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diff --git a/11538-0.txt b/11538-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..011f471 --- /dev/null +++ b/11538-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1317 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11538 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. NO. 531.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1832. [PRICE 2d + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: PONTEFRACT CASTLE, 1648.] + + +PONTEFRACT CASTLE. + + +Pontrefact, a place of considerable note in English history, is situated +about two miles south-west from Ferrybridge, nine miles nearly east from +Wakefield, and fifteen miles north-west from Doncaster, in Yorkshire. The +origin of the town is unknown; and the etymology of its name has been a +matter of dispute, in which figures a monkish legend ascribing the name of +Ponsfractus, or Pontefract, to the breaking of a bridge, and the fall of +many persons into the river Aire, who were miraculously saved by St. +William, Archbishop of York. The river Ouse and the city of York, however, +put in a stronger claim as the scene of this miracle, and unfortunately +for Pontefract, the town is so named in charters of fifty-three years' +date before the miracle is pretended to have been performed. Still the +etymology is referable to the breaking down of "_some bridge_," (_pons_, +bridge; _fractus_, broken,) but this unravelment is not antiquarian. +Camden says, that in the Saxon times, the name of this town was Kirkby, +which was changed by the Normans to Pontefract, because of a broken bridge +that was there. But as there is no river within two miles of the place, +this bridge appears to have been built over the Wash, which lies about a +quarter of a mile to the east of the Castle. Other researches prove +Pontefract to have been a secondary and subordinate Roman station. + +The history of the Castle is, of course, involved in that of the manor. +The town is stated to have been a burgh in the time of Edward the +Confessor; but how long it had enjoyed this privilege is uncertain.[1] +After the Conquest, this manor, with 150 others, or the greatest part of +so many in Yorkshire, besides ten in Nottinghamshire, and four in +Lincolnshire, were given by William to Hildebert, or Ilbert de Lacy, one +of his Norman followers, who _built the Castle_. The work occupied twelve +years, and it was finished in 1080. The labour and expense of its erection +was so great, that no person unless in the possession of a princely +fortune, could have completed a work of such magnitude. Hildebert was +succeeded by his son Robert, commonly called Robert de Pontefract, from +his being born at that town. Robert enjoyed his vast possessions in peace +during the reign of William Rufus; but after the accession of Henry I. he +with more ambition than prudence, joined with Robert, Duke of Normandy, +the King's brother, who claimed the crown of England. In consequence of +this transaction, Robert de Lacy was banished the realm, and the castle +and honour of Pontefract were given by the King to Henry Traverse, and +afterwards to Henry De-laval.[2] Robert de Lacy was, however, restored +after a few years exile, and the property continued in the Lacy family +till the year 1193, when another Robert de Lacy dying without issue, the +estate and honour of Pontefract devolved on his uterine sister Aubrey de +Lisours, who carried these estates of the Lacys by marriage to Richard +Fitz-Eustace, constable of Chester. Thence they descended to John +Fitz-Eustace, who accompanied Richard I. in his crusade, and is said to +have died at Tyre in Palestine. Roger, his eldest son, also in the crusade, +succeeded to his honour and estates. He was present with Richard at the +memorable siege of Acre. On his return to England he was the first of his +family that took the name of Lacy, in which Pontefract Castle continued +till 1310, when Henry de Lacy, through default of male issue, left his +possessions to his daughter and heiress, Alice, who was married to Thomas, +Earl of Lancaster; and, in case of a failure of issue from that marriage, +he entailed them on the King and his heirs. + +The Earl of Lancaster, it will be remembered, became embroiled with Edward +II. and his minion Gaveston, who partly through the interference of +Lancaster, was beheaded at Warwick after a siege in Scarborough Custle. +The King swore vengeance for the death of his favourite, which led this +weak sovereign into a long series of dissentions with the barons, at the +head of whom, was the Earl of Lancaster. Both parties now flew to arms, +but Lancaster soon found himself ill supported by his compeers, and +marching northward for reinforcements from the celebrated Bruce, King of +Scotland, the King in the meantime, sent the Earl of Surrey and Kent to +besiege the castle of Pontefract, which surrendered at the first summons. +Lancaster was next closely pursued by the king with great superiority of +numbers. "The earl, endeavouring to rally his troops, was taken prisoner, +with ninety-five barons and knights, and carried to the castle of +Pontefract, where he was imprisoned in a tower which Leland says he had +newly made towards the abbey," This tower was square: its wall of great +strength, being 10-1/2 feet thick; nor was there any other entrance into +the interior than by a hole or trap-door in the floor of the turret: so +that the prisoner must have been let down into this abode of darkness, +from whence there could be no possible mode of escape; the room was +twenty-five feet square. A few days after, the King being at Pontefract +ordered him to be arraigned in the hall of the castle, before a small +number of peers, among whom were the Spencers, his mortal enemies. The +earl was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; but the punishment +was changed to decapitation. After sentence was passed, he said, "Shall I +die without answer?" He was not, however, permitted to speak; but a +certain Gascoign took him away, and having put an old hood over his head, +set him on a lean mare without a bridle. Being attended by a Dominican +friar as his confessor, he was carried out of the town amidst the insults +of the people; and there beheaded. Thus fell Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, +the first Prince of the Blood, being uncle to Edward II. who condemned him +to death. Several of his adherents were hanged at Pontefract. + +The next royal blood that stained Pontefract castle was that of King +Richard II. who was here murdered or starved to death; though there is a +tradition that it was merely given out that Richard had starved himself to +death, and that he escaped from Pontefract to Mull, whence he shortly +proceeded to the mainland of Scotland, where, for nineteen years, he was +entertained in an honourable but secret captivity.[3] The matter remains +in tragic darkness.[4] In the succeeding reign of Henry IV. Richard +Scroope, archbishop of York, being taken prisoner, was in Pontefract +castle, condemned to death. Next in the calendar of atrocities committed +within these drear walls, were the murders of Anthony Woodville, Earl +Rivers; Richard, Lord Grey; Sir Thomas Vaughan; and Sir Richard Hawse, in +1483; by Richard III., whom Shakspeare makes to whine forth: + + + O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison! + Fatal and ominous to noble peers! + Within the guilty closure of thy walls, + Richard II. here was hack'd to death; + And for more slander to thy dismal seat, + We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink. + + +We may now pass over matters of minor importance in the history of +Pontefract to the time of Charles I. In the King's contest with his +Parliament, this was the last fortress that held out for the unfortunate +monarch. At Christmas 1644, Sir Thomas Fairfax laid siege to the castle, +and on Jan. 19, following, after an incessant cannonade of three days, a +breach was made: the brave garrison would not surrender; the besiegers +mined, but the besieged counter-mined, and the work of slaughter went on +till the garrison were greatly reduced. At length the Parliamentarians +were attacked and repulsed by a reinforcement of Royalists from Oxford, +and thus ended the first siege of Pontefract. In March, 1645, the enemy +again took possession of the town, and after three months cannonade, the +garrison being reduced almost to a state of famine, surrendered the castle +by an honourable capitulation on June 20. Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed +governor, and he thinking the royal party to be subdued, appointed a +colonel as his substitute, with a garrison of 100 men. The royalists next +by stratagem recovered Pontefract, of which Sir John Digby was appointed +governor. + +The third and final siege of this fine castle commenced in October, 1648. +General Rainsborough was appointed to the command of the army, but he +being previously intercepted at Doncaster, Oliver Cromwell undertook to +conduct the siege. After having remained a month before the fortress, +without making any impression on its massy walls, Cromwell joined the +grand army under Fairfax, and General Lambert being appointed commander in +chief of the forces before the castle, arrived at Pontefract on the 4th of +December. + +The ENGRAVING represents the castle precisely at this period. It is copied +from a large print taken from a drawing found in the possession of a +descendant of the Fairfax family of Denton; in one angle is the following +memorandum: "Governor Morris commanded in the Castle. General Lambert +commanded the Siege, being appointed thereto on the death of General +Rainsborough, who was intercepted and killed at Doncaster, by a party from +the Castle, as he was going to take command." + +General Lambert raised new works, and vigorously pushed the siege; but the +besieged held out. On January 30, 1649, the King was beheaded; and the +news no sooner reached Pontefract, than the royalist garrison proclaimed +his son Charles II. and made a vigorous and destructive sally against +their enemies. The Parliamentarians, however, prevailed, and on March 25, +1649, the garrison being reduced from 500 or 600 to 100 men, surrendered +by capitulation. Six of the principal Royalists were excepted from mercy: +two escaped, but were retaken and executed at York; the third was killed +in a sortie; and the three others concealing themselves among the ruins of +the castle, escaped after the surrender; and two of the last lived to see +the Restoration. + +This third siege was the most destructive to the castle: the tremendous +artillery had shattered its massive walls; and its demolition was +completed by order of Parliament. Within two months after its reduction, +the buildings were unroofed, and all the materials sold. Thus was this +princely fortress reduced to a heap of ruins. + +The Castle of Pontefract was built on an elevated rock, commanding +extensive and picturesque views. The north-west prospect takes in the +beautiful vale along which flows the Aire, skirted by woods and +plantations. It is bounded only by the hills of Craven. The north and east +prospect is more extensive, but the scenery is not equally striking and +impressive. The towers of York Minster are distinctly seen, and the +prospect is only bounded by the limits of vision. To the east--while the +eye follows the course of the Aire towards the Humber, the fertility of +the country, the spires of churches, and two considerable hills, Brayton +Barf, and Hambleton Haugh, which rise in the midst of a plain, and one of +which is covered with wood, increase the beauty of the scene. The +south-east view includes part of the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham. +To the south and south-west, the towering hills of Derbyshire, stretching +towards Lancashire, form the horizon, while the foreground is a +picturesque country variegated with handsome residences. + +The Castle, by its situation, as well as by its structure, was rendered +almost impregnable. It was not commanded by any contiguous hills, and it +could only be taken by blockade. + +By referring to the Engraving, the reader will better understand this +defence. The outworks are there distinctly shown with the respective posts +and guards: indeed, these lines exhibit a fine specimen of fortification. +The quadrangular enclosure on the crest of the hill, in the lower part of +the Engraving, represents Lamberts' Fort Royal. To the right is the +approach to the castle by the south gate to the barbican, crossed by a +wall, with the middle gate, with the east gate at the extremity of the +line. We next approach, the ballium, or castle yard through the Porter's +Lodge of two towers with a portcullis. The wall of the castle-yard, it +will be seen, has a parapet, and is flanked with towers, and the chapel to +the right of the Lodge. East and West of the yard is seen the +semi-circular moat or ditch; and on an eminence near the western extremity +of the ballium, stands the keep or round tower, the walls of which are +said to have been twenty-one feet thick. The state rooms are on the second +story. The dungeons of the towers are terrific even in description: one +was about 15 feet deep, and scarcely six feet square, without any +admission of light. The whole area occupied by the Pontrefact fortress +seems to have been about 7 acres, now converted into garden ground. + +The church seen within the work is that of All Saints, or Allhallows, a +Gothic structure, probably of the time of Henry III., and almost destroyed +in the sieges of the castle. + +Pontefract must be numbered in our recollections of childhood; since here +were grown whole fields of liquorice root, from the extract of which are +made. _Pontefract Cakes_, impressed with the arms--three lions passant +gardant, surmounted with a helmet, full-forward, open faced, and +garde-visure. We have likewise seen them impressed with the celebrated +fortress, and the motto "Post mortem patris pro filio,"--after the death +of the father--for the son--denoting the loyalty of the Pontefract +Royalists in proclaiming Charles II. at the death of his father. + + + [1] The present Borough of Pontefract was incorporated by Richard + III., and has sent Members to Parliament since the reign of + James I. + + [2] Dugdale Bar. vol. i p. 99. + + [3] This tradition is moulded into a pleasing tale entitled "the White + Rose in Mull," in the Scottish Annual, the _Chameleon_, noticed by + us a few weeks since. + + [4] Shakspeare lays Scene v. of Act. v. of Richard II. in a dungeon of + Pomfret Castle. + + * * * * * + + +"LACONICS," GUESSES AT TRUTH, &c. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +It is the interest of an indolent man to be honest: for it requires +considerable trouble and finesse, to deceive others successfully. + +Money was a wise contrivance to place fools somewhat on a level with men +of sense. + +It will be observed, that people have generally the identical faults and +vices they accuse others of; we may instance cowardice. + +Wherever a proposition is self-evident, it is but weakening its strength +to bring forward arguments in its support. + +It is a melancholy reflection that a glass of wine will do more towards +raising the spirits, than the finest composition ever penned. + +It is a great mistake in physiognomists to take outward signs as evidences +of feeling: the seat of real sensation is within. + +Wherever art has travelled out of her proper sphere to ape nature, she has +proved herself but a miserable mimic, even in her most approved efforts. + +We must not allow ourselves to dwell too seriously on life; for otherwise +we shall be tempted to forego all our plans, to indulge in no future +wishes, and, in short, to live on in torpid apathy. + +Books are at last the best companions: they instruct us in silence without +any display of superiority, and they attend the pace of each man's +capacity, without reproaching him for his want of comprehension. + +A disgust of life frequently proceeds from sheer vanity, or a wish to be +supposed incapable of deriving gratification from the ordinary routine of +happiness. + +It sometimes happens that with men as well as animals, that evidences of +spirit are only the effect of excited fear. + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + +THE LAW INSTITUTION.[1] + + +(At the time of our last publication we were not aware that any +architectural details of the building in Chancery-lane had appeared. We +now find that the _Legal Observer_ contained such description in March +last, "collected," says the editor, "with some pains and trouble." A +correspondent dropped the _Observer_ leaf into our letter-box in the +course of last week; but, unfortunately, the communication did not reach +us in time for insertion with our Engraving. Good news, we know, usually +comes upon crutches, but we hope our thanks will reach this correspondent +at a better pace.) + +The style of architecture of the principal front in Chancery-lane is +purely Grecian. The details and proportions appear to have been founded +upon the best examples of the Ionic order in Athens and Asia Minor,[2] but +they are not servilely copied from any of them. + +Mr. Vulliamy, the architect for the Institution, has thrown into this +front the true spirit of the originals; and the effect which the +harmonious proportions of the building produce on the spectator, when +viewing it from Chancery-lane, must have been the result of much +observation and experience in ancient and classic models. + +This front, extending nearly sixty feet in width, is of Portland stone. It +consists of four columns and two antae, of the Grecian Ionic order, +supporting an entablature and pediment, and forming together one grand +portico. To give the requisite elevation, the columns and antae are raised +upon pedestals; these, as well as the basement story and podium of the +inner wall of the portico, are of Aberdeen granite; the columns and the +rest of the front are formed of large blocks of Portland stone. In the +front wall, within the portico, there are two ranges of windows above the +basement. + +The front in Bell-yard extends nearly eighty feet, and will be finished +with Roman cement, in imitation of stone. It will have a portico of two +columns, and two antae of Portland stone, of the height of the ground +story, which is very lofty, and the width of the entire compartment of the +front. From the interior requiring to be divided into several rooms, this +front