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diff --git a/old/12263.txt b/old/12263.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f21192 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12263.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11007 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 53, +No. 331, May, 1843, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 53, No. 331, May, 1843 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: May 4, 2004 [EBook #12263] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, NO. 331 *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan O'Connor and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced +from page scans provided by The Internet Library of Early Journals. + + + + + + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE + + +NO. CCCXXXI. MAY, 1843. VOL. LIII. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + DUMAS IN ITALY + AMMALAT BEK. A TRUE TALE OF THE CAUCASUS FROM THE + RUSSIAN OF MARLINSKI.--CHAPTER VI. + REYNOLD'S DISCOURSES. CONCLUSION + LEAP-YEAR. A TALE + THE BATTLE OF THE BLOCKS. THE PAVING QUESTION + POEMS AND BALLADS OF SCHILLER.--No. VIII. + NATURAL HISTORY OF SALMON AND SEA-TROUT + CALEB STUKELY. PART THE LAST + COMMERCIAL POLICY. SPAIN + + + + +DUMAS IN ITALY. + + [_Souvenirs de Voyage en Italie, par_ ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 5 vols. duod.] + + +France has lately sent forth her poets in great force, to travel, and to +write travels. Delamartine, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and others, +have been forth in the high-ways and the high-seas, observing, +portraying, poetizing, romancing. The last-mentioned of these, M. Dumas, +a dramatist very ingenious in the construction of plots, and one who +tells a story admirably, has travelled quite in character. There is a +dramatic air thrown over all his proceedings, things happen as pat as if +they had been rehearsed, and he blends the novelist and tourist together +after a very bold and original fashion. It is a new method of writing +travels that he has hit upon, and we recommend it to the notice of our +countrymen or countrywomen, who start from home with the fixed idea, +happen what may, of inditing a book. He does not depend altogether upon +the incidents of the road, or the raptures of sight-seeing, or any odd +fantasy that buildings or scenery may be kind enough to suggest: he +provides himself with full half of his materials before he starts, in +the shape of historical anecdote and romantic story, which he +distributes as he goes along. A better plan for an amusing book could +not be devised. Your mere tourist, it must be confessed, however +frivolous he submits for our entertainment to become, grows heavy on our +hands; that rapid and incessant change of scene which is kindly meant to +enliven our spirits, becomes itself wearisome, and we long for some +resting-place, even though it should be obtained by that most +illegitimate method of closing the volume. On the other hand, a teller +of tales has always felt the want of some enduring thread--though, as +some one says in a like emergency, it be only _packthread_--on which his +tales may be strung--something to fill up the pauses, and prevent the +utter solution of continuity between tale and tale--something that gives +the narrator a reasonable plea for _going on again_, and makes the +telling another story an indispensable duty upon his part, and the +listening to it a corresponding obligation upon ours; and ever since the +time when that young lady of unpronounceable and unrememberable name +told the One Thousand and One Tales, telling a fragment every morning to +keep her head upon her shoulders, there has been devised many a strange +expedient for this purpose. Now, M. Dumas has contrived, by uniting the +two characters of tourist and novelist, to make them act as reliefs to +each other. Whilst he shares with other travellers the daily adventures +of the road--the journey, the sight, and the dinner--he is not compelled +to be always moving; he can pause when he pleases, and, like the +_fableur_ of olden times, sitting down in the market-place, in the +public square, at the corner of some column or statue, he narrates his +history or his romance. Then, the story told, up starts the busy and +provident tourist; lo! the _voiture_ is waiting for him at the hotel; in +he leaps, and we with him, and off we rattle through other scenes, and +to other cities. He has a track _in space_ to which he is bound; we +recognize the necessity that he should proceed thereon; but he can +diverge at pleasure through all _time_, bear us off into what age he +pleases, make us utterly oblivious of the present, and lap us in the +Elysium of a good story. + +With a book written palpably for the sole and most amiable purpose of +amusement, and succeeding in this purpose, how should we deal? How but +receive it with a passive acquiescence equally amiable, content solely +to be amused, and giving all severer criticism--to him who to his other +merits may add, if he pleases, that of being the first critic. Most +especially let us not be carping and questioning as to the how far, or +what precisely, we are to set down for _true_. It is all true--it is all +fiction; the artist cannot choose but see things in an artistical form; +what ought not to be there drops from his field of vision. We are not +poring through a microscope, or through a telescope, to discover new +truths; we are looking at the old landscape through coloured glasses, +blue, or black, or roseate, as the occasion may require. And here let us +note a favourable contrast between our dramatic tourist, bold in +conception, free in execution, and those compatriots of our own, authors +and authoresses, who write travels merely because they are artists in +ink, yet without any adequate notion of the duties and privileges of +such an artist. + +When a writer has got a name, the first rational use to make of the +charming possession is to get astride of it, as a witch upon her +broomstick, and whisk and scamper over half the kingdoms of the earth. +Talk of bills of exchange!--letters of credit!--we can put our name to a +whole book, and it will pass--it _will_ pass. The idea is good--quite +worthy of our commercial genius--and to us its origin, we believe, is +due; but here, as in so many other cases, the Frenchman has given the +idea its full development. Keeping steadily in view the object of his +book, which is--first, amusement--secondly, amusement--thirdly, +amusement; he adapts his means consistently to his end. Does he want a +dialogue?--he writes one: a story?--he invents one: a description?--he +takes his hint from nature, and is grateful--the more grateful, because +he knows that a hint to the wise is sufficient. It is the description +only which the reader will be concerned with; what has he to do with the +object? That is the merely traveller's affair. Now, your English +tourists have always a residue of scruple about them which balks their +genius. Not satisfied with pleasing, they aspire to be believed; are +almost angry if their anecdote is not credited; content themselves with +adding graces, giving a turn, trimming and decorating--cannot build a +structure boldly from the bare earth. This necessity of finding a +certain straw for their bricks, which must be picked up by the roadside, +not only impedes the work of authorship, but must add greatly to their +personal discomfort throughout the whole of their travels. They are in +perpetual chase of something for the book. They bag an incident with as +much glee as a sportsman his first bird in September. They are out on +pleasure, but manifestly they have their task too; it is not quite +holiday, only half-holiday with them. The prospect or the picture gives +no pleasure till it has suggested the appropriate expression of +enthusiasm, which, once safely deposited in the note-book, the +enthusiasm itself can be quietly indulged in, or permitted to evaporate. +At the dinner-table, even when champagne is circulating, if a jest or a +story falls flat, they see with an Aristotelian precision the cause of +its failure, and how an additional touch, or a more auspicious moment, +would have procured for it a better fate; they stop to pick it up, they +clean it, they revolve the chapter and the page to which it shall lend +its lustre. Nay, it is noticeable, that without much labour from the +polisher, many a dull thing in conversation has made a good thing in +print; the conditions of success are so different. Now, from all such +toils and perplexities M. Dumas is evidently free; free as the wildest +Oxonian who flies abroad in the mere wanton prodigality of spirits and +of purse. His book is made, or can be made, when he chooses: fortune +favours the bold, and incidents will always dispose themselves +dramatically to the dramatist. + +Our traveller opens his campaign at Nice. It may be observed that M. +Dumas cannot be accused, like the present minister of his country, of +any partiality to the English; if the mortifying truth must be told, he +has no love of us at all; to which humour, so long as he delivers +himself of it with any wit or pleasantry, he is heartily welcome. Our +first extract will be thought, perhaps, to taste of this humour; but we +quote it for the absurd proof it affords of the manner in which we +English have overflooded some portions of the Continent:-- + + "As to the inhabitants of Nice, every traveller is to them an + Englishman. Every foreigner they see, without distinction of + complexion, hair, beard, dress, age, or sex, has, in their + imagination, arrived from a certain mysterious city lost in the + midst of fogs, where the inhabitants have heard of the sun only + from tradition, where the orange and the pine-apple are unknown + except by name, where there is no ripe fruit but baked apples, + and which is called _London_. + + "Whilst I was at the York Hotel, a carriage drawn by post + horses drove up; and, soon after, the master of the hotel + entering into my room, I asked him who were his new arrivals. + + "'_Sono certi Inglesi_,' he answered, '_ma non saprei dire se + sono Francesi o Tedeschi_. Some English, but I cannot say + whether French or German.'"--Vol. i. p. 9. + +The little town of Monaco is his next resting-place. This town, which is +now under the government of the King of Sardinia, was at one time an +independent principality; and M. Dumas gives a lively sketch of the +vicissitudes which the little state has undergone, mimicking, as it has, +the movements of great monarchies, and being capable of boasting even of +its revolution and its republic. During the reign of Louis XIV. the +territory of Monaco gave the title of prince to a certain Honore III., +who was under the protection of the _Grand Monarque_. + + "The marriage of this Prince of Monaco," says our annalist, + "was not happy. One fine morning his spouse, who was the same + beautiful and gay Duchess de Valentinois so well known in the + scandalous chronicles of that age, found herself at one step + out of the states of her lord and sovereign. She took refuge at + Paris. Desertion was not all. The prince soon learned that he + was as unfortunate as a husband can be. + + "At that epoch, calamities of this description were only + laughed at; but the Prince of Monaco was, as the duchess used + to say, a strange man, and he took offence. He got information + from time to time of the successive gallants whom his wife + thought fit to honour, and he hanged them in effigy, one after + the other, in the front court of his palace. The court was soon + full, and the executions bordered on the high road; + nevertheless, the prince relented not, but continued always to + hang. The report of these executions reached Versailles; Louis + XIV. was, in his turn, displeased, and counselled the prince to + be more lenient in his punishments. He of Monaco answered that, + being a sovereign prince, he had undoubtedly the right of pit + and gallows on his own domain, and that surely he might hang as + many men of straw as he pleased. + + "The affair bred so much scandal, that it was thought prudent + to send the duchess back to her husband. He, to make her + punishment the more complete, had resolved that she should, on + her return, pass before this row of executed effigies. But the + dowager Princess of Monaco prevailed upon her son to forego + this ingenious revenge, and a bonfire was made of all the + scarecrows. 'It was,' said Madame de Sevigne, 'the torch of + their second nuptials.' ... + + "A successor of this prince, Honore IV., was reigning + tranquilly in his little dominions when the French Revolution + broke out. The Monacites watched its successive phases with a + peculiar attention, and when the republic was finally + proclaimed at Paris, they took advantage of Honore's absence, + who was gone from home, and not known where, armed themselves + with whatever came to hand, marched to the palace, took it by + assault, and commenced plundering the cellars, which might + contain from twelve to fifteen thousand bottles of wine. Two + hours after, the eight thousand subjects of the Prince of + Monaco were drunk. + + "Now, at this first trial, they found liberty was an excellent + thing, and they resolved to constitute themselves forthwith + into a republic. But it seemed that Monaco was far too + extensive a territory to proclaim itself, after the example of + France, a republic one and indivisible; so the wise men of the + country, who had already formed themselves into a national + assembly, came to the conclusion that Monaco should rather + follow the example of America, and give birth to a federal + republic. The fundamental laws of the new constitution were + then discussed and determined by Monaco and Mantone, who united + themselves for life and death. There was a third village called + Rocco-Bruno: it was decided that it should belong half to the + one and half to the other. Rocco-Bruno murmured: it had aspired + to independence, and a place in the federation; but Monaco and + Mantone smiled at so arrogant a pretension. Rocco-Bruno was not + the strongest, and was reduced to silence: from that moment, + however, Rocco-Bruno was marked out to the two national + conventions as a focus of sedition. The republic was finally + proclaimed under the title of the Republic of Monaco. + + "The Monacites next looked abroad upon the world for allies. + There were two nations, equally enlightened with themselves, to + whom they could extend the hand of fellowship--the American and + the French. Geographical position decided in favour of the + latter. The republic of Monaco sent three deputies to the + National Convention of France to proffer and demand alliance. + The National Convention was in a moment of perfect good-humour: + it received the deputies most politely, and invited them to + call the next morning for the treaty they desired. + + "The treaty was prepared that very day. It was not, indeed, a + very lengthy document: it consisted of the two following + articles:-- + + "'Art. 1. There shall be peace and alliance between the French + Republic and the Republic of Monaco. + + "'Art. 2. The French Republic is delighted with having made the + acquaintance of the Republic of Monaco.' + + "This treaty was placed next morning in the hands of the + ambassadors, who departed highly gratified. Three months + afterwards the French Republic had thrown its lion's paw on its + dear acquaintance, the Republic of Monaco."--P. 14. + +From Monaco our traveller proceeds to Geneva; from Geneva, by water, to +Livorno, (_Anglice_, Leghorn.) Now there is little or nothing to be seen +at Livorno. There is, in the place _della Darnesa_, a solitary statue of +Ferdinand I., some time cardinal, and afterwards Grand-Duke of Florence. +M. Dumas bethinks him to tell us the principal incident in the life of +this Ferdinand; but then this again is connected with the history of +Bianca Capello, so that he must commence with her adventures. The name +of Bianca Capello figures just now on the title-page of one of Messrs +Colburn's and Bentley's _last and newest_. Those who have read the +novel, and those who, like ourselves, have seen only the title, may be +equally willing to hear the story of this high-spirited dame told in the +terse, rapid manner--brief, but full of detail--of Dumas. We cannot give +the whole of it in the words of M. Dumas; the extract would be too long; +we must get over a portion of the ground in the shortest manner +possible. + + "It was towards the end of the reign of Cosmo the Great, about + the commencement of the year 1563, that a young man named + Pietro Bonaventuri, the issue of a family respectable, though + poor, left Florence to seek his fortune in Venice. An uncle who + bore the same name as himself, and who had lived in the latter + city for twenty years, recommended him to the bank of the + Salviati, of which he himself was one of the managers. The + youth was received in the capacity of clerk. + + "Opposite the bank of the Salviati lived a rich Venetian + nobleman, head of the house of the Capelli. He had one son and + one daughter, but not by his wife then living, who, in + consequence, was stepmother to his children. With the son, our + narrative is not concerned; the daughter, Bianca Capello, was a + charming girl of the age of fifteen or sixteen, of a pale + complexion, on which the blood, at every emotion, would appear, + and pass like a roseate cloud; her hair, of that rich flaxen + which Raphael has made so beautiful; her eyes dark and full of + lustre, her figure slight and flexile, but of that flexibility + which denotes no weakness, but force of character; prompt, as + another Juliet, to love, and waiting only till some Romeo + should cross her path, to say, like the maid of Verona--'I will + be to thee or to the tomb!' + + "She saw Pietro Bonaventuri: the window of his chamber looked + out upon hers; they exchanged glances, signs, promises of love. + Arrived at this point, the distance from each other was their + sole obstacle: this obstacle Bianca was the first to overcome. + + "Each night, when all had retired to rest in the house of the + Salviati, when the nurse who had reared Bianca, had betaken + herself to the next chamber, and the young girl, standing + listening against the partition, had assured herself that this + last Argus was asleep, she threw over her shoulders a dark + cloak to be the less visible in the night, descended on tiptoe, + and light as a shadow, the marble stairs of the paternal + palace, unbarred the gate, and crossed the street. On the + threshold of the opposite door, her lover was standing to + receive her; and the two together, with stifled breath and + silent caresses, ascended the stairs that led to the little + chamber of Pietro. Before the break of day, Bianca retired in + the same manner to her own room, where her nurse found her in + the morning, in a sleep as profound at least as the sleep of + innocence. + + "One night whilst our Juliet was with her Romeo, a baker's boy, + who had just been to light his oven in the neighbourhood, saw a + gate half open, and thought he did good service by closing it. + Ten minutes afterwards, Bianca descended, and saw that it was + impossible to re-enter her father's house. + + "Bianca was one of those energetic spirits whose resolutions + are taken at once, and for ever. She saw that her whole future + destiny was changed by this one accident, and she accepted + without hesitation the new life which this accident had imposed + on her. She re-ascended to her lover, related what had + happened, demanded of him if he was ready to sacrifice all for + her as she was for him, and proposed to take advantage of the + two hours of the night which still remained to them, to quit + Venice and conceal themselves from the pursuit of her parents. + Pietro was true--he adopted immediately the proposal; they + stepped into a gondola, and fled towards Florence. + + "Arrived at Florence, they took refuge with the father of + Pietro--Bonaventuri the elder, who with his wife had a small + lodging in the second floor in the place of St Mark. Strange! + it is with poor parents that the children are so especially + welcome. They received their son and their new daughter with + open arms. Their servant was dismissed, both for economy and + the better preservation of their secret. The good mother + charged herself with the care of the little household. Bianca, + whose white hands had been taught no such useful duties, set + about working the most charming embroidery. The father, who + earned his living as a copyist for public offices, gave out + that he had retained a clerk, and took home a double portion of + papers. All were employed, and the little family contrived to + live. + + "Meanwhile, it will be easily imagined how great a commotion + the flight of Bianca occasioned in the palace of the noble + Capello. During the whole of the first day they made no + pursuit, for they still, though with much anxiety, expected her + return. The day passed, however, without any news of the + fugitive; the flight, on the same morning, of Pietro + Bonaventuri was next reported; a thousand little incidents + which attracted no notice at the time were now brought back to + recollection, and the result of the whole was the clear + conviction that they had fled together. The influence of the + Capelli was such that the case was brought immediately before + the Council of Ten; and Pietro Bonaventuri was placed under the + ban of the Republic. The sentence of this tribunal was made + known to the government of Florence; and this government + authorized the Capelli, or the officers of the Venetian + Republic, to make all necessary search, not only in Florence, + but throughout all Tuscany. The search, however was unavailing. + Each one of the parties felt too great an interest in keeping + their secret, and Bianca herself never stirred from the + apartment. + + "Three months passed in this melancholy concealment, yet she + who had been habituated from infancy to all the indulgences of + wealth, never once breathed a word of complaint. Her only + recreation was to look down into the street through the sloping + blind. Now, amongst those who frequently passed across the + Place of St Mark was the young grand-duke, who went every other + day to see his father at his castle of Petraja. Francesco was + young, gallant, and handsome; but it was not his youth or + beauty that preoccupied the thoughts of Bianca, it was the idea + that this prince, as powerful as he seemed gracious, might, by + one word, raise the ban from Pietro Bonaventuri, and restore + both him and herself to freedom. It was this idea which kindled + a double lustre in the eyes of the young Venetian, as she + punctually at the hour of his passing, ran to the window, and + sloped the jalousie. One day, the prince happening to look up + as he passed, met the enkindled glance of his fair observer. + Bianca hastily retired." + +What immediately follows need not be told at any length. Francesco was +enamoured: he obtained an interview. Bianca released and enriched her +lover, but became the mistress of the young duke. Pietro was quite +content with this arrangement; he had himself given the first example of +inconstancy. He entered upon a career of riotous pleasure, which ended +in a violent death. + +Francesco, in obedience to his father, married a princess of the house +of Austria; but Bianca still retained her influence. His wife, who had +been much afflicted by this preference of her rival, died, and the +repentant widower swore never again to see Bianca. He kept the oath for +four months; but she placed herself as if by accident in his path, and +all her old power was revived. Francesco, by the death of his father, +became the reigning Duke of Tuscany, and Bianca Capello, his wife and +duchess. And now we arrive at that part of the story in which Ferdinand, +the brother of Francesco, and whose statue at Livorno led to this +history, enters on the scene. + + "About three years after their nuptials, the young Archduke, + the issue of Francesco's previous marriage, died, leaving the + ducal throne of Tuscany without direct heir; failing which the + Cardinal Ferdinand would become Grand-duke at the death of his + brother. Now Bianca had given to Francesco one son; but, + besides that he was born before their marriage, and therefore + incapable of succeeding, the rumour had been spread that he was + supposititious. The dukedom, therefore, would descend to the + Cardinal if the Grand-duchess should have no other child; and + Francesco himself had begun to despair of this happiness, when + Bianca announced to him a second pregnancy. + + "This time the Cardinal resolved to watch himself the + proceedings of his dear sister-in-law, lest he should be the + dupe of some new manoeuvre. He began, therefore, to cultivate + in an especial manner the friendship of his brother, declaring, + that the present condition of the Grand-duchess proved to him + how false had been the rumours spread touching her former + _accouchement_. Francesco, happy to find his brother in this + disposition, returned his advances with the utmost cordiality. + The Cardinal availed himself of this friendly feeling to come + and install himself in the Palace Pitti. + + "The arrival of the Cardinal was by no means agreeable to + Bianca, who was not at all deceived as to the true cause of + this fraternal visit. She knew that, in the Cardinal, she had a + spy upon her at every moment. The spy, however, could detect + nothing that savoured of imposture. If her condition was + feigned, the comedy was admirably played. The Cardinal began to + think that his suspicions were unjust. Nevertheless, if there + were craft, the game he determined should be played out with + equal skill upon his side. + + "The eventful day arrived. The Cardinal could not remain in the + chamber of Bianca, but he stationed himself in an antechamber, + through which every one who visited her must necessarily pass. + There he began to say his breviary, walking solemnly to and + fro. After praying and promenading thus for about an hour, a + message was brought to him from the invalid, requesting him to + go into another room, as his tread disturbed her. 'Let her + attend to her affairs, and I to mine,' was the only answer he + gave, and the Cardinal recommenced his walk and his prayer. + + "Soon after this the confessor of the Grand-duchess entered--a + Capuchin, in a long robe. The Cardinal went up to him, and + embraced him in his arms, recommending his sister most + affectionately to his pious care. While embracing the good + monk, the Cardinal felt, or thought he felt, something strange + in his long sleeve. He groped under the Capuchin's robe, and + drew out--a fine boy. + + "'My dear brother,' said the Cardinal, 'I am now more tranquil. + I am sure, at least, that my dear sister-in-law will not die + this time in childbirth.' + + "The monk saw that all that remained was to avoid, if possible, + the scandal; and he asked the Cardinal himself what he should + do. The Cardinal told him to enter into the chamber of the + Duchess, whisper to her what had happened, and, as she acted, + so would he act. Silence should purchase silence; clamour, + clamour. + + "Bianca saw that she must renounce at present her design to + give a successor to the ducal crown; she submitted to a + miscarriage. The Cardinal, on his side, kept his word, and the + unsuccessful attempt was never betrayed. + + "A few months passed on; there was an uninterrupted harmony + between the brothers, and Francesco invited the Cardinal, who + was fond of field-sports, to pass some time with him at a + country palace, famous for its preserves Of game. + + "On the very day of his arrival, Bianca, who knew that the + Cardinal was partial to a certain description of tart, + bethought her to prepare one for him herself. This flattering + attention on the part of his sister-in-law was hinted to him by + Francesco, who mentioned it as a new proof of the Duchess's + amiability, but, as he had no great confidence in his + reconciliation with Bianca, it was an intimation which caused + him not a little disquietude. Fortunately, the Cardinal + possessed an opal, given to him by Pope Sixtus V., which had + the property of growing dim the moment it approached any + poisonous substance. He did not fail to make trial of it on the + tart prepared by Bianca. The opal grew dim and tarnished. The + Cardinal said, with an assumed air of carelessness, that, on + consideration, he would not eat to-day of the tart. The Duke + pressed him; but not being able to prevail--'Well,' said he, + 'since Ferdinand will not eat of his favourite dish, it shall + not be said that a Grand-duchess had turned confectioner for + nothing--I will eat of it.' And he helped himself to a piece of + the tart. + + "Bianca was in the act of bending forward to prevent him--but + suddenly paused. Her position was horrible. She must either + avow her crime, or suffer her husband to poison himself. She + cast a quick retrospective glance along her past life; she saw + that she had exhausted all the pleasures of the world, and + attained to all its glories; her decision was rapid--as rapid + as on that day when she had fled from Venice with Pietro. She + also cut off a piece from the tart, and extending her hand to + her husband, she smiled, and, with her other hand, eat of the + poisoned dish. + + "On the morrow, Francesco and Bianca were dead. A physician + opened their bodies by order of Ferdinand, and declared that + they had fallen victims to a malignant fever. Three days after, + the Cardinal threw down his red hat, and ascended the ducal + throne."--P. 63. + +But presto! Mr Dumas is traveller as well as annalist He must leave the +Middle Ages to themselves; the present moment has its exigences; he must +look to himself and his baggage. He had great difficulty in doing this +on his landing at the Port of Livorno; and now, on his departure, he is +beset with _vetturini_. Let us recur to some of these miseries of +travel, which may at least claim a wide sympathy, for most of us are +familiar with them. It is not necessary even to leave our own island to +find how great an embarrassment too much help may prove, but we +certainly have nothing in our own experience quite equal to the lively +picture of M. Dumas:-- + + "I have visited many ports--I have traversed many towns--I have + contended with the porters of Avignon--with the _facchini_ of + Malta, and with the innkeepers of Messina, but I never entered + so villanous a place as Livorno. + + "In every other country of the world there is some possibility + of defending your baggage, of bargaining for its transport to + the hotel; and if no treaty can be made, there is at least + liberty given to load your own shoulders with it, and be your + own porter. Nothing of this kind at Livorno. The vessel which + brings you has not yet touched the shore when it is boarded; + _commissionnaires_ absolutely rain upon you, you know not + whence; they spring upon the jetty, throw themselves on the + nearest vessel, and glide down upon you from the rigging. + Seeing that your little craft is in danger of being capsized by + their numbers, you think of self-preservation, and grasping + hold of some green and slimy steps, you cling there, like + Crusoe to his rock; then, after many efforts, having lost your + hat, and scarified your knees, and torn your nails, you at + length stand on the pier. So much for yourself. As to your + baggage, it has been already divided into as many lots as there + are articles; you have a porter for your portmanteau, a porter + for your dressing-case, a porter for your hat-box, a porter for + your umbrella, a porter for your cane. If there are two of you, + that makes ten porters; if three, fifteen; as we were four, we + had twenty. A twenty-first wished to take Milord (the dog,) but + Milord, who permits no liberties, took him by the calf, and we + had to pinch his tail till he consented to unlock his teeth. + The porter followed us, crying that the dog had lamed him, and + that he would compel us to make compensation. The people rose + in tumult; and we arrived at the _Pension Suisse_ with twenty + porters before us, and a rabble of two hundred behind. + + "It cost us forty francs for our portmanteaus, umbrellas, and + canes, and ten francs for the bitten leg.[1] In all, fifty + francs for about fifty steps."--P. 59. + + [1] This was not the only case of compensation made out against + this travelling companion. "Milord," says our tourist, "in his + quality of bulldog, was so great a destroyer of cats, that we + judged it wise to take some precautions against overcharges in + this particular. Therefore, on our departure from Genoa, in + which town Milord had commenced his practices upon the feline + race of Italy, we enquired the price of a full-grown, + well-conditioned cat, and it was agreed on all hands that a cat + of the ordinary species--grey, white, and tortoiseshell--was + worth two pauls--(learned cats, Angora cats, cats with two + heads or three tails, are not, of course, included in this + tariff.) Paying down this sum for two several Genoese cats + which had been just strangled by our friend, we demanded a + legal receipt, and we added successively other receipts of the + same kind, so that this document became at length an + indisputable authority for the price of cats throughout all + Italy. As often as Milord committed a new assassination, and + the attempt was made to extort from us more than two pauls as + the price of blood, we drew this document from our pocket, and + proved beyond a cavil that two pauls was what we were + accustomed to pay on such occasions, and obstinate indeed must + have been the man or woman who did not yield to such a weight + of precedent." + +This was on his landing at Livorno: on his departure he gives us an +account, equally graphic, of the _vetturini_:-- + + "A diligence is a creature that leaves at a fixed hour, and its + passengers run to it; a vetturino leaves at all hours, and runs + after its passengers. Hardly have you set your foot out of the + boat that brings you from the steam-vessel to the shore, than + you are assailed, stifled, dragged, deafened by twenty drivers, + who look on you as their merchandise, and treat you + accordingly, and would end by carrying you off bodily, if they + could agree among them who should have the booty. Families have + been separated at the port of Livorno, to find each other how + they could in the streets of Florence. In vain you jump into a + _fiacre_, they leap up before, above, behind; and at the gate + of the hotel, there you are in the midst of the same group of + villains, who are only the more clamorous for having been kept + waiting. Reduced to extremities, you declare that you have come + to Livorno upon commercial business, and that you intend + staying eight days at least, and you ask of the _garcon_, loud + enough for all to hear, if there is an apartment at liberty for + the next week. At this they will sometimes abandon the prey, + which they reckon upon seizing at some future time; they run + back with all haste to the port to catch some other traveller, + and you are free. + + "Nevertheless, if about an hour after this you should wish to + leave the hotel, you will find one or two sentinels at the + gate. These are connected with the hotel, and they have been + forewarned by the _garcon_ that it will not be eight days + before you leave--that, in fact, you will leave to-morrow. + These it is absolutely necessary that you call in, and make + your treaty with. If you should have the imprudence to issue + forth into the street, fifty of the brotherhood will be + attracted by their clamours, and the scene of the port will be + renewed. They will ask ten piastres for a carriage--you will + offer five. They will utter piercing cries of dissent--you will + shut the door upon them. In three minutes one of them will + climb in at the window, and engage with you for the five + piastres. + + "This treaty concluded, you are sacred to all the world; in + five minutes the report is spread through all Livorno that you + are _engaged_. You may then go where you please; every one + salutes you, wishes you _bon voyage_; you would think yourself + amongst the most disinterested people in the world."--P. 94. + +The only question that remains to be decided is that of the +drink-money--the _buona-mano_, as the Italian calls it. This is a matter +of grave importance, and should be gravely considered. On this +_buona-mano_ depends the rapidity of your journey; for the time may vary +at the will of the driver from six to twelve hours. Hereupon M. Dumas +tells an amusing story of a Russian prince, which not only proves how +efficient a cause this _buona mano_ may be in the accomplishment of the +journey, but also illustrates very forcibly a familiar principle of our +own jurisprudence, and a point to which the Italian traveller must pay +particular attention. We doubt if the necessity of a written agreement, +in order to enforce the terms of a contract, was ever made more +painfully evident than in the following instance:-- + + "The Prince C---- had arrived, with his mother and a German + servant, at Livorno. Like every other traveller who arrives at + Livorno, he had sought immediately the most expeditious means + of departure. These, as we have said, present themselves in + sufficient abundance; the only difficulty is, to know how to + use them. + + "The vetturini had learnt from the industrious porters that + they had to deal with a prince. Consequently they demanded + twelve piastres instead of ten, and the prince, instead of + offering five, conceded the twelve piastres, but stipulated + that this should include every thing, especially the + _buona-mano_, which the master should settle with the driver. + 'Very good,' said the vetturini; the prince paid his twelve + piastres, and the carriage started off, with him and his + baggage, at full gallop. It was nine o'clock in the morning: + according to his calculation, the Prince would be at Florence + about three or four in the afternoon. + + "They had advanced about a quarter of a league when the horses + relaxed their speed, and began to walk step by step. As to the + driver, he sang upon his seat, interrupting himself now and + then to gossip with such acquaintances as he met upon the road; + and as it is ill talking and progressing at the same time, he + soon brought himself to a full stop when he had occasion for + conference. + + "The prince endured this for some time; at length putting his + head out of the window, he said, in the purest Tuscan, + '_Avanti! avanti! tirate via!_' + + "'How much do you give for _buona-mano_?' answered the driver, + turning round upon his box. + + "'Why do you speak to me of your _buona-mano_?' said the prince. + 'I have given your master twelve piastres, on condition that it + should include every thing.' + + "'The _buona-mano_ does not concern the master,' responded the + driver; 'how much do you give?' + + "'Not a sou--I have paid.' + + "'Then, your excellence, we will continue our walk.' + + "'Your master has engaged to take me to Florenco in six hours,' + said the Prince. + + "'Where is the paper that says that--the written paper, your + excellence?' + + "'Paper! what need of a paper for so simple a matter? I have no + paper.' + + "'Then, your excellence, we will continue our walk.' + + "'Ah, we will see that!' said the Prince. + + "'Yes, we _will_ see that!' said the driver. + + "Hereupon the prince spoke to his German servant, Frantz, who + was sitting beside the coachman, and bade him administer due + correction to this refractory fellow. + + "Frantz descended from the voiture without uttering a word, + pulled down the driver from his seat, and pummelled him with + true German gravity. Then pointing to the road, helped him on + his box, and reseated himself by his side. The driver + proceeded--a little slower than before. One wearies of all + things in this world, even of beating a coachman. The prince, + reasoning with himself that, fast or slow, he must at length + arrive at his journey's end, counselled the princess his mother + to compose herself to sleep; and, burying himself in one corner + of the carriage, gave her the example. + + "The driver occupied six hours in going from Livorno to + Pontedera; just four hours more than was necessary. Arrived at + Pontedera, he invited the Prince to descend, as he was about to + change the carriage. + + "'But,' said the Prince, 'I have given twelve piastres to your + master on condition that the carriage should not be changed.' + + "'Where is the paper?' + + "'Fellow, you know I have none.' + + "'In that case, your excellence, we will change the carriage.' + + "The prince was half-disposed to break the rascal's bones + himself; but, besides that this would have compromised his + dignity, he saw, from the countenances of those who stood + loitering round the carriage, that it would be a very imprudent + step. He descended; they threw his baggage down upon the + pavement, and after about an hour's delay, brought out a + miserable dislocated carriage and two broken-winded horses. + + "Under any other circumstances the Prince would have been + generous--would have been lavish; but he had insisted upon his + right, he was resolved not to be conquered. Into this + ill-conditioned vehicle he therefore doggedly entered, and as + the new driver had been forewarned that there would be no + _buona-mano_, the equipage started amidst the laughter and + jeers of the mob. + + "This time the horses were such wretched animals that it would + have been out of conscience to expect anything more than a walk + from them. It took six more hours to go from Pontedera to + Empoli. + + "Arrived at Empoli the driver stopped, and presented himself at + the door of the carriage. + + "'Your excellence sleeps here,' said he to the prince. + + "'How! are we at Florence?' + + "'No, your excellence, you are at the charming little town of + Empoli.' + + "'I paid twelve piastres to your master to go to Florence, not + to Empoli. I will sleep at Florence.' + + "'Where is the paper?' + + "'To the devil with your paper!' + + "'Your excellence then has no paper?' + + "'No.' + + "'In that case, your excellence now will sleep at Empoli!' + + "In a few minutes afterwards the prince found himself driven + under a kind of archway. It was a coach-house belonging to an + inn. On his expressing surprise at being driven into this sort + of place, and repeating his determination to proceed to + Florence, the coachman said, that, at all events, he must + change his horses; and that this was the most convenient place + for so doing. In fact, he took out his horses, and led them + away. + + "After waiting some time for his return, the prince called to + Frantz, and bade him open the door of this coach-house, and + bring somebody. + + "Frantz obeyed, but found the door shut--fastened. + + "On hearing that they were shut in, the prince started from the + carriage, shook the gates with all his might, called out + lustily, and looked about, but in vain, for some paving stone + with which to batter them open. + + "Now the prince was a man of admirable good sense; so, having + satisfied himself that the people in the house either could + not, or would not hear him, he determined to make the best of + his position. Re-entering the carriage, he drew up the glasses, + looked to his pistols, stretched out his legs, and wishing his + mother good night, went off to sleep. Frantz did the same on + his post. The princess was not so fortunate; she was in + perpetual terror of some ambush, and kept her eyes wide open + all the night. + + "So the night passed. At seven o'clock in the morning the door + of the coach-house opened, and a driver appeared with a couple + of horses. + + "'Are there not some travellers for Florence here?' he asked + with the tone of perfect politeness, and as if he were putting + the most natural question in the world. + + "The prince leapt from the carriage with the intention of + strangling the man--but it was another driver! + + "'Where is the rascal that brought us here?' he demanded. + + "'What, Peppino? Does your excellence mean Peppino?' + + "'The driver from Pontedera?' + + "'Ah, well, that was Peppino.' + + "'Then where is Peppino?' + + "'He is on his road home. Yes, your excellence. You see it was + the fete of the Madonna, and we danced and drank together--I + and Peppino--all the night; and this morning about an hour ago + says he to me, 'Gaetano, do you take your horses, and go find + two travellers and a servant who are under a coach-house at the + _Croix d'Or_; all is paid except the _buona-mano_.' And I asked + him, your excellence, how it happened that travellers were + sleeping in a coach-house instead of in a chamber. 'Oh,' said + he, 'they are English--they are afraid of not having clean + sheets, and so they prefer to sleep in their carriage in the + coach-house.' Now as I know the English are a nation of + originals, I supposed it was all right, and so I emptied + another flask, and got my horses, and here I am. If I am too + early I will return, and come by and by. + + "'No, no, in the devil's name,' said the prince, 'harness your + beasts, and do not lose a moment. There is a piastre for your + _buona-mano_.' + + "They were soon at Florence. + + "The first care of the prince, after having breakfasted, for + neither he nor the princess had eaten any thing since they had + left Livorno, was to lay his complaint before a magistrate. + + "'Where is the paper?' said the judicial authority. + + "'I have none,' said the prince. + + "'Then I counsel you,' replied the judge, 'to let the matter + drop. Only the next time give five piastres to the master, and + a piastre and a half to the driver; you will save five piastres + and a half, and arrive eighteen hours sooner.'"--P. 97. + +M. Dumas, however, arrives at Florence without any such disagreeable +adventure as sleeping in a coach-house. He gives a pleasing description +of the Florentine people, amongst whom the spirit of commerce has died +away, but left behind a considerable share of the wealth and luxury that +sprang from it. There is little spirit of enterprise; no rivalry between +a class enriching itself and the class with whom wealth is hereditary; +the jewels that were purchased under the reign of the Medici still shine +without competitors on the promenade and at the opera. It is a people +that has made its fortune, and lives contentedly on its revenues, and on +what it gets from the stranger. "The first want of a Florentine," says +our author, "is repose; even pleasure is secondary; it costs him some +little effort to be amused. Wearied of its frequent political +convulsions, the town of the Medici aspires only to that unbroken and +enchanted slumber which fell, as the fairy tale informs us, on the +beautiful lady in the sleepy wood. No one here seems to labour, except +those who are tolling and ringing the church-bells, and they indeed +appear to have rest neither day nor night." + +There are but three classes visible in Florence. The nobility--the +foreigner--and the people. The nobility, a few princely houses excepted, +spend but little, the people work but little, and it would be a marvel +how these last lived if it were not for the foreigner. Every autumn +brings them their harvest in the shape of a swarm of travellers from +England, France, or Russia, and, we may now add, America. The winter +pays for the long delicious indolence of the summer. Then the populace +lounges, with interminable leisure, in their churches, on their +promenades, round the doors of coffee-houses that are never closed +either day or night; they follow their religious processions; they +cluster with an easy good-natured curiosity round every thing that wears +the appearance of a fete; taking whatever amusement presents itself, +without caring to detain it, and quitting it without the least distrust +that some other quite as good will occupy its place. "One evening we +were roused," says our traveller, "by a noise in the street: two or +three musicians of the opera, on leaving the theatre, had taken a fancy +to go home playing a waltz. The scattered population of the streets +arranged themselves, and followed waltzing. The men who could find no +better partners, waltzed together. Five or six hundred persons were +enjoying this impromptu ball, which kept its course from the opera house +to the Port del Prato, where the last musician resided. The last +musician having entered his house, the waltzers returned arm-in-arm, +still humming the air to which they had been dancing." + + "It follows," continues M. Dumas, "from this commercial apathy, + that at Florence you must seek after every thing you want. It + never comes of itself--never presents itself before + you;--everything there stays at home--rests in its own place. A + foreigner who should remain only a month in the capital of + Tuscany would carry away a very false idea of it. At first it + seems impossible to procure the things the most indispensable, + or those you do procure are bad; it is only after some time + that you learn, and that not from the inhabitants, but from + other foreigners who have resided there longer than yourself, + where anything is to be got. At the end of six months you are + still making discoveries of this sort; so that people generally + quit Tuscany at the time they have learned to live there. It + results from all this that every time you visit Florence you + like it the better; if you should revisit it three or four + times you would probably end by making of it a second country, + and passing there the remainder of your lives."[2] + + [2] It is amusing to contrast the _artistic_ manner in which + our author makes all his statements, with the style of a + guide-book, speaking on the manufactures and industry of + Florence. It is from Richard's _Italy_ we quote. Mark the + exquisite medley of humdrum, matter-of-fact details, jotted + down as if by some unconscious piece of mechanism:--"Florence + _manufactures_ excellent silks, woollen cloths, elegant + carriages, bronze articles, earthenware, straw hats, perfumes, + essences, _and candied fruits_; also, all kinds of turnery and + inlaid work, piano-fortes, philosophical and mathematical + instruments, &c. The dyes used at this city are much admired, + particularly the black, _and its sausages are famous throughout + all Italy_." + +Shall we visit the churches of Florence with M. Dumas? No, we are not in +the vein. Shall we go with him to the theatres--to the opera--to the +Pergola? Yes, but not to discuss the music or the dancing. Every body +knows that at the great theatres of Italy the fashionable part of the +audience pay very little attention to the music, unless it be a new +opera, but make compensation by listening devoutly to the ballet. The +Pergola is the great resort of fashion. A box at the Pergola, and a +carriage for the banks of the Arno, are the _indispensables_, we are +told, at Florence. Who has these, may eat his macaroni where he +pleases--may dine for sixpence if he will, or can: it is his own affair, +the world is not concerned about it--he is still a gentleman, and ranks +with nobles. Who has them not--though he be derived from the loins of +emperors, and dine every day off plate of gold, and with a dozen +courses--is still nobody. Therefore regulate your expenditure +accordingly, all ye who would be somebody. We go with M. Dumas to the +opera, not, as we have said, for the music or the dancing, but because, +as is the way with dramatic authors, he will there introduce us, for the +sake of contrast with an institution very different from that of an +operatic company-- + + "Sometimes in the midst of a cavatina or a _pas-de-deux_, a + bell with a sharp, shrill, excoriating sound, will be heard; it + is the bell _della misericordia_. Listen: if it sound but once, + it is for some ordinary accident; if twice, for one of a + serious nature; if it sounds three times, it is a case of + death. If you look around, you will see a slight stir in some + of the boxes, and it will often happen that the person you have + been speaking to, if a Florentine, will excuse himself for + leaving you, will quietly take his hat and depart. You inquire + what that bell means, and why it produces so strange an effect. + You are told it is the bell _della misericordia_, and that he + with whom you were speaking is a brother of the order. + + "This brotherhood of mercy is one of the noblest institutions + in the world. It was founded in 1244, on occasion of the + frequent pestilences which at that period desolated the town, + and it has been perpetuated to the present day, without any + alteration, except in its details--with none in its purely + charitable spirit. It is composed of seventy-two brothers, + called chiefs of the watch, who are each in service four months + in the year. Of these seventy-two brothers, thirty are priests, + fourteen gentlemen, and twenty-eight artists. To these, who + represent the aristocratic classes and the liberal arts, are + added 500 labourers and workmen, who may be said to represent + the people. + + "The seat of the brotherhood is in the place _del Duomo_. Each + brother has there, marked with his own name, a box enclosing a + black robe like that of the _penitents_, with openings only for + the eyes and mouth, in order that his good actions may have the + further merit of being performed in secret. Immediately that + the news of any accident or disaster is brought to the brother + who is upon guard, the bell sounds its alarm, once, twice, or + thrice, according to the gravity of the case; and at the sound + of the bell every brother, wherever he may be, is bound to + retire at the instant, and hasten to the rendezvous. There he + learns what misfortune or what suffering has claimed his pious + offices; he puts on his black robe and a broad hat, takes the + taper in his hand, and goes forth where the voice of misery has + called him. If it is some wounded man, they bear him to the + hospital; if the man is dead, to a chapel: the nobleman and the + day labourer, clothed with the same robe, support together the + same litter, and the link which unites these two extremes of + society is some sick pauper, who, knowing neither, is praying + equally for both. And when these brothers of mercy have quitted + the house, the children whose father they have carried out, or + the wife whose husband they have borne away, have but to look + around them, and always, on some worm-eaten piece of furniture, + there will be found a pious alms, deposited by an unknown hand. + + "The Grand-duke himself is a member of this fraternity, and I + have been assured that more than once, at the sound of that + melancholy bell, he has clothed himself in the uniform of + charity, and penetrated unknown, side by side with a + day-labourer, to the bed's head of some dying wretch, and that + his presence had afterwards been detected only by the alms he + had left behind."--p. 126. + +It is not to be supposed that our dramatist pursues the same direct and +unadventurous route that lies open to every citizen of Paris and London. +At the end of the first volume we leave him still at Florence; we open +the second, and we find him and his companion Jadin, and his companion's +dog Milord, standing at the port of Naples, looking out for some vessel +to take them to Sicily. So that we have travels in Italy with Rome left +out. Not that he did not visit Rome, but that we have no "souvenirs" of +his visit here. As the book is a mere _capriccio_, there can be no +possible objection taken to it on this score. Besides, the island of +Sicily, which becomes the chief scene of his adventures, is less beaten +ground. Nor do we hear much of Naples, for he quits Naples almost as +soon as he had entered it. This last fact requires explanation. + +M. Dumas has had the honour to be an object of terror or of animosity to +crowned heads. When at Genoa, his Sardinian Majesty manifested this +hostility to M. Dumas--we presume on account of his too liberal +politics--by dispatching an emissary of the police to notify to him that +he must immediately depart from Genoa. Which emissary of his Sardinian +Majesty had no sooner delivered his royal sentence of deportation, than +he extended his hand for a _pour boire_. Either M. Dumas must be a far +more formidable person than we have any notion of, or majesty can be +very nervous, or very spiteful. And now, when he is about to enter +Naples----but why do we presume to relate M. Dumas's personal +adventures in any other language than his own? or language as near his +own as we--who are, we must confess, imperfect translators--can hope to +give. + + "The very evening of our arrival at Naples, Jadin and I ran to + the port to enquire if by chance any vessel, whether steam-boat + or sailing packet, would leave on the morrow for Sicily. As it + is not the ordinary custom for travellers to go to Naples to + remain there a few hours only, let me say a word on the + circumstance that compelled us to this hasty departure. + + "We had left Paris with the intention of traversing the whole + of Italy, including Sicily and Calabria; and, putting this + project into scrupulous execution, we had already visited Nice, + Genoa, Milan, Florence, and Rome, when, after a sojourn of + about three weeks at this last city, I had the honour to meet, + at the Marquis de P----'s, our own _charge des affaires_, the + Count de Ludorf, the Neapolitan ambassador. As I was to leave + in a few days for Naples, the Marquis introduced me to his + brother in diplomacy. M. de Ludorf received me with that cold + and vacant smile which pledges to nothing; nevertheless, after + this introduction, I thought myself bound to carry to him our + passports myself. M. de Ludorf had the civility to tell me to + deposit the passports at his office, and to call there for them + the day after the morrow. + + "Two days having elapsed, I accordingly presented myself at the + office: I found a clerk there, who, with the utmost politeness, + informed me that some difficulties having arisen on the subject + of my _visa_, I had better make an application to the + ambassador himself. I was obliged, therefore, whatever + resolution I had made to the contrary, to present myself again + to M. de Ludorf. + + "I found the ambassador more cold, more measured than before, + but reflecting that it would probably be the last time I should + have the honour of seeing him, I resigned myself. He motioned + to me to take a chair. This was some improvement upon the last + visit; the last visit he left me standing. + + "'Monsieur,' said he, with a certain air of embarrassment, and + drawing out, one after the other, the folds of his shirt-front, + 'I regret to say that you cannot go to Naples.' + + "'Why so?' I replied, determined to impose upon our dialogue + whatever tone I thought fit--'are the roads so bad?' + + "'No, monsieur; the roads are excellent, but you have the + misfortune to be on the list of those who cannot enter the + kingdom of Naples.' + + "'However honourable such a distinction may be, monsieur + l'ambassadeur,' said I, suiting my tone to the words, 'it will + at present be rather inconvenient, and I trust you will permit + me to inquire into the cause of this prohibition. If it is + nothing but one of those slight and vexatious interruptions + which one meets with perpetually in Italy, I have some friends + about the world who might have influence sufficient to remove + it.' + + "'The cause is one of a grave nature, and I doubt if your + friends, of whatever rank they may be, will have influence to + remove it.' + + "'What may it be?' + + "'In the first place, you are the son of General Matthieu + Dumas, who was minister of war at Naples during the usurpation + of Joseph.' + + "'I am sorry,' I answered, 'to be obliged to decline any + relationship with that illustrious general. My father was not + General Matthieu, but General Alexandre Dumas. The same,' I + continued, seeing that he was endeavouring to recall some + reminiscences connected with the name of Dumas, 'who, after + having been made prisoner at Tarentum, in contempt of the + rights of hospitality, was poisoned at Brindisi, with Mauscourt + and Dolomieu, in contempt of the rights of nations. This + happened, monsieur l'ambassadeur, at the same time that they + hanged Carracciolo in the Gulf of Naples. You see I do all I + can to assist your recollection.' + + "M. de Ludorf bit his lips. + + "'Well, monsieur,' he resumed after a moment's silence, 'there + is a second reason--your political opinions. You are marked out + as a republican, and have quitted Paris, it is said, on some + political design.' + + "'To which I answer, monsieur, by showing you my letters of + introduction. They bear nearly all the seals and signatures of + our ministers. Here is one from the Admiral Jacob, another from + Marshal Soult, another from M. de Villemain; they claim for me + the aid of the French ambassador in any case of this + description.' + + "'Well, well,' said M. de Ludorf, 'since you have foreseen the + very difficulty that has occurred, meet it with those means + which are in your power. For me, I repeat, I cannot sign your + passport. Those of your companions are quite regular; they can + proceed when they please; but they must proceed without you.' + + "'Has the Count de Ludorf' said I, rising, 'any commissions for + Naples?' + + "'Why so, monsieur?' + + "'Because I shall have great pleasure in undertaking them.' + + "'But I repeat, you cannot go to Naples.' + + "'I shall be there in three days.' + + "I wished M. de Ludorf good morning, and left him stupefied at + my assurance."--Vol. ii. p. 5. + +Our dramatical traveller ran immediately to a young friend, an artist +then studying at Rome, and prevailed on him to take out a passport, in +his own name for Naples. Fortified with this passport, and assuming the +name of his friend, he left Rome that evening. The following day he +reached Naples. But as he was exposed every moment to detection, it was +necessary that he should pass over immediately to Sicily. The +steam-boats at Naples, unlike the steam-boats every where else, start at +no fixed period. The captain waits for his contingent of passengers, and +till this has been obtained both he and his vessel are immovable. M. +Dumas and his companion, therefore, hired a small sailing vessel, a +_speronara_ as it is called, in which they embarked the next morning. +But before weighing anchor M. Dumas took from his portfolio the neatest, +purest, whitest, sheet of paper that it contained, and indited the +following letter to the Count de Ludorf:-- + + "Monsieur le Comte, + + "I am distressed that your excellency did not think fit to + charge me with your commissions for Naples. I should have + executed them with a fidelity which would have convinced you of + the grateful recollection I retain of your kind offices. + + "Accept, M. le Comte, the assurance of those lively sentiments + which I entertain towards you, and of which, one day or other, + I hope to give you proof. + + "ALEX. DUMAS." + + "Naples, 23d Aug. 1835." + +With the crew of this _speronara_ we became as familiar as with the +personages of a novel; and, indeed, about this time the novelist begins +to predominate over the tourist. + +On leaving the bay of Naples our traveller first makes for the island of +Capri. The greatest curiosity which he here visits and describes in the +_azure grotto_. He and his companion are rowed, each in a small skiff, +to a narrow dark aperture upon the rocky coast, and which appears the +darker from its contrast with the white surf that is dashing about it. +He is told to lie down on his back in the boat, to protect his head from +a concussion against the low roof. + + "In a moment after I was borne upon the surge--the bark glided + on with rapidity--I saw nothing but a dark rock, which seemed + for a second to be weighing on my chest. Then on a sudden I + found myself in a grotto so marvellous that I uttered a cry of + astonishment, and started up in my admiration with a bound + which endangered the frail bark on which I stood. + + "I had before me, around me, above me, beneath me, a perfect + enchantment, which words cannot describe, and which the pencil + would utterly fail to give any impression of. Imagine an + immense cavern, all pure azure--as if God had made a tent there + with some residue of the firmament; a surface of water so + limpid, so transparent, that you seem to float on air: above + you, the pendant stalactites, huge and fantastical, reversed + pyramids and pinnacles: below you a sand of gold mingled with + marine vegetation; and around the margin of cave, where it is + bathed by the water, the coral shooting out its capricious and + glittering branches. That narrow entrance which, from the sea, + showed like a dark spot, now shone at one end a luminous point, + the solitary star which gave its subdued light to this fairy + palace; whilst at the opposite extremity a sort of alcove led + on the imagination to expect new wonders, or perhaps the + apparition of the nymph or goddess of the place. + + "In all probability the azure grotto was unknown to the + ancients. No poet speaks of it; and surely with their + marvellous imagination the Greeks could not have failed to make + it the palace of some marine goddess, and to have transmitted + to us her history. The sea, perhaps, was higher than it is now, + and the secrets of this cave were known only to Amphitrite and + her court of sirens, naiads, and tritons. + + "Even now at times the sea rises and closes the orifice, so + that those who have entered cannot escape. In which case they + must wait till the wind, which had suddenly shifted to the east + or west, returns to the north or south; and it has happened + that visitors who came to spend twenty minutes in the azure + grotto, have remained there two, three, and even four days. To + provide against such an emergency, the boatmen always bring + with them a certain quantity of biscuit to feed the prisoners, + and as the rock affords fresh water in several places, there is + no fear of thirst. It was not till we had been in the grotto + some time that our boatmen communicated this piece of + information; we were disposed to reproach them for this delay, + but they answered with the utmost simplicity, that if they told + this at first to travellers, half of them would decline coming, + and this would injure the boatmen. + + "I confess that this little piece of information raised a + certain disquietude, and I found the azure grotto infinitely + less agreeable to the imagination.... We again laid ourselves + down at the bottom of our respective canoes, and issued forth + with the same precautions, and the same good fortune, with + which we had entered. But we were some minutes before we could + open our eyes; the burning sun upon the glittering ocean + absolutely blinded us. We had not gone many yards, however, + before the eye recovered itself, and all that we had seen in + the azure grotto had the consistency of a dream." + +From Capri our travellers proceed to Sicily. We have a long story and a +violent storm upon the passage, and are landed at Messina. Here M. Dumas +enlarges his experience by an acquaintance with the _Sirocco_. His +companion, M. Jadin, had been taken ill, and a physician had been called +in. + + "The doctor had ordered that the patient (who was suffering + under a fever) should be exposed to all the air possible, that + doors and windows should be opened, and he should be placed in + the current. This was done; but on the present evening, to my + astonishment, instead of the fresh breeze of the night--which + was wont to blow the fresher from our neighbourhood to the + sea--there entered at the open window a dry hot wind like the + air from a furnace. I waited for the morning, but the morning + brought no change in the state of the atmosphere. + + "My patient had suffered greatly through the night. I rang the + bell for some lemonade, the only drink the doctor had + recommended; but no one answered the summons. I rang again, and + a third time: still no one came; at length seeing that the + mountain would not come to me, I went to the mountain. I + wandered through the corridor, and entered apartment after + apartment, and found no one to address. It was nine o'clock in + the morning, yet the master and mistress of the house had not + left their room, and not a domestic was at his post. It was + quite incomprehensible. + + "I descended to the portico; I found him lying on an old sofa + all in tatters, the principal ornament of his room, and asked + him why the house was thus deserted. + + "'Ah, monsieur!' said he, 'do you not feel the sirocco?' + + "'Sirocco or not, is this a reason why no one should come when + I call?' + + "'Oh, monsieur, when it is sirocco no one does any thing!' + + "'And your travellers, who is to wait upon them?' + + "'On those days they wait upon themselves.' + + "I begged pardon of this respectable official for having + disturbed him; he heaved such a sigh as indicated that it + required a great amount of Christian charity to grant the + pardon I had asked. + + "The hour arrived when the doctor should have paid his visit, + and no doctor came. I presumed that the sirocco detained him + also; but as the state of Jadin appeared to me alarming, I + resolved to go and rouse my Esculapius, and bring him, willing + or unwilling, to the hotel. I took my hat and sallied forth. + + "Messina had the appearance of a city of the dead: not an + inhabitant was walking in the streets, not a head was seen at + the windows. The mendicants themselves (and he who has not seen + the Sicilian mendicant, knows not what wretchedness is,) lay in + the corners of the streets, stretched out, doubled up, panting, + without strength to stretch out their hand for charity, or + voice to ask an alms. Pompeii, which I visited three months + afterwards, was not more silent, more solitary, more inanimate. + + "I reached the doctor's. I rang, I knocked, no one answered. I + pushed against the door, it opened;--I entered, and pursued my + search for the doctor. + + "I traversed three or four apartments. There were women lying + upon sofas, and children sprawling on the floor. Not one even + raised a head to look at me. At last, in one of the rooms, the + door of which was, like the rest, half-open, I found the man I + was in quest of, stretched upon his bed. + + "I went up to him, I took him by the hand, and felt his pulse. + + "'Ah,' said he, with a melancholy voice, and scarcely turning + his head towards me, 'Is that you? What can you want?' + + "'Want!--I want you to come and see my friend, who is no + better, as it seems to me.' + + "'Go and see your friend!' cried the doctor, in a + fright--'impossible!' + + "'Why impossible?' + + "He made a desperate effort to move, and taking his cane in his + left hand, passed his right hand slowly down it, from the + golden head that adorned it to the other extremity. 'Look you,' + said he, 'my cane sweats.' + + "And, in fact, there fell some globules of water from it, such + an effect has this terrible wind even on inanimate things. + + "'Well,' said I, 'and what does that prove?' + + "'That proves, that at such a time as this, there are no + physicians, all are patients.[3]'"--P. 175. + + [3] The extreme misery of the paupers in Sicily, who form, he + tells us, a tenth part of the population, quite haunts the + imagination of M. Dumas. He recurs to it several times. At one + place he witnesses the distribution, at the door of a convent, + of soup to these poor wretches, and gives a terrible + description of the famine-stricken group. "All these + creatures," he continues, "had eaten nothing since yesterday + evening. They had come there to receive their porringer of + soup, as they had come to-day, as they would come to-morrow. + This was all their nourishment for twenty-four hours, unless + some of them might obtain a few _grani_ from their + fellow-citizens, or the compassion of strangers; but this is + very rare, as the Syracusans are familiarized with the + spectacle, and few strangers visit Syracuse. When the + distributor of this blessed soup appeared, there were + unheard-of cries, and each one rushed forward with his wooden + bowl in his hand. Only there were some too feeble to exclaim, + or to run, and who dragged themselves forward, groaning, upon + their hands and knees. There was in the midst of all, a child + clothed, not in anything that could be called a shirt, but a + kind of spider's web, with a thousand holes, who had no wooden + bowl, and who wept with hunger. It stretched out its poor + little meagre hands, and joined them together, to supply as + well as it could, by this natural receptacle, the absent bowl. + The cook poured in a spoonful of the soup. The soup was + boiling, and burned the child's hand. It uttered a cry of pain, + and was compelled to open its fingers, and the soup fell upon + the pavement. The child threw itself on all fours, and began to + eat in the manner of a dog."