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diff --git a/11871-0.txt b/11871-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f338b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/11871-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1435 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11871 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11871-h.htm or 11871-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/8/7/11871/11871-h/11871-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/8/7/11871/11871-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 19, No. 549] SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER [PRICE 2_d_. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE ALHAMBRA, IN SPAIN + +[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW.] + +[Illustration: Palace of Charles V., see page 340.] + + * * * * * + + Accumulated novelties from Books published within the past month + have led to the publication of the present Supplement. Although + its contents have not been drawn from works of unfettered fancy, + it is hoped they will be found to blend the real with the + imaginative in such a degree as to render their knowledge not the + less useful for its being amusive. The Engravings are perhaps as + appropriate as attractive; since they illustrate, and the artists + hope not unworthily, the _New Sketch Book_ of WASHINGTON IRVING. + + * * * * * + +THE ALHAMBRA. + + by Geoffrey Crayon, Author Of The Sketch Book, &c. + +What! Washington Irving, or, as the title-page will have it, Geoffrey +Crayon, in SPAIN, wandering up and down the deserted halls of the +Alhambra, and weaving its legendary lore with thick coming fancies +into sketches of enchanting interest. The origin of the work, (the +_New Sketch Book_,) as it has been inappropriately styled, is told in +the dedication to David Wilkie, Esq., R.A. Mr. Irving and the great +artist just named were fellow travellers on the continent a few years +since. In their rambles about some of the old cities of Spain, they +were more than once struck with scenes and incidents which reminded +them of passages in the "Arabian Nights." The painter urged Mr. +Irving to write something that should illustrate those peculiarities, +"something in the Haroun Alrasched style" that should have a dash of +that Arabian spice which pervades every thing in Spain. The author set +to work, _con amore,_ and has produced two goodly volumes, with a +few "Arabesque" sketches and tales founded on popular traditions. His +_study_ was THE ALHAMBRA, which must have inspired him for his task. +To quote his own words: "how many legends and traditions, true and +fabulous; how many songs and romances, Spanish and Arabian, of love +and war, and chivalry, are associated with this romantic pile." The +Governor of the Alhambra gave Mr. Irving and his companion, permission +to occupy his vacant apartments in the Moorish Palace. "My companion," +says the author, "was soon summoned away by the duties of his station; +but I remained for several months, spellbound in the old enchanted +pile." + +Such is the plan or frame of the work before us. It has induced us to +select the Embellishments on the annexed page; and their description, +from so graceful a pencil as that of the author, will, we hope, +bespeak the favour of the reader. + +"The Alhambra is an ancient fortress or castellated palace of the +Moorish kings of Granada, where they held dominion over this their +boasted terrestrial paradise, and made their last stand for empire in +Spain. The palace occupies but a portion of the fortress, the walls of +which, studded with towers, stretch irregularly round the whole crest +of a lofty hill that overlooks the city, and forms a spur of the +Sierra Nevada, or snowy mountain. + +"In the time of the Moors, the fortress was capable of containing +an army of forty thousand men within its precincts, and served +occasionally as a stronghold of the sovereigns against their +rebellious subjects. After the kingdom had passed into the hands +of the Christians, the Alhambra continued a royal demesne, and was +occasionally inhabited by the Castilian monarchs. The Emperor Charles +V. began a sumptuous palace within its walls, but was deterred from +completing it by repeated shocks of earthquakes. The last royal +residents were Philip V. and his beautiful queen Elizabetta of Parma, +early in the eighteenth century. Great preparations were made for +their reception. The palace and gardens were placed in a state of +repair, and a new suite of apartments erected, and decorated by +artists brought from Italy. The sojourn of the sovereigns was +transient, and after their departure the palace once more became +desolate. Still the place was maintained with some military state. The +governor held it immediately from the crown, its jurisdiction extended +down into the suburbs of the city, and was independent of the captain +general of Granada. A considerable garrison was kept up, the governor +had his apartments in the front of the old Moorish palace, and never +descended into Granada without some military parade. The fortress, in +fact, was a little town of itself, having several streets of houses +within its walls, together with a Franciscan convent and a parochial +church. + +"The desertion of the court, however, was a fatal blow to the +Alhambra. Its beautiful halls became desolate, and some of them fell +to ruin; the gardens were destroyed, and the fountains ceased to play. +By degrees the dwellings became filled up with a loose and lawless +population; contrabandistas, who availed themselves of its independent +jurisdiction to carry on a wide and daring course of smuggling, and +thieves and rogues of all sorts, who made this their place of refuge +from whence they might depredate upon Granada and its vicinity. The +strong arm of government at length interfered: the whole community was +thoroughly sifted; none were suffered to remain but such as were of +honest character, and had legitimate right to a residence; the greater +part of the houses were demolished and a mere hamlet left, with +the parochial church and the Franciscan convent. During the recent +troubles in Spain, when Granada was in the hands of the French, +the Alhambra was garrisoned by their troops, and the palace was +occasionally inhabited by the French commander. With that enlightened +taste which has ever distinguished the French nation in their +conquests, this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was rescued +from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming it. The +roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected from the +weather, the gardens cultivated, the water courses restored, the +fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and +Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most +beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments. + +"On the departure of the French they blew up several towers of the +outer wall, and left the fortifications scarcely tenable. Since that +time the military importance of the post is at an end. The garrison is +a handful of invalid soldiers, whose principal duty is to guard some +of the outer towers, which serve occasionally as a prison of state; +and the governor, abandoning the lofty hill of the Alhambra, resides +in the centre of Granada, for the more convenient dispatch of his +official duties. + + +Interior of the Alhambra + + +"The Alhambra has been so often and so minutely described by +travellers, that a mere sketch will, probably, be sufficient for the +reader to refresh his recollection; I will give, therefore, a brief +account of our visit to it the morning after our arrival in Granada. + +"Leaving our posada of La Espada, we traversed the renowned square of +the Vivarrambla, once the scene of Moorish jousts and tournaments, now +a crowded market-place. From thence we proceeded along the Zacatin, +the main street of what, in the time of the Moors, was the Great +Bazaar, where the small shops and narrow allies still retain the +Oriental character. Crossing an open place in front of the palace of +the captain-general, we ascended a confined and winding street, the +name of which reminded us of the chivalric days of Granada. It is +called the Calle, or street of the Gomeres, from a Moorish family +famous in chronicle and song. This street led up to a massive gateway +of Grecian architecture, built by Charles V. forming the entrance to +the domains of the Alhambra. + +"At the gate were two or three ragged and superannuated soldiers, +dozing on a stone bench, the successors of the Zegris and the +Abencerrages; while a tall meagre varlet, whose rusty-brown cloak was +evidently intended to conceal the ragged state of his nether garments, +was lounging in the sunshine and gossiping with an ancient sentinel on +duty. He joined us as we entered the gate, and offered his services to +show us the fortress. + +"I have a traveller's dislike to officious ciceroni, and did +not-altogether like the garb of the applicant. + +"'You are well acquainted with the place, I presume?' + +"'Ninguno mas; pues Senor, soy hijo de la Alhambra.'--(Nobody better; +in fact, Sir, I am a son of the Alhambra!) + +"The common Spaniards have certainly a most poetical way of expressing +themselves. 