must have many windows. The elevation is formed more upon the models +of modern domestic architecture than of ancient public buildings, and +resembles, in its general appearance, one of the palazzi in the Strada +Balbi at Genoa, in the Corso at Rome, or in the Toledo at Naples. In its +details, however, the extravagancies of the middle ages, and the often +elegant frivolities of the _cinque cento_ period, have been avoided, and +the breadth and simplicity of Greek models have still been followed. + +The ground plan of the building, by its general arrangement, divides +itself into three parts, which may be distinguished under the heads of the +_Library_, the _Hall_, and the _Club Room_. The first of these (that +towards Chancery-lane) consists, on the ground floor, of a first and +second vestibule, and staircase to the Library, the Secretary's Room, and +Registry Office; and above these on the first floor, the Library, +occupying the height of two stories. + +The _Library_ is a large and lofty room, fifty-five feet by thirty-one and +a half, and twenty-three and a half high, divided by a screen of columns +and pilasters of scagliola, into two unequal parts, the first forming a +sort of ante-library to the other; both are surrounded by bookcases of oak, +and a gallery runs round the whole, above which is another range of +bookcases. + +The principal light is obtained from a large lantern-light in the ceiling; +but there is a range of windows (double sashed, and glazed with plate +glass) towards Chancery-lane, which also admit light into the lower part. + +All the floors in the building are made fire-proof, generally by being +arched with brick; but that of the Library is rendered secure from fire by +the ceilings of the vestibules underneath being formed of real stone, +supported on iron girders and bearers, and divided into panels and +compartments after the manner of the roofs of the peristyles of the +ancient temples. + +There are three entrances from Chancery-lane: that in the centre is +exclusively for members, and leads to all parts of the building; that on +the right for persons going to the Registry Office; and also for persons +having to speak to members; that on the left leads down to the Office for +the deposit of deeds, and to the strong rooms. + +The second division consists of the _Hall_ and its appurtenances. It is +above thirty feet high, and fifty-seven feet and a half long; and on each +side it has wings or recesses, behind insulated columns of scagliola, in +imitation of Egyptian granite. Within these, and at the back of the +columns, are galleries; the staircases to which are concealed in the +angles. There are three fireplaces in the Hall; one in the centre, +opposite the principal entrance, and one in the centre of each of the +recesses. The Hall is lighted by a lantern-light forty feet long and +twenty-four feet wide. + +The third division is next Bell-yard: it is subdivided into two parts. In +the first of these are three entrances from Bell-yard. That in the centre +is exclusively for the members; that to the left leads to the staircase to +the Secretary's apartments; and the other, to the right of the centre, is +for strangers to enter who have business to transact in any of the rooms +appropriated to public business. On the ground floor of this part of the +third division is a large Committee Room, and an ante or waiting room +adjoining, and the great staircase to the rooms above. On the first floor +are the rooms for meetings on matters of business connected with the law; +and above these are the Secretary's apartments. + +The second part of the third division contains, on the ground floor, the +_Club Room_, which occupies all the ground floor: it will be divided by +columns and pilasters of scagliola, and decorated with a paneled ceiling +and appropriate ornaments. Its dimensions are fifty feet by twenty-seven, +and eighteen feet high. On the first floor are rooms of different +dimensions for dinner parties; and over these, rooms for the resident +officers. In the basement story of this part of the building are the +Kitchen and other domestic offices for the use of the Club. + +The office for the deposit of deeds is in the basement story, next to +Chancery-lane. + +In the remaining parts of the basement story of the building are fifty-two +strong rooms, with iron doors, for the deposit of deeds, which are well +ventilated and fire-proof; their average size is six feet and a half by +seven feet and a half, but some are larger, and others rather less, than +these dimensions. The whole are secured by one double iron door, with a +very strong lock and master-key. + + + [1] In our last we erroneously stated the whole of this building as + the work of Messrs. Lee, for £9,214.; only part of the carcase, + containing the Hall, Library, &c. being contracted for by those + builders for the above sum. Other contracts have since been made + for the completion of the building; of these, the principal is + with Messrs. Baker and Son (the builders of the King's library + and new galleries of the British Museum, &c.) who have executed + the beautiful finishings of the interior: these contracts amount + to upwards of £12,000. + + Other contracts have been made with the above parties for the + erection of the Club House, and Dining Rooms, &c., situate in + Bell Yard, which is an addition subsequently made to the original + building. + + [2] The best remains of Ionic buildings at Athens are the temples of + Erecthens and Minerva Pulias in the Acropolis, and the little + temple on the banks of the Ilissus; but in Asia Minor the examples + of this order are far more numerous; and some of the finest are to + be found amongst the magnificent ruins at Brauchidia, at Priene, + and at Teos, &c. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + + * * * * * + + +VAPOUR-BATHS. + + +Among the remedies for cholera, or perhaps we should rather say attempted +remedies, the vapour-bath is conspicuous over all the other means of cure, +external and internal: stimulants, frictions, rubefacients, blisters, have +that for their indirect object which the vapour-bath accomplishes directly, +namely, to produce heat on the surface of the body, and thus restore that +correspondence between the temperature of the interior and exterior parts, +which in the disease is so strangely disturbed. There are two difficulties +in the application of the vapour-bath, which are not easily overcome. When +applied to the patient in the ordinary way, from the nature of the heat, +the upper surface of the body is scorched, while the back is almost cold. +Now in cholera, the application of heat to the back is of essential +importance. In the whole of the machines for applying the bath, the +patient is exposed to more or less tossing about; which, from the extreme +prostration of strength in cholera patients, is always injurious; and as +the patient must, when taken from the bath, be replaced on a comparatively +cold bed, the sudden change will often do more ill than the bath will do +good. To these must be added, in a disease which chiefly affects the poor, +another item, forming an important drawback on the utility of the ordinary +vapour-bath,--the application of it is attended with no inconsiderable +expense. A machine which should obviate these objections, was a +desideratum; and we think such a one has been invented by Mr. Burnet, of +Golden Square. It is so simple as to be easily described without a diagram, +and so well adapted to the end, and so easy and cheap in application, that +we think we shall be rendering an acceptable service to our readers in +describing it. The best way to effect this is to show the steps of its +application. + +We suppose the patient lying on his back in bed. The two sides of a +framework, about 6-1/2 by 2-1/2 feet, are placed one on each side of him; +five or six broad canvass straps, which are meant to support his body, are +placed beneath him by a couple of attendants; two transverse pieces of +wood are then introduced at the foot and head, to extend the framework; +and the cross straps, by means of eyelet-holes, are attached to the sides, +by a row of common brass pins. This is the work of about a minute. One +attendant then raises the frame at the head, while the other introduces a +couple of feet about nine inches long into the frame; and this done, the +foot is raised in a similar way, and similarly supported; a board is then +fitted to the foot, through a hole in the centre of which the chimney of +the heating apparatus passes; the blankets are closely tucked round the +patient and the frame; the lamp is applied, and the process of bathing +commences. In this way, it will be seen that the patient is suspended in +the heated air, which is moreover applied to the back in the first +instance; there is no fatigue incurred; and when perspiration has been +generated and carried on as long as is deemed expedient, he is let down +again, without difficulty or danger, into his heated bed, and surrounded +with the warm blankets employed in the bath itself. The room in which we +saw the experiment performed, was at a temperature of 43° Fahrenheit; the +clothes of the bed were of the same temperature: the lamp is conical, and +has no tube; the wick is merely inserted in it; the charge is two ounces +of spirits of wine. In ten minutes after the lamp had been applied, the +thermometer at the foot of the frame on which the patient is made to +recline, was 136°; at the head, 116°; on the blanket, which covered the +bed, 96°. Were the vapour applied above the patient instead of under him, +the difference between the heat at the breast and back would be at least +40°. The temperature once raised, may be kept up at a very small expense; +so that the whole price of the bath, continued for half an hour or three +quarters of an hour, will not exceed eightpence or ninepence. There is a +very simple expedient, by which, when the temperature of the chamber +formed by the frame of the bath is once raised sufficiently high, steam, +either simple or medicated, may be introduced, and the lamp apparatus may +be applied either at the foot, the head, or the side, as is most +convenient. The grand recommendation, however, of the bath, is the +applicability of the vapour to the entire surface of the body; the +simplicity and ease of the application, both to the assistants and the +patient; the exclusion of the possibility of cold; and its cheapness. In +all these points of view, we look on it as a valuable invention. + +_Spectator_. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER + + * * * * * + + +DECLINE OF THE DRAMA. + + +One thing which I am unable to interpret among the oddities of the English, +is their inconsistency respecting dramatic entertainments. I have never +yet been present where two or three of my countrymen were gathered +together, that, after a wrangling review of the weather, they did not turn +their conversation upon the theatres. There is no topic more universally +discussed than the decadence of the drama, or the engagements, merits, +and adventures of the performers. Neither the Lord Chancellor nor the +Archbishop of Canterbury is ever so familiarly known by name and person +to the public, as the first tragedian and comedian of the day; and the +theatrical belles and heroines are either elevated to the peerage by +matrimony, or lowered by the undertaker into Westminster Abbey. As some +French Vaudevillist observed, "Moliere was denied in France the rights of +sepulture, while + + + "Garrick repose à côté de leur rois!" + + +Yet, notwithstanding all this clamour of popularity--all this +infatuation--there is no branch of the arts so grossly neglected in +England as the drama. It is no longer the fashion in London to attend the +theatres. Owing partly to the increase of private amusements, and partly +to the late hours gradually adopted during the reign of George the Fourth, +the custom of play-going has declined among the higher classes, and +naturally produces the reaction of bad pieces and indifferent performers. +Even a clever actor, when satisfied that he is to receive judgment from an +unrefined and uneducated audience, will degenerate and grow slovenly; and +from what I have observed of the London stage, I see it is the custom to +daub for the galleries, or to creep through the business under cover of a +cold, tame mediocrity. Without the slightest patronage from the court or +substantial encouragement from the fosterers of literary merit, these +luckless personages are expected to attempt the same exertions and intense +study, which is rewarded, in foreign countries, by the most flattering and +judicious attention; as well as by a pension, to cheer the infirmities of +old age. Although tolerably well paid by his manager, the English actor +has the mortification of being tyrannized and insulted by the gallery, and +overlooked by the higher classes. A few persons of rank and fortune are +provided with private boxes at the national theatres; but these are +usually let by the night to plebeian tenants. It is rare indeed to observe +a family of distinction in the dress circle of either Drury Lane or Covent +Garden; while the French play is never deficient in a fashionable audience. + +The Opera, too, is nightly becoming more crowded; while at the two patent +theatres "a beggarly account of empty boxes," and an equally beggarly +account of flat, stale, and unprofitable performances, greets me whenever +I am rash enough to take my post of observation. Lady Romford has a +private box, which she visits only in preference to staying at a still +duller home, on a disengaged evening; and Bagot occasionally drags me to +the play, to make my foreign ignorance and inexperience a pretext for +following Lady Clara to a spot which no one seems to visit without an +apology. People in society give as many reasons for having done so strange +a thing as go to see the new tragedy, as they would invent in Paris to +excuse a similar omission. + +Since the Kemble munia, and the Byron mania, there has been a general +affectation of indifference towards poetry and the drama; your true +fashionable never mentions either without ridicule--the natural +consequence of previously exaggerated enthusiasm. + +But above all the absurdities connected with this national weakness, +stands that of the public prints. So much importance is given by the +newspapers to every thing relating to the histrionic art, that we are +daily informed of the whereabout of all the third-rate performers of the +minor theatres; that "Mr. Smith, of Sadler's Wells, is engaged to Mr. +Ducrow for the ensuing season;" or that "Miss Brown, belonging to the +ballet department of the Surrey theatre, has sprained her ankle." While +two thirds of a leading print are occupied with details of the Reform Bill, +or a debate on some constitutional question,--or while the foreign +intelligence of two sieges and a battle is concentrated with a degree of +terseness worthy a telegraph, half a column is devoted to the plot of a +new melo-drama at the Coburg; or to a cut and dried criticism upon the +nine hundredth representation of _Hamlet_--beginning with the "immortal +bard," and ending with the waistcoats of the grave-digger!--_The Opera, a +Novel_. + + * * * * * + + +EUGENE ARAM. + + +The recollection of this man is still preserved at Lynn, in Norfolk, at +which town he was for some time usher at the grammar-school. A small room +at the back of the house, in which he slept, was, until these last few +years, (when it was pulled down and rebuilt,) mysteriously pointed to by +the little urchins as they passed up to bed of a cold, ghost-enticing +night, as the chamber in which the "usher, who was hanged for murder," was +used to sleep. + +The tradition which remains of his character is, that he was "a man of +loneliness and mystery," sullen and reserved; that on half-holy-days, and +when his duties would allow, he strayed solitary and cheerless, as if to +avoid the world, amongst the flat uninteresting marshes which are situated +on the opposite side of the river Ouse. + +At Lynn the character of Aram was, until his apprehension, unexceptionable; +but after that event, circumstances were then called to mind which seemed +to indicate a naturally dark character; but whether these were all +strictly founded in truth, or magnified suspicions arising from the +appaling circumstances of the crime of which he was convicted, I am unable +to determine. The following, derived from unquestionable authority, having +been related by Dr. L., who was master of the grammar-school at the time, +may serve as a sample:--there can be no doubt but that the worthy Dr. +himself believed his suspicions well founded, as he used to tremble when +he related it. It was customary for the parents of the scholars, on an +appointed day, to dine with the master, at which time it was expected they +would bring with them the amount of their bills. It was late at night, +after one of such meetings, that Dr. L. was awakened by a noise at his +bed-room door; he rose up, and going into the passage which led to the +staircase, but which was not in the direct way from Aram's bed room to the +ground-floor, he discovered the usher _dressed_. Having questioned him as +to the object of his rising at that unseasonable hour, Aram confusedly +answered that he had been taken unwell, and had been obliged to go do down +stairs. The Dr. then retired, unsuspiciously, to bed. From the combined +circumstances of the noise at the door, his great agitation and confusion, +and from his being found in the passage, the worthy Dr., in later years, +had no doubt, that, from its being known to Aram that a considerable sum +of money was in his bed-room, Aram intended nothing less than to rob him; +and no doubt, continued the narrator, he _would_ have murdered me too, if +it had been rendered necessary, from my discovering or opposing him. + +The spot just at the entrance to the play-ground, at which Aram was taken +into custody by two strange men from Yorkshire, is still remarked, and +generally by the young scholar in a tremulous whisper.