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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11406 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 11406-h.htm or 11406-h.zip:
+      (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/0/11406/11406-h/11406-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/0/11406/11406-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 12, NO. 340.] SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Vicenza.
+
+
+[Illustration: Vicenza.]
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE "ANNUALS," FOR 1829.
+
+
+For some days past our table has been glittering with these caskets
+of song and tale in their gay attire of silken sheen and burnished
+gold--till their splendour has fairly put out the light of our
+_sinumbra_, and the drabs, blues, and yellows of sober, business-like
+quartos and octavos. Seven out of nine of these elegant little books are
+in "watered" silk bindings; and an ingenious lady-friend has favoured us
+with the calculation that the silk used in covering the presumed number
+sold (70,000) would extend five miles, or from Hyde Park Corner to
+Turnham Green.
+
+Brilliant as may be their exteriors, their contents are, as Miss Jane
+Porter says of her heroines, "transcendently beautiful." But of these
+we shall present our readers with some exquisite specimens. Our only
+trouble in this task is the _embarras du richesses_ with which we are
+surrounded; otherwise it is to us an exhaustless source of delight,
+especially when we consider the "gentle feelings and affections" which
+this annual distribution will cherish, and the innumerable intertwinings
+of hands and hearts which this shower of _bon-bons_ will produce; and
+such warm friends are we to this social scheme, that our presentation
+copies are already in the fair hands whither we had destined them.
+
+We begin with the parent-stock,
+
+
+The Forget-Me-Not.
+
+
+_Edited by Frederic Shoberl_, Esq.
+
+The present volume, in its graphic and literary attractions is decidedly
+superior to that of last year, an improvement which makes us credit what
+the Ettrick Shepherd says of the proprietor--"There's no a mair just,
+nay, generous man in his dealings wi' his authors, in a' the tredd, than
+Mr. Ackermann."
+
+This beautiful Annual contains the original of our ENGRAVING, from a
+plate by A. Freebairn, after an admirable picture by S. Prout, of which
+the following story is illustrative:--
+
+
+THE MAGICIAN OF VICENZA.
+
+
+In the year 1796, on one of the finest evenings of an Italian autumn,
+when the whole population of the handsome city of Vicenza were pouring
+into the streets to enjoy the fresh air, that comes so deliciously along
+the currents of its three rivers; when the Campo Marzo was crowded with
+the opulent citizens and Venetian nobles; and the whole ascent, from the
+gates to the Madonna who sits enthroned on the summit of Monte Berrico,
+was a line of the gayest pilgrims that ever wandered up the vine-covered
+side of an Alpine hill; the ears of all were caught by the sound of
+successive explosions from a boat running down the bright waters of the
+Bachiglione. Vicenza was at peace, under the wing of the lion of St.
+Mark, but the French were lying round the ramparts of Mantua. They had
+not yet moved on Venice; yet her troops were known to be without arms,
+experience, or a general, and the sound of a cracker would have startled
+her whole dominions.
+
+The boat itself was of a singular make; and the rapidity with which this
+little chaloupe, glittering with gilding and hung with streamers, made
+its way along the sparkling stream, struck the observers as something
+extraordinary. It flew by every thing on the river, yet no one was
+visible on board. It had no sail up, no steersman, no rower; yet it
+plunged and rushed along with the swiftness of a bird. The Vicentine
+populace are behind none of their brethren in superstition, and at the
+sight of the flying chaloupe, the groups came running from the Campo
+Marzo. The Monte Berrico was speedily left without a pilgrim, and the
+banks of the Bachiglione were, for the first time since the creation,
+honoured with the presence of the Venetian authorities, and even of the
+sublime podesta [the governor, a Venetian noble.] himself.
+
+But it was fortunate for them that the flying phenomenon had reached the
+open space formed by the conflux of the three rivers, before the crowd
+became excessive; for, just as it had darted out from the narrow
+channel, lined on both sides with the whole thirty thousand old,
+middle-aged, and young, men, maids, and matrons of the city, a thick
+smoke was seen rising from its poop, its frame quivered, and, with a
+tremendous explosion, the chaloupe rose into the air in ten thousand
+fragments of fire.
+
+The multitude were seized with consternation; and the whole fell on
+their knees, from the sublime podesta himself, to the humblest
+saffron-gatherer. Never was there such a mixture of devotion. Never was
+there such a concert of exclamations, sighs, callings on the saints, and
+rattling of beads. The whole concourse lay for some minutes with their
+very noses rubbing to the ground, until they were all roused at once by
+a loud burst of laughter. Thirty thousand pair of eyes were lifted up at
+the instant, and all fixed in astonishment on a human figure, seen
+calmly sitting on the water, in the very track of the explosion, and
+still half hidden in the heavy mass of smoke that curled in a huge globe
+over the remnants. The laugh had proceeded from him, and the nearer he
+approached the multitude, the louder he laughed. At length, stopping in
+front of the spot where the sublime podesta, a little ashamed of his
+prostration, was getting the dust shaken out of his gold-embroidered
+robe of office, and bathing his burning visage in orange-flower water,
+the stranger began a sort of complimentary song to the famous city of
+Vicenza.
+
+The stranger found a willing audience; for his first stanza was in
+honour of the "most magnificent city of Vicenza;" its "twenty palaces by
+the matchless Palladio;" much more "its sixty churches;" and much more
+than all "its breed of Dominicans, unrivalled throughout the earth for
+the fervour of their piety and the capacity of their stomachs." The last
+touch made the grand-prior of the cathedral wince a little, but it was
+welcomed with a roar from the multitude. The song proceeded; but if the
+prior had frowned at the first stanza, the podesta was doubly angry at
+the second, which sneered at Venetian pomposity in incomparable style.
+But the prior and podesta were equally outvoted, for the roar of the
+multitude was twice as loud as before. Then came other touches on the
+_cavalieri serventi_, the ladies, the nuns, and the husbands, till every
+class had its share: but the satire was so witty, that, keen as it was,
+the shouts of the people silenced all disapprobation. He finished by a
+brilliant stanza, in which he said, that "having been sent by Neptune
+from the depths of the ocean to visit the earth, he had chosen for his
+landing-place its most renowned spot, the birthplace of the gayest men
+and the handsomest women--the exquisite Vicenza." With these words he
+ascended from the shore, and was received with thunders of applause.
+
+His figure was tall and elegant. He wore a loose, scarlet cloak thrown
+over his fine limbs, Greek sandals, and a cap like that of the Italian
+princes of three centuries before, a kind of low circle of green and
+vermilion striped silk, clasped by a large rose of topaz. The men
+universally said, that there was an atrocious expression in his
+countenance; but the women, the true judges after all, said, without
+exception, that this was envy in the men, and that the stranger was the
+most "delightful looking _Diavolo_" they had ever set eyes on.
+
+The stranger, on his landing, desired to be led to the principal hotel;
+but he had not gone a dozen steps from the water-side, when he exclaimed
+that he had lost his purse. Such an imputation was never heard before in
+an Italian city; at least so swore the multitude; and the stranger was
+on the point of falling several fathoms deep in his popularity. But he
+answered the murmur by a laugh; and stopping in front of a beggar, who
+lay at the corner of an hospital roaring out for alms, demanded the
+instant loan of fifty sequins. The beggar lifted up his hands and eyes
+in speechless wonder, and then shook out his rags, which, whatever else
+they might show, certainly showed no sequins, "The sequins, or death!"
+was the demand, in a tremendous voice. The beggar fell on the ground
+convulsed, and from his withered hand, which every one had seen empty
+the moment before, out flew fifty sequins, bright as if they had come
+that moment from St. Mark's mint. The stranger took them from the
+ground, and, with a smile, flung them up in a golden shower through the
+crowd. The shouts were immense, and the mob insisted on carrying him to
+the door of his hotel.
+
+But the Venetian vigilance was by this time a little awakened, and a
+patrol of the troops was ordered to bring this singular stranger before
+the sublime podesta. The crowd instantly dropped him at the sight of the
+bayonets, and knowing the value of life in the most delicious climate of
+the world, took to their heels. The guard took possession of their
+prisoner, and were leading him rather roughly to the governor's house,
+when he requested them to stop for a moment beside a convent gate, that
+he might get a cup of wine. But the Dominicans would not give the
+satirist of their illustrious order a cup of water.
+
+"If you will not give me refreshment," exclaimed he, in an angry tone,
+"give me wherewithal to buy it. I demand a hundred sequins."
+
+The prior himself was at the window above his head; and the only answer
+was a sneer, which was loyally echoed through every cloister.
+
+"Let me have your bayonet for a moment," said the stranger to one of his
+guard. He received it; and striking away a projecting stone in the wall,
+out rushed the hundred sequins. The prior clasped his hands in agony,
+that so much money should have been so near, and yet have escaped his
+pious purposes, The soldiers took off their caps for the discoverer, and
+bowed them still lower when he threw every sequin of it into the shakos
+of those polite warriors. The officer, to whom he had given a double
+share, showed his gratitude by a whisper, offering to assist his escape
+for as much more. But the stranger declined the civility, and walked
+boldly into the presence-chamber of the sublime podesta.
