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diff --git a/12319-0.txt b/12319-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4ea564 --- /dev/null +++ b/12319-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8455 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12319 *** + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + + * * * * * + +VOL. I.--FEBRUARY, 1858.--NO. IV. + + * * * * * + + +THE GREAT FAILURE. + + +The _crucial_ fact, in this epoch of commercial catastrophes, is not the +stoppage of Smith, Jones, and Robinson,--nor the suspension of specie +payments by a greater or less number of banks,--but the paralysis of the +trade of the civilized globe. We have had presented to us, within the +last quarter, the remarkable, though by no means novel, spectacle of +a sudden overthrow of business,--in the United States, in England, in +France, and over the greater part of the Continent. + +At a period of profound and almost universal peace,--when there had been +no marked deficit in the productiveness of industry, when there had +been no extraordinary dissipation of its results by waste and +extravagance,--when no pestilence or famine or dark rumor of civil +revolution had benumbed its energies,--when the needs for its enterprise +were seemingly as active and stimulating as ever,--all its habitual +functions are arrested, and shocks of disaster run along the ground +from Chicago to Constantinople, toppling down innumerable well-built +structures, like the shock of some gigantic earthquake. + +Everybody is of course struck by these phenomena, and everybody has +his own way of accounting for them; it will not, therefore, appear +presumptuous in us to offer a word on the common theme. Let it be +premised, however, that we do not undertake a scientific solution of +the problem, but only a suggestion or two as to what the problem itself +really is. In a difficult or complicated case, a great deal is often +accomplished when the terms of it are clearly stated. + +It is not enough, in considering the effects before us, to say that +they are the results of a panic. No doubt there has been a panic, a +contagious consternation, spreading itself over the commercial world, +and strewing the earth with innumerable wrecks of fortune; but that +accounts for nothing, and simply describes a symptom. What is the cause +of the panic itself? These daring Yankees, who are in the habit of +braving the wildest tempests on every sea, these sturdy English, who +march into the mouths of devouring cannon without a throb, these gallant +Frenchmen, who laugh as they scale the Malakoff in the midst of belching +fires, are not the men to run like sheep before an imaginary terror. +When a whole nation of such drop their arms and scatter panic-stricken, +there must be something behind the panic; there must be something +formidable in it, some real and present danger threatening a very +positive evil, and not a mere sympathetic and groundless alarm. + +Neither do we conceive it as sufficiently expressing or explaining the +whole facts of the case, to say that the currency has been deranged. +There has been unquestionably a great derangement of the currency; but +this may have been an effect rather than a cause of the more general +disturbance; or, again, it may have been only one cause out of many +causes. In an article in the first number of this magazine, the +financial fluctuations in this country are ascribed to the alternate +inflation and collapse of our factitious paper-money. Adopting the +prevalent theory, that the universal use of specie in the regulation +of the international trade of the world determines for each nation the +amount of its metallic treasure, it was there argued that any redundant +local circulation of paper must raise the level of local prices above +the legitimate specie over exports; which imports can be paid for only +in specie,--the very basis of the inordinate local circulation. Of +course, then, there is a rapid contraction in the issue of notes, and an +inevitable and wide-spread rupture of the usual relations of trade. But +although this view is true in principle, and particularly true in its +application to the United States, where trade floats almost exclusively +upon a paper ocean, it is yet an elementary and local view;--local, as +not comprising the state of facts in England and France; and elementary, +inasmuch as it omits all reference to the possibility of a great +fluctuation of prices being produced by other means than an excess or +deficiency of money.[A] In France, as we know, the currency is almost +entirely metallic, while in England it is metallic so far as the lesser +exchanges of commerce are concerned; there is an obvious impropriety, +therefore, in extending to the financial difficulties of those nations a +theory founded upon a peculiarity in the position of our own. + +[Footnote A: A failure of one half the cotton or wheat crop, we suspect, +would play a considerable part among "the prices," whatever the state of +the note circulation.] + +If, however, it be alleged that the disturbances there are only a +reaction from the disturbances here, we must say that that point is +not clear, and Brother Jonathan may be exaggerating his commercial +importance. The ties of all the maritime nations are growing more and +more intimate every year, and the trouble of one is getting to be more +and more the trouble of the others in consequence; but as yet any +unsettled balance of American trade, compared with the whole trade of +those nations, is but as the drop in the bucket. John Bull, with a +productive industry of five thousand millions of dollars a year, and +Johnny Crapaud, with an industry only less, are not both to be +thrown flat on their backs by the failure of a few millions of money +remittances from Jonathan. The houses immediately engaged in the +American trade will suffer, and others again immediately dependent upon +them; but the disturbing shock, as it spreads through the widening +circle of the national trade, will very soon be dissipated and lost in +its immensity. That is, it will be lost, if trade there is itself sound, +and not tottering under the same or similar conditions of weakness +which produced the original default in this country; in which event, +we submit, our troubles are to be considered as the mere accidental +occasion of the more general downfall,--while the real cause is to be +sought in the internal state of the foreign nations. Accordingly, let +any one read the late exposures of the methods in which business is +transacted among the Glasgow banks, the London discount-houses, and the +speculators of the French Bourse, and he will see at a glance that we +Americans