--_Literary Gazette_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +AGENCY OF MAN IN EXTINGUISHING OR SPREADING SPECIES. + + +Let us make some inquiries into the extent of the influence which the +progress of society has exerted, during the last seven or eight centuries, +in altering the distribution of our indigenous British animals. Dr. +Fleming has prosecuted this inquiry with his usual zeal and ability, and +in a memoir on the subject has enumerated the best authenticated examples +of the decrease or extirpation of certain species during a period when our +population has made the most rapid advances. We shall offer a brief +outline of his results. + +The stag, as well as the fallow-deer, and the roe, were formerly so +abundant that, according to Lesley, from five hundred to a thousand were +sometimes slain at a hunting-match; but the native races would already +have been extinguished, had they not been carefully preserved in certain +forests. The otter, the marten, and the polecat, were also in sufficient +numbers to be pursued for the sake of their fur; but they have now been +reduced within very narrow bounds. The wild cat and fox have also been +sacrificed throughout the greater part of the country, for the security of +the poultry-yard or the fold. Badgers have been expelled from nearly every +district which at former periods they inhabited. + +Besides these, which have been driven out from some haunts, and everywhere +reduced in number, there are some which have been wholly extirpated; such +as the ancient breed of indigenous horses, the wild boar and the wild oxen, +of which last, however, a few remains are still preserved in the parks of +some of our nobility. The beaver, which was eagerly sought after for its +fur, had become scarce at the close of the ninth century, and, by the +twelfth century, was only to be met with, according to Giraldus de Barri, +in one river in Wales, and another in Scotland. The wolf, once so much +dreaded by our ancestors, is said to have maintained its ground in Ireland +so late as the beginning of the eighteenth century (1710,) though it had +been extirpated in Scotland thirty years before, and in England at a much +earlier period. The bear, which in Wales was regarded as a beast of the +chase equal to the hare or the boar, only perished as a native of Scotland +in the year 1057. + +Many native birds of prey have also been the subjects of unremitting +persecution. The eagles, larger hawks, and ravens, have disappeared from +the more cultivated districts. The haunts of the mallard, the snipe, the +redshank, and the bittern, have been drained equally with the summer +dwellings of the lapwing and the curlew. But these species still linger in +some portion of the British isles; whereas the large capercailzies, or +wood grouse, formerly natives of the pine forests of Ireland and Scotland, +have been destroyed within the last fifty years. The egret and the crane, +which appear to have been formerly very common in Scotland, are now only +occasional visitants. + +The bustard (_Otis tarda_,) observes Graves in his _British Ornithology_, +"was formerly seen in the downs and heaths of various parts of our island, +in flocks of forty or fifty birds; whereas it is now a circumstance of +rare occurrence to meet with a single individual." Bewick also remarks, +"that they were formerly more common in this island than at present; they +are now found only in the open counties of the south and east, in the +plains of Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and some parts of Yorkshire." In the few +years that have elapsed since Bewick wrote, this bird has entirely +disappeared from Wiltshire and Dorsetshire. + +These changes, we may observe, are derived from very imperfect memorials, +and relate only to the larger and more conspicuous animals inhabiting a +small spot on the globe; but they cannot fail to exalt our conception of +the enormous revolutions which, in the course of several thousand years, +the whole human species must have effected. + +The kangaroo and the emu are retreating rapidly before the progress of +colonization in Australia; and it scarcely admits of doubt, that the +general cultivation of that country must lead to the extirpation of both. +The most striking example of the loss, even within the last two centuries, +of a remarkable species, is that of the dodo--a bird first seen by the +Dutch when they landed on the Isle of France, at that time uninhabited, +immediately after the discovery of the passage to the East Indies by the +Cape of Good Hope. It was of a large size and singular form; its wings +short, like those of an ostrich, and wholly incapable of sustaining its +heavy body even for a short flight. In its general appearance it differed +from the ostrich, cassowary, or any known bird. + +Many naturalists gave figures of the dodo after the commencement of the +seventeenth century; and there is a painting of it in the British Museum, +which is said to have been taken from a living individual. Beneath the +painting is a leg, in a fine state of preservation, which ornithologists +are agreed cannot belong to any other known bird. In the museum at Oxford, +also, there is a foot and a head, in an imperfect state, but M. Cuvier +doubts the identy of this species with that of which the painting is +preserved in London. + +In spite of the most active search, during the last century, no +information respecting the dodo was obtained, and some authors have gone +so far as to pretend that it never existed; but amongst a great mass of +satisfactory evidence in favour of the recent existence of this species, +we may mention that an assemblage of fossil bones were recently discovered, +under a bed of lava, in the Isle of France, and sent to the Paris museum +by M. Desjardins. They almost all belonged to a large living species of +land-tortoise, called _Testudu Indica_, but amongst them were the head, +sternum, and humerus of the dodo. M. Cuvier showed me these valuable +remains in Paris, and assured me that they left no doubt in his mind that +the huge bird was one of the gallinaceous tribe. + +Next to the direct agency of man, his indirect influence in multiplying +the numbers of large herbivorous quadrupeds of domesticated races, may be +regarded as one of the most obviate causes of the extermination of species. +On this, and on several other grounds, the introduction of the horse, ox, +and other mammalia, into America, and their rapid propagation over that +continent within the last three centuries, is a fact of great importance +in natural history. The extraordinary herds of wild cattle and horses +which overran the plains of South America, sprang from a very few pairs +first carried over by the Spaniards; and they prove that the wide +geographical range of large species in great continents does not +necessarily imply that they have existed there from remote periods. +Humboldt observes, in his Travels, on the authority of Azara, that it is +believed there exist, in the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, twelve million cows +and three million horses, without comprising in this enumeration the +cattle that have no acknowledged proprietor. In the Llanos of Caraccas, +the rich hateros, or proprietors of pastoral farms, are entirely ignorant +of the number of cattle they possess. The young are branded with a mark +peculiar to each herd, and some of the most wealthy owners mark as many as +fourteen thousand a year. In the northern plains, from the Orinoco to the +lake of Maracaybo, M. Depons reckoned that one million two hundred +thousand oxen, one hundred and eighty thousand horses, and ninety thousand +mules, wandered at large. In some parts of the valley of the Mississippi, +especially in the country of the Osage Indians, wild horses are immensely +numerous. + +The establishment of black cattle in America dates from Columbus's second +voyage to St. Domingo. They there multiplied rapidly; and that island +presently became a kind of nursery from which these animals were +successively transported to various parts of the continental coast, and +from thence into the interior. Notwithstanding these numerous exportations, +in twenty-seven years after the discovery of the island, herds of four +thousand head, as we learn from Oviedo, were not uncommon, and there were +even some that amounted to eight thousand. In 1587, the number of hides +exported from St. Domingo alone, according to Acosta's report, was +thirty-five thousand four hundred and forty-four; and in the same year +there were exported sixty-four thousand three hundred and fifty from the +ports of New Spain. This was in the sixty-fifth year after the taking of +Mexico, previous to which event the Spaniards, who came into that country, +had not been able to engage in any thing else than war. All our readers +are aware that these animals are now established throughout the American +continent, from Canada to Paraguay. + +The ass has thriven very generally in the New World; and we learn from +Ulloa, that in Quito they ran wild, and multiplied in amazing numbers, so +as to become a nuisance. They grazed together in herds, and, when attacked, +defended themselves with their mouths. If a horse happened to stray into +the places where they fed, they all fell upon him, and did not cease +biting and kicking till they left him dead. + +The first hogs were carried to America by Columbus, and established in the +island of St. Domingo the year following its discovery in November, 1493. +In succeeding years they were introduced into other places where the +Spaniards settled; and, in the space of half a century, they were found +established in the New World, from the latitude