--Vol. iii. p. 58. + + And in another place he says, "Alas, this cry of hunger! it is + the eternal cry of Sicily; I have heard nothing else for three + months. There are miserable wretches, whose hunger has never + been appeased, from the day when, lying in their cradle, they + began to draw the milk from their exhausted mothers, to the + last hour when, stretched on their bed of death, they have + expired endeavouring to swallow the sacred host which the + priest had laid upon their lips. Horrible to think of! there + are human beings to whom, to have eaten once sufficiently, + would be a remembrance for all their lives to come."--Vol. iv. + p. 108. + +Seeing there was no chance of bringing the doctor to the hotel, unless +he carried him there by main force, Mr Dumas contented himself with +relating the symptoms of his friend. To drink lemonade--much +lemonade--all the lemonade he could swallow, was the only prescription +that the physician gave. And the simple remedy seems to have sufficed; +for the patient shortly after recovered. + +Not the least agreeable portion of these travels, is the pleasant +impression they leave of the traveller himself, one who has his humours +doubtless, but who is social, buoyant, brave, generous, and +enterprising. A Frenchman--as a chemist, in his peculiar language, would +say--is a creature "endowed with a considerable range of affinity." Our +traveller has this range of affinity; he wins the heart of all and +several--the crew of his _speronara._ We will close with the following +extract, both because it shows the frank and lively feelings of the +Frenchman, and because it introduces a name dear to all lovers of +melody. The father of Bellini was a Sicilian, and Dumas was in Sicily. + + "It was while standing on this spot, that I asked my guide if + he knew the father of Bellini. At this question he turned, and + pointing out to me an old man who was passing in a little + carriage drawn by one horse--'Look you,' said he, 'there he is, + taking his ride into the country!' + + "I ran to the carriage and stopped it, knowing that he is never + intrusive who speaks to a father of his son, and of such a son + as Bellini's. At the first mention of his name, the old man + took me by both hands, and asked me eagerly if I really knew + his son. I drew from my portfolio a letter of introduction, + which, on my departure from Paris, Bellini had given me for the + Duchess de Noja, and asked him if he knew the handwriting. He + took the letter in his hands, and answered only by kissing the + superscription. + + "'Ah,' said he, turning round to me, 'you know not how good he + is! We are not rich. Well, at each success there comes some + remembrance, something to add to the ease and comfort of an old + man. If you will come home with me, I will show you how many + things I owe to his goodness. Every success brings something + new. This watch I carry with me, was from _Norma_; this little + carriage and horse, from _the Puritans_. In every letter that + he writes, he says that he will come; but Paris is far from + Sicily. I do not trust to this promise--I am afraid that I + shall die without seeing him again. You will see him, you----' + + "'Yes,' I answered, 'and if you have any commission----' + + "'No--what should I send him?--My blessing?--Dear boy, I give + it him night and morning. But tell him you have given me a + happy day by speaking to me of him--tell him that I embraced + you as an old friend--(and he embraced me)--but you need not + say that I was in tears. Besides,' he added, 'it is with joy + that I weep.--And is it true that my son has a reputation?' + + "'Indeed a very great reputation.' + + "'How strange!' said the old man, 'who would have thought it, + when I used to scold him, because, instead of working, he would + be eternally beating time, and teaching his sister all the old + Sicilian airs! Well, these things are written above. I wish I + could see him before I die.--But your name?' he added, 'I have + forgotten all this time to ask your name.' + + "I told him: it woke no recollection. + + "'Alexandre Dumas, Alexandre Dumas,' he repeated two or three + times, 'I shall recollect that he who bears that name has given + me good news of my son. Adieu! Alexandre Dumas--I shall + recollect that name--Adieu!' + + "Poor old man! I am sure he has not forgotten it; for the news + I gave him of his son was the last he was ever to receive."--P. + 226. + +Sicily is one of those _romantic_ countries, where you may still meet +with adventures in your travels, where you may be shot at by banditti +with pointed hats and long guns. M. Dumas passes not without his share +of such adventures. Perhaps, as Sicily is less trodden ground than +Italy, his "Souvenirs" will be found more interesting as he proceeds. We +have naturally taken our quotations in the order in which they presented +themselves, and we have not advanced further than the second of the five +delectably small volumes in which these travels are printed. Would our +space permit us to proceed, it is probable that our extracts would +increase, instead of diminishing, in interest. + + * * * * * + + + + +AMMALAT BEK. + +A TRUE TALE OF THE CAUCASUS. FROM THE RUSSIAN OF MARLINSKI. + +CHAPTER VI. + + +_Fragments from the Diary of Ammalat Bek.--Translated from the Tartar_. + +... Have I been asleep till now, or am I now in a dream?... This, then, +is the new world called _thought_!... O beautiful world! thou hast long +been to me cloudy and confused, like the milky way, which, they say, +consists of thousands of glittering stars! It seems to me that I am +ascending the mountain of knowledge from the valley of darkness and +ignorance; each step opens to me views further and more extensive.... My +breast breathes freer, I gaze in the face of the sun.... I look +below--the clouds murmur under my feet!... annoying clouds! You prevent +me from seeing the heavens from the earth; from the heaven to look upon +the earth! + +I wonder how the commonest questions, _whence_ and _how_, never before +came into my head? All God's world, with every thing in it good or evil, +was seen reflected in my soul as in the sea: I only knew as much of it +as the sea does, or a mirror. In my memory, it is true, much was +preserved: but to what end did this serve? Does the hawk understand why +the hood is put on his head? Does the steed understand why they shoe +him? Did I understand why in one place mountains are necessary, in +another steppes, here eternal snows, there oceans of sand? Why storms +and earthquakes were necessary? And thou, most wondrous being, Man! it +never has entered my head to follow thee from thy cradle, suspended on a +wandering mule, to that magnificent city which I have never seen, and +which I am enchanted merely to have heard of!... I confess that I am +already delighted with the mere outside of a book, without understanding +the meaning of the mysterious letters ... but V. not only makes +knowledge attractive, but gives me the means of acquiring it. With him, +as a young swallow with its mother, I try my new wings.... The distance +and the height still astonish, but no longer alarm me. The time will +come when I shall mount upwards to the heavens!... + + * * * * * + +... But yet, am I happy because V. and his books teach me to think? The +time was, when a spirited steed, a costly sabre, a good gun, delighted +me like a child. Now, that I know the superiority of mind over body, my +former pride in shooting or horsemanship appears to me ridiculous--nay, +even contemptible. Is it worth while to devote oneself to a trade, in +which the meanest broad-shouldered nouker can surpass me?... Is it worth +while to seek honour and happiness, of which the first wound may deprive +me--the first awkward leap? They have taken from me this plaything, but +with what have they replaced it?... With new wants, with new wishes, +which Allah himself can neither weary nor satisfy. I thought myself a +man of consequence; but now I am convinced of my own nothingness. +Formerly, to my memory, my grandfather and great-grandfather were at the +beginning of the night of the past, with its stories and dreaming +traditions.... The Caucasus contained my world, and I peacefully slept +in that night. I thought to be famous in Daghestan--the height of glory. +And what then? History has peopled my former desert with nations, +shattering each other for glory; with heroes, terrifying the nations by +valour to which we can never rise. And where are they? Half forgotten, +they have vanished in the dust of ages. The description of the earth +shows me that the Tartars occupy a little corner of the world; that they +are miserable savages in comparison with the European nations; and that +of the existence, not only of their brave warriors, but of the whole +nation, nobody thinks, nobody knows, nobody wishes to know. It is worth +while to be a glow-worm amongst insects. Was it worth while to expand my +mind, in order to be convinced of such a bitter truth? + + * * * * * + +What is the use of a knowledge of the powers of nature to me, when I +cannot change my soul, master my heart? The sea teaches me to build +dykes--but I cannot restrain my tears!... I can conduct the lightning +from the roof, but I cannot throw off my sorrows! Was I not unhappy +enough from my feelings alone, without calling around me my thoughts, +like greedy vultures? What does the sick man gain by knowing that his +disease is incurable?... The tortures of my hopeless love have become +sharper, more piercing, more various, since my intellect has been +enlightened. + + * * * * * + +No! I am unjust. Reading shortens for me the long winter-like night--the +hours of separation. In teaching me to fix on paper my flying thoughts, +V. has given me a heartfelt enjoyment. Some day I shall meet Seltanetta, +and I shall show her these pages; in which her name is written oftener +than that of Allah in the Koran. "These are the annals of my heart," I +shall say: "Look! on such a day thus thought about you--on such a night, +I saw you thus in my dreams! By these little leaves, as by a string of +diamond beads, you may count my sighs, my tears for you." O lovely, and +beloved being! you will often smile at my strange phantasies--long will +they supply matter for our conversations. But, by your side, +enchantress, shall I be able to remember the past?... No, no!... Every +thing before me, every thing around me, will then fade away, except the +present bliss--to be with you! O, how burning, and how light will my +soul be! Liquid sunshine will flow in my veins--I shall float in heaven, +like the sun! To forget all by your side is a bliss prouder than the +highest wisdom! + + * * * * * + +I have read stories of love, of the charms of woman--of the perfidy of +man--but no heroine approaches my Seltanetta in loveliness of soul or +body--not one of the heroes do I resemble--I envy them the fascination, +I admire the wisdom of lovers in books--but then, how weak, how cold is +their love! It is a moonbeam playing on ice! Whence come these European +babblers of Tharsis--these nightingales of the market-place--these +sugared confections of flowers? I cannot believe that people can love +passionately, and prate of their love--even as a hired mourner laments +over the dead. The spendthrift casts his treasure by handfuls to the +wind; the lover hides it, nurses it, buries it in his heart like a +hoard. + + * * * * * + +I am yet young, and I ask "what is friendship?" I have a friend in V.--a +loving, real, thoughtful friend; yet I am not _his_ friend. I feel it, I +reproach myself that I do not reciprocate his regard as I ought, as he +deserves--but is in my power? In my soul there is no room for any one +but Seltanetta--in my heart there is no feeling but love. + + * * * * * + +No! I cannot read, I cannot understand what the Colonel explains to me. +I cheated myself when I thought that the ladder of science could be +climbed by me ... I am weary at the first steps, I lose my way on the +first difficulty, I entangle the threads, instead of unravelling them--I +pull and tear them--and I carry off nothing of the prey but a few +fragments. The _hope_ which the Colonel held out to me I mistook for my +own progress. But who--what--impedes this progress? That which makes the +happiness and misery of my life--love. In every place, in every thing, I +hear and see Seltanetta--and often Seltanetta alone. To banish her from +my thoughts I should consider sacrilege; and, even if I wished, I could +not perform the resolution. Can I see without light? Can I breathe +without air? Seltanetta is my light, my air, my life, my soul! + + * * * * * + +My hand trembles--my heart flutters in my bosom. If I wrote with my +blood, 'twould scorch the paper. Seltanetta! your image pursues me +dreaming or awake. The image of your charms is more dangerous than the +reality. The thought that I may never possess them, touch them, see +them, perhaps, plunges me into an incessant melancholy--at once I melt +and burn. I recall each lovely feature, each attitude of your exquisite +person--that little foot, the seal of love, that bosom, the gem of +bliss! The remembrance of your voice makes my soul thrill like the chord +of an instrument--ready to burst from the clearness of its tone--and +your kiss! that kiss in which I drank your soul! It showers roses and +coals of fire upon my lonely bed--I burn--my hot lips are tortured by +the thirst for caresses--my hand longs to clasp your waist--to touch +your knees! Oh, come--Oh, fly to me--that I may die in delight, as now I +do in weariness! + + * * * * * + +Colonel Verkhoffsky, endeavouring by every possible means to divert +Ammalat's grief, thought of amusing him with a boar-hunt, the favourite +occupation of the Beks of Daghestan. In answer to his summons, there +assembled about twenty persons, each attended by his noukers, each eager +to try his fortune, or to gallop about the field and vaunt his courage. +Already had grey December covered the tops of the surrounding mountains +with the first-fallen snow. Here and there in the streets of Derbend lay +a crust of ice, but over it the mud rolled in sluggish waves along the +uneven pavement. The sea lazily plashed against the sunken turrets of +the walls which descended to the water, a flock of bustards and of geese +whizzed through the fog, and flew with a complaining cry above the +ramparts; all was dark and melancholy--even the dull and tiresome +braying of the asses laden with faggots for the market, sounded like a +dirge over the fine weather. The old Tartars sat in the bazars, wrapping +their shoubes over their noses. But this is exactly the weather most +favourable to hunters. Hardly had the moollahs of the town proclaimed +the hour of prayer, when the Colonel, attended by several of his +officers, the Beks of the city, and Ammalat, rode, or rather swam, +through the mud, leaving the town in the direction of the north, through +the principal gate Keerkhlar Kapi, which is covered with iron plates. +The road leading to Tarki is rude in appearance, bordered for a few +paces to the right and left with beds of madder--beyond them lie vast +burying-grounds, and further still towards the sea, scattered gardens. +But the appearance of the suburbs is a great deal more magnificent than +those of the Southern ones. To the left, on the rocks were seen the +Keifars, or barracks of the regiment of Kourin; while on both sides of +the road, fragments of rock lay in picturesque disorder, rolled down in +heaps by the violence of the mountain-torrents. A forest of ilex, +covered with hoar-frost, thickened as it approached Vellikent, and at +each verst the retinue of Verkhoffsky was swelled by fresh arrivals of +_Beglar_ and _Agalar_[4]. The hunting party now turned to the left, and +they speedily heard the cry of the _ghayalstchiks_[5] assembled from the +surrounding villages. The hunters formed into an extended chain, some on +horseback, and some running on foot; and soon the wild-boars also began +to show themselves. + + [4] _Lar_ is the Tartar plural of all substantives. + + [5] Beaters for the game. + +The umbrageous oak-forests of Daghestan have served, from time +immemorial, as a covert for innumerable herds of wild hogs; and although +the Tartars--like the Mussulmans--hold it a sin not only to eat, but +even to touch the unclean animal, they consider it a praiseworthy act to +destroy them--at least they practise the art of shooting on these +beasts, as well as exhibit their courage, because the chase of the +wild-boar is accompanied by great danger, and requires cunning and +bravery. + +The lengthened chain of hunters occupied a wide extent of ground; the +most fearless marksmen selecting the most solitary posts, in order to +divide with no one else the glory of success, and also because the +animals make for those points where there are fewer people. Colonel +Verkhoffsky, confident in his gigantic strength and sure eye, posted +himself in the thickest of the wood, and halted at a small savannah to +which converged the tracks of numerous wild-boars. Perfectly alone, +leaning against the branch of a fallen tree, he awaited his game. +Interrupted shots were heard on the right and left of his station; for a +moment a wild-boar appeared behind the trees; at length the bursting +crash of falling underwood was heard, and immediately a boar of uncommon +size darted across the field like a ball fired from a cannon. The +Colonel took his aim, the bullet whistled, and the wounded monster +suddenly halted, as if in surprise--but this was but for an instant--he +dashed furiously in the direction whence came the shot. The froth smoked +from his red-hot tusks, his eye burned in blood, and he flew at the +enemy with a grunt. But Verkhoffsky showed no alarm, waiting for the +nearer approach of the brute: a second time clicked the cock of his +gun--but the powder was damp and missed fire. What now remained for the +hunter? He had not even a dagger at his girdle--flight would have been +useless. As if by the anger of fate, not a single thick tree was near +him--only one dry branch arose from the oak against which he had leaned; +and Verkhoffsky threw himself on it as the only means of avoiding +destruction. Hardly had he time to clamber an arschine and a half[6] +from the ground, when the boar, enraged to fury, struck the branch with +his tusks--it cracked from the force of the blow and the weight which +was supported by it.... It was in vain that Verkhoffsky tried to climb +higher--the bark was covered with ice--his hands slipped--he was sliding +downwards; but the beast did not quit the tree--he gnawed it--he +attacked it with his sharp tusks a _tchetverin_ below the feet of the +hunter. Every instant Verkhoffsky expected to be sacrificed, and his +voice died away in the lonely space in vain. No, not in vain! The sound +of a horse's hoofs was heard close at hand, and Ammalat Bek galloped up +at full speed with uplifted sabre. Perceiving a new enemy, the wild-boar +turned at him, but a sideway leap of the horse decided the battle--a +blow from Ammalat hurled him on the earth. + + [6] Rather less than an English yard. + +The rescued Colonel hurried to embrace his friend, but the latter was +slashing, mangling, in a fit of rage, the slain beast. "I accept not +unmerited thanks," he answered at length, turning from the Colonel's +embrace. "This same boar gored before my eyes a Bek of Tabasoran, my +friend, when he, having missed him, had entangled his foot in the +stirrup. I burned with anger when I saw my comrade's blood, and flew in +pursuit of the boar. The closeness of the wood prevented me from +following his track; I had quite lost him; and God has brought me hither +to slay the accursed brute, when he was on the point of sacrificing a +yet nobler victim--you, my benefactor." + +"Now we are quits, dear Ammalat. Do not talk of past events. This day +our teeth shall avenge us on this tusked foe. I hope you will not refuse +to taste the forbidden meat, Ammalat?" + +"Not I! nor to wash it down with champagne, Colonel. Without offence to +Mahomet, I had rather strengthen my soul with the foam of the wine, than +with the water of the true believer." + +The hunt now turned to the other side. From afar were heard cries and +hallooing, and the drums of the Tartars in the chase. From time to time +shots rang through the air. A horse was led up to the Colonel: and he, +feasting his sight with the boar, which was almost cut in two, patted +Ammalat on the shoulder, crying "A brave blow!" + +"In that blow exploded my revenge," answered the Bek; "and the revenge +of an Asiatic is heavy." + +"You have seen, you have witnessed," replied the Colonel, "how injury is +avenged by Russians--that is, by Christians; let this be not a reproach, +but--a lesson to you." + +And they both galloped off towards the Line. + +Ammalat was remarkably absent--sometimes he did not answer at all--at +others, he answered incoherently to the questions of Verkhoffsky, by +whom he rode, gazing abstractedly around him. The Colonel, thinking +that, like an eager hunter, he was engrossed by the sport, left him, and +rode forward. At last, Ammalat perceived him whom he was so impatiently +expecting, his hemdjek, Saphir Ali, flew to meet him, covered with mud, +and mounted on a smoking horse. With cries of "Aleikoum Selam," they +both jumped off their horses, and were immediately locked in each +other's embrace. + +"And so you have been there--you have seen her--you have spoken to her?" +cried Ammalat, tearing off his kaftan, and choking with agitation. "I +see by your face that you bring good news; here is my new _tchoukha_[7] +for you for that. Does she live? Is she well? Does she love me as +before?" + + [7] The Tartars have an invariable custom, of taking off some + part of their dress and giving it to the bearer of good news. + +"Let me recollect myself," answered Saphir Ali. "Let me take breath. You +have put so many questions, and I myself are charged with so many +commissions, that they are crowding together like old women at the door +of the mosque, who have lost their shoes. First, at your desire, I have +been to Khounzakh. I crept along so softly, that I did not scare a +single thrush by the road. Sultan Akhmet Khan is well, and at home. He +asked about you with great anxiety, shook his head, and enquired if you +did not want a spindle to dry the silk of Derbend. The khansha sends you +tchokh selammoum, (many compliments,) and as many sweet cakes. I threw +them away, the confounded things, at the first resting-place. +Sourkhai-Khan, Noutzal-Khan"---- + +"The devil take them all! What about Seltanetta?" + +"Aha! at last I have touched the chilblain of your heart. Seltanetta, my +dear Ammalat, is as beautiful as the starry sky; but in that heaven I +saw no light, until I conversed about you. Then she almost threw herself +on my neck when we were left alone together, and I explained the cause +of my arrival. I gave her a camel-load of compliments from you--told her +that you were almost dead with love--poor fellow!--and she burst into +tears!" + +"Kind, lovely soul! What did she tell you to say to me?" + +"Better ask what she did not. She says that, from the time that you left +her, she has never rejoiced even in her dreams; that the winter snow has +fallen on her heart, and that nothing but a meeting with her beloved, +like a vernal sun, can melt it.... But if I were to continue to the end +of her messages, and you were to wait to the end of my story, we should +both reach Derbend with grey beards. Spite of all this, she almost drove +me away, hurrying me off, lest you should doubt her love!" + +"Darling of my soul! you know not--I cannot explain what bliss it is to +be with thee, what torment to be separated from thee, not to see thee!" + +"That is exactly the thing, Ammalat; she grieves that she cannot rejoice +her eyes with a sight of him whom she never can be weary of gazing at. +'Is it possible,' she says, 'that he cannot come but for one little day, +for one short hour, one little moment?'" + +"To look on her, and then die, I would be content!" + +"Ah, when you behold her, you will wish to live. She is become quieter +than she was of old; but even yet she is so lively, that when you see +her your blood sparkles within you." + +"Did you tell her why it is not in my power to do her will, and to +accomplish my own passionate desire?" + +"I related such tales that you would have thought me the Shah of +Persia's chief poet. Seltanetta shed tears like a fountain after rain. +She does nothing else but weep." + +"Why, then, reduce her to despair? 'I cannot now' does not mean 'it is +for ever impossible.' You know what a woman's heart is, Saphir Ali: for +them the end of hope is the end of love." + +"You sow words on the wind, djannion (my soul.) Hope, for lovers, is a +skein of worsted--endless. In cool blood, you do not even trust your +eyes; but fall in love, and you will believe in ghosts. I think that +Seltanetta would hope that you could ride to her from your coffin--not +only from Derbend." + +"And how is Derbend better than a coffin to me? Does not my heart feel +its decay, without power to escape it? Here is only my corpse: my soul +is far away." + +"It seems that your senses often take the whim of walking I know not +where, dear Ammalat. Are you not well at Verkhoffsky's--free and +contented? beloved as a younger brother, caressed like a bride? Grant +that Seltanetta is lovely: there are not many Verkhoffskys. Cannot you +sacrifice to friendship a little part of love?" + +"Am not I then doing so, Saphir Ali? But if you knew how much it costs +me! It is as if I tore my heart to pieces. Friendship is a lovely thing, +but it cannot fill the place of love." + +"At least, it can console us for love--it can relieve it. Have you +spoken about this to the Colonel?" + +"I cannot prevail on myself to do so. The words die on my lips, when I +would speak of my love. He is so wise, that I am ashamed to annoy him +with my madness. He is so kind, that I dare not abuse his patience. To +say the truth, his frankness invites, encourages mine. Figure to +yourself that he has been in love since his childhood with a maiden, to +whom he was plighted, and whom he certainly would have married if his +name had not been by mistake put into a list of killed during the war +with the Feringhis. His bride shed tears, but nevertheless was given +away in marriage. He flies back to his country, and finds his beloved +the wife of another. What, think you, should I have done in such a case? +Plunged a dagger in the breast of the robber of my treasure!--carried +her away to the end or the world to possess her but one hour, but one +moment! Nothing of this kind happened. He learned that his rival was an +excellent and worthy man. He had the calmness to contract a friendship +with him: had the patience to be often in the society of his former +love, without betraying, either by word or deed, his new friend or his +still loved mistress." + +"A rare man, if this be true!" exclaimed Saphir Ali, with feeling, +throwing away his reins. "A stout friend indeed!" + +"But what an icy lover! But this is not all. To relieve both of them +from misrepresentation and scandal, he came hither on service. Not long +ago--for his happiness or unhappiness--his friend died. And what then? +Do you think he flew to Russia. No! his duty kept him away. The +Commander-in-chief informed him that his presence was indispensable here +for a year more, and he has remained--cherishing his love with hope. Can +such a man, with all his goodness, understand such a passion as mine? +And besides, there is such a difference between us in years, in +opinions. He kills me with his unapproachable dignity; and all this +cools my friendship, and impedes my sincerity." + +"You are a strange fellow, Ammalat; you do not love Verkhoffsky for the +very reason that he most merits frankness and affection!" + +"Who told you that I do not love him? How can I but love the man who has +educated me--my benefactor? Can I not love any one but Seltanetta? I +love the whole world--all men!" + +"Not much love, then, will fall to the share of each!" said Saphir Ali. + +"There would be enough not only to quench the thirst, but to drown the +whole world!" replied Ammalat, with a smile. + +"Aha! This comes of seeing beauties unveiled--and then to see nothing +but the veil and the eyebrows. It seems that you are like the +nightingales of Ourmis; you must be caged before you can sing!" + +Conversing in this strain, the two friends disappeared in the depths of +the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +FRAGMENT OF A LETTER FROM COLONEL VERKHOFFSKY TO HIS BETROTHED. + + +_Derbend, April._ + +Fly to, me, heart of my heart, dearest Maria! Rejoice in the sight of a +lovely vernal night in Daghestan. Beneath me lies Derbend, slumbering +calmly, like a black streak of lava flowing from the Caucasus and cooled +in the sea. The gentle breeze bears to me the fragrant odour of the +almond-trees, the nightingales are calling to each other from the +rock-crevices, behind the fortress: all breathes of life and love; and +beautiful nature, full of this feeling, covers herself with a veil of +mists. And how wonderfully has that vaporous ocean poured itself over +the Caspian! The sea below gleams wavingly, like steel damasked with +gold on an escutcheon--that above swells like a silver surge lighted by +the full moon, which rolls along the sky like a cup of gold, while the +stars glitter around like scattered drops. In a moment, the reflection +of the moonbeams in the vapours of the night changes the picture, +anticipating the imagination, now astounding by its marvels--now +striking by its novelty. Sometimes I seem to behold the rocks of the +wild shore, and the waves beating against them in foam. The billows roll +onward to the charge: the rocky ramparts repel the shock, and the surf +flies high above them; but silently and slowly sink the waves, and the +silver palms arise from the midst of the inundation, the breeze stirs +their branches, playing with the long leaves, and they spread like the +sails of a ship gliding over the airy ocean. Do you see how she rolls +along, how the spray-drops sparkle on her breast, how the waves slide +along her sides. And where is she?... and where am I?... You cannot +imagine, dearest Maria, the sweetly solemn feeling produced in me by the +sound and sight of the sea. To me, the idea of eternity is inseparable +from it; of immensity--of our love. That love seems to me, like it, +infinite--eternal. I feel as if my heart overflowed to embrace the +world, even as the ocean, with its bright waves of love. It is in me and +around me; it is the only great and immortal feeling which I possess. +Its spark lights and warms me in the winter of my sorrows, in the +midnight of my doubts. Then I love so blindly! I believe so ardently! +You smile at my fantasy, friend and companion of my soul. You wonder at +this dark language; blame me not. My spirit, like the denizen of another +world, cannot bear the chill and frosty moonlight--it shakes off the +dust of the grave; it soars away, and, like the moonlight, dimly +discovers all things darkly and uncertainly. You know that it is to you +alone that I write down the pictures which fall on the magic-glass of my +heart, assured that you will guess, not with cold criticism, but with +the heart, what I would describe. Besides, next August, your happy +bridegroom will himself explain all the dark passages in his letters. I +cannot think without ecstasy of the moment of our meeting. I count the +sand-grains of the hours which separate us. I count the versts which lie +between us. And so in the middle of June you will be at the waters of +the Caucasus. And nought but the icy chain of the Caucasus will be +between two ardent hearts.... How near--yet how immeasurably far shall +we be from each other! Oh! how many years of life would I not give to +hasten the hour of our meeting! Long, long, have our hearts been +plighted.... Why have they been separated till now? + +My friend Ammalat is not frank or confiding. I cannot blame him. I know +how difficult it is to break through habits imbibed with a mother's +milk, and with the air of one's native land. The barbarian despotism of +Persia, which has so long oppressed Aderbidjan, has instilled the basest +principles into the Tartars of the Caucasus, and has polluted their +sense of honour by the most despicable subterfuge. And how could it be +otherwise in a government based upon the tyranny of the great over the +less--where justice herself can punish only in secret--where robbery is +the privilege of power? "Do with me what you like, provided you let me +do with my inferior what I like," is the principle of Asiatic +government--its ambition, its morality. Hence, every man, finding +himself between two enemies, is obliged to conceal his thoughts, as he +hides his money. Hence every man plays the hypocrite before the +powerful; every man endeavours to force from others a present by tyranny +or accusation. Hence the Tartar of this country will not move a step, +but with the hope of gain; will not give you so much as a cucumber, +without expecting a present in return. + +Insolent to rudeness with every one who is not in power, he is mean and +slavish before rank or a full purse. He sows flattery by handfuls; he +will give you his house, his children, his soul, to get rid of a +difficulty, and if he does any body a service, it is sure to be from +motives of interest. + +In money matters (this is the weakest side of a Tartar) a ducat is the +touchstone of his fidelity; and it is difficult to imagine the extent of +their greediness for profit! The Armenian character is yet a thousand +times more vile than theirs; but the Tartars hardly yield to them in +corruption and greediness--and this is saying a good deal. Is it +surprising that, beholding from infancy such examples, Ammalat--though +he has retained the detestation of meanness natural to pure +blood--should have adopted concealment as an indispensable arm against +open malevolence and secret villany? The sacred ties of relationship do +not exist for Asiatics. With them, the son is the slave of the +father--the brother is a rival. No one trusts his neighbour, because +there is no faith in any man. Jealousy of their wives, and dread of +espionage, destroy brotherly love and friendship. The child brought up +by his slave-mother--never experiencing a father's caress, and +afterwards estranged by the Arabian alphabet, (education,) hides his +feelings in his own heart even from his companions; from his childhood, +thinks only for himself; from the first beard are every door, every +heart shut for him: husbands look askance at him, women fly from him as +from a wild beast, and the first and most innocent emotions of his +heart, the first voice of nature, the first movements of his +feelings--all these have become crimes in the eyes of Mahometan +superstition. He dares not discover them to a relation, or confide them +to a friend.... He must even weep in secret. + +All this I say, my sweet Maria, to excuse Ammalat: he has already lived +a year and a half in my house, and hitherto has never confessed to me +the object of his love; though he might well have known, that it was +from no idle curiosity, but from a real heartfelt interest, that I +wished to know the secret of his heart. At last, however, he has told me +all; and thus it happened. + +Yesterday I took a ride out of the town with Ammalat. We rode up through +a defile in the mountain on the west, and we advanced further and +further, higher and higher, till we found ourselves unexpectedly close +to the village of Kelik, from which may be seen the wall that anciently +defended Persia from the incursions of the wandering tribes inhabiting +the Zakavkaz, (trans-Caucasian country,) which often devastated that +territory. The annals of Derbend (Derbendname) ascribe, but falsely, the +construction of it to a certain Iskender--_i.e._ Alexander the +Great--who, however, never was in these regions. King Noushirvan +repaired it, and placed a guard along it. More than once since that time +it has been restored; and again it fell into ruin, and became overgrown, +as it now is, with the trees of centuries. A tradition exists, that this +wall formerly extended from the Caspian to the Black Sea, cutting +through the whole Caucasus, and having for its extremity the "iron gate" +of Derbend, and Darial in its centre; but this is more than doubtful as +far as regards the general facts, though certain in the particulars. The +traces of this wall, which are to be seen far into the mountains, are +interrupted here and there, but only by fallen stones or rocks and +ravines, till it reaches the military road; but from thence to the Black +Sea, through Mingrelia, I think there are no traces of its continuation. + +I examined, with curiosity, this enormous wall, fortified by numerous +towers at short distance; and I wondered at the grandeur of the +ancients, exhibited even in their unreasonable caprices of +despotism--that greatness to which the effeminate rulers of the East +cannot aspire, in our day, even in imagination. The wonders of Babylon, +the lake of Moeris, the pyramids of the Pharaohs, the endless wall of +China, and this huge bulwark, built in sterile places, on the summits of +mountains, through the abyss of ravines--bear witness to the gigantic +iron will, and the unlimited power, of the ancient kings. Neither time, +nor earthquake, nor man, transitory man, nor the footstep of thousands +of years, have entirely destroyed, entirely trodden down, the remains of +immemorial antiquity. These places awake in me solemn and sacred +thoughts. I wandered over the traces of Peter the Great; I pictured him +the founder, the reformer, of a young state--building it on these ruins +of the decaying monarchies of Asia, from the centre of which he tore out +Russia, and with a mighty hand rolled her into Europe. What a fire must +have gleamed in his eagle eye, as he glanced from the heights of +Caucasus! What sublime thoughts, what holy aspirations, must have +swelled that heroic breast! The grand destiny of his country was +disclosed before his eyes; in the horizon, in the mirror of the Caspian, +appeared to him the picture of Russia's future weal, sown by him, and +watered by his red sweat. It was not empty conquest that was his aim, +but victory over barbarism--the happiness of mankind. Derbend, Baka, +Astrabad, they are the links of the chain with which he endeavoured to +bind the Caucasus, and rivet the commerce of India with Russia. + +Demigod of the North! Thou whom nature created at once to flatter the +pride of man, and to reduce it to despair by thine unapproachable +greatness! Thy shade rose before me, bright and colossal, and the +cataract of ages fell foaming at thy feet! Pensive and silent, I rode +on. + +The wall of the Caucasus is faced on the north side with squared stones, +neatly and firmly fixed together with lime. Many of the battlements are +still entire; but feeble seeds, falling into the crevices and joints, +have burst them asunder with the roots of trees growing from them, and, +assisted by the rains, have thrown the stones to the earth, and over the +ruins triumphantly creep mallows and pomegranates; the eagle, +unmolested, builds her nest in the turret once crowded with warriors, +and on the cold hearthstone lie the fresh bones of the wild-goat, +dragged thither by the jackals. Sometimes the line of the ruins entirely +disappeared; then fragments of the stones again rose from among the +grass and underwood. Riding in this way, a distance of about three +versts, we reached the gate, and passed through to the south side, under +a vaulted arch, lined with moss and overgrown with shrubs. We had not +advanced twenty paces, when suddenly, behind an enormous tower, we came +upon six armed mountaineers, who seemed, by all appearance, to belong to +those gangs of robbers--the free Tabasaranetzes. They were lying in the +shade, close to their horses, which were feeding. I was astounded. I +immediately reflected how foolishly I had acted in riding so far from +Derbend without an escort. To gallop back, among such bushes and rocks, +would have been impossible; to fight six such desperate fellows, would +have been foolhardiness. Nevertheless, I seized a holster-pistol; but +Ammalat Bek, seeing how matters stood, advanced, and cried in a calm +slow voice: "Do not handle your arms, or we are dead men!" + +The robbers, perceiving us, jumped up and cocked their guns, one fine, +broad-shouldered, but extremely savage-looking Lezghin, remaining +stretched on the ground. He lifted his head coolly, looked at us, and +waved his hand to his companions. In a moment we found ourselves +surrounded by them, while a path in front was stopped by the Ataman. + +"Pray, dismount from your horses, dear guests," said he with a smile, +though one could see that the next invitation would be a bullet. I +hesitated; but Ammalat Bek jumped speedily from his horse, and walked up +to the Ataman. + +"Hail!" He said to him: "hail, sorvi golova! I thought not of seeing +you. I thought the devils had long ago made a feast of you." + +"Softly, Ammalat Bek!" answered the other; "I hope yet to feed the +eagles with the bodies of the Russians and of you Tartars, whose purse +is bigger than your heart." + +"Well, and what luck, Shermadan?" carelessly enquired Ammalat Bek. + +"But poor. The Russians are watchful: and we have seldom been able to +drive the cattle of a regiment, or to sell two Russian soldiers at a +time in the hills. It is difficult to transport madder and silk; and of +Persian tissue, very little is now carried on the arbas. We should have +had to quest like wolves again to-day, but Allah has had mercy; he has +given into our hands a rich bek and a Russian colonel!" + +My heart died within me, as I heard these words. + +"Do not sell a hawk in the sky: sell him," answered Ammalat, "when you +have him on your glove." + +The robber sat down, laid his hand on the cock of his gun, and fixed on +us a piercing look. "Hark'e, Ammalat!" said he; "is it possible that you +think to escape me?--is it possible that you will dare to defend +yourselves?" + +"Be quiet," said Ammalat; "are we fools, to fight two to six? Gold is +dear to us, but dearer is our life. We have fallen into your hands, so +there is nothing to be done, unless you extort an unreasonable price for +our ransom. I have, as you know, neither father nor mother: and the +Colonel has yet less--neither kinsmen nor tribe." + +"If you have no father, you have your father's inheritance. There is no +need then to count your relations with you: however, I am a man of +conscience. If you have no ducats, I will take your ransom in sheep. But +about the colonel, don't talk any more nonsense. I know for him the +soldiers would give the last button on their uniforms. Why, if for +Sh---- a ransom of ten thousand rubles was paid, they will give more for +this man. However, we shall see, we shall see. If you will be quiet.... +Why, I am not a Jew, or a cannibal--Perviader (the Almighty) forgive +me!" + +"Now that's it, friend: feed us well, and I swear and promise by my +honour, we will never think of harming you--nor of escaping." + +"I believe, I believe! I am glad we have arranged without making any +noise about it. What a fine fellow you have become, Ammalat! Your horse +is not a horse, your gun is not a gun: it is a pleasure to look at you; +and this is true. Let me look at your dagger, my friend. Surely this is +the Koubatchin mark upon the blade." + +"No, the Kizliar mark," replied Ammalat, quietly unbuckling the +dagger-belt from his waist; "and look at the blade. Wonderful! it cuts a +nail in two like a candle. On this side is the maker's name; there--read +it yourself: Aliousta--Koza--Nishtshekoi." And while he spoke, he +twirled the naked blade before the eyes of the greedy Lezghin, who +wished to show that he knew how to read, and was decyphering the +complicated inscription with some difficulty. But suddenly the dagger +gleamed like lightning.... Ammalat, seizing the opportunity, struck +Shermadan with all his might on the head; and so fierce was the blow, +that the dagger was stopped by the teeth of the lower jaw. The corpse +fell heavily on the grass. Keeping my eyes upon Ammalat, I followed his +example, and with my pistol shot the robber who was next me, and had +hold of my horse's bridle. This was to the others a signal for flight; +the rascals vanished; for the death of their Ataman dissolved the knot +of the leash which bound them together. Whilst Ammalat, after the +oriental fashion, was stripping the dead of their arms, and tying +together the reins of the abandoned horses, I lectured him on his +dissembling and making a false oath to the robber. He lifted up his head +with astonishment: "You are a strange man, Colonel!" he replied. "This +rascal has done an infinity of harm to the Russians, by secretly setting +fire to their stacks of hay, or seizing and carrying straggling soldiers +and wood-cutters into slavery. Do you know that he would have tyrannized +over us--or even tortured us, to make us write more movingly to our +kinsmen, to induce them to pay a larger ransom?" + +"It may be so, Ammalat, but to lie or to swear an oath, either in jest +or to escape misfortune, is wrong. Why could we not have thrown +ourselves directly at the robbers, and have begun as you finished?" + +"No, Colonel, we could not. If I had not entered into conversation with +the Ataman, we should have been riddled with balls at the first +movement. Moreover, I know that pack right well: they are brave only in +the presence of their Ataman, and it was with him it was necessary to +begin!" + +I shook my head. The Asiatic cunning, though it had saved my life, could +not please me. What confidence can I have in people accustomed to sport +with their honour and their soul? We were about to mount our horses, +when we heard a groan from the mountaineer who had been wounded by me. +He came to himself, raised his head, and piteously besought us not to +leave him to be devoured by the beasts of the forest. We both hastened +to assist the poor wretch; and what was Ammalat's astonishment when he +recognized in him one of the noukers of Sultan Akhmet Khan of Avar. To +the question how he happened to be one of a gang of robbers, he replied: +"Shairan tempted me: the Khan sent me into Kemek, a neighbouring +village, with a letter to the famous Hakim (Doctor) Ibrahim, for a +certain herb, which they say removes every ailment, as easily as if it +were brushed away with the hand. To my sorrow, Shermadan met me in the +way! He teazed me, saying, 'Come with me, and let us rob on the road. An +Armenian is coming from Kouba with money.' My young heart could not +resist this ... oh, Allah-il-Allah! He hath taken my soul from me!" + +"They sent you for physic, you say," replied Ammalat: "why, who is sick +with you?" + +"Our Khanoum Seltanetta is dying: here is the writing to the leech about +her illness:" with these words he gave Ammalat a silver tube, in which +was a small piece of paper rolled up. Ammalat turned as pale as death; +his hands shook--his eyes sank under his eyebrows when he had read the +note: with a broken voice he uttered detached words. "Three nights--and +she sleeps not, eats not--delirious!--her life is in danger--save her! O +God of righteousness--and I am idling here--leading a life of +holidays--and my soul's soul is ready to quit the earth, and leave me a +rotten corse! Oh that all her sufferings could fall on my head! and that +I could lie in her coffin, if that would restore her to health. Sweetest +and loveliest! thou art fading, rose of Avar, and destiny has stretched +out her talons over thee. Colonel," he cried at length, seizing my hand, +"grant my only, my solemn prayer--let me but once more look on her!"---- + +"On whom, my friend?" + +"On my Seltanetta--on the daughter of the Khan of Avar--whom I love more +than my life, than my soul! She is ill, she is dying--perhaps dead by +this time--while I am wasting words--and I could not receive into my +heart her last word--her last look--could not wipe away the icy tear of +death! Oh, why do not the ashes of the ruined sun fall on my head--why +will not the earth bury me in its ruins!" + +He fell on my breast, choking with grief, in a tearless agony, unable to +pronounce a word. + +This was not a time for accusations of insincerity, much less to set +forth the reasons which rendered it unadvisable for him to go among the +enemies of Russia. There are circumstances before which all reasons must +give way, and I felt that Ammalat was in such circumstances. On my own +responsibility I resolved to let him go. "He that obliges from the +heart, and speedily, twice obliges," is my favourite proverb, and best +maxim. I pressed in my embrace the unhappy Tartar, and we mingled our +tears together. + +"My friend Ammalat," said I, "hasten where your heart calls you. God +grant that you may carry thither health and recovery, and bring back +peace of mind! A happy journey!" + +"Farewell, my benefactor," he cried, deeply touched, "farewell, and +perhaps for ever! I will not return to life, if Allah takes from me my +Seltanetta. May God keep you!" + +He took the wounded Avaretz to the Hakim Ibrahim, received the medicinal +herb according to the Khan's prescription, and in an hour Ammalat Bek, +with four noukers, rode out of Derbend. + +And so the riddle is guessed--he loves. This is unfortunate, but what is +yet worse, he is beloved in return. I fancy, my love, that I see your +astonishment. "Can that be a misfortune to another, which to you is +happiness?" you ask. A grain of patience, my soul's angel! The Khan, the +father of Seltanetta, is the irreconcilable foe of Russia, and the more +so because, having been distinguished by the favour of the Czar, he has +turned a traitor; consequently a marriage is possible only on condition +of Ammalat's betraying the Russians, or in case of the Khan's submission +and pardon--both cases being far from probable. I myself have +experienced misery and hopelessness in love; I have shed many tears on +my lonely pillow; often have I thirsted for the shade of the grave, to +cool my anguished heart! Can I, then, help, pitying this youth, the +object of my disinterested regard, and lamenting his hopeless love? But +this will not build a bridge to good-fortune; and I therefore think, +that if he had not the ill-luck to be beloved in return, he would by +degrees forget her. + +"But," you say, (and methinks I hear your silvery voice, and am +revelling in your angel's smile,) "but circumstances may change for +them, as they have changed for us. Is it possible that misfortune alone +has the privilege of being eternal in the world?" + +I do not dispute this, my beloved, but I confess with a sigh that I am +in doubt. I even fear for them and for ourselves. Destiny smiles before +us, hope chaunts sweet music--but destiny is a sea--hope but a +sea-syren; deceitful is the calm of the one, fatal are the promises of +the other. All appears to aid our union--but are we yet together? I know +not why, lovely Mary, but a chill penetrates my breast, amid the warm +fountains of future bliss, and the idea of our meeting has lost its +distinctness. But all this will pass away, all will change into +happiness, when I press your hand to my lips, your heart to mine. The +rainbow shines yet brighter on the dark field of the cloud, and the +happiest moments of life are but the anticipations of sorrow. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Ammalat knocked up two horses, and left two of his noukers on the road, +so that at the end of the second day he was not far from Khounzakh. At +each stride his impatience grew stronger, and with each stride increased +his fear of not finding his beloved amongst the living. A fit of +trembling came over him when from the rocks the tops of the Khan's tower +arose before him. His eyes grew dark. "Shall I meet there life or +death?" he whispered to himself, and arousing a desperate courage, he +urged his horse to a gallop. + +He came up with a horseman completely armed: another horseman rode out +of Khounzakh to meeting, and hardly did they perceive one another when +they put their horses to full speed, rode up to each other, leaped down +upon the earth, and suddenly drawing their swords, threw themselves with +fury upon each other without uttering a word, as if blows were the +customary salutation of travellers. Ammalat Bek, whose passage they +intercepted along the narrow path between the rocks, gazed with +astonishment on the combat of the two adversaries. It was short. The +horseman who was approaching the town fell on the stones, bedewing them +with blood from a gash which laid open his skull; and the victor, coolly +wiping his blade, addressed himself to Ammalat: "Your coming is +opportune: I am glad that destiny has brought you in time to witness our +combat. God, and not I, killed the offender; and now his kinsmen will +not say that I killed my enemy stealthily from behind a rock, and will +not raise upon my head the feud of blood." + +"Whence arose your quarrel with him?" asked Ammalat: "why did you +conclude it with such a terrible revenge?" + +"This Kharam-Zada," answered the horseman, "could not agree with me +about the division of some stolen sheep, and in spite he killed them all +so that nobody should have them ... and he dared to slander my wife. He +had better have insulted my father's grave, or my mother's good name, +than have touched the reputation of my wife! I once flew at him with my +dagger, but they parted us: we agreed to fight at our first encounter, +and Allah has judged between us! The Bek is doubtless riding to +Khounzakh--surely on a vizit to the Khan?" added the horseman. + +Ammalat, forcing his horse to leap over the dead body which lay across +the road, replied in the affirmative. + +"You go not at a fit time, Bek--not at all at a fit time." + +All Ammalat's blood rushed to his head. "Why, has any misfortune +happened in the Khan's house?" he enquired, reining in his horse, which +he had just before lashed with the whip to force him faster to +Khounzakh. + +"Not exactly a misfortune, his daughter Seltanetta was severely ill, and +now"---- + +"Is dead?" cried Ammalat, turning pale. + +"Perhaps she is dead--at least dying. As I rode past the Khan's gate, +there arose a bustling, crying, and yelling of women in the court, as if +the Russians were storming Khounzakh. Go and see--do me the favour"---- + +But Ammalat heard no more, he dashed away from the astounded Ouzden; the +dust rolled like smoke from the road, which seemed to be set on fire by +the sparks from the horse's hoofs. Headlong he galloped through the +winding streets, flew up the hill, bounded from his horse in the midst +of the Khan's court-yard, and raced breathlessly through the passages to +Seltanetta's apartment, overthrowing and jostling noukers and maidens, +and at last, without remarking the Khan or his wife, pushed himself to +the bed of the sufferer, and fell, almost senseless, on his knees beside +it. + +The sudden and noisy arrival of Ammalat aroused the sad society present. +Seltanetta, whose existence death was already overpowering, seemed as if +awakening from the deep forgetfulness of fever; her cheeks flushed with +a transient colour, like that on the leaves of autumn before they fall: +in her clouded eye beamed the last spark of the soul. She lad been for +several hours in a complete insensibility; she was speechless, +motionless, hopeless. A murmur of anger from the bystanders, and a loud +exclamation from the stupefied Ammalat, seemed to recall the departing +spirit of the sick, she started up--her eyes sparkled.... "Is it +thou--is it thou?" she cried, stretching, forth her arms to him: "praise +be to Allah! now I am contented, now I am happy," she added, sinking +back on the pillow. Her lips wreathed into a smile, her eyelids closed, +and again she sank into her former insensibility. + +The agonized Asiatic paid no attention to the questions of the Khan, or +the reproaches of the Khansha: no person, no object distracted his +attention from Seltanetta--nothing could arouse him from his deep +despair. They could hardly lead him by force from the sick chamber; he +clung to the threshold, he wept bitterly, at one moment praying for the +life of Seltanetta, at another accusing heaven of her illness! Terrible, +yet moving, was the grief of the fiery Asiatic. + +Meanwhile, the appearance of Ammalat had produced a salutary influence +on the sick girl. What the rude physicians of the mountains were unable +to accomplish, was effected by his arrival. The vital energy, which had +been almost extinguished, needed some agitation to revivify its action; +but for this she must have perished, not from the disease, which had +been already subdued, but from languor--as a lamp, not blown out by the +wind, but failing for lack of air. Youth at length gained the victory; +the crisis was past, and life again arose in the heart of the sufferer. +After a long and quiet slumber, she awoke unusually strengthened and +refreshed. "I feel myself as light, mother," she cried, looking gaily +around her, "as if I were made wholly of air. Ah, how sweet it is to +recover from illness; it seems as if the walls were smiling upon me. +Yet, I have been very ill--long ill. I have suffered much; but, thanks +to Allah! I am now only weak, and that will soon pass away. I feel +health rolling, like drops of pearl, through my veins. All the past +seems to me a sort of dark vision. I fancied that I was sinking into a +cold sea, and that I was parched with thirst: far away, methought, there +hovered two little stars; the darkness thickened and thickened; I sank +deeper, deeper yet. All at once it seemed as if some one called me by my +name, and with a mighty hand dragged me from that icy, shoreless sea. +Ammalat's face glanced before me, almost like a reality; the little +stars broke into a lightning-flash, which writhed like a serpent to my +heart: I remember no more!" + +On the following day Ammalat was allowed to see the convalescent. Sultan +Akhmet Khan, seeing that it was impossible to obtain a coherent answer +from him while suspense tortured his heart, that heart which boiled with +passion, yielded to his incessant entreaties. "Let all rejoice when I +rejoice," he said, as he led his guest into his daughter's room. This +had been previously announced to Seltanetta, but her agitation, +nevertheless, was very great, when her eyes met those of +Ammalat--Ammalat, so deeply loved, so long and fruitlessly expected. +Neither of the lovers could pronounce a word, but the ardent language of +their looks expressed a long tale, imprinted in burning letters on the +tablet of their hearts. On the pale cheek of each other they read the +traces of sorrow, the tears of separation, the characters of +sleeplessness and grief, of fear and of jealousy. Entrancing is the +blooming loveliness of an adored mistress; but her paleness, her +languor, that is bewitching, enchanting, victorious! What heart of iron +would not be melted by that tearful glance, which, without a reproach, +says so tenderly to you, "I am happy, but I have suffered by thee and +for thy sake?" + +Tears dropped from Ammalat's eyes; but remembering at length that he was +not alone, he mastered himself, and lifted up his head to speak; but his +voice refused to pour itself in words, and with difficulty he faltered +out, "We have not seen each other for a long time, Seltanetta!" + +"And we were wellnigh parted for ever," murmured Seltanetta. + +"For ever!" cried Ammalat, with a half reproachful voice. "And can you +think, can you believe this? Is there not, then, another life, in which +sorrow is unknown, and separation from our kinsmen and the beloved? If I +were to lose the talisman of my life, with what scorn would I not cast +away the rusty ponderous armour of existence! Why should I wrestle with +destiny?" + +"Pity, then, that I did not die!" answered Seltanetta, sportively. "You +describe so temptingly the other side of the grave, that one would be +eager to leap into it." + +"Ah, no! Live, live long, for happiness, for--love!" Ammalat would have +added, but he reddened, and was silent. + +Little by little the roses of health spread over the cheeks of the +maiden, now happy in the presence of her lover. All returned into its +customary order. The Khan was never weary of questioning Ammalat about +the battles, the campaigns, the tactics of the Russians; the Khansha +tired him with enquiries about the dress and customs of their women, and +could not omit to call upon Allah as often as she heard that they go +without veils. But with Seltanetta he enjoyed conversations and tales, +to his, as well as her, heart's content. The merest trifle which had the +slightest connexion with the other, could not be passed over without a +minute description, without abundant repetitions and exclamations. Love, +like Midas, transforms every thing it touches into gold, and, alas! +often perishes, like Midas, for want of finding some material +nourishment. + +But, as the strength of Seltanetta was gradually re-established, with +the reappearing bloom of health on Ammalat's brow, there often appeared +the shadow of grief. Sometimes, in the middle of a lively conversation, +he would suddenly stop, droop his head, and his bright eyes would be +dimmed with a filling of tears; heavy sighs would seem to rend his +breast; he would start up, his eyes sparkling with fury; he would grasp +his dagger with a bitter smile, and then, as if vanquished by an +invisible hand, he would fall into a deep reverie, from whence not even +the caresses of his adored Seltanetta could recall him. + +Once, at such a moment, Seltanetta, leaning enraptured on his shoulder, +whispered, "Asis, (beloved,) you are sad--you are weary of me!" + +"Ah, slander not him who loves thee more than heaven!" replied Ammalat; +"but I have felt the hell of separation; and can I think of it without +agony? Easier, a hundred times easier, to part from life than from thee, +my dark-eyed love!" + +"You are thinking of it, therefore you desire it." + +"Do not poison my wounds by doubting, Seltanetta. Till now you have +known only how to bloom like a rose--to flutter like a butterfly; till +now your will was your only duty. But I am a man, a friend; fate has +forged for me an indestructible chain--the chain of gratitude for +kindness--it drags me to Derbend." + +"Debt! duty! gratitude!" cried Seltanetta, mournfully shaking her head. +"How many gold-embroidered words have you invented to cover, as with a +shawl, your unwillingness to remain here. What! Did you not give your +heart to love before it was pledged to friendship? You had no right to +give away what belonged to another. Oh, forget your Verkhoffsky, forget +your Russian friends and the beauty of Derbend. Forget war and +murder-purchased glory. I hate blood since I saw you covered with it. I +cannot think without shuddering, that each drop of it costs tears that +cannot be dried, of a sister, a mother, or a fair bride. What do you +need, in order to live peacefully and quietly among our mountains! Here +none can come to disturb with arms the happiness of the heart. The rain +pierces not our roof; our bread is not of purchased corn; my father has +many horses, he has arms, and much precious gold; in my soul there is +much love for you. Say, then, my beloved, you will not go away, you will +remain with us!" + +"No, Seltanetta, I cannot, must not, remain here. To pass my life with +you alone--for you to end it--this is my first prayer, my last desire, +but its accomplishment depends on your father. A sacred tie binds me to +the Russians; and while the Khan remains unreconciled with them, an open +marriage with you would be impossible--the obstacle would not be the +Russians, but the Khan"---- + +"You know my father," sorrowfully replied Seltanetta; "for some time +past his hatred of the infidels has so strengthened itself, that he +hesitates not to sacrifice to it his daughter and his friend. He is +particularly enraged with the Colonel for killing his favourite nouker, +who was sent for medicine to the Hakim Ibrahim." + +"I have more than once begun to speak to Akhmet Khan about my hopes; but +his eternal reply has been--'Swear to be the enemy of the Russians, and +then I will hear you out.'" + +"We must then bid adieu to hope." + +"Why to hope, Seltanetta? Why not say only--farewell, Avar!" + +Seltanetta bent upon him her expressive eyes. "I don't understand you," +she said. + +"Love me more than any thing in the world--more than your father and +mother, and your fair land, and then you will understand me, Seltanetta! +Live without you I cannot, and they will not let me live with you. If +you love me, let us fly!" + +"Fly! the Khan's daughter fly like a slave--a criminal! This is +dreadful--this is terrible!" + +"Speak not so. If the sacrifice is unusual, my love also is unusual. +Command me to give my life a thousand times, and I will throw it down +like a copper poull.[8] I will cast my soul into hell for you--not only +my life. You remind me that you are the daughter of the Khan; remember, +too, that my grandfather wore, that my uncle wears, the crown of a +Shamkhal! But it is not by this dignity, but by my heart, that I feel I +am worthy of you; and if there be shame in being happy despite of the +malice of mankind and the caprice of fate, that shame will fall on my +head and not on yours." + + [8] Coin. + +"But you forget my father's vengeance." + +"There will come a time when he himself will forget it. When he sees +that the thing is done, he will cast aside his inflexibility; his heart +is not stone; and even were it stone, tears of repentance will wear it +away--our caresses will soften him. Happiness will cover us with her +dove's wings, and we shall proudly say, 'We ourselves have caught her!'" + +"My beloved, I have lived not long upon earth, but something at my heart +tells me that by falsehood we can never catch her. Let us wait: let us +see what Allah will give! Perhaps, without this step, our union may be +accomplished." + +"Seltanetta, Allah has given me this idea: it is his will. Have pity on +me, I beseech you. Let us fly, unless you wish that our marriage-hour +should strike above my grave! I have pledged my honour to return to +Derbend; and I must keep that pledge, I must keep it soon: but to depart +without the hope of seeing you, with the dread of hearing that you are +the wife of another--this would be dreadful, this would be +insupportable! If not from love, then from pity, share my destiny. Do +not rob me of paradise! Do not drive me to madness! You know not whither +disappointed passion can carry me. I may forget hospitality and kindred, +tear asunder all human ties, trample under my feet all that is holy, +mingle my blood with that of those who are dearest to me, force villany +to shake with terror when my name is heard, and angels to weep to see my +deeds!--Seltanetta, save me from the curse of others, from my own +contempt--save me from myself! My noukers are fearless--my horses like +the wind; the night is dark, let us fly to benevolent Russia, till the +storm be over. For the last time I implore you. Life and death, my +renown and my soul, hang upon your word. Yes or no?" + +Torn now by her maiden fear, and her respect for the customs of her +forefathers, now by the passion and eloquence of her lover, the innocent +Seltanetta wavered, like a light cork, upon the tempestuous billows of +contending emotions. At length she arose: with a proud and steady air +she wiped away the tears which, glistened on her eyelashes, like the +amber-gum on the thorns of the larch-tree, and said, "Ammalat! tempt me +not! The flame of love will not dazzle, the smoke of love will not +suffocate, my conscience. I shall ever know what is good and what is +bad; and I well know how shameful it is, how base, to desert a father's +house, to afflict loving and beloved parents! I know all this--and now, +measure the price of my sacrifice. I fly with you--I am yours! It is not +your tongue which has convinced--it is my own heart which has vanquished +me! Allah has destined me to see and love you: let, then, our hearts be +united for ever--and indissolubly, though their bond be a crown of +thorns! Now all is over! Your destiny is mine!" + +If heaven had clasped Ammalat in its infinite wings, and pressed him to +the heart of the universe--to the sun--even then his ecstacy would have +been less strong than at this divine moment. He poured forth the most +incoherent cries and exclamations of gratitude. When the first +transports were over, the lovers arranged all the details of their +flight. Seltanetta consented to lower herself by her bed-coverings from +her chamber, to the steep bank of the Ouzen. Ammalat was to ride out in +the evening with his noukers from Khounzakh, as if on a hawking party; +he was to return to the Khan's house by circuitous roads at nightfall, +and there receive his fair fellow-traveller in his arms. Then they were +to take horses in silence, and then--let enemies keep out of their road! + +A kiss sealed the treaty; and the lovers separated with fear and hope in +heart. + +Ammalat Bek, having prepared his brave noukers for battle or flight, +looked impatiently at the sun, which seemed loth to descend from the +warm sky to the chilly glaciers of the Caucasus. Like a bridegroom he +pined for night, like an importunate guest he followed with his eyes the +luminary of day. How slowly it moved--it crept to its setting! An +interminable space seemed to intervene between hope and enjoyment. +Unreasonable youth! What is your pledge of success? Who will assure you +that your footsteps are not watched--your words not caught in their +flight? Perhaps with the sun, which you upbraid, your hope will set. + +About the fourth hour after noon, the time of the Mozlem's dinner, the +Sultan Akhmet Khan was unusually savage and gloomy. His eyes gleamed +suspiciously from under his frowning brows; he fixed them for a long +space, now on his daughter, now on his young guest. Sometimes his +features assumed a mocking expression, but it again vanished in the +blush of anger. His questions were biting, his conversation was +interrupted; and all this awakened in the soul of Seltanetta +repentance--in the heart of Ammalat apprehension. On the other hand, the +Khansha, as if dreading a separation from her lovely daughter, was so +affectionate and anxious, that this unmerited tenderness wrung tears +from the gentle-hearted Seltanetta, and her glance, stealthily thrown at +Ammalat, was to him a piercing reproach. + +Hardly, after dinner, had they concluded the customary ceremony of +washing the hands, when the Khan called Ammalat into the spacious +court-yard. There caparisoned horses awaited them, and a crowd of +noukers were already in the saddle. + +"Let us ride out to try the mettle of my new hawks," said the Khan to +Ammalat; "the evening is fine, the heat is diminishing, and we shall yet +have time, ere twilight, to shoot a few birds." + +With his hawk on his fist, the Khan rode silently by the side of +Ammalat. An Avaretz was climbing up to a steep cliff on the left, by +means of a spiked pole, fixing it into the crevices, and then, +supporting himself on a prong, he lifted himself higher. To his waist +was attached a cap containing wheat; a long crossbow hung upon his +shoulders. The Khan stopped, pointed him out to Ammalat, and said +meaningly, "Look at yonder old man, Ammalat Bek! He seeks, at the risk +of his life, a foot of ground on the naked rock, to sow a handful of +wheat. With the sweat of his brow he cultivates it, and often pays with +his life for the defence of his herd from men and beasts. Poor is his +native land; but why does he love this land? Ask him to change it for +your fruitful fields, your rich flocks. He will say, 'Here I do what I +please; here I bow to no one; these snows, these peaks of ice, defend my +liberty.' And this freedom the Russians would take from him: of these +Russians you have become the slave, Ammalat." + +"Khan, you know that it is not Russian bravery, but Russian generosity, +that has vanquished me. Their slave I am not, but their companion." + +"A thousand times the worse, the more disgraceful for you. The heir of +the Shamkhal pines for a Russian epaulette, and glories in being the +dependent of a colonel!" + +"Moderate your words, Sultan Akhmet. To Verkhoffsky I owe more than +life: the tie of friendship unites us." + +"Can there exist a holy tie between us and the Giaour? To injure them, +to destroy them, when possible, to deceive them when this cannot be +done, is the commandment of the Koran, and the duty of every true +believer." + +"Khan! let us cease to play with the bones of Mahomet, and to menace +others with what we do not believe. You are not a moolla, I am no +fakir. I have my own notions of the duty of an honest man." + +"Really, Ammalat Bek? It were well, however, if you were to have this +oftener in your heart than on your tongue. For the last time, allow me +to ask you, will you hearken to the counsels of a friend whom you +quitted for the Giaour? Will you remain with us for good?" + +"My life I would lay down for the happiness you so generously offer; but +I have given my promise to return, and I will keep it." + +"Is this decided?" + +"Irrevocably so." + +"Well then, the sooner the better. I have learned to know you. _Me_ you +know of old. Insincerity and flattery between us are in vain. I will not +conceal from you, that I always wished to see you my son-in-law. I +rejoiced that Seltanetta had pleased you; your captivity put off my +plans for a time. Your long absence--the rumours of your +conversion--grieved me. At length you appeared among us, and found every +thing as before; but you did not bring to us your former heart. I hoped +you would fall back into your former course; I was painfully mistaken. +It is a pity; but there is nothing to be done. I do not wish to have for +my son-in-law a servant of the Russians." + +"Akhmet Khan, I once"---- + +"Let me finish. Your agitated arrival, your ravings at the door of the +sick Seltanetta, betrayed to every body your attachment, and our mutual +intentions. Through all the mountains, you have been talked of as the +affianced bridegroom of my daughter: but now the tie is broken, it is +time to destroy the rumours; for the honour of my family--for the +tranquillity of my daughter--you must leave us--and immediately. This is +absolutely necessary and indispensable. Ammalat, we part friends, but +here we will meet only as kinsmen, not otherwise. May Allah turn your +heart, and restore you to us as an inseparable friend. Till then, +farewell!" + +With these words the Khan turned his horse, and rode away at full gallop +to his retinue. If on the stupefied Ammalat the thunderbolt of heaven +had fallen, he could not have been more astounded than by this +unexpected explanation. Already had the dust raised by the horse's hoofs +of the retiring Khan been laid at rest; but he still stood immovable on +the hill now darkening in the shadow of sunset. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Colonel Verkhoffsky, engaged in reducing to submission the rebellious +Daghestanetzes, was encamped with his regiment at the village of +Kiafir-Kaumik. The tent of Ammalat Bek was erected next to his own, and +in it Saphir-Ali, lazily stretched on the carpet, was drinking the wine +of the Don, notwithstanding the prohibition of the Prophet. Ammalat Bek, +thin, pale, and pensive, was resting his head against the tent-pole, +smoking a pipe. Three months had passed since the time when he was +banished from his paradise; and he was now roving with a detachment, +within sight of the mountains to which his heart flew, but whither his +foot durst not step. Grief had worn out his strength; vexation had +poured its vial on his once serene character. He had dragged a sacrifice +to his attachment to the Russians, and it seemed as if he reproached +every Russian with it. Discontent was visible in every word, in every +glance. + +"A fine thing wine!" said Saphir Ali, carefully wiping the glasses; +"surely Mahomet must have met with sour dregs in Aravete, when he +forbade the juice of the grape to true believers! Why, really these +drops are as sweet as if the angels themselves, in their joy, had wept +their tears into bottles. Ho! quaff another glass, Ammalat; your heart +will float on the wine more lightly than a bubble. Do you know what +Hafiz has sung about it?" + +"And do you know? Pray, do not annoy me with your prate, Saphir Ali: not +even under the name of Sadi and Hafiz." + +"Why, what harm is there? If even this prate is my own, it is not an +earring: it will not remain hanging in your ear. When you begin your +story about your goddess Seltanetta, I look at you as at the juggler, +who eats fire, and winds endless ribbons from his cheeks. Love makes you +talk nonsense, and the Donskoi (wine of the Don) makes me do the same. +So we are quits. Now, then, to the health of the Russians!" + +"What has made you like the Russians?" + +"Say rather--why have you ceased to love them?" + +"Because I have examined them nearer. Really they are no better than our +Tartars. They are just as eager for profit, just as ready to blame +others, and not with a view of improving their fellow-creatures, but to +excuse themselves: and as to their laziness--don't let us speak of it. +They have ruled here for a long time, and what good have they done; what +firm laws have they established; what useful customs have they +introduced; what have they taught us; what have they created here, or +what have they constructed worthy of notice? Verkhoffsky has opened my +eyes to the faults of my countrymen, but at the same time to the defects +of the Russians, to whom it is more unpardonable; because they know what +is right, have grown up among good examples, and here, as if they have +forgotten their mission, and their active nature, they sink, little by +little, into the insignificance of the beasts." + +"I hope you do not include Verkhoffsky in this number." + +"Not he alone, but some others, deserve to be placed in a separate +circle. But then, are there many such?" + +"Even the angels in heaven are numbered, Ammalat Bek: and Verkhoffsky +absolutely is a man for whose justice and kindness we ought to thank +heaven. Is there a single Tartar who can speak ill of him? Is there a +soldier who would not give his soul for him? Abdul-Hamet, more wine! Now +then, to the health of Verkhoffsky!" + +"Spare me! I will not drink to Mahomet himself." + +"If your heart is not as black as the eyes of Seltanetta, you will +drink, even were it in the presence of the red-bearded Yakhounts of the +Shakheeds[9] of Derbent: even if all the Imams and Shieks not only +licked their lips but bit their nails out of spite to you for such a +sacrilege." + + [9] Shakheeds, traders of the sect of Souni. Yakhount the + senior moollah. + +"I will not drink, I tell you." + +"Hark ye, Ammalat: I am ready to let the devil get drunk on my blood for +your sake, and you won't drink a glass of wine for mine." + +"That is to say, that I will not drink because I do not wish--and I +don't wish, because even without wine my blood boils in me like +fermenting booza." + +"A bad excuse! It is not the first time that we have drunk, nor the +first time that our blood boils. Speak plainly at once: you are angry +with the Colonel." + +"Very angry." + +"May I know for what?" + +"For much. For some time past he has begun to drop poison into the honey +of his friendship: and at last these drops have filled and overflowed +the cup. I cannot bear such lukewarm friends! He is liberal with his +advice, not sparing with his lectures; that is, in every thing that +costs him neither risk nor trouble." + +"I understand, I understand! I suppose he would not let you go to Avar!" + +"If you bore my heart in your bosom you would understand how I felt when +I received such a refusal. He lured me on with that hope, and then all +at once repulsed my most earnest prayer--dashed into dust, like a +crystal kalian, my fondest hopes.... Akhmet Khan was surely softened, +when he sent word that he wished to see me; and I cannot fly to him, or +hurry to Seltanetta." + +"Put yourself, brother, in his place, and then say whether you yourself +would not have acted in the same way." + +"No, not so! I should have said plainly from the very beginning, +'Ammalat, do not expect any help from me.' I even now ask him not for +help. I only beg him not to hinder me. Yet no! He, hiding from me the +sun of all my joy, assures me that he does this from interest in +me--that this will hereafter bring me fortune. Is not this a fine +anodyne?" + +"No, my friend! If this is really the case, the sleeping-draught is +given to you as to a person on whom they wish to perform an operation. +You are thinking only of your love, and Verkhoffsky has to keep your +honour and his own without spot; and you are both surrounded by +ill-wishers. Believe me, either thus or otherwise, it is he alone who +can cure you." + +"Who asks him to cure me? This divine malady of love is my only joy: and +to deprive me of it is to tear out my heart, because it cannot beat at +the sound of a drum!"---- + +At this moment a strange Tartar entered the tent, looked suspiciously +round, and bending down his head, laid his slippers before +Ammalat--according to Asiatic custom, this signified that he requested a +private conversation. Ammalat understood him, made a sign with his head, +and both went out into the open air. The night was dark, the fires were +going out, and the chain of sentinels extended far before them. "Here we +are alone," said Ammalat Bek to the Tartar: "who art thou, and what dost +thou want?" + +"My name is Samit: I am an inhabitant of Derbend, of the sect of Souni: +and now am at present serving in the detachment of Mussulman cavalry. My +commission is of greater consequence to you than to me.... _The eagle +loves the mountains_!" + +Ammalat shuddered, and looked suspiciously at the messenger. This was a +watchword, the key of which Sultan Akhmet had previously written to him. +"How can he but love the mountains?" ... he replied; "In the mountains +there are many lambs for the eagles, and _much silver for men_." + +"_And much steel for the valiant_," (yigheeds.) + +Ammalat grasped the messenger by the hand. "How is Sultan Akhmet Khan?" +he enquired hurriedly: "What news bring you from him--how long is it +since you have seen his family?" + +"Not to answer, but to question, am I come.... Will you follow me?" + +"Where? for what?" + +"You know who has sent me. That is enough. If you trust not him, trust +not me. Therein is your will and my advantage. Instead of running my +head into a noose to-night, I can return to-morrow to the Khan, and tell +him that Ammalat dares not leave the camp." + +The Tartar gained his point: the touchy Ammalat took fire. "Saphir Ali!" +he cried loudly. + +Saphir Ali started up, and ran out of the tent. + +"Order horses to be brought for yourself and me, even if unsaddled; and +at the same time send word to the Colonel, that I have ridden out to +examine the field behind the line, to see if some rascal is not stealing +in between the sentries. My gun and shashka in a twinkling!" + +The horses were led up, the Tartar leaped on his own, which was tied up +not far off, and all three rode off to the chain. They gave the word and +the countersign, and they passed by the videttes to the left, along the +bank of the swift Azen. + +Saphir Ali, who had very unwillingly left his bottle, grumbled about the +darkness, the underwood, the ditches, and rode swearing by Ammalat's +side; but seeing that nobody began the conversation, he resolved to +commence it himself. + +"My ashes fall on the head of this guide! The devil knows where he is +leading us, and where he will take us. Perhaps he is going to sell us to +the Lezghins for a rich ransom. I never trust these squinting fellows!" + +"I trust but little even to those who have straight eyes," answered +Ammalat; "but this squinting fellow is sent from a friend: he will not +betray us!" + +"And the very first moment he thinks of any thing like it, at his first +movement I will slice him through like a melon. Ho! friend," cried +Saphir Ali, to the guide; "in the name of the king of the genii, it +seems you have made a compact with the thorns to tear the embroidery +from my tschoukha. Could you not find a wider road? I am really neither +a pheasant nor a fox." + +The guide stopped. "To say the truth, I have led a delicate fellow like +you too far!" he answered. "Stay here and take care of the horses, +whilst Ammalat and I will go where it is necessary." + +"Is it possible you will go into the woods with such a cut-throat +looking rascal, without me?" whispered Saphir Ali to Ammalat. + +"That is, you are afraid to remain here _without me_!" replied Ammalat, +dismounting from his horse, and giving him the reins: "Do not annoy +yourself, my dear fellow. I leave you in the agreeable society of wolves +and jackals. Hark how they are singing!" + +"Pray to God that I may not have to deliver your bones from these +singers," said Saphir Ali. They separated. Samit led Ammalat among the +bushes, over the river, and having passed about half a verst among +stones, began to descend. At the risk of their necks they clambered +along the rocks, clinging by the roots of the sweet-briar, and at +length, after a difficult journey, descended into the narrow mouth of a +small cavern parallel with the water. It had been excavated by the +washing of the stream, erewhile rapid, but now dried up. Long +stalactites of lime and crystal glittered in the light of a fire piled +in the middle. In the back-ground lay Sultan Akhmet Khan on a bourka, +and seemed to be waiting patiently till Ammalat should recover himself +amid the thick smoke which rolled in masses through the cave. A cocked +gun lay across his knees; the tuft in his cap fluttered in the wind +which blew from the crevices. He rose politely as Ammalat hurried to +salute him. + +"I am glad to see you," he said, pressing the hands of his guest; "and I +do not hide the feeling which I ought not to cherish. However, it is not +for an empty interview that I have put my foot into the trap, and +troubled you: sit down, Ammalat, and let us speak about an important +affair." + +"To me, Sultan Akhmet Khan?" + +"To us both. With your father I have eaten bread and salt. There was a +time when I counted you likewise as my friend." + +"But counted!" + +"No! you were my friend, and would ever have remained so, if the +deceiver, Verkhoffsky, had not stepped between us." + +"Khan, you know him not." + +"Not only I, but you yourself shall soon know him. But let us begin with +what regards Seltanetta. You know she cannot ever remain unmarried. This +would be a disgrace to my house: and let me tell you candidly, that she +has already been demanded in marriage." + +Ammalat's heart seemed torn asunder. For some time he could not recover +himself. At length he tremblingly asked, "Who is this bold lover?" + +"The second son of the Shamkhal, Abdoul Mousselin. Next after you, he +has, from his high blood, the best right, of all our mountaineers, to +Seltanetta's hand." + +"Next to me--after me!" exclaimed the passionate Bek, boiling with +anger: "Am I, then, buried? Is then my memory vanished among my +friends?" + +"Neither the memory, nor friendship itself is dead in my heart; but be +just, Ammalat; as just as I am frank. Forget that you are the judge of +your own cause, and decide what we are to do. You will not abandon the +Russians, and I cannot make peace with them." + +"Do but wish--do but speak the word, and all will be forgotten, all will +be forgiven you. This I will answer for with my head, and with the +honour of Verkhoffsky, who has more than once promised me his mediation. +For your own good, for the welfare of Avar, for your daughter's +happiness, for my bliss, I implore you, yield to peace, and all will be +forgotten--all that once belonged to you will be restored." + +"How boldly you answer, rash youth, for another's pardon, for another's +life! Are you sure of your own life, your own liberty?" + +"Who should desire my poor life? To whom should be dear the liberty +which I do not prize myself?" + +"To whom? Think you that the pillow does not move under the Shamkhal's +head, when the thought rises in his brain, that you, the true heir of +the Shamkhalat of Tarki, are in favour with the Russian Government?" + +"I never reckoned on its friendship, nor feared its enmity." + +"Fear it not, but do not despise it. Do you know that an express, sent +from Tarki to Yermoloff, arrived a moment too late, to request him to +show no mercy, but to execute you as a traitor? The Shamkhal was before +ready to betray you with a kiss, if he could; but now, that you have +sent back his blind daughter to him, he no longer conceals his hate." + +"Who will dare to touch me, under Verkhoffsky's protection?" + +"Hark ye, Ammalat; I will tell you a fable:--A sheep went into a kitchen +to escape the wolves, and rejoiced in his luck, flattered by the +caresses of the cooks. At the end of three days he was in the pot. +Ammalat, this is your story. 'Tis time to open your eyes. The man whom +you considered your first friend has been the first to betray you. You +are surrounded, entangled by treachery. My chief motive in meeting you +was my desire to warn you. When Seltanetta was asked in marriage, I was +given to understand from the Shamkhal, that through him I could more +readily make my peace with the Russians, than through the powerless +Ammalat--that you would soon be removed in some way or other, and that +there was nothing to be feared from your rivalry. I suspected still +more, and learned more than I suspected. To-day I stopped the Shamkhal's +nouker, to whom the negotiations with Verkhoffsky were entrusted, and +extracted from him, by torture, that the Shamkhal offers a thousand +ducats to get rid of you. Verkhoffsky hesitates, and wishes only to send +you to Siberia for ever. The affair is not yet decided; but to-morrow +the detachment retires to their quarters, and they have resolved to meet +at your house in Bouinaki, to bargain about your blood. They will forge +denunciations and charges--they will poison you at your own table, and +cover you with chains of iron, promising you mountains of gold." It was +painful to see Ammalat during this dreadful speech. Every word, like +red-hot iron, plunged into his heart; all within him that was noble, +grand, or consoling, took fire at once, and turned into ashes. Every +thing in which he had so long and so trustingly confided, fell to +pieces, and shrivelled up in the flame of indignation. Several times he +tried to speak, but the words died away in a sickly gasp; and at last +the wild beast which Verkhoffsky had tamed, which Ammalat had lulled to +sleep, burst from his chain: a flood of curses and menaces poured from +the lips of the furious Bek. "Revenge, revenge!" he cried, "merciless +revenge, and woe to the hypocrites!" + +"This is the first word worthy of you," said the Khan, concealing the +joy of success; "long enough have you crept like a serpent, laying your +head under the feet of the Russians! 'Tis time to soar like an eagle to +the clouds; to look down from on high upon the enemy who cannot reach +you with their arrows. Repay treachery with treachery, death with +death!" + +"Then death and ruin be to the Shamkhal, the robber of my liberty; and +ruin be to Abdoul Mousselin, who dared to stretch forth his hand to my +treasure!" + +"The Shamkhal? His son--his family? Are they worthy of your first +exploits? They are all but little loved by the Tarkovetzes; and if we +attack the Shamkhal, they will give up his whole family with their own +hands. No, Ammalat, you must aim your first blow next to you; you must +destroy your chief enemy; you must kill Verkhoffsky." + +"Verkhoffsky!" exclaimed Ammalat, stepping back.... "Yes!.... he is my +enemy; but he was my friend. He saved me from a shameful death. + +"And has now sold you to a shameful life!.... A noble friend! And then +you have yourself saved him from the tusks of the wild-boar--a death +worthy of a swine-eater! The first debt is paid, the second remains due: +for the destiny which he is so deceitfully preparing for you".... + +"I feel ... this ought to be ... but what will good men say? What will +my conscience say?" + +"It is for a man to tremble before old women's tales, and before a +whimpering child--conscience--when honour and revenge are at stake? I +see Ammalat, that without me you will decide nothing; you will not even +decide to marry Seltanetta. Listen to me. Would you be a son-in-law +worthy of me, the first condition is Verkhoffsky's death. His head shall +be a marriage-gift for your bride, whom you love, and who loves you. Not +revenge only, but the plainest reasoning requires the death of the +Colonel. Without him, all Daghestan will remain several days without a +chief, and stupefied with horror. In this interval, we come flying upon +the Russians who are dispersed in their quarters. I mount with twenty +thousand Avaretzes and Akoushetzes: and we fall from the mountains like +a cloud of snow upon Tarki. Then Ammalat, Shamkhal of Daghestan, will +embrace me as his friend, as his father-in-law. These are my plans, this +is your destiny. Choose which you please; either an eternal banishment, +or a daring blow, which promises you power and happiness; but know, that +next time we shall meet either as kinsmen, or as irreconcilable foes!" + +The Khan disappeared. Long stood Ammalat, agitated, devoured by new and +terrible feelings. At length Samit reminded him that it was time to +return to the camp. Ignorant himself how and where he had found his way +to the shore, he followed his mysterious guide, found his horse, and +without answering a word to the thousand questions of Saphir Ali, rode +up to his tent. There, all the tortures of the soul's hell awaited him. +Heavy is the first night of sorrow, but still more terrible the first +bloody thoughts of crime. + + * * * * * + + + + +REYNOLDS'S DISCOURSES. CONCLUSION. + +We omit any notice of the other written works of Sir Joshua--his +"Journey to Flanders and Holland," his Notes to Mason's verse +translation of Du Fresnoy's Latin poem, "Art of Painting," and his +contributions to the "Idler." The former is chiefly a notice of +pictures, and of value to those who may visit the galleries where most +of them may be found; and in some degree his remarks will attach a value +to those dispersed; the best part of the "Journey," perhaps, is his +critical discrimination of the style and genius of Rubens. The marrow of +his Notes to Du Fresnoy's poem, and indeed of his papers in the "Idler," +has been transferred to his Discourses, which, as they terminate his +literary labours, contain all that he considered important in a +discussion on taste and art. The notes to Du Fresnoy may, however, be +consulted by the practical painter with advantage, as here and there +some technical directions may be found, which, if of doubtful utility in +practice, will at least demand thought and reasoning upon this not +unimportant part of the art. To doubt is to reflect; judgment results, +and from this, as a sure source, genius creates. There are likewise some +memoranda useful to artists to be read in Northcote's "Life." The +influence of these Discourses upon art in this country has been much +less than might have been expected from so able an exposition of its +principles. They breathe throughout an admiration of what is great, give +a high aim to the student, and point to the path he should pursue to +attain it: while it must be acknowledged our artists as a body have +wandered in another direction. The Discourses speak to cultivated minds +only. They will scarcely be available to those who have habituated their +minds to lower views of art, and have, by a fascinating practice, +acquired an inordinate love for its minor beauties. It is true their +tendency is to teach, to _cultivate_: but in art there is too often as +much to unlearn as to learn, and the _unlearning_ is the more irksome +task; prejudice, self-gratulation, have removed the humility which is +the first step in the ladder of advancement. With the public at large, +the Discourses have done more; and rather by the reflection from that +improvement in the public taste, than from any direct appeal to artists, +our exhibitions have gained somewhat in refinement. And if there is, +perhaps, less vigour now, than in the time of Sir Joshua, Wilson, and +Gainsborough, those fathers of the English School, we are less seldom +disgusted with the coarseness, both of subject and manner, that +prevailed in some of their contemporaries and immediate successors. In +no branch of art is this improvement more shown than in scenes of +familiar life--which meant, indeed "Low Life." Vulgarity has given place +to a more "elegant familiar." This has necessarily brought into play a +nicer attention to mechanical excellence, and indeed to all the minor +beauties of the art. We almost fear too much has been done this way, +because it has been too exclusively pursued, and led astray the public +taste to rest satisfied with, and unadvisedly to require, the less +important perfections. From that great style which it may be said it was +the sole object of the Discourses to recommend, we are further off than +ever. Even in portrait, there is far less of the historical, than Sir +Joshua himself introduced into that department--an adoption which he has +so ably defended by his arguments. But nothing can be more unlike the +true historical, as defined in the precepts of art, than the modern +representation of national (in that sense, historical) events. The +precepts of the President have been unread or disregarded by the +patronized historical painters of our day. It would seem to be thought a +greater achievement to identify on canvass the millinery that is worn, +than the characters of the wearers, silk stockings, and satins, and +faces, are all of the same common aim of similitude; arrangement, +attitude, and peculiarly inanimate expression, display of finery, with +the actual robes, as generally announced in the advertisement, render +such pictures counterparts, or perhaps inferior counterfeits to Mrs +Jarley's wax-work. And, like the wax-work, they are paraded from town to +town, to show the people how much the tailor and mantua-maker have to do +in state affairs; and that the greatest of empires is governed by very +ordinary-looking personages. Even the Venetian painters, called by way +of distinction the "Ornamental School," deemed it necessary to avoid +prettinesses and pettinesses, and by consummate skill in artistical +arrangement in composition, in chiaro-scuro and colour, to give a +certain greatness to the representations of their national events. There +is not, whatever other faults they may have, this of poverty, in the +public pictures of Venice; they are at least of a magnificent ambition: +they are far removed from the littleness of a show. We are utterly gone +out of the way of the first principles of art in our national historical +pictures. Yet was the great historical the whole subject of the +Discourses--it was to be the only worthy aim of the student. If the +advice and precepts of Sir Joshua Reynolds have, then, been so entirely +disregarded, it may be asked what benefit he has conferred upon the +world by his Discourses. We answer, great. He has shown what should be +the aim of art, and has therefore raised it in the estimation of the +cultivated. His works are part of our standard literature; they are in +the hands of readers, of scholars; they materially help in the formation +of a taste by which literature is to be judged and relished. Even those +who never acquire any very competent knowledge of, or love for pictures, +do acquire a respect for art, connect it with classical poetry--the +highest poetry, with Homer, with the Greek drama, with all they have +read of the venerated works of Phidias, Praxiteles, and Apelles; and +having no too nice discrimination, are credulous of, or anticipate by +remembering what has been done and valued--the honour of the profession. +We assert that, by bringing the precepts of art within the pale of our +accepted literature, Sir Joshua Reynolds has given to art a better +position. Would that there were no counteracting circumstances which +still keep it from reaching its proper rank! Some there are, which +materially degrade it, amongst which is the attempt to force patronage; +the whole system of Art Unions, and of Schools of Design, the "in forma +pauperis" petitioning and advertising, and the rearing innumerable +artists, ill-educated in all but drawing, and mere degrading still, the +binding art, as it were, apprenticed to manufacture in such Schools of +Design; connecting, in more than idea, the drawer of patterns with the +painter of pictures. Hence has arisen, and must necessarily arise, an +inundation of mediocrity, the aim of the painter being to reach some +low-prize mark, an unnatural competition, inferior minds brought into +the profession, a sort of painting-made-easy school, and pictures, like +other articles of manufacture, cheap and bad. We should say decidedly, +that the best consideration for art, and the best patronage too, that we +would give to it, would be to establish it in our universities of +Cambridge and Oxford. In those venerated places to found professorships, +that a more sure love and more sure taste for it may be imbedded with +every other good and classical love and taste in the early minds of the +youth of England's pride, of future patrons; and where painters +themselves may graduate, and associate with all noble and cultivated +minds, and be as much honoured in their profession as any in those +usually called "learned." But to return to Sir Joshua. He conferred upon +his profession not more benefit by his writings and paintings, than by +his manners and conduct. To say that they were irreproachable would be +to say little--they were such as to render him an object of love and +respect. He adorned a society at that time remarkable for men of wit and +wisdom. He knew that refinement was necessary for his profession, and he +studiously cultivated it--so studiously, that he brought a portion of +his own into that society from which he had gathered much. He abhorred +what was low in thought, in manners, and in art. And thus he tutored his +genius, which was great rather from the cultivation of his judgment, by +incessantly exercising his good sense upon the task before him, than +from any innate very vigorous power. He thought prudence the best guide +of life, and his mind was not of an eccentric daring, to rush heedlessly +beyond the bounds of discretion. And this was no small proof of his good +sense; when the prejudice of the age in which he lived was prone to +consider eccentricity as a mark of genius; and genius itself, +inconsistently with the very term of a silly admiration, an +_inspiration_, that necessarily brought with it carelessness and +profligacy. By his polished manners, his manly virtues, and his +prudential views, which mainly formed his taste, and enabled him to +disseminate taste, Sir Joshua rescued art from this degrading prejudice, +which, while it flattered vanity and excused vice, made the objects of +the flattery contemptible and inexcusable. If genius be a gift, it is +one that passes through the mind, and takes its colour; the love of all +that is pure, and good, and great, can alone invest genius with that +habit of thought which, applied to practice, makes the perfect painter. +Castiglione considered painting the proper acquirement of the perfect +gentleman--Sir Joshua Reynolds thought that to be in mind and manners +the "gentlemen," was as necessary to perfect the painter. The friend of +Johnson and Burke, and of all persons of that brilliant age, +distinguished by abilities and worth, was no common man. In raising +himself, he was ever mindful to raise the art to which he had devoted +himself, in general estimation. + +We have noticed a charge against the writer of the Discourses, that he +did not pursue that great style which he so earnestly recommended. +Besides that this is not quite true--for he unquestionably did adopt so +much of the great manner as his subjects would, generally speaking, +allow--there was a sufficient reason for the tone he adopted, that it +was one useful and honourable, and none can deny that it was suited to +his genius. He was doubtless conscious of his own peculiar powers, and +contemplated the degree of excellence which he attained. He felt that he +could advance that department of his profession, and surely no +unpardonable prudential views led him to the adoption of it. It was the +one, perhaps, best suited to his abilities; and there is nothing in his +works which might lead us to suspect that he would have succeeded so +well in any other. The characteristic of his mind was a nice +observation. It was not in its native strength creative. We doubt if Sir +Joshua Reynolds ever attempted a perfectly original creation--if he ever +designed without having some imitation in view. We mean not to say, that +in the process he did not take slight advantages of accidents, and, if +the expression may be used, by a second sort of creation, make his work +in the end perfectly his own. But we should suppose that his first +conceptions for his pictures, (of course, we speak principally of those +not strictly portraits,) came to him through his admiration of some of +the great originals, which he had so deeply studied. In almost every +work by his hand, there is strongly marked his good sense--almost a +prudent forbearance. He ever seemed too cautious not to dare beyond his +tried strength, more especially in designing a subject of several +figures. His true genius as alone conspicuous in those where much of the +portrait was admissible; and such was his "Tragic Muse," a strictly +historical picture: was it equally discernible in his "Nativity" for the +window in New College Chapel? We think not. There is nothing in his +"Nativity" that has not been better done by others; yet, as a whole, it +is good; and if the subject demands a more creative power, and a higher +daring than was habitual to him, we are yet charmed with the good sense +throughout; and while we look, are indisposed to criticise. We have +already remarked how much Sir Joshua was indebted to a picture by +Domenichino for the "Tragic Muse." Every one knows that he borrowed the +"Nativity" from the "Notte" of Correggio, and perhaps in detail from +other and inferior masters. His "Ugolino" was a portrait, or a study, in +the commencement; it owes its excellence to its retaining this character +in its completion. If we were to point to failures, in single figures, +(historical,) we should mention his "Puck" and his "Infant Hercules." +The latter we only know from the print. Here he certainly had an +opportunity of displaying the great style of Michael Angelo; it was +beyond his daring; the Hercules is a sturdy child, and that is all, we +see not the _ex pede Herculem_. We can imagine the colouring, especially +of the serpents and back-ground, to have been impressive. The picture is +in the possession of the Emperor of Russia. The "Puck" is a somewhat +mischievous boy--too substantially, perhaps heavily, given for the +fanciful creation. The mushroom on which he is perched is unfortunate in +shape and colour; it is too near the semblance of a bullock's heart. His +"Cardinal Beaufort," powerful in expression, has been, we think, +captiously reprehended for the introduction of the demon. The mind's eye +has the privilege of poetry to imagine the presence; the personation is +therefore legitimate to the sister art. The National Gallery is not +fortunate enough to possess any important picture of the master in the +historical style. The portraits there are good. There was, we have been +given to understand, an opportunity of purchasing for the National +Gallery the portrait of himself, which Sir Joshua presented to his +native town of Plympton as his substitute, having been elected mayor of +the town--an honour that was according to the expectation of the +electors thus repaid. The Municipal Reform brought into office in the +town of Plympton, as elsewhere, a set of men who neither valued art nor +the fame of their eminent townsman. Men who would convert the very mace +of office into cash, could not be expected to keep a portrait; so it was +sold by auction, and for a mere trifle. It was offered to the nation; +and by those whose business it was to cater for the nation, pronounced a +copy. The history of its sale did not accompany the picture; when that +was known, as it is said, a very large sum was offered, and refused. It +is but justice to the committee to remind them of the fact, that Sir +Joshua himself, as he tells us, very minutely examined a picture which +he pronounced to be his own, and which was nevertheless a copy. +Unquestionably his genius was for portrait; it suited his strictly +observant character; and he had this great requisite for a +portrait-painter, having great sense himself, he was able to make his +heads intellectual. His female portraits are extremely lovely; he knew +well how to represent intellect, enthusiasm, and feeling. These +qualities he possessed himself. We have observed, in the commencement of +these remarks upon the Discourses, that painters do not usually paint +beyond themselves, either power or feeling--beyond their own grasp and +sentiments; it was the habitual good sense and refinement of moral +feeling that made Sir Joshua Reynolds so admirable a portrait-painter. +He has been, and we doubt not justly, celebrated as a colourist. +Unfortunately, we are not now so capable of judging, excepting in a few +instances, of this his excellence. Some few years ago, his pictures, to +a considerable amount in number, were exhibited at the British +Institution. We are forced to confess that they generally looked too +brown--many of them dingy, many loaded with colour, that, when put on, +was probably rich and transparent: we concluded that they had changed. +Though Sir Joshua, as Northcote in his very amusing Memoirs of the +President assures us, would not allow those under him to try +experiments, and carefully locked up his own, that he might more +effectually discourage the attempt--considering that, in students, it +was beginning at the wrong end--yet was he himself a great +experimentalist. He frequently used wax and varnish; the decomposition +of the latter (mastic) would sufficiently account for the appearance +those pictures wore. We see others that have very much faded; some that +are said to be faded may rather have been injured by cleaners; the +colouring when put on with much varnish not bearing the process of +cleaning, may have been removed, and left only the dead and crude work. +It has been remarked, that his pictures have more especially suffered +under the hands of restorers. It must be very difficult for a +portrait-painter, much employed, and called upon to paint a portrait, +where short time and few sittings are the conditions, to paint a lasting +work. He is obliged to hasten the drying of the paint, or to use +injurious substances, which answer the purpose only for a short present. +Sir Joshua, too, was tempted to use orpiment largely in some pictures, +which has sadly changed. An instance may be seen in the "Holy Family" in +our National Gallery--the colour of the flesh of the St John is ruined +from this cause. It is, however, one of his worst pictures, and could +not have been originally designed for a "holy family." The Mater is +quite a youthful peasant girl: we should not regret it if it were +totally gone. Were Sir Joshua living, and could he see it in its present +state, he would be sure to paint over it, and possibly convert it into +another subject. We do not doubt, however, that Sir Joshua deserved the +reputation he obtained as a colourist in his day. We attribute the +brown, the horny asphaltum look they have, to change. It is +unquestionably exceedingly mortifying to see, while the specimens of the +Venetian and Flemish colourists are at this day so pure and fresh, +though painted centuries before our schools, our comparatively recent +productions so obscured and otherwise injured. Tingry, excellent +authority, the Genevan chemical professor, laments the practice of the +English painters of mixing varnish with their colours, which, he says, +shows that they prefer a temporary brilliancy to lasting beauty; for +that it is impossible, that with this practice, pictures should either +retain their brilliancy or even be kept from decay. We do not remember +to have seen a single historical picture of Sir Joshua's that has not +suffered; happily there are yet many of his portraits fresh, vigorous, +and beautiful in colouring. It should seem, that he thought it worth +while to speculate upon those of least value to his reputation. + +Portrait-painting, at the commencement of Sir Joshua's career, was +certainly in a very low condition. A general receipt for face-making, +with the greatest facility seemed to have been current throughout the +country. Attitudes and looks were according to a pattern; and, +accordingly, there was so great a family resemblance, however +unconnected the sitters, that it might seem to have been intended to +promote a brotherly and sisterly bond of union among all the descendants +of Adam. Portrait-painting, which had in this country been so good, was +in fact, with here and there an exception, and generally an exception +not duly estimated, in a degraded state: the art in this respect, as in +others, had become vulgarized. From this universal family-likeness +recipe, Reynolds came suddenly, and at once successfully, before the +world, with individual nature, and variety of character, and portraits +that had the merit of being pictures as well as portraits. He led to a +complete revolution in this department, so that if he had rivals--and he +certainly had one in Gainsborough--they were of his own making. The +change is mostly perceptible in female portraits. They assumed grace and +beauty. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers were strangely vilified +in their unpleasing likenesses. The somewhat loose satin evening-dress, +with the shepherdess's crook, was absurd enough; and no very great +improvement upon the earlier taste of complimenting portraits with the +personation of the heathen deities. The poetical pastoral, however, very +soon descended to the real pastoral; and, as if to make people what they +were not was considered enough of the historical of portrait, even this +took. We suspect Gainsborough was the first to sin in this degradation +line, by no means the better one for being the furthest from the +divinities. He had painted some rustic figures very admirably, and made +such subjects a fashion; but why they should ever be so, we could never +understand; or why royalty should not be represented as royalty, gentry +as gentry; to represent them otherwise, appears as absurd as if our +Landseer should attempt a greyhound in the character of a Newfoundland +dog. A picture of Gainsborough's was exhibited, a year or two ago, in +the British Institution, Pall-Mall, which we were astonished to hear was +most highly valued; for it was a weak, washy, dauby, ill-coloured +performance, and the design as bad as well could be. It was a scene +before a cottage-door, with the children of George the Third as peasant +children, in village dirt and mire. The picture had no merit to +recommend it; if we remember rightly, it had been painted over, or in +some way obscured, and unfortunately brought to light. Although Sir +Joshua Reynolds generally introduced a new grace into his portraits, and +mostly so without deviating from the character as he found it, +dispensing indeed with the old affectation, we fear he cannot altogether +be acquitted from the charge of deviating from the true propriety of +portrait. Ladies as Miranda, as Hebe, and even as Thais, no very moral +compliment, are examples--some there are of the lower pastoral. Mrs +Macklin and her daughter were represented at a spinning-wheel, and Miss +Potts as a gleaner. There is one of somewhat higher pretensions, but +equally a deviation from propriety, in his portraits of the Honourable +Mistresses Townshend, Beresford, and Gardiner. They are decorating the +statue of Hymen; the grace of one figure is too theatrical, the others +have but little. The one kneeling on the ground, and collecting the +flowers, is, in one respect, disagreeable--the light of the sky, too +much of the same hue and tone as the face, is but little separated from +it--in fact, only by the dark hair; while all below the face and bosom +is a too heavy dark mass. Portrait-painters are very apt to fail +whenever they colour their back-grounds to the heads of a warm and light +sky-colour; the force of the complexion is very apt to be lost, and the +portrait is sure to lose its importance. The "General on Horseback," in +our National Gallery, (Ligonier,) a fine picture, is in no small degree +hurt by the absence of a little greyer tone in the part of the sky about +the head. By far the best portraits by Sir Joshua--and, fortunately, +they are the greater part--are those in real character. His very genius +was for unaffected simplicity; attitudinizing recipes could never have +been adopted by him with satisfaction to himself. Some of his slight, +more sketchy portraits, as yet unexperimented upon by his powerful, +frequently rather too powerful, colouring, his deep browns and yellows, +are unrivalled. Such is his Kitty Fisher, not long since exhibited in +the British Gallery, Pall-Mall. There the character is not overpowered +by the effect. + +Gainsborough was the only painter of his day that could, with any +pretension, vie with Sir Joshua Reynolds in portrait. In some respects +they had similar excellences. Both were alike, by natural taste, averse +to affectation, and both were colourists. As a colourist, Gainsborough, +as his pictures are now, may be even preferred to Reynolds. They seem to +have been painted off more at once, and have therefore a greater +freshness; his flesh tints are truly surprising, most true to life. He +probably painted with a more simple palette. The pains and labour which +Sir Joshua bestowed, and which were perhaps very surprising when his +pictures were fresh from the easel, have lost much of their virtue. The +great difference between these great cotemporaries lay in their power of +character. Gainsborough was as true as could be to nature, where the +character was not of the very highest order. Plain, downright common +sense he would hit off wonderfully, as in his portrait of Ralphe +Schomberg--a picture, we are sorry to find, removed from the National +Gallery. The world's every-day men were for his pencil. He did not so +much excel in women. The bent of Sir Joshua's mind was to elevate, to +dignify, to intellectualize. Enthusiasm, sentiment, purity, and all the +varied poetry of feminine beauty, received their kindred hues and most +exquisite expression under his hand. Whatever was dignified in man, or +lovely in woman, was portrayed with its appropriate grace and strength. +Sir Joshua was, in fact, himself the higher character; ever endeavouring +to improve and cultivate his own mind, to raise it by a dignified aim in +his art and in his life, and gathering the beauty of sentiment to +himself from its best source--the practice of social and every amiable +charity--he was sure to transfer to the canvass something characteristic +of himself. Gainsborough was, in his way, a gentle enthusiast, +altogether of an humbler ambition. Even in his landscapes, he showed +that he saw little in nature but what the vulgar see; he had little idea +that what is commonly seen are the materials of a better creation. +Gainsborough was unrivalled in his portraiture of common truth, Reynolds +in poetical truth. Gainsborough spoke in character in one of his +letters, wherein he said, that he "was well read in the volume of +nature, and that was learning sufficient for him." It is said that he +was proud--perhaps his pride was shown in this remark--but it was not a +pride allied with greatness. The pride of Reynolds was quite of another +stamp; it did not disagree with his soundest judgment; his estimate of +himself was more true, and it showed itself in modesty. That such men +should meet and associate but little, is not surprising. That Reynolds +withdrew in "cold and carefully meted out courtesy," is not surprising, +though the expressions quoted are written to disparage Reynolds. The man +of fixed purpose may appear cold when he does not assimilate with the +man of caprice, (as was Gainsborough,) in whose company there is nothing +to call forth a congeniality, a sympathy; and it is probable that +Gainsborough felt as little disposed as Sir Joshua, to preserve, or even +to seek, an intimacy. Their final parting at the deathbed of +Gainsborough was most honourable to them both; and the merit of seeking +it was entirely Gainsborough's. It is singular that any facts should be +so perverted, as to justify an insinuation that Reynolds, whose whole +life exhibited the continued acts of a kind heart, was a cautious and +cold calculator. Good sense has ever a reserve of manner, the result of +a habit of thinking--and in one of a high aim, it is apt to acquire +almost a stateliness; but even such stateliness is not inconsistent with +modesty and with feeling; it is, in fact, the carriage of the mind, seen +in the manner and the person. We make these remarks under a disgust +produced by the singularly illiberal Life of Reynolds by Allan +Cunningham; we think we should not err in saying, that it is maliciously +written. We were reading this Life, and made many indignant remarks as +we read, when the death of the author was announced in the newspapers. +We had determined, as far as our power might extend, to rescue the name +and fame of Reynolds from the mischief which so popular a writer as +Allan Cunningham was likely to inflict. Death has its sanctity, and we +hesitated; indeed, in regret for the loss of a man of talent, we felt +for a time little disposed to think of the ill he may have done; nor +was, on mature consideration, the regret less, that he could not, by our +means, be called to review his own work--his "Lives of the British +Painters"--in a more candid spirit than that in which they appear to +have been written. It is to be lamented that he did not revise it. Its +illiberality and untruth render it very unfit for a "Family Library," +for which it was composed. Yet it must be confessed, that such regret +was rather one of momentary feeling, than accompanied with any thing +like conviction, or even hope, that our endeavour would have been +successful. There was no one better acquainted with the life of one of +the painters in his work than ourselves. His Life, too, was written in a +most illiberal spirit, though purposely in praise of the artist. But it +was as untrue as it was illiberal. In a paper in _Blackwood_, some years +ago, we noticed some of the errors and mistatements. This, we happen to +know, was seen by the author of the "Lives;" for we were, in +consequence, applied to upon the subject; and there being an intention +expressed to bring out a new edition, we were invited to correct what +was wrong. We did not hesitate, and wrote some two or three letters for +the purpose, and entertained but little doubt of their having been +favourably received, and that they would be used, until we were +surprised by a communication, that the author "was much obliged, but was +perfectly satisfied with his own account." That is, that he was much +_obliged_ for an endeavour to mislead him by falsehood. For both +accounts could not be true. There were, then, but small grounds to hope +that Allan Cunningham would have so revised his work, as to have done +justice to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Besides, after all, "respect for the +dead" moves both ways. The question is between the recently dead and the +long since dead. In the literary world, and in the world of art, both +yet live; and the author of the Life has this advantage, that thousands +read the "Family Library," whilst but few, comparatively speaking, make +themselves acquainted with Sir Joshua Reynolds and his works. We revere +this founder of our English school, and feel it due to the art we love, +to condemn the ungenerous and sarcastic spirit of The Life, by Allan +Cunningham. And if the dead could have any interest in and guidance of +things on earth, we can imagine no work that would be more pleasing to +them, than the removal of even the slightest evils they may have +inflicted; thus making restitution for them. It is very evident +throughout the "Lives," that the author has a prejudice against, an +absolute dislike to, Sir Joshua Reynolds. We stay not to account for it. +There are men of some opinions who, whether from pride, or other +feeling, have an antipathy to courtly manners, and what is called higher +society: jealous and suspicious lest they should not owe, and seen to +owe, every thing to themselves, there is a constant and irritable desire +to set aside, with a feigned, oftener than a real, contempt, the +influence and the homage the world pays to superiority of rank, station, +and education. They would wish to have nothing above themselves. How far +such may have been the case with the writer of the "Lives," we know not, +totally unacquainted as we have ever been, but by his writings. In them +there appears very strongly marked this vulgar feeling. He has stepped +out of his way in other lives, such as those of Wilson and Gainsborough, +to attack Sir Joshua by surmises and insinuations of meanness, blurring +the fair character of his best acts. The generous doings of the +President were too notorious not to be admitted, but generally a +sinister or selfish motive is insinuated. His courtesy was unpleasing, +while extreme coarseness met with a ready apologist. In the several +Lives of Sir Joshua Reynolds, there does not appear the slightest ground +upon which to found a charge of meanness of character: it is +inconceivable how such should have ever been insinuated, while +Northcote's "Life" of him was in existence, and Northcote must have +known him well. He was most liberal in expenditure, as became his +station, and the dignity which he was ambitiously desirous of conferring +upon the art over which he presided. To artists and others in their +distresses he was most generous: numerous, indeed, are the recorded +instances; those unrecorded may be infinitely more numerous, for +generosity was with him a habit. In the teeth of Mr Cunningham's +insinuations we will extract from Northcote some passages upon this +point. "At that time, indeed, Johnson was under many pecuniary +obligations, as well as literary ones, to Sir Joshua, whose generous +kindness would never permit his friends to _ask_ a pecuniary favour, his +purse and heart being always open." That his heart as well as his purse +was open, the following anecdote more than indicates. We are tempted to +give it unaltered, as we find it in the words of Northcote:-- + + "Sir Joshua, as his usual custom, looked over the daily morning + paper at his breakfast time; and on one of those perusals, + whilst reading an account of the Old Bailey sessions, to his + great astonishment, saw that a prisoner had been tried and + condemned to death for a robbery committed on the person of one + of his own servants, a negro, who had been with him for some + time. He immediately rung the bell for the servants, in order + to make his enquiries, and was soon convinced of the truth of + the matter related in the newspaper. This black man had lived + in his service as footman for several years, and has been + portrayed in several pictures, particularly in one of the + Marquis of Granby, where he holds the horse of that general. + Sir Joshua reprimanded this black servant for his conduct, and + especially for not having informed him of this curious + adventure; when the man said he had concealed it only to avoid + the blame he should have incurred had he told it. He then + related the following circumstances of the business, saying, + that Mrs Anna Williams (the old blind lady lived at the house + of Dr Johnson) had some time previous dined at Sir Joshua's + with Miss Reynolds; that in the evening she went home to Bolt + Court, Fleet Street, in a hackney coach, and that he had been + sent to attend her to her house. On his return he had met with + companions who had detained him till so late an hour, that when + he came to Sir Joshua's house, he found the doors were shut, + and all the servants gone to rest. In this dilemma he wandered + in the street till he came to a watch-house, in which he took + shelter for the remainder of the night, among the variety of + miserable companions to be found in such places; and amidst + this assembly of the wretched, the black man fell sound asleep, + when a poor thief, who had been taken into custody by the + constable of the night, perceiving, as the man slept, that he + had a watch and money in his pocket, (which was seen on his + thigh,) watched his opportunity and stole the watch, and with a + penknife cut through the pocket, and so possessed himself of + the money. When the black awaked from his nap, he soon + discovered what had been done, to his cost, and immediately + gave the alarm, and a strict search was made through the + company; when the various articles which the black had lost + were found in the possession of the unfortunate wretch who had + stolen them. He was accordingly secured, and next morning + carried before the justice, and committed to take his trial at + the Old Bailey, (the black being bound over to prosecute,) and, + as we have seen, was at his trial cast and condemned to death. + Sir Joshua, much affected by this recital, immediately sent his + principal servant, Ralph Kirkly, to make all enquiries into the + state of the criminal, and, if necessary, to relieve his wants + in whatever way could be done. When Kirkly came to the prison + he was soon admitted to the cell of the prisoner, where he + beheld the most wretched spectacle that imagination can + conceive--a poor forlorn criminal, without a friend on earth + who could relieve or assist him, and reduced almost to a + skeleton by famine and filth, waiting till the dreadful morning + should arrive when he was to be made an end of by a violent + death. Sir Joshua now ordered fresh clothing to be sent to him, + and also that the black servant should carry him every day a + sufficient supply of food from his own table; and at that time + Mr E. Burke being very luckily in office, he applied to him, + and by their joint interest they got his sentence changed to + transportation; when, after being furnished with all + necessaries, he was sent out of the kingdom."--P. 119. + + "In this year Sir Joshua raised his price to fifty guineas for + a head size, which he continued during the remainder of his + life. His rapidly accumulating fortune was not, however, for + his own sole enjoyment; he still felt the luxury of doing good, + and had many objects of bounty pointed out to him by his friend + Johnson, who, in one of his letters, in this year, to Mrs + Piozzi, enquires 'will the master give me any thing for my poor + neighbours? I have had from Sir Joshua and Mr Strahan.'"--P. + 264. + + "Sir Joshua, indeed, seems to have been applied to by his + friends on all occasions; and by none oftener than by Dr + Johnson, particularly for charitable purposes. Of this there is + an instance, in a note of Johnson's preserved in his Life, too + honourable to him to be here omitted. + + 'To Sir Joshua Reynolds. + + 'Dear Sir--It was not before yesterday that I received your + splendid benefaction. To a hand so liberal in distributing, I + hope nobody will envy the power of acquiring.--I am, dear sir, + your obliged and most humble servant, + + 'SAM. JOHNSON.' + + 'June 23, 1781.'"--P. 278. + +The following anecdote is delightful:-- + + "Whilst at Antwerp, Sir Joshua had taken particular notice of a + young man of the name of De Gree, who had exhibited some + considerable talents as a painter: his father was a tailor; and + he himself had been intended for some clerical office, but, as + it is said by a late writer, having formed a different opinion + of his religion than was intended, from the books put into his + hand by an Abbe who was his patron, it was discovered that he + would not do for a priest, and the Abbe, therefore, articled + him to Gerrards of Antwerp. Sir Joshua received him, on his + arrival in England, with much kindness, and even recommended + him most strongly to pursue his profession in the metropolis; + but De Gree was unwilling to consent to this, as he had been + previously engaged by Mrs Latouche to proceed to Ireland. Even + here Sir Joshua's friendly attentions did not cease, for he + actually made the poor artist a present of fifty guineas to fit + him for his Hibernian excursion; the whole of which, however, + the careful son sent over to Antwerp for the use of his aged + parents."--P. 284. + + "It is also recorded, as an instance of his prizing + extraordinary merit, that when Gainsborough asked him but sixty + guineas for his celebrated Girl and Pigs, yet being conscious + in his own mind that it was worth more, he liberally paid him + down one hundred guineas for the picture. I also find it + mentioned on record, that a painter of considerable merit, + having unfortunately made an injudicious matrimonial choice, + was along with that and its consequences as well as an + increasing family, in a few years reduced so very low, that he + could not venture out without danger of being arrested--a + circumstance which, in a great measure, put it out of his power + to dispose of his pictures to advantage. Sir Joshua having + accidentally heard of his situation, immediately hurried to his + residence to enquire into the truth of it, when the unfortunate + man told him all the melancholy particulars of his lot, adding, + that forty pounds would enable him to compound with his + creditors. After some further conversation, Sir Joshua took his + leave, telling the distressed man he would do something for + him; and when he was bidding him adieu at the door, he took him + by the hand, and after squeezing it in a friendly way hurried + off with that kind of triumph in his heart the exalted of human + kind only know by experience whilst the astonished artist found + that he had left in his hand a bank-note for one hundred + pounds." + +Of such traits of benevolence certainly many other instances may be +recorded, but I shall only mention two; "the one is the purchasing a +picture of Zoffani, who was without a patron, and selling it to the Earl +of Carlisle for twenty guineas above the price given for it; and he sent +the advanced price immediately to Zoffani, saying 'he thought he had +sold the picture at first below its real value.'" + +The other is--"the clergyman who succeeded Sir Joshua's father as master +of the grammar-school at Plympton, at his decease left a widow, who, +after the death of her husband, opened a boarding school for the +education of young ladies. The governess who taught in this school had +but few friends in situations to enable them to do her much service, and +her sole dependence was on her small stipend from the school: hence she +was unable to make a sufficiently reputable appearance in apparel at +their accustomed little balls. The daughter of the schoolmistress, her +only child, and at that time a very young girl, felt for the poor +governess, and the pitiable insufficiency in the article of finery; but +being unable to help her from her own resources, devised within herself +a means by which it might be done otherwise. Having heard of the great +fame of Sir Joshua Reynolds, his character for generosity, and charity, +and recollecting that he had formerly belonged to the Plympton school, +she, without mentioning a syllable to any of her companions, addressed a +letter to Sir Joshua, whom she had never even seen, in which she +represented to him the forlorn state of the poor governess's wardrobe, +and begged the gift of a silk gown for her. Very shortly after, they +received a box containing silks of different patterns, sufficient for +two dresses, to the infinite astonishment of the simple governess, who +was totally unable to account for this piece of good fortune, as the +compassionate girl was afraid to let her know the means she had taken in +order to procure the welcome present."--P. 307. + +Mr Duyes, the artist, says--"malice has charged him with avarice, +probably from his not having been prodigal, like too many of his +profession; his offer to me proves the contrary. At the time that I made +the drawings of the King at St Paul's after his illness, Reynolds +complimented me handsomely on seeing them, and afterwards observed, that +the labour bestowed must have been such, that I could not be remunerated +from selling them; but if I would publish them myself, he would lend me +the money necessary, and engage to get me a handsome subscription among +the nobility."--P. 35l. + +We will here mention an anecdote which we believe has never been +published; we heard it from our excellent friend, and enthusiastic +admirer of all that taste, good sense, and good feeling should admire +and love, in art or out of it--now far advanced in years, and, like Sir +Joshua, blind, but full of enjoyment and conversation fresh as ever upon +art, for he remembers and hears, beloved by all who know him, G. +Cumberland, Esq., author of "Outlines," &c. &c. He it was who +recommended Collins, the miniature-painter, to Sir Joshua. Now poor +Collins was one of the most nervous of men, morbidly distrustful of +himself and his powers. Our friend showed us a portrait of Collins, +painted by himself, the very picture of most sensitive nervousness. +Well--Collins waited upon Sir Joshua, who gave him a picture to copy for +him in miniature. Collins took it, and trembled, and looked all +diffidence as he examined Sir Joshua's original. However, he took it +home with him, and after some time came to Cumberland in great +agitation, expressing a conviction that he never could copy it, that he +had destroyed three attempts, and this, said he, is the best I can do, +and I will destroy it. This Cumberland would not allow, and took +possession of it, and an admirable performance it is. Soon another was +done, and Collins took it to Sir Joshua, with many timid expressions and +apologies for his inability, that he feared displeasure for having +undertaken a work above him. Sir Joshua looked at it, declared it to be, +as it was, a most excellent copy, and gave him more to do in the same +way--telling him to go to his scrutoire, open a drawer, and he would +find some guineas, and to take out twenty to pay himself. "Twenty +guineas!" said Collins, "I should not have thought of receiving more +than three!" This kindness and liberality set up poor Collins with a +better stock of self-confidence, and he made his way to celebrity in his +line, and to fortune. + +Is it in human nature, that the man of whom such anecdotes are told, and +truly told, could be guilty of a mean unworthy action? Perhaps the +reader will be curious to see how the writer of the "British Painters," +who, from the recent date of his publication, must have known all these +incidents, excepting the last, has converted some of them, by +insinuating sarcasm, into charges that blurr their virtue. We should say +that he has omitted, where he could omit--where he could not, he is +compelled to contradict himself; for it is impossible that the +insinuations, and the facts, and occasional acknowledgments, should be +together true of one and the same man. We shall offer some specimens of +this _illiberal style_:--A neighbour of Reynolds's first advised him to +settle in London. His success there made him remember this friendly +advice--(the neighbour's name was Cranch.) We quote now from Cunningham. +"The timely counsel of his neighbour Cranch would have long afterwards +been rewarded with the present of a silver cup, had not accident +interfered. 'Death,' says Northcote, 'prevented this act of gratitude. I +have seen the cup at Sir Joshua's table.' The painter had the honour of +the intention and the use of the cup--a twofold advantage, of which he +was not insensible."--_Lives of British Painters_, Vol. i, p. 220.--"Of +lounging visitors he had great abhorrence, and, as he reckoned up the +fruits of his labours, 'Those idle people,' said this disciple of the +grand historical school of Raphael and Angelo--'those idle people do not +consider that my time is worth five guineas an hour.' This calculation +incidentally informs us, that it was Reynolds's practice, in the height +of his reputation and success, to paint a portrait in four hours."--P. +251. In _this_ Life, he could depreciate art, (in a manner we are +persuaded he could not feel,) because it lowered the estimation of the +painter whom he disliked. "One of the biographers of Reynolds imputes +the reflections contained in the conclusion of this letter, 'to that +envy, which perhaps even Johnson felt, when comparing his own annual +gains with those of his more fortunate friend.' They are rather to be +attributed to the sense and taste of Johnson, who could not but feel the +utter worthlessness of the far greater part of the productions with +which the walls of the Exhibition-room were covered. Artists are very +willing to claim for their profession and its productions rather more +than the world seems disposed to concede. It is very natural that this +should be so; but it is also natural, that man of Johnson's taste should +be conscious of the dignity of his own pursuits, and agree with the vast +majority of mankind in ranking a Homer, a Virgil, a Milton, or a +Shakspeare, immeasurably above all the artists that ever painted or +carved. Johnson, in a conversation with Boswell, defined painting to be +an art which could illustrate, but could not inform."--P. 255. Does he +so speak of this art in any other Life; and is not this view false and +ill-natured? Were not Raffaelle, Michael Angelo, Correggio, Titian, +Piombo, epic poets? + +"Johnson was a frequent and a welcome guest. Though the sage was not +seldom sarcastic and overbearing, he was endured and caressed, because +he poured out the riches of his conversation more lavishly than Reynolds +did his wines." He was compelled, a sentence or two after, to add, "It +was honourable to that distinguished artist, that he perceived the worth +of such men, and felt the honour which their society shed upon him; but +it stopped not here, he often aided them with his purse, nor _insisted_ +upon repayment."--P. 258. We have marked "insisted"--it implies +repayment was expected, if not enforced; and it might have been said, +that a mutual "honour" was conferred. Speaking of Northcote's and +Malone's account of Sir Joshua's "social and well-furnished table," he +adds, "these accounts, however, in as far as regards the splendour of +the entertainments, must be received with some abatement. The eye of a +youthful pupil was a little blinded by enthusiasm. That of Malone was +rendered friendly, by many acts of hospitality, and a handsome legacy; +while literary men and artists, who came to speak of books and +paintings, cared little for the most part about the delicacy of the +entertainment, provided it were wholesome." Here he quotes at length, no +very good-natured account of the dinners given by Courteney.--P. 273. +Even his sister, poor Miss Reynolds, whom Johnson loved and respected, +must have her share of the writer's sarcasm. "Miss Reynolds seems to +have been as indifferent about the good order of her domestics, and the +appearance of her dishes at table, as her brother was about the +distribution of his wine and venison. Plenty was the splendour, and +freedom was the elegance, which Malone and Boswell found in the +entertainments of the artist."--P. 275. If Reynolds was sparing of his +wine, the word "plenty" was most inappropriate. Even the remark of +Dunning, Lord Ashburton, is perverted from its evident meaning, and as +explained by Northcote, and the perversion casts a slur upon Sir +Joshua's guests; yet is it well known who they were. "Well, Sir Joshua," +he said, "and who have you got to dine with you to-day?--the last time I +dined in your house, the company was of such a sort, that by ----, I +believe all the rest of the world enjoyed peace for that afternoon."--P. +276. This is a gross idea, and unworthy a gentle mind. "By an opinion so +critically sagacious, and an apology for portrait-painting, which +appeals so effectually to the kindly side of human nature, Johnson +repaid a hundred dinners."--P. 276. The liberality to De Gree is shortly +told.--P. 298. "I have said that the President was frugal in his +communications respecting the sources from whence he drew his own +practice--he forgets his caution in one of these notes."--P. 303. We +must couple this with some previous remarks; it is well known that Sir +Joshua, as Northcote tells us, carefully locked up his experiments, and +for more reasons than one: first, he was dissatisfied, as these were but +experiments; secondly, he considered experimenting would draw away +pupils from the rudiments of the art. Surely nothing but illiberal +dislike would have perverted the plain meaning of the act. "The secret +of Sir Joshua's own preparations was carefully kept--he permitted not +even the most favoured of his pupils to acquire the knowledge of his +colours--he had all securely locked, and allowed no one to enter where +these treasures were deposited. What was the use of all this secrecy? +Those who stole the mystery of his colours, could not use it, unless +they stole his skill and talent also. A man who, like Reynolds, chooses +to take upon himself the double office of public and private instructor +of students in painting, ought not surely to retain a secret in the art, +which he considers of real value."--P. 287. He was, in fact, too honest +to mislead; and that he did not think the right discovery made, the +author must have known; for Northcote says--"when I was a student at the +Royal Academy, I was accidentally repeating to Sir Joshua the +instructions on colouring I had heard there given by an eminent painter, +who then attended as visitor. Sir Joshua replied, that this painter was +undoubtedly a very sensible man, but by no means a good colourist; +adding, that there was not a man then on earth who had the least notion +of colouring. 'We all of us,' said he, 'have it equally to seek for and +find out--as, at present, it is totally lost to the art.'"