+
+The Signer Dominico Castello-Grande Tremamondo was a little Venetian
+noble, descended in a right line from Aeneas, with a palazzo on the
+Canale Regio of Venice, which he let for a coffee-house; and living in
+the pomp and pride of a _magnifico_ on something more than the wages of
+an English groom. The intelligence of this extraordinary stranger's
+discoveries had flown like a spark through a magazine, and the
+_illustrissimo_ longed to be a partaker in the secret. He interrogated
+the prisoner with official fierceness, but could obtain no other reply
+than the general declaration, that he was a traveller come to see the
+captivations of Italy. In the course of the inquiry the podesta dropped
+a significant hint about money.
+
+"As to money," was the reply, "I seldom carry any about me; it is so
+likely to tempt _rascals_ to dip deeper in roguery. I have it whenever I
+choose to call for it."
+
+"I should like to see the experiment made, merely for its curiosity,"
+said the governor.
+
+"You shall be obeyed," was the answer; "but I never ask for more than a
+sum for present expenses. Here, you fellow!" said he, turning to one of
+the half-naked soldiery, "lend me five hundred sequins!"
+
+The whole guard burst into laughter. The sum would have been a severe
+demand on the military chest of the army. The handsome stranger advanced
+to him, and, seizing his musket, said, loftily, "Fellow, if you won't
+give the money, this must." He struck the butt-end of the musket thrice
+upon the floor. At the third blow a burst of gold poured out, and
+sequins ran in every direction. The soldiery and the officers of the
+court were in utter astonishment. All wondered, many began to cross
+themselves, and several of the most celebrated swearers in the regiment
+dropped upon their knees. But their devotions were not long, for the
+sublime podesta ordered the hall to be cleared, and himself, the
+stranger, and the sequins, left alone.
+
+For three days nothing more was heard of any of the three, and the
+Vicenzese scarcely ate, drank, or slept, through anxiety to know what
+was become of the man in the scarlet cloak, and cap striped green and
+vermilion. Jealousy, politics, and piety, at length put their heads
+together, and, by the evening of the third day, the _cavalieri_ had
+agreed that he was some rambling actor, or Alpine thief, the statesmen,
+that he was a spy; and the Dominicans that he was Satan in person. The
+women, partly through the contradiction natural to the lovely sex, and
+partly through the novelty of not having the world in their own way,
+were silent; a phenomenon which the Italian philosophers still consider
+the true wonder of the whole affair.
+
+On the evening of the third day a new Venetian governor, with a stately
+_cortege_, was seen entering at the Water Gate, full gallop, from
+Venice: he drove straight to the podesta's house, and, after an
+audience, was provided with apartments in the town-house, one of the
+finest in Italy, and looking out upon the _Piazza Grande_, in which are
+the two famous columns, one then surmounted by the winged lion of St.
+Mark, as the other still is by a statue of the founder of our faith.
+
+The night was furiously stormy, and the torrents of rain and perpetual
+roaring of the thunder drove the people out of the streets. But between
+the tempest and curiosity not an eye was closed that night in the city.
+Towards morning the tempest lulled, and in the intervals of the wind,
+strange sounds were heard, like the rushing of horses and rattling of
+carriages. At length the sounds grew so loud that curiosity could be
+restrained no longer, and the crowd gathered towards the entrance of the
+_Piazza_. The night was dark beyond description, and the first knowledge
+of the hazard that they were incurring was communicated to the shivering
+mob by the kicks of several platoons of French soldiery, who let them
+pass within their lines, but prohibited escape. The square was filled
+with cavalry, escorting wagons loaded with the archives, plate, and
+pictures, of the government. The old podesta was seen entering a
+carriage, into which his very handsome daughter, the betrothed of the
+proudest of the proud Venetian senators, was handed by the stranger. The
+procession then moved, and last, and most surprising of all, the
+stranger, mounting a charger, put himself at the head of the cavalry,
+and, making a profound adieu to the new governor, who stood shivering at
+the window in care of a file of grenadiers, dashed forward on the road
+to Milan.
+
+Day rose, and the multitude rushed out to see what was become of the
+city. Every thing was as it had been, but the column of the lion: its
+famous emblem of the Venetian republic was gone, wings and all. They
+exclaimed that the world had come to an end. But the wheel of fortune is
+round, let politicians say what they will. In twelve months from that
+day the old podesta was again sitting in the government-house--yet a
+podesta no more, but a French prefect; the Signora Maria, his lovely
+daughter, was sitting beside him, with an infant, the image of her own
+beauty, and beside her the stranger, no longer the man of magic in the
+scarlet cloak and green and vermilion striped cap with a topaz clasp,
+but a French general of division, in blue and silver, her husband, as
+handsome as ever, and, if not altogether a professed _Diavolo_, quite as
+successful in finding money whenever he wanted it. His first _entree_
+into Vicenza had been a little theatrical, for such is the genius of his
+country. The blowing-up of his little steam-boat, which had nearly
+furnished his drama with a tragic catastrophe, added to its effect; and
+his discovery of the sequins was managed by three of his countrymen. As
+an inquirer into the nakedness of the land, he might have been shot as a
+spy. As half-charlatan and half-madman, he was sure of national
+sympathy. During the three days of his stay the old podesta had found
+himself accessible to reason, the podesta's daughter to the tender
+passion, and the treasures of the state to the locomotive skill of the
+French detachment, that waited in the mountains the result of their
+officer's diplomacy. The lion of St. Mark, having nothing else to do,
+probably disdained to remain, and in the same night took wing from the
+column, to which he has never returned.
+
+As we love to "march in good order," we begin with the plates, the most
+striking of which is the Frontispiece, _Marcus Curtius_, by Le Keux,
+from a design by Martin, which we are at a loss to describe. It requires
+a microscopic eye to fully appreciate all its beauties--yet the
+thousands of figures and the architectural background, are so clear and
+intelligible as to make our optic nerve sympathize with the labour of
+the artist. The next is a _View on the Ganges_, by Finden, after
+Daniell; _Constancy_, by Portbury, after Stephanoff, in which the female
+figure is loveliness personified; _Eddystone during a Storm_; the
+_Proposal_, a beautiful family group; the _Cottage Kitchen_, by Romney,
+after Witherington; and the _Blind Piper_, from a painting by Clennell,
+who, from too great anxiety in the pursuit of his profession, was some
+years since deprived of reason, which he has never recovered.
+
+In the _poetical_ department we notice the Retreat, some beautiful lines
+by J. Montgomery; Ellen Strathallan, a pathetic legend, by Mrs.
+Pickersgill; St. Mary of the Lows, by the Ettrick Shepherd; Xerxes, a
+beautiful composition, by C. Swain, Esq.; the Banks of the Ganges, a
+descriptive poem, by Capt. McNaghten; Lydford Bridge, a fearful
+incident, by the author of Dartmoor; Alice, a tale of merrie England, by
+W.H. Harrison; and two pleasing pieces by the talented editor. Our
+extract is
+
+
+LANGSYNE.
+
+BY DELTA.
+
+
+Langsyne!--how doth the word come back
+  With magic meaning to the heart,
+As Memory roams the sunny track,
+  From which Hope's dreams were loath to part!
+No joy like by-past joy appears;
+  For what is gone we peak and pine.
+Were life spun out a thousand years,
+  It could not match Langsyne!
+
+Langsyne!--the days of childhood warm,
+  When, tottering by a mother's knee,
+Each sight and sound had power to charm,
+  And hope was high, and thought was free.
+Langsyne!--the merry schoolboy days--
+  How sweetly then life's sun did shine!
+Oh! for the glorious pranks and plays,
+  The raptures of Langsyne!
+
+Langsyne!--yes, In the sound, I hear
+  The rustling of the summer grove,
+And view those angel features near,
+  Which first awoke the heart to love.
+How sweet it is, in pensive mood,
+  At windless midnight to recline,
+And fill the mental solitude
+  With spectres from Langsyne!
+
+Langsyne!--ah, where are they who shared
+  With us its pleasures bright and blithe?
+Kindly with some hath fortune fared;
+  And some have bowed beneath the scythe
+Of death; while others, scattered far,
+  O'er foreign lands at fate repine,
+Oft wandering forth, 'neath twilight's star,
+  To muse on dear Langsyne!
+
+Langsyne!--the heart can never be
+  Again so full of guileless truth--
+Langsyne! the eyes no more shall see,
+  Ah, no! the rainbow hopes of youth.
+Langsyne! with thee resides a spell
+  To raise the spirit, and refine
+Farewell!--there can be no farewell
+  To thee, loved, lost Langsyne!
+
+
+Of the _prose_ articles, we have already given some specimens--The Hour
+Too Many, a fortnight since; and Vicenza, just quoted. The next we
+notice is Recollections of Pere la Chaise, for the graphic accuracy of
+which we can answer; Eliza Carthago, an African anecdote, by Mrs.
