion to the ignorance of women in political economics, +he threw off to Margaret divers commentaries on the text, as she passed +in and out. + +If she had risen to the full level of Joel's views, she might have +considered these views tinctured with radicalism, as they consisted in +the propriety of the immediate "impinging of the President." Besides, +(Joel was a good-natured man, too, merciful to his beast,) Nero-like, he +wished, with the tiger drop of blood that lies hid in everybody's heart, +that the few millions who differed with himself and the "Gazette" had +but one neck for their more convenient hanging. "It's all that'll save +the kentry," he said, and believed it, too. + +If Margaret fell suddenly from the peak of outlook on life to the +homely labor of cooking supper, some of the healthy heroic flush of +the knightly days and the hearth-fire went down with her, I think. It +brightened and reddened the square kitchen with its cracked stove and +meagre array of tins; she bustled about in her quaint way, as if it +had been filled up and running over with comforts. It brightened and +reddened her face when she came in to put the last dish on the table,--a +cozy, snug table, set for four. Heroic dreams with poets, I suppose, +make them unfit for food other than some feast such as Eve set for the +angel. But then Margaret was no poet. So, with the kindling of her hope, +its healthful light struck out, and warmed and glorified these common +things. Such common things! Only a coarse white cloth, redeemed by +neither silver nor china, the amber coffee, (some that Knowles had +brought out to her father,--"thrown on his hands; he couldn't use +it,--product of slave-labor!--never, Sir!") the delicate brown fish that +Joel had caught, the bread her mother had made, the golden butter,--all +of them touched her nerves with a quick sense of beauty and pleasure. +And more, the gaunt face of the blind old man, his bony hand trembling +as he raised the cup to his lips, her mother and the Doctor managing +silently to place everything he liked best near his plate. Wasn't it +all part of the fresh, hopeful glow burning in her consciousness? It +brightened and deepened. It blotted out the hard, dusty path of the +future, and showed warm and clear the success at the end. Not much +to show, you think. Only the old home as it once was, full of quiet +laughter and content; only her mother's eyes clear shining again; only +that gaunt old head raised proudly, owing no man anything but courtesy. +The glow deepened, as she thought of it. It was strange, too, that, with +the deep, slow-moving nature of this girl, she should have striven so +eagerly to throw this light over the future. Commoner natures have done +more and hoped less. It was a poor gift, you think, this of the labor of +a life for so plain a duty; hardly heroic. She knew it. Yet, if there +lay in this coming labor any pain, any wearing effort, she clung to it +desperately, as if this should banish, it might be, worse loss. She +tried desperately, I say, to clutch the far, uncertain hope at the end, +to make happiness out of it, to give it to her silent hungry heart to +feed on. She thrust out of sight all possible life that might have +called her true self into being, and clung to this present shallow duty +and shallow reward. Pitiful and vain so to cling! It is the way of +women. As if any human soul could bury that which might have been in +that which is! + +The Doctor, peering into her thought with sharp, suspicious eyes, heeded +the transient flush of enthusiasm but little. Even the pleasant cheery +talk that pleased her father so was but surface-deep, he knew. The woman +he must conquer for his great end lay beneath, dark and cold. It was +only for that end he cared for her. Through what cold depths of solitude +her soul breathed faintly mattered little. Yet an idle fancy touched +him, what a triumph the man had gained, whoever he might be, who had +held the master-key to a nature so rare as this, who had the kingly +power in his hand to break its silence into electric shivers of laughter +and tears,--terrible subtle pain, or joy as terrible. Did he hold the +power still, he wondered? Meanwhile she sat there quiet, unread. + +The evening came on, slow and cold. Life itself, the Doctor thought, +impatiently, was cool and tardy here among the hills. Even he fell into +the tranquil tone, and chafed under it. Nowhere else did the evening +gray and sombre into the mysterious night impalpably as here. The quiet, +wide and deep, folded him in, forced his trivial heat into silence and +thought. The world seemed to think there. Quiet in the dead seas of fog, +that filled the valleys like restless vapor curdled into silence; quiet +in the listening air, stretching gray up to the stars,--in the solemn +mountains, that stood motionless, like hoary-headed prophets, waiting +with uplifted hands, day and night, to hear the Voice, silent now +for centuries; the very air, heavy with the breath of the sleeping +pine-forests, moved slowly and cold, like some human voice weary with +preaching to unbelieving hearts of a peace on earth. This man's heart +was unbelieving; he chafed in the oppressive quiet; it was unfeeling +mockery to a sick and hungry world,--a dead torpor of indifference. +Years of hot and turbid pain had dulled his eyes to the eternal secret +of the night; his soul was too sore with stumbling, stung, inflamed with +the needs and suffering of the countless lives that hemmed him in, to +accept the great prophetic calm. He was blind to the prophecy written on +the earth since the day God first bade it tell thwarted man of the great +To-Morrow. + +He turned from the night in-doors. Human hearts were his proper study. +The old house, he thought, slept with the rest. One did not wonder that +the pendulum of the clock swung long and slow. The frantic, nervous +haste of town-clocks chorded better with the pulse of human life. Yet +life in the veins of these people flowed slow and cool; their sorrows +and joys were few and life-long. The slow, enduring air suited this +woman, Margaret Howth. Her blood could never ebb or flow with sudden +gusts of passion, like his own, throbbing, heating continually: one +current, absorbing, deep, would carry its tide from one eternity to the +other, one love or one hate. Whatever power was in the tide should +be his, in its entirety. It was his right. Was not his aim high, the +highest? It was his right. + +Margaret, looking up, saw the man's intolerant eye fixed on her. She met +it coolly. All her short life, this strange man, so tender to the weak, +had watched her with a sort of savage scorn, sneering at her apathy, her +childish, dreamy quiet, driving her from effort to effort with a scourge +of impatient contempt. What did he want now with her? Her duty was +light; she took it up,--she was glad to take it up; what more would he +have? She put the whole matter away from her. + +It grew late. She sat down by the lamp and began to read to her father, +as usual. Her mother put away her knitting; Joel came in half-asleep; +the Doctor put out his everlasting cigar, and listened, as he did +everything else, intently. It was an old story that she read,--the story +of a man who walked the fields and crowded streets of Galilee eighteen +hundred years ago. Knowles, with his heated brain, fancied that the +silence without in the night grew deeper, that the slow-moving air +stopped in its course to listen. Perhaps the simple story carried a +deeper meaning to these brooding mountains and this solemn sky than to +the purblind hearts within. It was a dim, far-off story to them,--very +far off. The old schoolmaster heard it with a lowered head, with the +proud obedience with which a cavalier would receive his leader's orders. +Was not the leader a knight, the knight of truest courage? All that was +high, chivalric in the old man sprang up to own him Lord. That he not +only preached to, but ate and drank with publicans and sinners, was a +requirement of his mission; nowadays----. Joel heard the "good word" +with a bewildered consciousness of certain rules of honesty to be +observed the next day, and a maze of crowns and harps shining somewhere +beyond. As for any immediate connection between the teachings of this +book and "The Daily Gazette," it was pure blasphemy to think of it. The +Lord held those old Jews in His hand, of course; but as for the election +next month, that was quite another thing. If Joel thrust the history out +of the touch of common life, the Doctor brought it down, and held it +there on trial. To him it was the story of a Reformer who had served +his day. Could he serve this day? Could he? The need was desperate. Was +there anything in this Christianity, freed from bigotry, to work out +the awful problem which the ages had left for America to solve? People +called this old Knowles an infidel, said his brain was as unnatural and +distorted as his body. God, looking down into his heart that night, saw +the fierce earnestness of the man to know the truth, and judged him with +other eyes than ours. + +When the girl had finished reading, she went out and stood in the cool +air. The Doctor passed her without notice. The story stood alive in his +throbbing brain, demanding a hearing; it stood there always, needing but +a touch to waken it. All things were real to this man, this uncouth mass +of flesh that his companions sneered at; most real of all the unhelped +pain of life, the great seething mire of dumb wretchedness in our +streets and alleys, the cry for aid from the starved souls of the world. +You and I have other work to do than to listen,--pleasanter. But this +man, coming out of the mire, his veins thick with the blood of a +despised race, had carried up their pain and hunger with him: it was the +most real thing on earth to him,--more real than his own share in the +unseen heaven or hell. By the reality, the peril of the world's instant +need, he tried the offered help from Calvary. It was the work of years, +not of this night. Perhaps, if they who preach Christ crucified had +first doubted and tried him as this man did, their place in the coming +heaven might be higher,--and ours, who hear them. + +He went, in his lumbering way, down the hill into the city. He was glad +to go back; the trustful, waiting quiet oppressed, taunted him. It sent +him back more mad against Destiny, his heart more bitter in its +great pity. Let him go back into the great city, with its stifling +gambling-hells, its negro-pens, its foul cellars. It is his place and +work. If he stumble blindly against unconquerable ills, and die, others +have so stumbled and so died. Do you think their work is lost? + + * * * * * + + +TIME'S HOUSEHOLD. + + + Time is a lowly peasant, with whom bred + Are sons of kings, of an immortal race. + Their garb to their condition they debase, + Eat of his fare, make on his straw their bed, + Conversing, use his homely dialect, + (Giving the words some meaning of their own,) + Till, half forgetting purple, sceptre, throne, + Themselves his children mere they nigh suspect. + And when, divinely moved, one goes away, + His royal right and glory to resume, + Loss of his rags appears his life's decay, + He weeps, and his companions mourn his doom. + Yet doth a voice in every bosom say, + "So perish buds while bursting into bloom." + + + + +WHAT WE ARE COMING TO. + + +In the year 1745 Charles Edward Stuart landed in the wilds of Moidart +and set up the standard of rebellion. The Kingdom of Scotland was then, +in nearly all but political rights, an independent nation. A very large +part of its population was of different blood from that of the southern +portion of the British Island. The Highland clans were as distinct in +manners, disposition, and race from their English neighbors as are the +Indian tribes remaining in our midst from the men of Massachusetts and +New York. They held to the old religion, the cardinal principle of which +is to admit the right of no other form, and which never has obtained the +upper hand without immediately attempting to put down all rivalry. They +were devotedly attached to their chiefs. They represented a patriarchal +system. They lived by means of a little agriculture and a great deal of +plunder. They were bred to arms, and despised every other calling. The +whole country of Scotland was possessed with an inextinguishable spirit +of nationality, stronger than that of Hungary or Poland. They were +traditional allies of France, the hereditary foe of England. Seven +hundred years of fighting had filled the border-land with battle-fields, +some of glorious and some of mournful memory, on which the Cross of +Saint Andrew had been matched against that of Saint George. Some of the +noblest families of the realm had won their knightly spurs and their +ancient earldoms by warlike prowess against the Southron. Flodden and +Bannockburn were household words, as potent as Agincourt and Cressy. Nor +had the conduct of the House of Hanover been such as to conciliate the +unwilling people. There was known to be a widespread disaffection even +in England to the German princes. These had governed their adopted for +the benefit of their native country. The sentiment of many counties was +thoroughly Jacobite. A corrupt and venal administration was filled with +secret adherents of the king over the water. One great university was in +sympathy with the fallen dynasty. A large part of the Church was imbued +with doctrines of divine right and passive obedience, of which the only +logical conclusion was the return of the Stuarts. + +Between the two countries there was an antagonism of customs, of +manners, of character, more marked, more offensively displayed, and +breeding more rancorous hatred than any which can now exist between the +people of Boston and Charleston, between the Knickerbockers of New +York and the Creoles of New Orleans. A Scotchman was to the South a +comprehensive name for a greedy, beggarly adventurer, knavish and +money-loving to the last degree, full of absurd pride of pedigree, +clannish and cold-blooded, vindictive as a Corsican, and treacherous +as a modern Greek. An Englishman was to the North a bullying, arrogant +coward,--purse-proud, yet cringing to rank,--without loyalty and without +sentiment,--given over to mere material interests, not comprehending the +idea of honor, and believing, as the fortieth of his religious articles, +that any injury, even to a