of 25 deg. north, to the +40th deg. of south latitude. Sheep, also, and goats have multiplied +enormously in the New World, as have also the cat and the rat, which last, +as we before stated, has been imported unintentionally in ships. The dogs +introduced by man, which have at different periods become wild in America, +hunted in packs like the wolf and the jackal, destroying not only hogs, +but the calves and foals of the wild cattle and horses. + +Ulloa in his voyage, and Buffon on the authority of old writers, relate a +fact which illustrates very clearly the principle before explained by us, +of the check which the increase of one animal necessarily offers to that +of another. The Spaniards had introduced goats into the island of Juan +Fernandez, where they became so prolific as to furnish the pirates who +infested those seas with provisions. In order to cut off this resource +from the bucaneers, a number of dogs were turned loose into the island; +and so numerous did they become in their turn, that they destroyed the +goats in every accessible part, after which the number of the wild dogs +again decreased. + +As an example of the rapidity with which a large tract may become peopled +by the offspring of a single pair of quadrupeds, we may mention that in +the year 1773, thirteen rein-deer were exported from Norway, only three of +which reached Iceland. These were turned loose into the mountains of +Guldbringe Syssel, where they multiplied so greatly, in the course of +forty years, that it was not uncommon to meet with herds consisting of +from forty to one hundred in various districts.--_Lyell's Geology_, vol. +ii. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NOVELIST. + + * * * * * + +THE CONFESSION OF SERVENTIUS. + +(_Concluded from page 46_.) + + +That evening, Father Dominick, our excellent priest, and my tutor in the +classics, was closeted for a length of time with my afflicted nominal +parents; and two days afterwards taking me with him to his monastery, he +introduced me to the superior, as an orphan, the child of dear and +particular friends, confided by them to his charge for education upon +their death-bed, and with a distinct understanding that I was not bound to +take upon myself monastic vows, the superior allowed me to remain with him +as a boarder. Serventius and Artemisia I never more beheld, and every +inquiry respecting them which I ventured to make of Father Dominick, was +checked with a strange, sad look, and an admonition to mention them no +more. Seven long and peaceful years, I spent in the monastery; and at the +expiration of that period, was placed by my guardian in the house of the +celebrated Doctor Sanazio of Padua, as a student of medicine. Here, novel +and delightful studies, speculations, and scenes, opened upon my +inquisitive, ardent mind, and amused my enthusiastic imagination. Sanazio +was regarded in learned Padua, as little less than a demi-god; at certain +hours he visited his patients, amongst whom might generally be numbered +three-fourths of the population of Padua; at certain hours, his own +mansion was crowded like the audience-hall of some mighty potentate, with +supplicants for food and physic; three evenings in the week were devoted +by him to intense study in his own secret, solitary chamber; and upon the +alternate three, he received the visits of those who desired to consult +him upon abstruse points, only properly to be solved by an acquaintance +with the occult sciences. In brief, my honoured master, I soon discovered, +was reckoned a very fair conjuror; he consulted the stars, drew horoscopes, +cast nativities, was learned in the expositions of dreams and omens, +undertook to give information respecting lost property, and matrimonial +prospects; composed, and dispensed charms and philtres, and proved himself, +as I have hinted, a capital astrologer, and something more. How Sanazio, +who certainly was a very extraordinary man, acquired his multifarious +information, unless really by supernatural agency, I am at a loss to +discover. Ignatius Druso, my fellow student, was of opinion that he only +dexterously availed himself in the evening of the news which he had +gathered from his patients in the morning; and that his familiars were no +more than a few active emissaries, for whose espionage and additional +gleanings of town news, it answered to him well, to pay. Ever partial to +romance, I did not readily fall in with Druso's sober view of this subject, +and the longer I lived with Doctor Sanazio, the more occasion had I to +doubt the correctness of his opinion, because some things occurred of +which my master obtained immediate and accurate knowledge, whilst I am +perfectly certain that no human tongue had divulged them to him; take the +following incident as an example:--Druso and myself were accustomed, on +those evenings which Sanazio spent in his sanctum, to visit patients in +his stead, to range over the town, to go to places of public amusement, or +to conclude our meritorious labours at a tavern. Being one night at this +latter place, an old woman entered, and inquiring whether I were Master +Serventius, Doctor Sanazio's pupil, slipped a billet and a piece of gold +into my hand and desired me to follow her. I did so, without hesitation, +and whilst behind my guide, contrived to peruse the note by moon-light, +which contained these words: + +"I am sick,--of the heart's mortal sickness;--relieve it, and great shall +be thy recompense." + +Perplexed, yet amused, by what promised an adventure, I followed my +ancient guide into a house whose exterior was sufficiently humble; but, +having ascended a steep flight of stairs, she threw open the door of a +chamber in which they terminated, and I found myself not only in a +richly-furnished apartment, but in the presence of a lady, young as +immortal Hebe, and fair as day. I saw at a glance that her ills were those +of the mind only, and ere she had opened her lips to detail them and +engage me in her cause, I had vowed, heart and soul, to be her champion. +Having complimented me upon the high character she had heard of my prowess, +understanding, and principles, she informed me, with little circumlocution, +that various unhappy family circumstances had rendered it necessary for +her to seek friends amongst strangers; that she was a novice of the +Convent of St. Anne, but on the eve of profession, and that having long +been under an engagement of marriage with a young gentleman of family, +respecting whom her relations had used her very deceitfully and cruelly, +she had fixed upon me as a person little likely to be subjected to +suspicion on her account, to aid Signor Fernandez in the difficult and +hazardous enterprise, which she said must be a work of time and prudence, +of carrying her off from the convent. Having obtained my promise to this +effect, she detailed her plans, and furnished me with the means of +continual communication with her lover and herself. I returned home, +highly elated at the trust reposed in me, at the importance which I had +acquired in my own eyes, and at the prospect of a handsome remuneration +for my services, from the lovely object of them. Sanazio, with lamp in +hand, and arrayed in his night attire, to my great terror and surprise, +opened the door to me himself; it was very late, Druso had long since +returned without me, and in order to allay the storm which I saw gathering +upon mine ancient master's brow, I slipped the gold given to me by the +confidante of beautiful Antonia, into his unreluctant hand. + +"Unhappy youth!" exclaimed Sanazio, "beware of aiding the nun, lest thou +bring upon her and upon thyself the fate of Artemisia and Serventius." + +These words so alarmed me that I nearly fainted; for how, in the name of +all things holy and gracious, came Sanazio to know in whose society I had +passed the last hour, and what was the subject of our conversation? His +terrible allusion too, to those lost loved ones, of whose untimely fate I +was still so ignorant, strangely troubled my conscious breast. Let me be +brief, the hours of my ill-fated existence are fast wearing away, and I +have yet more to relate. To Ignatius Druso I was obliged to confide my +secret, because his assistance, in the furtherance of plans which were +always requiring, from little immaterial circumstances, some slight +alterations, was found necessary; and it must here suffice those to know, +who shall, after my destruction do me the melancholy favour of perusing +this retrospective record, that some months after Antonia had taken the +veil, I succeeded in restoring her to the arms of her lover, witnessed +their private nuptials, visited them in their new residence, a villa in a +secluded spot far from Padua, and received my promised recompense. "Young +man! you've ruined yourself; and your fatal destiny is sealed!" were the +remarkable words of Sanazio, on the morning after the completion of my +enterprise, but long ere the elopement of the new devotee became publicly +known. However, he never reverted to the subject, not even upon his +death-bed; and after the learned doctor's decease, when I came into the +whole of his practice, and no small portion of his fame, I was easy, for +the memory of that sacrilege had passed away. + +Ignatius