+Bowditch; Terence O'Flaherty, a humorous story, by the Modern
+Pythagorean of Blackwood; two interesting stories of Modern Greece; a
+highly-wrought Persian Tale, by the late Henry Neele; Miss Mitford's
+charming Cricketing Sketch; the Maid of the Beryl, by Mrs. Hofland; a
+Chapter of Eastern Apologues, by the Ettrick Shepherd; the Goldsmith of
+Westcheap, a story of the olden time--rather too long; and a
+characteristic Naval Sketch.
+
+As we have already drawn somewhat freely on the present volume, we may
+adduce that as the best proof of the high opinion we entertain of its
+merits. The editor has only two or three pieces; but the excellent taste
+and judgment displayed in the editorship of the "Forget-me-not" entitle
+it to a foremost place among the "Annuals for 1829."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+The Literary Souvenir,
+
+_Edited by Alaric A. Watts, Esq_.
+
+
+If the present were the first volume of the Literary Souvenir, the name
+of the editor would be a passport to popularity; but as this is the
+fifth year of its publication, any recommendation of ours would be
+supererogatory.
+
+But the Souvenir for 1829, realizes that delightful union of painting,
+engraving, and literature, (at whose beneficial influence we have
+glanced in our accompanying number) even more fully than its
+predecessors. Ten out of the twelve embellishments are from celebrated
+pictures, and the whole are by first-rate engravers. Of their cost we
+spoke cursorily in a recent number; so that we shall only particularize
+a few of the most striking.
+
+The engravings are of larger size than heretofore, and, for the most
+part, more brilliant in design and execution than any previous year.
+We can only notice _the Sisters_, (frontispiece) full of graceful and
+pleasing effect, by J.H. Robinson, after Stephanoff; _Cleopatra, on the
+Cydnus_, a splendid aquatic pageant, by E. Goodall, after Danby; the
+_Proposal_, consisting of two of the most striking figures in Leslie's
+exquisite painting of May Day in Queen Elizabeth's time; a _Portrait of
+Sir Walter Scott_, from Leslie's painting, and considered the best
+likeness; this is from the burin of an American artist of high promise.
+We must not, however, forget _Ehrenbreitstein, on the Rhine_, by John
+Pye, from a drawing by J.M.W. Turner, which is one of the most
+delightful prints in the whole series.
+
+In the _poetry_ are Cleopatra, well according with the splendid scene it
+is intended to illustrate--and I think of Thee, a tender lament--both by
+Mr. T.K. Hervey; Mrs. Hemans has contributed four exquisite pieces:
+Night, the Ship at Sea, and the Mariner's Grave, by Mr. John Malcolm,
+only make us regret that we have not room for either in our columns;
+Mary Queen of Scots, by H.G. Bell, Esq., is one of the most interesting
+historical ballads we have lately met with; the Epistle from Abbotsford,
+is a piece of pleasantry, which would have formed an excellent pendent
+to Sir Walter's Study, in our last; Zadig and Astarte, by Delta, are in
+the writer's most plaintive strain; the recollections of our happiest
+years, are harmoniously told in "Boyhood;" a ballad entitled "The
+Captive of Alhama," dated from Woburn Abbey, and signed R----, is a
+soul-stirring production, attributed to Lord John Russel; and the Pixies
+of Devon has the masterly impress of the author of Dartmoor. And last in
+our enumeration, though first in our liking, are the following by the
+editor:--Invocation to the Echo of a Sea Shell; King Pedro's Revenge,
+with a well written historiette; the Youngling of the Flock, full of
+tenderness and parental affection; and some Stanzas, for our admiration
+of which we have not an epithet at hand, so we give the original.
+
+
+
+ON BURNING A PACKET OF LETTERS.
+
+_By A.A. Watts, Esq._
+
+
+Relics of love, and life's enchanted spring,
+  Of hopes born, rainbow-like, of smiles and tears:--
+With trembling hand do I unloose the string,
+  Twined round the records of my youthful years.
+
+Yet why preserve memorials of a dream,
+  Too bitter-sweet to breathe of aught but pain!
+Why court fond memory for a fitful gleam
+  Of faded bliss, that cannot bloom again!
+
+The thoughts and feelings these sad relics bring
+  Back on my heart, I would not now recall:--
+Since gentler ties around its pulses cling,
+  Shall spells less hallowed hold them still in thrall!
+
+Can withered hopes that never came to flower
+  Match with affections long and dearly tried
+Love, that has lived through many a stormy hour,
+  Through good and ill,--and time and change defied!
+
+Perish each record that might wake a thought
+  That would be treason to a faith like this!--
+Why should the spectres of past joys be brought
+  To fling their shadows o'er my present bliss!
+
+Yet,--ere we part for ever,--let me pay
+  A last, fond tribute to the sainted dead:
+Mourn o'er these wrecks of passion's earlier day,
+  With tears as wild as once I used to shed.
+
+What gentle words are flashing on my eye!
+  What tender truths in every line I trace!
+Confessions--penned with many a deep drawn sigh.--
+  Hopes--like the dove--with but one resting place!
+
+How many a feeling, long--too long--represt,
+  Like autumn flowers, here opened out at last!
+How many a vision of the lonely breast
+  Its cherish'd radiance on these leaves hath cast?
+
+And ye, pale violets, whose sweet breath hath driven
+  Back on my soul the dreams I fain would quell;
+To whose faint perfume such wild power is given,
+  To call up visions--only loved too well;--
+
+Ye too must perish!--Wherefore now divide
+  Tributes of love--first offerings of the heart;--
+Gifts--that so long have slumbered side by side;
+  Tokens of feeling--never meant to part!
+
+A long farewell:--sweet flowers, sad scrolls, adieu!
+  Yes, ye shall be companions to the last:--
+So perish all that would revive anew
+  The fruitless memories of the faded past!
+
+But, lo! the flames are curling swiftly round
+  Each fairer vestige of my youthful years;
+Page after page that searching blaze hath found,
+  Even whilst I strive to trace them through my tears.
+
+The Hindoo widow, in affection strong,
+  Dies by her lord, and keeps her faith unbroken;
+Thus perish all which to those wrecks belong,
+  The living memory--with the lifeless token!
+
+
+Barry Cornwall has contributed several minor pieces, though we fear his
+poetical reputation will not be increased by either of them.
+
+Some of the minor pieces are gems in their way, and one of the most
+beautiful will be found appended to our current Number.
+
+To the _prose_:--The first in the volume is "the Sisters," a pathetic
+tale of about thirty pages, which a little of the fashionable
+affectation of some literary coxcombs might fine-draw over a brace of
+small octavos. As it stands, the story is gracefully, yet energetically
+told, and is entitled to the place it occupies. The author of Pelham
+(_vide_ the newspapers) has a pleasant conceit in the shape of a
+whole-length of fashion, which, being the best and shortest in its line
+that we have met with, will serve to enliven our extracts:--
+
+
+TOO HANDSOME FOR ANY THING!
+
+
+Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy was one of those models of perfection of which
+a human father and mother can produce but a single example,--Mr.
+Ferdinand Fitzroy was therefore an only son. He was such an amazing
+favourite with both his parents that they resolved to ruin him;
+accordingly, he was exceedingly spoiled, never annoyed by the sight of
+a book, and had as much plum-cake as he could eat. Happy would it have
+been for Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy could he always have eaten plum-cake, and
+remained a child. "Never," says the Greek Tragedian, "reckon a mortal
+happy till you have witnessed his end." A most beautiful creature was
+Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy! Such eyes--such hair--such teeth--such a
+figure--such manners, too,--and such an irresistible way of tying his
+neckcloth! When he was about sixteen, a crabbed old uncle represented to
+his parents the propriety of teaching Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy to read and
+write. Though not without some difficulty, he convinced them,--for he
+was exceedingly rich, and riches in an uncle are wonderful arguments
+respecting the nurture of a nephew whose parents have nothing to leave
+him. So our hero was sent to school. He was naturally (I am not joking
+now) a very sharp, clever boy; and he came on surprisingly in his
+learning. The schoolmaster's wife liked handsome children.--"What a
+genius will Master Ferdinand Fitzroy be, if you take pains with him!"
+said she, to her husband.
+
+"Pooh, my dear, it is of no use to take pains with _him_."
+
+"And why, love?"
+
+"Because he is a great deal too handsome ever to be a scholar."
+
+"And that's true enough, my dear!" said the schoolmaster's wife.
+
+So, because he was too handsome to be a scholar, Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy
+remained the lag of the fourth form!
+
+They took our hero from school.--"What profession shall he follow?" said
+his mother.
+
+"My first cousin is the Lord Chancellor," said his father, "let him go
+to the bar."
+
+The Lord Chancellor dined there that day: Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy was
+introduced to him; his lordship was a little, rough-faced,
+beetle-browed, hard-featured man, who thought beauty and idleness the
+same thing--and a parchment skin the legitimate complexion for a lawyer.
+
+"Send him to the bar!" said he, "no, no, that will never do!--Send him
+into the army; he is much too handsome to become a lawyer."