'A son of the Alhambra!' the appellation caught me at +once; the very tattered garb of my new acquaintance assumed a dignity +in my eyes. It was emblematic of the fortunes of the place, and +befitted the progeny of a ruin. + +"I put some farther questions to him, and found that his title was +legitimate. His family had lived in the fortress from generation to +generation ever since the time of the conquest. His name was Mateo +Ximenes. 'Then, perhaps,' said I, 'you may be a descendant from the +great Cardinal Ximenes?'--'Dios Sabe! God knows, Senor! It may be so. +We are the oldest family in the Alhambra,--_Christianos Viejos_, old +Christians, without any taint of Moor or Jew. I know we belong to some +great family or other, but I forget whom. My father knows all about +it: he has the coat-of-arms hanging up in his cottage, up in the +fortress.' There is not any Spaniard, however poor, but has some claim +to high pedigree. The first title of this ragged worthy, however, had +completely captivated me, so I gladly accepted the services of the +'son of the Alhambra.' + +"We now found ourselves in a deep narrow ravine, filled with beautiful +groves, with a steep avenue, and various footpaths winding through it, +bordered with stone seats, and ornamented with fountains. To our left, +we beheld the towers of the Alhambra beetling above us; to our right, +on the opposite side of the ravine, we were equally dominated by +rival towers on a rocky eminence. These, we were told, were the Torres +Vermejos, or vermilion towers, so called from their ruddy hue. No one +knows their origin. They are of a date much anterior to the Alhambra: +some suppose them to have been built by the Romans; others, by some +wandering colony of Phoenicians. Ascending the steep and shady avenue, +we arrived at the foot of a huge square Moorish tower; forming a kind +of barbican, through which passed the main entrance to the fortress. +Within the barbican was another group of veteran invalids, one +mounting guard at the portal, while the rest, wrapped in their +tattered cloaks, slept on the stone benches. This portal is called the +Gate of Justice, from the tribunal held within its porch during the +Moslem domination, for the immediate trial of petty causes: a custom +common to the Oriental nations, and occasionally alluded to in the +Sacred Scriptures. + +"The great vestibule or porch of the gate, is formed by an immense +Arabian arch, of the horse-shoe form, which springs to half the height +of the tower. On the key-stone of this arch is engraven a gigantic +hand. Within the vestibule, on the key-stone of the portal, is +sculptured, in like manner, a gigantic key. Those who pretend to some +knowledge of Mahometan symbols, affirm that the hand is the emblem of +doctrine, and the key of faith; the latter, they add, was emblazoned +on the standard of the Moslems when they subdued Andalusia, in +opposition to the Christian emblem of the Cross. A different +explanation, however, was given by the legitimate son of the Alhambra, +and one more in unison with the notions of the common people, who +attach something of mystery and magic to every thing Moorish, and have +all kind of superstitions connected with this old Moslem fortress. + +"According to Mateo, it was a tradition handed down from the oldest +inhabitants, and which he had from his father and grandfather, +that the hand and key were magical devices on which the fate of the +Alhambra depended. The Moorish King who built it was a great magician, +or, as some believed, had sold himself to the devil, and had laid +the whole fortress under a magic spell. By this means it had remained +standing for several hundred years, in defiance of storms and +earthquakes, while almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen +to ruin, and disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say, +would last until the hand on the outer arch should reach down and +grasp the key, when the whole pile would tumble to pieces, and all the +treasures buried beneath it by the Moors would be revealed. + +"Notwithstanding this ominous prediction, we ventured to pass through +the spell-bound gateway, feeling some little assurance against magic +art in the protection of the Virgin, a statue of whom we observed +above the portal. + +"After passing through the barbican, we ascended a narrow lane, +winding between walls, and came on an open esplanade within the +fortress, called the Plaza de los Algibes, or Place of the Cisterns, +from great reservoirs which undermine it, cut in the living rock by +the Moors for the supply of the fortress. Here, also, is a well of +immense depth, furnishing the purest and coldest of water; another +monument of the delicate taste of the Moors, who were indefatigable in +their exertions to obtain that element in its crystal purity. + +"In front of this esplanade is the splendid pile commenced by Charles +V., intended, it is said, to eclipse the residence of the Moslem +kings. With all its grandeur and architectural merit, it appeared +to us like an arrogant intrusion, and, passing by it, we entered +a simple, unostentatious portal, opening into the interior of the +Moorish palace. + +"The transition was almost magical: it seemed as if we were at once +transported into other times and another realm, and were treading the +scenes of Arabian story. We found ourselves in a great court, paved +with white marble, and decorated at each end with light Moorish +peristyles: it is called the Court of the Alberca. In the centre was +an immense basin or fish-pond, a hundred and thirty feet in length by +thirty in breadth, stocked with gold-fish and bordered by hedges of +roses. At the upper end of this court rose the great Tower of Comares. + +"From the lower end we passed through a Moorish archway into the +renowned Court of Lions. There is no part of the edifice that gives +us a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence than +this, for none has suffered so little from the ravages of time. In +the centre stands the fountain famous in song and story. The alabaster +basins still shed their diamond drops; and the twelve lions, which +support them, cast forth their crystal streams as in the days of +Boabdil. The court is laid out in flower-beds, and surrounded by light +Arabian arcades of open filagree work, supported by slender pillars +of white marble. The architecture, like that of all the other parts +of the palace, is characterized by elegance rather than grandeur; +bespeaking a delicate and graceful taste, and a disposition to +indolent enjoyment. When one looks upon the fairy tracery of the +peristyles, and the apparently fragile fretwork of the walls, it is +difficult to believe that so much has survived the wear and tear of +centuries, the shocks of earthquakes, the violence of war, and the +quiet, though no less baneful, pilferrings of the tasteful traveller: +it is almost sufficient to excuse the popular tradition, that the +whole is protected by a magic charm. + +"On one side of the court, a portal, richly adorned, opens into a +lofty hall, paved with white marble, and called the Hall of the Two +Sisters. A cupola, or lantern, admits a tempered light from above, and +a free circulation of air. The lower part of the walls is encrusted +with beautiful Moorish tiles, on some of which are emblazoned the +escutcheons of the Moorish monarchs: the upper part is faced with the +fine stucco-work invented at Damascus, consisting of large plates, +cast in moulds, and artfully joined, so as to have the appearance of +having been laboriously sculptured by the hand into light relievos +and fanciful arabesques, intermingled with texts of the Koran, +and poetical inscriptions in Arabian and Cufic character. These +decorations of the walls and cupolas are richly gilded, and the +interstices pencilled with lapis-lazuli, and other brilliant and +enduring colours. On each side of the hall are recesses for ottomans +and couches. Above the inner porch is a balcony, which communicated +with the women's apartments. The latticed 'jalousies' still remain, +from whence the dark-eyed beauties of the haram might gaze unseen upon +the entertainments of the hall below. + +"It is impossible to contemplate this once favourite abode of Oriental +manners without feeling the early associations of Arabian romance, +and almost expecting to see the white arm of some mysterious princess +beckoning from the balcony, or some dark eye sparkling through the +lattice. The abode of beauty is here, as if it had been inhabited but +yesterday; but where are the Zoraydas and Lindaraxas? + +"On the opposite side of the Court of Lions, is the Hall of the +Abencerrages; so called from the gallant cavaliers of that illustrious +line who were here perfidiously massacred. There are some who doubt +the whole truth of this story; but our humble attendant Mateo pointed +out the very wicket of the portal through which they are said to have +been introduced, one by one, and the white marble fountain in the +centre of the hall where they were beheaded. He showed us also certain +broad ruddy stains in the pavement, traces of their blood, which, +according to popular belief, can never be effaced. Finding we listened +to him with easy faith, he added, that there was often heard at night, +in the Court of Lions, a low, confused sound, resembling the murmuring +of a multitude; with now and then a faint