blow, could be compensated by money. + +Into an island thus divided the heir of the ancient family to whom in +undoubted right of legitimacy the crown belonged, a young, gallant, and +handsome prince, had thrown himself with a chivalrous confidence +that touched every heart. There was every reason to suppose that the +interests of England's powerful enemy across the Channel were secretly +pledged to sustain his cause. Scotland was soon ablaze with sympathy and +devotion. The Prince advanced on Edinburgh. The city opened its gates. +He was acknowledged, and held his court in the old Palace of Holyrood, +where generation after generation of Stuarts had maintained their state. +The castle alone, closely beleaguered, held out like our own Sumter in +the centre of rebellion. A battle was fought almost beneath the walls of +the Scotch capital, and the first great army upon which the English hope +depended was ignominiously routed. A portion of the soldiery fled in +disgraceful panic; those who stood were cut to pieces by the charges +of a fiery valor against which discipline seemed powerless. The border +fortress of Carlisle was soon after taken. Liverpool, not the great +commercial port it now is, but of rising importance, and Manchester, +were menaced. Even London was in dismay. Men like Horace Walpole wrote +to their friends of a retreat to the garrets of Hanover. The funds fell. +The leading minister had been a man of eminently pacific policy, whose +chief state-maxim was _Quieta non movere_, and was taken by surprise. +There are many historians and students of history who now admit, +in looking back upon those times, that the fate of the established +government hung upon a thread, and that the daring advance of the +Pretender followed by another victory might have converted him into a +Possessor and Defender. Had any one then asked as to the possibilities +of a reconstruction of the severed Union, the answer would probably +have been not much unlike the predictions of the croakers of to-day who +clamor for acceptance of the Davisian olive-branch and an acknowledgment +of the fact of Secession. Yet the strength of numbers, of means, and of +public sentiment was altogether on the English side. Though paralyzed +somewhat by the sense of private treachery, with the feeling that all +branches of the public service were harboring men of doubtful loyalty, +and the knowledge that a great body of "submissionists" were ready +to acquiesce in the course of events, whatever that might be, the +Government prepared for an unconditional resistance. _From the outset +they treated it as a rebellion, and the adherents of the Stuarts as +rebels_. Time, the ablest of generals and wisest of statesmen, happened +to be on their side. The Pretender turned northward from Derby, and on +the field of Culloden the last hope of the exiled house was forever +broken. Yet it would even then seem as if reconstruction had been +rendered impossible. The Chevalier escaped to France, guarded by the +fond loyalty of men and women who defied alike torture and temptation. +While he lived, or the family remained, the danger continued to threaten +England, and the heart of Scotland to be fevered with a secret hope. +The old conflict of nationalities had been terribly envenomed by the +cruelties of Cumberland and the license of the conquering troops. There +was the same temptation ever lurking at the ear of France to whisper new +assaults upon England. Ireland was held as a subjugated province, and +was in a state of chronic discontent. To either wing of the British +empire, alliance with, nay, submission to France, was considered +preferable to remaining in the Union. + +Thus far we have been looking at probabilities from the stand-point of +their times. There is a curious parallelism in the essentials of that +conflict with the present attempt to elevate King Cotton to the throne +of this Republic. It is close enough to show that the same great +rules have hitherto governed human action with unerring fidelity. The +Government displayed at the outset the same vacillation; the people were +apparently as thoroughly indifferent to the Hanoverian cause as the +Northern merchants, before the fall of Sumter, to the prosperity of +Lincoln's administration. The Russell of 1745, writing to the French +court his views of the public sentiment of England and especially of +London, probably gave an account of it not very dissimilar to that +which the Russell of 1861 wrote to the London "Times" after his first +encounter with the feeling of New York. There were doubtless the same +assurances on the part of confident partisans that the whole framework +of the British government would crumble at the first attack. There were, +too, the same extravagant alarms, the same wild misrepresentations, the +same volunteer enthusiasm on the part of loyal subjects a little +later on in the history. There was on the part of the rebels the same +confidence in the justice of their cause, the same utter blindness to +results, as in the devotees of Slavery. There was then, as now, an +educated and cultivated set of plotters, moved by personal ambition, +swaying with almost absolute power the minds of an ignorant and +passionate class. It was the combat so often begun in the world, yet so +inevitably ending always in the same way, between misguided enthusiasm +and the great public conviction of the value of order, security, and +peace. + +The enmity seemed hopeless; the insurrection was a smouldering fire, +put out in one corner only to be renewed in another. If Virginia is a +country in which a guerrilla resistance can be indefinitely prolonged, +it is more open than the plains of Holland in comparison with +the Highlands of that era. Few Lowlanders had ever penetrated +them,--scarcely an Englishman. It was supposed that in those impregnable +fastnesses an army of hundreds might defy the thousands of the crown. At +Killiecrankie, Dundee and his Highlanders had beaten a well-appointed +and superior force. Dundee had himself been repulsed by a handful of +Covenanters at Loudoun Heath through the strength of their position. +Montrose had carried on a partisan war against apparently hopeless odds. +To overrun England might be a mad ambition, but to stand at bay in +Scotland was a thing which had been again and again attempted with no +inconsiderable success. + +The rebellion failed, and there were several causes for the failure: +Dissensions among the rebels, the want of efficient aid from France, +the want of money, _and the conviction of a large part of the Scots +themselves of the value of the Union_. The rebellion failed, and sullen +submission to confiscation, military cruelty, and political proscription +followed. + +On Sunday, the 18th of June, 1815, not quite seventy years after, there +charged side by side upon the _elite_ of a French army, with the men of +London, the Highlanders and Irish. A descendant of Cameron of Lochiel +fell leading them on. The last spark of Jacobite enthusiasm and Scottish +hatred of Englishmen had died out years before. Those who witnessed the +entry of the Chevalier into Edinburgh lived to see the whole nation +devouring with enthusiasm the novel of "Waverley,"--so entirely had the +bitterness of what had happened "sixty years since" passed from their +minds! + +We have thus selected two points of history as the short answer to the +cry, "You can never reconstruct the Union," which History, the impartial +judge on the bench, pronounces to the wranglers at the bar below. +"Never" is a long word to speak, if it be a short one to spell. Events +move fast, and the logic of Fate is more convincing than the arguments +of daily editors. The "_tout arrive en France_" is true of the world in +general, so far as relates to isolated circumstances. The very fact that +a threatened disruption of our Union has been possible ought to forbid +any one from concluding that reconstruction, or rather restoration, is +impossible. Twenty years after the Battle of Culloden, Jacobitism was a +dream; fifty years after, it was a memory; a century after, it was an +antiquarian study. + +The real question we are to ask concerning the present rebellion, and +the only one which is of importance, is, What is it based upon? an +eternal or an arbitrary principle? An eternal principle renews itself +till it succeeds,--if not in one century, then in another. An arbitrary +principle makes its fierce fight and then is slain, and men bury it as +soon as they can. The Stuarts represented an arbitrary principle. They +were the impersonation of unconstitutional power. Hereditary right +they had, and the Hanoverians had not. According to Mr. Thackeray, and +according to the strictest fact, we suspect the Georges were no +more personally estimable than the Jameses, and they were far less +kingly-mannered. But they were willing to govern England according to +law, and the Stuarts wore determined to govern according to prerogative. + +What is the present issue? It is a contest, when reduced to its ultimate +terms, between free labor and slavery. It is very true that this +secession was planned before slavery considered itself aggrieved, +before abolitionism became a word of war. But the antipathy between +the slaveholder and the payer or receiver of wages was none the less +radical. The systems were just as hostile. We admit that the South can +make out its title of legitimacy. It has a slave population it must take +care of and is bound to take care of till somebody can tell what better +to do with it. It can show a refined condition of its highest society, +which contrasts not unfavorably with the tawdry display and vulgar +ostentation of the _nouveaux riches_ whom sudden success in trade or +invention has made conspicuous at the North. There is a fascination +about the Southern life and character which charms those who do not look +at it too closely into ardent championship. Even Mr. Russell, so long as +he looked into white faces in South Carolina, was fascinated, and only +when he came to look into black faces along the Mississippi found the +disenchantment. The decisive difference is, that the North is purposing +to settle and possess this land according to the law of right, and the +South according to the law of might. + +We say, therefore, that the issue of the contest need not be doubtful. +The events of it may be very uncertain, but, from the parallel we have +sketched, we think we can indicate the four chief causes of the Scottish +failure as existing in the present crisis. + +DISSENSIONS AMONG THE REBELS. These of course are hid from us by the +veil of smoke that rises above Bull Run. But as between the party of +advance and the party of defence, between the would-be spoilers of New +York bank-vaults and Philadelphia mint-coffers, and the more prudent who +desire "to be let alone," there is already an issue created. There are +State jealousies, and that impatience of control which is inherent in +the Southern mind, as it was in that of the Highland chieftains. There +will be, as events move on, the same feud developed between the Palmetto +of Carolina and the Pride-of-China of the Georgian, as then burned +between Glen-Garry of that ilk and Vich Ian Vohr. There are rivalries of +interest quite as fierce as those which roused the anti-tariff _furor_ +of Mr. Calhoun. Much as Great Britain may covet the cotton of South +Carolina, she will not be disposed to encourage Louisiana to a +competition in sugar with her own Jamaica. Virginia will hardly brook +the opening of a rival Dahomey which shall cheapen into unprofitableness +her rearing of slaves. While fighting is to be done, these questions are +in abeyance; but so soon as men come to ask what they are fighting +for, they revive. There is selfishness inherent in the very idea of +secession. + +There is a capital story, we think, in the "Gesta Romanorum," of three +thieves who have robbed a man of a large sum of gold. They propose a +carouse over their booty, and one is sent to the town to buy wine. While +he is gone, the two left behind plot to murder him on his return, so +as to have a half instead of a third to their shares. He, meanwhile, +coveting the whole, buys poison to put into the wine. They cut his +throat and sit down to drinking, which soon finishes them. It is an +admirable illustration of the probable future of successful secession. +Something very like this ruined the cause of James III., and something +not unlike it may be even now damaging the cause of H.S.I.M.,--His +Sea-Island Majesty, Cotton the First. + +THE WANT OF EFFICIENT AID FROM ABROAD. We are not yet quite out of the +woods, and it behooveth us not to halloo that we certainly have found +the path. But it is more than probable that the Southern hope of English +or French aid has failed. Either nation by itself might be won over but +for the other. He is a bold and a good charioteer who can drive those +two steeds in double harness. + +Either without the other is simply an addition of _x--x_ to the +equation. If by next November we can get a single cotton-port open, we +shall have settled that Uncle Tom and the Duchess of Sutherland may +return to the social cabinet of Great Britain,--and that being so, the +political cabinet is of small account. + +With the want of foreign aid comes the next want, that of MONEY. The +Emperor of Austria has a convenient currency in his dominions, which +you can carry in sheets and clip off just what you need. But cross a +frontier and the very beggars' dogs turn up their noses at the _K.K. +Schein-Muenze_. The Virginian and other Confederate scrip appears to be +at par of exchange with Austrian bank-notes,--in fact, of the same worth +as that "Brandon Money" of which Sol. Smith once brought away a hatful +from Vicksburg, and was fain to swap it for a box of cigars. The South +cannot long hold out under the wastefulness of war, unless relief come. +"With bread and gunpowder one may go anywhere," said Napoleon,--but with +limited hoecake and _no_ gunpowder, even Governor Wise would wisely +retreat. + +But most certain of all in the long run is THE CONVICTION OF THE MEN +OF THE SOUTH THEMSELVES OF THE VALUE OF THE UNION. It is said that the +Union feeling is all gone at the South. That may be, and yet the facts +on which it was based remain. Feeling is a thing which comes and goes. +The value to the South of Federal care, Federal offices, Federal mail +facilities, and the like, is not lessened. The