--"In his +economy he was close and saving; while he poured out his wines and +spread out his tables to the titled or the learned, he stinted his +domestics to the commonest fare, and rewarded their faithfulness by very +moderate wages. One of his servants, who survived till lately, described +him as a master who exacted obedience in trifles--was prudent in the +matter of pins--a saver of bits of thread--a man hard and parsimonious, +who never thought he had enough of labour out of his dependents, and +always suspected that he overpaid them. To this may be added the public +opinion, which pictured him close, cautious, and sordid. On the other +side, we have the open testimony of Burke, Malone, Boswell, and Johnson, +who all represent him as generous, open-hearted, and humane. The +servants and the friends both spoke, we doubt not, according to their +own experience of the man. Privations in early life rendered strict +economy necessary; and in spite of many acts of kindness, his mind, on +the whole, failed to expand with his fortune. He continued the same +system of saving when he was master of sixty thousand pounds, as when he +owned but sixpence. He loved reputation dearly, and it would have been +well for his fame, if, over and above leaving legacies to such friends +as Burke and Malone, he had opened his heart to humbler people. A little +would have gone a long way--a kindly word and a guinea prudently +given."--P. 319. Opened his heart to humbler people! was the author of +this libel upon a generous character, ignorant of his charity to humbler +people, which Johnson certified? Why did he not narrate the robbery of +the black servant, and his kindness to the humblest and the most +wretched? What was fifty guineas to poor De Gree? Who were the humbler +people to whom he denied his bounty? And is the fair fame, the honest +reputation--the honourable reputation, we should say--of such a man as +Sir Joshua Reynolds--such as he has been proved to be--such as not only +such men as Burke and Johnson knew him, but such as his pupil and inmate +Northcote knew him--to be vilified by a low-minded biography, the dirty +ingredients of which are raked up from lying mouths, or, at least, +incapable of judging of such a character--from the lips of servants, +whose idle tales of masters who discard them, it is the common usage of +the decent, not to say well-bred world, to pay no attention to--not to +listen to--and whom none hear but the vulgar-curious, or the slanderous? +But if a servant's evidence must be taken, the fact of the exhibition of +Sir Joshua's works for his servant Kirkly should have been enough--to +say nothing here of his black servant. But the story of Kirkly is +mentioned--and how mentioned? To rake up a malevolent or a thoughtless +squib of the day, to make it appear that Sir Joshua shared in the gains +of an exhibition ostensibly given to his servant. The joke is noticed by +Northcote, and the exhibition, thus:--"The private exhibition of 1791, +in the Haymarket, has been already mentioned, and some notice taken of +it by a wicked wit, who, at the time, wished to insinuate that Sir +Joshua was a partaker in the profits. But this was not the truth; +neither do I believe there were any profits to share. However, these +lines from Hudibras were inserted in a morning paper, together with some +observations on the exhibition of pictures collected by the knight-- + + 'A squire he had whose name was Ralph + Who in the adventure went his half,' + +thus gaily making a sacrifice of truth to a joke." It is very evident +that this was a mere newspaper squib, and suggested by the "knight and +his squire Ralph;" but Cunningham so gives it as "the opinion of many," +and with rather more than a suspicion of its truth. "Sir Joshua made an +exhibition of them in the Haymarket, for the advantage of his faithful +servant Ralph Kirkly; but our painter's well-known love of gain excited +public suspicion; he was considered by many as a partaker in the +profits, and reproached by the application of two lines from +Hudibras."--P. 117. But this report from a servant is evidently no +servant's report at all, as far as the words go: they are redolent +throughout of the peculiar satire of the author of the "Lives," who so +loves point and antithesis, who tells us Sir Joshua "poured" out his +wines, (the distribution of which he had otherwise spoken of,) that the +_stint_ to the servants may have its fullest opposition. And again, as +to the humbler, does he not contradict himself? He prefaces the fact +that Sir Joshua gave a hundred guineas to Gainsborough, who asked sixty, +for his "Girl and Pigs," thus--"Reynolds was commonly humane and +tolerant; he could indeed afford, both in fame and purse, to commend and +aid the timid and needy."--P. 304. This is qualifying vilely a generous +action, while it contradicts his assertion of being sparing of "a kindly +word and a guinea." Nor are the occasional criticisms on passages in the +"Discourses" in a better spirit, nor are they exempt from a vulgar taste +as to views of art; their sole object is, apparently, to depreciate +Reynolds; and though a selection of individual sentences might be picked +out, as in defence, of an entirely laudatory character, they are +contradicted by others, and especially by the sarcastic tone of the +Life, taken as a whole. But it is not only in the Life of Reynolds that +this attempt is made to depreciate him. In his "Lives" of Wilson and +Gainsborough, he steps out of his way to throw his abominable sarcasm +upon Reynolds. One of many passages in Wilson's Life says, "It is +reported that Reynolds relaxed his hostility at last, and, becoming +generous when it was too late, obtained an order from a nobleman for two +landscapes at a proper price." So he insinuates an unworthy hypocrisy, +while lauding the bluntness of Wilson. "Such was the blunt honesty of +his (Wilson's) nature, that, when drawings were shown him which he +disliked, he disdained, or was unable to give a courtly answer, and made +many of the students his enemies. Reynolds had the sagacity to escape +from such difficulties, by looking at the drawings and saying 'Pretty, +pretty,' which vanity invariably explained into a compliment."--P. 207. +After having thus spoken shamefully of Sir Joshua Reynolds in the body +of his work, he reiterates all in a note, confirming all as his not +hasty but deliberate opinion, having "now again gone over the narrative +very carefully, and found it impossible, without violating the truth, to +make any alteration of importance as to its facts;" and though he has +omitted so much which might have been given to the honour of Reynolds, +he is "unconscious of having omitted any enquiry likely to lead him +aright."--P. 320. He may have made the enquiry without using the +information--a practice not inconsistent in such a biographer. For +instance, when he assumes, that in the portrait of Beattie, the figures +of Scepticism, Sophistry, and Infidelity, represent Hume, Voltaire, and +Gibbon; remarking, that they have survived the "insult of Reynolds." An +enquiry from Northcote ought to have led him to conclude otherwise, for +Northcote, who had the best means of knowing, says, "Because one of +those figures was a lean figure, (alluding to the subordinate ones +introduced,) and the other a fat one, people of lively imaginations +pleased themselves with finding in them the portraits of Voltaire and +Hume. But Sir Joshua, I have reason to believe, had no such thought when +he painted those figures." We have done with this disgusting Life. We +would preserve to art and the virtue-loving part of mankind the great +_integrity_ of the character of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Documents and +testimonies are sufficient to establish as much entire worth as falls to +the lot and adornment of the best; and to bring this conviction, that, +for the justice, candour, liberality, kindness, and generosity, which he +showed in his dealings with all, even his professional rivals, if he had +not had the extraordinary merit of being the greatest British painter, +he deserved, and will deserve, the respect of mankind; and to have had +his many and great virtues recorded in a far other manner than in that +among the "Lives of the British Painters." His pictures may have faded, +and may decay; but his precepts will still live, and tend to the +establishment and continuance of art built upon the soundest principles; +and the virtues of the man will ever give a grace to the profession +which he adorned, and, for the benefit of art, contribute mainly to his +own fame. + +"Nihil enim est opere aut manu factum, quod aliquando non conficiat et +consumat Vetustas; at vero haec tua justitia et lenitas animi florescet +quotidie magis, ita ut quantum operibus tuis dinturnitas detrahet, +tantum afferet laudibus." + +"He had," says Burke, "from the beginning of his malady, a distinct view +of his dissolution; and he contemplated it with that entire composure, +which nothing but the innocence, integrity, and usefulness of his life, +and an unaffected submission to the will of Providence, could bestow." + + * * * * * + + + + +LEAP-YEAR.--A TALE. + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the summer of 1838, in the pleasant little county of Huntingdon, and +under the shade of some noble elms which form the pride of Lipscombe +Park, two young men might have been seen reclining. The thick, and +towering, and far-spreading branches under which they lay, effectually +protected them from a July sun, which threw its scorching brilliancy +over the whole landscape before them. They seemed to enjoy to the full +that delightful _retired openness_ which an English park affords, and +that easy effortless communion which only old companionship can give. +They were, in fact, fellow collegians. The one, Reginald Darcy by name, +was a ward of Mr Sherwood, the wealthy proprietor of Lipscombe Park; the +other, his friend, Charles Griffith, was passing a few days with him in +this agreeable retreat. They had spent the greater part of the morning +strolling through the park, making short journeys from one clump of +trees to another, and traversing just so much of the open sunny space +which lay exposed to all the "bright severity of noon," as gave fresh +value to the shade, and renewed the luxury of repose. + +"Only observe," said Darcy, breaking silence, after a long pause, and +without any apparent link of connexion between their last topic of +conversation and the sage reflection he was about to launch--"only +observe," and, as he raised himself upon his elbow, something very like +a sigh escaped from him, "how complete, in our modern system of life, is +the ascendency of woman over us! Every art is hers--is devoted to her +service. Poetry, music, painting, sculpture--all seem to have no theme +but woman. It is her loveliness, her power over us, that is paraded and +chanted on every side. Poets have been always mad on the beauty of +woman, but never so mad as now; we must not only submit to be +sense-enthralled, the very innermost spirit of a man is to be +deliberately resigned to the tyranny of a smooth brow and a soft eye. +Music, which grows rampant with passion, speaks in all its tones of +woman: as long as the strain lasts we are in a frenzy of love, though it +is not very clear with whom, and happily the delirium ends the moment +the strings of the violin have ceased to vibrate. What subject has the +painter worth a rush but the beauty of woman? We gaze for ever on the +charming face which smiles on us from his canvass; we may gaze with +perfect license--that veil which has just been lifted to the brow, it +will never be dropt again--but we do not gaze with perfect impunity; we +turn from the lovely shadow with knees how prone to bend! And as to the +sculptor, on condition that he hold to the pure colourless marble, is he +not permitted to reveal the sacred charms of Venus herself? Every art is +hers. Go to the theatre, and whether it be tragedy, or comedy, or opera, +or dance, the attraction of woman is the very life of all that is +transacted there. Shut yourself up at home with the poem or the novel, +and lo! to love, and to be loved, by one fair creature, is all that the +world has to dignify with the name of happiness. It is too much. The +heart aches and sickens with an unclaimed affection, kindled to no +purpose. Every where the eye, the ear, the imagination, is provoked, +bewildered, haunted by the magic of this universal syren. + +"And what is worse," continued our profound philosopher--and here he +rose from his elbow, and supported himself at arm's length from the +ground, one hand resting on the turf, the other at liberty, if required, +for oratorical action--"what is worse, this place which woman occupies +in _art_ is but a fair reflection of that which she fills in real life. +Just heavens! what a perpetual wonder it is, this living, breathing +beauty! Throw all your metaphors to the winds--your poetic +raptures--your ideals--your romance of position and of circumstance: +look at a fair, amiable, cultivated woman, as you meet her in the +actual, commonplace scenes of life: she is literally, prosaically +speaking, the last consummate result of the creative power of nature, +and the gathered refinements of centuries of human civilization. The +world can show nothing comparable to that light, graceful figure of the +girl just blooming into perfect womanhood. Imagination cannot go beyond +it. There is all the marvel, if you think of it, in that slight figure, +as she treads across the carpet of a modern drawing-room, that has ever +been expressed in, or given origin to, the nymphs, goddesses, and angels +that the fancy of man has teemed with. I declare that a pious heathen +would as soon insult the august statue of Minerva herself, as would any +civilized being treat that slender form with the least show of rudeness +and indignity. A Chartist, indeed, or a Leveller, would do it; but it +would pain him--he would be a martyr to his principles. Verily we are +slaves to the fair miracle!" + +"Well," said his companion, who had all this time been leisurely pulling +to pieces some wild flowers he had gathered in the course of the +morning's ramble, "what does it all end in? What, at last, but the old +story--love and a marriage?" + +"Love often where there is no possibility of marriage," replied Darcy, +starting up altogether from his recumbent posture, and pacing to and fro +under the shadow of the tree. "The full heart, how often does it swell +only to feel the pressure of the iron bond of poverty! This very +sentiment, which our cultivation refines, fosters, makes supreme, is +encountered by that harsh and cruel evil which grows also with the +growth of civilization--poverty--civilized poverty. Oh, 'tis a frightful +thing, this well-born, well-bred poverty! There is a pauper state, +which, loathsome as it is to look upon, yet brings with it a callousness +to endure all inflictions, and a recklessness that can seize with +avidity whatever coarse fragments of pleasure the day or the hour may +afford. But this poverty applies itself to nerves strung for the +subtlest happiness. No torpor here; no moments of rash and unscrupulous +gratification--unreflected on, unrepented of--which being often repeated +make, in the end, a large sum of human life; but the heart incessantly +demands a genuine and enduring happiness, and is incessantly denied. It +is a poverty which even helps to keep alive the susceptibility it +tortures; for the man who has never loved, or been the object of +affection, whose heart has been fed only by an untaught imagination, +feels a passion--feels a regret--it may be far more than commensurate +with that envied reality which life possesses and withholds from him. +No! there is nothing in the circle of human existence more fearful to +contemplate than this perpetual divorce--irrevocable, yet pronounced +anew each instant of our lives--between the soul and its best +affections. And--look you!--this misery passes along the world under the +mask of easy indifference, and wears a smiling face, and submits to be +rallied by the wit, and assumes itself the air of vulgar jocularity. Oh, +this penury that goes well clad, and is warmly housed, and makes a mock +of its own anguish--I'd rather die on the wheel, or be starved to death +in a dungeon! + +"My excellent friend!" cried Griffith, startled from his quiescent +posture, and tranquil occupation, by the growing excitement of his +companion, "what has possessed you? Is it the daughter of our worthy +host--is it Emily Sherwood, the nymph who haunts these woods--who has +given birth to this marvellous train of reflection? to this rhapsody on +the omnipresence of woman, which I certainly had never discovered, and +on the misery of a snug bachelor's income, which to me is still more +incomprehensible? I confess, however, it would be difficult to find a +better specimen of this fearfully fascinating sex."-- + +"Pshaw!" interrupted Darcy, "what is the heiress of Lipscombe Park to +me?--a girl who might claim alliance with the wealthiest and noblest of +the land--to me, who have just that rag of property, enough to keep from +open shame one miserable biped? Can a man never make a general +reflection upon one of the most general of all topics, without being met +by a personal allusion? I thought you had been superior, Griffith, to +this dull and hackneyed retort." + +"Well, well; be not wroth"-- + +"But I _am_. There is something so odious in this trite and universal +banter. Besides, to have it intimated, even in jest, that I would take +advantage of my position in this family to pay my ridiculous addresses +to Miss Sherwood--I do declare, Griffith, I never will again to you, or +any other man, touch upon this subject, but in the same strain of +unmeaning levity one is compelled to listen to, and imitate, in the +society of coxcombs." + +"At all events," said Griffith, "give me leave to say that _I_ admire +Miss Sherwood, and that I shall think it a crying shame if so beautiful +and intelligent a girl is suffered to fall into the clutches of this +stupid baronet who is laying siege to her--this pompous, empty-headed +Sir Frederic Beaumantle." + +"Sir Frederic Beaumantle," said Darcy, with some remains of humour, "may +be all you describe him, but he is very rich, and, mark me, he will win +the lady. Old Sherwood suspects him for a fool, but his extensive +estates are unincumbered--he will approve his suit. His daughter makes +him a constant laughing-stock, she is perpetually ridiculing his +presumption and his vanity; but she will end by marrying the rich +baronet. It will be in the usual course of things; society will expect +it; and it is so safe, so prudent, to do what society expects. Let +wealth wed with wealth. It is quite right. I would never advise any man +to marry a woman much richer than himself, so as to be indebted to her +for his position in society. It is useless to say, or to feel, that her +wealth was not the object of your suit. You may carry it how you +will--what says the song? + + '_She_ never will forget; + The gold she gave was not thy _gain_, + But it must be thy _debt_.' + +"But come, our host is punctual to his dinner hour, and if we journey +back at the same pace we have travelled here, we shall not have much +time upon our hands." And accordingly the two friends set themselves in +motion to return to the house. + +Our readers have, of course, discovered that, in spite of his +disclaimer, Reginald Darcy _was_ in love with Emily Sherwood. He was, +indeed, very far gone, and had suffered great extremities; but his pride +had kept pace with his passion. Left an orphan at an early age, and +placed by the will of his father under the guardianship of Mr Sherwood, +Darcy had found in the residence of that gentleman a home during the +holidays when a schoolboy, and during the vacations when a collegian. +Having lately taken his degree at Cambridge, with high honours, which +had been strenuously contended for, and purchased by severe labour, he +was now recruiting his health, and enjoying a season of well-earned +leisure under his guardian's roof. As Mr Sherwood was old and gouty, and +confined much to his room, it fell on him to escort Emily in her rides +or walks. She whom he had known, and been so often delighted with, as +his little playmate, had grown into the young and lovely woman. Briefly, +our Darcy was a lost man--gone--head and heart. But then--she was the +only daughter of Mr Sherwood, she was a wealthy heiress--he was +comparatively poor. Her father had been to him the kindest of guardians: +ought he to repay that kindness by destroying, perhaps, his proudest +schemes? Ought he, a man of fitting and becoming pride, to put himself +in the equivocal position which the poor suitor of a wealthy heiress +must inevitably occupy? "He invites me," he would say to himself, "he +presses me to stay here, week after week, and month after month, because +the idea that I should seek to carry away his daughter never enters into +his head. And she--she is so frank, so gay, so amiable, and almost fond, +because she has never recognized, with the companion of her childhood, +the possibility of such a thing as marriage. There is but one part for +me--silence, strict, unbroken silence!" + +Charles Griffith was not far from the truth, when he said that it would +be difficult to find a better specimen of her fascinating sex than the +daughter of their host. But it was not her beauty, remarkable as this +was--it was not her brightest of blue eyes, nor her fairest of +complexions, nor those rich luxuriant tresses--that formed the greatest +charm in Emily Sherwood. It was the delightful combination she displayed +of a cheerful vivacious temper with generous and ardent feelings. She +was as light and playful as one of the fawns in her own park, but her +heart responded also to every noble and disinterested sentiment; and the +poet who sought a listener for some lofty or tender strain, would have +found the spirit that he wanted in the gay and mirth-loving Emily +Sherwood. + +Poor Darcy! he would sit, or walk, by her side, talking of this or that, +no matter what, always happy in her presence, passing the most delicious +hours, but not venturing to betray, by word or look, how very content he +was. For these hours of stolen happiness he knew how severe a penalty he +must pay: he knew and braved it. And in our poor judgment he was right. +Let the secret, stealthy, unrequited lover enjoy to the full the +presence, the smiles, the bland and cheerful society of her whom his +heart is silently worshipping. Even this shall in future hours be a +sweet remembrance. By and by, it is true, there will come a season of +poignant affliction. But better all this than one uniform, perpetual +torpor. He will have felt that mortal man _may_ breathe the air of +happiness; he will have learned something of the human heart that lies +within him. + +But all this love--was it seen--was it returned--by her who had inspired +it? Both, both. He thought, wise youth! that while he was swallowing +draught after draught of this delicious poison, no one perceived the +deep intoxication he was revelling in. Just as wisely some veritable +toper, by putting on a grave and demure countenance, cheats himself into +the belief that he conceals from every eye that delectable and +irresistible confusion in which his brain is swimming. His love was +seen. How could it be otherwise? That instantaneous, that complete +delight which he felt when she joined him in his rambles, or came to sit +with him in the library, could not be disguised nor mistaken. He was a +scholar, a reader and lover of books, but let the book be what it might +which he held in his hand, it was abandoned, closed, pitched aside, the +moment she entered. There was no stolen glance at the page left still +open; nor was the place kept marked by the tenacious finger and thumb. +If her voice were heard on the terrace, or in the garden--if her +laugh--so light, merry, and musical, reached his ear--there was no +question or debate whether he should go or stay, but down the stairs, or +through the avenues of the garden--he sprung--he ran;--only a little +before he came in sight he would assume something of the gravity +becoming in a senior wrangler, or try to look as if he came there by +chance. His love was seen, and not with indifference. But what could the +damsel do? How presume to know of an attachment until in due form +certified thereof? If a youth will adhere to an obstinate silence, what, +we repeat, can a damsel do but leave him to his fate, and listen to some +other, who, if he loves less, at least knows how to avow his love? + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +We left the two friends proceeding towards the mansion; we enter before +them, and introduce our readers into the drawing-room. Here, in a +spacious and shaded apartment, made cool, as well by the massive walls +of the noble edifice as by the open and protected windows, whose broad +balcony was blooming with the most beautiful and fragrant of plants, sat +Emily Sherwood. She was not, however, alone. At the same round table, +which was covered with vases of flowers, and with books as gay as +flowers, was seated another young lady, Miss Julia Danvers, a friend who +had arrived in the course of the morning on a visit to Lipscombe Park. +The young ladies seemed to have been in deep consultation. + +"I can never thank you sufficiently," said Miss Danvers, "for your +kindness in this affair." + +"Indeed but you can very soon thank me much more than sufficiently," +replied her more lively companion, "for there are few things in the +world I dislike so much as thanks. And yet there is one cause of +thankfulness you have, and know not of. Here have I listened to your +troubles, as you call them, for more than two hours, and never once told +you any of my own. Troubles! you are, in my estimation, a very happy, +enviable girl." + +"Do you think it then so great a happiness to be obliged to take refuge +from an absurd selfish stepmother, in order to get by stealth one's own +lawful way?" + +"One's own way is always lawful, my dear. No tautology. But you _have_ +it--while I"---- + +"Well, what is the matter?" + +"Julia, dear--now do not laugh--I have a lover that _won't speak_. I +have another, or one who calls himself such, who has spoken, or whose +wealth, I fear, has spoken, to some purpose--to my father." + +"And you would open the mouth of the dumb, and stop the mouth of the +foolish?" + +"Exactly." + +"Who are they? And first, to proceed by due climax, who is he whose +mouth is to be closed?" + +"A baronet of these parts, Sir Frederic Beaumantle. A vain, vain, vain +man. It would be a waste of good words to spend another epithet upon +him, for he is all vanity. All his virtues, all his vices, all his +actions, good, bad, and indifferent, are nothing but vanity. He praises +you from vanity, abuses you from vanity, loves and hates you from +vanity. He is vain of his person, of his wealth, of his birth, of his +title, vain of all he has, and all he has not. He sets so great a value +on his innumerable and superlative good qualities, that he really has +not been able (until he met with your humble servant) to find any +individual of our sex on whom he could, conscientiously, bestow so great +a treasure as his own right hand must inevitably give away. This has +been the only reason--he tells me so himself--why he has remained so +long unmarried; for he has rounded the arch, and is going down the +bridge. To take his own account of this delicate matter, he is +fluctuating, with an uneasy motion, to and fro, between forty and +forty-five." + +"Old enough, I doubt not, to be your father. How can he venture on such +a frolicsome young thing as you?" + +"I asked him that question myself one day; and he told me, with a most +complacent smile, that I should be the perfect compendium of +matrimony--he should have wife and child in one." + +"The old coxcomb! And yet there was a sort of providence in that.--Now, +who is he whose mouth is to be opened?" + +"Oh--he!--can't you guess?" + +"Your cousin Reginald, as you used to call him--though cousin I believe +he is none--this learned wrangler?" + +"The same. Trust me, he loves me to the bottom of his heart; but because +his little cousin is a great heiress, he thinks it fit to be very proud, +and gives me over--many thanks to him--to this rich baronet. But here he +comes." + +As she spoke, Darcy and Griffith entered the room. + +"We have been canvassing," said Emily, after the usual forms of +introduction had been gone through, "the merits of our friend, Sir +Frederic Beaumantle. By the way, Reginald, he dines here to-day, and so +will another gentleman, whom I shall be happy to introduce to you, +Captain Garland, an esteemed friend of mine and Miss Danvers'." + +"Sir Frederic seems," said Griffith, by way merely of taking part in the +conversation, "at all events, a very good-natured man. I have seen him +but once, and he has already promised to use all his influence in my +behalf, in whatever profession I may embark. If medicine, I am to have +half-a-dozen dowagers, always ailing and never ill, put under my charge +the moment I can add M.D. to my name; not to speak of certain mysterious +hints of an introduction at court, and an appointment of physician +extraordinary to Her Majesty. I suppose I may depend upon Sir Frederic's +promises?" + +"Oh, certainly," said Miss Sherwood, "you may depend upon Sir Frederic +Beaumantle's promises; they will never fail; they are inexhaustible." + +"The fool!" said Darcy with impatience, "I could forgive him any thing +but that ridiculous ostentation he has of patronizing men, who, but they +have more politeness than himself, would throw back his promises with +open derision." + +"Reginald," said Miss Sherwood, "is always forgiving Sir Frederic every +fault but one. But then that one fault changes every day. Last time he +would pardon him every thing except the fulsome eulogy he is in the +habit of bestowing upon his friends, even to their faces. You must know, +Mr Griffith, that Sir Frederic is a most liberal chapman in this +commodity of praise: he will give any man a bushel-full of compliments +who will send him back the measure only half filled. Nay, if there are +but a few cherries clinging to the wicker-work he is not wholly +dissatisfied." + +"What he gives he knows is trash," said Darcy; "what he receives he +always flatters himself to be true coin. But indeed Sir Frederic is +somewhat more just in his dealings than you, perhaps, imagine. If he +bestows excessive laudation on a friend in one company, he takes it all +back again in the very next he enters." + +"And still his amiability shines through all; for he abuses the absent +friend only to gratify the self-love of those who are present." + +The door opened as Miss Sherwood gave this _coup-de-grace_ to the +character of the baronet, and Sir Frederic Beaumantle was announced, and +immediately afterwards, Captain Garland. + +Miss Sherwood, somewhat to the surprise of Darcy, who was not aware that +any such intimacy subsisted between them, received Captain Garland with +all the cordiality of an old acquaintance. On the other hand she +introduced the baronet to Miss Danvers with that slightly emphatic +manner which intimates that the parties may entertain a "high +consideration" for each other. + +"You are too good a herald, Sir Frederic," she said, "not to know the +Danverses of Dorsetshire." + +"I shall be proud," replied the baronet, "to make the acquaintance of +Miss Danvers." + +"She has come to my poor castle," continued Miss Sherwood, "like the +distressed princess in the Faery Queen, and I must look out for some +red-cross knight to be her champion, and redress her wrongs." + +"It is not the first time," said the lady thus introduced, "that I have +heard of the name of Sir Frederic Beaumantle." + +"I dare say not, I dare say not," answered the gratified baronet. "Mine, +I may venture to say, is an historic name. Did you ever peruse, Miss +Danvers, a work entitled 'The History of the County of Huntingdon?' You +would find in it many curious particulars relating to the Beaumantles, +and one anecdote especially, drawn, I may say, from the archives of our +family, which throws a new light upon the reign and character of Charles +II. It is a very able performance is this 'History of the County of +Huntingdon;' it is written by a modest and ingenious person of my +acquaintance, and I felt great pleasure in lending him my poor +assistance in the compilation of it. My name is mentioned in the +preface. Perhaps," he added with a significant smile, "it might have +claimed a still more conspicuous place; but I hold it more becoming in +persons of rank to be the patrons than the competitors of men of +letters." + +"I should think," said Miss Danvers very quietly, "it were the more +prudent plan for them to adopt. But what is this anecdote you allude +to?" + +"An ancestor of mine--But I am afraid," said the baronet, casting a +deprecatory look at Miss Sherwood, "that some here have read it, or +heard me repeat it before." + +"Oh, pray proceed," said the young lady appealed to. + +"An ancestor of mine," resumed the baronet, "on being presented at the +Court of Charles II., soon after the Restoration, attracted the +attention of that merry monarch and his witty courtiers, by the antique +fashion of his cloak. 'Beaumantle! Beaumantle!' said the king, 'who gave +thee that name?' My ancestor, who was a grave man, and well brought up, +answered, 'Sire, my godfathers and my godmothers at my baptism.' 'Well +responded!' said the king with a smile; 'and they gave thee thy raiment +also, as it seems.' These last words were added in a lower voice, and +did not reach the ear of my ancestor, but they were reported to him +immediately afterwards, and have been treasured up in our family ever +since. I thought it my duty to make it known to the world as an +historical fact, strikingly illustrative of a very important period in +our annals." + +"Why, your name," said Miss Danvers, "appears to be historical in more +senses than one." + +"I hope soon--but I would not wish this to go beyond the present +company," said Sir Frederic, and he looked round the circle with a +countenance of the most imposing solemnity--"I hope soon that you will +hear of it being elevated to the peerage--that is, when Sir Robert Peel +comes into power." + +"You know Sir Robert, then?" said Griffith, with perfect simplicity. + +"Public men," said Sir Frederic, "are sufficiently introduced by public +report. Besides, Mr Griffith--we baronets!--we constitute a sort of +brotherhood. I have employed all my influence in the county, and I may +safely say it is not little, to raise the character and estimation of +Sir Robert, and I have no doubt that he will gladly testify his +acknowledgment of my services by this trifling return. And as it is well +known that my estates"-- + +But the baronet was interrupted in mid career by the announcement of +dinner. + +Miss Sherwood took the arm of Captain Garland, and directed Sir Frederic +to lead down Miss Danvers. + +"You will excuse my father," she said, as they descended, "for not +meeting us in the drawing-room. His gout makes him a lame pedestrian. We +shall find him already seated at the table." + +At the dinner-table the same arrangement was preserved. Miss Sherwood +had placed Captain Garland by her side, and conversed almost exclusively +with him; while the Baronet was kept in play by the sedulous flattery of +Miss Danvers. + +After a few days, it became evident to all the household at Lipscombe +Park that a new claimant for the hand of Miss Sherwood had appeared in +the person of Captain Garland. The captain did not reside in the house, +but, on the pretence of a very strong passion for trout-fishing, he had +taken up his quarters in apartments within a most convenient distance of +the scene of operations. It was not forgotten that, at the very time he +made his appearance, Miss Danvers also arrived at the Park, and between +these parties there was suspected to be some secret understanding. It +seemed as if our military suitor had resolved to assail the fort from +within as well as from without, and therefore had brought down with him +this fair ally. Nothing better than such a fair ally. She could not only +chant his praises when absent, (and there is much in that,) but she +could so manoeuvre as to procure for the captain many a _tete-a-tete_, +which otherwise would not fall to his share. Especially, (and this task +she appeared to accomplish most adroitly,) she could engage to herself +the attentions of his professed and redoubtable rival, Sir Frederic +Beaumantle. In fifty ways she could assist in betraying the citadel from +within, whilst he stood storming at the gates, in open and most +magnanimous warfare. Darcy was not slower than others to suspect the +stratagem, and he thought he saw symptoms of its success. His friend +Griffith had now left him; he had no dispassionate observer to consult, +and his own desponding passion led him to conclude whatever was most +unfavourable to himself. Certainly there was a confidential manner +between Miss Sherwood and these close allies, which seemed to justify +the suspicion alluded to. More than once, when he had joined Miss +Sherwood and the captain, the unpleasant discovery had been forced upon +him, by the sudden pause in their conversation, that he was the _one too +many_. + +But jealousy? Oh, no! What had _he_ to do with jealousy? For his part, +he was quite delighted with this new attachment--quite delighted; it +would set at rest for ever the painful controversy so often agitated in +his own breast. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that he felt the +rivalry of Captain Garland in a very different manner from that of Sir +Frederic Beaumantle. The baronet, by virtue of his wealth alone, would +obtain success; and he felt a sort of bitter satisfaction in yielding +Emily to her opulent suitor. She might marry, but she could not love +him; she might be thinking of another, perhaps of her cousin Reginald, +even while she gave her hand to him at the altar. But if the gallant +captain, whose handsome person, and frank and gentlemanly manners, +formed his chief recommendation, were to be the happy man, then must her +affections have been won, and Emily was lost to him utterly. And +then--with the usual logic of the passions, and forgetting the part of +silence and disguise that he had played--he taxed her with levity and +unkindness in so soon preferring the captain to himself. That Emily +should so soon have linked herself with a comparative stranger! It was +not what he should have expected. "At all events," he would thus +conclude his soliloquy, "I am henceforward free--free from her bondage +and from all internal struggle. Yes! I am free!" he exclaimed, as he +paced his room triumphantly. The light voice of Emily was heard calling +on him to accompany her in a walk. He started, he flew. His freedom, we +suppose, gave him wings, for he was at her side in a moment. + +Reginald had intended, on the first opportunity, to rally his cousin +upon her sudden attachment to the captain, but his tongue absolutely +refused the office. He could not utter a word of banter on the subject. +His heart was too full. + +On this occasion, as they returned from their walk through the park, +there happened one of those incidents which have so often, at least in +novels and story-books, brought about the happiness of lovers, but which +in the present instance served only to bring into play the most painful +feelings of both parties. + +A prize-fight had taken place in the neighbourhood, and one of the +numerous visitors of that truly noble exhibition, who, in order to do +honour to the day, had deprived Smithfield market of the light of his +countenance, was returning across the park from the scene of combat, +accompanied by his bull-dog. The dog, who doubtless knew that his master +was a trespasser, and considered it the better policy to assume at once +the offensive, flew at the party whom he saw approaching. Emily was a +little in advance. Darcy rushed forward to plant himself between her and +this ferocious assailant. He had no weapon of defence of any kind, and, +to say truth, he had at that moment no idea of defending himself, or any +distinct notion whatever of combating his antagonist. The only +reflection that occurred to his mind was, that if the animal satiated +its fury upon him, his companion would be safe. A strong leg and a stout +boot might have done something; Darcy, stooping down, put the fleshy +part of his own arm fairly into the bulldog's jaws; assured that, at all +events, it could not bite two persons at the same time, and that, if its +teeth were buried in his own arm, they could not be engaged in +lacerating Emily Sherwood. It is the well-known nature of the bull-dog +to fasten where it once bites, and the brute pinned Darcy to the ground, +until its owner, arriving on the spot, extricated him from his very +painful position. + +In this encounter, our senior wrangler probably showed himself very +unskilful and deficient in the combat with wild beasts, but no conduct +could have displayed a more engrossing anxiety for the safety of his +fair companion. Most men would have been willing to reap advantage from +the grateful sentiment which such a conduct must inspire; Darcy, on the +contrary, seemed to have no other wish than to disclaim all title to +such a sentiment. He would not endure that the incident should be spoken +of with the least gravity or seriousness. + +"I pray you," said he, "do not mention this silly business again. What I +did, every living man who had found himself by your side would have +done, and most men in a far more dexterous manner. And, indeed, if +instead of yourself, the merest stranger--the poorest creature in the +parish, man, woman, or child, had been in your predicament, I think I +should have done the same." + +"I know you would, Reginald. I believe," said Emily, "that if the merest +idiot had been threatened with the danger that threatened me, you would +have interposed, and received the attack yourself. And it is because I +believe this of you, Reginald"---- + +Something apparently impeded her utterance, for the sentence was left +unfinished. + +"For this wound," resumed Darcy, after a pause, and observing that +Emily's eye was resting on his arm, "it is really nothing more than a +just penalty for my own want of address in this notable combat. You +should have had the captain with you," he added; "he would have defended +you quite as zealously, and with ten times the skill." + +Emily made no answer; and they walked on in silence till they entered +the Hall. Reginald felt that he had been ungracious; but he knew not how +to retrieve his position. Just before they parted, Emily resuming, in +some measure, her natural and cheerful manner, turned to her companion, +and said--"Years ago, when you were cousin Reginald, and condescended to +be my playfellow, the greatest services you rendered were to throw me +occasionally out of the swing, or frighten me till I screamed by putting +my pony into a most unmerciful trot; but you were always so kind in the +_making up_, that I liked you the better afterwards. Now, when you +preserve me, at your own hazard, from a very serious injury--you do it +in so surly a manner--I wish the dog had bitten me!" And with this she +left him and tripped up stairs. + +If Darcy could have followed her into her own room, he would have seen +her throw herself into an armchair, and burst into a flood of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Miss Danvers, it has been said, (from whatever motive her conduct +proceeded, whether from any interest of her own, or merely a desire to +serve the interest of her friend, Captain Garland,) showed a disposition +to engross the attentions of Sir Frederic Beaumantle as often as he made +his appearance at Lipscombe Park. Now, as that lady was undoubtedly of +good family, and possessed of considerable fortune, the baronet was not +a little flattered by the interest which a person who had these +excellent qualifications for a judge, manifestly took in his +conversation. In an equal degree was his dignity offended at the +preference shown by Miss Sherwood for Captain Garland, a man, as he +said, but of yesterday, and not in any one point of view to be put in +comparison with himself. He almost resolved to punish her levity by +withdrawing his suit. The graver manner, and somewhat more mature age of +Miss Danvers were also qualities which he was obliged to confess were +somewhat in her favour. + +The result of all this was, that one fine morning Sir Frederic +Beaumantle might have been seen walking to and fro in his own park, with +a troubled step, bearing in his hand a letter--most elaborately +penned--carefully written out--sealed--but not directed. It was an +explicit declaration of his love, a solemn offer of his hand; it was +only not quite determined to whom it should be sent. As the letter +contained very little that referred to the lady, and consisted almost +entirely of an account, not at all disparaging, of himself and his own +good qualities, it was easy for him to proceed thus far upon his +delicate negotiation, although the main question--to whom the letter was +to be addressed--was not yet decided. This letter had indeed been a +_labour of love_. It was as little written for Miss Sherwood as for Miss +Danvers. It was composed for the occasion whenever that might arise; and +for these ten years past it had been lying in his desk, receiving from +time to time fresh touches and emendations. The necessity of making use +of this epistle, which had now attained a state of painful perfection, +we venture to say had some share in impelling him into matrimony. To +some one it must be sent, or how could it appear to any advantage in +those "Memoirs of Sir Frederic Beaumantle," which, some future day, were +to console the world for his decease, and the prospect of which (for he +saw them already in beautiful hot-pressed quarto) almost consoled +himself for the necessity of dying? The _intended_ love-letter!--this +would have an air of ridicule, while the real declaration of Sir +Frederic Beaumantle, which would not only adorn the Memoirs above +mentioned, but would ultimately form a part of the "History of the +County of Huntingdon." We hope ourselves, by the way, to have the honour +of editing those Memoirs, should we be so unfortunate as to survive Sir +Frederic. + +But we must leave our baronet with his letter in his hand, gazing +profoundly and anxiously on the blank left for the superscription, and +must follow the perplexities of Reginald Darcy. + +That good understanding which apparently existed between Emily and +Captain Garland seemed rather to increase than to diminish after the +little adventure we recorded in the last chapter. It appeared that Miss +Sherwood had taken Darcy at his word, and resolved not to think any the +more kindly of him for his conduct on that occasion. The captain was +plainly in the ascendant. It even appeared, from certain arrangements +that were in stealthy preparation, that the happiness of the gallant +lover would not long be delayed. Messages of a very suspicious purport +had passed between the Park and the vicarage. The clerk of the parish +had been seen several times at Lipscombe. There was something in the +wind, as the sagacious housekeeper observed; surely her young _missus_ +was not going to be married on the sly to the captain! The same thought, +however, occurred to Darcy. Was it to escape the suit of Sir Frederic +Beaumantle, which had been in some measure countenanced by her father, +that she had recourse to this stratagem?--hardly worthy of her, and +quite unnecessary, as she possessed sufficient influence with her father +to obtain his consent to any proposal she herself was likely to approve. +Had not the state of his own feelings made him too interested a party to +act as counsellor or mediator, he would at once have questioned Emily on +the subject. As it was, his lips were closed. She herself, too, seemed +resolved to make no communication to him. The captain, a man of frank +and open nature, was far more disposed to reveal his secret: he was once +on the point of speaking to Darcy about his "approaching marriage;" but +Emily, laying her finger on her lip, suddenly imposed silence on him. + +One morning, as Darcy entered the breakfast-room, it was evident that +something unusual was about to take place. The carriage, at this early +hour, was drawn up to the door, and the two young ladies, both dressed +in bridal white, were stepping into it. Before it drove off Miss +Sherwood beckoned to Darcy. + +"I have not invited you," she said, "to the ceremony, because Captain +Garland has wished it to be as private as possible. But we shall expect +your company at breakfast, for which you must even have the patience to +wait till we return." Without giving any opportunity for reply, she drew +up the glass, and the carriage rolled off. + +However Darcy might have hitherto borne himself up by a gloomy sense of +duty, by pride, and a bitter--oh, what bitter resignation!--when the +blow came, it utterly prostrated him. "She is gone!--lost!--Fool that I +have been!--What was this man more than I?" Stung with such reflections +as these, which were uttered in such broken sentences, he rapidly +retreated to the library, where he knew he should be undisturbed. He +threw himself into a chair, and planting his elbows on the table, +pressed his doubled fists, with convulsive agony, to his brows. All his +fortitude had forsaken him: he wept outright. + +From this posture he was at length aroused by a gentle pressure on his +shoulder, and a voice calling him by his name. He raised his head: it +was Emily Sherwood, enquiring of him, quite calmly, why he was not at +the breakfast-table. There she stood, radiant with beauty, and in all +her bridal attire, except that she had thrown of her bonnet, and her +beautiful hair was allowed to be free and unconfined. Her hand was still +upon his shoulder. + +"You are married, Emily," he said, as well as that horrible stifling +sensation in the breast would let him speak; "you are married, and I +must be for evermore a banished man. I leave you, Emily, and this roof, +for ever. I pronounce my own sentence of exile, for I _love_ you, +Emily!--and ever shall--passionately--tenderly--love you. Surely I may +say this now--now that it is a mere cry of anguish, and a misery +exclusively my own. Never, never--I feel that this is no idle +raving--shall I love another--never will this affection leave me--I +shall never have a home--never care for another--or myself--I am +alone--a wanderer--miserable. Farewell! I go--I know not exactly +where--but I leave this place." + +He was preparing to quit the room, when Emily, placing herself before +him, prevented him. "And why," said she, "if you honoured me with this +affection, why was I not to know of it till now?" + +"Can the heiress of Lipscombe Park ask that question?" + +"Ungenerous! unjust!" said Emily. "Tell me, if one who can himself feel +and act nobly, denies to another the capability of a like disinterested +conduct--denies it rashly, pertinaciously, without cause given for such +a judgment--is he not ungenerous and unjust?" + +"To whom have I acted thus? To whom have I been ungenerous or unjust?" + +"To me, Reginald--to me! I am wealthy, and for this reason alone you +have denied to me, it seems, the possession of every worthy sentiment. +She has gold, you have said, let her gold content her, and you withheld +your love. She will make much boast, and create a burdensome obligation, +if she bestows her superfluous wealth upon another: you resolved not to +give her the opportunity, and you withheld your love. She has gold--she +has no heart--no old affections that have grown from childhood--no +estimate of character: she has wealth--let her gratify its vanity and +its caprice; and so you withheld your love. Yes, she has gold--let her +have more of it--let her wed with gold--with any gilded fool--she has no +need of love! This is what you have thought, what your conduct has +implied, and it was ungenerous and unjust." + +"No, by heaven! I never thought unworthily of you," exclaimed Darcy. + +"Had you been the wealthy cousin, Reginald, of wealth so ample, that an +addition to it could scarcely bring an additional pleasure, would you +have left your old friend Emily to look out for some opulent alliance?" + +"Oh, no! no!" + +"Then, why should I?" + +"I may have erred," said Darcy. "I may have thought too meanly of +myself, or nourished a misplaced pride, but I never had a disparaging +thought of you. It seemed that I was right--that I was fulfilling a +severe--oh, how severe a duty! Even now I know not that I was wrong--I +know only that I am miserable. But," added he in a calmer voice, "I, at +all events, am the only sufferer. You, at least, are happy." + +"Not, I think, if marriage is to make me so. I am not married, +Reginald," she said, amidst a confusion of smiles and blushes. "Captain +Garland was married this morning to Miss Julia Danvers, to whom he has +been long engaged, but a silly selfish stepmother"---- + +"Not married!" cried Darcy, interrupting all further explanation.--"Not +married! Then you are free--then you are"----But the old train of +thought rushed back upon his mind--the old objections were as strong as +ever--Miss Sherwood was still the daughter of his guardian, and the +heiress of Lipscombe Park. Instead of completing the sentence, he +paused, and muttered something about "her father." + +Emily saw the cloud that had come over him. Dropping playfully, and most +gracefully, upon one knee, she took his hand, and looking up archly in +his face, said, "You love me, coz--you have said it. Coz, will you marry +me?--for I love you." + +"Generous, generous girl!" and he clasped her to his bosom. + +"Let us go in," said Emily, in a quite altered and tremulous voice, "let +us join them in the other room." And as she put her arm in his, the +little pressure said distinctly and triumphantly--"He is mine!--he is +mine!" + + * * * * * + +We must take a parting glance into old Mr Sherwood's room. He is seated +in his gouty chair; his daughter stands by his side. Apparently Emily's +reasonings have almost prevailed; she has almost persuaded the old +gentleman that Darcy is the very son-in-law whom, above all others, he +ought to desire. For how could Emily leave her dear father, and how +could he domicile himself with any other husband she could choose, half +so well as with his own ward, and his old favourite, Reginald? + +"But Sir Frederic Beaumantle," the old gentleman replied, "what is to be +said to him? and what a fine property he has!" + +As he was speaking, the door opened, and the party from the breakfast +table, consisting of Captain Garland, and his bride, and Reginald, +entered the room. + +"Oh, as for Sir Frederic Beaumantle," said she who was formerly Miss +Danvers, and now Mrs Garland, "I claim him as mine." And forthwith she +displayed the famous declaration of the baronet--addressed to herself! + +Their mirth had scarcely subsided, when the writer of the letter himself +made his appearance. He had called early, for he had concluded, after +much deliberation, that it was not consistent with the ardour and +impetuosity of love, to wait till the formal hour of visiting, in order +to receive the answer of Miss Danvers. + +That answer the lady at once gave by presenting Captain Garland to him +in the character of her husband. At the same time, she returned his +epistle, and, explaining that circumstances had compelled the captain +and herself to marry in a private and secret manner, apologized for the +mistake into which the concealment of their engagement had led him. + +"A mistake indeed--a mistake altogether!" exclaimed the baronet, +catching at a straw as he fell--"a mistake into which this absurd +fashion of envelopes has led us. The letter was never intended, madam, +to be enclosed to you. It was designed for the hands"---- + +And he turned to Miss Sherwood, who, on her part, took the arm of +Reginald with a significance of manner which proved to him that, for the +present at least, his declaration of love might return into his own +desk, there to receive still further emendations. + +"No wonder, Sir Frederic," said Mr Sherwood, compassionating the +baronet's situation--"no wonder your proposal is not wanted. These young +ladies have taken their affairs into their own hands. It is _Leap-Year_. +One of them, at least, (looking to his daughter,) has made good use of +its privilege. The initiative, Sir Frederic, is taken from us." + +The baronet had nothing left but to make his politest bow and retire. + +"Reginald, my dear boy," continued the old gentleman, "give me your +hand. Emily is right. I don't know how I should part with her. I will +only make this bargain with you, Reginald--that you marry us both. You +must not turn me out of doors." + +Reginald returned the pressure of his hand, but he could say nothing. Mr +Sherwood, however, saw his answer in eyes that were filling +involuntarily with tears. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BATTLE OF THE BLOCKS. + +THE PAVING QUESTION. + + +The subject of greatest metropolitan interest which has occurred for +many years, is the introduction of wood paving. As the main battle has +been fought in London, and nothing but a confused report of the great +object in dispute may have penetrated beyond the sound of Bow bells, we +think it will not be amiss to put on record, in the imperishable brass +and marble of our pages, an account of the mighty struggle--of the +doughty champions who couched the lance and drew the sword in the +opposing ranks--and, finally, to what side victory seems to incline on +this beautiful 1st of May in the year 1843. + +Come, then, to our aid, oh ye heavenly Muses! who enabled Homer to sing +in such persuasive words the fates of Troy and of its wooden horse; for +surely a subject which is so deeply connected both with wood and horses, +is not beneath your notice; but perhaps, as poetry is gone out of +fashion at the present time, you will depute one of your humbler +sisters, rejoicing in the name of Prose, to give us a few hints in the +composition of our great history. The name of the first pavier, we fear, +is unknown, unless we could identify him with Triptolemus, who was a +great improver of Rhodes; but it is the fate of all the greatest +benefactors of their kind to be neglected, and in time forgotten. The +first regularly defined paths were probably footways--the first +carriages broad-wheeled. No record remains of what materials were used +for filling up the ruts; so it is likely, in those simple times when +enclosure acts were unknown, that the cart was seldom taken in the same +track. As houses were built, and something in the shape of streets began +to be established, the access to them must have been more attended to. A +mere smoothing of the inequalities of the surface over which the oxen +had to be driven, that brought the grain home on the enormous _plaustra_ +of the husbandman, was the first idea of a street, whose very name is +derived from _stratum_, levelled. As experience advanced, steps would be +taken to prevent the softness of the road from interrupting the draught. +A narrow rim of stone, just wide enough to sustain the wheel, would, in +all probability, be the next improvement; and only when the gentle +operations of the farm were exchanged for war, and the charger had to be +hurried to the fight, with all the equipments necessary for an army, +great roads were laid open, and covered with hard materials to sustain +the wear and tear of men and animals. Roads were found to be no less +necessary to retain a conquest than to make it; and the first true proof +of the greatness of Rome was found in the long lines of military ways, +by which she maintained her hold upon the provinces. You may depend on +it, that no expense was spared in keeping the glorious street that led +up her Triumphs to the Capitol in excellent repair. All the nations of +the _Orbis Antiquus_ ought to have trembled when they saw the beginning +of the Appian road. It led to Britain and Persia, to Carthage and the +White Sea. The Britons, however, in ancient days, seem to have been +about the stupidest and least enterprising of all the savages hitherto +discovered. After an intercourse of four hundred years with the most +polished people in the world, they continued so miserably benighted, +that they had not even acquired masonic knowledge enough to repair a +wall. The rampart raised by their Roman protectors between them and the +Picts and Scots, became in some places dilapidated. The unfortunate +natives had no idea how to mend the breach, and had to send once more +for their auxiliaries. If such their state in regard to masonry, we +cannot suppose that their skill in road-making was very great; and yet +we are told that, even on Caesar's invasion, the Britons careered about +in war-chariots, which implies both good roads and some mechanical +skill; but we think it a little too much in historians to ask us to +believe BOTH these views of the condition of our predecessors in the +tight little island; for it is quite clear that a people who had arrived +at the art of coach-making, could not be so very ignorant as not to know +how to build a wall. If it were not for the letters of Cicero, we should +not believe a syllable about the war-chariots that carried amazement +into the hearts of the Romans, even in Kent or Surrey. But we here +boldly declare, that if twenty Ciceros were to make their affidavits to +the fact of a set of outer barbarians, like Galgacus and his troops, +"sweeping their fiery lines on rattling wheels" up and down the +Grampians--where, at a later period, a celebrated shepherd fed his +flocks--we should not believe a word of their declaration. Tacitus, in +the same manner, we should prosecute for perjury. + +The Saxons were a superior race, and when the eightsome-reel of the +heptarchy became the _pas-seul_ of the kingdom of England, we doubt not +that Watling Street was kept in passable condition, and that Alfred, +amidst his other noble institutions, invented a highway rate. The +fortresses and vassal towns of the barons, after the Conquest, must have +covered the country with tolerable cross-roads; and even the petty wars +of those steel-clad marauders must have had a good effect in opening new +communications. For how could Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, or Sir +Hildebrand Bras-de-Fer, carry off the booty of their discomfited rival +to their own granaries without loaded tumbrils, and roads fit to pass +over? + +Nor would it have been wise in rich abbots and fat monks to leave their +monasteries and abbeys inaccessible to pious pilgrims, who came to +admire thigh-bones of martyred virgins and skulls of beatified saints, +and paid very handsomely for the exhibition. Finally, trade began, and +paviers flourished. The first persons of that illustrious profession +appear, from the sound of the name, to have been French, unless we take +the derivation of a cockney friend of ours, who maintains that the +origin of the word is not the French _pave_, but the indigenous English +pathway. However that may be, we are pretty sure that paving was known +as one of the fine arts in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; for, not to +mention the anecdote of Raleigh and his cloak--which could only happen +where puddles formed the exception and not the rule--we read of Essex's +horse stumbling on a paving-stone in his mad ride to his house in the +Strand. We also prove, from Shakspeare's line-- + + "The very stones would rise in mutiny"-- + +the fact of stones forming the main body of the streets in his time; for +it is absurd to suppose that he was so rigid an observer of the unities +as to pay the slightest respect to the state of paving in the time of +Julius Caesar at Rome. + +Gradually London took the lead in improving its ways. It was no longer +necessary for the fair and young to be carried through the mud upon +costly pillions, on the backs of high-stepping Flanders mares. Beauty +rolled over the stones in four-wheeled carriages, and it did not need +more than half-a-dozen running footmen--the stoutest that could be +found--to put their shoulders occasionally to the wheel, and help the +eight black horses to drag the ponderous vehicle through the heavier +parts of the road. Science came to the aid of beauty in these +distressing circumstances. Springs were invented that yielded to every +jolt; and, with the aid of cushions, rendered a visit to Highgate not +much more fatiguing than we now find the journey to Edinburgh. Luxury +went on--wealth flowed in--paviers were encouraged--coach-makers grew +great men--and London, which our ancestors had left mud, was now stone. +Year after year the granite quarries of Aberdeen poured themselves out +on the streets of the great city, and a million and a half of people +drove, and rode, and bustled, and bargained, and cheated, and throve, in +the midst of a din that would have silenced the artillery of Trafalgar, +and a mud which, if turned into bricks, would have built the tower of +Babel. The citizens were now in possession of the "fumum et opes +strepitumque Romae;" but some of the more quietly disposed, though +submitting patiently to the "fumum," and by no means displeased with the +"opes," thought the "strepitumque" could be dispensed with, and plans of +all kinds were proposed for obviating the noise and other inconveniences +of granite blocks. Some proposed straw, rushes, sawdust; ingenuity was +at a stand-still; and London appeared to be condemned to a perpetual +atmosphere of smoke and sound. It is pleasant to look back on +difficulties, when overcome--the best illustration of which is +Columbus's egg; for, after convincing the sceptic, there can be no +manner of doubt that he swallowed the yelk and white, leaving the shell +to the pugnacious disputant. In the same way we look with a pleasing +kind of pity on the quandaries of those whom we shall call--with no +belief whatever in the pre-Adamite theory--the pre-Macadamites. + +A man of talent and enterprise, Mr Macadam, proposed a means of getting +quit of one of the objections to the granite causeways. By breaking them +up into small pieces, and spreading them in sufficient quantity, he +proved that a continuous hard surface would be formed, by which the +uneasy jerks from stone to stone would be avoided, and the expense, if +not diminished, at all events not materially increased. When the +proposition was fairly brought before the public, it met the fate of all +innovations. Timid people--the very persons, by the by, who had been the +loudest in their exclamations against the ancient causeways--became +alarmed the moment they saw a chance of getting quit of them. As we +never know the value of a thing till we have lost it, their attachment +to stone and noise became more intense in proportion as the certainty of +being deprived of them became greater. It was proved to the satisfaction +of all rational men, if Mr Macadam's experiment succeeded, and a level +surface were furnished to the streets, that, besides noise, many other +disadvantages of the rougher mode of paving would be avoided. Among +these the most prominent was slipperiness; and it was impossible to be +denied, that at many seasons of the year, not only in frost, when every +terrestrial pathway must be unsafe; but in the dry months of summer, the +smooth surfaces of the blocks of granite, polished and rounded by so +many wheels, were each like a convex mass of ice, and caused unnumbered +falls to the less adroit of the equestrian portion of the king's +subjects. One of the most zealous advocates of the improvement was the +present Sir Peter Laurie, not then elevated to a seat among the Equites, +but imbued probably with a foreknowledge of his knighthood, and +therefore anxious for the safety of his horse. Sir Peter was determined, +in all senses of the word, to _leave no stone unturned_; and a very +small mind, when directed to one object with all its force, has more +effect than a large mind unactuated by the same zeal--as a needle takes +a sharper point than a sword. Thanks, therefore, are due, in a great +measure, to the activity and eloquence of the worthy alderman for the +introduction of Macadam's system of road-making into the city. + +Many evils were certainly got rid of by this alteration--the jolting +motion from stone to stone--the slipperiness and unevenness of the +road--and the chance, in case of an accident, of contesting the hardness +of your skull with a mass of stone, which seemed as if it were made on +purpose for knocking out people's brains. For some time contentment sat +smiling over the city. But, as "man never is, but always to be, blest," +perfect happiness appeared not to be secured even by Macadam. Ruts began +to be formed--rain fell, and mud was generated at a prodigious rate; +repairs were needed, and the road for a while was rough and almost +impassable. Then it was found out that the change had only led to a +different _kind_ of noise, instead of destroying it altogether; and the +perpetual grinding of wheels, sawing their way through the loose stones +at the top, or ploughing through the wet foundation, was hardly an +improvement on the music arising from the jolts and jerks along the +causeway. Men's minds got confused in the immensity of the uproar, and +deafness became epidemic. In winter, the surface of Macadam formed a +series of little lakes, resembling on a small scale those of Canada; in +summer, it formed a Sahara of dust, prodigiously like the great desert. +Acres of the finest alluvial clay floated past the shops in autumn; in +spring, clouds of the finest sand were wafted among the goods, and +penetrated to every drawer and wareroom. And high over all, throughout +all the main highways of commerce--the Strand--Fleet Street--Oxford +Street--Holborn--raged a storm of sound, that made conversation a matter +of extreme difficulty without such stentorian an effort as no ordinary +lungs could make. As the inhabitants of Abdera went about sighing from +morning to night, "Love! love!" so the persecuted dwellers in the great +thoroughfares wished incessantly for cleanliness! smoothness! silence! + +"Abra was present when they named her name," and, after a few gropings +after truth--a few experiments that ended in nothing--a voice was heard +in the city, that streets could be paved with wood. This was by no means +a discovery in itself; for in many parts of the country ingenious +individuals had laid down wooden floors upon their farm-yards; and, in +other lands, it was a very common practice to use no other material for +their public streets. But, in London, it was new; and all that was +wanted, was science to use the material (at first sight so little +calculated to bear the wear and tear of an enormous traffic) in the most +eligible manner. The first who commenced an actual piece of paving was a +Mr Skead--a perfectly simple and inartificial system, which it was soon +seen was doomed to be superseded. His blocks were nothing but pieces of +wood of a hexagon shape--with no cohesion, and no foundation--so that +they trusted each to its own resources to resist the pressure of a +wheel, or the blow of a horse's hoof; and, as might have been foreseen, +they became very uneven after a short use, and had no recommendation +except their cheapness and their exemption from noise. The fibre was +vertical, and at first no grooves were introduced; they, of course, +became rounded by wearing away at the edge, and as slippery as the +ancient granite. The Metropolitan Company took warning from the defects +of their predecessor, and adopted the patent of a scientific French +gentleman of the name of De Lisle. The combination of the blocks is as +elaborate as the structure of a ship of war, and yet perfectly easy, +being founded on correct mechanical principles, and attaining the great +objects required--viz. smoothness, durability, and quiet. The blocks, +which are shaped at such an angle that they give the most perfect mutual +support, are joined to each other by oaken dowels, and laid on a hard +concrete foundation, presenting a level surface, over which the impact +is so equally divided, that the whole mass resists the pressure on each +particular block; and yet, from being formed in panels of about a yard +square, they are laid down or lifted up with far greater ease than the +causeway. Attention was immediately attracted to this invention, and all +efforts have hitherto been vain to improve on it. Various projectors +have appeared--some with concrete foundations, some with the blocks +attached to each other, not by oak dowels, but by being alternately +concave and convex at the side; but this system has the incurable defect +of wearing off at the edges, where the fibre of the wood, of course, is +weakest, and presents a succession of bald-pated surfaces, extremely +slippery, and incapable of being permanently grooved. A specimen of this +will be often referred to in the course of this account, being that +which has attained such an unenviable degree of notoriety in the +Poultry. Other inventors have shown ingenuity and perseverance; but the +great representative of wooden paving we take to be the Metropolitan +Company, and