tinkling, like the distant +clank of chains. These noises are probably produced by the bubbling +currents and tinkling falls of water, conducted under the pavement, +through pipes and channels, to supply the fountains; but, according to +the legend of the son of the Alhambra, they are made by the spirits +of the murdered Abencerrages, who nightly haunt the scene of their +suffering, and invoke the vengeance of Heaven on their destroyer. + +"From the Court of Lions we retraced our steps through the Court of +the Alberca, or Great Fishpool; crossing which we proceeded to the +Tower of Comares, so called from the name of the Arabian architect. It +is of massive strength and lofty height, domineering over the rest +of the edifice, and overhanging the steep hill-side, which descends +abruptly to the banks of the Darro. A Moorish archway admitted us into +a vast and lofty hall, which occupies the interior of the tower, and +was the grand audience chamber of the Moslem monarchs, thence +called the Hall of Ambassadors. It still bears the traces of past +magnificence. The walls are richly stuccoed and decorated with +arabesques; the vaulted ceiling of cedar-wood, almost lost in +obscurity, from its height, still gleams with rich gilding, and the +brilliant tints of the Arabian pencil. On three sides of the saloon +are deep windows cut through the immense thickness of the walls, the +balconies of which look down upon the verdant valley of the Darro, the +streets and convents of the Albaycin, and command a prospect of the +distant Vega. + +"I might go on to describe minutely the other delightful apartments of +this side of the palace; the Tocador, or toilet of the queen, an +open belvidere, on the summit of a tower, where the Moorish sultanas +enjoyed the pure breezes from the mountain, and the prospect of +the surrounding paradise; the secluded little patio, or garden of +Lindaraxa, with its alabaster fountain, its thickets of roses and +myrtles, of citrons and oranges; the cool halls and grottoes of +the baths, where the glare and heat of day are tempered into a soft +mysterious light, and a pervading freshness. + +"While the city below pants with the noontide heat, and the parched +vega trembles to the eye, the delicate airs from the Sierra Nevada, +play through these lofty halls, bringing with them the sweetness of +the surrounding gardens. Every thing invites to that indolent repose, +the bliss of southern climes; and while the half-shut eye looks out +from shaded balconies upon the glittering landscape, the ear is lulled +by the rustling of groves, and the murmur of running streams." Here we +must end. + +The Sketches bear the very perfection of romance in their titles. Yes, +expectant reader, think of the Alhambra by Moonlight--A Ramble +among the Hills--Legend of the Arabian Astrologer--The Tower of Las +Infantas--Legends of the three beautiful Princesses--The Pilgrim of +Love--The Rose of the Alhambra,--the two discreet Statues, &c. &c. +What hours of spell-bound delight do these two volumes lock up, yet +we hope but for a short season, from all who would vary "life's dull +round" with romantic lore. + + * * * * * + + +NATURAL HISTORY. + +The remarkably attractive Number of the _Magazine of Natural History_ +for the present month enables us to checker our sheet with a page or +two of facts which will be interesting to every inquiring mind. + +Hail at Lausanne. + +"At Lausanne, on the 14th of July, 1831, about 8 P.M., we witnessed +one of those hail-storms which, every summer, cause such ravages in +the south of Europe. A great proportion of the hailstones were as +big as hen's eggs, and some even bigger: seven nearly filled a common +dinner plate. They were mostly oval or globular; but one piece, +brought to us after the storm, was flat and square, full 2 in. long, +as many broad, and three quarters of an inch thick, with several +projecting knobs of ice as big as large hazel nuts. This mass exactly +resembled a piece of uniformly transparent ice, but the oval and +globular masses had the same conformation as has often been described +in these hailstones, and on which Volta founded his ingenious but +untenable theory of their formation. In the centre of each was a +small, white, opaque nucleus, the size of a pea, and evidently one of +the hailstones usually seen in England, to which the French give the +name of _grésil_, confining the term _gréle_ to the larger masses of +ice now under our observation. This nucleus of _gresil_ was +enclosed in a coat about half an inch thick of ice considerably more +transparent than it, but still somewhat opaque, as though of snow +melted and then frozen again, and externally the rest of the mass was +of ice perfectly transparent, and as compact and hard as possible, +resounding like a pebble, and not breaking when thrown on the floor. +The inhabitants of Lausanne, aware that the cinereous and puffed up +appearance of the clouds charged with this tremendous aerial artillery +portended more than a mere thunder-storm, had adopted the precaution +of closing their Venetian shutters; but such windows as were deprived +of this protection had almost every pane broken: and much damage was +done to the tiles of all the houses, and to the gardens and vineyards; +but less than might have been expected, owing to the short duration of +the storm, which did not last longer than seven or eight minutes, and +to the circumstance of the hailstones not being very numerous."--(W. +Spence.) + +Cedar Wood. + +"The _cedar_ has been recommended, among other woods, for the purpose +of constructing drawers for cabinets of insects. Let the inexperienced +collector be warned that this is, perhaps, the _very worst_ wood that +can be employed for the purpose; a strong effluvia, or sometimes +a resinous gum, exudes from the wood of the cedar, which is apt to +settle in blotches on the wings of the specimens, especially of the +more delicate Lepidóptera, and entirely discharges the colour. The +Rev. Mr. Bree once had a whole collection of lepidopterous insects +utterly spoiled from having been deposited in cedar drawers; and +he has understood, also, that the insects in the British Museum, +collected, he believes, chiefly by Dr. Leach, have been greatly +injured from the same cause. Possibly, however, cedar wood, after it +has been thoroughly well seasoned, may be less liable to produce these +injurious effects." + +Habits of the Common Snake in Captivity. + +A Staffordshire Correspondent writes thus familiarly: + +"This has been a remarkably good season, both for vegetables and +animals. It has been a singular time for adders, snakes, and lizards; +I never saw so many as I have seen this year in all my life. I have +been trying, a great part of this summer, to domesticate a common +snake, and make it familiar with me and my children; but all to +no purpose, notwithstanding I favoured it with my most particular +attention. It was a most beautiful creature, only 2 ft. 7 in. long. I +did not know how long it had been without food when I caught it; but +I presented it with frogs, toads, worms, beetles, spiders, mice, and +every other delicacy of the season. I also tried to charm it with +music, and my children stroked and caressed it; but all in vain: +it would be no more familiar with any of us than if we had been the +greatest strangers to it, or even its greatest enemies. I kept it in +an old barrel, out of doors, for the first three weeks: during that +time, I can aver, it ate nothing; but, after a very wet night, it +seemed to suffer from the cold. I then put it into a glass vessel, and +set it on the parlour chimney-piece, covering the vessel with a piece +of silk gauze. I caught two live mice, and put them in to it; but they +would sooner have died of hunger than the snake would have eaten them: +they sat shivering on its back, while it lay coiled up as round as a +ball of worstep. I gave the mice some boiled potatoes, which they eat: +but the snake would eat neither the mice nor the potatoes. My +children frequently took it out in their hands, to show it to their +schoolfellows; but my wife, and some others, could not bear the sight +of it. I one day took it in my hand, and opened its mouth with a +penknife, to show a gentleman how different it was from that of the +adder, which I had dead by me: its teeth being no more formidable +or terrific than the teeth of a trout or eel; while the mouth of the +adder had two fangs, like the claws of a cat, attached to the roof of +the mouth, no way connected with its jaw-teeth. While examining the +snake in this manner, it began to smell most horridly, and filled the +room with an abominable odour; I also felt, or thought I felt, a kind +of prickly numbness in the hand I held it in, and did so for some +weeks afterwards. In struggling for its liberty, it twisted itself +round my arm, and discharged its excrements on my coat-sleeve, which +seemed nothing more than milk, or like the chalkings of a woodcock. +It made its escape from me several times by boring a hole through the +gauze; I had lost it for some days at one time, when at length it was +observed peeping out of a mouse-hole behind one of the cellar steps. +Whether it had caught any beetles or spiders in the cellar, I cannot +say; but it looked as fierce as a hawk, and hissed and shook its +tongue, as in open defiance. I could not think of hurting it by +smoking it out with tobacco or brimstone; but called it my fiery +dragon which guarded my ale cellar. At length I caught it, coiled up +on one of the steps. I put it again into an American flour barrel; +but it happened not to be the same as he had been in, and I observed a +nail protruding through the staves about half way up. This, I suppose, +he had made use of to help his escape; for he was missing one morning +about ten o'clock: I had seen him at nine o'clock; so I thought he +could not be far off. I looked about for him for half an hour, when I +gave up the hunt in despair. However, at one o'clock, as the men were +going from dinner, one of them observed the rogue hiding himself under +a stone, fifty yards from the house. 