weight of direct taxation +is a marvellous corrector of the exciting effects of rhetoric. It is +pleasanter to have Federal troops line State Street in Boston to guard +the homeward passage of Onesimus to the longing Philemon than to have +them receiving without a challenge the fugitive Contrabands. It is +pleasanter to have B.F. Butler, Esq., argue in favor of the Dred Scott +decision than to have General Butler enforcing the Fortress Monroe +doctrine. Better to look up to a whole galaxy of stars, and to live +under a baker's dozen of stripes, than to dwell in perpetual fear of +choosing between the calaboose and the drill-room of the Louisiana +Zouaves. We have noticed that the sympathizers of the North are quoting +the sentence from Mr. Lincoln's inaugural to this effect,--What is to be +gained after fighting? We have got to negotiate at last, be the war long +or short. This is a very potent argument, as Mr. Lincoln meant it. To +men who must sooner or later negotiate their way back into the Union, it +is a very important consideration how much fighting and how much money +they can afford before negotiating. To us who cannot at any cost afford +to stop until they are thus ready to negotiate, it is only comparatively +a question. He says to the South, as a lawyer sure of a judgment and +confident of execution to be thereafter satisfied might say to his +adversary's client,--"Don't litigate longer than you can help, for you +are only making costs which must come out of your own pocket." To his +own client, he says,--"They may delay, but they cannot hinder, our +judgment." + +Meanwhile what shall we do with the root of bitterness, the real cause +of antagonism? That will do for itself. We probably cannot do much to +help or hinder now. The negro and the white man will remain on the old +ground, but new relations must be established between them. What those +shall be will depend on many yet undeveloped contingencies. But--when +we reconstruct, it will be with a North stronger than ever before and a +government too strong for rebellion ever to touch it again. Under a +free government of majorities, such as ours, rebellion is simply the +resistance of a minority. Secession has been acted out to the bitter +end on a small scale ere now in this country. Daniel Shays tried it in +Massachusetts; Thomas Wilson Dorr tried it in Rhode Island. When they +had tried it sufficiently, they gave in. We remember the Dorr War, and +how bitterly the "Algerines," as they were called, were reviled. We +doubt if a remnant of that hostility could be dug up anywhere between +Beavertail Light and Woonsocket Falls. We have no doubt that men who +then were on the point of fighting with each other fought side by side +under Sprague, and fought all the better for having once before faced +the possibilities of real war. When the minority are satisfied that they +must give in, they do give in. + +We do not purpose to debate now the question of the mode of +reconstruction. When the seceded States return, though they come back to +the old Constitution, they will come under circumstances demanding new +conditions. The wisdom of legislation will be needed to establish as +rapidly as possible pacification. What the circumstances will be +none can now say. But we are better satisfied than ever of the +impracticability of permanent secession. The American Revolution is not +a parallel case. The only parallel in history that we can now recall is +the one we have used so freely in this article. It is one in which the +parallel fails chiefly in presenting stronger grounds for a permanent +disruption. Scotland struggled against a geographical necessity. She did +so under the influence of far more powerful motives than now exist at +the South. She had far less binding ties than now are still living +between us and our revolted States. A geographical necessity as vast and +potent now links the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The struggle is +a more gigantic one, and in its fierce convulsions men's minds may well +lose their present balance, and men's hearts their calm courage. + +But everlasting laws are not to be put aside. The tornadoes which sweep +the tropic seas seem for a time to reverse the course of Nature. The +waters become turbid with the sands of the ocean's bed. The air strikes +and smites down with a solid force. The heaviest stones and beams of +massy buildings fly like feathers on the blast. Vessels are found far +up on the land, with the torn stumps of trees driven through their +planking. Life and property are buried in utter ruin. But the storm +passes, the sunshine comes back into the darkened skies, and the blue +waves sparkle within their ancient limits. The awful tempest passes away +into history,--for it is God, and not man, who measures the waters in +the hollow of His hand, and sends forth and restrains the breath of the +blasting of His displeasure. + + * * * * * + + +PANIC TERROR. + + +In those long-gone days when the gods of Olympus were in all their +glory, and when those gods were in the habit of disturbing the domestic +peace of worthy men, there was born unto an Arcadian nymph a son, for +whom no proper father could be found. The father was Mercury, who was a +_Dieu a bonnes fortunes_, and he did not, like some Christian gentlemen +in similar circumstances, altogether neglect his boy; for (so goes the +story) the child was "such a fright" that his mother was shocked and his +nurse ran away (Richard III. did not make a worse first appearance); +whereupon Mercury seized him, and bore him to Olympus, where he showed +him, with paternal partiality, to all the gods, who were so pleased with +the little monster that they named him _Pan_, as evidence that they were +_All_ delighted with his charming ugliness,--they being, it should seem, +as fond of hideous pets as if they had been mere mortals, and endowed +with a liberal share of humanity's bad taste. There are other accounts +of the birth of Pan, one of which is, that he was the child of Penelope, +born while she was waiting for the return of the crafty Ulysses, and +that his fathers were _all_ the aspirants to her favor,--a piece of +scandal to be rejected, as reflecting very severely upon the reputation +of a lady who is mostly regarded as having been a very model of +chastity. It would have astonished the gods, who were so joyous over the +consequence of their associate's irregularities, had they been told that +their pet was destined to outlast them all, and to affect human affairs, +by his action, long after their sway should be over. Jupiter has been +dethroned for ages, and exists only in marble or bronze; and Apollo, +and Mercury, and Bacchus, and all the rest of the old deities, are but +names, or the shadows of names; but Pan is as active to-day as he was, +when, nearly four-and-twenty centuries ago, he asked the worship of +the Athenians, and intimated that he might be useful to them in +return,--which intimation he probably made good but a little later +on the immortal field of Marathon. For not only was Pan the god of +shepherds, and the protector of bees, and the patron of sportsmen, but +to him were attributed those terrors which have decided the event of +many battles. He is generally identified with the Faunus of the Latins, +and a new interest in the _Fauni_ has been created by the genius of +Hawthorne. If it be true that the popular idea of Satan is derived from +Pan, we have another evidence therein of the breadth as well as the +length of his dominion over human affairs; for Satan, judging from men's +conduct, was never more active, more successful, and more grimly joyous +than he is in this year of grace (and disgrace) one thousand eight +hundred and sixty-one. "The harmless Faun," says Bulwer Lytton, "has +been the figuration of the most implacable of fiends." Satan and Pan +ought to be one, if we regard the kind of work in which the latter has +lately been engaged. The former's sympathies are undoubtedly with the +Secessionists, and to his active aid we must attribute their successes, +both as thieves and as soldiers. + +The number of instances of panic terror in armies is enormous. Panics +have taken place in all armies, from that brief campaign in which Abram +smote the hosts of the plundering kings, hard by Damascus, to that +briefer campaign in which General McDowell did _not_ smite the +Secessionists, hard by Washington. The Athenians religiously believed +that Pan aided them at Marathon; and it would go far to account for +the defeat of the vast Oriental host, in that action, by a handful of +Greeks, if we could believe that that host became panic-stricken. At +Plataea, the allies of the Persians fell into a panic as soon as the +Persians were beaten, and fled without striking a blow. At the Battle +of Amphipolis, in the Peloponnesian War, and which was so fatal to the +Athenians, the Athenian left wing and centre fled in a panic, without +making any resistance. The Battle of Pydna, which placed the Macedonian +monarchy in the hands of the Romans, was decided by a panic befalling +the Macedonian cavalry after the phalanx had been broken. At Leuctra and +at Mantinea, battles so fatal to the Spartan supremacy in Greece, the +defeated armies suffered from panics. The decision at Pharsalia was in +some measure owing to a panic occurring among the Pompeian cavalry; and +at Thapsus, the panic terror that came upon the Pompeians gave to Caesar +so easy a victory that it cost him only fifty men, while the other +side were not only broken, but butchered. At Munda, the last and most +desperate of Caesar's battles, and in which he came very nearly losing +all that he had previously gained, a panic occurred in his army, from +the effects of which it recovered through admiration of its leader's +splendid personal example. The defeat of the Romans at Carrhae by the +Parthians was followed by a panic, against the effects of which not even +the discipline of the legions was a preventive. At the first Battle of +Philippi, the young Octavius came near being killed or captured, in +consequence of the success of Brutus's attack, which had the effect of +throwing his men into utter confusion, so that they fled in dismay. What +a change would have taken place in the ocean-stream of history, had the +future Augustus been slain or taken by the Republicans on that field on +which the Roman Republic fell forever! But the success of Antonius over +Cassius more than compensated for the failure of Octavius, and prepared +the way for the close of "the world's debate" at Actium. Actium, by the +way, was one of the few sea-fights which have had their decision through +the occurrence of panics, water not being so favorable to flight as +land. Whether the flight of Cleopatra was the result of terror, or +followed from preconcerted action, is still a question for discussion; +and one would not readily believe that the most gallant and manly of all +the Roman leaders--one of the very few of his race who were capable of +generous actions--was also capable of plotting deliberately to abandon +his followers, when the chances of battle had not been tried. Whether +that memorable flight was planned or not, the imitation of it by +Antonius created a panic in at least a portion of his fleet; and the +victory of the hard-minded Octavius over the "soft triumvir"--he was +"soft" in every sense on that day--was the speedy consequence of the +strangest exhibition of cowardice ever made by a brave man. + +In modern wars, panics have been as common as ever they were in the +contests of antiquity. No people has been exempt from them. It has +pleased the English critics on our defeat at Bull Run to speak with much +bitterness of the panic that occurred to the Union army on that field, +and in some instances to employ language that would leave the impression +that never before did it happen to an army to suffer from panic terror. +No reflecting American ought to object to severe foreign criticism on +our recent military history; for through such criticism, perhaps, our +faults may be amended, and so our cause finally be vindicated. The +spectacle of soldiers running from a field of battle is a tempting one +to the enemies of the country to whom such soldiers may belong, and few +critics are able to speak of it in any other than a contemptuous tone. +Would Americans have spoken with more justice of Englishmen than +Englishmen have spoken of Americans, had the English army failed at the +Alma through a panic, as our army failed at Bull Run? Not they! The +bitter comments of our countrymen on the inefficiency of the British +forces in the Crimea, and the general American tendency to attribute +the successes of the Allies in the Russian War to the French, to the +Sardinians, or to the Turks,--to anybody and everybody but to the +English, who really were the principal actors in it,--are in evidence +that we are drinking from a bitter cup the contents of which were brewed +by ourselves. It is wicked and it is foolish to accuse our armies of +cowardice and inefficiency because they have met with some painful +reverses; but the sin and the folly of foreigners in this respect are no +greater than the sin and the folly that have characterized most American +criticism on the recent military history of England. + +The most important fruitful battle mentioned in British history, next +to that of Hastings, is the Battle of Bannockburn, the event of which +secured the independence and nationality of Scotland, with all the +consequences thereof; and that event was the effect of a panic. The day +was with Bruce and his brave army; but it was by no means certain that +their success would be of that decisive character which endures forever, +until the English host became panic-stricken. Brilliant deeds had been +done by the Scotch, who had been successful in all their undertakings, +when Bruce brought up his reserve, which forced even the bravest of his +opponents either to retreat or to think of it; but their retreat might +have been conducted with order, and the English army have been saved +from utter destruction and for future work, had it not been for the +occurrence of one of those events, in which the elements of tragedy +and of farce are combined, by which the destinies of nations are often +decided, in spite of "the wisdom of the wise and the valor of the +brave." The followers of the Scottish camp, anxious to see how the +day went, or to obtain a share of the expected spoil, at that moment +appeared upon the ridge of an eminence, known as the Gillies' Hill, +behind their countrymen's line of battle, displaying horse-cloths and +similar articles for ensigns of war. The struggling English, believing +that they saw a new Scottish army rising as it were from the earth, were +struck with panic, and broke and fled; and all that followed was mere +butchery, though perfectly in accordance with the stern laws of the +field. The English army was routed even more completely than was the +French army, five centuries later, at Waterloo. Scott, with his usual +skill, has made use of this incident in "The Lord of the Isles," but he +ascribes to patriotic feeling what had a less lofty origin, which was an +exercise of his license as a poet.