we proceed to a narrative of the attacks it has sustained, +and the struggles it has gone through. + +So long ago as July 1839, the inventor explained to a large public +meeting of noblemen and men of science, presided over by the Duke of +Sussex, the principle of his discovery. It consisted in a division of +the cube, or, as he called it, the stereotomy of the cube. After +observing, that "although the cube was the most regular of all solid +bodies, and the most learned men amongst the Greeks and other nations +had occupied themselves to ascertain and measure its proportions, he +said it had never hitherto been regarded as a body, to be anatomized or +explored in its internal parts. Some years ago, it had occurred to a +French mathematician that the cube was divisible into six pyramidical +forms; and it therefore had struck him, the inventor, that the natural +formation of that figure was by a combination of those forms. Having +detailed to his audience a number of experiments, and shown how the +results thereby obtained accorded with mathematical principles, he +proceeded to explain the various purposes to which diagonal portions of +the cube might be applied. By cutting the body in half, and then +dividing the half in a diagonal direction, he obtained a figure--namely, +a quarter of the cube--in which, he observed, the whole strength or +power of resistance of the entire body resided; and he showed the +application of these sections of the cube to the purposes of paving by +wood." Such is the first meagre report of the broaching of a scientific +system of paving; and, with the patronage of such men of rank and +eminence as took an interest in the subject, the progress was sure and +rapid. + +In December 1839, about 1100 square yards were laid down in Whitehall, +and a triumph was never more complete; for since that period it has +continued as smooth and level as when first it displaced the Macadam; it +has never required repair, and has been a small basis of peace and +quietness, amidst a desert of confusion and turmoil. Since that time, +about sixty thousand yards in various parts of London, being about +three-fourths of all the pavement hitherto introduced, attest the public +appreciation of the Metropolitan Company's system. It may be interesting +to those who watch the progress of great changes, to particularize the +operations (amounting in the aggregate to forty thousand yards) that +were carried out upon this system in 1842:-- + + St Giles's, Holborn + Foundling Estate + Hammersmith Bridge + St Andrew's, Holborn + Jermyn Street + Old Bailey + Piccadilly + Newgate Street, eastern end + Southampton Street + Lombard Street + Oxford Street + Regent Street; + +besides several noblemen's court-yards, such as the Dukes of Somerset +and Sutherland's, and a great number of stables, for which it is found +peculiarly adapted. + +The other projectors have specimens principally in the Strand; that near +the Golden Cross, being by Mr Skead; that near Coutts's Bank, Mr +Saunders; at St Giles's Church, in Holborn, Mr Rankin; and in the city, +at Gracechurch Street, Cornhill, and the Poultry, Mr Cary. The Poultry +is a short space lying between Cheapside and the Mansion-house, +consisting altogether of only 378 square yards. It lies in a hollow, as +if on purpose to receive the river of mud which rolls its majestic +course from the causeway on each side. The traffic on it, though not +fast, is perpetual, and the system from the first was faulty. In +addition to these drawbacks, its cleansing was totally neglected; and on +all these accounts, it offered an excellent point of attack to any +person who determined to signalize himself by preaching a crusade +against wood. Preachers, thank heaven! are seldom wanted; and on this +occasion the part of Peter the Hermit was undertaken by Peter the +Knight; for our old acquaintance, the opponent of causeways, the sworn +enemy to granite, the favourer of Macadam, had worn the chain of office; +had had his ears tickled for a whole year by the magic word, my lord, +was as much of a knight as Sir Amadis de Gaul, and much more of an +alderman; had been a great dispenser of justice, and sometimes a +dispenser with law; had made himself a name, before which that of the +Curtises and Waithmans grew pale; and, above all, was at that very +moment in want of a grievance. Sir Peter Laurie gave notice of a motion +on the subject of the Poultry. People began to think something had gone +wrong with the chickens, or that Sir Robert had laid a high duty on +foreign eggs. The alarm spread into Norfolk, and affected the price of +turkeys. Bantams fell in value, and barn-door fowls were a drug. In the +midst of all these fears, it began to be whispered about, that if any +chickens were concerned in the motion, it was Cary's chickens; and that +the attack, though nominally on the hen-roost, was in reality on the +wood. It was now the depth of winter; snowy showers were succeeded by +biting frosts; the very smoothness of the surface of the wooden pavement +was against it; for as no steps were taken to prevent slipperiness, by +cleansing or sanding the street--or better still, perhaps, by roughing +the horses' shoes, many tumbles took place on this doomed little portion +of the road; and some of the city police, having probably, in the +present high state of English morals, little else to do, were employed +to count the falls. Armed with a list of these accidents, which grew in +exact proportion to the number of people who saw them--(for instance, if +three people separately reported, "a grey horse down in the Poultry," it +did duty for three grey horses)--Sir Peter opened the business of the +day, at a meeting of the Commissioners of Sewers for the City of London, +on the 14th of February 1843. Mr Alderman Gibbs was in the chair. Sir +Peter, on this occasion, transcended his usual efforts; he was inspired +with the genius of his subject, and was as great a specimen of slip-slop +as the streets themselves. He requested a petition to be read, signed by +a Mr Gray, and a considerable number of other jobmasters and livery +stable-keepers, against wood pavement; and, as it formed the text on +which he spoke, we quote it entire:-- + + "To the Commissioners of Sewers-- + + "The humble memorial of your memorialists, humbly + showeth,--That in consequence of the introduction of wood + pavements into the City of London, in lieu of granite, a very + great number of accidents have occurred; and in drawing a + comparison between the two from observations made, it is found + where one accident happened on the granite pavement, that ten + at least took place upon the wood. Your memorialists therefore + pray, that, in consequence of the wood pavement being so + extremely dangerous to travel over, you would be pleased to + take the matter into your serious consideration, and cause it + to be removed; by doing which you will, in the first place, be + removing a great and dangerous nuisance; and, secondly, you + will be setting a beneficial and humane example to other + metropolitan districts." + +Mr Gray, in addition to the memorial, begged fully to corroborate its +statements, and said that he had himself twice been thrown out by the +falling of his horse on the wood, and had broken his shafts both times. +As he did not allude to his legs and arms, we conclude they escaped +uninjured; and the only effect created by his observation, seemed to be +a belief that his horse was probably addicted to falling, and preferred +the wood to the rough and hard angles of the granite. Immediately after +the reading of the stablemen's memorial, a petition was introduced in +favour of wood pavement from Cornhill, signed by all the inhabitants of +that wealthy and flourishing district, and, on the principles of fair +play, we transcribe it as a pendant to the other:-- + +"Your petitioners, the undersigned inhabitants of the ward of Cornhill +and Birchen Lane, beg again to bring before you their earnest request, +that that part of Cornhill which is still paved with granite, and also +Birchen Lane, may now be paved with wood. + +"Your petitioners are well aware that many complaints have been received +of the wood paving in the Poultry; but they beg to submit to you that no +reports which have been, or which may be made, of the accidents which +have occurred on that small spot, should be considered as in any way +illustrative of the merits of the general question. From its minuteness, +and its slope at both extremities, it is constantly covered with +slippery mud from the granite at each end; and that, together with the +sudden transition from one sort of paving to another, causes the horses +continually to stumble on that spot. Your petitioners therefore submit +that no place could have been selected for experiment so ill adapted to +show a fair result. Since your petitioners laid their former petition +before you, they have ascertained, by careful examination and enquiry, +that in places where wood paving has been laid down continuously to a +moderate extent--viz. in Regent Street, Jermyn Street, Holborn, Oxford +Street, the Strand, Coventry Street, and Lombard Street--it has fully +effected all that was expected from it; it has freed the streets from +the distracting nuisance of incessant noise, has diminished mud, +increased the value of property, and given full satisfaction to the +inhabitants. Your petitioners, therefore, beg to urge upon you most +strongly a compliance with their request, which they feel assured would +be a further extension of a great public good." + +In addition to the petition, Mr Fernie, who presented it, stated "that +the inhabitants (whom he represented) had satisfied themselves of the +advantages of wood paving before they wished its adoption at their own +doors. That enquiries had been made of the inhabitants of streets in the +enjoyment of wood paving, and they all approved of it; and said, that +nothing would induce them to return to the old system of stone; that +they were satisfied the number of accidents had not been greater on the +wood than they had been on the granite; and that they were of a much +less serious character and extent." + +Sir Peter on this applied a red silk handkerchief to his nose; wound +three blasts on that wild horn, as if to inspire him for the charge; and +rushed into the middle of the fight. His first blow was aimed at Mr +Prosser, the secretary of the Metropolitan Company, who had stated that +in Russia, where wooden pavements were common, a sprinkling of pitch and +strong sand had prevented the possibility of slipping. Orlando Furioso +was a peaceful Quaker compared to the infuriate Laurie. "The admission +of Mr Prosser," he said, "proves that, without pitch and sand, wood +pavements are impassable;" and fearful was it to see the prodigious +vigour with which the Prosser with two _s_'s, was pressed and assaulted +by the Proser with only one. Wonder took possession of the assemblage, +at the catalogue of woes the impassioned orator had collected as the +results of this most dangerous and murderous contrivance. An old woman +had been run over by an omnibus--all owing to wood; a boy had been +killed by a cab--all owing to wood; and it seemed never to have occurred +to the speaker, in his anti-silvan fury, that boy's legs are +occasionally broken by unruly cabs, and poles of omnibuses run into the +backs of unsuspecting elderly gentlemen on the roads which continue +under the protecting influence of granite or Macadam. He had seen horses +fall on the wooden pavements in all directions; he had seen a troop of +dragoons, in the midst of the frost, dismount and lead their un-roughed +horses across Regent Street; the Recorder had gone round by the squares +to avoid the wooden districts; one lady had ordered her coachman to +stick constantly to stone; and another, when she required to go to +Regent Street, dismissed her carriage and walked. The thanks he had +received for his defence of granite were innumberable; an omnibus would +not hold the compliments that had been paid him for his efforts against +wood; and, as Lord Shaftesbury had expressed his obligations to him on +the subject, he did not doubt that if the matter came before the House +of Lords, he would bestow the degree of attention on it which his +lordship bestowed on all matters of importance. Working himself us as he +drew near his peroration, he broke out into a blaze of eloquence which +put the Lord Mayor into some fear on account of the Thames, of which he +is official conservator. "The thing cannot last!" he exclaimed; "and if +you don't, in less than two years from this time, say I am a true +prophet, put me on seven years' allowance." What the meaning of this +latter expression may be, we cannot divine. It seems to us no very +severe punishment to be forced to receive the allowance of seven years +instead of one, the only explanation we can think of is, that it +contains some delicate allusion to the dietary of gentlemen who are +supposed to be visiting one of the colonies in New Holland, but in +reality employ themselves in aquatic amusements in Portsmouth and +Plymouth harbour "for the space of seven long years"--and are not +supposed to fare in so sumptuous a manner as the aldermen of the city of +London. + +"The poor horses," he proceeded, "that are continually tumbling down on +the wood pavement, cannot send their representatives, but I will +represent them here whenever I have the opportunity"--(a horse laugh, as +if from the orator's constituents, was excited by this sally.) "But, +gentlemen, besides the danger of this atrocious system, we ought to pay +a little attention to the expense. I maintain you have no right to make +the inhabitants of those streets to which there is no idea of extending +the wood paving, pay for the ease and comfort, as it is called, of +persons residing in the larger thoroughfares, such as Newgate Street and +Cheapside. But the promoters say, 'Oh I but we will have the whole town +paved with it'--(hear, hear.) What would this cost? A friend of mine has +made some calculations on this point, and he finds that, to pave the +whole town with wood, an outlay of twenty-four millions of money must be +incurred!" + +It was generally supposed in the meeting that the friend here alluded to +was either Mr Joseph Hume or the ingenious gentleman who furnished Lord +Stanley with the statistics of the wheat-growing districts of Tamboff. +It was afterwards discovered to be a Mr Cocker Munchausen. + +Twenty-four millions of money! and all to be laid out on wood! The +thought was so immense that it nearly choked the worthy orator, and he +could not proceed for some time. When at last, by a great effort, he +recovered the thread of his discourse, he became pathetic about the fate +of one of the penny-post boys, (a relation--"we guess"--of the deceased +H. Walker, Esq. of the Twopenny Post,)--who had broken his leg on the +wooden pavement. The authorities had ordered the lads to avoid the wood +in future. For all these reasons, Sir Peter concluded his speech with a +motion, "That the wood pavement in the Poultry is dangerous and +inconvenient to the public, and ought to be taken up and replaced with +granite pavement." + + "As in a theatre the eyes of men, + After some well-graced actor leaves the stage, + Are idly bent on him who enters next + Thinking his prattle to be tedious, + Even so, or with more scorn, men's eyes + Were turned on----Mr Deputy Godson!" + +The benevolent reader may have observed that the second fiddle is +generally a little louder and more sharp set than the first. On this +occasion that instrument was played upon by the worthy deputy, to the +amazement of all the connoisseurs in that species of music in which he +and his leader are known to excel. From his speech it was gathered that +he represented a district which has been immortalized by the genius of +the author of Tom Thumb; and in the present unfortunate aspect of human +affairs, when a comet is brandishing its tail in the heavens, and +O'Connell seems to have been deprived of his upon earth--when poverty, +distress, rebellion, and wooden pavements, are threatening the very +existence of _Great_ Britain, it is consolotary to reflect that under +the guardianship of Deputy Godson _Little_ Britain is safe; for he is +resolved to form a cordon of granite round it, and keep it free from the +contamination of Norway pines or Scottish fir. "I have been urged by my +constituents," he says, "to ask for wood pavement in Little Britain; but +I am adverse to it, as I think wood paving is calculated to produce the +greatest injury to the public. + +"I have seen twenty horses down on the wood pavement +together--(laughter.) I am here to state what I have seen. I have seen +horses down on the wood pavement, twenty at a time--(renewed laughter.) +I say, and with great deference, that we are in the habit of conferring +favours when we ought to withhold them. I think gentlemen ought to pause +before they burden the consolidated rate with those matters, and make +the poor inhabitants of the City pay for the fancies of the wealthy +members of Cornhill and the Poultry. We ought to deal even-handed +justice, and not introduce into the City, and that at a great expense, a +pavement that is dirty, stinking, and everything that is +bad."--(laughter.) + +In Pope's Homer's Iliad, it is very distressing to the philanthropic +mind to reflect on the feelings that must agitate the bosom of Mr Deputy +Thersites when Ajax passes by. In the British Parliament it is a +melancholy sight to see the countenance of some unfortunate orator when +Sir Robert Peel rises to reply, with a smile of awful import on his +lips, and a subdued cannibal expression of satisfaction in his eyes. +Even so must it have been a harrowing spectacle to observe the effects +of the answer of Mr R.L. Jones, who rose for the purpose of moving the +previous question. He said, "I thought the worthy alderman who +introduced this question would have attempted to support himself by +bringing some petitions from citizens against wood paving--(hear.) He +has not done so, and I may observe, that from not one of the wards where +wood pavement has been laid down has there been a petition to take any +of the wood pavement up. What the mover of these resolutions has done, +has been to travel from one end of the town to the other, to prove to +you that wood paving is bad in principle. Has that been +established?--(Cries of 'no, no.') I venture to say they have not +established any thing of the kind. All that has been done is this--it +has been shown that wood pavement, which is comparatively a recent +introduction, has not yet been brought to perfection--(hear, hear.) Now, +every one knows that complaints have always been made against every new +principle, till it has been brought to perfection. Look, for instance, +at the steam-engine. How vastly different it now is, with the +improvements which science has effected, from what it was when it was +first introduced to the notice of the world! Wherever wood pavement has +been laid down, it has been approved of. All who have enjoyed the +advantage of its extension, acknowledge the comfort derived from it. Sir +Peter Laurie asserts that he is continually receiving thanks for his +agitation about wood paving, and that an omnibus would not hold the +compliments he receives at the West End. Now, I can only say, that I +find the contrary to be the case; and every body who meets me exclaims, +'Good God! what can Sir Peter Laurie be thinking about, to try and get +the wood paving taken up, and stone paving substituted?' So far from +thanking Sir Peter, every body is astonished at him. The wood pavement +has not been laid down nearly three years, and I say here, in the face +of the Commission, that there have not been ten blocks taken up; but had +granite been put down, I will venture to say that it would, during the +same period, have been taken up six or seven times. Your books will +prove it, that the portion of granite pavement in the Poultry was taken +up six or seven times during a period of three years. When the wood +paving becomes a little slippery, go to your granite heaps which belong +to this commission, or to your fine sifted cinder heaps, and let that be +strewed over the surface; that contains no earthy particles, and will, +when it becomes imbedded in the wood, form such a surface that there +cannot be any possibility be any slipperiness--(hear, hear!) Do we not +pursue this course in frosty weather even with our own stone paving? +There used to be, before this plan was adopted, not a day pass but you +would in frosty weather see two, three, four, and even five or six +horses down together on the stone paving--('Oh! oh!' from Mr Deputy +Godson.) My friend may cry 'oh! oh!' but I mean to say that this +assertion is not so incongruous as the statement of my friend, that he +saw twenty horses down at once on the wood pavement in Newgate Street, +(laughter.) I may exclaim with my worthy friend the deputy on my left, +who lives in Newgate Street, 'When the devil did it happen? I never +heard of it.' I stand forward in support of wood paving as a great +public principle, because I believe it to be most useful and +advantageous to the public; which is proved by the fact, that the public +at large are in favour of it. If we had given notice that this court +would be open to hear the opinions of the citizens of London on the +subject of wood paving, I am convinced that the number of petitions in +its favour would have been so great, that the doors would not have been +sufficiently wide to have received them." + +Mr Jones next turned his attention to the arithmetical statements of Sir +Peter; and a better specimen of what in the Scotch language is called a +stramash, it has never been our good fortune to meet with:-- + +"We have been told by the worthy knight who introduced this motion, that +to pave London with wood would cost twenty-four millions of money. Now, +it so happens that, some time since, I directed the city surveyor to +obtain for me a return of the number of square yards of paving-stone +there are throughout all the streets in this city. I hold that return in +my hand; and I find there are 400,000 yards, which, at fifteen shillings +per yard, would not make the cost of wood paving come to twenty-four +millions of money; no, gentlemen, nor to four millions, nor to three, +nor even to one million--why, the cost, gentlemen, dwindles down from +Sir Peter's twenty-four millions to L300,000--(hear, hear, and +laughter.) + +"If I go into Fore Street I find every body admiring the wood pavement. +If I go on Cornhill I find the same--and all the great bankers in +Lombard Street say, 'What a delightful thing this wood paving is! Sir +Peter Laurie must be mad to endeavour to deprive us of it.' I told them +not to be alarmed, for they might depend on it the good sense of this +court would not allow so great and useful an improvement in street +paving to retrograde in the manner sought to be effected by this +revolution. I shall content myself with moving the previous +question"--(cheers.) + +It is probable that Mr Jones, in moving the previous question, contented +himself a mighty deal more than he did Sir Peter; and the triumph of the +woodites was increased when Mr Pewtress seconded the amendment:-- + +"If there is any time of the year when the wood pavement is more +dangerous than another, probably the most dangerous is when the weather +is of the damp, muggy, and foggy character which has been prevailing; +and when all pavements are remarkably slippery. The worthy knight has +shown great tact in choosing his time for bringing this matter before +the public. We have had three or four weeks weather of the most +extraordinary description I ever remember; not frosty nor wet, but damp +and slippery; so that the granite has been found so inconvenient to +horses, that they have not been driven at the common and usual pace. And +I am free to confess that, under the peculiar state of the atmosphere to +which I have alluded, the wood pavement is more affected than the +granite pavement. But in ordinary weather there is very little +difference. I am satisfied that, if the danger and inconvenience were as +great as the worthy knight has represented, we should have had +applications against the pavement; but all the applications we have had +on the subject have been in favour of the extension of wood pavement." + +The speaker then takes up the ground, that as wood, as a material for +paving, is only recently introduced, it is natural that vested interests +should be alarmed, and that great misapprehension should exist as to its +nature and merits. On this subject he introduces an admirable +illustration:--"In the early part of my life I remember attending a +lecture--when gas was first introduced--by Mr Winson. The lecture was +delivered in Pall-Mall, and the lecturer proposed to demonstrate that +the introduction of gas would be destructive of life and property. I +attended that lecture, and I never came away from a public lecture more +fully convinced of any thing than I did that he had proved his position. +He produced a quantity of gas, and placed a receiver on the table. He +had with him some live birds, as well as some live mice and rabbits; +and, introducing some gas into the receiver, he put one of the animals +in it. In a few minutes life was extinct, and in this way he deprived +about half a dozen of these animals of their life. 'Now, gentlemen,' +said the lecturer, 'I have proved to you that gas is destructive to +life; I will now show you that it is destructive to property.' He had a +little pasteboard house, and said, 'I will suppose that it is lighted up +with gas, and from the carelessness of the servant the stopcock of the +burner has been so turned off as to allow an escape of gas, and that it +has escaped and filled the house.' Having let the gas into the card +house, he introduced a light and blew it up. 'Now,' said he, 'I think I +have shown you that it is not only destructive to life and property; but +that, if it is introduced into the metropolis, it will be blown up by +it.'" + +We have now given a short analysis of the speeches of the proposers and +seconders on each side in this great debate; and after hearing Mr +Frodsham on the opposition, and the Common Sergeant--whose objection, +however, to wood was confined to its unsuitableness at some seasons for +horsemanship--granting that a strong feeling in its favour existed among +the owners and inhabitants of houses where it has been laid down; and on +the other side, Sir Chapman Marshall--a strenuous woodite--who +challenged Sir Peter Laurie to find fault with the pavement at +Whitehall, "which he had no hesitation in saying was the finest piece of +paving of any description in London;" Mr King, who gave a home thrust to +Sir Peter, which it was impossible to parry--"We have heard a great deal +about humanity and post-boys; does the worthy gentleman know, that the +Postmaster has only within the last few weeks sent a petition here, +begging that you would, with all possible speed, put wood paving round +the Post-office?" and various other gentlemen _pro_ and _con_--a +division was taken, when Sir Peter was beaten by an immense majority. + +Another meeting, of which no public notice was given, was held shortly +after to further Sir Peter's object, by sundry stable-keepers and +jobmasters, under the presidency of the same Mr Gray, whose horse had +acquired the malicious habit of breaking its knees on the Poultry. As +there was no opposition, there was no debate; and as no names of the +parties attending were published, it fell dead-born, although advertised +two or three times in the newspapers. + +On Tuesday, the 4th of April, Sir Peter buckled on his armour once more, +and led the embattled cherubim to war, on the modified question, "That +wood-paving operations be suspended in the city for a year;" but after a +repetition of the arguments on both sides, he was again defeated by the +same overwhelming majority as before. + +Such is the state of wood paving as a party question among the city +authorities at the present date. The squabbles and struggles among the +various projectors would form an amusing chapter in the history of +street rows--for it is seen that it is a noble prize to strive for. If +the experiment succeeds, all London will be paved with wood, and +fortunes will be secured by the successful candidates for employment. +Every day some fresh claimant starts up and professes to have remedied +every defect hitherto discovered in the systems of his predecessors. +Still confidence seems unshaken in the system which has hitherto shown +the best results; and since the introduction of the very ingenious +invention of Mr Whitworth of Manchester, of a cart, which by an +adaptation of wheels and pullies, and brooms and buckets, performs the +work of thirty-six street-sweepers, the perfection of the work in Regent +Street has been seen to such advantage, and the objections of +slipperiness so clearly proved to arise, not from the nature of wood, +but from the want of cleansing, that even the most timid are beginning +to believe that the opposition to the further introduction of it is +injudicious. Among these even Sir Peter promises to enrol himself, if +the public favour continues as strong towards it for another year as he +perceives it to be at the present time. + +And now, dismissing these efforts at resisting a change which we may +safely take to be at some period or other inevitable, let us cast a +cursory glance at some of the results of the general introduction of +wood pavement. + +In the first place, the facility of cleansing will be greatly increased. +A smooth surface, between which and the subsoil is interposed a thick +concrete--which grows as hard and impermeable as iron--will not generate +mud and filth to one-fiftieth of the extent of either granite roads or +Macadam. It is probable that if there were no importations of dirt from +the wheels of carriages coming off the stone streets, little +scavengering would be needed. Certainly not more than could be supplied +by one of Whitworth's machines. And it is equally evident that if wood +were kept unpolluted by the liquid mud--into which the surface of the +other causeways is converted in the driest weather by water carts--the +slipperiness would be effectually cured. + +In the second place, the saving of expense in cleansing and repairing +would be prodigious. Let us take as our text a document submitted to the +Marylebone Vestry in 1840, and acted on by them in the case of Oxford +Street; and remember that the expenses of cleansing were calculated at +the cost of the manual labour--a cost, we believe, reduced two thirds by +the invention of Mr Whitworth. The Report is dated 1837:-- + +"The cost of the last five years having been, L16,881 +The present expense for 1837, about 2,000 +The required outlay 4,000 +And the cleansing for 1837 900 + ------ +Gives a total for six years of L23,781 + + "Or an annual expenditure averaging L3963; so that the future + expenses of Oxford Street, maintained as a Macadamized + carriage-way, would be about L4000, or 2s. 4d per yard per + annum. + + "In contrast with this extract from the parochial documents, + the results of which must have been greatly increased within + the last three years, the Metropolitan Wood-Paving Company, who + have already laid down above 4000 yards in Oxford Street, + between Wells Street and Charles Street, are understood to be + willing to complete the entire street in the best manner for + 12s. per square yard, or about L14,000--for which they propose + to take bonds bearing interest at the rate of four-and-a-half + per cent per annum, whereby the parish will obtain ample time + for ultimate payment; and further, to keep the whole in repair, + inclusive of the cost of cleansing and watering, for one year + gratuitously, and for twelve years following at L1900 per + annum, being less than one-half the present outlay for these + purposes." + +Whether these were the terms finally agreed on we do not know; but we +perceive by public tenders that the streets can be paved in the best +possible manner for 13s. or 12s. 6d. a yard; and kept in repair for 6d. +a yard additional. This is certainly much cheaper than Macadam, and we +should think more economical than causeways. And, besides, it has the +advantage--which one of the speakers suggested to Sir Peter +Laurie--"that in case of an upset, it is far more satisfactory to +contest the relative hardness of heads with a block of wood than a mass +of granite." + +We can only add in conclusion, that advertisements are published by the +Commissioners of Sewers for contracts to pave with wood Cheapside, and +Bishopsgate Street, and Whitechapel. Oh, Sir Peter!--how are the mighty +fallen! + + * * * * * + + + + +POEMS AND BALLADS OF SCHILLER. + +NO. VIII. + +FIRST PERIOD CONTINUED. + + +A FUNERAL FANTASIE. + + 1. + + Pale, at its ghastly noon, + Pauses above the death-still wood--the moon; + The night-sprite, sighing, through the dim air stirs; + The clouds descend in rain; + Mourning, the wan stars wane, + Flickering like dying lamps in sepulchres! + Haggard as spectres--vision-like and dumb, + Dark with the pomp of Death, and moving slow, + Towards that sad lair the pale Procession come + Where the Grave closes on the Night below. + + 2. + + With dim, deep sunken eye, + Crutch'd on his staff, who trembles tottering by? + As wrung from out the shatter'd heart, one groan + Breaks the deep hush alone! + Crush'd by the iron Fate, he seems to gather + All life's last strength to stagger to the bier, + And hearken----Do those cold lips murmur "Father?" + The sharp rain, drizzling through that place of fear, + Pierces the bones gnaw'd fleshless by despair, + And the heart's horror stirs the silver hair. + + 3. + + Fresh bleed the fiery wounds + Through all that agonizing heart undone-- + Still on the voiceless lips "my Father" sounds, + And still the childless Father murmurs "Son!" + Ice-cold--ice-cold, in that white shroud he lies-- + Thy sweet and golden dreams all vanish'd there-- + The sweet and golden name of "Father" dies + Into thy curse,--ice-cold--ice-cold--he lies + Dead, what thy life's delight and Eden were! + + 4. + + Mild, as when, fresh from the arms of Aurora, + When the air like Elysium is smiling above, + Steep'd in rose-breathing odours, the darling of Flora + Wantons over the blooms on his winglets of love.-- + So gay, o'er the meads, went his footsteps in bliss, + The silver wave mirror'd the smile of his face; + Delight, like a flame, kindled up at his kiss, + And the heart of the maid was the prey of his chase. + + 5. + + Boldly he sprang to the strife of the world, + As a deer to the mountain-top carelessly springs; + As an eagle whose plumes to the sun are unfurl'd, + Swept his Hope round the Heaven on its limitless wings. + Proud as a war-horse that chafes at the rein, + That kingly exults in the storm of the brave; + That throws to the wind the wild stream of its mane, + Strode he forth by the prince and the slave! + + 6. + + Life, like a spring-day, serene and divine, + In the star of the morning went by as a trance; + His murmurs he drown'd in the gold of the wine, + And his sorrows were borne on the wave of the dance. + Worlds lay conceal'd in the hopes of his youth, + When once he shall ripen to manhood and fame! + Fond Father exult!--In the germs of his youth + What harvests are destined for Manhood and Fame! + + 7. + + Not to be was that Manhood!--The death-bell is knelling + The hinge of the death-vault creaks harsh on the ears-- + How dismal, O Death, is the place of thy dwelling! + Not to be was that Manhood!--Flow on bitter tears! + Go, beloved, thy path to the sun, + Rise, world upon world, with the perfect to rest; + Go--quaff the delight which thy spirit has won, + And escape from our grief in the halls of the blest. + + 8. + + Again (in that thought what a healing is found!) + To meet in the Eden to which thou art fled!-- + Hark, the coffin sinks down with a dull, sullen sound, + And the ropes rattle over the sleep of the dead. + And we cling to each other!--O Grave, he is thine! + The eye tells the woe that is mute to the ears-- + And we dare to resent what we grudge to resign, + Till the heart's sinful murmur is choked in its tears. + + Pale at its ghastly noon, + Pauses above the death-still wood--the moon! + The night-sprite, sighing, through the dim air stirs; + The clouds descend in rain; + Mourning, the wan stars wane, + Flickering like dying lamps in sepulchres. + The dull clods swell into the sullen mound; + Earth, one look yet upon the prey we gave! + The Grave locks up the treasure it has found; + Higher and higher swells the sullen mound-- + Never gives back the Grave! + + * * * * * + + +A GROUP IN TARTARUS. + + Hark, as hoarse murmurs of a gathering sea-- + As brooks that howling through black gorges go, + Groans sullen, hollow, and eternally, + One wailing Woe! + Sharp Anguish shrinks the shadows there; + And blasphemous Despair + Yells its wild curse from jaws that never close; + And ghastly eyes for ever + Stare on the bridge of the relentless River, + Or watch the mournful wave as year on year it flows, + And ask each other, with parch'd lips that writhe + Into a whisper, "When the end shall be!" + The _end_?--Lo, broken in Time's hand the scythe, + And round and round revolves Eternity! + + * * * * * + + +ELYSIUM. + + Past the despairing wail-- + And the bright banquets of the Elysian Vale + Melt every care away! + Delight, that breathes and moves for ever, + Glides through sweet fields like some sweet river! + Elysian life survey! + There, fresh with youth, o'er jocund meads, + His youngest west-winds blithely leads + The ever-blooming May. + Thorough gold-woven dreams goes the dance of the Hours, + In space without bounds swell the soul and its powers, + And Truth, with no veil, gives her face to the day, + And joy to-day and joy to-morrow, + But wafts the airy soul aloft; + The very name is lost to Sorrow, + And Pain is Rapture tuned more exquisitely soft. + Here the Pilgrim reposes the world-weary limb, + And forgets in the shadow, cool-breathing and dim, + The load he shall bear never more; + Here the Mower, his sickle at rest, by the streams, + Lull'd with harp-strings, reviews, in the calm of his dreams, + The fields, when the harvest is o'er. + Here, He, whose ears drank in the battle-roar, + Whose banners stream'd upon the startled wind + A thunder-storm,--before whose thunder tread + The mountains trembled,--in soft sleep reclined, + By the sweet brook that o'er its pebbly bed + In silver plays, and murmurs to the shore, + Hears the stern clangour of wild spears no more! + Here the true Spouse the lost-beloved regains, + And on the enamell'd couch of summer-plains + Mingles sweet kisses with the west-wind's breath. + Here, crown'd at last--Love never knows decay, + Living through ages its one BRIDAL DAY, + Safe from the stroke of Death! + + * * * * * + + +COUNT EBERHARD, THE GRUMBLER, OF WURTEMBERG. + + Ha, ha I take heed--ha, ha! take heed,[10] + Ye knaves both South and North! + For many a man both bold in deed + And wise in peace, the land to lead, + Old Swabia has brought forth. + + Proud boasts your Edward and your Charles, + Your Ludwig, Frederick--are! + Yet Eberhard's worth, ye bragging carles! + Your Ludwig, Frederick, Edward, Charles-- + A thunder-storm in war. + + And Ulrick, too, his noble son, + Ha, ha! his might ye know; + Old Eberhard's boast, his noble son, + Not he the boy, ye rogues, to run, + How stout soe'er the foe! + + The Reutling lads with envy saw + Our glories, day by day; + The Reutling lads shall give the law-- + The Reutling lads the sword shall draw-- + O Lord--how hot were they! + + Out Ulrick went and beat them not-- + To Eberhard back he came-- + A lowering look young Ulrick got-- + Poor lad, his eyes with tears were hot-- + He hung his head for shame. + + "Ho--ho"--thought he--"ye rogues beware, + Nor you nor I forget-- + For by my father's beard I swear + Your blood shall wash the blot I bear, + And Ulrick pay you yet!" + + Soon came the hour! with steeds and men + The battle-field was gay; + Steel closed in steel at Duffingen-- + And joyous was our stripling then, + And joyous the hurra! + + "The battle lost" our battle-cry; + The foe once more advances: + As some fierce whirlwind cleaves the sky, + We skirr, through blood and slaughter, by, + Amidst a night of lances! + + On, lion-like, grim Ulrick sweeps-- + Bright shines his hero-glaive-- + Her chase before him Fury keeps, + Far-heard behind him, Anguish weeps, + And round him--is the Grave! + + Woe--woe! it gleams--the sabre-blow-- + Swift-sheering down it sped-- + Around, brave hearts the buckler throw-- + Alas! our boast in dust is low! + Count Eberhard's boy is dead! + + Grief checks the rushing Victor-van-- + Fierce eyes strange moisture know-- + On rides old Eberhard, stern and wan, + "My son is like another man-- + March, children, on the Foe!" + + And fiery lances whirr'd around, + Revenge, at least, undying-- + Above the blood-red clay we bound-- + Hurrah! the burghers break their ground, + Through vale and woodland flying! + + Back to the camp, behold us throng, + Flags stream, and bugles play-- + Woman and child with choral song, + And men, with dance and wine, prolong + The warrior's holyday. + + And our old Count--and what doth he? + Before him lies his son, + Within his lone tent, lonelily, + The old man sits with eyes that see + Through one dim tear--his son! + + So heart and soul, a loyal band, + Count Eberhard's band, we are! + His front the tower that guards the land, + A thunderbolt his red right hand-- + His eye a guiding star! + + Then take ye heed--Aha! take heed, + Ye knaves both South and North! + For many a man, both bold in deed + And wise in peace, the land to lead, + Old Swabia has brought forth! + + [10] Of the two opening lines we subjoin the original--to the + vivacity and spirit of which it is, perhaps, impossible to do + justice in translation:-- + + "Ihr--Ihr dort aussen in der Welt, + Die Nasen einges pannt!" + + Eberhard, Count of Wurtemberg, reigned from 1344 to 1392. + Schiller was a Swabian, and this poem seems a patriotic + effusion to exalt one of the heroes of his country, of whose + fame (to judge by the lines we have just quoted) the rest of + the Germans might be less reverentially aware. + + * * * * * + + + +TO A MORALIST. + + Are the sports of our youth so displeasing? + Is love but the folly you say? + Benumb'd with the Winter, and freezing, + You scold at the revels of May. + + For you once a nymph had her charms, + And oh! when the waltz you were wreathing, + All Olympus embraced in your arms-- + All its nectar in Julia's breathing. + + If Jove at that moment had hurl'd + The earth in some other rotation, + Along with your Julia whirl'd, + You had felt not the shock of creation. + + Learn this--that Philosophy beats + Sure time with the pulse--quick or slow + As the blood from the heyday retreats,-- + But it cannot make gods of us--No! + + It is well, icy Reason should thaw + In the warm blood of Mirth now and then, + The Gods for themselves have a law + Which they never intended for men. + + The spirit is bound by the ties + Of its jailer, the Flesh--if I can + Not reach, as an angel, the skies, + Let me feel, on the earth, as a Man. + + * * * * * + + +ROUSSEAU.[11] + + Oh, Monument of Shame to this our time, + Dishonouring record to thy Mother Clime! + Hail, Grave of Rousseau! Here thy sorrows cease. + Freedom and Peace from earth and earthly strife! + Vainly, sad seeker, didst thou search through life + To find--(found now)--the Freedom and the Peace. + When will the old wounds scar? In the dark age + Perish'd the wise. Light came; how fares the sage? + There's no abatement of the bigot's rage. + Still as the wise man bled, he bleeds again. + Sophists prepared for Socrates the bowl-- + And Christians drove the steel through Rousseau's soul-- + Rousseau who strove to render Christians--men. + + [11] Schiller lived to reverse, in the third period of his + intellectual career, many of the opinions expressed in the + first. The sentiment conveyed in these lines on Rousseau is + natural enough to the author of "The Robbers," but certainly + not to the poet of "Wallenstein" and the "Lay of the Bell." We + confess we doubt the maturity of any mind that can find either + a saint or a martyr in Jean Jacques. + + * * * * * + + +FORTUNE AND WISDOM. + + In a quarrel with her lover + To Wisdom Fortune flew; + "I'll all my hoards discover-- + Be but my friend--to you. + Like a mother I presented + To one each fairest gift, + Who still is discontented, + And murmurs at my thrift. + Come, let's be friends. What say you? + Give up that weary plough, + My treasures shall repay you, + For both I have enow!" + "Nay, see thy Friend betake him + To death from grief for thee-- + _He_ dies if thou forsake him-- + Thy gifts are nought to _me_!" + + * * * * * + + +THE INFANTICIDE. + + 1. + + Hark where the bells toll, chiming, dull and steady, + The clock's slow hand hath reach'd the appointed time. + Well, be it so--prepare! my soul is ready, + Companions of the grave--the rest for crime! + Now take, O world! my last farewell--receiving + My parting kisses--in these tears they dwell! + Sweet are thy poisons while we taste believing, + Now we are quits--heart-poisoner, fare-thee-well! + + 2. + + Farewell, ye suns that once to joy invited, + Changed for the mould beneath the funeral shade + Farewell, farewell, thou rosy Time delighted, + Luring to soft desire the careless maid. + Pale gossamers of gold, farewell, sweet-dreaming + Fancies--the children that an Eden bore! + Blossoms that died while dawn itself was gleaming, + Opening in happy sunlight never more. + + 3. + + Swanlike the robe which Innocence bestowing, + Deck'd with the virgin favours, rosy fair, + In the gay time when many a young rose glowing, + Blush'd through the loose train of the amber hair. + Woe, woe! as white the robe that decks me now-- + The shroud-like robe Hell's destined victim wears; + Still shall the fillet bind this burning brow-- + _That_ sable braid the Doomsman's hand prepares! + + 4. + + Weep, ye _who never fell_--for whom, unerring, + The soul's white lilies keep their virgin hue, + Ye who when thoughts so danger-sweet are stirring, + Take the stern strength that Nature gives the few + Woe, for too human was this fond heart's feeling-- + Feeling!--my sin's avenger[12] doom'd to be; + Woe--for the false man's arm around me stealing, + Stole the lull'd Virtue, charm'd to sleep, from me. + + 5. + + Ah, he perhaps shall, round another sighing, + (Forgot the serpents stinging at my breast,) + Gaily, when I in the dumb grave am lying, + Pour the warm wish, or speed the wanton jest, + Or play, perchance, with his new maiden's tresses, + Answer the kiss her lip enamour'd brings, + When the dread block the head he cradled presses, + And high the blood his kiss once fever'd springs. + + 6. + + Thee, Francis, Francis,[13] league on league, shall follow + The death-dirge of the Lucy once so dear; + From yonder steeple, dismal, dull, and hollow, + Shall knell the warning horror on thy ear. + On thy fresh leman's lips when Love is dawning, + And the lisp'd music glides from that sweet well-- + Lo, in that breast a red wound shall be yawning, + And, in the midst of rapture, warn of hell! + + 7. + + Betrayer, what! thy soul relentless closing + To grief--the woman-shame no art can heal-- + To that small life beneath my heart reposing! + Man, man, the wild beast for its young can feel! + Proud flew the sails--receding from the land, + I watch'd them waning from the wistful eye, + Round the gay maids on Seine's voluptuous strand, + Breathes the false incense of his fatal sigh. + + 8. + + And there the Babe! there, on the mother's bosom, + Lull'd in its sweet and golden rest it lay, + Fresh in life's morning as a rosy blossom, + It smiled, poor harmless one, my tears away. + Deathlike yet lovely, every feature speaking + In such dear calm and beauty to my sadness, + And cradled still the mother's heart, in breaking, + The soft'ning love and the despairing madness. + + 9. + + "Woman, where is my father?"--freezing through me, + Lisp'd the mute Innocence with thunder-sound; + "Woman, where is thy husband?"--called unto me, + In every look, word, whisper, busying round! + For thee, poor child, there is no father's kiss. + He fondleth _other_ children on his knee. + How thou wilt curse our momentary bliss, + When Bastard on thy name shall branded be! + + 10. + + Thy mother--oh, a hell her heart concealeth, + Lone-sitting, lone in social Nature's All! + Thirsting for that glad fount thy love revealeth, + While still thy look the glad fount turns to gall. + In every infant cry my soul is heark'ning, + The haunting happiness for ever o'er, + And all the bitterness of death is dark'ning + The heavenly looks that smiled mine eyes before. + + 11. + + Hell, if my sight those looks a moment misses-- + Hell, when my sight upon those looks is turn'd-- + The avenging furies madden in _thy_ kisses, + That slept in _his_ what time my lips they burn'd. + Out from their graves his oaths spoke back in thunder! + The perjury stalk'd like murder in the sun-- + For ever--God!--sense, reason, soul, sunk under-- + The deed was done! + + 12. + + Francis, O Francis! league on league, shall chase thee + The shadows hurrying grimly on thy flight-- + Still with their icy arms they shall embrace thee, + And mutter thunder in thy dream's delight! + Down from the soft stars, in their tranquil glory, + Shall look thy dead child with a ghastly stare; + That shape shall haunt thee in its cerements gory, + And scourge thee back from heaven--its home is there! + + 13. + + Lifeless--how lifeless!--see, oh see, before me + It lies cold--stiff!--O God!--and with that blood + I feel, as swoops the dizzy darkness o'er me, + Mine own life mingled--ebbing in the flood-- + Hark, at the door they knock--more loud within me-- + More awful still--its sound the dread heart gave! + Gladly I welcome the cold arms that win me-- + Fire, quench thy tortures in the icy grave! + + 14. + + Francis--a God that pardons dwells in heaven-- + Francis, the sinner--yes--she pardons thee-- + So let my wrongs unto the earth be given: + Flame seize the wood!--it burns--it kindles--see! + There--there his letters cast--behold are ashes-- + His vows--the conquering fire consumes them here: + His kisses--see--see all--all are only ashes-- + All, all--the all that once on earth were dear! + + 15. + + Trust not the roses which your youth enjoyeth, + Sisters, to man's faith, changeful as the moon! + Beauty to me brought guilt--its bloom destroyeth: + Lo, in the judgment court I curse the boon: + Tears in the headsman's gaze--what tears?--tis spoken! + Quick, bind mine eyes--all soon shall be forgot-- + Doomsman--the lily hast thou never broken? + Pale doomsman--tremble not! + + [12] "Und Empfindung soll mein Richtschwert seyn." A line of + great vigour in the original, but which, if literally + translated, would seem extravagant in English. + + [13] Joseph, in the original. + +[The poem we have just concluded was greatly admired at the time of its +first publication, and it so far excels in art most of the earlier +efforts by the author, that it attains one of the highest secrets in +true pathos. It produces interest for the _criminal_ while creating +terror for the _crime_. This, indeed, is a triumph in art never achieved +but by the highest genius. The inferior writer, when venturing upon the +grandest stage of passion, (which unquestionably exists in the +delineation of great guilt as of heroic virtue,) falls into the error +either of gilding the crime in order to produce sympathy for the +criminal, or, in the spirit of a spurious morality, of involving both +crime and criminal in a common odium. It is to discrimination between +the doer and the deed, that we owe the sublimest revelations of the +human heart: in this discrimination lies the key to the emotions +produced by the Oedipus and Macbeth. In the brief poem before us a +whole drama is comprehended. Marvellous is the completeness of the +pictures it presents--its mastery over emotions the most opposite--its +fidelity to nature in its exposition of the disordered and despairing +mind in which tenderness becomes cruelty, and remorse for error tortures +itself into scarce conscious crime. + +But the art employed, though admirable of its kind, still falls short of +the perfection which, in his later works, Schiller aspired to achieve, +viz. the point at which _Pain_ ceases. The tears which Tragic Pathos, +when purest and most elevated, calls forth, ought not to be tears of +pain. In the ideal world, as Schiller has inculcated, even sorrow should +have its charm--all that harrows, all that revolts, belongs but to that +inferior school in which Schiller's fiery youth formed itself for nobler +grades--the school "of Storm and Pressure"--(Stuerm und Draeng--as the +Germans have expressively described it.) If the reader will compare +Schiller's poem of the 'Infanticide,' with the passages which represent +a similar crime in the Medea, (and the author of 'Wallenstein' deserves +comparison even with Euripides,) he will see the distinction between the +art that seeks an _elevated_ emotion, and the art which is satisfied +with creating an _intense_ one. In Euripides, the detail--the +reality--all that can degrade terror into pain--are loftily dismissed. +The Titan grandeur of the Sorceress removes us from too close an +approach to the crime of the unnatural Mother--the emotion of pity +changes into awe--just at the pitch before the coarse sympathy of actual +pain can be effected. And it is the avoidance of reality--it is the +all-purifying Presence of the Ideal, which make the vast distinction in +our emotions between following, with shocked and displeasing pity, the +crushed, broken-hearted, mortal criminal to the scaffold, and +gazing--with an awe which has pleasure of its own--upon the Mighty +Murderess--soaring out of the reach of Humanity, upon her Dragon Car!] + + * * * * * + + +THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE. + +A HYMN. + + Blessed through love are the Gods above-- + Through love like the Gods may man be; + Heavenlier through love is the heaven above, + Through love like a heaven earth can be! + Once, as the poet sung, + In Pyrrha's time, 'tis known, + From rocks Creation sprung, + And Men leapt up from stone; + Rock and stone, in night + The souls of men were seal'd, + Heaven's diviner light + Not as yet reveal'd; + As yet the Loves around them + Had never shone--nor bound them + With their rosy rings; + As yet their bosoms knew not + Soft song--and music grew not + Out of the silver strings. + No gladsome garlands cheerily + Were love-y-woven then; + And o'er Elysium drearily + The May-time flew for men;[14] + The morning rose ungreeted + From ocean's joyless breast; + Unhail'd the evening fleeted + To ocean's joyless breast-- + Wild through the tangled shade, + By clouded moons they stray'd, + The iron race of Men! + Sources of mystic tears, + Yearnings for starry spheres, + No God awaken'd then! + + Lo, mildly from the dark-blue water, + Comes forth the Heaven's divinest Daughter, + Borne by the Nymphs fair-floating o'er + To the intoxicated shore! + Like the light-scattering wings of morning + Soars universal May, adorning + As from the glory of that birth + Air and the ocean, heaven and earth! + Day's eye looks laughing, where the grim + Midnight lay coil'd in forests dim; + And gay narcissuses are sweet + Wherever glide those holy feet-- + Now, pours the bird that haunts the eve + The earliest song of love, + Now in the heart--their fountain--heave + The waves that murmur love. + O blest Pygmalion--blest art thou-- + It melts, it glows, thy marble now! + O Love, the God, thy world is won! + Embrace thy children, Mighty One. + + Blessed through love are the Gods above-- + Through love like the Gods may man be; + Heavenlier through love is the heaven above, + Through love like a heaven earth can be. + + Where the nectar-bright streams, + Like the dawn's happy dreams, + Eternally one holiday, + The life of the Gods glides away. + Throned on his seat sublime, + Looks He whose years know not time; + At his nod, if his anger awaken, + At the wave of his hair all Olympus is shaken. + Yet He from the throne of his birth, + Bow'd down to the sons of the earth, + Through dim Arcadian glades to wander sighing, + Lull'd into dreams of bliss-- + Lull'd by his Leda's kiss + Lo, at his feet the harmless thunders lying! + + The Sun's majestic coursers go + Along the Light's transparent plain, + Curb'd by the Day-god's golden rein; + The nations perish at his bended bow; + Steeds that majestic go, + Death from the bended bow, + Gladly he leaves above-- + For Melody and Love! + Low bend the dwellers of the sky, + When sweeps the stately Juno by; + Proud in her car, the Uncontroll'd + Curbs the bright birds that breast the air, + As flames the sovereign crown of gold + Amidst the ambrosial waves of hair-- + Ev'n thou, fair Queen of Heaven's high throne, + Hast Love's subduing sweetness known; + From all her state, the Great One bends + To charm the Olympian's bright embraces, + The Heart-Enthraller only lends + The rapture-cestus of the Graces! + + Blessed through love are the Gods above-- + Through love like a God may man be; + Heavenlier through love is the heaven above, + Through love like a heaven earth can be! + + Love can sun the Realms of Night-- + Orcus owns the magic might-- + Peaceful where She sits beside, + Smiles the swart King on his Bride; + Hell feels the smile in sudden light-- + Love can sun the Realms of Night. + Heavenly o'er the startled Hell, + Holy, where the Accursed dwell, + O Thracian, went thy silver song! + Grim Minos, with unconscious tears, + Melts into mercy as he hears-- + The serpents in Megara's hair, + Kiss, as they wreathe enamour'd there; + All harmless rests the madding thong;-- + From the torn breast the Vulture mute + Flies, scared before the charmed lute-- + Lull'd into sighing from their roar + The dark waves woo the listening shore-- + Listening the Thracian's silver song!-- + Love was the Thracian's silver song! + + Blessed through love are the Gods above-- + Through love like a God may man be; + Heavenlier through love is the heaven above-- + Through love like a heaven earth can be! + + Through Nature blossom-strewing, + _One_ footstep we are viewing, + One flash from golden pinions!-- + If from Heaven's starry sea, + If from the moonlit sky; + If from the Sun's dominions, + Look'd not Love's laughing eye; + Then Sun and Moon and Stars would be + Alike, without one smile for me! + But, oh, wherever Nature lives + Below, around, above-- + Her happy eye the mirror gives + To thy glad beauty, Love! + + Love sighs through brooklets silver-clear, + Love bids their murmur woo the vale; + Listen, O list! Love's soul ye hear + In his own earnest nightingale. + No sound from Nature ever stirs, + But Love's sweet voice is heard with hers! + Bold Wisdom, with her sunlit eye, + Retreats when love comes whispering by-- + For Wisdom's weak to love! + To victor stern or monarch proud, + Imperial Wisdom never bow'd + The knee she bows to Love! + Who through the steep and starry sky, + Goes onward to the gods on high, + Before thee, hero-brave? + Who halves for thee the land of Heaven; + Who shows thy heart, Elysium, given + Through the flame-rended Grave? + Below, if we were blind to Love, + Say, should we soar o'er Death, above? + Would the weak soul, did Love forsake her, + E'er gain the wing to seek the Maker? + Love, only Love, can guide the creature + Up to the Father-fount of Nature; + What were the soul did Love forsake her? + Love guides the Mortal to the Maker! + + Blessed through love are the Gods above-- + Through love like a God may man be: + Heavenlier through love is the heaven above, + Through love like a heaven earth can be! + + [14] "The World was sad, the garden was a wild, + And Man, the Hermit, sigh'd--till Woman smiled." + CAMPBELL. + + * * * * * + + +FANTASIE TO LAURA. + + What, Laura, say, the vortex that can draw + Body to body in its strong control; + Beloved Laura, what the charmed law + That to the soul attracting plucks the soul? + It is the charm that rolls the stars on high, + For ever round the sun's majestic blaze-- + When, gay as children round their parent, fly + Their circling dances in delighted maze. + Still, every star that glides its gladsome course, + Thirstily drinks the luminous golden rain; + Drinks the fresh vigour from the fiery source, + As limbs imbibe life's motion from the brain; + With sunny motes, the sunny motes united + Harmonious lustre both receive and give, + Love spheres with spheres still interchange delighted, + Only through love the starry systems live. + Take love from Nature's universe of wonder, + Each jarring each, rushes the mighty All. + See, back to Chaos shock'd, Creation thunder; + Weep, starry Newton--weep the giant fall! + Take from the spiritual scheme that Power away, + And the still'd body shrinks to Death's abode. + Never--love _not_--would blooms revive for May, + And, love extinct, all life were dead to God. + And what the charm that at my Laura's kiss, + Pours the diviner brightness to the cheek; + Makes the heart bound more swiftly to its bliss, + And bids the rushing blood the magnet seek-- + Out from their bounds swell nerve, and pulse, and sense, + The veins in tumult would their shores o'erflow; + Body to body rapt--and charmed thence, + Soul drawn to soul with intermingled glow. + Mighty alike to sway the flow and ebb + Of the inanimate Matter, or to move + The nerves that weave the Arachnean web + Of Sentient Life--rules all-pervading Love! + Ev'n in the Moral World, embrace and meet + Emotions--Gladness clasps the extreme of Care; + And Sorrow, at the worst, upon the sweet + Breast of young Hope, is thaw'd from its despair. + Of sister-kin to melancholy Woe, + Voluptuous Pleasure comes, and with the birth + Of her gay children, (golden Wishes,) lo, + Night flies, and sunshine settles on the earth![15] + The same great Law of Sympathy is given + To Evil as to Good, and if we swell + The dark account that life incurs with Heaven, + 'Tis that our Vices are thy Wooers, Hell! + In turn those Vices are embraced by Shame + And fell Remorse, the twin Eumenides. + Danger still clings in fond embrace to Fame, + Mounts on her wing, and flies where'er she flees. + Destruction marries its dark self to Pride, + Envy to Fortune: when Desire most charms, + 'Tis that her brother Death is by her side, + For him she opens those voluptuous arms. + The very Future to the Past but flies + Upon the wings of Love--as I to thee; + O, long swift Saturn, with unceasing sighs, + Hath sought his distant bride, Eternity! + When--so I heard the oracle declare-- + When Saturn once shall clasp that bride sublime, + Wide-blazing worlds shall light his nuptials there-- + 'Tis thus Eternity shall wed with Time. + In _those_ shall be _our_ nuptials! ours to share + _That_ bridenight, waken'd by no jealous sun; + Since Time, Creation, Nature, but declare + Love--in our love rejoice, Beloved One! + + [15] Literally, "the eye beams its sun-splendour," or, "beams + like a sun." For the construction that the Translator has put + upon the original (which is extremely obscure) in the preceding + lines of the stanza, he is indebted to Mr Carlyle. The general + meaning of the Poet is, that Love rules all things in the + inanimate or animate creation; that, even in the moral world, + opposite emotions or principles meet and embrace each other. + The idea is pushed into an extravagance natural to the youth, + and redeemed by the passion, of the Author. But the connecting + links are so slender, nay, so frequently omitted, in the + original, that a certain degree of paraphrase in many of the + stanzas is absolutely necessary to supply them, and render the + general sense and spirit of the poem intelligible to the + English reader. + + * * * * * + + +TO THE SPRING. + + Welcome, gentle Stripling, + Nature's darling, thou-- + With thy basket full of blossoms, + A happy welcome now! + Aha!--and thou returnest, + Heartily we greet thee-- + The loving and the fair one, + Merrily we meet thee! + Think'st thou of my Maiden + In thy heart of glee? + I love her yet the Maiden-- + And the Maiden yet loves me! + For the Maiden, many a blossom + I begg'd--and not in vain; + I came again, a-begging, + And thou--thou giv'st again: + Welcome, gentle stripling, + Nature's darling thou-- + With thy basket full of blossoms, + A happy welcome, now! + + * * * * * + + + + +NATURAL HISTORY OF SALMON AND SEA-TROUT. + + [_On the Growth of Grilse and Salmon_. By Mr Andrew Young, + Invershin, Sutherlandshire. (Transactions of the Royal Society + of Edinburgh. Vol. XV. Part III.) Edinburgh, 1843.] + + [_On the Growth and Migrations of the Sea-Trout of the Solway_. + By Mr John Shaw, Drumlanrig. (Ibid.) Edinburgh, 1843.] + + +The salmon is undoubtedly the finest and most magnificent of our +fresh-water fishes, or rather of those _anadromous_ kinds which, in +accordance with the succession of the seasons, seek alternately the +briny sea and the "rivers of water." It is also the most important, both +in a commercial and culinary point of view as well as the most highly +prized by the angler as an object of exciting recreation. +Notwithstanding these and other long-continued claims upon our +consideration, a knowledge of its natural history and habits has +developed itself so slowly, that little or nothing was precisely +ascertained till very recently regarding either its early state or its +eventual changes. The salmon-trout, in certain districts of almost equal +value with the true salmon, was also but obscurely known to naturalists, +most of whom, in truth, are too apt to satisfy themselves rather by the +extension than the increase of knowledge. They hand down to posterity, +in their barren technicalities, a great deal of what is neither new nor +true, even in relation to subjects which lie within the sphere of +ordinary observation,--to birds and beasts, which almost dwell among us, +and give utterance, by articulate or intelligible sounds, to a vast +variety of instinctive, and as it were explanatory emotions:--what +marvel, then, that they should so often fail to inform us of what we +desire to know regarding the silent, because voiceless, inhabitants of +the world of waters? + +But that which naturalists have been unable to accomplish, has, so far +as concerns the two invaluable species just alluded to, been achieved by +others with no pretension to the name; and we now propose to present our +readers with a brief sketch of what we conceive to be the completed +biography of salmon and sea-trout. In stating that our information has +been almost entirely derived from the researches of practical men, we +wish it to be understood, and shall afterwards endeavour to demonstrate, +that these researches have, nevertheless, been conducted upon those +inductive principles which are so often characteristic of natural +acuteness of perception, when combined with candour of mind and honesty +of purpose. We believe it to be the opinion of many, that statements by +comparatively uneducated persons are less to be relied upon than those +of men of science. It may, perhaps, be somewhat difficult to define in +all cases what really constitutes a man of science. Many sensible people +suppose, that if a person pursues an original truth, and obtains +it--that is, if he ascertains a previously unknown or obscure fact of +importance, and states his observations with intelligence--he is +entitled to that character, whatever his station may be. For ourselves, +we would even say that if his researches are truly valuable, he is +himself all the more a man of science in proportion to the difficulties +or disadvantages by which his position in life may be surrounded. + +The development and early growth of salmon, from the ovum to the smolt, +were first successfully investigated by Mr John Shaw of Drumlanrig, one +of the Duke of Buccleuch's gamekeepers in the south of Scotland. Its +subsequent progress from the smolt to the adult condition, through the +transitionary state of grilse, has been more recently traced, with +corresponding care, by Mr Andrew Young of Invershin, the manager of the +Duke of Sutherland's fisheries in the north. Although the fact of the +parr being the young of the salmon had been vaguely surmised by many, +and it was generally admitted that the smaller fish were never found to +occur except in streams or tributaries to which the grown salmon had, in +some way, the power of access, yet all who have any acquaintance with +the works of naturalists, will acknowledge that the parr was universally +described as a distinct species. It is equally certain that all who have +written upon the subject of smolts or salmon-fry, maintained that these +grew rapidly in fresh water, and made their way to the sea in the course +of a few weeks after they were hatched. + +Now, Mr Shaw's discovery in relation to these matters is in a manner +twofold; first--he ascertained by a lengthened series of rigorous and +frequently-repeated experimental observations, that parr are the early +state of salmon, being afterwards converted into smolts; secondly,--he +proved that such conversion does not, under ordinary circumstances take +place until the second spring ensuing that in which the hatching has +occurred, by which time the young are _two years old_. The fact is, that +during early spring there are three distinct broods of parr or young +salmon in our rivers. + +1st, We have those which, recently excluded from the ova, are still +invisible to common eyes; or, at least, are inconspicuous or +unobservable. Being weak, in consequence of their recent emergence from +the egg, and of extremely small dimensions, they are unable to withstand +the rapid flow of water, and so betake themselves to the gentler eddies, +and frequently enter "into the small hollows produced in the shingle by +the hoofs of horses which have passed the fords." In these and similar +resting-places, our little natural philosophers, instinctively aware +that the current of a stream is less below than above, and along the +sides than in the centre, remain for several months during spring, and +the earlier portion of the summer, till they gain such an increase of +size and strength as enables them to spread themselves abroad over other +portions of the river, especially those shallow places where the bottom +is composed of fine gravel. But at this time their shy and +shingle-seeking habits in a great measure screen them from the +observance of the uninitiated. + +2dly, We have likewise, during the spring season, parr which have just +completed their first year. As these have gained little or no accession +of size during the winter months, owing to the low temperature both of +the air and water, and the consequent deficiency of insect food, their +dimensions are scarcely greater than at the end of the preceding +October: that is, they measure in length little more than three +inches.--(N.B. The old belief was that they grew nine inches in about +three weeks, and as suddenly sought the turmoil of the sea.) They +increase, however in size as the summer advances, and are then the +declared and admitted parr of anglers and other men. + +3dly, Simultaneously with the two preceding broods, our rivers are +inhabited during March and April by parr which have completed their +second year. These measure six or seven inches in length, and in the +months of April and May they assume the fine silvery aspect which +characterizes their migratory condition,--in other words, they are +converted into smolts, (the admitted fry of salmon,) and immediately +make their way towards the sea. + +Now, the fundamental error which pervaded the views of previous +observers of the subject, consisted in the sudden sequence which they +chose to establish between the hatching of the ova in early spring, and +the speedy appearance of the acknowledged salmon-fry in their lustrous +dress of blue and silver. Observing, in the first place, the hatching of +the ova, and, erelong, the seaward migration of the smolts, they +imagined these two facts to take place in the relation of immediate or +connected succession; whereas they had no more to do with each other +than an infant in the nursery has to do with his elder, though not very +ancient, brother, who may be going to school. The rapidity with which +the two-year-old parr are converted into smolts, and the timid habits of +the new-hatched fry, which render them almost entirely invisible during +the first few months of their existence,--these two circumstances +combined, have no doubt induced the erroneous belief that the silvery +smolts were the actual produce of the very season in which they are +first observed in their migratory dress: that is, that they were only a +few weeks old, instead of being upwards of two years. It is certainly +singular, however, that no enquirer of the old school should have ever +bethought himself of the mysterious fate of the two-year-old parr, +(supposing them not to be young salmon,) none of which, of course, are +visible after the smolts have taken their departure to the sea. If the +two fish, it may be asked, are not identical, how does it happen that +the one so constantly disappears along with the other? Yet no one +alleges that he has ever seen parr _as such_, making a journey towards +the sea "They cannot do so" says Mr Shaw, "because they have been +previously converted into smolts." + +Mr Shaw's investigations were carried on for a series of years, both on +the fry as it existed naturally in the river, and on captive broods +produced from ova deposited by adult salmon, and conveyed to +ingeniously-constructed experimental ponds, in which the excluded young +were afterwards nourished till they threw off the livery of the parr, +and underwent their final conversion into smolts. When this latter +change took place, the migratory instinct became so strong that many of +them, after searching in vain to escape from their prison--the little +streamlet of the pond being barred by fine wire gratings--threw +themselves by a kind of parabolic somerset upon the bank and perished. +But, previous to this, he had repeatedly observed and recorded the +slowly progressive growth to which we have alluded. The value of the +parr, then, and the propriety of a judicious application of our +statutory regulations to the preservation of that small, and, as +hitherto supposed, insignificant fish, will be obvious without further +comment.