'Dang my buttons,' said he, 'if +here is not master's snake. He came back and told my wife, who +told him to go and kill it. It happened to be _washing-day_: the +washerwoman gave him a pailful of scalding soapsuds to throw on +it; but whether he was most afraid of me or of the snake is still a +question: however, the washerwoman brought it home with the tongs, +and dropped it into the dolly-tub. It dashed round the tub with the +velocity of lightning; my daughter, seeing its agony, snatched it out +of the scalding liquid, but too late: it died in a few minutes. I +was not at all angry with my wife: I had had my whim, and she had had +hers. I had got all the knowledge I wanted to get; I had learned that +it was of no use for a human being, who requires food three times a +day, to domesticate an animal which can live weeks and months without +food: for, as the saying is, 'Hunger will tame any thing;' and without +hunger you can tame nothing. I have also learned that the serpent, +instead of being the emblem of wisdom, should have been an emblem of +stupidity." + +"The stench emitted by the common snake, when molested, is +superlatively noisome; and is given off so powerfully and copiously, +that it infects the air around to a diameter of several yards. This I +witnessed on observing a bitch dog kill a rather large snake; in which +act two points beside the odour effused were notable. The coils of the +snake formed, as it were, a circular wall; and in the circular space +between it, the snake sunk its head, as if for protection. The dog's +efforts were to catch and crush the head; and, shrivelling up her +fleshy lips, 'which all the while ran froth,' she kept thrusting the +points of her jaws into the circular pit aforesaid, and catching at +and fracturing the head. During the progress of these acts, she, every +few seconds, snorted, and shook off the froth, of which she seemed +sedulously careful to free herself, and barked at the conquered snake. +The dog was a most determined vermin-killer, and in rats, &c., quite +an accomplished one; but snakes did not often come in her way."--J.D. + + * * * * * + +CURIOUS FACTS IN VEGETATION + +(From Part xiv. of _Knowledge for the People, or the Plain Why and +Because._) + +Why is it improper to consider the turnip a real bulb? + +Because it is an intermediate stem which swells into a bulbous form. +Turnips have not been cultivated in England, in fields, more than a +century; but this agricultural practice now yields an annual return +which probably exceeds the interest of our national debt.--_Sir Walter +Scott._ + +Why is the Cauliflower so named? + +Because of its origin from _caulis,_ the stalk of a herb. Colewort is +of a similar origin. + +Why are the stems of the Cabbage tribe considered wholesome food? + +Because their acrid flavour is dipersed among an abundance of +mucilage. Cabbages were commonly used among the ancients, and Cato +wrote volumes on their nature. The Indians had so much veneration for +them, that they swore by cabbages, and were therein as superstitious +as the Egyptians, who gave divine honours to leeks and onions, for the +great benefits which they said they received from them.--_Lemery on +Food._ + +Why do Cabbages emit a strong animal odour? + +Because they contain a great quantity of azote or nitrogen, one of the +ultimate elements of animal matter, and strongly characterized in the +destructive distillation of horn, hoofs, or bones. + +Why do not the leaves of the Cabbage remain wet, after being immersed +in water, and again taken out of it? + +Because they are powdered with a slight layer of resinous matter, +similar to that which covers certain fruits, and, in particular, plums +and grapes. Their sea-green colour is also attributed to this resinous +layer. + +Why is Quassia so called? Because it was named in honour of a negro, +Quassia, a drunken doctor, who discovered the virtue of the wood in +curing malignant fevers. + +Why is the Ice plant so called? + +Because its stem is covered with soft tubercles, or excrescences, +which have a crystalline appearance. + +Why do the leaves of some trees fall very early? + +Because they are articulated to the branch; that is, they do not unite +with it by the whole of their base, but are simply fixed to it by +a kind of contraction or articulation; as in the maple and horse +chestnut. + +Why do leaves fall at the approach of winter? + +Because a separation takes place, either in the foot-stalk, or more +usually at its base, and the dying part quits the vigorous one, which +is promoted by the weight of the leaf itself, or the action of the +gales that blow in autumn on its expanded form. M. Richard explains +the cause more philosophically: "Although the fall of the leaves +generally takes place at the approach of winter, cold is not to be +considered as the principal cause of this phenomenon. It is much more +natural to attribute it to the cessation of vegetation, and the want +of nourishment which the leaves experience at that season, when the +course of the sap is interrupted. The vessels of the leaf contract, +dry up, and soon after, that organ is detached from the twig on which +it had been developed." + +Why do some trees, as the Oak, the Beech, and the Hornbeam, retain +their leaves to a late period of autumn? + +Because the life of the twigs on which they grow is not sufficiently +vigorous to throw them off, after the brown colour indicates that they +are dead. + +Why have some plants been termed the Poor Man's Weather-glass? + +Because they shut up their flowers against the approach of rain. +Linnaeus, however, thinks, that flowers lose their fine sensibility, +after the anthers have performed their office, or when deprived of +them artificially. Sir James Smith also observes, that some species +are sometimes exhausted by continued wet; "and it is evident that +very sudden thunder showers often take such flowers by surprise, the +previous state of the atmosphere not having been such as to give them +due warning." + +Many flowers have a regular time of opening and shutting. We have +already mentioned the Marigold; the goat's-beard is vulgarly called +"John go-to-bed at noon," from its closing at mid-day; and at the Cape +of Good Hope there is a "four o'clock flower," because it invariably +closes at that time. The common daisy is, however, a readier example, +its name being a compound of day's and eye--Day's-eye, in which +way, indeed, it is written by Ben Johnson. It regularly shuts after +sun-set, to expand again with the morning light. Thus,-- + + The little dazie, that at evening closes. + +Spenser. + + By a daisy, whose leaves spread, + Shut when Titian goes to bed.--_G. Withers._ + +Leyden sings of moist or rainy weather foretold by daisies. Thus we +may examine a whole field, and not find a daisy open, except such as +have their flowering nearly over, and have in consequence lost their +sensibility. + +The daisy is one of the pet flowers of the poets. Chaucer is ecstatic +in its praise, and calls it his "owne hartes' rest;" Burns, "Wee, +modest, crimson-tipped flower;" and Wordsworth, in beautiful and +touching simplicity, has addressed several poems to "the poet's +darling." + +Appended to Richard's valuable "Elements," is the _Horologium Florae,_ +(timepiece of Flora,) or a table of the hours at which certain plants +expand and shut, at Upsal, 60 deg. north latitude. The earliest Meadow +Salsafy opens from 3 to 4 A.M.; and closes from 9 to 10 A.M. The +latest A.M. is the _Mesembryanthemum Modiflorum,_ (used in the +manufacture of Maroquin leather,) which opens 10 to 11 A.M., +and closes at 12 P.M. The latest opening P.M. is the _Cactus +Grandiflorus,_ 9 to 10 P.M., and closing at 12 P.M., thus remaining +open only two or three hours. Other flowers, we may add, are +so peculiarly delicate, as scarcely to bear the contact of the +atmosphere. + +Forster, in his "Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena," notices +several prognostics of the weather by plants. Thus, Chickweed has been +said to be an excellent weather-guide. When the flower expands freely, +no rain need be feared for a long time. In showery days the flower +appears half concealed, and this state may be regarded as indicative +of showery weather; when it is entirely shut, we may expect a rainy +day. If the flowers of the Siberian sowthistle remain open all night, +we may expect rain next day. Before showers, the trefoil contracts its +leaves. Lord Bacon observes, that the trefoil has its stalk more +erect against rain. He also mentions a small red flower, growing in +stubble-fields, called by the