[A] + +[Footnote A: An incident closely resembling that which created the +English panic at Bannockburn happened, with the same results, in one of +the battles won by the Swiss over their invaders; but we cannot call to +mind the name of the action in which it occurred.] + + "To arms they flew,--axe, club, or spear,-- + And mimic ensigns high they rear, + And, like a bannered host afar, + Bear down on England's wearied war. + + "Already scattered o'er the plain, + Reproof, command, and counsel vain, + The rearward squadrons fled amain, + Or made but fearful stay: + But when they marked the seeming show + Of fresh and fierce and marshalled foe, + The boldest broke array." + +The last three lines describe almost exactly what, we are told, took +place at Bull Run, where our soldiers were beaten, it is asserted, in +consequence of the coming up of fresh men to the assistance of the +enemy, but who were not camp-followers, but the flower of that enemy's +force. The reinforcements, contrary to what was supposed, were not +numerous; but a fatigued, worn-out, ill-handled army cannot be expected +to be very clever at its arithmetic. Our men greatly overrated the +strength of the new column that presented itself,--at least, so we +judge from some powerful narratives of the crisis at Manassas that have +appeared. The eye of the mind did the counting, not the more trustworthy +bodily organ. They "looked, and saw what numbers numberless" "the sacred +soil of Virginia" appeared to be sending up to aid in its defence +against "the advance," and it cannot be surprising that their hearts +failed them at the moment, as has happened to veterans who had grown +gray since they had received the baptism of fire. Had there been a +couple of trained regiments at the command of General McDowell, at that +time, with which to have met the regiments that were restoring the +enemy's battle, the day would, perhaps, have remained with the Union +army; but, as there was no reserve force, trained or untrained, a +retreat became inevitable; and a retreat, in the case of a new army that +had become exhausted and alarmed, meant a rout, and could have meant +nothing else. We shall never hear the last of it, particularly from our +English friends, who are yet jeered and joked about the business at +Gladsmuir, in 1745, where and when their army was beaten in five minutes +and some odd seconds by Prince Charles Edward's Highlanders, their +cavalry running off in a panic, and their General never stopping +until he had put twenty miles between himself and the nearest of the +plaid-men. Indeed, he did not consider himself safe until he had left +even all Scotland behind him, and had got within his Britannic Majesty's +town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which, as it was well fortified, promised +him protection for the time. Four months later, at Falkirk, a portion of +another English army was thrown into a panic by the sight of "the wild +petticoat-men," and made capital time in getting out of their way. Two +regiments of cavalry rushed right over a body of infantry lying on the +ground, bellowing, as they galloped, "Dear brethren, we shall all be +massacred this day!" They did their best to make their prediction true. +A third regiment, and that composed of veterans, were so frightened, +that, though they ran away with the utmost celerity, they did not have +sense enough to run out of danger, but galloped along the Highland line, +and received its entire fire. Some of the infantry were literally +so swift to follow the example of the cavalry, that the Highlanders +believed they were shamming, and so did not follow up their success with +sufficient promptitude to reap its proper fruits. One of the regiments +that ran was the Scots Royals, seeing which, Lord John Drummond +exclaimed, "These men behaved admirably at Fontenoy: surely this is a +feint." This suspicion of the enemy's purpose to entrap them actually +paralyzed the Highland army for so long a time that the panic-stricken +English were enabled for the most part to escape; so that to the +completeness of their fright the English owed their power to rally their +army, which did not stop in its retreat until it reached Edinburgh, the +next day. In the same war, half a dozen MacIntosh Highlanders, commanded +by a blacksmith, so acted as to throw fifteen hundred men, under Lord +Loudoun, into a panic, which caused them all to fly; and though but +one of their number was hurt by the enemy, they did much mischief to +themselves. This incident is known as "The Rout of Moy," as Loudoun's +force was marching upon Moy Castle, the principal seat of the +MacIntoshes, for the purpose of capturing Prince Charles Edward, who was +the guest of Lady MacIntosh, whose husband was with Lord Loudoun. To +render the mortification of the flying party complete, the affair was +suggested by a woman, Lady MacIntosh herself. + +"The Races of Castlebar" are very renowned in the military history of +Britain. In 1798 _after_ the Irish Rebellion had been suppressed, a +small French force was landed at Killala, under command of General +Humbert, and soon established itself in that town. A British army, full +four thousand strong, was assembled to act against the invader, at the +head of which was General Lake, afterward Lord Lake,--elevated to the +peerage in reward of services performed in India, and one of the most +ruthless of those harsh and brutal proconsuls employed by England to +destroy the spirit of the people of Ireland. The two armies met at +Castlebar, the French numbering only eight hundred men, with whom were +about a thousand raw Irish peasants, most of whom had never had a +musket in their hands until within the few days that preceded the +battle,--races, we mean. A panic seized the British army, and it fled +from the field with the swiftness of the wind, but not with the wind's +power of destruction. The French had one small gun,--the British, +fourteen guns. Humbert afterward kept the whole British force at bay for +more than a fortnight, and did not surrender until his little army +had been surrounded by thirty thousand men. It is calculated that the +British made the best time from Castlebar that ever was made by a flying +army. It was no exaggeration to say that "the speed of thought was in +_their_ limbs" for a short time. Bull Run was a slow piece of business +compared to Castlebar; and our countrymen did not run from a foe that +was not half so strong as themselves, and who had neither position nor +artillery. The English have accused the Irish of not always standing +well to their work on the battle-field; but it would have required two +Irishmen to run half the distance in an hour that was made at Castlebar +by one Englishman. The most flagrant cases of panic that happened in the +'Forty-Five affair befell Englishmen, and rarely occurred to Irishmen or +to Scotchmen. The conduct of the Scots Royals at Falkirk was the only +striking exception to what closely approached to the nature of a general +rule. + +The civil war which ours most resembles is that which was waged in +England a little more than two centuries ago, and which is known in +English history as "The Great Civil War," though in fact it was but a +small affair, if we compare it with that which took place nearly two +centuries earlier than Cromwell's time,--the so-called Wars of the +Roses. The resemblance between our contest and that in which the English +rose against, fought with, defeated, dethroned, tried, and beheaded +their king, is not very strong, we must confess; but the main thing is, +that both contests belong to that class of wars in which, to borrow +Shakspeare's words, "Civil blood makes civil hands unclean." Were there +no exhibitions of fear in that war, no flights, no panics on the _grand +scale_? Unless history is as great a liar as Talleyrand said it was, +when he declared that it was founded on a general conspiracy against +truth,--and who could suppose an English historian capable of +lying?--shameful exhibitions of fear, flights of whole bodies of troops, +and displays of panic terror were very common things with our English +ancestors who fought and flourished _tempore Caroli Primi_. The first +battle between the forces of the King and those of the Parliament was +that of Edgehill, which was fought on _Sunday_, October 23d, 1642. +Prince Rupert led his Cavaliers to the charge, ordering them, like a +true soldier, to use only the sword, which is the weapon that horsemen +always should employ. "The Roundheads," says Mr. Warburton, "seemed +swept away by the very wind of that wild charge. No sword was crossed, +no saddle emptied, no trooper waited to abide the shock; they fled with +_frantic fear_, but fell fast under the sabres of their pursuers. The +cavalry galloped furiously until they reached such shelter as the town +could give them; nor did their infantry fare better. No sooner were +the Royal horse upon them than they broke and fled; Mandeville and +Cholmondely vainly strove to rally their _terror-stricken_ followers; +they were swept away by the fiery Cavaliers." If this was not exactly +the effect of a panic, then it was something worse: it followed from +abject, craven fear. The bravest and best of armies have been known to +suffer from panic terror, but none but cowards run away at the first +charge that is made upon them. It is said, by way of excuse for the men +who thus fled, in spite of the gallant efforts of their officers to +rally them, that they were new troops. So were our men at Bull Run +new troops; and this much can be said of them, that, if they became +panic-stricken, it was not until after they had fought for several +hours on a hot day, and that they were not well commanded, the officers +setting the example of abandoning the field, and not seeking to +encourage the soldiers, as was done by the English Parliamentary +commanders at Edgehill. Therefore the English Bull Run was a far more +disgraceful affair than was that of America. + +We shall not dwell upon the multitudinous panics and flights that +happened on both sides in the Great Civil War, but come at once to what +took place on the grand field-days of that contest,--Long-Marston Moor +and Naseby. At Long-Marston Moor, fought July 2, 1644, English, Irish, +and Scotch soldiers were present, so that all the island races were +on the field in the persons of some of the best of their number. The +Royalists charged the Scotch centre, and were twice repulsed; but their +third charge was more successful, and then most of the gallant Scotch +force broke in every direction, only some fragments of three regiments +standing their ground. "The Earl of Leven in vain hastened from one part +of the line to the other," says Mr. Langton Sanford, "endeavoring by +words and blows to keep the soldiers in the field, exclaiming, 'Though +you run from your enemies, yet leave not your general; though you fly +from them, yet forsake not me!' The Earl of Manchester, with great +exertions, rallied five hundred of the fugitives, and brought them back +to the battle. But these efforts to turn the fate of the day in this +quarter were fruitless, and at length the three generals of the +Parliament were compelled to seek safety in flight. Leven himself, +conceiving the battle utterly lost, in which he was confirmed by the +opinion of others then on the place near him, seeing they were fleeing +upon all hands toward Tadcaster and Cawood, was persuaded by his +attendants to retire and wait his better fortune. He did so, and never +drew bridle till he came to Leeds, nearly forty miles distant, having +ridden all that night with a cloak of _drap-de-berrie_ about him +belonging to the gentleman from whom we derive the information, then in +his retinue, with many other officers of good quality. Manchester and +Fairfax, carried away in the flight, soon returned to the field, but the +centre and right wing of their army were utterly broken. 'It was a sad +sight,' exclaims Mr. Ash, [an eye-witness of the affair,] 'to behold +many thousands posting away, amazed with _panic fears_!' Many fled +without striking a blow; _and multitudes of people that were spectators +ran away in such fear as daunted the soldiers still more_, some of the +horse never looking back till they got as far as Lincoln, some others +toward Hull, and others to Halifax and Wakefield, pursued by the enemy's +horse for nearly two miles from the field. Wherever they came, the +fugitives carried the news of the utter rout of the Parliament's +army."