+
+"And that's true enough, my lord!" said the mother. So they bought Mr.
+Ferdinand Fitzroy a cornetcy in the ---- regiment of dragoons.
+
+Things are not learned by inspiration. Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy had never
+ridden at school, except when he was hoisted; he was, therefore, a very
+indifferent horseman; they sent him to the riding-school, and everybody
+laughed at him.
+
+"He is a d--d ass!" said Cornet Horsephiz, who was very ugly; "a horrid
+puppy!" said Lieutenant St. Squintem, who was still uglier; "if he does
+not ride better he will disgrace the regiment," said Captain Rivalhate,
+who was very good-looking; "if he does not ride better, we will cut
+him!" said Colonel Everdrill, who was a wonderful martinet; "I say, Mr.
+Bumpemwell (to the riding-master,) make that youngster ride less like a
+miller's sack."
+
+"Pooh, sir, _he_ will never ride better."
+
+"And why the d---l will he not?"
+
+"Bless you, colonel, he is a great deal too handsome for a cavalry
+officer!"
+
+"True!" said Cornet Horsephiz.
+
+"Very true," said Lieutenant St. Squintem.
+
+"We must cut him!" said the Colonel.
+
+And Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy was accordingly cut.
+
+Out hero was a youth of susceptibility--he quitted the ---- regiment,
+and challenged the colonel. The colonel was killed!
+
+"What a terrible blackguard is Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy!" said the
+colonel's relations.
+
+"Very true!" said the world.
+
+The parents were in despair!--They were not rich; but our hero was an
+only son, and they sponged hard upon the crabbed old uncle! "he is very
+clever," said they both, "and may do yet."
+
+So they borrowed some thousands from the uncle, and bought his beautiful
+nephew a seat in parliament.
+
+Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy was ambitious, and desirous of retrieving his
+character. He fagged like a dragon--conned pamphlets and reviews--got
+Ricardo by heart--and made notes on the English constitution.
+
+He rose to speak.
+
+"What a handsome fellow!" whispered one member.
+
+"Ah, a coxcomb!" said another.
+
+"Never do for a speaker!" said a third, very audibly.
+
+And the gentlemen on the opposite benches sneered and _heard!_--Impudence
+is only indigenous in Milesia, and an orator is not made in a day.
+Discouraged by his reception, Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy grew a little
+embarrassed.
+
+"Told you so!" said one of his neighbours.
+
+"Fairly broke down!" said another.
+
+"Too fond of his hair to have any thing in his head," said a third, who
+was considered a wit.
+
+"Hear, hear!" cried the gentlemen on the opposite benches,
+
+Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy sat down--he had not shone; but, in justice, he
+had not failed. Many a first-rate speaker had began worse; and many a
+country member had been declared a phoenix of promise upon half his
+merit.
+
+Not so, thought the heroes of corn-laws.
+
+"Your Adonises never make orators!" said a crack speaker with a wry
+nose.
+
+"Nor men of business either," added the chairman of a committee, with a
+face like a kangaroo's.
+
+"Poor devil!" said the civilest of the set. "He's a deuced deal too
+handsome for a speaker! By Jove, he is going to speak again--this will
+never do; we must cough him down!"
+
+And Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy was accordingly coughed down.
+
+Our hero was now seven or eight and twenty, handsomer than ever, and the
+adoration of the young ladies at Almack's.
+
+"We have nothing to leave you," said the parents, who had long spent
+their fortune, and now lived on the credit of having once enjoyed
+it.--"You are the handsomest man in London; you must marry an heiress."
+
+"I will," said Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy.
+
+Miss Helen Convolvulus was a charming young lady, with a hare-lip and
+six thousand a-year. To Miss Helen Convolvulus then our hero paid his
+addresses.
+
+Heavens! what an uproar her relations made about the matter. "Easy to
+see his intentions," said one: "a handsome fortune-hunter, who wants to
+make the best of his person!"--"handsome is that handsome does," says
+another; "he was turned out of the army, and murdered his
+colonel;"--"never marry a beauty," said a third;--"he can admire none
+but himself;"--"will have so many mistresses," said a fourth;--"make you
+perpetually jealous," said a fifth;--"spend your fortune," said a
+sixth;--"and break your heart," said a seventh.
+
+Miss Helen Convolvulus was prudent and wary. She saw a great deal of
+justice in what was said; and was sufficiently contented with liberty
+and six thousand a-year, not to be highly impatient for a husband; but
+our heroine had no aversion to a lover; especially to so handsome a
+lover as Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy. Accordingly she neither accepted nor
+discarded him; but kept him on hope, and suffered him to get into debt
+with his tailor, and his coach-maker. On the strength of becoming Mr.
+Fitzroy Convolvulus. Time went on, and excuses and delays were easily
+found; however, our hero was sanguine, and so were his parents. A
+breakfast at Chiswick, and a putrid fever carried off the latter, within
+one week of each other; but not till they had blessed Mr. Ferdinand
+Fitzroy, and rejoiced that they had left him so well provided for.
+
+Now, then, our hero depended solely upon the crabbed old uncle and Miss
+Helen Convolvulus; the former, though a baronet and a satirist was a
+banker and a man of business:--he looked very distastefully at the
+Hyperian curls and white teeth of Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy.
+
+"If I make you my heir," said he--"I expect you will continue the bank."
+
+"Certainly, sir!" said the nephew.
+
+"Humph!" grunted the uncle, "a pretty fellow for a banker!"
+
+Debtors grew pressing to Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy, and Mr. Ferdinand
+Fitzroy grew pressing to Miss Helen Convolvulus. "It is a dangerous
+thing," said she, timidly, "to marry a man so admired,--will you always
+be faithful?"
+
+"By heaven!" cried the lover.
+
+"Heigho!" sighed Miss Helen Convolvulus, and Lord Rufus Pumilion
+entering, the conversation was changed.
+
+But the day of the marriage was fixed; and Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy bought
+a new curricle. By Apollo, how handsome he looked in it! A month before
+the wedding day the uncle died. Miss Helen Convolvulus was quite tender
+in her condolences--"Cheer up, my Ferdinand," said she, "for your sake,
+I have discarded Lord Rufus Pumilion!" "Adorable condescension!" cried
+our hero;--"but Lord Rufus Pumilion is only four feet two, and has hair
+like a peony."
+
+"All men are not so handsome as Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy!" was the reply.
+
+Away goes our hero, to be present at the opening of his uncle's will.
+
+"I leave," said the testator (who I have before said was a bit of a
+satirist,) "my share of the bank, and the whole or my fortune, legacies
+excepted, to"--(here Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy wiped his beautiful eyes with
+a cambric handkerchief, exquisitely _brode_) "my natural son, John
+Spriggs, an industrious, pains-taking youth, who will do credit to the
+bank. I did once intend to have made my nephew Ferdinand my heir; but so
+curling a head can have no talent for accounts. I want my successor to
+be a man of business, not beauty; and Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy is a great
+deal too handsome for a banker; his good looks will, no doubt, win him
+any heiress in town. Meanwhile, I leave him, to buy a dressing-case, a
+thousand pounds."
+
+"A thousand devils!" said Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy, banging out of the
+room. He flew to his mistress. She was not at home. "Lies," says the
+Italian proverb, "have short legs;" but truths, if they are unpleasant,
+have terrible long ones! The next day Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy received a
+most obliging note of dismissal.
+
+"I wish you every happiness," said Miss Helen Convolvulus, in
+conclusion--"but my friends are right; you are much too handsome for a
+husband!"
+
+And the week after, Miss Helen Convolvulus became Lady Rufus Pumilion.
+
+"Alas! sir," said the bailiff, as a day or two after the dissolution of
+parliament, he was jogging along with Mr. Ferdinand Fitzroy, in a
+hackney coach bound to the King's Bench,--"Alas! sir, what a pity it is
+to take so handsome a gentleman to prison!"
+
+The MS. found in a Madhouse, by the same author, is perhaps too horrific
+for this terror-loving age; but it is by no means less clever on that
+account; _toute en huile_ would not do. Among the other tales are the
+Rock of the Candle, Irish, by the author of Holland-Tide,--nearly forty
+pages; and the Queen of May and Bridget Plantagenet,--of the olden
+time--which would be spoiled by abridgment for our present purpose. The
+same reason prevents our giving more than our commendation of Miss
+Mitford's General and his Lady, who, we think are new company for our
+fair authoress.
+
+In the Vision of Purgatory, by Dr. Maginn, (Irish, of course,) the
+serious and ludicrous are mixed up with an abundance of skill and
+humour; this piece should be read after the Madhouse sketch.
+
+The Souvenir is opportunely dedicated to Mr. Peel; and whether as a work
+of art, or elegant literature, it is decidedly worthy of such
+distinguished notice. If the argument of the fine arts contributing to
+virtue hold good, then the patronage of a minister will be patriotically
+bestowed on such works as the Literary Souvenir.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+The Amulet.