Druso, like myself, resided in Padua, but soon quitted the +medical profession, disgusted, I fancy, at finding that I had become a +second Sanazio, whilst he commanded little or no attention: still we were +friends, nor did I suspect that the germs of envy and malice were sown in +his bosom, and that I had trusted him with one secret, or more, too much. +"Serventius, my son," had said the venerable Sanazio to me upon his +death-bed, "your ardent desire of knowledge and discreet use of it, +encourage me ere I quit this world, to entrust you with the grand arcanum +of our art; as yet, you know not the secret of my success, but take then +this hint and improve upon it. Can he repair a piece of mechanism, who is +ignorant of its make, its parts, and how they act upon, and affect one +another? Behold this key; it is that of my laboratory, and may it indeed +open the door of knowledge to you." + +After Sanazio's decease, curiosity quickly led me to his study: I was +alone, and the shades of evening were stealing over the earth: conceive +then my utter dismay and superstitious horror upon suddenly entering, what +I could but suppose to be a charnel-house! Its effluvium was intolerable, +and well accounted for by (loathsome spectacle!) a disorderly collection +of human fragments in various stages of preservation and decay! A dozen +grisly skeletons grinned upon me from pedestals round the room, and in the +centre of it, the half dissected body of a man, stretched upon a large +lava slab, supported by tressels, was more horrible and odious than all. I +now comprehended the full meaning of Sanazio's dying words and secret; but +received at the same time, a shock which to this day I have not recovered; +I found myself compelled to make Druso my confidant in this matter, and my +companion in some of my first attempts at following the hideous occupation +recommended by my deceased friend. By degrees I grew accustomed to the +horrors of the room and of my employment. Druso, who found himself better +engaged in courting the living than in cutting up the dead, was no longer +necessary to me in the prosecution of my hateful studies, and kept aloof, +but I soon discovered the value of them, in my increase of knowledge, +employment, and reputation. At last an epidemic raged in Padua, proving +very fatal; Ignatius, alarmed for the safety of his Phaedera, who was +attacked, applied to me, and I cured her. Some time afterwards, the +ungrateful wretch rushed into my laboratory, claiming the body upon which +I was operating, as that of a young man, cousin to Phaedera, which had +miraculously disappeared just previous to the day intended for its +interment. The features of the poor wretch were too much disfigured to +render possible his recognition by them, but Druso swore to its being the +body of Marcus, from a scar on the left leg, which had been wounded +severely by a quoit. Of course I refused to resign, that, for which I had +paid a handsome price, and to reveal the names of those from whom I +purchased it. So Druso dragged me before the Supreme Council, impeached me +of sacrilege in the affair of the nun, of theft, and of violating the +sanctity of the tomb, of barbarously mutilating the dead, and of applying +their lacerated remains to the unholy purposes of sorcery! and on these +counts have I been indicted, found guilty, and sentenced to be burnt as a +sacrilegious heretic, an unnatural robber, and a formidable wizard! +Antonia, the mother of seven children, is to be--like the unchaste +vestal--immured! Oh Heaven! whilst Druso the Informer, receiving at the +same time the portion of a prince for his venal treachery, will celebrate +his union with Phaedera, amidst the shrieks and groans of his expiring +victims! + +I cannot now proceed: ere I am bound to the fatal stake, methinks I shall +die of shame, grief, and terror. And did the friends of my infancy, my +parents, suffer as I shall suffer? Then, welcome death! welcome, hated +dawn of my last day, for innocence and truth are banished from the earth! +Hark! the key turning in the lock of my cell! Hark! those boding and +pitying voices without! Father Dominick! Servilius! Andrea! kindest! best! +--I die--but I die innocent, the victim only-----Hah! to burn--burn--burn! +Gracious Heaven! pardon the strife of nature! My brain whirls!--my eyes +cloud!--my black, dry, swollen lips,--throat--bosom--heart--O mother of +God!--O! Saviour--Redeemer--pardon, pardon!--Father of Mercies,---receive +me! + +_Great Marlow, Bucks._ + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + +SCENES FROM THE (OLD) FRENCH REVOLUTION. + +(_From the "Quarterly" Review of Madame Junot's Memoirs_.) + + +About the beginning of the revolution, a working-man, by name Thirion, had +established himself in a little stall (in Paris,) where he carried on his +business as a mender of carpets. He called one morning to ask M. Permon's +(a Royalist[1]) custom, but was civilly told that the family had long +employed a tradesman of his class, and could not change for a stranger: +the man took the refusal so insolently, that he was at last turned out of +doors, vowing revenge. M. Permon, the ports being still open, makes a run +over to London to place some money in our funds. Meantime "the Sections +are organized," and Thirion becomes "Secretaire, Greffier, President, je +ne scai quoi, de la notre." The morning after his return to Paris, M. +Permon had just risen, when footsteps were heard loud on the staircase, +and in burst Citizen Thirion, two other patriots of the Sectional +Committee, and the carpetman's shopboy. (Madame Junot's Narrative +commences here.) + +"My father was shaving himself. Naturally quick tempered, his impatience +was extreme when he recognised the individual, and he was imprudent enough +to make a menacing gesture the moment they broke into his dressing-room. +'I am here to see the law enforced,' cries Thirion, on seeing my father +advance with the razor in his hand. 'Well, what law is it that chooses so +worthy an organ?'--'I am here to learn your age, your pursuits, and to +interrogate you as to your journey to Coblentz.' My father, who had from +the first word felt the most violent disposition to toss the man down +stairs, shivered with rage; but, at last, he composed himself, wiped his +chin, laid down his razor, and, crossing his arms, placed himself full in +front of Thirion: then, measuring him from the utmost height of his tall +and elegant person, he said, 'You wish to know my age?'--'Yes, such are my +orders.'--Where is the order?' said my father, extending his hand. 'It is +enough for you to know that I am sent hither by the committee of my +section: my orders are sufficiently proved by my presence.'--Ah! you think +so; I am of a different opinion. Your presence here is nothing but an +insult, unless you have a judiciary order to justify it; show it me, and I +shall forget the name of the man, to see only the public functionary.' +Thirion raised his voice as my father lowered his--'What is your +age?--What was the object of your going to Coblentz?'----My father seizes +a large bamboo, and makes it whistle over Thirion's head--at that moment +my mother rushes in, and succeeds in dragging him into another room, and +restoring him to something like calmness. I remember she placed me in his +arms, whispering to me to entreat him to _think of me_. Meantime, Thirion +had drawn up his _procès verbal_, and withdrawn:--he left me weeping +without knowing why I wept, but I saw that my mother and my sister were in +tears too. My father sat pale, trembling with anger,--everything about us +had a desolate aspect." + +The family escape from Paris--and it was time. Violent alternations of +fear, anger, sorrow, terror, and disgust, with frequent disguises, flights, +and all sorts of changes of residence, at length wear out the health and +spirits of M. Permon--a man, apparently, who united dull enough intellect +with all the vivacity of a Frenchman's mere temperament; and he dies in +obscurity long before anything like order is re-established. We need not +dwell on the particular fortunes of a not very interesting set of people; +but may quote one or two more specimens of the sort of scenes which fill +the greater part of the first of these volumes. Our authoress and her +sister are at one time separated from their parents, and placed in an +obscure _pension_ in the Faubourg (no longer _St._) Antoine. Their brother, +a very young man, has also remained in Paris, and frequently visits them +in their retreat. + +"We could not but observe, that for some days he had been very melancholy, +and that he was getting more and more so. We asked the reason, and he told +us at last that the section had denounced my father in a very alarming +style. We fell a-crying, my sister and I. Albert consoled us as well as he +could, but it was easy to see that the denunciation was not all--that some +immediate danger fixed his fears. We knew afterwards, in effect, that a +report had been spread of the arrest of my parents at Limoges--happily a +false one. The horizon meanwhile was taking a bloody tint. Judge of my +brother's anxiety! he came every day in a cabriolet, which my father had +had built just before these late events; it was an elegant one, very lofty, +of the kind called _wiski._ Already he had been all but insulted by the +populace in driving through the faubourg; but liveries had not yet +altogether disappeared, and nothing would persuade him to listen to our +remonstrances, and make the domestic put off his. Thus it was on the 31st +of August, when he came to see us as usual." + +"There was about the boarding-house a man charged with all the rough work, +by name Jaquemart, a fellow that could do everything--but the most +atrocious of countenances. 