[16] + + [16] Mr Shaw's researches include some curious physiological + and other details, for an exposition of which our pages are not + appropriate. But we shall here give the titles of his former + papers. "An account of some Experiments and Observations on the + Parr, and on the Ova of the Salmon, proving the Parr to be the + Young of the Salmon."--_Edinburgh New Phil. Journ_. vol. xxi. + p. 99. "Experiments on the Development and Growth of the Fry of + the Salmon, from the Exclusion of the Ovum to the Age of Six + Months."--_Ibid_. vol. xxiv. p. 165. "Account of Experimental + Observations on the Development and Growth of Salmon Fry, from + the Exclusion of the Ova to the Age of Two + Years."--_Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, vol. + xiv. part ii. (1840.) The reader will find an abstract of these + discoveries in the No. of this Magazine for April 1840. + +Having now exhibited the progress of the salmon fry from the ovum to the +smolt, our next step shall be to show the connexion of the latter with +the grilse. As no experimental observations regarding the future +dimensions of the _detenus_ of the ponds could be regarded as legitimate +in relation to the usual increase of the species, (any more than we +could judge of the growth of a young English guardsman in the prisons of +Verdun,) after the period of their natural migration to the sea, and as +Mr Shaw's distance from the salt water--twenty-five miles, we believe, +windings included--debarred his carrying on his investigations much +further with advantage, he wisely turned his attention to a different, +though cognate subject, to which we shall afterwards refer. We are, +however, fortunately enabled to proceed with our history of the +adolescent salmon by means of another ingenious observer already named, +Mr Andrew Young of Invershin. + +It had always been the prevailing belief that smolts grew rapidly into +grilse, and the latter into salmon. But as soon as we became assured of +the gross errors of naturalists, and all other observers, regarding the +progress of the fry in fresh water, and how a few weeks had been +substituted for a period of a couple of years, it was natural that +considerate people should suspect that equal errors might pervade the +subsequent history of this important species. It appears, however, that +_marine_ influence (in whatever way it works) does indeed exercise a +most extraordinary effect upon those migrants from our upland streams, +and that the extremely rapid transit of a smolt to a grilse, and of the +latter to an adult salmon, is strictly true. Although Mr Young's labours +in this department differ from Mr Shaw's, in being rather confirmatory +than original, we consider them of great value, as reducing the subject +to a systematic form, and impressing it with the force and clearness of +the most successful demonstration. + +Mr Young's first experiments were commenced as far back as 1836, and +were originally undertaken with a view to show whether the salmon of +each particular river, after descending to the sea, returned again to +their original spawning-beds, or whether, as some supposed, the main +body, returning coastwards from their feeding grounds in more distant +parts of the ocean, and advancing along our island shores, were merely +thrown into, or induced to enter, estuaries and rivers by accidental +circumstances; and that the numbers obtained in these latter localities +thus depended mainly on wind and weather, or other physical conditions, +being suitable to their upward progress at the time of their nearing the +mouths of the fresher waters. To settle this point, he caught and marked +all the spawned fish which he could obtain in the course of the winter +months during their sojourn in the rivers. As soon as he had hauled the +fish ashore, he made peculiar marks in their caudal fins by means of a +pair of nipping-irons, and immediately threw then back into the water. +In the course of the following fishing season great numbers were +recaptured on their return from the sea, each in its own river bearing +its peculiar mark. "We have also," Mr Young informs us, "another proof +of the fact, that the different breeds or races of salmon continue to +revisit their native streams. You are aware that the river Shin falls +into the Oykel at Invershin, and that the conjoined waters of these +rivers, with the Carron and other streams, form the estuary of the +Oykel, which flows into the more open sea beyond, or eastwards of the +bar, below the Gizzen Brigs. Now, were the salmon which enter the mouth +of the estuary at the bar thrown in merely by accident or chance, we +should expect to find the fish of all the various rivers which form the +estuary of the same average weight; for, if it were a mere matter of +chance, then a mixture of small and great would occur indifferently in +each of the interior streams. But the reverse of this is the case. The +salmon in the Shin will average from seventeen pounds to eighteen pounds +in weight, while those of the Oykel scarcely attain an average of half +that weight. I am, therefore, quite satisfied, as well by having marked +spawned fish descending to the sea, and caught them ascending the same +river, and bearing that river's mark, as by a long-continued general +observation of the weight, size, and even something of the form, that +every river has its own breed, and that breed continues, till captured +and killed, to return from year to year into its native stream." + +We have heard of a partial exception to this instinctive habit, which, +however, essentially confirms the rule. We are informed that a Shin +salmon (recognized as such by its shape and size) was, on a certain +occasion, captured in the river Conon, a fine stream which flows into +the upper portion of the neighbouring Frith of Cromarty. It was marked +and returned to the river, and was taken _next day_ in its native stream +the Shin, having, on discovering its mistake, descended the Cromarty +Frith, skirted the intermediate portion of the outer coast by Tarbet +Ness, and ascended the estuary of the Oykel. The distance may be about +sixty miles. On the other hand, we are informed by a Sutherland +correspondent of a fact of another nature, which bears strongly upon the +pertinacity with which these fine fish endeavour to regain their +spawning ground. By the side of the river Helmsdale there was once a +portion of an old channel forming an angular bend with the actual river. +In summer, it was only partially filled by a detached or landlocked +pool, but in winter, a more lively communication was renewed by the +superabounding waters. This old channel was, however, not only resorted +to by salmon as a piece of spawning ground during the colder season of +the year, but was sought for again instinctively in summer during their +upward migration, when there was no water running through it. The fish +being, of course, unable to attain their object, have been seen, after +various aerial boundings, to fall, in the course of their exertions, +upon the dry gravel bank between the river and the pool of water, where +they were picked up by the considerate natives. + +No sooner had Mr Young satisfied himself that the produce of a river +invariably returned to that river after descending to the sea, than he +commenced his operations upon the smolts--taking up the subject where it +was unavoidably left off by Mr Shaw[17]. His long-continued +superintendence of the Duke of Sutherland's fisheries in the north of +Scotland, and his peculiar position as residing almost within a few +yards of the noted river Shin, afforded advantages of which he was not +slow to make assiduous use. He has now performed numerous and varied +experiments, and finds that, notwithstanding the slow growth of parr in +fresh water, "such is the influence of the sea as a more enlarged and +salubrious sphere of life, that the very smolts which descend into it +from the rivers in spring, ascend into the fresh waters in the course of +the immediate summer as grilse, varying in size in proportion to the +length of their stay in salt water." + + [17] Mr Young has, however, likewise repeated and confirmed Mr + Shaw's earlier experiments regarding the slow growth of salmon + fry in fresh water, and the conversion of parr into smolts. We + may add, that Sir William Jardine, a distinguished + Ichthyologist and experienced angler, has also corroborated Mr + Shaw's observations. + +For example, in the spring of 1837, Mr Young marked a great quantity of +descending smolts, by making a perforation in their caudal fins with a +small pair of nipping-irons constructed for the purpose, and in the +ensuing months of June and July he recaptured a considerable number on +their return to the rivers, all in the condition of grilse, and varying +from 3lbs. to 8lbs., "according to the time which had elapsed since +their first departure from the fresh water, or, in other words, the +length of their sojourn in the sea." In the spring of 1842, he likewise +marked a number of descending smolts, by clipping off what is called the +adipose fin upon the back. In the course of the ensuing June and July, +he caught them returning up the river, bearing his peculiar mark, and +agreeing with those of 1837 both in respect to size, and the relation +which that size bore to the lapse of time. + +The following list from Mr Young's note-book, affords a few examples of +the rate of growth:-- + +_List of Smolts marked in the River, and recaptured as Grilse on their +first ascent from the Sea._ + + Period of marking. | Period of recapture. | Weight when retaken. +---------------------+----------------------+---------------------- +1842. April and May. | 1842. June 28. | 4 lb. + ... ... | July 15. | 5 lb + ... ... | ... 15. | 5 lb. + ... ... | ... 25. | 7 lb.[18] + ... ... | ... 25. | 5 lb. + ... ... | ... 30. | 3-1/2 lb.[18] + +We may now proceed to consider the final change,--that of the grilse +into the adult salmon. We have just seen that smolts return to the +rivers as grilse, (of the weights above noted,) during the summer and +autumn of the same season in which they had descended for the first time +to the sea. Such as seek the rivers in the earlier part of summer are of +small size, because they have sojourned for but a short time in the +sea:--such as abide in the sea till autumn, attain of course a larger +size. But it appears to be an established, though till now an unknown +fact, that with the exception of the early state of parr, in which the +growth has been shown to be extremely slow, salmon actually never do +grow in fresh water at all, either as grilse or in the adult state. All +their growth in these two most important later stages, takes place +during their sojourn in the sea. "Not only," says Mr Young, "is this the +case, but I have also ascertained that they actually decrease in +dimensions after entering the river, and that the higher they ascend the +more they deteriorate both in weight and quality. In corroboration of +this I may refer to the extensive fisheries of the Duke of Sutherland, +where the fish of each station of the same river are kept distinct from +those of another station, and where we have had ample proof that salmon +habitually decrease in weight in proportion to their time and distance +from the sea."[19] + + [18] These two specimens are now preserved in the Museum of the + Royal Society of Edinburgh. + + [19] The existence in the rivers during spring, of grilse which + have spawned, and which weigh only three or four pounds, is + itself a conclusive proof of this retardation of growth in + fresh water. These fish had _run_, as anglers say--that is, had + entered the rivers about midsummer of the preceding year--and + yet had made no progress. Had they remained in the sea till + autumn, their size on entering the fresh waters would have been + much greater; or had they spawned early in winter, and + descended speedily to the sea, they might have returned again + to the river in spring _as small salmon_, while their more + sluggish brethren of the same age were still in the streams + under the form of grilse. All their growth, then, seems to take + place during their sojourn in the sea, usually from eight to + twelve weeks. The length of time spent in the salt waters, by + grilse and salmon which have spawned, corresponds nearly to the + time during which smolts remain in these waters; the former two + returning as _clean_ salmon, the last-named making their first + appearance in our rivers as grilse. + +Mr Young commenced marking grilses, with a view to ascertain that they +became salmon, as far back as 1837, and has continued to do so ever +since, though never two seasons with the same mark. We shall here record +only the results of the two preceding years. In the spring of 1841, he +marked a number of spawned grilse soon after the conclusion of the +spawning period. Taking his "net and coble," he fished the river for the +special purpose, and all the spawned grilse of 4 lb. weight were marked +by putting a peculiarly twisted piece of wire through the dorsal fin. +They were immediately thrown into the river, and of course disappeared, +making their way downwards with other spawned fish towards the sea. "In +the course of the next summer we again caught several of those fish +which we had thus marked with wire as 4 lb. grilse, grown in the short +period of four or five months into beautiful full-formed salmon, ranging +from 9 lb. to 14 lb. in weight, the difference still depending on the +length of their sojourn in the sea." + +In January 1842, he repeated the same process of marking 4 lb. grilse +which had spawned, and were therefore about to seek the sea; but, +instead of placing the wire in the back fin, he this year fixed it in +the upper lobe of the tail, or caudal fin. On their return from the sea, +he caught many of these quondam grilse converted into salmon as before. +The following lists will serve to illustrate the rate of growth:-- + + +_List of Grilse marked after having spawned, and re-captured as Salmon, +on their second ascent from the Sea._ + + Period of Period of Weight when Weight when + marking. recapture. marked. retaken. + +1841. Feb. 18. 1841. June 23. 4 lbs. 9 lbs. + ... 18. ... 23. 4 lbs. 11 lbs. + ... 18. ... 25. 4 lbs. 9 lbs. + ... 18. ... 25. 4 lbs. 10 lbs. + ... 18. July 27. 4 lbs. 13 lbs. + ... 18. ... 28. 4 lbs. 10 lbs. + March 4. July 1. 4 lbs. 12 lbs. + ... 4. ... 1. 4 lbs. 14 lbs. + ... 4. ... 27. 4 lbs. 12 lbs. + +1842. Jan. 29. 1842. July 4. 4 lbs. 8 lbs.[20] + ... 29. ... 14. 4 lbs. 9 lbs.[20] + ... 29. ... 14. 4 lbs. 8 lbs. + March 8. ... 23. 4 lbs. 9 lbs. + Jan. 29. ... 29. 4 lbs. 11 lbs. + March 8. Aug. 4. 4 lbs. 10 lbs. + Jan. 29. ... 11. 4 lbs. 12 lbs. + +During both these seasons, Mr Young informs us, he caught far more +marked grilse returning with the form and attributes of perfect salmon, +than are recorded in the preceding lists. "In many specimens the wires +had been torn from the fins, either by the action of the nets or other +casualties; and, although I could myself recognise distinctly that they +were the fish I had marked, I kept no note of them. All those recorded +in my lists returned and were captured with the twisted wires complete, +the same as the specimens transmitted for your examination." + + [20] These two specimens, with their wire marks _in situ_, may + now be seen in the Museum of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. + +We agree with Mr Young in thinking that the preceding facts, viewed in +connexion with Mr Shaw's prior observations, entitle us to say, that we +are now well acquainted with the history and habits of the salmon, and +its usual rate of growth from the ovum to the adult state. The young are +hatched after a period which admits of considerable range, according to +the temperature of the season, or the modifying character of special +localities.[21] They usually burst the capsule of the egg in 90 to 100 +days after deposition, but they still continue for a considerable time +beneath the gravel, with the yelk or vitelline portion of the egg +adhering to the body; and from this appendage, which Mr Shaw likens to a +red currant, they probably derive their sole nourishment for several +weeks. But though the lapse of 140 or even 150 days from the period of +deposition is frequently required to perfect the form of these little +fishes, which even then measure scarcely more than an inch in length, +their subsequent growth is still extremely slow; and the silvery aspect +of the smolt is seldom assumed till after the expiry of a couple of +years. The great mass of these smolts descend to the sea during the +months of April and May,--the varying range of the spawning and hatching +season carrying with it a somewhat corresponding range in the assumption +of the first signal change, and the consequent movement to the sea. They +return under the greatly enlarged form of grilse, as already stated, and +these grilse spawn that same season in common with the salmon, and then +both the one and the other re-descend into the sea in the course of the +winter or ensuing spring. They all return again to the rivers sooner or +later, in accordance, as we believe, with the time they had previously +left it after spawning, early or late. The grilse have now become salmon +by the time of their second ascent from the sea; and no further change +takes place in their character or attributes, except that such as +survive the snares of the fishermen, the wily chambers of the cruives, +the angler's gaudy hook, or the poacher's spear, continue to increase in +size from year to year. Such, however, is now the perfection of our +fisheries, and the facilities for conveying this princely species even +from our northern rivers, and the "distant islands of the sea," to the +luxurious cities of more populous districts, that we greatly doubt if +any salmon ever attains a good old age, or is allowed to die a natural +death. We are not possessed of sufficient data from which to judge +either of their natural term of life, or of their ultimate increase of +size. They are occasionally, though rarely, killed in Britain of the +weight of forty and even fifty pounds. In the comparatively unfished +rivers of Scandinavia large salmon are much more frequent, although the +largest we ever heard of was an English fish which came into the +possession of Mr Groves, of Bond Street. It was a female, and weighed +eighty-three pounds. In the year 1841, Mr Young marked a few spawned +salmon along with his grilse, employing as a distinctive mark copper +wire instead of brass. One of these, weighing twelve pounds, was marked +on the 4th of March, and was recaptured on returning from the sea on the +10th of July, weighing eighteen pounds. But as we know not whether it +made its way to the sea immediately after being marked, we cannot +accurately infer the rate of increase. It probably becomes slower every +year, after the assumption of the adult state. Why the salmon of one +river should greatly exceed the average weight of those of another into +which it flows, is a problem which we cannot solve. The fact, for +example, of the river Shin flowing from a large lake, with a course of +only a few miles, into the Oykel, although it accounts for its being an +_early_ river, owing to the receptive depth, and consequently higher +temperature of its great nursing mother, Loch Shin, in no way, so far at +least as we can see, explains the great size of the Shin fish, which are +taken in scores of twenty pounds' weight. They have little or nothing to +do with the loch itself, haunting habitually the brawling stream, and +spawning in the shallower fords, at some distance up, but still below +the great basin;[22] and there are no physical peculiarities which in +any way distinguish the Shin from many other lake born northern rivers, +where salmon do not average half the size. + + [21] Mr Shaw, for example, states the following various periods + as those which he found to elapse between the deposition of the + ova and the hatching of the fry--90, 101, 108, and 131 days. In + the last instance, the average temperature of the river for + eight weeks, had not exceeded 33 deg.. + + [22] If we are rightly informed, salmon were not in the habit + of spawning in the rivulets which run into Loch Shin, till + under the direction of Lord Francis Egerton some full-grown + fish were carried there previous to the breeding season. These + spawned; and their produce, as was to be expected, after + descending to the sea, returned in due course, and, making + their way through the loch, ascended their native tributaries. + +Leaving the country of the _Morer Chatt_ (the Celtic title of the Earls +of Sutherland) we shall now return to the retainer of the "bold +Buccleuch." We have already mentioned that Mr Shaw, having so +successfully illustrated the early history of salmon, next turned his +attention to a cognate subject, that of the sea-trout (_Salmo-trutta_?) +Although no positive observations of any value, anterior to those now +before us, had been made upon this species, it is obvious that as soon +as his discoveries regarding salmon fry had afforded, as it were, the +key to this portion of nature's secrets, it was easy for any one to +infer that the old notions regarding the former fish were equally +erroneous. Various modifications of these views took place accordingly; +but no one ascertained the truth by observation. Mr Shaw was, therefore, +entitled to proceed as if the matter were solely in his own hands; and +he makes no mention either of the "vain imaginations" of Dr Knox, the +more careful compilation of Mr Yarrell, or the still closer, but by no +means approximate calculations of Richard Parnell, M.D. In this he has +acted wisely, seeing that his own essay professes to be simply a +statement of facts, and not an historical exposition of the progress of +error. + +It would, indeed, have been singular if two species, in many respects so +closely allied in their general structure any economy, had been found to +differ very materially in any essential point. It now appears, however, +that Mr Shaw's original discovery of the slow growth of salmon fry in +fresh water, applies equally to sea trout; and, indeed, his observations +on the latter are valuable not only in themselves, but as confirmatory +of his remarks upon the former species. The same principle has been +found to regulate the growth and migrations of both, and Mr Shaw's two +contributions thus mutually strengthen and support each other. + +The sea trout is well known to anglers as one of the liveliest of all +the fishes subject to his lure. Two species are supposed by naturalists +to haunt our rivers--_Salmo eriox_, the bull trout of the Tweed, +comparatively rare on the western and northern coasts of Scotland, and +_Salmo trutta_, commonly called the sea or white trout, but, like the +other species, also known under a variety of provincial names, somewhat +vaguely applied. In its various and progressive stages, it passes under +the names of fry, smolt, orange-fin, phinock, herling, whitling, +sea-trout, and salmon-trout. It is likewise the "Fordwich trout" of +Izaak Walton, described by that poetical old piscator as "rare good +meat." As an article of diet it indeed ranks next to the salmon, and is +much superior in that respect to its near relation, _S. eriox_. It is +taken in the more seaward pools of our northern rivers, sometimes in +several hundreds at a single haul; and vast quantities, after being +boiled, and hermetically sealed in tin cases, are extensively consumed +both in our home and foreign markets. But, notwithstanding its great +commercial value, naturalists have failed to present us with any +accurate account of its consecutive history from the ovum to the adult +state. This desideratum we are now enabled to supply through Mr Shaw. + +On the 1st of November 1839, this ingenious observer perceived a pair of +sea-trouts engaged together in depositing their spawn among the gravel +of one of the tributaries of the river Nith, and being unprovided at the +moment with any apparatus for their capture, he had recourse to his +fowling-piece. Watching the moment when they lay parallel to each other, +he fired across the heads of the devoted pair, and immediately secured +them both, although, as it afterwards appeared, rather by the influence +of concussion than the more immediate action of the shot. They were +about six inches under water. Having obtained a sufficient supply of the +impregnated spawn, he removed it in a bag of wire gauze to his +experimental ponds. At this period the temperature of the water was +about 47 deg., but in the course of the winter it ranged a few degrees +lower. By the fortieth day the embryo fish were visible to the naked +eye, and, on the 14th January, (seventy-five days after deposition,) the +fry were excluded from the egg. At this early period, the brood exhibit +no perceptible difference from that of the salmon, except that they are +somewhat smaller, and of paler hue. In two months they were an inch +long, and had then assumed those lateral markings so characteristic of +the young of all the known _Salmonidae_. They increased in size slowly, +measuring only three inches in length by the month of October, at which +time they were nine months old. In January 1841, they had increased to +three and a half inches, exhibiting a somewhat defective condition +during the winter months, in one or more of which, Mr Shaw seems to +think, they scarcely grow at all. We need not here go through the entire +detail of these experiments.[23] In October (twenty-one months) they +measured six inches in length, and had lost those lateral bars, or +transverse markings, which characterise the general family in their +early state. At this period they greatly resembled certain varieties of +the common river-trout, and the males had now attained the age of sexual +completion, although none of the females had matured the roe. This +physiological fact is also observable in the true salmon. In the month +of May, three-fourths of the brood (being now upwards of two years old, +and seven inches long) assumed the fine clear silvery lustre which +characterises the migratory condition, being thus converted into smolts, +closely resembling those of salmon in their general aspect, although +easily to be distinguished by the orange tips of the pectoral fins, and +other characters with which we shall not here afflict our readers. + + [23] A complete series of specimens, from the day of hatching + till about the middle of the sixth year, has been deposited by + Mr Shaw in the Museum of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. + +The natural economy of the sea-trout thus far approximates that of the +genuine salmon, but with the following exception. Mr Shaw is of opinion +that about one-fourth of each brood never assume the silvery lustre; +and, as they are never seen to migrate in a dusky state towards the sea, +he infers that a certain portion of the species may be permanent +residents in fresh water.[24] In this respect, then, they resemble the +river-trout, and afford an example of those numerous gradations, both of +form and instinct, which compose the harmonious chain of nature's +perfect kingdom. In support of this power of adaptation to fresh water +possessed by sea-trout, Mr Shaw refers to a statement by the late Dr +McCulloch, that these fish had become permanent inhabitants of a loch in +the island of Lismore, Argyllshire. Similar facts have been recorded by +other naturalists, though, upon the whole, in a somewhat vague and +inconclusive manner. We have it in our power to mention a very marked +example. When certain springs were conducted, about twenty years ago, +from the slopes of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, into that city, +which Dr Johnson regarded as by no means abundantly supplied with the +"pure element of water," it was necessary to compensate the mill-owners +by another supply. Accordingly a valley, (the supposed scene of Allan +Ramsay's "Gentle Shepherd,") through which there flowed a small stream, +had a great embankment thrown across it. After this operation, of course +the waters of the upper portion of the stream speedily rose to a level +with the sluices, thus forming a small lake, commonly called the +"Compensation Pond." The flow of water now escapes by throwing itself +over the outer side of the embankment, which is lofty and precipitous, +in the form of a cataract, up which no fish can possibly ascend. Yet in +the pond itself we have recently ascertained the existence of sea-trout +in a healthy state, although such as we have examined, being young, were +of small size. These attributes, however, were all the more important as +proving the breeding condition of the parents in a state of prolonged +captivity. It is obvious that sea-trout must have made their way (in +fulfilment of their natural migratory instinct) into the higher portions +of the stream prior to the completion of the obstructing dam; and as +none could have ascended since, it follows that the individuals in +question (themselves and their descendants) must have lived and bred in +fresh water, without access to the sea, for a continuous period of +nearly twenty years. This is not only a curious fact in the natural +history of the species, but it is one of some importance in an +economical point of view. Sea-trout, as an article of diet, are much +more valuable than river-trout; and if it can be ascertained that they +breed freely, and live healthily, without the necessity of access to the +sea, it would then become the duty, as it would doubtless be the desire, +of those engaged in the construction of artificial ponds, to stock those +receptacles rather with the former than the latter.[25] + + [24] Mr Shaw informs us, moreover, that if those individuals + which have assumed the silvery lustre be forcibly detained for + a month or two in fresh water, they will resume the coloured + coating which they formerly bore. The captive females, he adds, + manifested symptoms of being in a breeding state by the + beginning of the autumn of their third year. They were, in + truth, at this time as old as _herlings_, though not of + corresponding size, owing to the entire absence of marine + agency. + + [25] Another interesting result may be noticed in connexion + with this Compensation Pond. The original streamlet, like most + others, was naturally stocked with small "burn-trout," which + never exceeded a few ounces in weight, as their ultimate term + of growth. But, in consequence of the formation above referred + to, and the great increase of their productive feeding-ground, + and tranquil places for repose and play, these tiny creatures + have, in some instances, attained to an enormous size. We + lately examined one which weighed six pounds. It was not a + sea-trout, but a common fresh-water one--_Salmo fario_. This + strongly exemplifies the conformable nature of fishes; that is, + their power of adaptation to a change of external + circumstances. It is as if a small Shetland pony, by being + turned into a clover field, could be expanded into the gigantic + dimensions of a brewer's horse. + +Having narrated the result of Mr Shaw's experiment up to the migratory +state of his brood, we shall now refer to the further progress of the +species. This, of course, we can only do by turning our attention to the +corresponding condition of the fry in their natural places in the river. +So far back as the 9th of May 1836, our observer noticed salmon fry +descending seawards, and he took occasion to capture a considerable +number by admitting them into the salmon cruive. On examination, he +found about one-fifth of each shoal to be what he considered sea-trout. +Wisely regarding this as a favourable opportunity of ascertaining to +what extent they would afterwards "suffer a sea change," he marked all +the smolts of that species (about ninety in number) by cutting off the +whole of the adipose fin, and three-quarters of the dorsal. At a +distance, by the course of the river, of twenty-five miles from the sea, +he was not sanguine of recapturing many of these individuals, and in +this expectation he was not agreeably surprised by any better success +than he expected. However, on the 16th of July, exactly eighty days +afterwards, he recaptured as a _herling_ (the next progressive stage) an +individual bearing the marks he had inflicted on the young sea-trout in +the previous May. It measured twelve inches in length, and weighed ten +ounces. As the average weight of the migrating fry is about three and a +half ounces, it had thus gained an increase of six and a half ounces in +about eighty days' residence in salt water, supposing it to have +descended to the sea immediately after its markings were imposed. In +this condition of herlings or phinocks, young sea-trout enter many of +our rivers in great abundance in the months of July and August. + +On the 1st of August 1837--fifteen months after being marked as fry, on +its way to the sea--another individual was caught, and recognised by the +absence of one fin, and the curtailment of another. This specimen, as +well as others, had no doubt returned, and escaped detection as a +herling, in 1836; but it was born for greater things, and when captured, +as above stated, weighed two pounds and a half. "He may be supposed," +says Mr Shaw, "to represent pretty correctly the average size of +sea-trout on their second migration from the sea." In this state they +usually make their appearance in our rivers, (we refer at present +particularly to those of Scotland,) in greatest abundance in the months +of May and June. This view of the progress of the species clearly +accounts for a fact well known to anglers, that in spring and the +commencement of summer, larger sea-trout are caught than in July and +August, which would not be the case if they were all fish of the same +season. But the former are herlings which have descended, after spawning +early, to the sea, and returned with the increase just mentioned; the +latter were nothing more than smolts in May, and have only once enjoyed +the benefit of sea bathing. They are a year younger than the others. + +As herlings (sea-trout in their third year) abounded in the river Nith +during the summer of 1834, Mr Shaw marked a great number (524) by +cutting off the adipose fin. "During the following summer (1835) I +recaptured sixty-eight of the above number as sea-trout, weighing on an +average about two and a half pounds. On these I put a second distinct +mark, and again returned them to the river, and on the next ensuing +summer (1836) I recaptured a portion of them, about one in twenty, +averaging a weight of four pounds. I now marked them distinctively for +the third time, and once more returned them to the river, also for the +third time. On the following season (23d day of August 1837) I +recaptured the individual now exhibited, for the fourth time.[26] It +then weighed six pounds." This is indeed an eventful history, and we +question if any _Salmo trutta_ ever before felt himself so often out of +his element. However, the individual referred to must undoubtedly be +regarded as extremely interesting to the naturalist. It exhibits, at a +single glance, the various marks put upon itself and its companions, as +they were successively recaptured, from year to year, on their return to +the river--viz. 1st, The absence of the adipose fin, (herling of ten or +twelve ounces in 1834;) 2dly, One-third part of the dorsal fin removed, +(sea-trout of two and a half pounds in 1835;) 3dly, A portion of the +anal fin clipt off (large sea-trout of four pounds in 1836). In the 4th +and last place, it shows, in its own proper person, as leader of the +forlorn hope of 1837, the state in which it was finally captured and +killed, of the weight of six pounds. It was then in its sixth year, and, +representing the adult condition of this migratory species, we think it +renders further investigation unnecessary. + + [26] The specimen is preserved in the Museum of the Royal + Society of Edinburgh. + +From these and other experiments of a similar nature, which Mr Shaw has +been conducting for many years, he has come to the conclusion, that the +small fry called "Orange-fins," which are found journeying to the sea +with smolts of the true salmon, are the young of sea-trout of the age of +two years;--that the same individuals, after nine or ten weeks' sojourn +in salt water, ascend the rivers as herlings, weighing ten or twelve +ounces and on the approach of autumn pass into our smaller tributaries +with a view to the continuance of their kind;--that, having spawned, +they re-descend into the sea, where their increase of size (about one +and a half pound per annum) is almost totally obtained;--and that they +return annually, with an accession of size, for several seasons, to the +rivers in which their parents gave them birth. In proof of this last +point, Mr Shaw informs us, that of the many hundred sea-trout of +different ages which he has marked in various modes, he is not aware +that even a single individual has ever found its way into any tributary +of the Solway, saving that of the river Nith. + + * * * * * + + + + +CALEB STUKELY. + +PART THE LAST. + +TRANQUILITY. + + +The sudden and unlooked-for appearance of James Temple threw light upon +a mystery. Further explanation awaited me in the house from which the +unfortunate man had rushed to meet instant death and all its +consequences. It will be remembered that, in the narrative of his +victim, mention is made of one Mrs Wybrow, with whom the poor girl, upon +the loss of her father and of all means of support, obtained a temporary +home. It appeared that Fredrick Harrington, a few months after his +flight, returned secretly to the village, and, at the house of that +benevolent woman, made earnest application for his sister. He was then +excited and half insane, speaking extravagantly of his views and his +intentions in respect of her he came to take away. "She should be a +duchess," he said, "and must take precedence of every lady in the land. +He was a king himself and could command it so. He could perform wonders, +if he chose to use the power with which he was invested; but he would +wait until his sister might reap the benefit of his acquired wealth." In +this strain he continued, alarming the placid Mrs Wybrow, who knew not +what to do to moderate the wildness and the vehemence of his demeanour. +Hoping, however, to appease him, she told him of the good fortune of his +sister--how she had obtained a happy home, and how grateful he ought to +be to Providence for its kind care of her. Much more she said, only to +increase the anger of the man, whose insane pride was roused to fury the +moment that he heard his sister was doomed to eat the bread of a +dependent. He disdained the assistance of Mrs Temple--swore it was an +artifice, a cheat, and that he would drag her from the net into which +they had enticed her. When afterwards he learned that it was through the +mediation of James Temple that his sister had been provided for, the +truth burst instantly upon him, and he foresaw at once all that actually +took place. He vowed that he would become himself the avenger of his +sister, and that he would not let her betrayer sleep until he had wrung +from him deep atonement for his crime. It was in vain that Mrs Wybrow +sought to convince him of his delusion. He would not be advised--he +would not listen--he would not linger another moment in the house, but +quitted it, wrought to the highest pitch of rage, and speaking only of +vengeance on the seducer. He set out for London. Mrs Wybrow, agitated +more than she had been at any time since her birth, and herself almost +deprived of reason by her fears for the safety of Miss Harrington, James +Temple, and the furious lunatic himself, wrote immediately to Emma, then +resident in Cambridge, explaining the sad condition of her brother, and +warning her of his approach--Emma having already (without acquainting +Mrs Wybrow with her fallen state) forwarded her address, with a strict +injunction to her humble friend to convey to her all information of her +absent brother which she could possibly obtain. The threatened danger +was communicated to the lover--darkened his days for a time with anxiety +and dread, but ceased as time wore on, and as no visitant appeared to +affect the easy tenor of his immoral life. The reader will not have +forgotten, perhaps, that when for the first time I beheld James Temple, +he was accompanied by an elder brother. It was from the latter, his +friend and confidant, that the above particulars, and those which follow +in respect of the deceased, were gathered. The house in which, for a +second time, I encountered my ancient college friends, was their +uncle's. Parents they had none. Of father and of mother both they had +been deprived in infancy; and, from that period, their home had been +with their relative and guardian. The conduct of one charge, at least, +had been from boyhood such as to cause the greatest pain to him who had +assumed a parent's cares. Hypocrisy, sensuality, and--for his years and +social station--unparalleled dishonesty, had characterised James +Temple's short career. By some inexplicable tortuosity of mind, with +every natural endowment, with every acquired advantage, graced with the +borrowed as well as native ornaments of humanity, he found no joy in his +inheritance, but sacrificed it all, and crawled through life a gross and +earthy man. The seduction of Emma, young as he was when he committed +that offence, was, by many, not the first crime for which--not, thank +Heaven! without some preparation for his trial--he was called suddenly +to answer. As a boy, he had grown aged is vice. It has been stated that +he quitted the university the very instant he disencumbered himself of +the girl whom he had sacrificed. He crept to the metropolis, and for a +time there hid himself. But it was there that he was discovered by +Frederick Harrington, who had pursued the destroyer with a perseverance +that was indomitable, and scoffed at disappointment. How the lunatic +existed no one knew; how he steered clear of transgression and restraint +was equally difficult to explain. It was evident enough that he made +himself acquainted with the haunts of his former schoolfellow; and, in +one of them, he rushed furiously and unexpectedly upon him, affrighting +his intended victim, but failing in his purpose of vengeance by the very +impetuosity of his assault. Temple escaped. Then it was that the latter, +shaken by fear, revealed to his brother the rise of progress of his +intimacy with the discarded girl, and, in his extremity, called upon him +for advice and help. He could afford him none; and the seducer found +himself in the world without an hour's happiness or quiet. What quails +so readily as the heartiest soul of the sensualist? Who so cowardly as +the man only courageous in his oppression of the weak? The spirit of +Temple was laid prostrate. He walked, and eat, and slept, in base and +dastard fear. Locks and bolts could not secure him from dismal +apprehensions. A sound shook him, as the unseen wind makes the tall +poplar shudder--a voice struck terror in his ear, and sickness to +recreant heart. He could not be alone--for alarm was heightened by the +speaking conscience that pronounced it just. He journeyed from place to +place, his brother ever at his side, and the shadow of the avenger ever +stalking in the rear, and impelling the weary wanderer still onward. The +health of the sufferer gave way. To preserve his life, he was ordered to +the south-western coast. His faithful brother was his companion still. +He had not received a week's benefit from the mild and grateful +climate--he was scarcely settled in the tranquil village in which they +had fixed their residence, before the old terror was made manifest, and +hunted the unhappy man away. Whilst sitting at his window, and gazing +with something of delight upon the broad and smooth blue sea--for who +can look, criminal though he be, upon that glorious sheet in summer +time, when the sky is bright with beauty, and the golden sun is high, +and not lose somewhat of the heavy sense of guilt--not glow, it may be, +with returning gush of childhood's innocence, long absent, and coming now +only to reproach and then depart?--whilst sitting there and thus, the +sick man's notice was invited to a crowd of yelling boys, who had +amongst them one, the tallest of their number, whom they dragged along +for punishment or sport. He was an idiot. Who he was none knew so well +as the pale man that looked upon him, who could not drag his eye away, +so lost was it in wonder, so transfixed with horror. The invalid +remained no longer there. Fast as horses could convey him, he journeyed +homeward; and, in the bosom of his natural protectors, he sought for +peace he could not gain elsewhere. Here he remained, the slave of fear, +the conscience-stricken, diseased in body--almost spent; and here he +would have died, had not Providence directed the impotent mind of the +imbecile to the spot, and willed it otherwise. I have narrated, as +shortly as I might, the history of my earliest college friend, as I +received it from his brother's lips. There remain but a few words to +say--the pleasantest that I have had to speak of him James Temple did +not die a hardened man. If there be truth in tears, in prayers of +penitence that fall from him who stand upon the borders of eternity--who +can gain nothing by hypocrisy, and may lose by it the priceless treasure +of an immortal soul--if serenity and joy are signs of a repentance +spoken, a forgiveness felt, then Heaven had assuredly been merciful with +the culprit, and had remitted his offences, as Heaven can, and will, +remit the vilest. + +I remained in the village of Belton until I saw all that remained of the +schoolfellows deposited in the earth. Their bodies had been easily +obtained--that of the idiot, indeed, before life had quitted it. The +evening that followed their burial, I passed with William Temple. Many a +sad reminiscence occurred to him which he communicated to me without +reserve, many a wanton act of coarse licentiousness, many a warning +unheeded, laughed at, spurned. It is a mournful pleasure for the mind, +as it dwells upon the doings of the departed, to build up its own +theories, and to work out a history of what might have been in happier +circumstances--a useless history of _ifs_. "If my brother had been +looked to when he was young," said William Temple more than once, "he +would have turned out differently. My uncle spoiled him. As a child, he +was never corrected. If he wished for a toy, he had but to scream for +it. If, at school, he had been fortunate enough to contract his +friendships with young men of worth and character, their example would +have won him to rectitude, for he was always a lad easily led." And +again, "If he had but listened to the advice which, when it would have +served him, I did not fail daily and hourly to offer him, he might have +lived for years, and been respected--for many know, I lost no +opportunity to draw him from his course of error." Alas! how vain, how +idle was this talk--how little it could help the clod that was already +crumbling in the earth--the soul already at the judgment-seat; yet with +untiring earnestness the brother persisted in this strain, and with +every new hypothesis found fresh satisfaction. There was more reason for +gratification when, at the close of the evening, the surviving relative +turned from his barren discourse and referred to the last days of the +deceased. There was comfort and consolation to the living in the +evidences which he produced of his most blessed change. It was a joy to +me to hear of his repentance, and to listen to the terms in which he +made it known. I did not easily forget them. I journeyed homeward. When +I arrived at the house of Doctor Mayhew, I was surprised to find how +little I could remember of the country over which I had travelled. The +scenes through which I had passed were forgotten--had not been noticed. +Absorbed by the thoughts which possessed my brain, I had suffered myself +to be carried forward, conscious of nothing but the waking dreams. I was +prepared, however, to see my friend. Still influenced by the latent hope +of meeting once more with Miss Fairman, still believing in the happy +issue of my love, I had resolved to keep my own connexion with the idiot +as secret as the grave. There was no reason why I should betray myself. +His fate was independent of my act--my conduct formed no link in the +chain which must be presented to make the history clear: and shame would +have withheld the gratuitous confession, had not the ever present, +never-dying promise forbade the disclosure of one convicting syllable. +As may be supposed, the surprise of Doctor Mayhew, upon hearing the +narrative, was no less than the regret which he experienced at the +violent death of the poor creature in whom he had taken so kind and deep +an interest. But a few days sufficed to sustain his concern for one who +had come to him a stranger, and whom he had known so short a time. The +pursuits and cares of life gradually withdrew the incident from his +mind, and all thoughts of the idiot. He ceased to speak of him. To me, +the last scene of his life was present for many a year. I could not +remove it. By day and night it came before my eyes, without one effort +on my part to invoke it. It has started up, suddenly and mysteriously, +in the midst of enjoyment and serene delight, to mingle bitterness in +the cup of earthly bliss. It has come in the season of sorrow to +heighten the distress. Amongst men, and in the din of business, the +vision has intruded, and in solitude it has followed me to throw its +shadows across the bright green fields, beautiful in their freshness. +Night after night--I cannot count their number--it has been the form and +substance of my dreams, and I have gone to rest--yes, for months--with +the sure and natural expectation of beholding the melancholy repetition +of an act which I would have given any thing, and all I had, to forget +and drive away for ever. + +A week passed pleasantly with my host. I spoke of departure at the end +of it. He smiled when I did so, bade me hold my tongue and be patient. I +suffered another week to glide away, and then hinted once more that I +had trespassed long enough upon his hospitality. The doctor placed his +hand upon my arm, and answered quickly, "all in good time--do not +hurry." His tone and manner confirmed, I know not why, the strong hope +within me, and his words passed with meaning to my heart. I already +built upon the aerial foundation, and looked forward with joyous +confidence and expectation. The arguments and shows of truth are few +that love requires. The poorest logic is the soundest reasoning--if it +conclude for him. The visits to the parsonage were, meanwhile, +continued. Upon my return, I gained no news. I asked if all were well +there, and the simple, monosyllable, "Yes," answered with unusual +quickness and decision, was all that escaped the doctor's lips. He did +not wish to be interrogated further, and was displeased. I perceived +this and was silent. For some days, no mention was made of his dear +friend the minister. He was accustomed to speak often of that man, and +most affectionately. What was the inference? A breach had taken place. +If I entertained the idea for a day, it was dissipated on the next; for +the doctor, a week having elapsed since his last visit, rode over to the +parsonage as usual, remained there some hours, and returned in his best +and gayest spirits. He spoke of the Fairmans during the evening with the +same kind feeling and good-humour that had always accompanied his +allusions to them and their proceedings, and grew at length eloquent in +the praises of them both. The increasing beauty of the young mistress, +he said, was marvellous. "Ah," he added slyly, and with more truth, +perhaps, than he suspected, "it would have done your eyes good to-day, +only to have got one peep at her." I sighed, and he tantalized me +further. He pretended to pity me for the inconsiderate haste with which +I had thrown up my employment, and to condole with me for all I had lost +in consequence. "As for himself," he said, "he had, upon further +consideration, given up all thought of marriage for the present. He +should live a little longer and grow wiser; but it was not a pleasant +thing, by any means, to see so sweet a girl taken coolly off by a young +fellow, who, if all he heard was true, was very likely to have an early +opportunity." I sighed again, and asked permission to retire to rest; +but my tormentor did not grant it, until he had spoken for half an hour +longer, when he dismissed me in a state of misery incompatible with +rest, in bed, or out of it. My heart was bursting when I left him. He +could not fail to mark it. To my surprise, he made another excursion to +the parsonage on the following day; and, as before, he joined me in the +evening with nothing on his lips but commendation of the young lady whom +he had seen, and complaint at the cruel act which was about to rob them +of their treasure; for he said, regardless of my presence or the +desperate state of my feelings, "that the matter was now all but +settled. Fairman had made up his mind, and was ready to give his consent +the very moment the young fellow was bold enough to ask it. And lucky +dog he is too," added the kind physician, by way of a conclusion, "for +little puss herself is over head and ears in love with him, or else I +never made a right prognosis." + +"I am much obliged to you, sir," I answered, when Doctor Mayhew paused; +"very grateful for your hospitality. If you please, I will depart +to-morrow. I trust you will ask me to remain no longer. I cannot do so. +My business in London"---- + +"Oh, very well! but that can wait, you know," replied the doctor, +interrupting me. "I can't spare you to-morrow. I have asked a friend to +dinner, and you must meet him." + +"Do not think me ungrateful, doctor," I answered; "but positively I must +and will depart to-morrow. I cannot stay." + +"Nonsense, man, you shall. Come, say you will, and I engage, if your +intention holds, to release you as early as you like the next day. I +have promised my friend that you will give him the meeting, and you must +not refuse me. Let me have my way to-morrow, and you shall be your own +master afterwards." + +"Upon such terms, sir," I answered immediately, "it would he +unpardonable if I persisted. You shall command me; on the following day, +I will seek my fortunes in the world again." + +"Just so," replied the doctor, and so we separated. + +The character of Dr Mayhew was little known to me. His goodness of heart +I had reason to be acquainted with, but his long established love of +jesting, his intense appreciation of a joke, practical or otherwise, I +had yet to learn. In few men are united, as happily as they were in him, +a steady application to the business of the world, and an almost +unrestrained indulgence in its harmless pleasantries. The grave doctor +was a boy at his fireside. I spent my last day in preparing for my +removal, and in rambling for some hours amongst the hills, with which I +had become too familiar to separate without a pang. Long was our +leave-taking. I lingered and hovered from nook to nook, until I had +expended the latest moment which it was mine to give. With a burdened +spirit I returned to the house, as my thoughts shifted to the less +pleasing prospect afforded by my new position. I shuddered to think of +London, and the fresh vicissitudes that awaited me. + +It wanted but a few minutes to dinner when I stepped into the +drawing-room. The doctor had just reached home, after being absent on +professional duty since the morning. The visitor had already arrived; I +had heard his knock whilst I was dressing. Having lost all interest in +the doings of the place, I had not even cared to enquire his name. What +was it to me? What difference could the chance visitor of a night make +to me, who was on the eve of exile? None. I walked despondingly into the +room, and advanced with distant civility towards the stranger. His face +was from me, but he turned instantly upon hearing my step, and I +beheld----Mr Fairman. I could scarcely trust my eyes. I started, and +retreated. My reverend friend, however, betrayed neither surprise nor +discomposure. He smiled kindly, held out his hand, and spoke as he was +wont in the days of cordiality and confidence. What did it mean? + +"It is a lovely afternoon, Stukely," began the minister, "worthy of the +ripe summer in which it is born." + +"It is, sir," I replied; "but I shall see no more of them," I added +_instantly_, anxious to assure him that I was not lurking with sinister +design so near the parsonage--that I was on the eve of flight. "I quit +our friend to-morrow, and must travel many miles away." + +"You will come to us, Caleb," answered Mr Fairman mildly. + +"Sir!" said I, doubting if I heard aright. + +"Has Dr Mayhew said nothing then?" he asked. + +I trembled in every limb. + +"Nothing, sir," I answered. "Oh, yes! I recollect--he did--he has--but +what have I--I have no wish--no business"---- + +The door opened, and Dr Mayhew himself joined us, rubbing his hands, and +smiling, in the best of good tempers. In his rear followed the faithful +Williams. Before a word of explanation could be offered, the latter +functionary announced "_dinner_," and summoned us away. The presence of +the servants during the meal interfered with the gratification of my +unutterable curiosity. Mr Fairman spoke most affably on different +matters, but did not once revert to the previous subject of discourse. I +was on thorns. I could not eat. I could not look at the minister without +anxiety and shame, and whenever my eye caught that of the doctor, I was +abashed by a look of meaning and good-humoured cunning, that was half +intelligible and half obscure. Rays of hope penetrated to my heart's +core, and illuminated my existence. The presence of Mr Fairman could not +be without a purpose. What was it, then? Oh, I dared not trust myself to +ask the question! The answer bred intoxication and delight, too sweet +for earth. What meant that wicked smile upon the doctor's cheek? He was +too generous and good to laugh at my calamity. He could not do it. Yet +the undisturbed demeanour of the minister confounded me. If there had +been connected with this visit so important an object as that which I +longed to believe was linked with it, there surely would have been some +evidence in his speech and manner, and he continued as cheerful and +undisturbed as if his mind were free from every care and weighty +thought. "What can it mean?" I asked myself, again and again. "How can +he coolly bid me to his house, after what has passed, after his fearful +anxiety to get me out of it? Will he hazard another meeting with his +beloved daughter?--Ah, I see it!" I suddenly and mentally exclaimed; "it +is clear enough--she is absent--she is away. He wishes to evince his +friendly disposition at parting, and now he can do it without risk or +cost." It was a plain elucidation of the mystery--it was enough, and all +my airy castles tumbled to the earth, and left me there in wretchedness. +Glad was I when the dinner was concluded, and eager to withdraw. I had +resolved to decline, at the first opportunity, the invitation of the +incumbent. I did not wish to grieve my heart in feasting my eyes upon a +scene crowded with fond associations, to revoke feelings in which it +would be folly to indulge again, and which it were well to annihilate +and forget. I was about to beg permission to leave the table, when Dr +Mayhew rose; he looked archly at me when I followed his example, and +requested me not to be in haste; "he had business to transact, and would +rejoin us shortly." Saying these words, he smiled and vanished. I +remained silent. To be left alone with Mr Fairman, was the most annoying +circumstance that could happen in my present mood. There were a hundred +things which I burned to know, whilst I lacked the courage to enquire +concerning one. But I had waited for an opportunity to decline his +invitation. Here it was, and I had not power to lift my head and look at +him. Mr Fairman himself did not speak for some minutes. He sat +thoughtfully, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand--his elbow on +the table. At length he raised his eyes, and whilst my own were still +bent downward, I could feel that his were fixed upon me. + +"Caleb," said the minister. + +It was the first time that the incumbent had called me by my Christian +name. How strangely it sounded from his lips! How exquisitely grateful +it dropt upon my ear! + +"Tell me, Caleb," continued Mr Fairman, "did I understand you right? Is +it true that Mayhew has told you nothing?" + +"Nothing distinctly, sir," I answered--"I have gathered something from +his hints, but I know not what he says in jest and what in earnest." + +"I have only her happiness at heart, Stukely--from the moment that you +spoke to me on the subject, I have acted solely with regard to that. I +hoped to have smothered this passion in the bud. In attempting it, I +believed I was acting as a father should, and doing my duty by her." + +The room began to swim round me, and my head grew dizzy. + +"I am to blame, perhaps, as Mayhew says, for having brought you +together, and for surrounding her with danger. I should have known that +to trifle with a heart so guileless and so pure was cruel and unjust, +and fraught with perilous consequences. I was blind, and I am punished +for my act." + +I looked at him at length. + +"I use the word deliberately--_punished_, Stukely. It _is_ a punishment +to behold the affection of which I have ever been too jealous, departing +from me, and ripening for another. Why have I cared to live since Heaven +took her mother to itself--but for her sake, for her welfare, and her +love? But sorrow and regret are useless now. You do not know, young man, +a thousandth part of your attainment when I tell you, you have gained +her young and virgin heart. I oppose you no longer--I thwart not--render +yourself worthy of the precious gift." + +"I cannot speak, sir!" I exclaimed, seizing the hand of the incumbent in +the wildness of my joy. "I am stupified by this intelligence! Trust me, +sir--believe me, you shall find me not undeserving of your generosity +and"---- + +"No, Stukely. Call it not by such a name. It is any thing but that; +there is no liberality, no nobility of soul, in giving you what I may +not now withhold. I cannot see her droop and die, and live myself to +know that a word from me had saved her. I have given my consent to the +prosecution of your attachment at the latest moment--not because I +wished it, but to prevent a greater evil. I have told you the truth! It +was due to us both that you should hear it; for the future look upon me +as your father, and I will endeavour to do you justice." + +There was a stop. I was so oppressed with a sense of happiness, that I +could find no voice to speak my joy or tell my thanks. Mr Fairman +paused, and then continued. + +"You will come to the parsonage to-morrow, and take part again in the +instruction of the lads after their return. You will be received as my +daughter's suitor. Arrangements will be made for a provision for you. +Mayhew and I have it in consideration now. When our plan is matured, it +shall be communicated to you. There need be no haste. You are both +young--too young for marriage--and we shall not yet fix the period of +your espousal." + +My mind was overpowered with a host of dazzling visions, which rose +spontaneously as the minister proceeded in his delightful talk. I soon +lost all power of listening to details. The beloved Ellen, the faithful +and confiding maiden, who had not deserted the wanderer although driven +from her father's doors--she, the beautiful and priceless jewel of my +heart, was present in every thought, and was the ornament and chief of +every group that passed before my warm imagination. Whilst the incumbent +continued to speak of the future, of his own sacrifice, and my great +gain--whilst his words, without penetrating, touched my ears, and died +away--my soul grew busy in the contemplation of the prize, which, now +that it was mine, I scarce knew how to estimate. Where was she _then_? +How had she been? To how many days of suffering and of trial may she +have been doomed? How many pangs may have wrung that noble heart before +its sad complaints were listened to, and mercifully answered? I craved +to be at her side. The words which her father had spoken had loosened +the heavy chain that tied me down--my limbs were conscious of their +freedom--my spirit felt its liberty--what hindered instant flight? In +the midst of my reverie Dr Mayhew entered the room--and I remember +distinctly that my immediate impulse was to leave the two friends +together, and to run as fast as love could urge and feet could carry +me--to the favoured spot which held all that I cared for now on earth. +The plans, however, of Doctor Mayhew interfered with this desire. He had +done much for me, more than I knew, and he was not the man to go without +his payment. A long evening was yet before us, time enough for a hundred +jokes, which I must hear, and witness, and applaud or I was most +unworthy of the kindness he had shown me. The business over for which Mr +Fairman had come expressly, the promise given of an early visit to the +parsonage on the following day, an affectionate parting at the garden +gate, and the incumbent proceeded on his homeward road. The doctor and I +returned together to the house in silence and one of us in partial fear; +for I could see the coming sarcasm in the questionable smile that played +about his lips. Not a word was spoken when we resumed our seats. At last +he rang the bell, and Williams answered it---- + +"Book Mr Stukely by the London coach to-morrow, Williams," said the +master; "he _positively must and will depart to-morrow_." + +The criminal reprieved--the child, hopeless and despairing at the +suffering parent's bed, and blessed at length with a firm promise of +amendment and recovery, can tell the feelings that sustained my +fluttering heart, beating more anxiously the nearer it approached its +_home_. I woke that morning with the lark--yes, ere that joyous bird had +spread its wing, and broke upon the day with its mad note--and I left +the doctor's house whilst all within were sleeping. There was no rest +for me away from that abode, whose gates of adamant, with all their bars +and fastenings, one magic word had opened--whose sentinels were +withdrawn--whose terrors had departed. The hours were all too long until +I claimed my newfound privilege. Morn of the mellow summer, how +beautiful is thy birth! How soft--how calm--how breathlessly and +blushingly thou stealest upon a slumbering world! fearful, as it seems, +of startling it. How deeply quiet, and how soothing, are thy earliest +sounds--scarce audible--by no peculiar quality distinguishable, yet +thrilling and intense! How doubly potent falls thy witching influence on +him whose spirit passion has attuned to all the harmonies of earth, and +made but too susceptible! Disturbed as I was by the anticipation of my +joy, and by the consequent unrest, with the first sight of day, and all +its charms, came _peace_--actual and profound. The agitation of my soul +was overwhelmed by the prevailing stillness, and I grew tranquil and +subdued. Love existed yet--what could extinguish that?--but heightened +and sublimed. It was as though, in contemplating the palpable and lovely +work of heaven, all selfishness had at once departed from my breast--all +dross had separated from my best affections, and left them pure and +free. And so I walked on, happiest of the happy, from field to field, +from hill to hill, with no companion on the way, no traveller within my +view--alone with nature and my heart's delight. "And men pent up in +cities," thought I, as I went along, "would call this--_solitude_." I +remembered how lonely I had felt in the busy crowds of London--how +chill, how desolate and forlorn, and marvelled at the reasoning of man. +And came no other thoughts of London and the weary hours passed there, +as I proceeded on my delightful walk? Yes, many, as Heaven knows, who +heard the involuntary matin prayer, offered in gratefulness of heart, +upon my knees, and in the open fields, where no eye but one could look +upon the worshipper, and call the fitness of the time and place in +question. The early mowers were soon a-foot; they saluted me and passed. +Then, from the humblest cottages issued the straight thin column of +white smoke--white as the snowy cloud--telling of industry within, and +the return of toil. Now labourers were busy in their garden plots, +labouring for pleasure and delight, ere they strove abroad for hire, +their children at their side, giving the utmost of their small +help--young, ruddy, wild, and earnest workmen all! The country day is up +some hours before the day in town. Life sleeps in cities, whilst it +moves in active usefulness away from them. The hills were dotted with +the forms of men before I reached the parsonage, and when I reached it, +a golden lustre from the mounting sun lit up the lovely house with +fire--streaming through the casements already opened to the sweet and +balmy air. + +If I had found it difficult to rest on this eventful morning, so also +had another--even here--in this most peaceful mansion. The parsonage +gate was at this early hour unclosed. I entered. Upon the borders of the +velvet lawn, bathed in the dews of night, I beheld the gentle lady of +the place; she was alone, and walking pensively--now stooping, not to +pluck, but to admire, and then to leave amongst its mates, some crimson +beauty of the earth--now looking to the mountains of rich gold piled in +the heavens, one upon another, changing in form and colour, blending and +separating, as is their wondrous power and custom, filling the maiden's +soul with joy. Her back was toward me: should I advance, or now retire? +Vain question, when, ere an answer could be given, I was already at the +lady's side. Shall I tell of her virgin bashfulness, her blushes, her +trembling consciousness of pure affection? Shall I say how little her +tongue could speak her love, and how eloquently the dropping tear told +all! Shall I describe our morning's walk, her downward gaze--my +pride?--her deep, deep silence, my impassioned tones, the insensibilty +to all external things--the rushing on of envious Time, jealous of the +perfect happiness of man? The heart is wanting for the task--the pen is +shaking in the tremulous hand.