+
+_Edited by S. C. Hall, Esq._
+
+
+It would be difficult and somewhat egotistical for us to describe the
+pleasure we felt on our receiving this interesting volume for notice in
+our pages. The amiable spirit which breathes throughout its pages, and
+the good taste which uniformly dictates its editorship have secured the
+_Amulet_ an extensive, and we are disposed to think, a more permanent,
+popularity than is attached to other works of similar form.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1] In a few words, the _Amulet_ reached us in an early stage of
+convalescence, when we began to feel that "no medicine is better for the
+weakness of the body than that which soothes and tranquillizes the
+soul." We are not suiting the action to the word; on the contrary, we
+would desire to wear such truths as the _Amulet_ enjoins--in our "heart
+of hearts," as well in returning health and vigour as in the above
+moments.
+
+The present volume contains Fourteen Plates, among which are _Murillo's
+Spanish Flower Girl; Etty's Guardian Angels_, by Finden; a copy of Sir
+Thomas Lawrence's portrait of _Lady Georgiana Fane_, from Colnaghi's
+print; Eastlake's _Italian Mother;_ one of Collins's last pictures, _The
+Fisherman Leaving Home; The Temple of Victory_, from Gandy,--all which
+are first-rate works of art.
+
+There are eighty contributions, as the bookmakers say, "in prose and
+verse," with a predominance of the former. The first of the _prose_ is a
+Strange Story of every day, by William Kennedy--well told, but too long
+for extract. The Mountain Daisy, a village sketch, by the Editor's lady,
+is gracefully written; and with the Fisherman, by the Editor, is a fair
+characteristic of the amiable spirit to which we have already alluded;
+and in the same tone of good feeling is the Rose of Fennock Dale, a true
+story by the fair authoress of the Mountain Daisy; and the Wandering
+Minstrels, by the Rev. F.A. Cox, L.L.D. Miss Mitford has contributed one
+of her inimitable sketches, Little Moses; but the most staple articles
+in the volume are The Battle of Bunaania, one of the Georgian Islands,
+by Mr. Ellis, the missionary; Notices of the Canadian Indians, by Dr.
+Walsh; a Journey over the Brocken, by Mr. Coleridge; and a Fragment, by
+Miss Jane Porter. Our prose selection is from the last of these
+articles; but we intend transferring a portion of Dr. Walsh's "Notices"
+to our next "Manners and Customs."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE SOUTH SEA CHIEF.
+
+_By Miss Jane Porter_.
+
+
+While in the north of Europe, I met with a rather extraordinary person,
+whose account of himself might afford a subject for a pretty romance; a
+sort of new Paul and Virginia; but with what different catastrophe, it
+is not fair to presage. He described himself as a Frenchman, a native of
+Bourdeaux; where, at an early age, he was put on board a merchant ship,
+to learn the profession of a seaman. About that time war broke out
+between Great Britain, and the lately proclaimed Republic of France;
+and the vessel he was in, being attacked, and taken by an English
+man-of-war, he was carried a prisoner into England. When there, his
+naturally enterprising character would not submit itself to a state of
+captivity; and, soon making his wishes understood, he entered on board a
+British sloop, bound to New Holland. While gazing with rapt astonishment
+on the seeming new heavens which canopied that, to him, also, new
+portion of the globe; while the stars of the Cross were exciting his
+youthful wonder; and he could no where find the constellations of the
+Great, or Little Bear in the midnight firmament, the sky was suddenly
+overcast with a cloud, like the pall of nature, and a fearful tempest
+burst from it. The scene was dreadful on that wide waste of waters; and
+the vessel being driven at last into the rocky labyrinths of the Society
+Isles, was finally wrecked on one not many leagues from the celebrated
+Otaheite. Laonce, the young Frenchman, and one seaman of the sloop, an
+honest north Briton, were the only persons who escaped; for when morning
+broke, they found themselves, restored from insensibility, lying on the
+shore, and not a trace of the ship, or of those who had navigated her,
+was to be discerned. The inhabitants of the island, apparently wild
+savages by their almost naked state, instead of seizing them as a prey,
+took them to their huts, fed, and cherished them. Hope for awhile
+flattered them that some other vessel, bound for New Holland, might also
+be driven upon those islands, though not with the same hard fate, and
+that by her means they might be released, and conveyed back to Europe.
+But days, and weeks, and months, wearing away without any such arrival,
+they began to regard the expectation less, and to turn their minds to
+take a more intimate interest in objects around them. Time, indeed,
+accustomed them to what might be called barbarous, in the manners of the
+people; by degrees, even themselves laid aside their European habits;
+they exchanged their clothing for the half-exposed fashion of the native
+chiefs; and, adopting their pursuits and pleasures, became hunters, and
+bold fishers in the light canoe. Finally, they learnt to speak the
+language, as if they had been born in the island; and, at length, sealed
+their insular destiny by marrying native women. Laonce was hardly
+eighteen when he was first cast ashore amongst them; but having a
+handsome person, and those engaging manners, from a naturally amiable
+disposition added to a gentleman's breeding, which never fail agreeably
+impressing even the rudest minds, the eye of female tenderness soon
+found him out; and the maiden, being the daughter of the king, and
+beautiful withal, had only to hint her wishes to her royal sire; and the
+king naming them to their distinguished object, she immediately became
+his happy bride. Laonce, becoming thus royally allied, and in the line
+of the throne, instantly received publicly the investiture of the
+highest order of Otaheitan nobility, namely, a species of tattooing
+appropriated to chiefs alone. The limbs of the body thus distinguished,
+are traversed all over with a damasked sort of pattern, while the
+particular royal insignia is marked on the left side of the forehead,
+and below the eye, like a thick mass of dark tattooing.
+
+But the young Frenchman, and his north Briton companion, had reserved to
+themselves means of increasing their consequence, still more than by
+their mere personal merits, with their new fellow-countrymen. A few days
+after the wreck, the subsiding elements had cast up certain articles of
+the ship, which they managed to turn to good account: the most valuable
+of them were fire-arms and some gunpowder, and a few other implements,
+both of defence, and use in household, or ship's repairs. The fire-arms
+seemed to endow the new young chief, just engrafted into the reigning
+stock, with a kind of preternatural authority; and, by the aid of his
+old messmate, and new bosom-coadjutor, he exerted all his influence over
+their awed minds, to prevent their recurrence to the frightful practice
+he had seen on his first landing, of devouring the prisoners they took
+in war. His marriage had invested him with the power of a natively born
+son of the king; and, having made himself master of their language, his
+persuasions were so conclusive with the leading warriors, that, in the
+course of a very little time, it was rare to hear that so dreadful a
+species of vengeance was ever tasted, even in stealth. However, so
+addicted were some few of the fiercer sort, to this ancient triumph of
+their ancestors, that he found it necessary to add commands to
+persuasions, and then threats to commands; and having expressed in the
+strongest terms his abhorrence of so cowardly and brutal a practice, he
+told them, that the first man he saw attempt to touch the flesh of a
+prisoner to devour it, he would instantly put the offender to death.
+
+Shortly after this warning, a fray took place between the natives of his
+father-in-law's dominions, and their enemies from a hostile island. A
+number of captives were taken; and all under his command held his former
+orders in such reverence, that none, excepting two (and they had before
+shown refractory dispositions,) presumed to disobey his edict of mercy.
+But these men, in derision of his lenity, particularly to the female
+sex, selected a woman prisoner to be their victim; and slaying her, as
+they would have done a beast, they commenced their horrible repast upon
+her body. Laonce descried the scene at a distance just as they had
+prepared their hideous banquet, and, going resolutely towards them,
+levelled his musket at the cannibals. One of the wretches was killed
+with the horrid morsel in his mouth, and a second shot, brought down his
+voracious accomplice in the act. This bold example so awed all within
+ken of the fact, that from that hour, until the day he quitted the
+island, a period of fourteen years, no captive ever met with the
+interdicted fate. Though the old sovereign continued in life, he
+consigned the power to his new son, and Laonce became virtually king of
+the place. Indeed, so reconciled was he and his friend the north Briton
+(who also married) to the spot which had first sheltered them, and then
+adopted them even as its legitimate offspring, that although many ships
+of different nations touched there, no inducements could prevail on them
+to quit their sea-girt home of simple nature, for all the blandishments
+which civilized life could produce. Yet Laonce took a hospitable delight
+in showing every act of friendship in his power to the captains of the
+vessels; refitting them with food and fresh water; and rendering them
+much essential service, in pointing out how to manage with safety the
+difficult navigation round the several islands.
+
+The animation with which he recited these circumstances, after he was
+far from the spot where they took place, strongly portrayed the fearless
+independence of his former life. He spoke with the decision of one whose
+commands had been unappealable, and all the barbarian chief lightened in
+his eyes. But when he recalled his home there, his family happiness, his
+countenance fell, his eyes clouded, and he spoke in half-stifled words.