country people _wincopipe_, which, if it +opens in the morning, assures us of a fine day. + + * * * * * + + +TRAVELS + + _Pen and Pencil Sketches of India, being the Journal of a Tour + in India. By Captain Mundy._ + +These are two very amusing volumes of scenes and situations full of +stirring interest, as their criticships would say--for example the +four extracts immediately following: + +Palankeen Travelling and a Sortie of Tigers. + +"To those unitiated into the mysteries of Indian travelling, the +prospect of a journey of six hundred miles, night and day, in a hot +climate, inclosed in a sort of coffin-like receptacle, carried on the +shoulders of men, is somewhat alarming; but to one more accustomed to +that method of locomotion, the palankeen would, perhaps, prove +less fatiguing and harassing, for a long journey, than any other +conveyance. + +"The horizontal or reclining position is naturally the most easy to +the body; and the exhaustion consequent upon a journey in the heat of +the day, generally secures to the traveller as much sleep during +the cooller hours of the night, as the frequent interruptions of the +bearers at the several stages will allow him to enjoy. I had laid in a +good store of tea, sugar, and biscuits, a novel, some powder and shot, +a gun, and a sword, and plenty of blankets, as a defence against +the coldness of the night. Our baggage consisted of a dozen boxes +(patarras) appended to bamboos, and carried by men: these, with two +torch-bearers (mussalgees) to each palankeen, completed our cavalcade. + +"Nov. 24th, 7 A.M., reached Hazarebaug, a small station, about two +hundred and twenty miles from Calcutta. It is a healthy spot; the +earth sandy and rocky, presenting a strong contrast to the loomy and +alluvial soil of Southern Bengal. From Rogonnâthpore to Hazarebaug the +road runs through an almost uninterrupted jungle, swarming with wild +beasts. At this place we met with a hospitable friend, who stored our +palankeens with provisions, after giving us a capital breakfast. + +"At eleven o'clock at night we entered the famous pass of Dunghye. The +road bears the appearance of a deep sandy ravine; the banks are rocky +and woody, and in many places quite overhung by the forest-trees. We +had accomplished about half the defile, when I was suddenly and rudely +awakened from a dozing sleep by the shock of my palankeen coming to +the ground, and by the most discordant shouts and screams. I jumped +out to ascertain the cause of the uproar, and found, on inquiry, that +a foraging party of tigers--probably speculating upon picking up a +straggling bearer--had sprung off the rocks, and dashed across the +road, bounding between my palankeen and that of Colonel D., who was +scarcely ten yards a-head. The bearers of both palankeens were all +huddled together, bellowing like bedlamites, and the mussalgees waving +their torches most vehemently. On mustering our forces, we discovered +that two of our patarra-bearers were missing, and fearing that the +tigers might pick them up, we dispatched four men with spare torches +to bring them on. Meanwhile my friend and myself, having brought +our palankeens together, armed ourselves with patience and a pair of +pistols to await the result. The whole incident, with the time and +scene, was highly interesting and wild, with just enough of the awful +to give an additional piquancy. The night was dark and stormy, and the +wind roared among the trees above our heads: the torches cast a red +and flickering light on the rocks in our immediate neighbourhood, and +just showed us enough of the depths of the forest to make the back +ground more gloomy and unfathomable. The distant halloos of the men +who were gone in search of their comrades, came faintly and wildly +upon the breeze; and the occasional shots that we fired rang through +the rocky jungle with an almost interminable echo. In about three +quarters of an hour our bearers joined us, together with the two +patarra-bearers. These latter, hearing the vociferations of our men, +and guessing the cause, had quietly placed their boxes on the ground, +about a mile in the rear of us, and seating themselves on their heels, +had determined not to proceed until the break of day. + +"All being reported present, we resumed our journey, the men screaming +chorus to scare our unwelcome visitors, whom I several times fancied +I heard rustling among the brushwood on the road side, as though they +were moving on our flanks in order to cut off any straggler who might +drop astern. I never saw bearers go more expeditiously, or in more +compact order, every man fearing to be the last in the cavalcade.[1] +A sheet would have covered the whole party! The tigers, if they had +calculated upon one of our number for their evening meal, must have +gone supperless to their lair, for we mustered all our twenty-four men +in the morning. A dâk hurkarah (post messenger) had been carried +off in the same spot two days before, probably by the same family of +tigers, which according to the bearer's account, consisted of two old +ones, and three cubs. + +[Footnote 1: It is said, that a tiger lying in wait for a string of +passengers usually selects the last of the party.] + +Wild Beast Fights + +"Early in the morning, the whole party, including ladies, eager for +the novel spectacle, mounted elephants, and repaired to the private +gate of the royal palace, where the King met the Commander-in-Chief, +and conducted him and his company to a palace in the park, in one of +the courts of which the arena for the combats was prepared. In the +centre was erected a gigantic cage of strong bamboos, about fifty +feet high, and of like diameter, and rooffed with rope network. Sundry +smaller cells, communicating by sliding doors with the main theatre, +were tenanted by every species of the savagest inhabitants of +the forest. In the large cage, crowded together, and presenting a +formidable front of broad, shaggy foreheads well armed with horns, +stood a group of buffaloes sternly awaiting the conflict, with their +rear scientifically appuyé against the bamboos. The trap-doors being +lifted, two tigers, and the same number of bears and leopards, rushed +into the centre. The buffaloes instantly commenced hostilities, and +made complete shuttlecocks of the bears, who, however, finally +escaped by climbing up the bamboos beyond the reach of their horned +antagonists. The tigers, one of which was a beautiful animal, fared +scarcely better; indeed, the odds were much against them, there +being five buffaloes. They appeared, however to be no match for these +powerful creatures, even single-handed, and showed little disposition +to be the assaulters. The larger tiger was much gored in the head, and +in return took a mouthful of his enemy's dewlap, but was finally (as +the fancy would describe it) 'bored to the ropes and floored.' The +leopards seemed throughout the conflict sedulously to avoid a breach +of the peace. + +"A rhinoceros was next let loose in open courtyard, and the attendants +attempted to induce him to pick a quarrel with a tiger who was chained +to a ring. The rhinoceros appeared, however, to consider a fettered +foe as quite beneath his enmity; and having once approached the tiger, +and quietly surveyed him, as he writhed and growled, expecting the +attack, turned suddenly round and trotted awkwardly off to the yard +gate, where he capsized a palankeen which was carrying away a lady +fatigued with the sight of these unfeminine sports. + +"A buffalo and tiger were the next combatants: they attacked +furiously, the tiger springing at the first onset on the other's head, +and tearing his neck severely; but he was quickly dismounted, and +thrown with such violence as nearly to break his back, and quite to +disable him from renewing the combat. + +"A small elephant was next impelled to attack a leopard. The battle +was short and decisive; the former falling on his knees, and thrusting +his blunted tusks nearly through his antagonist. + +"On our return from the beast fight a breakfast awaited us at the +royal palace; and the white tablecloth being removed, quails, trained +for the purpose, were placed upon the green cloth, and fought most +gamely, after the manner of the English cockpit. This is an amusement +much in fashion among the natives of rank, and they bet large sums on +their birds, as they lounge luxuriously round, smoking their houkahs. + +Hunting with Leopards + +"The leopards are each accommodated with a flat-topped cart, without +sides, drawn by two bullocks, and each animal has two attendants. They +are loosely bound by a collar and rope to the back of the vehicle, +and are also held by the keeper by a strap round the loins. A leathern +hood covers their eyes. The antelopes being excessively timid and +wild, the best way to enjoy the sport is to sit on the cart alongside +the driver; for the vehicle being built like the hackeries of the +peasants, to the sight of which the deer are accustomed, it is not +difficult, by skilful management, to approach within two hundred yards +of the game. On this occasion we had three chetahs in the field, and +we proceeded towards the spot where the herd had been seen, in a line, +with an interval of about one hundred yards between each cart. On +emerging from a cotton-field, we came in sight of four antelopes, and +my driver managed to get within one hundred yards of them ere they +took alarm. The chetah was quickly unhooded, and loosed from his +bonds; and as soon as he viewed the deer he dropped quietly off +the cart, on the _opposite_ side to that on which they stood, and +approached them at a slow, crouching canter, masking himself by +every bush and inequality of ground which lay in in his way. As soon, +however, as they began to show alarm, he quickened his pace, and was +in the midst of the herd in a few bounds. + +"He singled out a doe, and ran it close for about two hundred yards, +when he reached it with a blow of his paw, rolled it over, and in an +instant was sucking the life-blood from its throat. + +"One of the other chetahs was slipped at the same time, but after +making four or five desperate bounds, by which he nearly reached his +prey, suddenly gave up the pursuit, and came growling sulkily back to +his cart. + +"As soon as the deer is pulled down, a keeper runs up, hoods the +chetah cuts the victim's throat, and receiving some of the blood in +a wooden ladle, thrusts it under the leopard's nose. The antelope +is then dragged away, and placed in a receptacle under the hackery, +whilst the chetah is rewarded with a leg for his pains."