--Beautiful vision! long associate of my +rest, sweetener of the daily cares of life, shade of the heavenly +one--beloved Ellen! hover still around me, and sustain my aching +soul--carry me back to the earliest days of our young love, quicken +every moment with enthusiasm--be my fond companion once again, and light +up the old man's latest hour with the fire that ceased to burn when thou +fleed'st heavenward! Thou hast been near me often since we parted here! +Whose smile but thine has cheered the labouring pilgrim through the +lagging day? In tribulation, whose voice has whispered _peace_--whose +eye hath shone upon him, like a star, tranquil and steady in the gloomy +night? Linger yet, and strengthen and hallow the feeble words, that +chronicle our love! + +It would be impossible to conceive a woman more eminently fitted to +fulfil the duties of her station, than the gentle creature whose heart +it had been my happiness and fortune to make my own. Who could speak so +well of the _daughter's_ obedience as he who was the object of her +hourly solicitude? Who could behold her tenderness, her watchfulness and +care and not revere the filial piety that sanctified the maid? The poor, +most difficult of mankind to please, the easily offended, the jealous +and the peevish, were unanimous in their loud praise of her, whose +presence filled the foulest hut with light, and was the harbinger of +good. It is well to doubt the indigent when they speak _evil_ of their +fellows; but trust them when, with one voice, _they pray for blessings_, +as they did for her, who came amongst them as a sister and a child. If a +spotless mind be a treasure in the _wife_, if simplicity and truth, +virtue and steadfast love, are to be prized in her who plights her troth +to man, what had I more to ask--what had kind nature more to grant? + +Had all my previous sufferings been multiplied a hundred times, I should +have been indemnified for all in the month that followed my restoration +to the parsonage. Evening after evening, when the business of the day +was closed, did we together wander amongst the scenes that were so dear +to us--too happy in the enjoyment of the present, dwelling with pleasure +on the past, dreaming wildly--as the young must dream--of the uncreated +future. I spoke of earthly happiness, and believed it not a fable. What +could be brighter than our promises? What looked more real--less likely +to be broken? How sweet was our existence! My tongue would never cease +to paint in dazzling colours the days that yet awaited us. I numbered +over the joys of a domestic life, told her of the divine favour that +accompanies contentment, and how angels of heaven hover over the house +in which it dwells united to true love. Nor was there wanting +extravagant and fanciful discourse, such as may be spoken by the +prodigal heart to its co-mate, when none are by to smile and wonder at +blind feeling. + +"Dear Ellen," have I said, in all the fulness of my passion--"what a +life is this we lead! what heavenly joy! To be for ever only as we are, +were to have more of God's kindness and beloved care than most of +earthly creatures may. Indissolubly joined, and in each other's light to +live, and in each other's sight alone to seek those blessings wedded +feelings may bestow--to perceive and know ourselves as one--to breathe +as one the ripe delicious air--to fix on every object of our mutual love +the stamp and essence of one living heart--to walk abroad, and find glad +sympathy in all created things--this, this is to be conscious of more +lasting joy--to have more comfort in the sight of God, than they did +know, the happy parent pair, when heaven smiled on earth, and earth was +heaven, connected both by tenderest links of love." + +She did not answer, when my soul ran riot in its bliss. She listened, +and she sighed, as though experience cut off the promises of hope, or as +if intimations of evil began already to cast their shadows, and to press +upon her soul! + +Time flew as in a dream. The sunny days passed on, finding and leaving +me without a trouble or a fear--happy and entranced. Each hour +discovered new charms in my betrothed, and every day unveiled a latent +grace. How had I merited my great good fortune? How could I render +myself worthy of her love? It was not long before the object of my +thoughts, sleeping and waking, became a living idol, and I, a reckless +worshipper. + +Doctor Mayhew had been a faithful friend, and such he continued, looking +to the interests of the friendless, which might have suffered in the +absence of so good an advocate. It was he, as I learnt, who had drawn +from the incumbent his reluctant consent to my return. My departure +following my thoughtless declaration so quickly, was not without visible +effect on her who had such deep concern in it. Her trouble was not lost +upon the experienced doctor; he mentioned his suspicion to her father, +and recommended my recall. The latter would not listen to his counsel, +and pronounced his _diagnosis_ hasty and incorrect. The physician bade +him wait. The patient did not rally, and her melancholy increased. The +doctor once more interceded, but not successfully. Mr Fairman received +his counsel with a hasty word, and Dr Mayhew left the parsonage in +anger, telling the minister he would himself be answerable no longer for +her safety. A week elapsed, and Doctor Mayhew found it impossible to +keep away. The old friends met, more attached than ever for the parting +which both had found it difficult to bear. The lady was no better. They +held a conference--it ended in my favour. I had been exactly a month +reinstated, when Doctor Mayhew, who could not rest thoroughly easy until +our marriage was concluded, and, as he said, "the affair was off his +hands," took a convenient opportunity to intimate to Mr Fairman the many +advantages of an early union. The minister was anxious to postpone the +ceremony to a distant period, which he had not courage himself to name. +This Mayhew saw, and was well satisfied that, if my happiness depended +on the word of the incumbent, I should wait long before I heard it +voluntarily given. He told me so, and undertook "to bring the matter to +a head" with all convenient speed. He met with a hundred objections, for +all of which he was prepared. He heard his friend attentively, and with +great deference, and then he answered. What his answers were, I cannot +tell--powerful his reasoning must have been, since it argued the jealous +parent into the necessity of arranging for an early marriage, and +communicating with me that same day upon the views which he had for our +future maintenance and comfort. + +Nothing could exceed the gratification of Doctor Mayhew, that best and +most successful of ambassadors, when he ran to me--straight from the +incumbent's study--to announce the perfect success of his diplomacy. Had +he been negotiating for himself, he could not have been in higher +spirits. Ellen was with me when he acquainted me, that in three months +the treasure would be my own, and mine would be the privilege and right +to cherish it. He insisted that he should be rewarded on the instant +with a kiss; and, in the exuberance of his feelings, was immodest enough +to add, that "if he wasn't godfather to the first, and if we did not +call him Jacob after him, he'd give us over to our ingratitude, and not +have another syllable to say to us." + +It was a curious occupation to contemplate the parent during the weeks +that followed--to observe all-powerful nature working in him, the +chastened and the upright minister of heaven, as she operates upon the +weakest and the humblest of mankind. He lived for the happiness and +prosperity of his child. For that he was prepared to make every +sacrifice a father might--even the greatest--that of parting with her. +Was it to be expected that he should be insensible to the heavy cost? +Could it be supposed that he would all at once resign the dear one +without a quiver or a pang? There is a tremor of the soul as well as of +the body, when the knife is falling on the limb to sever it, and this he +suffered, struggling for composure as a martyr, and yet with all the +weakness of a man. I have watched him closely, and I have known his +heart wringing with pain, as the eye of his child sparkled with joy at +my approach, whilst the visible features of his face strove fiercely to +suppress the rising selfishness. He has gazed upon her, as we have sat +together in the cheerful night, wondering, as it seemed, by what +fascination the natural and deep-rooted love of years could be surpassed +and superseded by the immature affection of a day--forgetful of her +mother's love, that once preferred him to her sire. In our evening walks +I have seen him in our track, following from afar, eager to overtake and +join us, and yet resisting the strong impulse, and forbearing. He could +not hide from me the glaring fact, that he was envious of my fortune, +manifest as it was in every trifling act; nor was it, in truth, easier +for him to conceal the strong determination which he had formed to act +with honour and with justice. No angry or reproachful word escaped his +lips; every favour that he could show me he gladly proffered; nay, many +uncalled-for and unexpected, he insisted upon my receiving, apparently, +or, as I guessed, because he wished to mortify his own poor heart, and +to remove from me the smallest cause for murmuring or complaint. I +endeavoured not to be unworthy of his liberality and confidence; and the +daughter, who perceived the conflict in his breast, redoubled her +attention, and made more evident her unimpaired and childlike love. + +It wanted but a month to the time fixed for our union, when Ellen +reached her twentieth year. On that occasion, Doctor Mayhew dined with +us, and passed the evening at the parsonage. He was in high spirits; and +the minister himself more gay than I had known him since our engagement. +Ellen reflected her father's cheerfulness, and was busy in sustaining +it. All went merry as a marriage-bell. Ellen sang her father's favourite +airs--played the tunes that pleased him best, and acquired new energy +and power as she proceeded. The parent looked upon her with just pride, +and took occasion, when the music was at its loudest, to turn to Mayhew, +and to speak of her. + +"How well she looks!" said he; "how beautiful she grows!" + +"Yes," answered the physician; "I don't wonder that she made young +Stukely's heart ache. What a figure the puss has got!" + +"And her health seems quite restored!" + +"Well, you are not surprised at that, I reckon. Rest assured, my friend, +if we could only let young ladies have their way, our patients would +diminish rapidly. Why, how she sings to-night! I never knew her voice so +good--did you?" + +"Oh, she is happy, Mayhew; all her thoughts are joyful! Her heart is +revelling. It was very sinful to be so anxious on her account." + +"So I always told you; but you wouldn't mind me. She'll make old bones." + +"You think so, do you?" + +"Why, look at her yourself, and say whether we should be justified in +thinking otherwise. Is she not the picture of health and animation?" + +"Yes, Mayhew, but her mother"---- + +"There, be quiet will you? The song is over." + +Ellen returned to her father's side, sat upon a stool before him, and +placed her arms upon his knee. The incumbent drew her head there, and +touched her cheek in playfulness. + +"Come, my friend," exclaimed the physician, "that isn't allowable by any +means. Recollect two young gentlemen are present, and we can't be +tantalized." + +The minister smiled, and Ellen looked at me. + +"Do you remember, doctor," enquired the latter, "this very day eleven +years, when you came over on the grey pony, that walked into this room +after you, and frightened us all so?" + +"Yes, puss, I do very well; and don't I recollect your tying my wig to +the chair, and then calling me to the window, to see how I should look +when I had left it behind me, you naughty little girl!" + +"That was very wrong, sir; but you know you forgave me for it." + +"No, I didn't. Come here, though, and I will now." + +She left her stool, and ran laughing to him. The doctor professed to +whisper in her ear, but kissed her cheek. He coughed and hemmed, and, +with a serious air, asked me what I meant by grinning at him. + +"Do you know, doctor," continued Ellen, "that this is my first +birth-day, since that one, which we have kept without an interruption. +Either papa or you have been always called away before half the evening +was over." + +"Well, and very sorry you would be, I imagine, if both of us were called +away _now_. It would be very distressing to you; wouldn't it?" + +"It would hardly render her happy, Mayhew," said Mr Fairman, "to be +deprived of her father's society on such an occasion." + +"No, indeed, papa," said Ellen, earnestly; "and the good doctor does not +think so either." + +"Doesn't he, though, you wicked pussy? You would be very wretched, then, +if we were obliged to go? No doubt of it, especially if we happened to +leave that youngster there behind us." + +"Ellen shall read to us, Mayhew," said the incumbent, turning from the +subject. "You will find Milton on my table, Caleb." + +As he spoke, Ellen imparted to her friend a look of tenderest +remonstrance, and the doctor said no more. + +The incumbent, himself a fine reader, had taken great pains to teach his +child the necessary and simple, but much neglected art of reading well. +There was much grace and sweetness in her utterance, correct emphasis, +and no effort. An hour passed delightfully with the minister's favourite +and beloved author; now the maiden read, now he. He listened with +greater pleasure to her voice than to his own or any other, but he +watched the smallest diminution of its power--the faintest evidence of +failing strength--and released her instantly, most anxious for her +health and safety, then and always. + +Then arose, as will arise from the contented bosom of domestic piety, +grateful rejoicings--the incense of an altar glowing with love's own +offerings! Past time was summoned up, weighed with the present, and, +with all the mercies which accompanied it, was still found wanting in +the perfect and unsullied happiness that existed now. "The love of +heaven," said the minister, "had never been so manifest and clear. His +labours in the service of his people, his prayers on their behalf, were +not unanswered. Improvement was taking place around him; even those who +had given him cause for deepest sorrow, were already turning from the +path of error into that of rectitude and truth. The worst characters in +the village had been checked by the example of their fellows, and by the +voice of their own conscience, (he might have added, by the working of +their minister's most affectionate zeal) and his heart was joyful--how +joyful he could not say--on their account. His family was blessed--(and +he looked at Ellen with a moistened eye)--with health, and with the +promise of its continuance. His best and oldest friend was at his side; +and he, who was dear to them all on her account whose life would soon be +linked with his, was about to add to every other blessing, the +advantages which must follow the possession of so good a son. What more +could he require? How much more was this than the most he could +deserve!" + +Doctor Mayhew, touched with the solemn feeling of the moment, became a +serious man. He took the incumbent by the hand, and spoke. + +"Yes, Fairman, we have cause for gratitude. You and I have roughed it +many years, and gently enough do we go down the hill. To behold the +suffering of other men, and to congratulate ourselves upon our +exemption, is not the rational mode of receiving goodness from Almighty +God--yet it is impossible for a human being to look about him, and to +see family after family worn down by calamity, whilst he himself is free +from any, and not have his heart yearning with thankfulness, knowing, as +he must, how little he merits his condition. You and I are happy +fellows, both of us; and all we have to do, is to think so, and to +prepare quietly to leave our places, whilst the young folks grow up to +take them. As for the boy there, if he doesn't smooth your pillow, and +lighten for you the weight of old age as it comes on, then am I much +mistaken, and ready to regret the steps which I have taken to bring you +all together." + +There was little spoken after this. The hearts were full to the +brink--to speak was to interfere with their consummate joy. The doctor +was the only one who made the attempt, and he, after a very ineffectual +endeavour to be jocose, held his peace. The Bible was produced. The +servants of the house appeared. A chapter was read from it by the +incumbent--a prayer was offered up, then we separated. + +I stole to Ellen as she was about to quit us for the night. "And you, +dear Ellen," I whispered in her ear, "are you, too, happy?" + +"Yes, _dearest_," she murmured with a gentle pressure, that passed like +wildfire to my heart. "I fear _too_ happy. Earth will not suffer it" + +We parted, and in twelve hours those words were not without their +meaning. + +We met on the following morning at the usual breakfast hour. The moment +that I entered the apartment, I perceived that Ellen was +indisposed--that something had occurred, since the preceding night, to +give her anxiety or pain. Her hand trembled slightly, and a degree of +perturbation was apparent in her movements. My first impression was, +that she had received ill news, for there was nothing in her appearance +to indicate the existence of bodily suffering. It soon occurred to me, +however, that the unwonted recent excitement might account for all her +symptoms--that they were, in fact, the natural consequence of that +sudden abundance of joyous spirits which I had remarked in her during +the early part of the evening. I satisfied myself with this belief, or +strove to do so--the more easily, perhaps, because I saw her father +indifferent to her state, if not altogether ignorant of it. He who was +ever lying in wait--ever watching--ever ready to apprehend the smallest +evidence of ill health, was, on this morning, as insensible to the +alteration which had taken place in the darling object of his +solicitude, as though he had no eyes to see, or object to behold; so +easy is it for a too anxious diligence in a pursuit to overshoot and +miss the point at which it aims. Could he, as we sat, have guessed the +cause of all her grief--could some dark spirit, gloating on man's +misery, have breathed one fearful word into his ear, bringing to life +and light the melancholy tale of distant years--how would his nature +have supported the announcement--how bore the?----but let me not +anticipate. I say that I dismissed all thought of serious mischief, by +attributing at once all signs of it to the undue excitement of the +festive night. As the breakfast proceeded, I believed that her anxiety +diminished, and with that passed away my fears. + +At the end of the pleasure garden of the parsonage was a paddock, and, +immediately beyond this, another field, leading to a small valley of +great beauty. On one side of "_the Dell_," as it was called, was a +summer-house, which the incumbent had erected for the sake of the noble +prospect which the elevation commanded. To this retreat Ellen and I had +frequently wandered with our books during the progress of our love. Here +I had read to her of affection and constancy, consecrated by the +immortal poet's song. Here we had passed delightful hours, bestowing on +the future the same golden lustre that made so bright the present. In +joy, I had called this summer-house "_the Lover's Bower_," and it was +pleasing to us both to think that we should visit in our after days, for +many a year, and with increasing love, a spot endeared to us by the +fondest recollections. Thither I bent my steps at the close of our +repast. It wanted but two days to the time fixed for the resumption of +our studies. The boys had returned, and the note of preparation was +already sounded. I carried my task to the retreat, and there commenced +my labours. An hour fled quickly whilst I was occupied somewhat in +Greek, but more in contemplation of the gorgeous scene before me, and in +lingering thoughts of her whose form was never absent, but hovered still +about the pleasure or the business of the day. The shadow of that form +was yet present, when the substance became visible to the bodily eye. +Ellen followed me to the "_Lover's Bower_," and there surprised me. She +was even paler than before--and the burden of some disquietude was +written on her gentle brow; but a smile was on her lips--one of a +languid cast--and also of encouragement and hope. I drew her to my side. +Lovers are egotists; their words point ever to themselves. She spoke of +the birth-day that had just gone by; the tranquil and blissful +celebration of it. My expectant soul was already dreaming of the next +that was to come, and speaking of the increased happiness that must +accompany it. + +Ellen sighed. + +"It is a lover's sigh!" thought I, not heeding it. + +"Whatever may be the future, Caleb," said Ellen seriously, but very +calmly, "we ought to be prepared for it. Earth is not our +_resting-place_. We should never forget that. Should we, dearest?" + +"No, love; but earth has happiness of her kind, of which her children +are most sensible. Whilst we are here, we live upon her promises." + +"But oh, not to the exclusion of the brighter promises that come from +heaven! You do not say that, dear Caleb?" + +"No, Ellen. You could not give your heart to him who thought so; +howbeit, you have bestowed it upon one unworthy of your piety and +excellence." + +"Do not mock me, Caleb," said Ellen, blushing. "I have the heart of a +sinner, that needs all the mercy of heaven for its weaknesses and +faults. I have ever fallen short of my duty." + +"You are the only one who says it. Your father will not say so, and I +question if the villagers would take your part in this respect." + +"Do not misunderstand me, Caleb. I am not, I trust, a hypocrite. I have +endeavoured to be useful to the poor and helpless in our +neighbourhood--I have been anxious to lighten the heaviness of a +parent's days, and, as far as I could, to indemnify him for my mother's +loss. I believe that I have done the utmost my imperfect faculties +permitted. I have nothing to charge myself with on these accounts. But +my Heavenly Father," continued the maiden, her cheeks flushing, her eyes +filling with tears--"oh! I have been backward in my affection and duty +to him. I have not ever had before my eyes his honour and glory in my +daily walk--I have not done every act in subordination to his will, for +his sake, and with a view to his blessing. But He is merciful as well as +just, and if his punishment falls now upon my head, it is assuredly to +wean me from my error, and to bring me to himself." + +The maid covered her moistened cheek, and sobbed loudly. I was fully +convinced that she was suffering from the reaction consequent upon +extreme joy. I was rather relieved than distressed by her burst of +feeling, and I did not attempt for a time to check her tears. + +"Tell me, dear Caleb," she said herself at length, "if I were to lose +you--if it were to please Heaven to take you suddenly from this earth, +would it not be sinful to murmur at his act? Would it not be my duty to +bend to his decree, and to prepare to follow you?" + +"You would submit to such a trial as a Christian woman ought. I am sure +you would, dear Ellen--parted, as we should be, but for a season, and +sure of a reunion." + +"And would you do this?" enquired the maiden quickly. "Oh, say that you +would, dear Caleb! Let me hear it." + +"You are agitated, dearest. We will not talk of this now. There is grace +in heaven appointed for the bitterest seasons of adversity. It does not +fail when needed. Let us pray that the hour may be distant which shall +bring home to either so great a test of resignation." + +"Yes, pray, dear Stukely; but, should it come suddenly and quickly--oh, +let us be prepared to meet it!" + +"We will endeavour, then; and now to a more cheerful theme. Do we go to +Dr Mayhew's, as proposed? We shall spend a happy day with our facetious, +but most kind-hearted friend." + +Ellen burst again into a flood of tears. + +"What is the matter, love?" I exclaimed. "Confide to me, and tell the +grief that preys upon your mind." + +"Do not be alarmed, Stukely," she answered rapidly; "it may be nothing +after all; but when I woke this morning--it may, I hope for your sake +that it _is_ nothing serious--but my dear mother, it was the +commencement of her own last fatal illness." + +She stopped suddenly, as if her speech had failed her--coughed sharply, +and raised her handkerchief to her mouth. I perceived a thick, broad +spot of BLOOD, and shuddered. + +"Do not be frightened, Stukely," she continued, shocked fearfully +herself. "I shall recover soon. It is the suddenness--I was unprepared. +So it was when I awoke this morning--and it startled me, because I heard +it was the first bad symptom that my poor mother showed. Now, I pray +you, Stukely, to be calm. Perhaps I shall get well; but if I do not, I +shall be so happy--preparing for eternity, with you, dear Caleb, at my +side. You promised to be tranquil, and to bear up against this day; and +I am sure you will--yes, for my sake--that I may see you so, and have no +sorrow." + +I took the dear one to my bosom, and, like a child, cried upon her neck. +What could I say? In one moment I was a bankrupt and a beggar--my +fortunes were scattered to the winds--my solid edifice as stricken by +the thunder-bolt, and lay in ruins before me! Was it real? + +Ellen grew calmer as she looked at me, and spoke. + +"Listen to me, dearest Stukely. It was my duty to acquaint you with this +circumstance, and I have done so, relying on your manliness and love. +You have already guessed what I am about to add. My poor father"--her +lips quivered as she said the word--"he must know nothing for the +present. It would be cruel unnecessarily to alarm him. His heart would +break. He MUST be kept in ignorance of this. You shall see Mayhew; he +will, I trust, remove our fears. Should he confirm them, he can +communicate to papa." Again she paused, and her tears trickled to her +lips, which moved convulsively. + +"Do not speak, my beloved," I exclaimed. "Compose yourself. We will +return home. Be it as you wish. I will see Mayhew immediately, and bring +him with me to the parsonage. Seek rest--avoid exertion." + +I know not what conversation followed this. I know not how we reached +our home again. I have no recollection of it. Three times upon our road +was the cough repeated, and, as at first, it was accompanied by that +hideous sight. In vain she turned her head away to escape detection. It +was impossible to deceive my keen and piercing gaze. I grew pale as +death as I beheld on each occasion the frightful evidence of disease; +but the maiden pressed my hand, and smiled sweetly and encouragingly to +drive away my fears. She did not speak--I had forbidden her to do so; +but her looks--full of tenderness and love--told how all her thoughts +were for her lover--all her anxiety and care. + +At my request, as soon as we arrived at home, she went to bed. I saw the +incumbent--acquainted him with her sudden illness--taking care to keep +its nature secret--and then ran for my life to Dr Mayhew's residence. +The very appearance of blood was to me, as it is always to the common +and uninformed observer, beyond all doubt confirmatory of the worst +suspicions--the harbinger of certain death. There is something horrible +in its sight, presented in such a form; but not for itself do we shrink +as we behold it--not for what it is, but for what it awfully proclaims. +I was frantic and breathless when I approached the doctor's house, and +half stupified when I at length stood before him. + +I told my errand quickly. + +The doctor attempted instantly to mislead me, but he failed in his +design. I saw, in spite of the forced smile that would not rest upon his +lips, how unexpectedly and powerfully this news had come upon him--how +seriously he viewed it. He could not remove my miserable convictions by +his own abortive efforts at cheerfulness and unconcern. He moved to his +window, and strove to whistle, and to speak of the haymakers who were +busy in the fields, and of the weather; but the more he feigned to +regard my information as undeserving of alarm, the more convinced I grew +that deadly mischief had already taken place. There was an air about him +that showed him ill at ease; and, in the midst of all his quietude and +indifference, he betrayed an anxiety to appear composed, unwarranted by +an ordinary event. Had the illness been trifling indeed, he could have +afforded to be more serious and heedful. + +"I will be at the parsonage some time to-day. You can return without me, +Stukely." + +"Dr Mayhew," I exclaimed, "I entreat, I implore you not to trifle with +me! I can bear any thing but that. Tell me the worst, and I will not +shrink from it. You must not think to deceive me. You are satisfied that +there is no hope for us; I am sure you are, and you will not be just and +say so." + +"I am satisfied of no such thing," answered the doctor quickly. "I +should be a fool, a madman, to speak so rashly. There is every reason to +hope, I do believe, at present. Tell me one thing--does her father know +of it?" + +"He does not." + +"Then let it still be kept a secret from him. Her very life may depend +upon his ignorance. She must be kept perfectly composed--no +agitation--no frightened faces around her. But I will go with you, and +see what can be done. I'll warrant it is nothing at all, and that puss +is well over her fright before we get to her." + +Again the doctor smiled unhealthfully, and tried, awkwardly enough, to +appear wholly free from apprehension, whilst he was most uncomfortable +with the amount of it. + +The physician remained for half an hour with his patient, and rejoined +me in the garden when he quitted her. He looked serious and thoughtful. + +"There is no hope, then?" I exclaimed immediately. + +"Tush, boy," he answered; "quiet--quiet. She will do well, I +hope--eventually. She has fever on her now, which must be brought down. +While that remains there will be anxiety, as there must be always--when +it leaves her, I trust she will be well again. Do you know if she has +undergone any unusual physical exertion?" + +"I do not." + +"I confess to you that I do not like this accident; but it is impossible +to speak positively now. Whilst the fever lasts, symptoms may be +confounded and mistaken. I will watch her closely." + +"Have you seen her father?" + +"I have; but I have told him nothing further than he knew. He believes +her slightly indisposed. I have calmed him, and have told him not to +have the child disturbed. You will see to that?" + +"I will." + +"And now mark me, Stukely. I expect that you will behave like a man, and +as you ought. We cannot keep Fairman ignorant of this business. Should +it go on, as it may--in spite of every thing we can do--he must know it. +You have seen sufficient of his character to judge how he will receive +the information which it may be my painful lot to take to him. I think +of it with dread. It has been my pleasure to stand your friend--you must +prove mine. I shall expect you to act with fortitude and calmness, and +not, by weakness and self-indulgence, to increase the pain that will +afflict the parent's heart--for it will be sufficient for Fairman to +know only what has happened to give up every hope and consolation. You +must be firm on his account and chiefly for the sake of the dear girl, +who should not see your face without a smile of confidence and love upon +it. Do you hear me? I will let you weep now," he continued, noticing the +tears which prevented my reply, "provided that you dry your eyes, and +keep them so from this time forward. Do you hear me?" + +"Yes," I faltered. + +"And will you heed me?" + +"I will try," I answered, as firmly as I might, with every hope within +me crushed and killed by the words which he had spoken. + +"Very well. Then let us say no more, until we see what Providence is +doing for us." + +The fever of Ellen did not abate that day. The doctor did not leave the +house, but remained with the incumbent--not, as he told his friend, +because he thought it necessary so to do, but to keep the word which he +had given the night before--viz., to pass the day with him. He was sorry +that he had been deprived of their company at his own abode, but he +could make himself quite comfortable where he was. About eleven o'clock +at night the doctor thought it strange that Robin had not brought his +pony over, and wondered what had happened. + +"Shall we send to enquire?" asked Mr Fairman. + +"Oh no!" was the quick answer, "that never can be worth while. We'll +wait a little longer." + +At twelve the doctor spoke again. "Well, he must think of moving; but he +was very tired, and did not care to walk." + +"Why not stay here, then? I cannot see, Mayhew, why you should be so +uneasy at the thought of sleeping out. Come, take your bed with us for +once." + +"Eh?--well--it's very late--suppose I do." + +Mayhew had not been shrewd enough, and, with his ready acquiescence, the +minister learned all. + +I did not go to bed. My place was at her door, and there I lingered till +the morning. The physician had paid his last visit shortly after +midnight, and had given orders to the nurse who waited on the patient, +to call him up if necessary, but on no account to disturb the lady if +she slept or was composed. The gentle sufferer did not require his +services, or, if she did, was too thoughtful and too kind to make it +known. Early in the morning Doctor Mayhew came--the fever had +increased--and she had experienced a new attack of haemoptysis the moment +she awoke. The doctor stepped softly from her room, and deep anxiety was +written on his brow. I followed him with eagerness. He put his finger to +his lips, and said, "Remember, Stukely." + +"Yes, I will--I do; but, is she better?" + +"No--but I am not discouraged yet. Every thing depends upon extreme +tranquillity. No one must see her. Dear me, dear me! what is to be said +to Fairman, should he ask?" + +"Is she placid?" I enquired. + +"She is an angel, Stukely," said the good doctor, pressing my hands, and +passing on. When we met at breakfast, the incumbent looked hard at me, +and seemed to gather something from my pale and careworn face. When +Mayhew came, full of bustle, assumed, and badly too, as the shallowest +observer could perceive, he turned to him, and in a quiet voice asked +"if his child was much worse since the previous night." + +"Not much," said Mayhew. "She will be better in a short time, I trust." + +"May I see her?" enquired the father in the same soft tone. + +"Not now--by and by perhaps--I hope to-morrow. This is a sudden +attack--you see--any excitement may prolong it--it wouldn't be well to +give a chance away. Don't you see that, Fairman?" + +"Yes," said the minister, and from that moment made no further mention +of his daughter during breakfast. The meal was soon dispatched. Mr +Fairman retired to his study--and the doctor prepared for his departure. +He promised to return in the afternoon. + +"Thank God!" he exclaimed, as he took leave of me at the gate, "that +Fairman remains so very unsuspicious. This is not like him. I expected +to find him more inquisitive." + +"I am surprised," I answered; "but it is most desirable that he should +continue so." + +"Yes--yes--by all means--for the present at all events." + +Throughout the day there was no improvement in the patient's symptoms. +The physician came according to his promise, and again at night. He +slept at the parsonage for the second time. The minister betrayed no +wonder at this unusual act, showed no agitation, made no importunate +enquiries. He asked frequently during the day if any amendment had taken +place; but always in a gentle voice, and without any other reference to +her illness. As often as the doctor came, he repeated his wish to visit +his dear child, but, receiving for answer "that he had better not at +present," he retired to his study with a tremulous sigh, but offering no +remonstrance. + +The doctor went early to rest. He had no inclination to spend the +evening with his friend, whom he hardly cared to see until he could meet +him as the messenger of good tidings. I had resolved to hover, as I did +before, near the mournful chamber in which she lay; and there I kept a +weary watch until my eyes refused to serve me longer, and I was forced +against my will, and for the sake of others, to yield my place and crawl +to my repose. As I walked stealthily through the house, and on tiptoe, +fearful of disturbing one beloved inmate even by a breath--I passed the +incumbent's study. The door was open, and a glare of light broke from +it, and stretched across the passage. I hesitated for a moment--then +listened--but, hearing nothing, pursued my way. It was very strange. The +clock had just before struck three, and the minister, it was supposed, +had been in bed since midnight. "His lamp is burning," thought I--"he +has forgotten it." I was on the point of entering the apartment--when I +was deterred and startled by his voice. My hand was already on the door, +and I looked in. Before me, on his knees, with his back towards me, was +my revered friend--his hands clasped, and his head raised in +supplication. He was in his dress of day, and had evidently not yet +visited his pillow. I waited, and he spoke-- + +"Not my will," he exclaimed in a piercing tone of prayer--"not mine, but +thy kind will be done, O Lord! If it be possible, let the bitter cup +pass from me--but spare not, if thy glory must needs be vindicated. +Bring me to thy feet in meek, and humble, and believing confidence--all +is well, then, for time and for eternity. It is merciful and good to +remove the idol that stands between our love and God. Father of +mercy--enable me to bring the truth _home, home_ to this most +traitorous--this lukewarm, earthy heart of mine--a heart not worthy of +thy care and help. Let me not murmur at thy gracious will--oh, rather +bend and bow to it--and kiss the rod that punishes. I need +chastisement--for I have loved too well--too fondly. I am a rebel, and +thy all-searching eye hath found me faithless in thy service. Take her, +Father and Saviour--I will resign her--I will bless the hand that smites +me--I will"--he stopped; and big tears, such as drop fearfully from +manhood's eye, made known to heaven the agony that tears a parent's +heart, whilst piety is occupied in healing it. + +It is not my purpose to recite the doubts and fears, the terrible +suspense, the anxious hopes, that filled the hours which passed whilst +the condition of the patient remained critical. It is a recital which +the reader may well spare, and I avoid most gladly. At the end of a +week, the fever departed from the sufferer. The alarming symptoms +disappeared, and confidence flowed rapidly to the soul again. At this +time the father paid his first visit to his child. He found her weak and +wasted; the violent applications which had been necessary for safety had +robbed her of all strength--had effected, in fact, a prostration of +power, which she never recovered, from which she never rallied. Mr +Fairman was greatly shocked, and asked the physician for his opinion +_now_. The latter declined giving it until, as he expressed himself, +"the effects of the fever, and her attack, had left him a fair and open +field for observation. There was a slight cough upon her. It was +impossible for the present to say, whether it was temporary and +dependent upon what had happened, or whether it resulted from actual +mischief in her lung." + + * * * * * + +A month has passed away since the physician spoke these words, and to +doubt longer would be to gaze upon the sun and to question its +brightness. Mayhew has told the father his worst fears, and bids him +prepare like a Christian and a man for the loss of his earthly treasure. +It was he who watched the decay of her mother. The case is a similar +one. He has no consolation to offer. It must be sought at the throne of +Him who giveth, and hath the right to take away. The minister receives +the intelligence with admirable fortitude. We are sitting together, and +the doctor has just spoken as becomes him, seriously and well. There is +a spasm on the cheek of the incumbent, whilst I sob loudly. The latter +takes me by the hand, and speaks to the physician in a low and +hesitating tone. + +"Mayhew," said he, "I thank you for this sincerity. I will endeavour to +look the terror in the face, as I have struggled to do for many days. It +is hard--but through the mercy of Christ it is not impracticable. Dear +and oldest friend, unite your prayers with mine, for strength, and +holiness, and resignation. Cloud and agitation are at our feet. Heaven +is above us. Let us look there, and all is well." + +We knelt. The minister prayed. He did not ask his Master to suspend his +judgments. He implored him to prepare the soul of the afflicted one for +its early flight, and to subdue the hearts of them all with his grace +and holy spirit. Let him who doubts the efficacy of _prayer_ seek to +clear his difficulty in the season of affliction, or when death sits +grimly at the hearth--he shall be satisfied. + +If it were a consolation and a joy in the midst of our tribulation to +behold the father chastened by the heavy blow which had fallen so +suddenly upon his age, how shall I express the ineffable delight--yes, +delight, amidst sorrow the most severe--with which I contemplated the +beloved maiden, upon whose tender years Providence had allowed to fall +so great a trial. Fully sensible of her position, and of the near +approach of death, she was, so long as she could see her parent and her +lover without distress, patient, cheerful, and rejoicing. Yes, weaker +and weaker as she grew, happier and happier she became in the +consciousness of her pure soul's increase. Into her ear had been +whispered, and before her eyes holy spirits had appeared with the +mysterious communication, which, hidden as it is from us, we find +animating and sustaining feeble nature, which else would sink, appalled +and overwhelmed. There was not one of us who did not live a witness to +the truth of the heavenly promise, "_as thy days, so shall thy strength +be_;" not one amongst the dearest friends of the sufferer, who did not +feel, in the height of his affliction, that God would not cast upon his +creatures a burden which a Christian might not bear. But to _her_ +especially came the celestial declaration with power and might. An +angel, sojourning for a day upon the earth, and preparing for his +homeward flight, could not have spread his ready wing more joyfully, +with livelier anticipation of his native bliss, than did the maiden look +for her recall and blest ascension to the skies. In her presence I had +seldom any grief; it was swallowed up and lost in gratitude for the +victory which the dear one had achieved, in virtue of her faith, over +all the horrors of her situation. It was when alone that I saw, in its +reality and naked wretchedness, the visitation that I, more than any +other, was doomed to suffer. For days I could scarcely bring myself to +the calm consideration of it. It seemed unreal, impossible, a dream--any +thing but what it was--the direst of worldly woes--the most tremendous +of human punishments. + +I remember vividly a day passed in the chamber of the resigned creature, +about two months after the first indication of her illness. Her disease +had increased rapidly, and the signs of its ravages were painfully +manifest in her sunken eye, her hectic cheek, her hollow voice, her +continual cough. Her spirit became more tranquil as her body retreated +from the world--her hopes more firm, her belief in the love of her +Saviour--his will and power to save her, more clear, and free from all +perplexity. I had never beheld so beautiful a sight as the devoted maid +presented to my view. I had never supposed it possible to exist; and +thus, as I sat at her side, though the thought of death was ever +present, it was as of a terror in a milkwhite shroud--a monster +enveloped and concealed beneath a robe of beauty. I listened to her with +enchantment whilst she spoke of the littleness of this world, and the +boundless happiness that awaited true believers in the next--of the +unutterable mercy of God, in removing us from a scene of trouble whilst +our views were cloudless, and our hopes sure and abiding. Yes, charmed +by the unruffled air, the angelic look, I could forget even my mortality +for a moment, and feel my living soul in deep communion with a superior +and brighter spirit. It was when she recalled me to earth by a +reminiscence of our first days of love, that the bruised heart was made +sensible of pain, and of its lonely widowed lot. Then the tears would +not be checked, but rushed passionately forth, and, as the clouds shut +out and hid the one brief glimpse of heaven, flowed unrestrained. + +Her mind was in a sweet composed state during the interview to which I +allude. She had pleasure in referring to the days of her childhood, and +in speaking of the happiness which she had found amongst her native +hills. + +"How little, Caleb," she said, "is the mind occupied with thoughts of +death in childhood--with any thoughts of actual lasting evil! We cannot +see these things in childhood--we cannot penetrate so deeply or throw +our gaze so far, we are so occupied with the joys that are round about +us. Is it not so? Our parents are ever with us. Day succeeds to day--one +so like the other--and our home becomes our world. A sorrow comes at +length--a parent dies--the first and dearest object in that world; then +all is known, and the stability of life becomes suspected." + +"The home of many," I replied, "is undisturbed for years!" + +"Yes, and how sweet a thing is love of home! It is not acquired, I am +sure. It is a feeling that has its origin elsewhere. It is born with us; +brought from another world, to carry us on in this with joy. It attaches +to the humblest heart that ever throbbed." + +"Dear Ellen!" I exclaimed, "how little has sorrow to do with your +affliction!" + +"And why, dear Caleb? Have you never found that the difficulties of the +broad day melt away beneath the influences of the quiet lovely night? +Have you never been perplexed in the bustle and tumult of the day, and +has not truth revealed itself when all was dark and still? This is my +night, and in sickness I have seen the eye of God upon me, and heard his +words, as I have never seen and heard before?" + +It was in this manner that she would talk, not more disturbed, nay, not +so much, as when in happier times I never heard her speak of the +troubles and anxieties of her poor villagers. No complaint--no mournful +accents escaped her lips. If at times the soaring spirit was repressed, +dejected, the living--the loved ones whom she must leave behind her had +possession of her thoughts, and loaded them with pain. Who would wait +upon her father? Who would attend to all his little wants? Who could +understand his nature as she had learnt it--and who would live to +comfort and to cheer his days? These questions she has asked herself, +whilst her only answers have been her struggling tears. + +The days were travelling fast; each one taking from the doomed +girl--years of life. She dwindled and wasted; and became at length less +than a shadow of her former self. Why linger on the narrative? Autumn +arrived, and, with the general decay--she died. A few hours before her +death she summoned me to her bedside, and acquainted me with her +fast-approaching dissolution. "It is the day," she said, speaking with +difficulty--"I am sure of it. I have watched that branch for many +days--look--it is quite bare. Its last yellow leaf has fallen--I shall +not survive it." I gazed upon her; her eye was brighter than ever. It +sparkled again, and most beautiful she looked. But death was there--and +her soul eager to give him all that he could claim! + +"You are quite happy, dearest Ellen!" I exclaimed, weeping on her thin +emaciated hand. + +"Most happy, beloved. Do not grieve--be resigned--be joyful. I have a +word to say. Nurse," she continued, calling to her attendant--"the +drawing." + +The nurse placed in her hand the sketch which she had taken of my +favourite scene. + +"Do you remember, love?" said she. "Keep it, for Ellen--you loved that +spot--oh, so did I!--and you will love it still. There is another +sketch, you will find it by and by--afterwards--when I am----It is in my +desk. Keep that too, for Ellen, will you? It is the last drawing I have +made." + +I sat by and bit my lips to crush my grief, but I would not be silent +whilst my heart as breaking. + +"You should rejoice, dear," continued Ellen solemnly. "We did not expect +this separation so very soon; but it is better now than later. Be sure +it is merciful and good. Prepare for this hour, Caleb; and when it +comes, you will be so calm, so ready to depart. How short is life! Do +not waste the precious hours. Read from St John, dearest--the eleventh +chapter. It is all sweetness and consolation." + +The sun was dropping slowly into the west, leaving behind him a deep red +glow that illuminated the hills, and burnished the windows of the +sick-chamber. The wind moaned, and, sweeping the sere leaves at +intervals, threatened a tempest. There was a solemn stillness in the +parsonage, around whose gate--weeping in silence, without heart to +speak, or wish to make their sorrow known--were collected a host of +humble creatures--the poorest but sincerest friends of Ellen--the +villagers who had been her care. They waited and lingered for the heavy +news, which they were told must come to them this day; and prayed +secretly--every one of them, old and young--for mercy on the sufferer's +soul! And she, whose gentle spirit is about to flit, lies peacefully, +and but half-conscious of the sounds that pass to heaven on her behalf. +Her father, Mayhew, and I, kneel round her bed, and the minister in +supplicating tones, where nature does not interpose, dedicates the +virgin to _His_ favour whose love she has applied so well. He ceases, +for a whisper has escaped her lips. We listen all. "_Oh, this is +peace_!" she utters faintly, but most audibly, and the scene is over. + +"It is a dream," said the minister, when we parted for the night--I with +the vain hope to forget in sleep the circumstances of the day--the +father to stray unwittingly into _her_ former room, and amongst the +hundred objects connected with the happy memory of the departed. + +The picture of which my Ellen had spoken, I obtained on the following +day. It was a drawing of the church and the burial-ground adjoining it. +One grave was open. It represented that in which her own mortal remains +were deposited, amidst the unavailing lamentations of a mourning +village. + +In three months the incumbent quitted Devonshire. The scenery had no +pleasure for him, associated as it was with all the sorrows of his life. +His pupils returned to their homes. He had offered to retain them, and +to retain his incumbency for the sake of my advancement; but, whilst I +saw that every hour spent in the village brought with it new bitterness +and grief, I was not willing to call upon him for so great a sacrifice. +Such a step, indeed, was rendered unnecessary through the kind help of +Dr Mayhew, to whom I owe my present situation, which I have held for +forty years with pleasure and contentment. Mr Fairman retired to a +distant part of the kingdom, where the condition of the people rendered +the presence of an active minister of God a privilege and a blessing. In +the service of his Master, in the securing of the happiness of other +men, he strove for years to deaden the pain of his own crushed heart. +And he succeeded--living to bless the wisdom which had carried him +through temptation; and dying, at last, to meet with the reward +conferred upon the man _who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seeks +for glory, and honour, and immortality_--ETERNAL LIFE. + +The employment obtained for me by the kind interest of Dr Mayhew, which +the return of so many summers and winters has found me steadily +prosecuting, was in the house of his brother--a gentleman whose name is +amongst the first in a profession adorned by a greater number of +high-minded, honourable men, than the world generally is willing to +allow. Glad to avail myself of comparative repose, an active occupation, +and a certain livelihood, I did not hesitate to enter his office in the +humble capacity of clerk. I have lived to become the confidential +secretary and faithful friend of my respected principal. + +As I have progressed noiselessly in the world, and rather as a spectator +than an actor on the broad stage of life, it has been no unprofitable +task to trace the career of those with whom I formed an intimacy during +the bustle and excitement of my boyhood. Not many months after my +introduction into the mysteries of law, tidings reached my ears +concerning Mr Clayton. He had left his chapel suddenly. His avarice had +led him deeper and deeper into guilt; speculation followed speculation, +until he found himself entangled in difficulties, from which, by lawful +means, he was unable to extricate himself. He forged the signature of a +wealthy member of his congregation, and thus added another knot to the +complicated string of his delinquencies. He was discovered. There was +not a man aware of the circumstances of the case who was not satisfied +of his guilt; but a legal quibble saved him, and he was sent into the +world again, branded with the solemn reprimand of the judge who tried +him for his life, and who bade him seek existence honestly--compelled to +labour, as he would be, in a humbler sphere of life than that in which +he had hitherto employed his undoubted talents. To those acquainted with +the working of the unhappy system of _dissent_, it will not be a matter +of surprise that the result was not such as the good judge anticipated. +It so happened that, at the time of Mr Clayton's acquittal, a dispute +arose between the minister of his former congregation and certain +influential members of the same. The latter, headed by a fruiterer, a +very turbulent and conceited personage, separated from what they called +the _church_, and set up another _church_ in opposition. The +meeting-house was built, and the only question that remained to agitate +the pious minds of the half-dozen founders was--_How to let the pews_! +Mr CLAYTON, more popular amongst his set than ever, was invited to +accept the duties of a pastor. He consented, and had the pews been +trebled they would not have satisfied one half the applications which, +in one month, were showered on the victorious schismatics. Here, for a +few years, Mr Clayton continued; his character improved, his fame more +triumphant, his godliness more spiritual and pure than it had been even +before he committed the crime of forgery. His ruling passion, +notwithstanding, kept firm hold of his soul, and very soon betrayed him +into the commission of new offences. He fled from London, and I lost +sight of him. At length I discovered that he was preaching in one of the +northern counties, and with greater success than ever--yes, such is the +fallacy of the system--with the approbation of men, and the idolatry of +women, to whom the history of his career was as familiar as their own. +Again circumstances compelled him to decamp. I know not what these were, +nor could I ever learn; satisfied, however, that from his nature _money_ +must have been in close connexion with them, I expected soon to hear of +him again; and I did hear, but not for years. The information that last +of all I gained was, that he had sold his noble faculties +_undisguisedly_ to the arch enemy of man. He had become the editor of +one of the lowest newspaper of the metropolis, notorious for its Radical +politics and atheistical blasphemies. + +Honest, faithful and unimpeachable John Thompson! Friend, husband, +father--sound in every relation of this life--thou noble-hearted +Englishman! Let me not say thy race is yet extinct. No; in spite of the +change that has come over the spirit of our land--in spite of the rust +that eats into men's souls, eternally racked with thoughts of gain and +traffic--in spite of the cursed poison insidiously dropped beneath the +cottage eaves, by reckless, needy demagogues, I trust my native land, +and still believe, that on her lap she cherishes whole bands of faithful +children, and firm patriots. Not amongst the least inducements to return +to London was the advantage of a residence near to that of my best +friend and truest counsellor. I cannot number the days which I have +spent with him and his unequalled family--unequalled in their unanimity +and love. For years, no Sunday passed which did not find me at their +hospitable board; a companion afterwards in their country walks, and at +the evening service of their parish church. The children were men and +women before it pleased Providence to remove their sire. How like his +life was good John Thompson's death! Full of years, but with his mental +vision clear as in its dawn, aware of his decline, he called his family +about his bed, and to the weeping group spoke firmly and most +cheerfully. + +"He had lived his time," he said, "and long enough to see his children +doing well. There was not one who caused him pain and fear--and that was +more than every father of a family could say--thank God for it! He +didn't know that he had much to ask of any one of them. If they +continued to work hard, he left enough behind to buy them tools; and if +they didn't, the little money he had saved would be of very little use. +There was their mother. He needn't tell 'em to be kind to her, because +their feelings wouldn't let them do no otherwise. As for advice, he'd +give it to them in his own plain way. First and foremost, he hoped _they +never would sew their mouths up_--never act in such a way as to make +themselves ashamed of speaking like a man;" and then he recommended +strongly that _they should touch no bills but such as they might cut +wood with_. The worst that could befall 'em would be a cut upon the +finger; and if they handled other bills they'd cut their heads off in +the end, be sure of it. "Alec," said he at last,--"you fetch me bundle +of good sticks. Get them from the workshop." Alec brought them, and the +sire continued,--"Now, just break one a-piece. There, that's right--now, +try and break them altogether. No, no, my boys, you can't do that, nor +can the world break you so long as you hold fast and well together. +Disagree and separate, and nothing is more easy. If a year goes bad with +one, let the others see to make it up. Live united, do your duty, and +leave the rest to heaven." So Thompson spake; such was the legacy he +left to those who knew from his good precept and example how to profit +by it. My friendship with his children has grown and ripened. They are +thriving men. Alec has inherited the nature of his father more than any +other son. All go smoothly on in life, paying little regard to the +broils and contests of external life, but most attentive to the +_in-door_ business. All, did I say?--I err. Exception must be made in +favour of my excellent good friend, Mr Robert Thompson. He has in him +something of the spirit of his mother, and finds fault where his +brethren are most docile. Catholic emancipation he regarded with +horror--the Reform bill with indignation; and the onward movement of the +present day he looks at with the feelings of an individual waiting for +an earthquake. He is sure that the world is going round the other way, +or is turned topsy-turvy, or is coming to an end. He is the quietest and +best disposed man in his parish--his moral character is without a +flaw--his honesty without a blemish, yet is his mind filled with designs +which would astonish the strongest head that rebel ever wore. He talks +calmly of the propriety of hanging, without trial, all publishers of +immorality and sedition--of putting embryo rioters to death, and +granting them a judicial examination as soon as possible afterwards. +Dissenting meeting-houses he would shut up instanter, and guard with +soldiers to prevent irregularity or disobedience. "Things," he says, +"are twisted since his father was a boy, and must be twisted back--by +force--to their right place again. Ordinary measures are less than +useless for extraordinary times, and he only wishes he had power, or was +prime-minister for a day or two." But for this unfortunate _monomania_, +the Queen has not a better subject, London has not a worthier citizen +than the plain spoken, simple-hearted Robert Thompson. + +In one of the most fashionable streets of London, and within a few doors +of the residence of royalty, is a stylish house, which always looks as +if it were newly painted, furnished, and decorated. The very imperfect +knowledge which a passer-by may gain, denotes the existence of great +wealth within the clean and shining walls. Nine times out of ten shall +you behold, standing at the door, a splendid equipage--a britzka or +barouche. The appointments are of the richest kind--the servants' livery +gaudiest of the gaudy--silvery are their buttons, and silver-gilt the +horses' harness. Stay, whilst the big door opens, and then mark the +owner of the house and britzka. A distinguished foreigner, you say, of +forty, or thereabouts. He seems dressed in livery himself; for all the +colours of the rainbow are upon him. Gold chains across his breast--how +many you cannot count at once--intersect each other curiously; and on +every finger sparkles a precious jewel, or a host of jewels. Thick +mustaches and a thicker beard adorn the foreign face; but a certain air +which it assumes, convinces you without delay that it is the property of +an unmitigated blackguard. Reader, you see the ready Ikey, whom we have +met oftener than once in this short history. Would you know more? Be +satisfied to learn, that he exists upon the follies and the vices of our +high nobility. He has made good the promises of his childhood and his +youth. He rolls in riches, and is----a fashionable money-lender. + +Dark were the shadows which fell upon my youth. The indulgent reader has +not failed to note them--with pain it may be--and yet, I trust, not +without improvement. Yes, sad and gloomy has been the picture, and light +has gleamed but feebly there. It has been otherwise since I carried, for +my comfort and support, the memory of my beloved Ellen into the serious +employment of my later years. With the catastrophe of her decease, +commenced another era of my existence--the era of self-denial, patience, +sobriety, and resignation. Her example dropped with silent power into my +soul, and wrought its preservation. Struck to the earth by the immediate +blow, and rising slowly from it, I did not mourn her loss as men are +wont to grieve at the departure of all they hold most dear. Think when I +would of her, in the solemn watches of the night, in the turmoil of the +bustling day--a saint beatified, a spirit of purity and love--hovered +above me, smiling in its triumphant bliss, and whispering----peace. My +lamentation was intercepted by my joy. And so throughout have I been +irritated by the small annoyances of the world, her radiant +countenance--as it looked sweetly even upon death--has risen to shame +and silence my complaint. Repining at my humble lot, her words--that +estimated well the value, the nothingness of life compared with life +eternal--have spoken the effectual reproof. As we advance in years, the +old familiar faces gradually retreat and fade at length entirely. Forty +long years have passed, and on this bright spring morning the gentle +Ellen steals upon the lawn, unaltered by the lapse of time. Her slender +arm is twined in mine, and her eye fills with innocent delight. Not an +hour of age is added to her face, although the century was not yet born +when last I gazed upon its meek and simple loveliness. She vanishes. Is +it her voice that through the window flows, borne on the bosom of the +vernal wind? Angel of Light, I wait thy bidding to rejoin thee! + + * * * * * + + + + +COMMERCIAL POLICY. + +SPAIN. + + +The extraordinary breadth and boldness of the fiscal measures propounded +and carried out at once in the past year with vigour and promptitude no +less extraordinary, wisely calculated of themselves, as they may be, +perhaps, and so far experience is assumed to have confirmed, to exercise +a salutary bearing upon the physical condition of the people, and to +reanimate the drooping energies of the country, can, however, receive +the full, the just development of all the large and beneficial +consequences promised, only as commercial intercourse is extended, as +new marts are opened, and as hostile tariffs are mitigated or abated, by +which former markets have been comparatively closed against the products +of British industry. The fiscal changes already operated, may be said to +have laid the foundation, and prepared the way, for this extension and +revival of our foreign commercial relations; but it remains alone for +our commercial policy to raise the superstructure and consummate the +work, if the foundations be of such solidity as we are assured on high +authority they are. In the promotion of national prosperity, +colonization may prove a gradually efficient auxiliary; but as a remedy +for present ills, its action must evidently be too slow and restricted; +and even though it should be impelled to a geometrical ratio of +progression, still would the prospect of effectual relief be discernible +only through a vista of years. Meanwhile, time presses, and the patient +might perish if condemned alone to the homoeopathic process of +infinitesimal doses of relief. + +The statesman who entered upon the Government with his scheme of policy, +reflected and silently matured as a whole, (as we may take for granted,) +with principles determined, and his course chalked out in a right line, +was not, assuredly, tardy, whilst engaged with the work of fiscal +revision, in proceeding practically to the enlargement of the basis of +the commercial system of the empire. An advantageous treaty of commerce +with the young but rising republic of Monte Video, rewarded his first +exertions, and is there to attest also the zealous co-operation of his +able and accomplished colleague, Lord Aberdeen. This treaty is not +important only in reference to the greater facilities and increase of +trade, conceded with the provinces on the right bank of the river Plate, +and of the Uruguay and Parana, but inasmuch also as, in the possible +failure of the negotiations for the renewal of the commercial treaty +with Brazil, now approaching its term, it cannot fail to secure easy +access for British wares in the territory of Rio Grande, lying on the +borders of the republic of the Uruguay, and far the most extensive, +though not the most populous, of Brazilian provinces; and this in +despite of the Government of Brazil, which does not, and cannot, possess +the means for repressing its intercourse with Monte Video, even though +its possession and authority were as absolute and acknowledged in Rio +Grande as they are decidedly the reverse. The next, and the more +difficult, achievement of Conservative diplomacy resulted in the +ratification of a supplementary commercial convention with Russia. We +say difficult, because the iron-bound exclusiveness and isolation of the +commercial, as well as of the political, system of St Petersburg, is +sufficiently notorious; and it must have required no small exercise of +sagacity and address to overcome the known disinclination of that +Cabinet to any relaxation of the restrictive policy which, as the +Autocrat lately observed to a distinguished personage, "had been handed +down to him from his ancestors, and was found to work well for the +interests of his empire." The peculiar merits of this treaty are as +little understood, however, as they have been unjustly depreciated in +some quarters, and the obstacles to the accomplishment overlooked. It +will be sufficient to state, on the present occasion, that notice had +been given by the Russian Government, of the resolution to subject +British shipping, importing produce other than of British, or British +colonial origin, to the payment of differential or discriminating duties +on entrance into Russian ports. The result of such a measure would have +been to put an entire stop to that branch of the carrying trade, which +consisted in supplying the Russian market with the produce of other +European countries, and of Brazil, Cuba, and elsewhere, direct in +British bottoms. To avert this determination, representations were not +spared, and at length negotiations were consented to. But for some time +they wore but an unpromising appearance, were more than once suspended, +if not broken off, and little, if any, disposition was exhibited on the +part of the Russian Government to listen to terms of compromise. After +upwards of twelvemonths' delay, hesitation, and diplomacy, the +arrangement was finally completed, which was laid before Parliament at +the commencement of the session. It may be accepted as conclusive +evidence of the tact and skill of the British negotiators, that, in +return for waiving the alterations before alluded to, and leaving +British shipping entitled to the same privileges as before, it was +agreed that the produce of Russian Poland, shipped from Prussian ports +in Russian vessels, should be admissible into the ports of Great Britain +on the same conditions of duty as if coming direct and loaded from +Russian ports. As the greater part of Russian Poland lies inland, and +communicates with the sea only through the Prussian ports, it was no +more than just and reasonable that Russian Polish produce so brought to +the coast--to Dantzig, for example--should be admissible here in Russian +bottoms on the same footing as if from a Russian port. To this country +it could be a matter of slight import whether such portion of the +produce so shipped in Prussian ports as was carried in foreign, and not +in British bottoms, came in Russian vessels or in those of Prussia, as +before. To Russia, however, the boon was clearly of considerable +interest, and valued accordingly. In the mean time, British shipping +retains its former position, in respect of the carriage of foreign +produce; and, however hostile Russian tariffs may be to British +manufactured products--as hostile to the last degree they are, as well +as against the manufactured wares of all other States--it is undeniable +that our commercial marine enjoys a large proportion of the carrying +trade with Russia--almost a monopoly, in fact, of the carrying trade +between the two countries direct. Of 1147 foreign ships which sailed +with cargoes during the year 1842 from the port of Cronstadt, 515 were +British, with destination direct to the ports of the United Kingdom, +whilst only forty-one foreign or Russian vessels were loaded and left +during that year for British ports. Of 525 British vessels, of the +aggregate burden of nearly 118,000 tons, which anchored in the roadstead +of Cronstadt in that year, 472 were direct from the United Kingdom, and +fifty-three from various other countries, such as the two Sicilies, +Spain, Cuba, South America, &c. The number of British vessels which +entered the port of St Petersburg, as Cronstadt in fact is, was more +considerable still in 1840 and 1841--having been in the first year, 662, +of the aggregate burden of 146,682 tons; in the latter, of 645 ships and +146,415 tons. Of the total average number of vessels by which the +foreign trade of that empire is carried on, and load and leave the ports +of Russia yearly, which, in round numbers, may be taken at about 6000, +of an aggregate tonnage of 1,000,000--ships sailing on ballast not +comprehended--the average number of ships under the Russian flag, +comprised in the estimate, does not much, if any, exceed 1000, of the +aggregate burden of 150 or 160,000 tons. This digression, though it has +led us further astray from our main object than we had contemplated, +will not be without its uses, if it serve to correct some exaggerated +notions which prevail about the comparative valuelessness +of our commerce with Russia, because of its assumed entire +one-sidedness--losing sight altogether of its vast consequence to the +shipping interest; and of the freightage, which is as much an article of +commerce and profit as cottons and woollens; oblivious, moreover, of the +great political question involved in the maintenance and aggrandisement +of that shipping interest, which must be taken to account by the +statesman and the patriot as redressing to no inconsiderable extent the +adverse action of unfriendly tariffs. It is only after careful +ponderance of these and other combined considerations, that the value of +any trading relations with Russia can be clearly understood, and that +the importance of the supplementary treaty of navigation recently +carried through, with success proportioned to the remarkable ability and +perseverance displayed, can be duly appreciated. It is, undoubtedly, the +special economical event of the day, upon which the commercial, and +scarcely less the political, diplomacy of the Government may be most +justly complimented for its mastery of prejudices and impediments, +which, under the circumstances, and in view of the peculiar system to be +combated, appeared almost insurmountable. Common honesty and candour +must compel this acknowledgment, even from men so desperate in their +antipathies to the political system of Russia, as Mr Urquhart or Mr +Cargill--antipathies, by the way, with which we shall not hesitate to +express a certain measure of participation. + +We shall not dwell upon those other negotiations, now and for some time +past in active progress with France, with Brazil, with Naples, with +Austria, and with Portugal, by which Sir Robert Peel is so zealously +labouring to fill up the broad outlines of his economical policy--a +policy which represents the restoration of peace to the nation, progress +to industry, and plenty to the cottage; but which also otherwise is not +without its dangers. Amidst the whirlwind of passions, the storm of +hatred and envy, conjured by the evil genius of his predecessors in +office, and most notably by the malignant star which lately ruled over +the foreign destinies of England, the task has necessarily been, yet is, +and will be, Herculean; but the force of Hercules is there also, as may +be hoped, to wrestle