+He described his palace-hut; his arms, his hunting spear, his canoe; his
+return to his hut, with the fruits of the chase; the graceful, delicate
+person of his wife; her clinging fondness on his entrance; his
+tenderness for her, and for his children--for she bore to him a son and
+a daughter; and, while he spoke, he burst into tears, and sobbed like a
+child. "I was then beloved," said he, "Honoured!--master of all around
+me; Now, I am nothing:--no home--no wife--no friend! I am an outcast
+here!--when there! Oh, Berea! wilt thou have forgotten me?" His tears,
+and wild agonies, prevented him proceeding; and my eyes could not remain
+dry, when seeing such genuine grief, such real suffering.
+
+But the cause of his being separated from his South-Sea home, and his
+beloved Berea and her babes, remains to be told. It appears, that about
+three years before the period I met him, a Russian ship, sent on a
+voyage of discoveries, touched at the island where Laonce had become
+naturalized. The captain was received with royal hospitality by the
+king; and the _Prince Laonce_ became the glad interpreter between the
+Europeans and his august father-in-law--for the captain spoke French.
+And, besides procuring the crew all they wanted for common comforts, the
+young chief loaded the commander and his officers with useful presents.
+One night it blew a violent gale, and the Russian captain, deeming it
+impossible to keep his anchorage in a bay so full of unseen dangers,
+made signals to the land, in hopes of exciting some native, experienced
+in the navigation, to come off, and direct him how to steer. Every
+moment increased his jeopardy; the storm augmented; and, at each growing
+blast, he expected to be torn from his cables, and dashed to atoms
+against the rocks. No one moved from the shore. Again the signals were
+repeated: Laonce had risen from his bed on hearing the first. Who was
+there amongst all in that island, excepting his British comrade, who
+would have known how to move _a ship_ through those boiling waves? The
+light canoe, and a vessel of heavy burthen, were different objects! His
+comrade was then watching by the side of an almost dying wife, who had
+just made him the father of his first-born son. Could Laonce summon him
+from that spot of his heart's tenderest duties, to attend to the roaring
+guns of distress from a stranger vessel? Impossible! He rose, and looked
+out on the night. He listened to the second signal, he wrung his hands,
+and, sighing, was returning to his couch again. His wife had then risen
+also. She clasped her arms round him, and a big tear stood in both her
+eyes, "You tell me," said she, "that your people do not make those
+thunders to heaven, and to earth, till they are drowning. You know you
+can save them all. Go, Lao,"--and she smiled; "go; and the foreign
+chief, after you have saved him, will give you something for me--either
+a looking-glass, or a silk handkerchief. Go, Lao."
+
+He wound his arms round the gentle pleader; and, almost ashamed that the
+father and the husband in his heart, should make him calculate between
+his own life and that of the gallant crew, he told her, that the tempest
+raged too tremendously for him to dare stemming it. But she laughingly
+repulsed his caresses, accusing his fondness for her as the inducement
+of his assumed apprehensions; and being too long accustomed to the
+rashness of her own people, in braving every weather, to believe any
+plea of positive danger, she still persisted; saying she must have a
+silk handkerchief that night from yon ship, or she should think he loved
+his sound sleep better than he did his fond Berea.
+
+The enthusiastic love which still warmed the faithful husband's breast,
+and a third signal of distress from the struggling vessel, mastered his
+better judgment, and, seizing his canoe, he dashed into the foaming
+waves and boldly stemmed their fury to the object of his mission. The
+overjoyed crew, as they heard his voice hailing them through the storm,
+cast out a rope, by which they hoisted him into their cracking ship. The
+most rapturous acknowledgments from the captain, greeted him as soon as
+he jumped on the deck; and the eager seamen called him their deliverer.
+He was happy! he said, he was happy in the achievement of what he had
+done; he had obeyed the wish of his beloved Berea, and he had survived
+the lashing surge. He was happy, in the confidence that he should rescue
+the gallant vessel he came to take under his control. But that hour of
+happiness was his last. He took the helm in his hands; he gave the
+requisite directions to the seamen, for the management of the ship; and
+he soon steered her out of the dangers of the bay, till she rode in
+safety on the main ocean. He then asked for a boat to carry him on
+shore, for his canoe had been crushed by an accident. But the wind still
+blowing hurricanes, they would not venture the loss of one of their
+boats: and during the hot contentions between him, and the ungrateful
+chief of the vessel he had preserved, they were driven out far to sea;
+whence his swimming arm, had he plunged into the boisterous deep, could
+have been of no use to him. Indignation, despair, overwhelmed him. None
+appeared to understand the nature of his feelings; all pretending to
+wonder that a European born, should not be grateful to any occasion that
+would carry him away from a savage country like that. In vain Laonce
+remonstrated; in vain he talked of his wife and children; the captain
+and his sailors laughed, promised him better of both sorts among his
+kindred whites; and when he cursed their hardened hearts and cruel
+treachery, they laughed again, and left him to his misery. At last, when
+the protracted hurricane subsided, and the vessel's log-book proved that
+she had been driven several degrees leeward of the Society Isles,
+abandoned to a sullen despair, he ceased to accuse or to reproach; he
+ceased even to speak on any subject, but cast himself into his lonely
+berth during the day, that he might not be irritated to continued
+unavailing madness, by the sight of the ingrates who had betrayed him.
+To his straining eyes, nothing but the silvery line of the starlit sea
+was on that distant horizon; but his heart's vision pierced farther,
+and he beheld the sleepers in that home;--no, not the sleepers! His
+disconsolate, his despairing wife, tearing her bright locks, and beating
+the tender bosom he must no longer clasp to his own. His children--"Oh!
+my babes!" cried he, and the cry of a father's heart for once pierced
+the obdurate bosom of the captain, who, in that moment, had happened
+to come upon the deck to examine the night. To ease his Otaheitan
+benefactor, he declared he had thus carried him off, to share in the
+honour of his expected discoveries. The unhappy chief, in then answering
+him, begged, that if he had, indeed, any spark of honesty towards him,
+he would prove it, by obeying his wish in one thing at least; and that
+was, to set him on shore on the first European settlement they should
+fall in with. "Do this," said he, "and I may yet believe you have
+honour. For honour is a man's own act; a discovery is fortune's; and for
+its advantages, did I stay, I should not have to thank you. But I want
+none such. Set me on shore, and there I will follow my own destiny."
+
+To this poor request, the iron-souled commander of the vessel, at last
+consented; and in the course of some weeks after, Laonce was landed on
+the coast of Kamschatka. His secret intent was to lie in wait for the
+possibility of some ship touching at the port where he was set ashore,
+that might be bound to the track of his beloved islands; but not
+uttering a word of this, to the reprobate wretch who had torn him
+thence, he simply bade him "farewell! and to use his next pilot better;"
+so saying, they parted for ever. But weeks and months passed away, and
+no vessel bound for the South Seas, showed itself in that distant
+latitude; and its gloomy fogs, and chilling atmosphere, its pale sky,
+where the sun never shone for more than three or four hours in the day,
+seemed to wither up his life with his waning hopes! In no way did it
+resemble the land he had left; the warm, and the genial heavens of the
+home he was yet bent to find again;--and he left Kamschatka for some
+more propitious port; but, like _Sinbad the Sailor_, he wandered in
+vain. A cruel spell seemed set on him, or on the spirit of adventure;
+for in no place could he hear of a vessel going the way of his prayers.
+At last he arrived, by a most tedious and circuitous journey at Moscow,
+with a design to lay his case before the young and ardent Alexander, the
+then Emperor of Russia; with the hope that his benevolence, and a sense
+of what he had done for the vessel which had betrayed him, would incline
+his majesty to make some effort to return him to his island, and his
+family.
+
+That this hope was not vain, the character of the good Alexander, since
+proved by a life of undeviating promptness to all acts of humanity, may
+be a sufficient voucher. But whether the homeward-bound chief, found, on
+his setting his foot again upon the ground whence he had been so cruelly
+rifled; and whence, indeed, the innocent confidence, the playful
+bravery of his fond wife, had urged him; whether he found his
+cherishly-remembered home, yet standing as he left it; and her, still
+the tender and the true to his never-wandered heart; and whether his
+children sprang to his knee, to share the parental caress; and the
+people around, raised the _haloo_ of joy to the returned _son of their
+king!_--whether these fondly-expected greetings hailed his arrival,
+cannot be absolutely told; for the vessel that took him out, was to make
+the circuit of the globe, ere it returned; hence, from that, and other
+circumstances, the facts have never reached the narrator of this little
+history, of what was really the meeting between Laonce and his Berea; of
+the young chief, and the natives he had devotedly served! But can the
+faithful hearts of wedded love, doubt the one; or manly attachment
+suspect the other? For the honour of human nature, we will believe that
+all was right; and, in the faith of a humble Christian, we will believe,
+that "he who shewed mercy, found mercy!"; That he is now restored to his
+island-home, and to his happy, grateful family!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among the _poetical_ contributions are The Angels' Call, and Woman and
+Fame, by Mrs. Hemans; Carthage, and Stanzas, by T.K. Hervey; the Chapel
+on the Cliff, by W. Kennedy; all entitled to high praise. A Christian's
+Day, by Miss A.M. Porter, is a sweet devotional composition. The extract
+from one of Mr. Atherstone's unpublished books of the Fall of Nineveh,
+maintains the high opinion already formed of the published part. Mr. C.