[1] + +[Footnote 1: A pair of fine Chetahs, or Hunting Leopards, may be seen +in the Gardens of the Zoological Society.--ED. M.] + +An Alligator in the Ganges. + +"A beautiful specimen of an alligator's head was here given by Mr. +Alexander to Lord Combermere. He was rather a distinguished monster, +having carried off at different occasions, six or eight brace of men +from an indigo factory in the neighbourhood. A native, who had long +laid wait for him, at length succeeded in slaying him with poisoned +arrows. One of these notoriously ghaut-frequenting alligators is well +nigh as rich a prize to the poor native who is fortunate enough to +capture him, as a Spanish galleon is to a British frigate; for on +ripping open his stomach, and over-hauling its freight, it is not +unfrequently found to contain 'a choice assortment'--as the Calcutta +advertisers have it--of gold, silver, or brass bangles and anklets, +which have not been so expeditiously digested as their fair owners, +victims of the monster's voracity. A little fat Brahminee child, +'farci an ris,' must be a tempting and tender _bonne bouche_ to these +river gourmands. Horrific legends such as the above, together with a +great deal of valuable advice on the subject, were quite thrown away +upon me; for ninety degrees of Fahrenheit, and the enticing blueness +of the water generally betrayed me into a plunge every evening during +my Gangetic voyage." + +Nocturnal Bathing. + +"On the occasion of a grand nocturnal bathing ceremony, held at the +great tank called the Indra Damân, I went with a party of three or +four others to witness the spectacle. The walls surrounding the pool +and a cluster of picturesque pavilions in its centre were brilliantly +lighted up with hundreds of cheraugs, or small oil-lamps, casting a +flickering lustre upon the heads and shoulders of about five hundred +men, women, and children, who were ducking and praying, _à corps +perdu,_ in the water. As I glanced over the figures nearest to me, +I discovered floating among the indifferent bathers two dead bodies, +which had either been drowned in the confusion, or had purposely +come to die on the edge of the sacred tank; the cool and apathetic +survivors taking not the slightest notice of their soulless +neighbours." + +King John at the Cape. + +"The largest house in Simon's Town, and, indeed, the greater part of +the town itself, belongs to an Englishman of the name of Osbond, +who, however, is more generally known by the dignified title of 'King +John.' He was carpenter on board the sixty-gun ship Sceptre, which was +wrecked off this coast some yearn ago. Like Juan, he escaped the sea, +and like Juan he found a Haidee. Being well-favoured and sharp-witted, +he won the heart and the hand of a wealthy Dutch widow, whose dollars +he afterwards, in some bold but successful speculations, turned to +good account. He is said to have laid out ten thousand pounds on +these--to every one but himself--_inhospita littora._ King John is +much respected." + +Population of Cape Town. + +"The variety of nations, and the numerous shades of complexion +among the people in the streets of Cape Town, are very striking to +a stranger. First may be remarked the substantial Dutchman, with his +pretty, smiling, round-faced, and particularly well-dressed +daughter: then the knot of 'Qui hi's,' sent to the Cape, per doctor's +certificate, to husband their threadbare constitutions, and lavish +their rupees: next the obsequious, smirking, money-making China-man, +with his poking shoulders, and whip-like pig-tail: then the +stout, squat Hottentots--who resemble the Dutch in but one +characteristic!--and half castes of every intermediate tint between +black and white. These are well relieved and contrasted by the +tall, warlike figures and splendid costume of his Majesty's 72nd +Highlanders, who, with the 98th regiment, form the garrison of Cape +Town." + +Visit to the Residence of Napoleon at St. Helena. + +"We soon came in sight of the level plateau of the Longwood estate, +the residence of the late emperor, and six miles from Plantation +House. Here the country gradually assumes a more desolate and a wilder +look; and the English visitor arrives at the unfortunate and unwelcome +conclusion, that the best part of the island was not given to the +illustrious captive. One cannot avoid agreeing with Sir W. Scott, that +Plantation House should have been accorded to him, in spite of the +detering reasons of its vicinity to the sea, and its sequestered +situation. Longwood, however, has better roads, more space for riding +or driving, and in summer must have been much cooler than the less +sheltered parts of the isle. As we turned through the lodges the old +house appeared at the end of an avenue of scrubby and weather-worn +trees. It bears the exterior of a respectable farm-house, but is now +fast running to decay. On entering a dirty courtyard, and quitting +our horses, we were shown by some idlers into a square building, which +once contained the bed-room, sitting-room, and bath of the _Empereur +des François._ The partitions and floorings are now thrown down, and +torn up, and the apartments occupied for six years by the hero before +whom kings, emperors, and popes had quailed, are now tenanted by +cart-horses! + +"Passing on with a groan, I entered a small chamber, with two windows +looking towards the north. Between these windows are the marks of a +fixed sofa: on that couch Napoleon died. The apartment is now occupied +by a threshing machine; 'No bad emblem of its former tenant!' said +a sacrilegious wag. Hence we were conducted onwards to a large room, +which formerly contained a billiard-table, and whose front looks out +upon a little latticed veranda, where the imperial peripatetic--I +cannot style him philosopher--enjoyed the luxury of six paces to and +fro,--his favourite promenade. The white-washed walls are scored with +names of every nation; and the paper of the ceiling has been torn off +in strips as holy relics. Many couplets, chiefly French, extolling and +lamenting the departed hero, adorn or disfigure (according to their +qualities) the plaster walls. The only lines that I can recall to +mind--few are worth it--are the following, written ever the door, and +signed '---- ----, Officier de la Garde Impériale.' + + "'Du grand Napoléon le nom toujours cité + Ira de bouche en bouche à la postérité!'" + +The writer doubtless possessed more spirit as a sabreur than as a +poet. + +"The emperor's once well-kept garden, + + "'And still where many a garden-flower grows wild,' + +"is now overgrown and choked with weeds. At the end of a walk still +exists a small mound, on which it is said the hero of Lodi, Marengo, +and Austerlitz, amused himself by erecting a mock battery. The little +chunamed tank, in which he fed some fresh-water fish, is quite +dried up; and the mud wall, through a hole in which he reconnoitered +passers-by, is, like the great owner, returned to earth!" + +Captain Mundy's volumes are illustrated chiefly with sketches of +Indian sports from the master-hand of Land-seer; and for spirit of +execution they deserve to rank among the finest productions of this +distinguished artist. + + * * * * * + + +RECENT FRENCH LITERATURE. + +A novel picture of Paris has lately appeared with the taking title +of the _Hundred and One._ Its origin, as well as its subject, is +interesting. It is a voluntary association of almost all the literary +talent of France, for the benefit of an enterprising bookseller, +whose affairs have, it seems, fallen into the sere, since the +commercial embarrassments following on the Revolution. A hundred +and one authors of all ranks and political opinions, philosophers, +academicians, journalists, deputies, poets, artists, have combined +in this work to pass in review before us the humours, follies and +opinions of the French capital, painted in colours gay or grave, +sketchy or elaborate, according to the manner or mood of the artist. A +very amusing work, suitable to all tastes, is the result, and, by +aid of the _Foreign Quarterly Review_, we are enabled to present +the reader with a specimen sketch by Leon Guzlan, an author of some +celebrity in this species of writing.