with and overthrow the hydra--the AEolus to recall +and encage the tempestuous elements of strife. A host in himself, hosts +also the premier has with him in his cabinet; for such singly are the +illustrious Wellington, the Aberdeen, the Stanley, the Graham, the +Ripon, and, though last, though youngest, scarcely least, the Gladstone. + +Great as is our admiration, deeply impressed as we are with a sense of +the extraordinary qualifications, of the varied acquirements, of the +conscientious convictions, and the singleness and rightmindedness of +purpose of the right honourable the vice-president of the Board of +Trade, we must yet presume to hesitate before we give an implicit +adherence upon all the points in the confession of economical faith +expressed and implied in an article attributed to him, and not without +cause, which ushered into public notice the first number of a new +quarterly periodical, "The Foreign and Colonial Quarterly Review," in +January last, and was generally accepted as a programme of ministerial +faith and action. Our points of dissonance are, however, few; but, as +involving questions of principle, whilst we are generally at one on +matters of detail, we hold them to be of some importance. This, however, +is not the occasion proper for urging them, when engaged on a special +theme. But on a question of fact, which has a bearing upon the subject +in hand, we may be allowed to express our decided dissent from the +_dictum_ somewhat arbitrarily launched, in the article referred to, in +the following terms:--"We shall urge that foreign countries neither have +combined, nor ought to combine, nor can combine, against the commerce of +Great Britain; and we _shall treat as a calumny the imputation that they +are disposed to enter into such a combination_." The italics, it must be +observed, are ours. + +We have at this moment evidence lying on our table sufficiently +explanatory and decisive to our minds that such a spirit of combination +is abroad against British commercial interests. We might indeed appeal +to events of historical publicity, which would seem confirmatory of a +tacitly understood combination, from the simultaneity of action +apparent. We have, for example, France reducing the duties on Belgian +iron, coal, linen, yarn, and cloths, whilst she raises those on similar +British products; the German Customs' League imposing higher and +prohibitory duties on British fabrics of mixed materials, such as wool, +cotton, silk, &c.; puny Portugal interdicting woollens by exorbitant +rates of impost, and scarcely tolerating the admission of cotton +manufactures; the United States, with sweeping action, passing a whole +tariff of prohibitory imposts; and, in several of these instances, this +war of restrictions against British industry commenced, or immediately +followed upon, those remarkable changes and reductions in the tariff of +this country which signalized the very opening of Sir Robert Peel's +administration. Conceding, however, this seeming concert of action to be +merely fortuitous, what will the vice-president of the Board of Trade +say to the long-laboured, but still unconsummated customs' union between +France and Belgium? Was that in the nature of a combination against +British commercial interests, or was it the reverse? It is no cabinet +secret--it has been publicly proclaimed, both by the French and Belgian +Governments and press, that the indispensable basis, the _sine qua non_ +of that union, must be, not a calculated amalgamation of, not a +compromise between the differing and inconsistent tariffs of Belgium and +France, but the adoption, the imposition, of the tariff of France for +both countries in all its integrity, saving in some exceptional cases of +very slight importance, in deference to municipal dues and _octrois_ in +Belgium. When, after previous parley and cajoleries at Brussels, +commissioners were at length procured to be appointed by the French +ministry, and proceeded to meet and discuss the conditions of the +long-cherished project of the union, with the officials deputed on the +part of France to assist in the conference, it is well known that the +final cause of rupture was the dogged persistance of the French members +of the joint commission in urging the tariff of France, in all its +nakedness of prohibition, deformity, and fiscal rigour, as the one sole +and exclusive _regime_ for the union debated, without modification or +mitigation. On this ground alone the Belgian deputies withdrew from +their mission. How this result, this check, temporary only as it may +prove, chagrined the Government, if not the people, and the mining and +manufacturing interests of France, may be understood by the simple +citation of a few short but pithy sentences from the _Journal des +Debats_, certainly the most influential, as it is the most ably +conducted, of Parisian journals:--"_Le 'ZOLLVEREIN,'_" observes the +_Debats, "a prodigieusement rehausse la Prusse; l'union douaniere avec +la Belgique aurait, a un degre moindre cependant, le meme resultat pour +nous.... Nous sommes, donc, les partisans de cette union, ses partisans +prononces, a deux conditions: la premiere, c'est qu'il ne faille pas +payer ces beaux resultats par le bouleversement de l'industrie +rationale; la seconde, c'est que la Belgique en accepte sincerement es +charges en meme temps qu'elle en recuiellera les profits, et qu'en +consequence elle se prete a tout ce qui sera necessaire pour mettre +NOTRE INDUSTRIE A L'ABRI DE L'INVASION DES PRODUITS ETRANGERS, et pour +que les interets de notre Tresor soient a couvert._" This is plain +speaking; the Government journal of France worthily disdains to practise +mystery or attempt deception, for its mission is to contend for the +interests, one-sided, exclusive, and egoistical, as they may be, and +establish the supremacy of France--_quand meme_; at whatever resulting +prejudice to Belgium--at whatever total exclusion of Great Britain from +commercial intercourse with, and commercial transit through Belgium, +must inevitably flow from a customs' union, the absolute preliminary +condition of which is to be, that Belgium "shall be ready to do every +thing necessary to place our commerce beyond the reach of invasion by +foreign products." Mr Gladstone may rest assured that the achievement of +this Franco-Belgiac customs' union will still be pursued with all the +indomitable perseverance, the exhaustless and ingenious devices, the +little-scrupulous recources, for which the policy of the Tuileries in +times present does not belie the transmitted traditions of the past. And +it will be achieved, to the signal detriment of British interests, both +commercial and political, unless all the energies and watchfulness of +the distinguished statesmen who preside at the Foreign Office and the +Board of Trade be not unceasingly on the alert. + +Other and unmistakeable signs of the spirit of commercial combination, +or confederation, abroad, and more or less explicitly avowed and +directed against this country, are, and have been for some time past, +only too patent, day by day, in most of those continental journals, the +journals of confederated Germany, of France, with some of those of Spain +and of Portugal, which exercise the largest measure of influence upon, +and represent with most authority the voice of, public opinion. Nor are +such demonstrations confined to journalism. _Collaborateurs_, in serial +or monthly publications, are found as earnest auxiliaries in the same +cause--as _redacteurs_ and _redactores_; pamphleteers, like light +irregulars, lead the skirmish in front, whilst the main battle is +brought up with the heavy artillery of _tome_ and works voluminous. Of +these, as of _brochures, filletas_, and journals, we have various +specimens now on our library table. All manner of customs, or commercial +unions, between states are projected, proposed, and discussed, but from +each and all of these proposed unions Great Britain is studiously +isolated and excluded. We have the "Austrian union" planned out and +advocated, comprising, with the hereditary states of that empire, +Moldavia, Wallachia, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, as well as those +provinces of ancient Greece, which, like Macedonia, remain subject to +Turkey, with, perhaps, the modern kingdom of Greece. We have the +"Italian union," to be composed of Sardinia, Lombardy, Lucca, Parma, and +Modena, Tuscany, the two Sicilies, and the Papal States. There is the +"Peninsular union" of Spain and Portugal. Then we have one "French +union" sketched out, modestly projected for France, Belgium, +Switzerland, and Savoy only. And we have another of more ambitious +aspirations, which should unite Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain under +the commercial standard of France. One of the works treating of projects +of this kind was, we believe, crowned with a prize by some learned +institution in France. + +From this slight sketch of what is passing abroad--and we cannot afford +the space at present for more ample development--the right honourable +Vice President of the Board of Trade will perhaps see cause to revise +the opinion too positively enounced, that "foreign countries neither +have combined, nor ought to combine, nor can combine, against the +commerce of Great Britain;" and that it is a "calumny" to conceive that +they are "disposed to enter into such a combination." + +With these preliminary remarks, we now proceed to the consideration of +the commercial relations between Spain and Great Britain, and of the +policy in the interest of both countries, but transcendently in that of +Spain, by which those relations, now reposing on the narrowest basis, at +least on the one side, on that of Spain herself, may be beneficially +improved and enlarged. It may be safely asserted, that there are no two +nations in the old world--nay more, no two nations in either, or both, +the old world and the new--more desirably situated and circumstanced for +an intimate union of industrial interests, for so direct and perfect an +interchange of their respective products. The interchange would, indeed, +under a wise combination of reciprocal dealing, resolve itself purely +almost into the primitive system of barter; for the wants of Spain are +such as can be best, sometimes only, supplied from England, whilst Spain +is rich in products which ensure a large, sometimes an exclusive, +command of British consumption. Spain is eminently agricultural, +pastoral, and mining; Great Britain more eminently ascendant still in +the arts and science of manufacture and commerce. With a diversity of +soil and climate, in which almost spontaneously flourish the chief +productions of the tropical as of the temperate zone; with mineral +riches which may compete with, nay, which greatly surpass in their +variety, and might, if well cultivated, in their value, those of the +Americas which she has lost; with a territory vast and virgin in +proportion to the population; with a sea-board extensively ranging along +two of the great high-ways of nations--the Atlantic and the +Mediterranean--and abundantly endowed with noble and capacious harbours; +there is no conceivable limit to the boundless production and creation +of exchangeable wealth, of which, with her immense natural resources, +still so inadequately explored, Spain is susceptible, that can be +imagined, save from that deficient supply of labour as compared with the +territorial expanse which would gradually come to be redressed as +industry was promoted, the field of employment extended, and labour +remunerated. With an estimated area of 182,758 square miles, the +population of Spain does not exceed, probably, thirteen millions and a +half of souls, whilst Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 115,702 +square miles, support a population of double the number. Production, +however, squares still less with territorial extent than does +population; for the stimulus to capital and industry is wanting when the +facilities of exchanges are checked by fiscal prohibitions and +restrictions. Agricultural produce, the growth of the vine and the +olive, is not unfrequently known to run to waste, to be abandoned, as +not worth the toil of gathering and preparation, because markets are +closed and consumption checked in countries from which exchangeable +commodities are prohibited. The extent of these prohibitions and +restrictions, almost unparalleled even by the arbitrary tariff of +Russia, may be estimated in part by the following extract from a +pamphlet, published last year by Mr James Henderson, formerly +consul-general to the Republic of New Granada, entitled "A Review of the +Commercial Code and Tariffs of Spain;" a writer, by the way, guilty of +much exaggeration of fact and opinion when not quoting from, or +supported by, official documents. + + "The 'Aranceles,' or Tariffs, are four in number; 1st, of + foreign importations; 2d, of importations from America; 3d, + from Asia; and, 4th, of exportations from Spain. + + "The Tariff of foreign importations contains 1326 articles + alphabetically arranged:-- + + 800 to pay a duty of 15 per cent in Spanish vessels, + 230 " " 20 " + 80 " " 25 " + 55 " " 10 " + 26 " " 30 " + 3 " " 36 " + 2 " " 24 " + 2 " " 45 " + about 50 from 1 to 8 per cent, and the rest free of duty. + + "The preceding articles imported in foreign vessels are subject + to an increased duty, at the following rates:-- + + 1150 articles at the rate of 1/8 more, + 80 " " 1/4 more, + 10 " " 1/2 more. + + "There is, besides, a duty of 'consumo,' principally at the + rate of 1/8 of the respective duties, and in some very few + cases at the rate of 1/4 and 1/2. + + "Thus the duty of 15 per cent levied, if the importation is by + a Spanish vessel, will be increased by the 'consumo' to 20 per + cent. And the duty of 20 per cent on the same articles, in + foreign vessels, will be augmented to 27 per cent. + + "The duty of 20 per cent will be about 27 in Spanish vessels, + and in foreign vessels, on the same articles, 36 per cent. The + duty of 25 per cent, will in the whole be 33 per cent by + Spanish, and by foreign vessels 44 per cent. + + "The duty on articles, amounting to seventy-three, imported + from America, vary from 1 to 15 per cent, with double the duty + if in foreign vessels. + + "The articles of importation from Asia are--sixty-nine from the + Phillipines at 1 to 5 per cent duty, and thirty-six from China + at 5 to 25 per cent duty, and can only be imported in Spanish + ships. + + "The articles of export are fourteen, with duties at 1 to 80 + per cent, with one-third increase if by foreign vessels. + + "There are eighty-six articles of importation prohibited, + amongst which are wrought iron, tobacco, spirits, quicksilver, + ready-made clothing, corn, salt, hats, soap, wax, wools, + leather, vessels under 400 tons, &c. &c. &c. + + "There are eleven articles of exportation prohibited, amongst + which are hides, skins, and timber for naval purposes." + +Such a tariff contrasts strangely with that of this country, in which 10 +per cent is the basis of duty adopted for importations of foreign +manufactures, and 5 per cent for foreign raw products. + +Can we wonder that, with such a tariff, legitimate imports are of so +small account, and that the smuggler intervenes to redress the +enormously disproportionate balance, and administer to the wants of the +community? Can we wonder that the powers of native production should be +so bound down, and territorial revenue so comparatively diminutive, when +exchanges are so hampered by fiscal and protective rapacity? Canga +Arguelles, the first Spanish financier and statistician of his day, +calculated the territorial revenue of Spain at 8,572,220,592 reals, say, +in sterling, L.85,722,200; whilst he asserts, with better cultivation, +population the same, the soil is capable of returning ten times the +value. As a considerable proportion of the revenue of Spain is derived +from the taxation of land, the prejudice resulting to the treasury is +alone a subject of most important consideration. For the proprietary, +and, in the national point of view, as affecting the well-being of the +masses, it is of far deeper import still. And what is the financial +condition of Spain, that her vast resources should be apparently so +idle, sported with, or cramped? Take the estimates, the budget, +presented by the minister _De ca Hacienda_, for the past year of 1842:-- + +Revenue 1842, 879,193,400 reals +Id. expenditure, 1,541,639,800 id. + ------------- +Deficit on the year, 662,446,400 + +Thus, with a revenue of L.8,791,934, an expenditure of L.15,416,398, and +a deficit of L.6,624,460, the debt of Spain, foreign and domestic, is +almost an unfathomable mystery as to its real amount. Even at this +present moment, it cannot be said to be determined; for that amount +varies with every successive minister who ventures to approach the +question. Multifarious have been the attempts to arrive at a clear +liquidation--that is, classification and ascertainment of claims; but +hitherto with no better success than to find the sum swelling under the +labour, notwithstanding national and church properties confiscated, +appropriated, and exchanged away against _titulos_ of debt by millions. +It is variously estimated at from 120 to 200 millions sterling, but say +150 millions, under the different heads of debt active, passive, and +deferred; debt bearing interest, debt without interest, and debt +exchangeable in part--that is, payable in certain fixed proportions, for +the purchase of national and church properties. For a partial +approximation to relative quantities, we must refer the reader, for want +of better authority, to Fenn's "Compendium of the English and Foreign +Funds"--a work containing much valuable information, although not +altogether drawn from the best sources. + +In the revenues of Spain, the customs enter for about 70,000,000 of +reals, say L.700,000 only, including duties on exports as well as +imports. Now, assuming the contraband imports to amount only to the +value of L.6,000,000, a moderate estimate, seeing that some writers, Mr +Henderson among the number, rashly calculate the contraband imports +alone at eight, and even as high as ten, millions sterling, it should +follow that, at an average rate of duty of twenty per cent, the customs +should yield additionally L.1,200,000, or nearly double the amount now +received under that head. As, through the cessation of the civil war, a +considerable portion of the war expenditure will be, and is being +reduced, the additional L.1,200,000 gained, by an equitable adjustment +of the tariff, on imports alone, perhaps we should be justified in +saying one million and a half, or not far short of two millions +sterling, import and export duties combined, would go far to remedy the +desperation of Spanish financial embarrassments--the perfect solution +and clearance of which, however, must be, under the most favourable +circumstances, an affair of many years. It is not readily or speedily +that the prodigalities of Toreno, or the unscrupulous, but more +patriotic financial impostures of Mendizabal, can be retrieved, and the +national faith redeemed. The case is, to appearance, one past relief; +but, with honest and incorruptible ministers of finance like Ramon +Calatrava, hope still lingers in the long perspective. With an +enlightened commercial policy on the one hand, with the retrenchment of +a war expenditure on the other, the balance between receipts and +expenditure may come to be struck, an excess of revenue perhaps created; +whilst the sales of national domains against _titulos_ of debt, if +managed with integrity, should make way towards its gradual diminution. + +As there is much misapprehension, and many exaggerations, afloat +respecting the special participation of Great Britain in the contraband +trade of Spain, its extraordinary amount, and the interest assumed +therefrom which would result exclusively from, and therefore induces the +urgency for, an equitable reform of the tariff of Spain, we shall +briefly take occasion to show the real extent of the British share in +that illicit trade, so far as under the principal heads charged; and +having exhibited that part of the case in its true, or approximately +true, light, we shall also prove that it is, as it should be, the +primary interest of this country to regain its due proportion in the +regular trade with Spain, and which can only be regained by legitimate +intercourse, founded on a reciprocal, and therefore identical, +combination of interests. In this strife of facts we shall have to +contend against Senor Marliani, and others of the best and most +steadfast advocates of a more enlightened policy, of sympathies entirely +and patriotically favourable towards a policy which shall cement and +interweave indissolubly the material interests and prosperity of Spain +and Great Britain--of two realms which possess each those products and +peculiar advantages in which the other is wanting, and therefore stand +seized of the special elements required for the successful progress of +each other. Our contest will, however, be one of friendly character, our +differences will be of facts, but not of principles. But we hold it to +be of importance to re-establish facts, as far as possible, in all their +correctness; or rather, to reclaim them from the domain of vague +conjecture and speculation in which they have been involved and lost +sight of. The task will not be without its difficulties; for the +position and precise data are wanting on which to found, with even a +reasonable approximation to mathematical accuracy, a comprehensive +estimate, to resolve into shape the various and complex elements of +Spanish industry and commerce, legitimate and contraband. Statistical +science--for which Spain achieved an honourable renown in the last +century, and may cite with pride her Varela, Musquiz, Gabarrus, Ulloa, +Jovellanos, &c., was little cultivated or encouraged in that decay of +the Spanish monarchy which commenced with the reign of the idiotic +Carlos IV., and his venal minister Godoy, and in the wars and +revolutions which followed the accession, and ended not with the death +of Fernando his son, the late monarch--was almost lost sight of; though +Canga Arguelles, lately deceased only, might compete with the most +erudite economist, here or elsewhere, of his day. Therefore it is, that +few are the statistical documents or returns existing in Spain which +throw any clear light upon the progress of industry, or the extent and +details of her foreign commerce. Latterly, indeed, the Government has +manifested a commendable solicitude to repair this unfortunate defect of +administrative detail, and has commenced with the periodical collection +and verification of returns and information from the various ports, +which may serve as the basis--and indispensable for that end they must +be--on which to reform the errors of the present, or raise the +superstructure of a new, fiscal and commercial system. Notwithstanding, +however, the difficulties we are thus exposed to from the lack or +incompleteness of official data on the side of Spain, we hope to present +a body of useful information illustrative of her commerce, industry, and +policy; in especial, we hope to dispel certain grave misconceptions, to +redress signal exaggeration about the extent of the contraband trade, +rankly as it flourishes, carried on along the coasts, and more largely +still, perhaps, by the land frontiers of that country, at least so far +as British participation. Various have been the attempts to establish +correct conclusions, to arrive at some fixed notions of the precise +quantities of that illicit traffic; but hitherto the results generally +have been far from successful, except in one instance. In a series of +articles on the commerce of Spain, published under the head of "Money +Market and City Intelligence," in the months of December and January +last, the _Morning Herald_ was the first to observe and to apply the +data in existence by which such an enquiry could be carried out, and +which we purpose here to follow out on a larger scale, and with +materials probably more abundant and of more recent date. + +The whole subject of Spanish commerce is one of peculiar interest, and, +through the more rigorous regulations recently adopted against +smuggling, is at this moment exciting marked attention in France, which, +it will be found with some surprise, is far the largest smuggler of +prohibited commodities into Spain, although the smallest consumer of +Spanish products in return. It is in no trifling degree owing to the +jealous and exclusive views which unhappily prevail with our nearest +neighbour across the Channel, that the prohibitory tariff, scarcely more +adverse to commercial intercourse than that of France after all, which +robs the revenue of Spain, whilst it covers the country with hosts of +smugglers, has not sooner been revised and reformed. France is not +willing to enter into a confederacy of interests with Spain herself, nor +to permit other nations, on any fair equality of conditions, and with +the abandonment of those unjust pretensions to special privileges in her +own behalf, which, still tenaciously clinging to Bourbonic traditions of +by-gone times, would affect to annihilate the Pyrenees, and regard Spain +as a dependent possession, reserved for the exclusive profit and the +commercial and political aggrandisement of France. That these +exaggerated pretensions are still entertained as an article of national +faith, from the sovereign on his throne to the meanest of his subjects, +we have before us, at this moment of writing, conclusive evidence in the +report of M. Chegaray, read in the Chamber of Deputies on the 11th of +April last, (_vide Moniteur_ of the 12th,) drawn up by a commission, to +whom was referred the consideration of the actual commercial relations +of France with Spain--provoked by various petitions of the merchants of +Bayonne, and other places, complaining of the prejudice resulting to +their commerce and shipping from certain alterations in the Spanish +customs' laws, decreed by the Regent in 1841. We may have occasion +hereafter to make further reference to this report. + +The population of Spain may be rated in round numbers at thirteen +millions and a half, whilst that of the United Kingdom may be taken at +about double the number. With a wise policy, therefore, the interchange +should be of an active and most extensive nature betwixt two countries, +reckoning together more than forty millions of inhabitants, one of +which, with a superficial breadth of territory out of all proportion +with a comparatively thinly-scattered community, abounding with raw +products and natural riches of almost spontaneous growth; whilst the +other, as densely peopled, on the contrary, in comparison with its +territorial limits, is stored with all the elements, and surpasses in +all the arts and productions of manufacturing industry. Unlike France, +Great Britain does not rival Spain in wines, oils, fruits, and other +indigenous products of southern skies, and therefore is the more free to +act upon the equitable principle of fair exchange in values for values. +Great Britain has a market among twenty-seven millions of an active and +intelligent people, abounding in wealth and advanced in the tastes of +luxurious living, to offer against one presenting little more than half +the range of possible customers. She has more; she has the markets of +the millions of her West Indies and Americas--of the tens of millions of +British India, amongst whom a desire for the various fruits and +delicious wines of Spain might gradually become diffused for a thousand +of varieties of wines which, through the pressure of restrictive duties, +are little if at all known to European consumption beyond the boundaries +of Spain herself. With such vast fields of commercial intercourse open +on the one side and the other, with the bands of mutual material +interests combining so happily to bind two nations together which can +have no political causes of distrust and estrangement, it is really +marvellous that the direct relations should be of so small account, and +so hampered by jealous adherence to the strict letter of an absurd +legislation, as in consequence to be diverted from their natural course +into other and objectionable channels--as the waters of the river +artificially dammed up will overflow its banks, and, regaining their +level, speed on by other pathways to the ocean. We shall briefly +exemplify the force of these truths by the citation of official figures +representing the actual state of the trade between Spain and the United +Kingdom antecedent to and concluding with the year 1840, which is the +last year for which in detail the returns have yet issued from the Board +of Trade. That term, however, would otherwise be preferentially +selected, because affording facilities for comparison with similar but +partial returns only of foreign commerce made up in Spain to the same +period, little known in this country, and with the French customhouse +returns of the trade of France with Spain. It must be premised that the +tables of the Board of Trade in respect of import trade, as well as of +foreign and colonial re-exports, state quantities only, but not values; +nor do they present any criteria by which values approximately might be +determined. Where, therefore, such values are attempted to be arrived +at, it will be understood that the calculations are our own, and pretend +no more--for no more could be achieved--than a rough estimate of +probable approximation. + +Total declared value of British and Irish produce and manufactures +exported to Spain and the Balearic Isles in-- + +1840, amounted to L.404,252 +1835, 405,065 +1831, 597,848 + +From the first to the last year of the decennial term, the regular +trade, therefore, had declined to the extent of above L.193,000, or at +the rate of about 33 per cent. But as for three of the intermediate +years 1837, 1838, and 1839, the exports are returned at L.286,636, +L.243,839, and L.262,231, exclusive of fluctuations downwards in +previous years, it will be more satisfactory to take the averages for +five years each, of the term. Thus from-- + +1831 to 1835, both inclusive, the average was L.442,916 +1836 to 1840, 320,007 + +The average decline in the latter term, was therefore above 27-1/2 per +cent. + +Of the Foreign and Colonial merchandise re-exported within the same +period it is difficult to say what proportion was for British account, +and, as such, should therefore be classed under the head of trade with +Spain. It may be assumed, however, that the following were the products +of British colonial possessions, whose exports to Spain are thus stated +in quantities:-- + + 1831. 1835. 1840. +Cinnamon, 284,201 123,590 144,291 lbs. +Cloves, 15,831 9,470 23,504 ... +India Cottons, 38,969 3,267 10,067 pieces +India Bandannas, 17,386 11,864 16,049 ... +Indigo, 16,641 5,231 8,623 lbs. +Pepper, 227,305 69,365 194,254 ... + +To which may be added-- + +Tobacco, 64,851 2,252,356 1,729,552 ... + +The tobacco, being of United States' growth, may, to a considerable +extent, be bonded here for re-exportation on foreign account merely. The +foregoing, though the heaviest, are not the whole of the foreign and +colonial products re-exported for Spain, but they constitute the great +bulk of value. Taking those of the last year, their value may be +approximatively estimated in round numbers, as calculated upon what may +be assumed a fair average of the rates of the prices current in the +market, as they appear quoted in the London _Mercantile Journal_ of the +4th of April. It is only necessary to take the more weighty articles. + +Cinnamon, 144,290 lbs. at 5s. 6d. L.39,679 +Indigo, 8,620 -- at 6s. 2,586 +Pepper, 194,250 -- at 4d. 3,232 +Tobacco, 1,729,550 -- at 4d. 28,825 +Indian Bandannas, 16,049 pieces at 25s. 20,061 + +It may, we conceive, be assumed from these citations of some few of the +larger values exported to Spain under the head of "Foreign and Colonial +Merchandise," that the total amount of such values, inclusive of all the +commodities non-enumerated here, would not exceed L.150,000, which, +added to the L.404,252 already stated as the "declared values" of +"British and Irish produce" also exported, would give a total export for +1840 of L.554,250. + +We come now to the imports from Spain and the Balearic Isles, direct +also into the United Kingdom, as stated in the Board of Trade tables in +quantities; selecting the chief articles only, however:-- + + 1831. 1835. 1840. +Barilla, 61,921 64,175 36,585 cwts. +Lemons and Oranges, 28,266 30,548 30,171 packages. +Madder, 1,569 3,418 6,174 cwts. +Olive Oil, 1,243,686 1,793 1,305,384 galls. +Quicksilver, 269,558 1,438,869 2,157,823 lbs. +Raisins, 105,066 104,334 166,505 cwts. +Brandy, 69,319 15,880 223,268 galls. +Wines, 2,537,968 2,641,547 3,945,161 galls. +Wool, 3,474,823 1,602,752 1,266,905 lbs. + +Applying the same plan of calculation upon an average of the prices +ruling in the London market, we arrive at the following approximate +results:-- + +Barilla, 36,585 cwts. at 10s. per cwt. L.18,292 +Lemons and oranges, 30,170 packages, at 30s. per packet, 45,255 +Madder, 6174 cwts. at 30s per cwt. 9,261 +Olive oil, 1,305,384 gallons, at L.45 per 252 gallons 233,100 +Quicksilver, 2,157,823 lbs., at 4s. per lb., 431,564 +Raisins, 166,505 cwts., at 40s. per cwt. 333,000 +Brandy, 223,268 gallons, at 2s. 6d. per gallon, 27,900 +Wines, 3,945,160, gallons, at L.20 per butt, 730,580 +Wool, 1,266,900 lbs., at 2s. per lb., 126,690 + --------- + L.1,965,642 + +The value of the other articles of import from Spain, +which need not be enumerated here, amongst which +corn, skins, pig-lead, bark for tanning, &c., would +certainly swell this amount more by 200,000 + --------- +Total direct imports from Spain, L.2,165,642 + +On several of the foregoing commodities the average rates of price on +which they are calculated may be esteemed as moderate, such as wines, +brandies, raisins, &c.; and several are exclusive of duty charge, as +where the averages are estimated at the prices in bond. In other +commodities the average rates are inclusive of duty. Wines, brandies, +quicksilver, barilla, are exclusive of duty, for example; the others, +duty paid, but in some instances duties scarcely more than nominal. On +the other hand, it must be taken into the account, for the purpose of a +fair comparison, that these average estimates of the prices of imported +merchandise do include and are enhanced by the expense of freights and +the profits of the importer, and therefore all the difference must be in +excess of the cost price at which shipped, and by which estimated in +Spain. The "declared values" of British exports to Spain embrace but a +small proportion, perhaps, of these shipping charges, and are altogether +irrespective of duties levied on arrival in Spanish ports. As not only a +fair, but probably an outside allowance, let us, therefore, redress the +balance by striking off 20 per cent from the total estimated values of +imports from Spain to cover shipping charges, profits, and port-dues, +whether included in prices or not. The account will then stand thus:-- + +Estimated imports from Spain in round numbers L.2,165,000 +Deduct 20 per cent, 433,000 + ----------- +Value of imports shipped, L.1,732,000 +Deduct declared value of British exports to Spain, 554,000 + ----------- +Excess of Spanish imports direct on equalized +estimates of values, L.1,178,000 + +The acceptation is so common, it has been so long received as a truism +unquestionable as unquestioned, as well in Spain as in Great Britain, of +British commerce being one-sided, and carrying a large yearly balance +against the Peninsular state, that these figures of relative and +approximate quantities can hardly fail to excite a degree of +astonishment and of doubt also. It will be, as it ought to be, observed +at once, that the trade with Spain direct represents one part of the +question only; that the indirect trade through Gibraltar, and elsewhere, +might, in its results, reverse the picture. The objection is reasonable, +and we proceed to enquire how far it is calculated to affect the +statement. + +The total "declared value" of the exports of British and Irish produce, +and manufactures to Gibraltar, for the year 1840, is stated at + + L1,111,176 +Of which, as more or less destined +for Spain, licitly or illicitly, +cotton manufactures, 635,821 +Linens, &c., &c., 224,061 +Woollens, 97,092 + +It may be asserted as a fact, for, although not on official authority, +yet we have it from respectable parties who have been resident on, and +well conversant with the commerce of that rock, that, of the cotton +goods thus imported into Gibraltar, the exports to Ceuta and the +opposite coast of Africa amount, on the average, to L.70,000 per annum. +Of linens and woollens a considerable proportion find their way there +also, and to Italian ports. Of British and colonial merchandise exported +to Gibraltar in the same year, the following may be considered to be +mainly, or to some extent, designed for introduction into Spain:-- + +Cinnamon value, 77,352 lbs., say value L.21,000 +Indigo 26,000 lbs., say 7,800 +Tobacco 610,000 lbs., say 10,166 + +Some cotton piece-goods from India, and silk goods, such as bandannas, +&c., pepper, cloves, &c., &c., were also exported there; say, inclusive +of the quantities enumerated above, to the total value of L.100,000 of +commodities, of which a considerable proportion was destined for Spain. +Assuming the whole of the cotton goods to be for introduction into +Spain, minus the quantity dispatched to the African coast, we have in +round numbers the value of + + L.565,800 +Say of linens one-third, 74,660 +Of woollens, ib., 32,360 +Of cinnamon, India goods, +and other articles, in +value L.90,000, minus +tobacco, one-half, 45,000 + ------- + L.717,820 +Tobacco, the whole, 10,166 + ---------- + Total indirect exports 727,986 + To which add direct 554,000 + --------- + L.1,281,986 + +Again, however, various products of Spain are also imported into the +United Kingdom _via_ Gibraltar, such as-- + +Bark for tanning or dyeing, 5,724 tons, say value, L.51,500 +Wool, 292,730 lbs. ib., 29,270 + +It may be fairly assumed, therefore, that to the extent of L.100,000 of +Spanish products, consisting, besides the foregoing, of wines, skins, +pig-lead, &c., &c., is brought here through Gibraltar, which, added to +the amount of the imports from Spain direct, will sum up the account +thus:-- + +Imports from Spain direct, L.1,732,000 +_Via_ Gibraltar, 100,000 + ----------- + Total, L.1,832,000 + +Exports to Spain + direct, L.554,000 +_Via_ Gibraltar, 727,900 + --------- + L.1,281,900 + ----------- +Excess in favour of Spain, + and against England, L.550,100 + +--A sum nearly equal to the amount of the exports to Spain direct. As we +remarked before, these figures and valuations, which are sufficiently +approximative of accuracy for any useful purpose, will take public men +and economists, both here and in Spain, by surprise. Amongst other of +the more distinguished men of the Peninsula, Senor Marliani, enlightened +statesman, and well studied in the facts of detail and the philosophy of +commercial legislation as he undoubtedly is, does not appear to have +exactly suspected the existence of evidence leading to such results. + +From the incompleteness of the Spanish returns of foreign trade, it is +unfortunately not possible to test the complete accuracy of those given +here by collation. The returns before us, and they are the only ones yet +undertaken in Spain, and in order, embrace in detail nine only of the +principal ports:-- + +For Cadiz, Malaga, Carthagena, St + Sebastian, Bilboa, Santander, + Gijon, Corunna, and the Balearic + Isles, the total imports and exports + united are stated to have amounted, + in 1840, to about L.6,147,280 + +Employing 5782 vessels + of the aggregate tonnage + of 584,287 + +Of the foreign trade of other ports + and provinces no returns are made + out. All known of the important + seaport of Barcelona was, that its + foreign trade in the same year occupied + 1,645 vessels of 173,790 + tonnage. The special aggregate + exports from the nine ports cited to + the United Kingdom--the separate + commodities composing which, as + of imports, are given with exactness + of detail--are stated for 1840 + in value at L.1,476,000 + +To which add, of raisins + alone, from Valencia, + about 184,000 cwts, + (other exports not given,) + value 185,000 + +Exports from Almeria, 13,000 + --------- + L.1,674,000 + +Although these are the principal ports of Spain, yet they are not the +only ports open to foreign trade, although, comparatively, the +proportion of foreign traffic shared by the others would be much less +considerable. It is remarkable, under the circumstances, how closely +these Spanish returns of exports to Great Britain approach to our own +valuations of the total imports from Spain direct, as calculated from +market prices upon the quantities alone rendered in the tables of the +Board of Trade. + +Our valuation of the direct imports + from Spain being L.1,732,000 +The Spanish valuation, 1,674,000 + +The public writers and statesmen of Spain have long held, and still +maintain the opinion, that the illicit introduction into that country of +British manufactures whose legal import is prohibited, or greatly +restricted by heavy duties, is carried on upon a much more extensive +scale than what is, or can be, the case. In respect of cotton goods, the +fact is particularly insisted upon. It may be confidently asserted, for +it is susceptible of proof, that much exaggeration is abroad on the +subject. We shall bring some evidence upon the point. There can be no +question that, so far as British agency is directly concerned, or +British interest involved, in the contraband introduction of cottons, or +other manufactures, or tobacco, it is almost exclusively represented by +the trade with Gibraltar. We are satisfied, moreover, that the Spanish +consumption of cotton goods is overrated, as well as the amount of the +clandestine traffic. Senor Marliani an authority generally worthy of +great respect, errs on this head with many others of his countrymen. In +a late work, entitled _De la Influencia del Sistema prohibitiva en la +Agricultura, Commercio, y rentas Publicas_, he comes to the following +calculation:-- + +Imported direct to Spain, L.34,687 +To Gibraltar, 608,581 +To Portugal, L731,673, of +which three-fourths find +their way to Spain, 540,000 + --------- + Total, L.1,183,268 + +Again, Great Britain imports annually into Italy to the amount of +L2,005,785 in cotton goods, L500,000 worth of which, it is not too much +to assume, go into Spain through the ports of Leghorn and Genoa. Adding +together, then, these several items of cotton goods introduced from +France and England into Spain by contraband, we arrive at the following +startling result:-- + +FRANCE. + +Cotton goods imported into + Spain, according to the + Government returns, L.1,331,608 + +ENGLAND. + +Cotton goods through Spanish ports, 34,637 +Through Gibraltar, 608,581 +Through Portugal, 540,000 +Through Leghorn, Genoa, &c. &c. 500,000 + ---------- +Total, L.3,014,826 + +An extravagant writer, of the name of Pebrer, carried the estimate up to +L5,850,000. Senor Inclan, more moderate, still valued the import and +consumption at L2,720,000. A "Cadiz merchant," with another anonymous +writer of practical authority, calculated the amount, with more +sagacity, at L2,000,000 and L2,110,000 respectively. Senor Marliani is, +moreover, of opinion--considering the weight of tobacco, from six to +eight millions of pounds, assumed to be imported into Gibraltar for +illicit entrance into Spain, on the authority of Mr Porter, but the +words and work not expressly quoted; the tobacco, dressed skins, corn, +flour, &c. from France, with the illegal import of cottons--that the +whole contraband trade carried on in Spain cannot amount to less than +the enormous mass of one thousand millions of reals, or say _ten +millions_ sterling a-year. Conceding to the full the millions of pounds +of tobacco here registered as smuggled from Gibraltar, of which, +notwithstanding, we cannot stumble upon the official trace for half the +quantity, we must, after due reflection, withhold our assent wholly to +this very wide, if not wild, assumption of our Spanish friend. We are +inclined, on no slight grounds, to come to the conclusion, that the +amount of contraband trade really carried on is here surcharged by not +far short of one-half; that it cannot in any case exceed six millions +sterling--certainly still a bulk of illegitimate values sufficiently +monstrous, and almost incredible. We shall proceed to deal conclusively, +however, with that special branch of the traffic for which the materials +are most accessible and irrecusable, and the verification of truth +therefore scarcely left to the chances of speculation. + +First, for the rectification for exact, or official, quantities and +values, we give the returns of the total exports of cotton manufactures, +taken from the tables of the Board of Trade:-- + +1840. Cotton manufactures, L.17,567,310 + Yarns, 7,101,308 + +And for 1840 here are the exports to the countries specified:-- + + Declared Value. +1840. Cottons to Portugal, yards 37,002,209 L.681,787 + Hosiery, lace, small wares, -- 20,403 + Yarn, lbs. 175,545 2,796 + Id. Cottons to Spain, yards 355,040 7,987 + Hosiery, &c. -- 2,819 + Yarn, lbs. -- 345 + Id. Cottons to Gibraltar, yards 27,609,345 610,456 + Hosiery, &c. -- 21,996 + Yarn, lbs. -- 3,369 + Id. Cottons to Italy and Italian Islands,yds.58,866,278 1,119,135 + Hosiery, &c. -- 41,197 + Yarn, lbs.11,490,034 510,040 + ----------- + Total, L.3,022,430 + +The discrepancies between some of the figures in these returns and those +cited by Senor Marliani, arise probably from their respective reference +to different years; they are, however, unimportant. We have already +shown, that, deducting the re-exports of cottons to Ceuta and the coast +of Africa opposite to Gibraltar, the value of those destined for Spain, +by way of the Rock; in 1840, could not exceed + + L.565,800 +We shall assume that _one-fourth_ only of the cottons exported + to Portugal find their way fraudulently into Spain--say 176,290 +Say re-exports of cottons from Genoa to Gibraltar, assumed to + be for Spain, as per official return of that port for 1839, 31,400 +Cotton goods direct to Spain from the United Kingdom, 11,150 + --------- +Total value of British cottons which could find their way into + Spain, direct and indirect, in 1840, L.784,640 + ---------- +Instead of the amount exaggerated of Senor Marliani, L.1,663,268 +Or the large excess in estimation, of 898,628 + +We have the official returns of the whole imports of cotton +manufactures, with the exports, of the Sardinian States for 1840, now +lying before us. + +The imports were to the value of only L.443,360 +Of which from the United Kingdom 242,680 +Exported, or re-exported, 458,680 + +The _whole_ of which to Tuscany, the Two Sicilies, the Roman States, +Parma and Placentia, the Isle of Sardinia, and Austria. It will be +observed that there had been a great falling off in the trade with the +Sardinian States in 1840, as compared with 1838 and 1839; and here, for +greater convenience, we make free to extract the following remarks and +returns from our esteemed contemporary of the _Morning Herald_, with +some slight corrections of our own, when appropriately correcting +certain misrepresentations of Mr Henderson, similar to those of Senor +Marliani, respecting the assumed clandestine ingress of British cotton +goods into Spain from the Italian states:-- + +"Now the official customhouse returns of most of the Italian states are +lying before us--the returns of the Governments themselves--but +unfortunately none of them come down later than 1839, so that it is +impossible, however desirable, to carry out fully the comparison for +1840. Not that it is of any signification for more than uniformity, +because, on referring to years antecedent to 1839, the relation between +imports of cottons and re-exports, with the places from which imported +and to which re-exports took place, is not sensibly disturbed. The +returns for the whole of Sardinia are not possessed later than 1838, but +those for Genoa, its chief port, are for 1839, and nearly the whole +imports into Sardinia, as well as exports, are effected at Genoa. Thus +of the total imports of cotton goods into Sardinia in 1838, to the value +of about L.843,000, the amount into Genoa alone was L.823,000. That year +was one of excessive imports and 1839 one of equal depression, but this +can only bear upon the facts of the case so far as proportionate +quantities. + +In 1839, total imports of cottons + into Genoa--value L.494,000 +Of which from England 313,680 +Total re-exports 475,000 +Of which to Tuscany L.131,760 +Naples and Sicily 110,800 +Austria 61,080 +Parma and Placentia 40,840 +Sardinia Island 28,320 +Switzerland 22,240 +Roman States 14,880 +GIBRALTAR 31,440 + +The total value of cottons introduced into the Roman states is stated +for 1839 at L.108,640, of which the whole imported from France, +Sardinia, and Tuscany-- + +1839. Total imports of cotton and + hempen manufactures classed + together into Tuscany + (Leghorn) L.440,000 + Of woollens 117,200 + +"The total imports of woollen, cotton, and hempen goods together, in the +same year, were to the amount of L.155,000. + +"Of the imports and exports of Naples, unfortunately, no accounts are +possessed; but the imports of cottons into the island of Sicily for 1839 +were only to the extent of L.26,000, of which to the value of L.8,000 +only from England. In 1838 the total imports of cottons were for +L.170,720, but no re-exportation from the island. The whole of the +inconsiderable exports of cottons from Malta are made to Turkey, Greece, +the Barbary States, Egypt, and the Ionian Isles, according to the +returns of 1839." + +From these facts and figures, derived from official documents, of the +existence of which it is probable Senor Marliani was not aware, it will +be observed at once how extremely light and fallacious are the grounds +on which he jumps to conclusions. What more preposterous than the vague +assumption founded on data little better then guess-work, that +_one-fourth_ of the whole exports of British cottons to Italy and the +Italian islands, say L.500,000 out of L.2,000,000, go to Spain, when, in +point of fact, not one-tenth of the amount does, or can find its way +there--or could, under any conceivable circumstances short of an +absolute famine crop of fabrics in France and England. Neither prices +nor commercial profits could support the extra charges of a longer +voyage out, landing charges, transhipment and return voyage to the +coasts of Spain. It has been shown that in the year 1840, not the +shipment of a single yard of cottons took place from Genoa, the only +port admitting of the probability of such an operation. + +Not less preposterous is the allegation, that three-fourths of the whole +exports of British cottons to Portugal are destined for, and introduced +into Spain by contraband. Assuming that Spain, with thirteen and a half +millions of people, consumes, in the whole, cotton goods to the value of + + L.2,200,000 +Why should not Portugal, with more than +three and a half millions of inhabitants, +that is more than one-fourth the population +of Spain, consume also more than one-fourth +the value of cotton goods, or say only 550,000? + +Brazil, a _ci-devant_ colony of +Portugal, and with a Portuguese population, +as may be said, of 5,400,000, consumed +British cotton fabrics to the value, in +1840, of 1,525,000 + +So, also, why should not Italy and the +Italian islands, with twenty-two millions +of people, be able to consume as much +cotton values as Spain with 13-1/2 millions; +or say only the whole amount really exported +there from this country of 2,005,000? + +It is necessary for the interests of truth, for the interests also of +both countries, that the popular mind, the mind of the public men of +Spain also, should be disabused in respect of two important errors. The +first is, that an enormous balance of trade against Spain, that is, of +British exports, licit and illicit too, compared with imports from +Spain--results annually in favour of this country, from the present +state of our commercial exchanges with her. The second is, the greatly +exaggerated notion of the transcendant amount of the illicit trade +carried on with Spain in British commodities, cottons more especially. +In correction of the latter misconception, we have shown that the amount +of British cotton introduced by contraband cannot exceed, _nor equal_, + + L.780,640 +Instead, as asserted by Senor Marliani, of 1,683,268 + +And, in correction of the first error +relative to the balance of trade, we have +established the feet by calculations of +approximate fidelity--for exactitude is out +of the question and unattainable with the +materials to be worked up--that an excess +of values, that is, of exports, results to +Spain upon such balance as against imports, +licit and illicit, to the extent per annum +of 550,000 + +It is therefore Great Britain, and not Spain, which is entitled to +demand that this adverse balance be redressed, and which would stand +justified in retaliating the restrictions and prohibitions on Spanish +products, with which, so unjustly, Spain now visits those of Great +Britain. Far from us be the advocacy of a policy so harsh--we will add, +so unwise; but at least let our disinterested friendship and moderation +be appreciated, and provoke, in reason meet, their appropriate +consideration. + +The more formidable, because far more extensive and facile abuses, +arising out of the unparalleled contraband traffic of which Spain is, +and long has been, the theatre, and the attempted repression of which +requires the constant employment of entire armies of regular troops, are +elsewhere to be found in action and guarded against; they concern a +neighbour nearer than Great Britain. According to an official report +made to his Government by Don Mateo Durou, the active and intelligent +consul for Spain at Bordeaux, and the materials for which were extracted +from the customhouse returns of France, the trade betwixt France and +Spain is thus stated, but necessarily abridged:-- + + Francs. +1840.--Total exports from France into Spain, 104,679,141 +1840.--Total imports into France from Spain, 42,684,761 + ----------- +Deficit against Spain, 61,994,380 + +France, therefore, exported nearly two and a half times as much as she +imported from Spain; a result greatly the reverse of that established in +the trade of Spain with Great Britain. In these exports from France, +cotton manufactures figure for a total of + + 34,251,068 fr. +Or, in sterling, L.1,427,000 +Of which smuggled in by the +land or Pyrennean frontier, 32,537,992 fr. +By sea, only 1,713,076 ... +Linen yarns, entered for 15,534,391 ... +Silks, for 8,953,423 ... +Woollens, for 8,919,760 ... + +Among these imports from France, various other prohibited articles are +enumerated besides cottons. As here exhibited, the illicit introduction +of cotton goods from France into Spain is almost double in amount that +of British cottons. The fact may be accounted for from the closer +proximity of France, the superior facilities and economy of land +transit, the establishment of stores of goods in Bayonne, Bordeaux, &c., +from which the Spanish dealers may be supplied in any quantity and +assortment to order, however small; whilst from Great Britain heavy +cargoes only can be dispatched, and from Gibraltar quantities in bulk +could alone repay the greater risk of the smuggler by sea. + +Senor Durou adds the following brief reflections upon this _expose_ of +the French contraband trade. "Let the manufactures of Catalonia be +protected; but there is no need to make all Spain tributary to one +province, when it cannot satisfy the necessities of the others, neither +in the quantity, the quality, nor the cost of its fabrics. What would +result from a protecting duty? Why, that contraband trade would be +stopped, and the premiums paid by the assurance companies established +in Bayonne, Oleron, and Perpignan, would enter into the Exchequer of +the State." + +The active measures decreed by the Spanish Government in July and +October 1841, supported by cordons of troops at the foot of the +Pyrenees, have, indeed, very materially interfered with and checked the +progress of this contraband trade. In consequence of ancient compact, +the Basque, that is frontier provinces of Spain, enjoyed, among other +exclusive privileges, that of being exempt from Government customhouses, +or customs' regulations. For this privilege, a certain inconsiderable +subsidy was periodically voted for the service of the State. Regent +Espartero resolutely suspended first, and then abrogated, this branch of +the _fueros_. He carried the line of the customhouses from the Ebro, +where they were comparatively useless and scarcely possible to guard, to +the very foot and passes of the Pyrenees. The advantageous effect of +these vigorous proceedings was not long to wait for, and it may be found +developed in the Report to the Chamber of Deputies in Paris, before +referred to; in which M. Chegaray, the _rapporteur_ on the part of the +complaining petitioners of Bayonne, Bordeaux, &c., after stating that +the general exports of France to Spain in + +1839 represented the aggregate sum of 83,000,000 francs, +1840 " " 104,000,000 francs, +1841 " " 101,000,000 francs, + +proceeds to say, that the general returns for 1842 were not yet (April +11) made up, but that "_M. le directeur-general des douanes nous a +declare que la diminution avait ete enorme_." But although the general +returns could not be given, those specially referring to the single +customhouse of Bayonne had been obtained, and they amply confirmed the +assertion of the enormous diminution. The export of cottons, woollens, +silks, and linens, from that port to Spain, which in + +1840 amounted in value to 15,800,000 francs, +1841 also 15,800,000 francs, +1842 had fallen to 5,700,000 francs. + +A fall, really tremendous, of nearly two-thirds. + +M. Chegaray, unfortunately, can find no other grievance to complain of +but the too strict enforcement of the Spanish custom laws, by which +French and Spanish contrabandists are harassed and damaged--can suggest +no other remedy than the renewal of the "family compact" of the +Bourbons--no hopes for the revival of smuggling prosperity from the +perpetuation of the French reciprocity system of trade all on one side, +but in the restoration of the commercial privileges so long enjoyed +exclusively by French subjects and shipping, but now broken or breaking +down under the hammering blows of Espartero--nor discover any prospect +of relief until the Spanish customhouse lines are transferred to their +old quarters on the other side of the Ebro, and the _fueros_ of the +Biscaiano provinces, which, by ancient treaty, he claims to be under the +guarantee of France, re-established in all their pristine plenitude. + +It is surely time for the intelligence, if not the good sense, of France +to do justice by these day-dreams. The tutelage of Spain has escaped +from the Bourbons of Paris, and the ward of full majority will not be +allowed, cannot be, if willing, to return or remain under the trammels +of an interested guardian, with family pretensions to the property in +default of heirs direct. France, above all countries, has the least +right to remonstrate against the reign of prohibitions and restrictions, +being herself the classic land of both. Let her commence rather the work +of reform at home, and render tardy justice to Spain, which she has +drained so long, and redress to Great Britain, against whose more +friendly commercial code she is constantly warring by differential +preferences of duties in favour of the same commodities produced in +other countries, which consume less of what she abounds in, and have +less the means of consumption. Beyond all, let her cordially join this +country in urging upon the Spanish Government, known to be nowise averse +to the urgency of a wise revision and an enlightened modification of the +obsolete principles of an absurd and impracticable policy both fiscal +and commercial--a policy which beggars the treasury, whilst utterly +failing to protect native industry, and demoralizes at the same time +that it impoverishes the people. We are not of the number of those who +would abandon the assertion of a principle _quoad_ another country, the +wisdom and expediency of which we have advocated, and are still prepared +to advocate, in its regulated application to our own, from the sordid +motive of benefiting British manufactures to the ruin of those of Spain. +Rather, we say to the government of Spain, let a fair protection be the +rule, restrictions the exceptions, prohibition the obsolete outcast, of +your fiscal and commercial policy. We import into this country, the +chief and most valuable products of Spain, those which compose the +elements and a very considerable proportion of her wealth and industry, +are either untaxed, or taxed little more than nominally. We may still +afford, with proper encouragement and return in kind, to abate duties on +such Spanish products as are taxed chiefly because coming into +competition with those of our own colonial possessions, and on those +highly taxed as luxuries, for revenue; and this we can do, and are +prepared to do, although Spain is so enormously indebted to us already +on the balance of commercial exchanges. + +This revision of her fiscal system, and reconstruction, on fair and +reciprocal conditions, of her commercial code, are questions of far +deeper import--and they are of vital import--to Spain than to this +empire. Look at the following statement of her gigantic debt, upon +which, beyond some three or four hundred thousand pounds annually, for +the present, on the capitalized _coupons_ of over-due interest accruing +on the conversion and consolidation operation of 1834, the Toreno +abomination, not one _sueldo_ of interest is now paying, has been paid +for years, or can be paid for years to come, and then only as industry +furnishes the means by extended trade, and more abundant customhouse +revenues, resulting from an improved tariff. + +_Statement of the Spanish Debt at commencement of 1842_:-- + +Internal--Liquidated, that + is verified, L.50,130,565 Without interest. + Not liquidated 9,364,228 with 5 per cent in paper. + Not consolidated, 2,609,832 + Bearing 5 per cent, 15,242,593 Interest, L.762,128 + Do. 3 do. 5,842,632 -- 233,705 + ----------- ----------- + L.83,189,850 L.995,833 + ----------- ----------- + +External Loan of 1834, and the conversion + of old debt, L.33,985,939 5 per cent, L.1,699,296 + Balance of inscription to the public + treasury of France, 2,782,681 -- 160,000 + Inscriptions in payment of + English claims, 600,000 -- 30,000 + Ditto for American claims, 120,000 -- 6,000 + ----------- ----------- + L.37,488,620 L.1,895,296 + + Capitalized _coupons_, treasury + bonds, &c., amount not stated, + but some millions more 3 per cent, + Deferred, 5,944,584 + Ditto, 4,444,040 Calculated at 100 reals + Passive, 10,542,582 per L. sterling. + ----------- + 20,931,206 + ----------- +Grand total, exclusive of + capitalization L.141,669,676 + +The latest account of Spanish finance, that for 1842 before referred to, +exhibits an almost equally hopeless prospect of annual deficit, as +between revenue and expenditure; 1st, the actual receipts of revenue +being stated at + + 879,193,475 reals +The expenditure, 1,541,639,879 + ------------- +Deficit, 662,446,404 + +That is, with a revenue sterling of L.8,791,934 +A deficiency besides uncovered, of 6,624,464 + +Assuming the amount of the contraband traffic in Spain at six millions +sterling per annum, instead of the ten millions estimated, we think most +erroneously, by Senor Marliani, the result of an average duty on the +amount of 25 per cent, would produce to the treasury L.1,500,000 per +annum; and more in proportion as the traffic, when legitimated, should +naturally extend, as the trade would be sure to extend, between two +countries like Great Britain and Spain, alone capable of exchanging +millions with each other for every million now operated. The L.1,500,000 +thus gained would almost suffice to meet the annual interest on the +L.34,000,000 loan conversion of 1834, still singularly classed in stock +exchange parlance as "active stock." As for the remaining mass of +domestic and foreign debt, there can be no hope for its gradual +extinction but by the sale of national domains, in payment for which the +titles of debt of all classes may be, as some now are, receivable in +payment. As upwards of two thousand millions of reals of debt are said +to be thus already extinguished, and the national domains yet remaining +for disposal are valued at nearly the same sum, say L.20,000,000, it is +clear that the final extinction of the debt is a hopeless prospect, +although a very large reduction might be accomplished by that enhanced +value of these domains which can only flow from increase of population +and the rapid progression of industrial prosperity. + +All Spain, excepting the confining provinces in the side of France, and +especially the provinces where are the great commercial ports, such as +Cadiz, Malaga,[27] Corunna, &c., have laid before the Cortes and +Government the most energetic memorials and remonstrances against the +prohibition system of tariffs in force, and ask why they, who, in favour +of their own industry and products, never asked for prohibitions, are to +be sacrificed to Catalonia and Biscay? The Spanish Government and the +most distinguished public men are well known to be favourable, to be +anxiously meditating, an enlightened change of system, and negotiations +are progressing prosperously, or would progress, but for France. When +will France learn to imitate the generous policy which announced to her +on the conclusion of peace with China--We have stipulated no conditions +for ourselves from which we desire to exclude you or other nations? + + [27] See _Exposicion de que dirige a las Cortes et Ayuntamiento + Constitucional de Malaga_, from which the following are + extracts:--"El ayuntamiento no puede menos de indicar, que + entre los infinitos renglones fabriles aclimatados ya en + Espana, las sedas de Valencia, los panos de muchas provincias, + los hilados de Galicia, las blondas de Cataluna, las bayetas de + Antequera, los hierros de Vizcaya y los elaborados por + maquinaria en las ferrerias a un lado y otro de esta ciudad, + han adelantado, prosperan y compiten con los efectos + extranjeros mas acreditados. ?Y han solicitado acaso una + prohibicion? No jamas: un derecho protector, si; a su sombra se + criaron, con la competencia se formaron y llegaron a su + robustez.... Ingleterra figura en la exportacion por el mayor + valor sin admitir comparacion alguna. Su gobierno piensa en + reducir muy considerablemente todos los renglones de su + arancil; pero se ha espresado con reserva para negar o + conceder, si lo estima conveniente, esta reduccion a las + naciones que no correspondan a los beneficios que les ofrece; + ninguno puede esperar que le favorezcan sin compensacion." + +We could have desired, for the pleasure and profit of the public, to +extend our notice of, and extracts from, the excellent work of Senor +Marliani, so often referred to, but our limits forbid. To show, however, +the state and progress of the cotton manufacture in Catalonia, how +little it gains by prohibitions, and how much it is prejudiced by the +contraband trade, we beg attention to the following extract:-- + + "Since the year 1769, when the cotton manufacture commenced in + Catalonia, the trade enjoyed a complete monopoly, not only in + Spain, but also in her colonies. To this protection were added + the fostering and united efforts of private individuals. In + 1780, a society for the encouragement of the cotton manufacture + was established in Barcelona. Well, what has been the result? + Let us take the unerring test of figures for our guide. Let us + take the medium importation of raw cotton from 1834 to 1840 + inclusive, (although the latter year presents an inadmissible + augmentation,) and we shall have an average amount of 9,909,261 + lbs. of raw cotton. This quantity is little more than half that + imported by the English in the year 1784. The sixteen millions + of pounds imported that year by the English are less than the + third part imported by the same nation in 1790, which amounted + in all to thirty-one millions; it is only the sixth part of + that imported in 1800, when it rose to 56,010,732 lbs.; it is + less than the seventh part of the British importations in 1810, + which amounted to seventy-two millions of pounds; it is less + than the fifteenth part of the cotton imported into the same + country in 1820, when the sum amounted to 150,672,655 pounds; + it is the twenty-sixth part of the British importation in 1830, + which was that year 263,961,452 lbs.; and lastly, the present + annual importation into Catalonia is about the sixty-sixth part + of that into Great Britain for the year 1840, when the latter + amounted to 592,965,504 lbs. of raw cotton. Though the + comparative difference of progress is not so great with France, + still it shows the slow progress of the Catalonian manufactures + in a striking degree. The quantity now imported of raw cotton + into Spain is about the half of that imported into France from + 1803 to 1807; a fourth part compared with French importations + of that material from 1807 to 1820; seventh-and-a-half with + respect to those of 1830; and a twenty-seventh part of the + quantity introduced into France in 1840." + +And we conclude with the following example, one among several which +Senor Marliani gives, of the daring and open manner in which the +operations of the _contrabandistas_ are conducted, and of the scandalous +participation of authorities and people--incontestable evidences of a +wide-spread depravation of moral sentiments. + + "Don Juan Prim, inspector of preventive service, gave + information to the Government and revenue board in Madrid, on + the 22d of November 1841, that having attempted to make a + seizure of contraband goods in the town of Estepona, in the + province of Malaga, where he was aware a large quantity of + smuggled goods existed, he entered the town with a force of + carabineers and troops of the line. On entering, he ordered the + suspected depot of goods to be surrounded, and gave notice to + the second alcalde of the town to attend to assist him in the + search. In some time the second alcalde presented himself, and + at the instance of M. Prim dispersed some groups of the + inhabitants who had assumed a hostile attitude. In a few + minutes after, and just as some shots were fired, the first + alcalde of the town appeared, and stated that the whole + population was in a state of complete excitement, and that he + could not answer for the consequences; whereupon he resigned + his authority. While this was passing, about 200 men, well + armed, took up a position upon a neighbouring eminence, and + assumed a hostile attitude. At the same time a carabineer, + severely wounded from the discharge of a blunderbuss, was + brought up, so that there was nothing left for M. Prim but to + withdraw his force immediately out of the town, leaving the + smugglers and their goods to themselves, since neither the + alcaldes nor national guards of the town, though demanded in + the name of the law, the regent, and the nation, would aid M. + Prim's force against them!" + +All that consummate statesmanship can do, will be done, doubtless, by +the present Government of Great Britain, to carry out and complete the +economical system on which they have so courageously thrown themselves +_en avant_, by the negotiation and completion of commercial treaties on +every side, and by the consequent mitigation or extinction of hostile +tariffs. Without this indispensable complement of their own tariff +reform, and low prices consequent, he must be a bold man who can reflect +upon the consequences without dismay. Those consequences can benefit no +one class, and must involve in ruin every class in the country, +excepting the manufacturing mammons of the Anti-corn-law league, who, +Saturn-like, devour their own kindred, and salute every fall of prices +as an apology for grinding down wages and raising profits. It may be +well, too, for sanguine young statesmen like Mr Gladstone to turn to the +DEBT, and cast about how interest is to be forthcoming with falling +prices, falling rents, falling profits, (the exception above apart,) +excise in a rapid state of decay, and customs' revenue a blank! + + * * * * * + +_Edinburgh; Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes Paul's Work._ + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. +53, No. 331, May, 1843, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, NO. 331 *** + +***** This file should be named 12263.txt or 12263.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/6/12263/ + +Produced by Brendan O'Connor and PG Distributed Proofreaders. 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