+Swain has two beautiful pieces. We have only room to name those _gems_
+of the poetry, viz. Wearie's Well, and another beautiful ballad, by W.
+Motherwell; and some exquisite lines by the Rev. G. Croly; and to quote
+the following:--
+
+
+CHANGE.
+
+BY L.E.L.
+
+
+The wind is sweeping o'er the hill;
+  It hath a mournful sound,
+As if it felt the difference
+  Its weary wing hath found.
+A little while that wandering wind
+  Swept over leaf and flower;
+For there was green for every tree,
+  And bloom for every hour.
+
+It wandered through the pleasant wood,
+  And caught the dove's lone song;
+And by the garden-beds, and bore
+  The rose's breath along.
+But hoarse and sullenly it sweeps;
+  No rose is opening now--
+No music, for the wood-dove's nest
+  Is vacant on the bough.
+
+Oh, human heart and wandering wind,
+  Go look upon the past;
+The likeness is the same with each--
+  Their summer did not last.
+Each mourns above the things it loved--
+  One o'er a flower and leaf;
+The other over hopes and joys,
+  Whose beauty was as brief.
+
+
+We congratulate the editor and the public on the past success of the
+_Amulet_, especially as it proves that a pious feeling co-exists with a
+taste for refined amusement, and that advantageously. There is nothing
+austere in any page of the _Amulet_, nor anything so frivolous and light
+as to be objectionable; but it steers in the medium, and consequently
+must be acceptable to every well-regulated mind. Indeed, many of the
+pieces in the present volume may be read and re-read with increased
+advantage; whilst two only are unequal to the names attached to them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE GEM.
+
+_Edited by Thomas Hood, Esq._
+
+
+The present is the first year of the _Gem_, which, as a work of art or
+literature, fully comes within the import of its title. It is likewise
+the first appearance of Mr. Hood as the editor of an "annual," who, with
+becoming diffidence, appears to rely on the "literary giants" of his
+muster-roll, rather than on his individual talent. Notwithstanding such
+an editorship must have resembled the perplexity of Sinbad in the Valley
+of Diamonds, Mr. Hood's volume is almost unexceptionably good, whatever
+he may have rejected; and one of the best, if not _the best_, article in
+the whole work, has been contributed by the editor himself. Associated
+as Mr. Hood's name is with "whim and oddity," we, however, looked for
+more quips, quirks, and quiddities than he has given us, which we should
+have hailed as specially suited to the approaching festive season, and
+from their contrast with the contents of similar works, as more likely
+to attract by their novelty and humour.
+
+The embellishments of the _Gem_, fifteen in number, have been selected
+by A. Cooper, Esq. R.A. _The Death of Keeldar_ is a beautiful
+composition by Mr. Cooper, and is worthy of association with Sir Walter
+Scott's pathetic ballad. _The Widow_, by S. Davenport, from a picture by
+R. Leslie, R.A. is one of the most touching prints we have yet seen, and
+every one is capable of estimating its beauties, since its expression
+will be sure to fasten on the affections of the beholder. _May Talbot_,
+by J.C. Edwards, from a painting by A. Cooper, is admirable in design
+and execution. Of the _Temptation on the Mount_, engraved by W.R. Smith,
+after Martin, we have spoken in our accompanying Number; but as often as
+we look at the plate, we discover new beauties. It is a just idea of
+"all the kingdoms of the earth;" the distant effect is excellent, and
+the "exceeding high mountain" is ably represented. The faces in the
+_Painter's Study_ are decidedly superior to the rest of the print. The
+_Fisherman's Daughter_, from a painting by Bone, is pleasing; and
+_Venice, with the Embarkation of the Doge_, is a stirring scene of
+pageantry and triumph.
+
+Among the _poetry_ is the Painter's Song, a pleasing composition, by
+Barry Cornwall, who has also The Victim, a dramatic sketch of twenty
+pages. Stanzas by Horace Smith, Esq. are a pleasant satire upon the
+little vanities of great people. We give the _Dream of Eugene Aram_ in
+full, although it consists of nearly two pages of small type.:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM.
+
+BY T. HOOD, ESQ.
+
+
+[The late Admiral Burney went to school at an establishment where the
+unhappy Eugene Aram was usher subsequent to his crime. The admiral
+stated, that Aram was generally liked by the boys; and that he used to
+discourse to them about _murder_ in somewhat of the spirit which is
+attributed to him in this poem.]
+
+
+'Twas in the prime of summer time,
+  An evening calm and cool,
+And four-and-twenty happy boys
+  Came bounding out of school:
+There were some that ran and some that leapt,
+  Like troutlets in a pool.
+
+Away they sped with gamesome minds,
+  And souls untouch'd by sin:
+To a level mead they came, and there
+  They drave the wickets in:
+Pleasantly shone the setting sun
+  Over the town of Lynn.
+
+Like sportive deer they coursed about,
+  And shouted as they ran,--
+Turning to mirth all things of earth,
+  As only boyhood can;
+But the Usher sat remote from all--
+  A melancholy man!
+
+His hat was off, his vest apart,
+  To catch heaven's blessed breeze--
+For a burning thought was in his brow,
+  And his bosom ill at ease:
+So he lean'd his head on his hands, and read
+  The book between his knees!
+
+Leaf after leaf he turn'd it o'er,
+  Nor ever glanc'd aside--
+For the peace of his soul he read that book
+  In the golden eventide:
+Much study had made him very lean,
+  And pale, and leaden-eyed.
+
+At last, he shut the ponderous tome;
+  With a fast and fervent grasp
+He strain'd the dusky covers close,
+  And fixed the brazen hasp;
+"O God, could I so close my mind,
+  And clasp it with a clasp!"
+
+Then leaping on his feet upright,
+  Some moody turns he took,--
+Now up the mead, then down the mead,
+  And past a shady nook,--
+And, lo! he saw a little boy
+  That pored upon a book!
+
+"My gentle lad, what is't you read--
+  Romance or fairy fable?
+Or is it some historic page,
+  Of kings and crowns unstable?"
+The young boy gave an upward glance,--
+  "It is _The Death of Abel_."
+
+The Usher took six hasty strides,
+  As smit with sudden pain,--
+Six hasty strides beyond the place,
+  Then slowly back again;
+And down he sat beside the lad,
+  And talk'd with him of Cain;
+
+And, long since then, of bloody men,
+  Whose deeds tradition saves;
+Of lonely folk cut off unseen,
+  And hid in sudden graves;
+Of horrid stabs, in groves forlorn,
+  And murders done in caves.
+
+And how the sprites of injured men
+  Shriek upward from the sod,--
+Ay, how the ghostly hand will point
+  To show the burial clod;
+And unknown facts of guilty acts
+  Are seen in dreams from God!
+
+He told how murderers walk the earth
+  Beneath the curse of Cain,--
+With crimson clouds before their eyes,
+  And flames about their brain:
+For blood has left upon their souls
+  Its everlasting stain!
+
+"And well," quoth he, "I know, for truth,
+  Their pangs must be extreme,--
+Wo, wo, unutterable wo,--
+  Who spill life's sacred stream!
+For why? Methought, last night, I wrought
+  A murder in a dream!
+
+"One that had never done me wrong--
+  A feeble man, and old:
+I led him to a lonely field,
+  The moon shone clear and cold:
+Now here, said I, this man shall die,
+  And I will have his gold!
+
+"Two sudden blows with a ragged stick,
+  And one with a heavy stone,
+One hurried gash with a hasty knife--
+  And then the deed was done:
+There was nothing lying at my foot,
+  But lifeless flesh and bone!
+
+"Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone,
+  That could not do me ill;
+And yet I fear'd him all the more,
+  For lying there so still:
+There was a manhood in his look,
+  That murder could not kill!
+
+"And, lo! the universal air
+  Seem'd lit with ghastly flame,--
+Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes
+  Were looking down in blame:
+I took the dead man by the hand,
+  And call'd upon his name!
+
+"Oh, God, it made me quake to see
+  Such sense within the slain!
+But when I touch'd the lifeless clay,
+  The blood gush'd out amain!
+For every clot, a burning spot,
+  Was scorching in my brain!
+
+"My head was like an ardent coal,
+  My heart as solid ice;
+My wretched, wretched soul I knew
+  Was at the Devil's price:
+A dozen times I groaned--the dead
+  Had never groan'd but twice!
+
+"And now from forth the frowning sky,
+  From the heaven's topmost height,
+I heard a voice--the awful voice
+  Of the blood-avenging sprite:--
+'Thou guilty man! take up thy dead,
+  And hide it from my sight!'
+
+"I took the dreary body up,
+  And cast it in a stream,--
+A sluggish water, black as ink.
+  The depth was so extreme
+My gentle boy, remember this
+  Is nothing but a dream!