[B] This strong picture of the panic that prevailed in the very +army that won the Battle of Long-Marston Moor is confirmed by Sir Walter +Scott, who says that the Earl of Leven was driven from the field, and +was thirty miles distant, in full flight toward Scotland, when he was +overtaken by the news that his party had gained a complete victory. Yet +Leven was an experienced soldier, having served in the army of Gustavus +Adolphus, in which he rose to very high rank; and the Scottish forces +had many soldiers who had been trained in the same admirable school. +That there were many spectators of the battle, whose fright "daunted +the soldiers still more," shows that people were as fond of witnessing +battles in 1644 as they are in 1861, and that their presence on the Moor +was productive of almost as much evil to the Roundheads as the presence +of Congressmen and other civilians at Manassas was to the Federal troops +on the 21st of July. There would seem to be indeed nothing new under +the sun, and folly is eternally reproducing itself. One of the names +connected with our defeat is that of one of the most gallant of the +Parliament's commanders at Long-Marston: Fairfax being named after the +sixth Lord Fairfax, whose singular history furnished to Mr. Thackeray +the plan for his "Virginians." + +[Footnote B: Mr. Sanford quotes from a letter written by a spectator +of the panic at Long-Marston Moor, which is so descriptive of what we +should expect such a scene to be, that we copy it. "I could not," says +the writer, "meet the Prince [Rupert] until after the battle was joined; +and in fire, smoke, and confusion of the day I knew not for my soul +whither to incline. The runaways on both sides were so many, so +breathless, so speechless, so full of fears, that I should not have +taken them for men but by their motion, which still served them very +well, not a man of them being able to give me the least hope where the +Prince was to be found, both armies being mingled, both horse and foot, +no side keeping their own posts. In this terrible distraction did I +scour the country; here meeting with a shoal of Scots crying out, 'Wae's +me! We're a' undone!' and so full of lamentations and mourning, as if +their day of doom had overtaken them, and from which they knew not +whither to fly. And anon I met with a ragged troop, reduced to four and +a cornet; by-and-by, a little foot-officer, without a hat, band, or +indeed anything but feet, and so much tongue as would serve to inquire +the way to the next garrisons, which, to say truth, were well filled +with stragglers on both sides within a few hours, though they lay +distant from the place of fight twenty or thirty miles."--See _Studies +and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion_, (p. 606,) the best work ever +written on the grand constitutional struggle made by the English against +the usurpations of the Stuarts. The letter here quoted was written by an +English gentleman, Mr. Trevor, to the best of the Royalist leaders, the +Marquis (afterward first Duke) of Ormond.] + +The panic at Naseby (June 14, 1645) was not of so pronounced a character +as that at Long-Marston; but it helps to prove the Englishman's aptitude +for running, and shows, that, if we have skill in the use of heels, we +have inherited it: it is, in a double sense, matter of race. In spite of +the exertions of Ireton, the cavalry of the left wing of the Roundheads +was swept out of the field by Prince Rupert's dashing charge; while the +foot were as deaf to the entreaties of old Skippon that they would keep +their ranks. Later in the day the Cavaliers took their turn at the panic +business, their horse flying over the hills, and leaving the infantry +and the artillery, the women and the baggage, to the mercy of the +Puritans,--and everybody knows what that was. The Cavaliers were even +more subject to panics than the Puritans, as was but natural, seeing +that they could not or would not be disciplined; and there were many of +the leaders of the deboshed, godless crew of whom it could have been +sung, as it was of Peveril of the Peak,-- + + "There was bluff old Sir Geoffrey loved brandy and mum well, + And to see a beer-glass turned over the thumb well; + But he fled like the wind, before Fairfax and Cromwell, + Which nobody can deny!" + +Cromwell's last victory but one, that of Dunbar, (September 3, 1650,) +was due to the impertinent interference of "outsiders" with the business +of the Scotch general, and to the occurrence of a panic in the Scotch +army. The priests did for Leslie's army what the politicians are charged +with having done for that of General McDowell. The Scotch were mostly +raw troops, and soon fell into confusion; and then came one of those +scenes of slaughter which were so common after the Cromwellian +victories, and which, in spite of Mr. Carlyle's crazy admiration of +them, must ever be regarded by sane and humane people as the work of the +Devil. It is in dispute whether Cromwell's last great victory, that of +Worcester, (September 3, 1651,) was a panic affair or not; for while +Cromwell himself wrote that "indeed it was a stiff business," and that +the dimensions of the mercy were above his thoughts, he complacently +says, "Yet I do not think we have lost above two hundred men." Now, as +the English critics on the Battle of Bull Run will have it that it was +but a cowardly affair on our side, because but few men were at one +time reported to have fallen in it, it follows that Cromwell's army at +Worcester must have been an army of cowards, as it lost less than two +hundred men, though it had to fight hard for several hours for victory. +"As stiff a contest, for four or five hours," said the Lord-General, +"as ever I have seen." And what shall we think of the Scotch, who lost +fourteen thousand men? Mr. Lodge, whose sympathies are all with the +Cavaliers, says that the action is undeservedly called the Battle of +Worcester, "for it was in fact the mere rout of a _panic-stricken_ +army." Certainly all the circumstances of the day tend to confirm this +view of what occurred on it: the heavy loss of the Scotch, the small +loss of the English, and the all but total destruction of the Royal +army. That Cromwell should make the most of his victory, of the +"crowning mercy," as he hoped it might prove, was natural enough. +Nothing is more common than for the victor to sound the praises of the +vanquished, that being a delicate form of self-praise. If they were so +clever and so brave, how much greater must have been the cleverness and +bravery of the man who conquered them? The difficulty is in inducing +the vanquished to praise the victor. We have no doubt that General +Beauregard speaks very handsomely of General McDowell; but how speaks +General McDowell of General Beauregard? Wellington often spoke well of +Napoleon's conduct in the campaign of 1815; but among the bitterest +things ever said by one great man of another great man are Napoleon's +criticisms on the conduct of Wellington in that campaign. We are not to +suppose that Wellington was a more magnanimous person than Napoleon, +which he assuredly was not; but he was praising himself, after an +allowable fashion, when he praised Napoleon. There would have been a +complete change of words in the mouths of the two men, had the result of +Waterloo been, as it should have been, favorable to the French. Napoleon +said that he never saw the Prussians behave well but at Jena, where he +broke the army of the Great Frederick to pieces. He had not a word to +say in praise of the Prussians who fought at the Katzbach, at Dennewitz, +and at Waterloo. Human nature is a very small thing even in very great +men. + +As we see that the Roundheads triumphed in England, notwithstanding the +panics from which their armies suffered, subduing the descendants of +the conquering chivalry of Normandy, "to whom victory and triumph were +traditional, habitual, hereditary things," may we not hope that the +American descendants and successors of the Roundheads will be able +to subdue the descendants of the conquered chivalry of the South, a +chivalry that has as many parents as had the Romans who proceeded from +the loins of the "robbers and reivers" who had been assembled, as per +proclamation, at the Rogues' Asylum on the Palatine Hill? The bravery +of the Southern troops is not to be questioned, and it never has been +questioned by sensible men; but their pretensions to Cavalier descent +are at the head of the long list of historical false pretences, and tend +to destroy all confidence in their words. They may be aristocrats, but +they have not the shadow of a claim to aristocratical origin. + +Lord Macaulay's brilliant account of the Battle of Landen (July 19, +1693) establishes the fact, that it is possible for an army of veterans, +led by some of the best officers of their time, to become panic-stricken +while defending intrenchments and a strong position. "A little after +four in the afternoon," he says, "the whole line gave way." "Amidst +the rout and uproar, while arms and standards were flung away, while +multitudes of fugitives were choking up the bridges and fords of the +Gette or perishing in its waters, the King, [William III.,] having +directed Talmash to superintend the retreat, put himself at the head of +a few brave regiments, and by desperate efforts arrested the progress +of the enemy." Luxembourg failed to follow up his victory, or all would +have been lost. The French behaved as did the Southrons after Bull Run: +they gave their formidable foe time to rally, and to recover from the +effect of the panic that had covered the country with fugitives; and +time was all that was necessary for either the English King or the +American General to prevent defeat from being extended into conquest. + +Two of Marlborough's greatest victories were largely owing to the +occurrence of panic among the veteran troops of France. At Ramillies, +the French left, which was partially engaged in covering the retreat of +the rest of their army, were struck with a panic, fled, and were pursued +for five leagues. At Oudenarde, (July 11, 1708,) the French commander, +Vendome, "urged the Duke of Burgundy and a crowd of panic-struck +generals to take advantage of the night, and restore order; but finding +his arguments nugatory, he gave the word for a retreat, and generals +and privates, horse and foot, instantly hurried in the utmost disorder +toward Ghent." The retreat of this crowd, which was a complete flight, +he covered by the aid of a few brave men whom he had rallied and formed, +and whose firm countenance prevented the entire destruction of +the French army. Yet the French soldiers of that time were men of +experience, and were accustomed to all the phases of war. + +At the Battle of Rossbach, (November 5, 1757,) the troops of France and +of the German Empire fell into a panic, and were routed by half their +number of Prussians. That defeat was the most disgraceful that ever +befell the arms of a military nation. The panic was complete, and no +body of terrified militia ever fled more rapidly than did the veteran +troops of Germany and France on that eventful day. Napoleon, half a +century later, said that Rossbach produced a permanent effect on the +French military, and on France, and was one of the causes of the +Revolution. The disgrace was laid to the account of the French +commander, the Prince de Soubise, who was a profligate, a coward, and a +booby, and who neither knew war nor was known by it. + +The English army experienced whatever of pleasure there may be in a +panic, or rather in a pair of panics, at the grand Battle of Fontenoy, +(May 11, 1745,) on which field they were so unutterably thrashed by the +French and the Irish. In the first part of the action, the Allies were +successful, when suddenly the Dutch troops fell into a panic, and fled +as fast as it is ever given to Dutchmen to fly. There is nothing so +contagious as panic terror, and the rest of the army, exposed as it was +to a tremendous fire, soon caught the disease, and was giving way under +it, when their commander, the Duke of Cumberland, who was well seconded +by his officers, succeeded in rallying them. They renewed the combat, +and their enemy became so alarmed in their turn that even the French +King, and his son the Dauphin, were in danger of being swept away in the +rout. Again there came a turn in the battle, and, mostly because of the +daring and dash of the famous Irish Brigade, the Allies were beaten and +forced to retreat. It is stated that the whole body of heroic British +Grenadiers who were engaged at Fontenoy gave a strong proof of the +effect of the panic upon their minds--and bodies; thus establishing the +fact that they had stomachs for something besides the fight. "Not to put +too fine a point upon it," they, with a unity of place and time that +speaks well for their discipline, did that which was done by the valiant +General Sterling Price at the Battle of Boonville, and which has caused +them to leave a deep impression on the historic page, though nothing can +be said in support of the attractiveness of the illustration which those +gallant men contributed to that page. + +There was a partial exhibition of panic terror made by the English +troops at the Battle of Bunker's Hill. They were twice made to run on +that Seventeenth of June of which something has been said during the +last six-and-eighty years; and they were brought up to the point +of making a third attack only by the greatest exertions of their +commanders, and after having been considerably reinforced. This third +attack would have been as promptly repulsed as its predecessors had +been, but that the American troops had used up all their powder, and few +of them had bayonets. The firmness, and skill as marksmen, of a body of +militia had caused a larger body of British veterans twice to retreat +in great disorder, and under circumstances much resembling those that +characterize what is known as a panic. Had a third repulse of the +assailants occurred, nothing could have prevented their flight to their +boats. But it was written that the Americans should retreat; and it is +safe to say that they showed much more steadiness in the retreat than +the enemy did alacrity in the pursuit. + +Panic terror was no uncommon thing during the Reign of Terror in France, +in the armies of the French Republic. The early efforts of the French +Republicans in the field sometimes failed because of panics occurring in +their armies; and they were not unknown to any of the armies that took +part in the long series of wars that began in 1792 and lasted, with +brief intervals of peace, down to the summer of 1815. At Marengo, both +armies suffered from panics. As early as ten o'clock in the forenoon, +a portion of Victor's corps retired in disorder, crying out, "All is +lost!" There were, in fact, three Battles of Marengo, the Austrians +winning the first and second, and losing the third, which was losing +all,--war not exactly resembling whist. When Desaix said, at three +o'clock in the afternoon, that the battle was lost, but there was time +enough to win another, he spoke the truth, and like a good soldier. The +new movements that followed his arrival and advice caused surprise to +the Austrians, and surprise soon passed into panic. The panic extended +to a portion of the cavalry, no one has ever been able to say why; +and it galloped off the field toward the Bormida, shouting, "To the +bridges!" The panic then reached to men of all arms, and cavalry, +artillery, and infantry were soon crowded together on the