'The sight of that man makes me sick,' said +Albert; 'I am sure he will end in something tragic.'" + +"One day, shortly after we went to the _pension_, Jaquemart was bringing +in a load of wood, when my brother drove at the speed of his horse into +the entrance. He saw the man had a burden that would hardly allow him to +get out of the way in time--cried _'Gare!'_--perceived that his efforts +were in vain--and pulled back his horse so sharply as to run much risk of +wounding the animal, and, indeed, of being thrown out himself, owing to +the extraordinary elevation of the _wiski_. Jaquemart, however, escaped by +this means with a scratch on his leg; his eyes were good, he saw what +Albert had done to master his horse, and vowed gratitude." + +"The 31st of August the man had nothing to do about the house, yet he kept +lounging at the gate, or in the court, all day long. It was late ere +Albert came--he had been waiting for him, and whispered, as he alighted, +'Stay here to-night to take care of your sisters--don't go home.' Albert +looked at him with astonishment; he had, indeed, perceived symptoms of +some commotion, but fancied, as most of Paris did, that it would be +directed against the Temple. 'What is your meaning?' said he. 'I entreat +you to stay here--you will be near your sisters; and if there be need for +another hand, mine shall not be far off--very well!--we shall be there.' +Albert pressed him with questions, but could extract nothing; and after +giving the man some money, persisted; in returning home as usual." + +"All know the frightful story of the day after this. Albert's anxiety for +us makes him brave every danger, and he comes to us again. The first +person he sees at our door is Jaquemart, in the costume of the most +atrocious of bandits; our ladies had not dared to bid him go away, but his +appearance made them tremble. 'I did not desire you to come hither, but to +stay here,' he said; 'why have I not been obeyed?' 'Why do you speak +so--was this house particularly menaced?' 'I know nothing of that--at such +a moment one should fear everything.'" + +"We heard groans, weeping, all Paris had not been at _the massacre_. It +was late. They pressed Albert to stay, but he would not. He promised, +however, to come back next morning.----That day he was obliged to stay +at home till about three o'clock, arranging and burning papers. He then +came out to visit us, and found himself in the midst of crowds of men, +drunken and bloody; many were naked to the waist, their breasts covered +with blood. They carried fragments of clothing on their pikes and +sabres--their faces were inflamed, their eyes haggard, the whole scene +hideous. These groups became more and more frequent and numerous as he +advanced. In mortal anxiety for us, he determined to push through +everything, and, urging his horse to its speed, reached at length the +front of the Hôtel Beaumarchais. There he was stopped by an immense +crowd--always the same figures naked and bloodstained, but here their +looks were those of enraged fiends. They shout, they scream, they sing, +they dance--the saturnalia of hell. On seeing Albert's cabriolet, they +redoubled their cries--'An aristocrat! give it him, give it him!' In a +moment the cabriolet is surrounded, and from the midst of the crowd an +object rises and moves towards him. His agitation perplexes his view--he +perceives long fair tresses dabbled with blood--a countenance beautiful +even yet. It approaches--it is thrust upon his face; he recognises the +features--it is the head of Madame de Lamballe!" + +"The servant whips the horse with all the strength of his arm. The +generous animal, with the instinctive horror of his race for dead bodies, +springs with redoubled speed from the spectacle of horror. The frightful +trophy, and the cannibals that bore it, had been overturned in the +mud--screams and imprecations pursued Albert, stretched senseless at the +bottom of the cabriolet. The servant had kept the reins, and whipped the +more fiercely, because he could perceive, from the motion of the carriage, +that some one had got up behind it, and hoped that the rapidity of its +progress would shake him off." + +"In a few minutes Albert reached our door--judge of our alarm!--pale, +still quite senseless, not breathing. The moment the cabriolet stopped, +the man behind jumped down, took my brother in his arms, as if he had been +a child, and carried him into the house. It was Jaquemart. 'The monsters,' +said he, 'the monsters! the poor young man, they have killed him too.' +What could Jaquemart have been doing in such a garb, and among such a +troop o' ruffians?" + + + [1] And father of Madame Junot. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + * * * * * + + +The Paris correspondent of the _Court Journal_ gives the following +incident at the King's Ball, about a fortnight since. I happened to be +near his majesty when he addressed himself to an Englishman, wearing the +Cross of Three Days. "Where did you signalize yourself, sir?" inquired the +monarch. "At the Tuilleries, sire," was the answer. "_C'est aux braves de +Juillet que je dois ma couronne_," said his majesty. The gentleman thus +honoured was M. Bennis,[1] in whose literary establishment the king seems +to take much interest. + + * * * * * + + +GUTTING THE FISH. + + +One evening a red-headed Connaught swell, of no small aristocratic +pretensions in his own eyes, sent his servant, whom he had just imported +from the long-horned kingdom, in all the rough majesty of a creature fresh +from the "wilds," to purchase a hundred of oysters on the City-quay. Paddy +staid so long away, that Squire Trigger got quite impatient and unhappy +lest his "body man" might have slipt into the Liffey; however, to his +infinite relief, Paddy soon made his appearance, puffing and blowing like +a disabled bellows, but carrying his load seemingly in great triumph. +"Well, Pat," cried the master, "what the devil kept you so long?" "Long! a +thin, may be it's what you'd have me to come home with half my _arrant?_" +says Pat. "Half the oysters?" says the master. "No; but too much of the +_fish_." says Pat. "What fish?" says he. "The oysters, to be sure," says +Pat. "What do you mean, blockhead?" says he. "I mean," says Pat, "that +there was no use with loading myself with more nor was useful." +"Will you explain yourself?" says he. "I will," says Pat laying down his +load. "Well then, you see, plaise your Honour, as I was coming home along +the quay, mighty peaceable, who should I meet but Shammus Maginnis; 'Good +morrow, Shamien,' sis I; 'Good morrow kindly, Paudeen,' sis he; 'What is +it you have in the sack?' sis he; 'A _Cwt_. of oysters,' sis I; 'Let us +look at them,' says he; 'I will, and welcome,' sis I; 'Orah! thunder and +pratees!' sis he, openin the sack an examinin them; 'who _sowld_ you +these?' 'One Tom Kinahan that keeps a small ship there below,' sis I; +'Musha then, bad luck to that same Tom that _sowld_ the likes to you,' sis +he; 'Arrah, why, avic?' sis I; 'To make a _Bolshour_ ov you an give thim +to you without gutting thim,' sis he; 'An arn't they gutted, Jim, aroon,' +sis I; 'Oh! bad luck to the one o' thim,' sis he; 'Musha then,' sis I, +'what the dhoul will I do at all at all, fur the master will be mad;' 'Do!' +sis he, 'why I'd rather do the thing for you mysel nor you should lose +your place,' sis he; so wid that he begins to gut them wid his knife, +_nate_ and _clain_, an afeereed ov dirtying the flags, begor, he +swallowed the guts himself from beginnin to ind, tal he had thim as dacent +as you see thim here"--dashing down at his master's feet his bag of oyster +shells, to the no small amazement of the Connaught worthy, as you may +suppose.--_Dublin Comet_. + + + [1] The agent for the MIRROR, in Paris.--ED. M. + + * * * * * + + +FAMILIAR SCIENCE. + + +This Day was published, with many Engravings, price 5_s_., + + ARCANA OF SCIENCE, + AND + ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS, + for 1832: + +Abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific +Journals, British and Foreign, for the past year. + +This volume will contain all the Important Facts in the year 1831--in the + + MECHANIC ARTS, + CHEMICAL SCIENCE, + ZOOLOGY, + BOTANY, + MINERALOGY, + GEOLOGY, + METEOROLOGY, + RURAL ECONOMY, + GARDENING. + DOMESTIC ECONOMY, + USEFUL AND ELEGANT ARTS, + GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES, + MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. + +Printing for John Limbird, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4_s_. 6_d_., 1829--30--31, price 5_s_. each. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic. G.G. Bennis, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction., by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11538 *** |