+
+"Down went the corse with a hollow plunge,
+  And vanish'd in the pool--
+Anon I cleansed my bloody hands
+  And wash'd my forehead cool,
+And sat among the urchins young
+  That evening in the school!
+
+"Oh, heaven, to think of their white souls,
+  And mine so black and grim!
+I could not share in childish prayer.
+  Nor join in evening hymn:
+Like a devil of the pit I seem'd,
+  'Mid holy cherubim!
+
+"And peace went with them one and all,
+  And each calm pillow spread--
+But Guilt was my grim chamberlain
+  That lighted me to bed,
+And drew my midnight curtains round,
+  With fingers bloody red!
+
+"All night I lay in agony,
+  In anguish dark and deep--
+My fever'd eyes I dared not close,
+  But stared aghast at Sleep;
+For Sin had render'd unto her
+  The keys of hell to keep!
+
+"All night I lay in agony,
+  From weary chime to chime,
+With one besetting horrid hint,
+  That rack'd me all the time,--
+A mighty yearning, like the first
+  Fierce impulse unto crime!
+
+"One stern, tyrannic thought, that made
+  All other thoughts its slave;
+Stronger and stronger every pulse
+  Did that temptation crave,--
+Still urging me to go and see
+  The dead man in his grave!
+
+"Heavily I rose up,--as soon
+  As light was in the sky.--
+And sought the black, accursed pool
+  With a wild, misgiving eye;
+And I saw the dead in the river bed,
+  For the faithless stream was dry!
+
+"Merrily rose the lark, and shook
+  The dewdrop from its wing;
+But I never mark'd its morning flight,
+  I never heard it sing;
+For I was stooping once again
+  Under the horrid thing.
+
+"With breathless speed, like a soul in chase,
+  I took him up and ran,--
+There was no time to dig a grave
+  Before the day began:
+In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves,
+  I hid the murdered man.
+
+"And all that day I read in school,
+  But my thought was other where:
+As soon as the mid-day task was done,
+  In secret I was there;
+And a mighty wind had swept the leaves,
+  And still the corse was bare!
+
+"Then down I cast me on my face,
+  And first began to weep,
+For I knew my secret then was one
+  That earth refused to keep;
+Or land or sea, though he should be
+  Ten thousand fathoms deep!
+
+"So wills the fierce avenging sprite,
+  Till blood for blood atones!
+Ay, though he's buried in a cave,
+  And trodden down with stones,
+And years have rotted off his flesh--
+  The world shall see his bones!
+
+"Oh God, that horrid, horrid dream
+  Besets me now awake!
+Again--again, with a dizzy brain,
+  The human life I take;
+And my red right hand grows raging hot,
+  Like Cranmer's at the stake.
+
+"And still no peace for the restless clay
+  Will wave or mould allow;
+The horrid thing pursues my soul,--
+  It stands before me now!"
+The fearful boy looked up, and saw
+  Huge drops upon his brow!
+
+That very night, while gentle sleep
+  The urchin eyelids kiss'd,
+Two stern-fac'd men set out from Lynn,
+  Through the cold and heavy mist;
+And Eugene Aram walked between,
+  With gyves upon his wrist.
+
+
+Mr. Planché's versification of the homely proverb--Poverty parts good
+company--will create many good-natured smiles, and run counter with Mr.
+Kenney's To-morrow. Some of the minor pieces are very pleasing,
+especially two by Hartley Coleridge, Esq.
+
+We confess we do not admire the taste which dictated Mr. C. Lamb's
+Widow; it is in every respect unworthy of the plate, and the feelings
+created by the two are very discordant. We love a joke, but to call a
+widow's sables a perpetual "black joke," disgusts rather than pleases
+us. The Funeral of General Crawford, by the author of The Subaltern is
+an affecting incident; and Nina St. Morin, by the author of May You Like
+It, is of the same character. Catching a Tartar, by Mansie Wauch, and
+the Station, an Irish Story, are full of humour; and May Day, by the
+editor, abounds with oddities. Thus, "the golden age is not to be
+regilt; pastoral is gone out, and Pan extinct--pans will not last for
+ever;" "horticultural hose, _pruned_ so often at top to _graft_ at
+bottom, that from long stockings they had dwindled into short socks;"
+"the contrast of a large marquee in canvass with the long lawn;" "Pan's
+sister, Patty, the wags called _Patty Pan_," &c. One of the finest
+stories in the _Gem_ is the Rival Dreamers, by Mr. Banim; and curious
+enough, this is the third Annual in which we have met with the same
+legend. The present version is, however, the best narrative, which such
+of our readers as know the O'Hara Family will readily believe. We could
+abridge it for our present space; but it would be injustice to the
+author to pare down his beautiful descriptions; and we will endeavour to
+give place to the tale in a future Number. The Last Embarkation of the
+Doge of Venice is interesting; almost every incident connected with that
+huge pleasure-house is attractive, but one of the present, the Marriage
+of the Sea, is well told. The Shearmen's Miracle Play smacks pleasantly
+of "the good old times" of merry England. Miss Mitford has contributed
+two of her inimitable sketches--Harry Lewington and his Dog, and Tom
+Hopkins--the latter an excellent portrait of "the loudest, if not the
+greatest man" in the little town of Cranley. We must give the village
+lion, in little:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TOM HOPKINS.
+
+
+At the time of which I speak, Tom Hopkins was of an age somewhat
+equivocal; public fame called him fifty, whilst he himself stuck
+obstinately at thirty-five; of a stout active figure, rather manly than
+gentlemanly, and a bold, jovial visage, in excellent keeping with his
+person, distinguished by round, bright, stupid black eyes, an aquiline
+nose, a knowing smile, and a general comely vulgarity of aspect. His
+voice was hoarse and deep, his manner bluff and blunt, and his
+conversation loud and boisterous. With all these natural impediments to
+good company, the lowness of his origin, recent in their memories, and
+the flagrant fact of his residence in a country town, staring them in
+the face, Mr. Tom Hopkins made his way into almost every family of
+consideration in the neighbourhood. Sportsmanship, sheer sportsmanship,
+the qualification that, more than any other, commands the respect of
+your great English landholder, surmounted every obstacle.
+
+With the ladies, he made his way by different qualities; in the first
+place he was a character, an oddity, and the audacity of his vulgarity
+was tolerated, where a man only half as boisterous would have been
+scouted; then he was gallant in his way, affected, perhaps felt, a great
+devotion to the sex, and they were half amused, half pleased, with the
+rough flattery which seemed, and probably was, so sincere.
+
+His house was an ugly brick dwelling of his own erection, situate in the
+principal street of Cranley, and adorned with a green door and a brass
+knocker, giving entrance into a stone passage, which, there being no
+other way to the stable, served both for himself, and that very dear
+part of himself, his horses, whose dwelling was certainly by far more
+commodious than their master's. His accommodations were simple enough.
+The dining-parlour, which might pass for his only sitting-room,--for the
+little dark den which he called his drawing-room was not entered three
+times a year; the dining-room was a small square room, coloured
+pea-green with a gold moulding, adorned with a series of four prints on
+shooting, and four on hunting, together with two or three portraits of
+eminent racers, riders, hunters, and grooms. Guns and fishing-rods were
+suspended over the mantelpiece; powder-horns, shot-belts, and game-bags
+scattered about; a choice collection of flies for angling lay in one
+corner, whips and bridles in another, and a pile of books and
+papers,--Colonel Thornton's Tour, Daniel's Rural Sports, and a heap of
+Racing Calendars, occupied a third; Ponto and Carlo lay basking on the
+hearth-rug, and a famous little cocking spaniel, Flora by name, a
+conscious favourite, was generally stretched in state on an arm-chair.
+
+Here, except when the owner was absent on a sporting expedition, which,
+between fishing, shooting, hunting, and racing, did, it must be
+confessed, happen pretty often; here his friends were sure to find a
+hearty welcome, a good beef-steak,--his old housekeeper was famous for
+cookery!--and as much excellent Port and super-excellent Madeira--Tom,
+like most of his school, eschewed claret and other thin potations--as
+their host could prevail on them to swallow. Many a good fellow hath
+heard the chimes at midnight in this little room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the present sheet we are only able to include Notices of _four_ of
+the _nine_ Annuals, exclusive of the _Juvenile Presents_, which we
+reserve for a "select party." Our notice of the _Winter's Wreath_ is in
+type, but must stand over for the present, as well as those of the
+_Keepsake, Anniversary, Bijou_, and _Friendship's Offering_, which will
+freight another Supplementary Sheet, to follow very shortly. We prefer
+this method to passing over the merits of these works with mere
+commendatory generalities. It does not require a microscopic or a
+critical eye to distinguish their beauties; but we hope the means we
+have adopted for the present gratification of our readers will be such
+as to induce them to look for the appearance of our SECOND SUPPLEMENT,
+as well as to prove ourselves worthy of the _encore_. Like some comic
+singers, we will endeavour to keep up the entertainment by "variations."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143. Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and
+by all Newsmen and Booksellers_.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11406 ***