banks of the +stream which they had crossed in high hopes but a few hours before. The +artillery sought to cross by a ford, but failed, and the French made +prisoners, and seized guns, horses, baggage, and all the rest of +the trophies of victory. Thus a battle which confirmed the Consular +government of Bonaparte, which prepared the way for the creation of +the French Empire, and which settled the fate of Europe for years, was +decided by the panic cries of a few horse-soldiers. The Austrian cavalry +has long and justly been reputed second to no other in the world, and in +1800 it was a veteran body, and had been steadily engaged in war, with +small interruption, for eight years; but neither its experience, nor its +valor, nor regard for the character which it had to maintain, could save +it from the common lot of armies. It became terrified, and senselessly +fled, and its evil example was swiftly communicated to the other troops: +for there is nothing so contagious as a panic, every man that runs +thinking, that, while he is himself ignorant of the existence of any +peculiar danger, all the others must know of it, and are acting upon +their knowledge. That Austrian panic made the conqueror master of Italy, +and with France and Italy at his command he could aspire to the dominion +of Europe. The man who began the panic at Marengo really opened the way +to Vienna to the legions of France, and to Berlin, and (but that brought +compensation) to Moscow also. + +There were panics in most of the great battles of the French Empire, +or those battles were followed by panics. At Austerlitz the Austrians +suffered from them; and though the Russian soldiers are among the +steadiest of men, and keep up discipline under very extraordinary +difficulties, they fared no better than their associates on that +terrible field. They had more than one panic, and the confusion +was prodigious. It was while flying in terror, that the dense, yet +disorderly crowds sought to escape over some ponds, the ice of which +broke, and two thousand of them were ingulfed. One of their generals, +writing of that day, said,--"I had previously seen some lost battles, +but I had no conception of such a defeat." Jena was followed by panics +which extended throughout the army and over the monarchy, so that the +Prussian army and the Prussian kingdom disappeared in a month, though +Napoleon had anticipated a long, difficult, and doubtful contest with so +renowned a military organization as that which had been created by the +immortal Frederick; and he had remarked, at the beginning of the war, +that there would be much use for the spade in the course of it. In the +Austrian campaign of 1809, there was the beginning of a panic that might +have produced serious consequences. The Archduke John, the Patterson of +those days, was at the head of an Austrian army which was expected to +take part in the Battle of Wagram; but it was not until after that +battle had been gained by the French that that prince arrived near the +Marchfeld, in the rear of the victors. A panic broke out among +the persons who saw the heads of his columns,--camp-followers, +_vivandieres_, long lines of soldiers bearing off wounded men, and +others. The young soldiers, who were exhausted by their labors and the +heat, were conspicuous among the runaways, and there was a general race +to "the banks of the dark-rolling Danube." Nay, it is said that the +panic was taken up on the other side of the river, and that quite a +number of individuals did not stop till they had reached Vienna. Terror +prevailed, and the confusion was fast spreading, when Napoleon, who had +been roused from an attempt to obtain some rest under a shelter formed +of drums, fit materials for a house for him, arrived on the scene. In +reply to his questions, Charles Lebrun, one of his officers, answered, +"It is nothing, Sire,--merely a few marauders." "What do you call +nothing?" exclaimed the Emperor. "Know, Sir, that there are no trifling +events in war: nothing endangers an army like an imprudent security. +Return and see what is the matter, and come back quickly and render me +an account." The Emperor succeeded in restoring order, but not without +difficulty, and the Archduke withdrew his forces without molestation. +The circumstances of the panic show, that, if he had arrived at his +intended place a few hours earlier, the French would have been beaten, +and probably the French Empire have fallen at Vienna in 1809, instead +of falling at Paris in 1814; and then the House of Austria would have +achieved one of those extraordinary triumphs over its most powerful +enemies that are so common in its extraordinary history. The incident +bears some resemblance to the singular panic that happened the day after +the Battle of Solferino, and which was brought on by the appearance of a +few Austrian hussars, who came out of their hiding-place to surrender, +many thousand men running for miles, and showing that the most +successful army of modern days could be converted into a mob by-- +nothing. + +Seldom has the world seen such a panic as followed the Battle of +Vittoria, in which Wellington dealt the French Empire the deadly blow +under which it reeled and fell; for, if that battle had not been fought +and won, the Allies would probably have made peace with Napoleon, +following up the armistice into which they had already entered with him; +but Vittoria encouraged them to hope for victory, and not in vain. The +French King of Spain there lost his crown and his carriage; the Marshal +of France commanding lost his _baton_, and the honorable fame which he +had won nineteen years before at Fleurus; and the French army lost its +artillery, all but one piece, and, what was of more consequence, its +honor. It was the completest rout ever seen in that age of routs and +balls. And yet the defeated army was a veteran army, and most of its +officers were men whose skill was as little to be doubted as their +bravery. + +There were panics at Waterloo, not a few; and, what is remarkable, they +happened principally on the side of the victors, the French suffering +nothing from them till after the battle was lost, when the pressure of +circumstances threw their beaten army into much confusion, and it was +not possible that it should be otherwise. Bylandt's Dutch-Belgian +brigade ran away from the French about two o'clock in the afternoon, and +swept others with them in their rush, much to the rage of the British, +some of whom hissed, hooted, and cursed, forgetting that quite as +discreditable incidents had occurred in the course of the military +history of their own country. One portion of the British troops that +desired to fire upon those exhibitors of "Dutch courage" actually +belonged to the most conspicuous of the regiments that ran away at +Falkirk, seventy years before. At a later hour Trip's Dutch-Belgian +cavalry-brigade ran away in such haste and disorder that some squadrons +of German hussars experienced great difficulty in maintaining their +ground against the dense crowd of fugitives. The Cumberland regiment +of Hanoverian hussars was deliberately taken out of the field by its +colonel when the shot began to fall about it, and neither orders nor +entreaties nor arguments nor execrations could induce it to form under +fire. Nay, it refused to form across the high-road, _out_ of fire, but +"went altogether to the rear, spreading alarm and confusion all the +way to Brussels." Nothing but the coming up of the cavalry-brigades +of Vivian and Vandeleur, at a late hour, prevented large numbers of +Wellington's infantry from leaving the field. The troops of Nassau fell +"back _en masse_ against the horses' heads of the Tenth Hussars, who, +keeping their files closed, prevented further retreat." The Tenth +belonged to Vivian's command. D'Aubreme's Dutch-Belgian infantry-brigade +was prevented from running off when the Imperial Guard began their +charge, only because Vandeleur's cavalry-brigade was in their rear, with +even the squadron-intervals closed, so that they had to elect between +the French bayonet and the English sabre. There was something resembling +a temporary panic among Maitland's British Guards, after the repulse +of the first column of the Imperial Guard, but order was very promptly +restored. It is impossible to read any extended account of the Battle of +Waterloo without seeing that it was a desperate business on the part of +the Allies, and that, if the Prussians could have been kept out of the +action, their English friends would have had an excellent chance to keep +the field--as the killed and wounded. Wellington never had the ghost of +a chance without the aid of Buelow, Zieten, and Bluecher.[C] + +[Footnote C: There is no great battle concerning which so much nonsense +has been written and spoken as that of Waterloo, which ought to console +us for the hundred-and-one accounts that are current concerning the +action of the 21st of July, no two of which are more alike than if the +one related to Culloden and the other to Arbela. The common belief is, +that toward the close of the day Napoleon formed two columns of the +_Old_ Guard, and sent them against the Allied line; that they advanced, +and were simultaneously repulsed by the weight and precision of the +English fire in front; and that, on seeing the columns of the Guard fall +into disorder, the French all fled, and Wellington immediately ordered +his whole line to advance, which prevented the French from rallying, +they flying in a disorderly mass, which was incapable of resistance. So +far is this view of the "Crisis of Waterloo" from being correct, that +the repulse of the Guard would not have earned with it the loss of the +battle, had it not been for a number of circumstances, some of +which made as directly in favor of the English as the others worked +unfavorably to the French. When Napoleon found that the operations of +Buelow's Prussians threatened to compromise his right flank and rear, he +determined to make a vigorous attempt to drive the Allies from their +position in his front, not merely by employing two columns of his Guard, +but by making a general attack on Wellington's line. For this purpose, +he formed one column of four battalions of the _Middle_ Guard, and +another of four other battalions of the _Middle_ Guard and two +battalions of the Old Guard. At the same time the corps of D'Erlon and +Reille were to advance, and a severe _tiraillade_ was opened by a great +number of skirmishers; and the attack was supported by a tremendous fire +from artillery. So animated and effective were the operations of the +various bodies of French not belonging to the Guard, that nothing but +the arrival of the cavalry brigades of Vandeleur and Vivian, from the +extreme left of the Allied line, prevented that line from being pierced +in several places. Those brigades had been relieved by the arrival of +the advance of Zieten's Prussian corps, and were made available for the +support of the points threatened by the French. They were drawn up in +rear of bodies of infantry, whom they would not permit to run away, +which they sought to do. The first column of the Guard was repulsed by +a fire of cannon and musketry, and when disordered it was charged by +Maitland's brigade of British Guards. The interval between the advance +of that column and that of the second column was from ten to twelve +minutes; and the appearance of the second column caused Maitland's +Guards to fall into confusion, and the whole body went to the rear. This +confusion, we are told, was not consequent upon either defeat or panic, +but resulted simply from a misunderstanding of the command. The coming +up of the second column led to a panic in a Dutch-Belgian brigade, which +would have left the field but for the presence of Vandeleur's cavalry, +through which the men could not penetrate; and yet the panic-stricken +men could not even see the soldiers before whose shouts they endeavored +to fly! The second column was partially supported, at first, by a body +of cavalry; but it failed in consequence of a flank attack made by the +Fifty-Second Regiment, which was aided by the operations of some other +regiments, all belonging to General Adam's brigade. This attack on its +left flank was assisted by the fire of a battery in front, and by the +musketry of the British Guards on its right flank. Thus assailed, the +defeat of the second column was inevitable. Had it been supported by +cavalry, so that it could not have been attacked on either flank, it +would have succeeded in its purpose. Adam's brigade followed up its +success, and Vivian's cavalry was ordered forward by Wellington, to +check the French cavalry, should it advance, and to deal generally +with the French reserves. Adam and Vivian did their work so well that +Wellington ordered his whole line of infantry to advance, supported by +cavalry and artillery. The French made considerable resistance after +this, but their retreat became inevitable, and soon degenerated into a +rout. An exception to the general disorganization was observed by the +victors, not unlike to an incident which we have seen mentioned in an +account of the Bull Run flight. In the midst of the crowd of fugitives +on the 21st of July, and forcing its way through that crowd, was seen a +company of infantry, marching as coolly and steadily as if on parade. So +it was after Waterloo, when the _grenadiers a cheval_ moved off at a +walk, "in close column, and in perfect order, as if disdaining to allow +itself to be contaminated by the confusion that prevailed around it." It +was unsuccessfully attacked, and the regiment "literally walked from the +field in the most orderly manner, moving majestically along the stream, +the surface of which was covered with the innumerable wrecks into which +the rest of the French army had been scattered." It was supposed that +this body of cavalry was engaged in protecting the retreat of the +Emperor, and, had all the French been as cool and determined as were +those veteran horsemen, the army might have been saved. Troops in +retreat, who hold firmly together, and show a bold countenance to the +enemy, are seldom made to suffer much.] + +The Russian War was not of a nature to afford room for the occurrence of +any panic on an extensive scale, but between that contest and ours there +is one point of resemblance that may be noted. The failures and losses +of the Allies, who had at their command unlimited