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Several specimens have been ably translated in the +Athenaeum.] + +VISIT TO THE MORGUE, AT PARIS. + +(The Morgue, we should premise, is an establishment in Paris for +the reception of all persons found dead in the City or its environs. +Thither it is the duty of the police to convey the bodies, where they +are exposed in a hall open to the public for a stated time,[1] when, +if not identified, and claimed, they are interred in the neighbouring +cemetery.) + +[Footnote 1: The bodies are stripped, and placed on sloping slabs of +marble; above each are hung the clothes of the deceased.] + +"After describing the exterior, the _Salle de l'Exposition_, which is +the only portion of the building, of course, with which the public +are acquainted, the writer conducts us into the inner recesses of this +house of death, the apartments of the superintendant. + +"M. Perrin, is a little old man, who coughs incessantly. When I +explained to him the object of my visit, he very politely offered to +show me all the details of his administration, regretting much, as he +said, that there was not so much variety as could be desired. 'But I +will show you what I have--be pleased to walk up.' + +"As we were climbing the narrow stairs, and he was informing me that +his establishment was connected both with the prefecture and the +police, with the one on account of the local expenses, with the other +from its connexion with the public health, we were obliged to stand +close against the wall to allow a troop of young girls to pass, well +dressed, gay, but shivering with the cold, which blew from the river +through the chink which lighted the stair. + +"'These are four of my daughters. I have eight children. François, the +keeper, has had four, and he has had the good fortune to get them all +married. François is a kind father.' + +"'So,' said I, 'twelve children then have been born in the Morgue. +Dreams of joy, and conjugal endearments, and parental delights, have +been experienced in this chamber of death. Marriage with its orange +flowers, baptism with its black robed sponsors, the communion, and the +embroidered veil, love, religion, virtue, have had their home here as +elsewhere. God has sown the seeds of happiness every where.' + +"'Papa, we are going to a distribution of prizes. My sisters are sure +to get a prize. Don't weary, we will be back in good time.' + +"'Go, my children,'--and all four embraced him. + +"I thought of the body of the little Norman in the dreary room +beneath, and of the mother who even now, perhaps, was anxiously +looking for her from the window. + +"'This is the apartment of François'. François did the honours with +the activity of a man who is not ashamed of his establishment. His +room is comfortably furnished; two modern pendules mounted on +bronze, a wardrobe with a Medusa's head, a high bed, and a handsome +rose-coloured curtain. If the room was not overburdened with +furniture, if there was not much of luxury, yet, to those not early +accustomed to superfluities, it might even seem gay. It represented +the tastes, opinions, and habits of its master. Vases of flowers threw +a green reflection on the curtains, for François is fond of flowers. +Among his gallery of portraits were those of Augereau and Kleber, both +in long coats, leaning on immense sabres, with peruques and powder. +Napoleon is there three times. + +"'Look at these jars,' said François, 'these are sweetmeats of +my wife's making; she excels in sweetmeats.' I read upon them, +'gooseberries of 1831.' We left François's apartment which forms the +right wing of the Morgue, while the clerk's house is on the left, and +entered the cabinet of administration of M. Perrin. + +"If François is fond of flowers, M. Perrin has the same penchant for +hydraulics and the camera obscura; he draws, he makes jets from the +Seine, by an ingenious piece of machinery of his own invention; while +he was retouching his syphon, I asked permission to turn over the +register, where suicides are ranged in two columns. + +"The fatal 'unknown' was the prevailing designation; 'brought here at +three in the morning, skull fractured, _unknown;_' 'brought at twelve +at night, drowned under the Pont des Arts, cards in his pocket, +_unknown;_'--'young woman, pregnant, crushed by a fiacre at the corner +of the Rue Mandar, _unknown_;'--'new born child found dead of cold, +at the gate of an hotel, _unknown.'_ + +"I said to M. Perrin that he must weary here very much occasionally +during the long nights of winter. + +"'No,' replied he good humouredly, 'the children sing, we all work, +François and I play at draughts or piquet; the worst of it is, we are +sometimes interrupted; a knock comes, we must go down, get a stone +ready, undress the new comer and register him: that spoils the game; +we forget to mark the points.' + +"'And this is the way you generally spend your evenings?'--'Always, +except when François has to go to Vaugirard at four o'clock: then +he must go to bed earlier. Perhaps you do not know that our burying +ground is at Vaugirard: as that burying ground is not much in fashion, +we have been allowed to retain our privilege of having a fosse to +ourselves.' + +"'I understand,--it is a fief of the Morgue.' + +"'You saw that chariot below near the entrance gate, in which the +children were hiding themselves at play,--that is our hearse.' + +"'And rich or poor, all must make use of your conveyance? If for +instance a suicide is recognised, his relations or friends may reclaim +him, take him home, and bestow the rites of sepulture on him at his +own house?' + +"'No, the Morgue does not give back what has been once deposited here. +It allows the funeral ceremonies to be as pompous as they will, but +they must all set out from hence; one end of the procession perhaps +is at Notre Dame, while the other is starting from the Morgue. The +Archbishop of Paris may be there; but François's place is fixed. It is +the first.' + +"'And the priests of Notre Dame, do they never make any difficulty +about administering the funeral rites to your dead?' + +"'Never!' + +"'Not even to the suicides?' + +"'There are no suicides for Notre Dame: one is drowned by accident, +another killed by the bursting of a gun, a third has fallen from +a scaffold. I invent the excuse, and the conscience of the priest +accepts it. That's enough.' + +"So, thought I! Notre Dame, which formerly witnessed the execution at +the stake of sorcerers, alchymists, and gipsies on the Grande Place, +has now no word of reprobation for the carcass of the suicide, once +allowed to rot on the ground, or be devoured by birds. She asks not +here what was his faith. The priest says mildly, 'Peace be with you.' + +"We walked down, and François opened the first room, that which +contains the dresses; habits of all shapes, all dimensions, hideously +jumbled together; gaiters pinned to a sleeve, a shawl shading the neck +of a coat; dresses of peasants, workmen, carters and brewers' frocks, +women's gowns, all faded, discoloured, shapeless, flap against each +other in the current of air which entered through the windows. There +is something here appalling in the sight and sound of these objects, +soulless, body-less, yet moving as if they had life, and presenting +the form without the flesh. Your eye rests on a handkerchief, the +property of some poor labourer, suddenly seized with the idea of +suicide, after some day that he has wanted work. + +"François, who followed the direction of my eyes to see what +impression the picture produced on me sighed heavily. + +"'Does it move you too,' said I? 'Are you discontented with your +lot.--Unhappy?' + +"'Not exactly! But, Sir, formerly, you must know, the dresses, after +being six months exhibited, became a perquisite of ours; we sold them. +Now they talk of taking the dresses from us.' + +"I reassured François as to the intention of government, and assured +him there was no talk of taking away the dresses. + +"The second room, that which adjoins the public exhibition room, is +appropriated for the dissection of those, the mode of whose death +appears to the police to be suspicious. Its only furniture is a marble +table, on which the dissections take place, and a shelf on which are +placed several bottles of chlorate. This room is immediately above +the room of M. Perrin. The dissecting table above just answers to the +girls' piano below. + +"In this room, which I crossed rapidly to avoid as much as possible +the sight of a body extended on the plank, I saw the little girl, who +had been stifled the night before in the diligence; she was a lovely +child. The other figure was frightfully disfigured; scarcely even +would his mother have recognised him. + +"There remained only the public room; it is narrow, ill aired; ten or +twelve black and sloping stones receive the suicides, who are placed +on it almost in a state of nudity; the places are seldom all occupied, +except perhaps during a revolution. Then it is that the Morgue is +recruited; two more days of glory and immortality in July, and the +plague had been in Paris. + +"'It is true,' said M. Perrin, 'we worked hard during the three days, +and we were allowed the use of two assistants. Corpses every where, +within, without, at the gate, on the bank.'-- + +"'And your girls?' + +"'During these days they did not leave their apartment, nor looked +out to the street, nor to the river; besides, you are mistaken if you +think the spectacle would have terrified them. Brought up here, +they will walk at night without a light in front of the glass, which +divides the corpses from the public, without trembling; we become +accustomed to any thing.' + +"Methought I heard the poor children, so familiar with the idea of +death, so accustomed to this domestic spectacle of their existence, +asking innocently of the strangers whom they visited,--as one would +ask where is your garden, your kitchen, or your cabinet,--'where do +_you_ keep your dead here?' + +"These were all the facts I could gather with regard to the +establishment. I was opening the glass door to breathe the fresh air +again, when the entrance of the crowd drove me back into the interior; +they were following a bier, on which lay a body, from which the water +dripped in a long stream. From one of the hands which were closely +clenched, the keeper detached a strip of coloured linen, and a +fragment of lace. 'Ah!' said he, 'let me look, 'tis she!' + +"'Who is it?' + +"'The nurse who was here this morning; the nurse of the little Norman +girl. Good! they may be buried together.' And M. Perrin put on +his spectacles, opened his register, and wrote in his best +current-hand--_unknown!_" + + * * * * * + + +POETRY. + + * * * * * + +The Maid of Elvar. By Allan Cunningham. + +This is one of the most gratifying "appearances" in the literature of +the day. It reminds us that however the poet's harp may have remained +unstrung, it has not lost its vigour or sweetness--its depth of +feeling, or its melody of tone, and these too are ably sustained +through nearly 600 stanzas in an exquisitely embellished narrative. +The poem is "a song of other times;" the story is one of chivalrous +love; the hero is a young warrior and poet; the Maid of Elvar offers +a garland of gold for the best song in honour of one of his victories; +"minstrels meet and sing, but the song of Eustace, though on another +theme, is reckoned the best; the Maid hangs the gold chain round his +neck, and retires, admiring the young stranger;" and thereby hangs the +tale. As our limits will not allow us to detach a scene or incident, +we must be content, for the present, with culling a few of the +choicest flowers of the song. + +CIVIL WAR. + + Woe, woe was ours. Chief drew his sword on chief: + Religion with her relique and her brand, + Made strife between our bosom-bones, and grief + And lawless joy abounded in the land; + Our glass of glory sank nigh its last sand; + Rank with its treason, priesthood with its craft, + Turned Scotland's war-lance to a willow-wand. + But war arose in Scotland--civil war; + Serf warred with chief, and father warred with son, + The church too warred with all: her evil star + That rules o'er sinking realms shone like the sun-- + Her lights waxed dim and died out one by one-- + Woe o'er the land hung like a funeral pall: + The sword the bold could brave, the coward shun, + But famine followed fast and fell on all-- + Pale lips cried oft for food which came not at their call. + +RURAL PEACE. + + Much mirth was theirs--war was no wonder then; + Dread fled with danger, and the cottage cocks, + The shepherd's war-pipe, called the sons of men + When morning's wheel threw bright dew from its spokes, + To pastures green to lead again their flocks; + The horn of harvest followed with its call; + Fast moved the sickle, and swift rose the shocks, + Behind the reapers like a golden wall-- + Gravely the farmer smiled, by turns approving all. + + The ripe corn waved in lone Dalgonar glen, + That, with its bosom basking in the sun, + Lies like a bird; the hum of working men + Joins with the sound of streams that southward run, + With fragrant holms atween: then mix in one + Beside a church, and round two ancient towers + Form a deep fosse. Here sire is heired by son, + And war comes never; ancle deep in flowers + In summer walk its dames among the sunny bowers. + + He rose, find homeward by the slumbering stream + Walked with the morn-dew glistening on his shoon. + The sun was up, and his outbursting beam + Touched tower and tree and pasture hills aboon; + The stars were quenched, and vanished was the moon; + Loud lowed the herds and the glad partridge' cry + Made corn-fields musical as groves at noon; + Birds left the perch, bee following bee hummed by, + And gladness reigned on earth and brightness claimed the sky. + +MINSTRELSY. + + I sing of days in which brave deeds of arms + And deeds of song went hand in hand: our kings + Heroic feelings had and owned the charms + Of minstrel lore--they loved the magic strings + More than the sceptre; still their kingdom rings + With their gay musings and their harpings high. + To noble deeds fair poesie lends wings; + She lifts them up from grovelling earth to sky, + And bids them sit in light, and live and never die. + +FAME. + + Fame, fame--thou warrior's wish, thou poet's thought, + Thou bright delusion; like the rainbow thou + Glitterest, yet none may touch thee; thing of naught, + Star-high with heaven's own brightness on thy brow, + Blazoned and glorious I beheld thee grow-- + Vision, begone,--for I am none of thine. + Of all that fills my heart and fancy now, + From dull oblivion not one word or line + Wilt thou touch with thy light and render it divine. + + Even be it so. I sing not for thy smiles-- + I sing to keep down sighs and ease the smart + Of care and sadness, and the daily toils + Which crush my soul and trample on my heart. + Far mightier spirits of the inspired art + Are mute and nameless, mid the muse in grief + Calls from the eastern to the western airt, + On tale, tradition, ballad, song, and chief + On thee, to give their names one passage bright and brief. + She calls in vain; like to a shooting star + Their storied rhymes shone brightly in their birth, + And shot a dazzling lustre near and far; + Then darkened, died, as all things else on earth. + +EVENING. + + The sun + Behind the mountain's summit slowly sank; + Crows came in clouds down from the moorlands dun, + And darkened all the pine-trees, rank on rank; + The homeward milch-cows at the fountains drank; + Swains dropt the sickle, hinds unloosed the car-- + The twin hares sported on the clover-bank, + And with the shepherd o'er the upland far, + Came out the round pale moon, and star succeeding star. + Star followed star, though yet day's golden light + Upon the hills and headlands faintly stream'd; + To their own pine the twin-doves took their flight; + From crag and cliff the clamorous seamews screamed, + In glade and glen the cottage windows gleam'd; + Larks left the cloud, for flight the grey owl sat; + The founts and lakes up silver radiance steamed; + Winging his twilight journey, hummed the gnat-- + The drowsy beetle droned, and skimmed the wavering bat. + +THE MAID'S FIRST LOVE. + + The maiden heard a light foot on the floor, + And sidelong looked, and there before her stood + Young Eustace Graeme: far from the pasture moor + He came: the fragrance of the dale and wood + Was scenting all his garments green and good. + A sudden flush when tie the maiden saw, + Burned through his temples, kindled up his blood-- + His stifling breath waxed nigh too tight to draw, + He bowed, and silent stood in wonderment and awe. + + The father smiled, the mother smiled. Now why + Are her eyes downcast and his white brow glowing? + Say, have they vowed while heaven was witness by + With all her radiant lights like fountains flowing, + To love while water runs and woods are growing, + And stars glowed conscious of the compact pure? + They never woo'd, nor, love for love bestowing. + Met with the moonshine in the green-wood bow'r, + Nor looked and sighed, and looked and drank love by the hour. + + Yet they have met. Though not fools of the flock, + On whom love like the tiger gives one bound. + And then the heart is rent--a thunderstroke + That makes men dust before they hear the sound-- + A shaft that leaves dark venom in the wound-- + A frost that all the buds of manhood nips-- + A sea of passion in which true love's drowned-- + A demon strangling virtue in his grips-- + A day when reason's son is quenched in dread eclipse. + + True gentle love is like the summer dew, + Which falls around when all is still and hush-- + And falls unseen until its bright drops strew + With odours, herb and flower, and bank, and bush + O love, when womanhood is in the flush, + And man's a young and an unspotted thing! + His first breathed word and her half conscious blush, + Are fair us light in heaven, or flowers in spring-- + The first hour of true love is worth our worshipping. + +LOVE OF COUNTRY. + + "I would not leave old Scotland's mountain gray, + Her hills, her cots, her halls, her groves of pine, + Dark though they be: yon glen, yon broomy brae, + Yon wild fox cleugh, yon eagle cliffs outline + An hour like this--this white right-hand of thine, + And of thy dark eyes such a gracious glance, + As I got now, for all beyond the line, + And all the glory gained by sword or lance, + In gallant England, Spain, or olive vales of France." + + * * * * * + +_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 11871 *** |