means, and the bravest +of soldiers in the greatest numbers, were all owing to bad management; +and our reverses in every instance are owing to the same cause. The +disaster at Bull Run, and the inability of our men to keep the ground +they had won at Wilson's Creek, in Missouri, (August 10,) were the +legitimate consequences of action over which the mass of the soldiers +could have no control. It is due to the soldiers to say this, for it +is the truth, as every man knows who has observed the course of the +contest, and who has seen it proceed from a political squabble to the +dimensions of a mighty war, the end of which mortal vision cannot +foresee. + +It would be no difficult task to add a hundred instances to those we +have mentioned of the occurrence of panics in European armies; but it +is not necessary to pursue the subject farther. Nothing is better known +than that almost every eminent commander has suffered from panic terror +having taken control of the minds of his men, and nothing is more unjust +than to speak of the American panic of the 21st of July as if it were +something quite out of the common way of war. True, its origin has never +been fully explained; but in this point it only resembles most other +panics, the causes of which never have been explained and never will be. +It is characteristic of a panic that its occurrence cannot be accounted +for; and therefore it was that the ancients attributed it to the direct +interposition of a god, as arising from some cause quite beyond human +comprehension. If panics could be clearly explained, some device might +be hit upon, perhaps, for their prevention. But we see that they +occurred at the very dawn of history, that they have happened repeatedly +for five-and-twenty centuries, and that they are as common now in the +nineteenth Christian century as they were in those days when Pan was a +god. "Great Pan is _not_ dead," but sends armies to pot now as readily +as he did when there were hoplites and peltasts on earth. We can console +ourselves, though the consolation be but a poor one, with the reflection +that all military peoples have suffered from the same cause that has +brought so much mortification and so great loss immediately home to us. +Our panic is the greatest that ever was known only because it is the +latest one that has happened, and because it has happened to ourselves. +It is idle, and even laughable, to attempt to argue it out of sight. We +should admit its occurrence as freely as it is asserted by the bitterest +and most unfair of our critics; and we should recognize the truth of +what has been well said on the subject, that the only possible answer to +the attacks that have been made on the national character for military +capacity and courage is _victory_. If we shall succeed in this war, the +rout of Bull Run will no more destroy our character for manliness than +the rout of Landen destroyed the character of Englishmen for the same +virtue. If we fail, we must submit to be considered cowards: and we +shall deserve to be so held, if, with our superior numbers, and still +more superior means, we cannot maintain the Republic against the rebels. + + + + +OUR COUNTRY. + + + On primal rocks she wrote her name; + Her towers were reared on holy graves; + The golden seed that bore her came + Swift-winged with prayer o'er ocean waves. + + The Forest bowed his solemn crest, + And open flung his sylvan doors; + Meek Rivers led the appointed Guest + To clasp the wide-embracing shores; + + Till, fold by fold, the broidered land + To swell her virgin vestments grew, + While Sages, strong in heart and hand, + Her virtue's fiery girdle drew. + + O Exile of the wrath of kings! + O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty! + The refuge of divinest things, + Their record must abide in thee! + + First in the glories of thy front + Let the crown-jewel, Truth, be found; + Thy right hand fling, with generous wont, + Love's happy chain to farthest bound! + + Let Justice, with the faultless scales, + Hold fast the worship of thy sons; + Thy Commerce spread her shining sails + Where no dark tide of rapine runs! + + So link thy ways to those of God, + So follow firm the heavenly laws, + That stars may greet thee, warrior-browed, + And storm-sped Angels hail thy cause! + + O Land, the measure of our prayers, + Hope of the world in grief and wrong, + Be thine the tribute of the years, + The gift of Faith, the crown of Song! + + + + +THE WORMWOOD CORDIAL OF HISTORY. + +WITH A FABLE. + + +The great war which is upon us is shaking us down into solidity as corn +is shaken down in the measure. We were heaped up in our own opinion, +and sometimes running over in expressions of it. This rude jostling is +showing us the difference between bulk and weight, space and substance. + +In one point of view we have a right to be proud of our inexperience, +and hardly need to blush for our shortcomings. These are the tributes we +are paying to our own past innocence and tranquillity. We have lived +a peaceful life so long that the traditional cunning and cruelty of a +state of warfare have become almost obsolete among us. No wonder that +hard men, bred in foreign camps, find us too good-natured, wanting in +hatred towards our enemies. We can readily believe that it is a special +Providence which has suffered us to meet with a reverse or two, just +enough to sting, without crippling us, only to wake up the slumbering +passion which is the legitimate and chosen instrument of the higher +powers for working out the ends of justice and the good of man. + +There are a few far-seeing persons to whom our present sudden mighty +conflict may not have come as a surprise; but to all except these it +is a prodigy as startling as it would be, if the farmers of the North +should find a ripened harvest of blood-red ears of maize upon the +succulent stalks of midsummer. We have lived for peace: as individuals, +to get food, comfort, luxuries for ourselves and others; as communities, +to insure the best conditions we could for each human being, so that he +might become what God meant him to be. The verdict of the world was, +that we were succeeding. Many came to us from the old civilizations; +few went away from us, and most of these such as we could spare without +public loss. + +We had almost forgotten the meaning and use of the machinery of +destruction. We had come to look upon our fortresses as the ornaments, +rather than as the defences of our harbors. Our war-ships were the +Government's yacht-squadron, our arsenals museums for the entertainment +of peaceful visitors. The roar of cannon has roused us from this +Arcadian dream. A ship of the line, we said, reproachfully, costs as +much as a college; but we are finding out that its masts are a part of +the fence round the college. The Springfield Arsenal inspired a noble +poem; but that, as we are learning, was not all it was meant for. What +poets would be born to us in the future without the "_placida quies_" +which "_sub libertate_" the sword alone can secure for our children? + +It is all plain, but it has been an astonishment to us, as our war-comet +was to the astronomers. The comet, as some of them say, brushed us with +its tail as it passed; yet nobody finds us the worse for it. So, too, we +have been brushed lightly by mishap, as we ought to have been, and as we +ought to have prayed to be, no doubt, if we had known what was good for +us; yet at this very moment we stand stronger, more hopeful, more united +than ever before in our history. + +Misfortunes are no new things; yet a man suffering from furuncles will +often speak as if Job had never known anything about them. We will take +up a book lying by us, and find all the evils, or most of those we have +been complaining of, described in detail, as they happened eight or ten +generations before our time. + +It was in "a struggle for NATIONAL independence, liberty of conscience, +freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and _world-absorbing tyranny_." +A plotting despot is at the bottom of it. "While the _riches of the +Indies_ continue, he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other +princes." But England had soldiers and statesmen ready to fight, even +though "Indies"--the King Cotton of that day--were declared arbiter of +the contest. "I pray God," said one of them, "that I live not to see +this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion +throughout Christendom."--"The war doth defend England. Who is he that +will refuse to spend his life and living in it? If her Majesty consume +twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain +will double that strength to the realm."--_"The freehold of England will +be worth but little, if this action quail;_ and therefore I wish no +subject to spare his purse towards it."--"God hath stirred up this +action to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of +England, which through these long times of peace and quietness is +brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. Our +delicacy is such that we are already weary; yet this journey is nought +in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." + +"There can be no doubt," the historian remarks, "that the organization +and discipline of English troops were in anything but a satisfactory +state at that period."--"The soldiers required shoes and stockings, +bread and meat, and for those articles there were not the necessary +funds."--"There came no penny of treasure over."--"There is much still +due. They cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, _they perish for +want of victuals and clothing_ in great numbers. The whole are ready +to mutiny."--"There was no soldier yet able to buy himself _a pair of +hose_, and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and _it +kills their hearts to show themselves among men_."--These "poor subjects +were no better than abjects," said the Lieutenant-General. "There is but +a small number of the first bands left," said another,--"and those so +pitiful and unable to serve again as I leave to speak further of +them, to avoid grief to your heart. A monstrous fault there hath been +somewhere." Of what nature the "monstrous fault" was we may conjecture +from the language of the Commander-in-Chief. "There can be no doubt of +our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive +charges, if every one of us will put our minds to forward, _without +making a miserable gain by the wars_." (We give the Italics as we find +them in the text.) He believed that much of the work might be speedily +done; for he "would undertake to furnish from hence, upon two months' +warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and +mariners." + +In the mean time "there was a whisper of peace-overtures," "rumors +which, whether true or false, were most pernicious in their effects"; +for "it was war, not peace," that the despot "intended," and the "most +trusty counsellors [of England] knew to be inevitable." Worse than this, +there was treachery of the most dangerous kind. "Take heed whom you +trust," said the brother of the Commander-in-Chief to him; "for that +you have some false boys about you." In fact, "many of those nearest his +person and of highest credit out of England were his deadly foes, sworn +to compass his dishonor, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in +correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad." + +It was a sad state of things. The General "was much disgusted with the +raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable +troops." "Swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of London" +"were not the men to be intrusted with the honor of England at a +momentous crisis." "Our simplest men in show have been our best men, +and your _gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others_." (The +Italics again are the author's.) Yet, said the muster-master, "there is +good hope that his Excellency will shortly establish such good order +for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, badly +furnished, ill-armed, and worse trained bands, thus rawly left unto +him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, complete, gallant +companies as shall be found elsewhere in Europe." + +Very pleasant it must have been to the Commander-in-Chief to report to +his Government that in one of the first actions "five hundred Englishmen +of the best Flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away." +Yet this was the commencement of the struggle which ended with the +dispersion and defeat of the great Armada, and destroyed the projects of +the Spanish tyrant for introducing religious and political slavery into +England! It seems as if Mr. Motley's Seventh Chapter were a prophecy, +rather than a history. + + * * * * * + +An invasion and a conspiracy may always be expected to make head at +first. The men who plan such enterprises are not fools, but cunning, +managing people. They always have, or think they have, a _prima facie_ +case to start with. They have been preparing just as the highwayman has +been preparing for his aggressive movement. They expect to find, +and they commonly do find, their victims only half ready, if at all +forewarned, and to take them at a disadvantage. If conspirators and +invaders do not strike heavy blows at once, their cause is desperate; if +they do, it proves very little, because that is the least they expected +to do. + +It is very easy to run up a score behind the door of a tavern; credit +is good, and chalk is cheap. But these little marks have all got to be +crossed out by-and-by, and the time will surely come for turning all +empty pockets wrong side out. The aggressors begin in a great passion, +and are violent and dangerous at first; the nation or community assailed +are surprised, dismayed, perhaps, like the good people in the coach, +when they see Dick Turpin's pistol thrust in at the window. + +The Romans were certainly a genuine fighting people. They kept the state +on a perpetual military footing. They were never without veterans, men +and leaders bred in camp and experienced in warfare. Yet what a piece of +work their African invader cut out for them! It seemed they had to learn +everything over again. Thousands upon thousands killed and driven into +Lake Trasimenus,--_fifteen thousand_ prisoners taken; total rout again +at Cannae,--rings picked from slain gentlemen's fingers by the peck or +bushel,--everything lost in battle, and a great revolt through the +Southern provinces as a natural consequence. What then? Rome was not to +be Africanized as yet. The great leader who had threatened the capital, +and scored these portentous victories, had at last to pay for them all +in defeat and humiliation on his own soil. + +Even the robber Spartacus beat the Roman armies at first, with their +consuls at their head, and laid waste a large part of the peninsula. +These violent uprisings and incursions are always dangerous at their +onset; they are just like new diseases, which the doctors tell us must +be studied by themselves, and which are rarely treated with great +success until near the period of their natural cessation. After a time +Fabius learns how to handle the hot Southern invaders, and Crassus the +way of fighting the fierce gladiators with their classical bowie-knives. + +Remember, _Rome_ never is beaten,--_Romans_ may be. It is inherent in +the very idea of a republic that its peaceful servants shall be liable +to be taken at fault. The counsels of the many, which are meant to +secure all men's rights in tranquil times, cannot in the nature of +things adapt themselves all at once to the sudden exigencies of war. +Consequently, a republic must expect to be beaten at first by any +concentrated power of nearly equal strength. After a time the +commander-in-chief emerges from the confused mass of counsellors, and +substitutes the action of one mind and will for the conflict of many. +The Romans recognized the Dictatorship as the necessary complement of +the Republic; and it is worthy of remark that that high office was +never abused so long as the people were worthy to be free. "_Ne quid +detrimenti respublica capiat_" was the formula according to which they +surrendered their liberty for the sake of their liberty. A great danger, +doubtless, for a people not leavened through and through with the spirit +of freedom; but not so where the army is only the representative of a +self-governing community. This army is not like to enslave itself or +the families it comes from, to please the leader whom it trusts for an +emergency. The pilot is absolute while the vessel is coming into harbor, +but the crew are not afraid of his remaining master of the ship. +Washington's reply to Nicola's letter, proposing to make him King, was +written at a time when the republican system under the shadow of which +three generations have been bred up to manhood was but as a grain of +mustard-seed compared to this mighty growth which now spreads over our +land. It is not likely that another man will make out so good a claim +to supremacy as he; it is pretty certain, that, if he does, he will not +have the opportunity of rejecting the insignia of royalty, and if this +should happen, he can hardly forget the great example before him. + +It is curious to see that the difficulties a general has to contend +with now are much the same that were found in the first Revolution: bad +food,--the poor surgeon at Valley Forge, whose diary was printed the +other day, could not keep it on his stomach at any rate,--insufficient +clothing, and no shoes at all, as the bloody snow bore witness,--and +among our own New England troops "a spirit of insubordination which they +took for independence," as Washington expressed himself. We do not think +the New England men have rendered themselves liable to this reproach +of late,--and this is a remarkable tribute to the influence of a true +republican training. But in various quarters there has been enough of +it, and the consequent disorganization of at least one free and easy +regiment is no more than might have been expected. + +A panic or two, with all the disgrace and suffering that attach to such +hysterical paroxysms, or at least a defeat, are the experiences through +which half-organized bodies often pass to teach them the meaning of +discipline and mechanical habit. An army must go through the annealing +process like glass; let a few regiments be cracked to pieces because +their leaders did not know how to withdraw them gradually from the +furnace of action, and the lesson will be all the better remembered +because taught by a costly example. Our early mishaps were all +predicted, sometimes in formal shape, as in various letters dated long +before the breaking out of hostilities, and very often in the common +talk of those about us. But, after all, when the first chastisement +from our hard schoolmaster, Experience, comes upon us, it is a kind of +surprise, in spite of all our preparation. + +A writer in the present number of this magazine shows us that there is a +complete literature of panics, not merely as occurring among new levies, +but seizing on the best-appointed armies, containing as much individual +bravery as any that never ran away from an enemy. The men of Israel gave +way before the men of Benjamin, "retired" in the language of Scripture, +in order to lead them into ambush. At a given signal they faced about, +and the men of Benjamin "were amazed" (panic-struck) and "turned their +backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness,"--took to +the woods, as we should say. Their enemies did not lie still or run as +fast the other way, like ours at Bull Run, but they "inclosed" them, and +"chased them, and trode them down with ease," and "gleaned of them in +the highways," and "pursued hard after them." Yet "all these were men of +valor." + +Not to return to our old classical friends, what modern nation has ever +known how to fight that had not learned how to be beaten and how to run? +The English ran ninety miles from Bannockburn, seared by the "gillies" +and the baggage-wagons. They paid back their debt at Culloden. The +Prussian armies were routed at Jena and Auerstaedt. They had their +revenge in the "_sauve qui peut_" of Waterloo. The great armada, British +and French, undertook to bombard Sebastopol, and eight ships of the line +were so mauled that they had to go back to Toulon and Portsmouth for +repairs. Lord Raglan is said to have so far despaired of success as to +have contemplated raising the siege. + +Everybody remembers the feeling produced by the repeated fruitless +attacks on the fortifications, the three unsuccessful bombardments, +the divided counsels, the disappointment and death of Lord Raglan, the +complaints of Canrobert of the want of a single commanding intellect, +and the relinquishment of his own position to Pelissier, itself a +confession of failure. If there ever was a campaign begun with defeat +and disaster, it was that which ended with the fall of Sebastopol. + +Read the account of the retreat of the advanced force of our own army +at the Battle of Monmouth Court-House. Washington could not believe the +first story told him. Presently he met one fugitive after another, and +then Grayson's and Patton's regiments in disorderly retreat. He did not +know what to make of it. There had been no fighting except a successful +skirmish with the enemy's cavalry. He met Major Howard; this officer +could give no reason for the running,--had never seen the like. Another +officer swears they are flying from a shadow. Lee tries to account for +it,--troops confused by contradictory intelligence, by disobedience of +orders, by the meddling and blundering of individuals,--vague excuses +all, the plain truth being that they had given way to a panic. But for +Washington's fierce commands and threats, the retreat might have become +a total rout. + +It is curious to see how the little incidents, even, of our late +accelerated retrograde movement recall those of the old Revolutionary +story. Mr. Russell speaks thus of the fugitives: "Faces black and dusty, +_tongues out in the heat_, eyes staring,--it was a most wonderful +sight." If Mr. Russell had ever read Stedman's account of his own +countrymen's twenty-mile run from Concord to Bunker's Hill, he would +have learned that they "were so much exhausted with fatigue, that they +were obliged to lie down for rest on the ground, _their tongues hanging +out of their mouths_, like those of dogs after a chase." One rout is as +much like another as the scamper of one flock of sheep like that of all +others. + +A pleasing consequence of this war we are engaged in has hardly +been enough thought of. It is a rough way of introducing distant +fellow-citizens of the same land to each other's acquaintance. Next to +the intimacy of love is that of enmity. Nay, + + "Love itself could never pant + For all that beauty sighs to grant + With half the fervor hate bestows + Upon the last embrace of foes, + When, grappling in the fight, they fold + Those arms that ne'er shall lose their hold." + +"We shall learn to respect each other," as one of our conservative +friends said long ago. It is a great mistake to try to prove our own +countrymen cowards and degenerate from the old stock. It is worth the +price of some hard fighting to show the contrary to the satisfaction of +both parties. The Scotch and English called each other all possible hard +names in the time of their international warfare; but the day has come +for them, as it will surely come for us, when the rivals and enemies +must stand side by side and shoulder to shoulder, each proud of the +other's bravery. + + * * * * * + +For three-quarters of a century we have been melting our several +destinies in one common crucible, to mould a new and mighty empire such +as the world has never seen. Our partners cannot expect to be allowed +to break the crucible or the mould, or to carry away the once separate +portions now flowing in a single incandescent flood. We cannot sell and +they cannot buy our past. Our nation has pledged itself to unity by the +whole course of its united action. There is one debt alone that all +the cotton-fields of the South could never pay: it is the price of +our voluntary humiliation for the sake of keeping peace with the +slaveholders. We may be robbed of our inalienable nationality, if +treason is strong enough, but we are trustees of the life of three +generations for the benefit of all that are yet to be. We cannot sell. +We dare not break the entail of freedom and disinherit the first-born of +half a continent. + +When the Plebeians seceded to the Mons Sacer, some five hundred years +before the Christian era, the Consul Menenius Agrippa brought them back +by his well-known fable of the Belly and the Members. Perhaps it would +be too much to expect to call back our seceders with a fable which they +will hardly have the opportunity of reading in the present condition of +the postal service, but the state of the case may be put with a certain +degree of truth in this of + +THE FRONT-TEETH AND THE GRINDERS. + +Once on a time a mutiny arose among the teeth of a worthy man, in good +health and blessed with a sound constitution, commonly known as Uncle +Samuel. The cutting-teeth, or _incisors_, and the eye-teeth, or +_canines_, though not nearly so many, all counted, nor so large, nor so +strong as the grinders, and by no means so white, but, on the contrary, +very much discolored, began to find fault with the grinders as not good +enough company for them. The eye-teeth, being very sharp and fitted for +seizing and tearing, and standing out taller than the rest, claimed to +lead them. Presently, one of them complained that it ached very badly, +and then another and another. Very soon the cutting-teeth, which +pretended they were supplied by the same nerve, and were proud of +it, began to ache also. They all agreed that it was the fault of the +grinders. + +About this time, Uncle Samuel, having used his old tooth-brush (which +was never a good one, having no stiffness in the bristles) for four +years, took a new one, recommended to him by a great number of people as +a homely, but useful article. Thereupon all the front-teeth, one after +another, declared that Uncle Samuel meant to scour them white, which was +a thing they would never submit to, though the whole civilized world was +calling on them to do so. So they all insisted on getting out of the +sockets in which they had grown and stood for so many years. But the +wisdom-teeth spoke up for the others and said,-- + +"Nay, there be but twelve of you front-teeth, and there be twenty of us +grinders. We are the strongest, and a good deal nearest the muscles +and the joint, but we cannot spare you. We have put up with your black +stains, your jumping aches, and your snappish looks, and now we are not +going to let you go, under the pretence that you are to be scrubbed +white, if you stay. You don't work half so hard as we do, but you can +bite the food well enough, which we can grind so much better than you. +We belong to each other. You must stay." + +Thereupon the front-teeth, first the canines or dog-teeth, next the +incisors or cutting-teeth, proceeded to declare themselves out of their +sockets, and no longer belonging to the jaws of Uncle Samuel. + +Then Uncle Samuel arose in his wrath and shut his jaws tightly together, +and swore that he would keep them shut till those aching and discolored +teeth of his went to pieces in their sockets, if need were, rather than +have them drawn, standing, as some of them did, at the very opening of +his throat and stomach. + +And now, if you will please to observe, all those teeth are beginning +to ache worse than ever, and to decay very fast, so that it will take a +great deal of gold to stop the holes that are forming in them. But the +great white grinders are as sound as ever, and will remain so until +Uncle Samuel thinks the time has come for opening his mouth. In the mean +time they keep on grinding in a quiet way, though the others have had +to stop biting for a long time. When Uncle Samuel opens his mouth, they +will be as ready for work as ever; but those poor discolored teeth will +be tender for a great while, and never be so strong as they were before +they foolishly declared themselves out of their sockets. + + * * * * * + +The foregoing fable is respectfully dedicated to the Southern Plebs, +who, under the lead of their "Patrician" masters, have "seceded," like +their predecessors in the days of Menenius Agrippa. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOLUME 8, NO. 48, +OCTOBER, 1861*** + + +******* This file should be named 11358.txt or 11358.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/5/11358 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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