have no right to assume and ought not to be charged with the +entire responsibility of this stupendous syncope. Our bankruptcy has +aggravated, as our restoration will relieve the general effects; but the +vicious currency on this side the water, whatever domestic sins it +may have to answer for, cannot properly be made the scapegoat for the +offences of the other side of the water. The disasters abroad have +occurred under conditions of currency differing in many respects from +our own, and we believe that if there had been no troubles in America, +there would still have been considerable troubles in England and France, +as, indeed, the financial writers of both these countries long ago +predicted from the local signs. + +The same train of remark may be applied to those who impute the existing +embarrassments to our want of a protective tariff; for, granting that to +be an adequate explanation of our own difficulties, it is not therefore +an adequate explanation of those in Europe. The external characteristics +of the phenomena before us are everywhere pretty much the same, +namely,--a prosperous trade gradually slackening, an increasing demand +for money, depreciation and sacrifice of securities, numerous failures, +disappearance of gold, panic, and the complete stagnation of every +branch of labor; and it should seem that the cause or causes to be +assigned for them ought also to be everywhere pretty much the same. At +any rate, no local cause is in itself to be regarded as sufficient, +unless it can be shown that such local cause has a universal operation. +But who will undertake to contend that the absence of a protective +system here is enough to prostrate both Great Britain and France,--the +nations which the same theory supposes to have been chiefly benefited +by such deficiency? The scheme of free trade is often denounced by its +opponents as British free trade; but we respectfully suggest that if its +operations lead to so serious a destruction of British interests as +is now alleged, the phrase is at least a misnomer. No! as the +characteristics of the crisis are common to the United States, England, +and France, so the causes of that crisis are to be sought in something +which is also common to the United States, England, and France. + +Now the one thing common to all these nations, and to all commercial +nations, is the universal use of Credit, in the transactions of +business. We conceive, therefore, that the existing condition of things +may be most correctly and comprehensively described as a suspension of +credit, and the consequent pressure for payment of immense masses of +outstanding debt. This, we say, is the central fact, common to all the +nations; and the solution of it, as a problem, is to be sought in some +vice or disturbing element common to the general system, and not in any +local incident or cause. + +Credit has gained so enormous an extension within the last two +centuries, that it may almost be pronounced the distinctive feature +of modern times. It existed, undoubtedly, in ancient days,--for its +correlative, Debt, existed; and we know, that, among the Jews, Moses +enacted a sponging law, which was to be carried into effect every fifty +years; that Solon, among the Greeks, began his administration with the +_Seisachtheia_, or relief-laws, designed to rescue the poor borrowers +from their overbearing creditors; and that the usurers were a +numerous class at Rome, where also the Patrician houses were immense +debtor-prisons. But in ancient times, when the chief source of wealth +(aside from conquest and confiscation by the State) was the labor of +slaves, and the principal exchanges were effected either by direct +barter or the coined metals, the system of credit could not have been +very complicated or general. As for the lending of money on interest, it +appears to have been looked at askance by most of the ancients; and the +prejudice against it continued, under the fostering care of the Church, +far down into the Middle Ages. With the emancipation of the towns, +however, with the splendid development of the Italian republics, with +the noble commercial triumphs of the cities of the Hansa, credit was +recovered from the hands of the Jews, and began a career of rapid and +beneficent expansion. It was in an especial manner promoted by the +magnificent prospects unfolded to colonial and mining enterprise in the +discovery of the New World, by the stimulus and the facilities afforded +to industrial skill by the researches of natural science, and by the +emancipation won for all the activities of the human mind through the +free principles of the Reformation. Thus, by degrees, credit came to +intervene in nearly every operation of commerce and of social exchange, +from the small daily dealings of the mechanic at the shop, to the larger +wholesale transactions of merchant with merchant, and to the prodigious +expenditures and debts of imperial governments. Credit by note of hand, +credit by book account, credit by mortgages and hypothecations, credit +by bills of exchange, credit by certificates of stock, credit by +bank-notes and post-notes, credit by exchequer and treasury drafts, +credit, in short, in a thousand ways, enters into trade, filling up all +its channels, turning all its wheels, freighting all its ships, coming +down from the past, pervading the present, hovering over the future, +reaching every nook and affecting every man and woman in the civilized +world. + +Such is the extent of credit; but let it be remarked in connection, +that, in all these innumerable and multifarious forms of it, in all the +stupendous interchanges of Mine and Thine, the ultimate reference is to +one sole standard of value, which is the value of the precious metals. +The civilized world has adopted these as the universal solvent of +its vast masses of obligation. It is assumed that some standard is +indispensable; it is asserted to be the imperative duty of governments, +if they would not make their exactions of taxes arbitrary, unequal, and +oppressive,--if they would render the dealings of individuals mutual and +just,--if they would preserve the property and labor of their subjects +from the merciless caprices of the powerful, and keep society from +reverting to a more or less barbarous state,--to supply a fixed and +equable money-measure; and the majority of the governments have selected +gold and silver as the best. As seemingly less changeable in quantity +and value than anything else, as imperishable, as portable, as +divisible, as both convenient and safe, the precious metals challenge +superiority over every other product; and accordingly every contract +and every debt is resolvable into gold and silver. From this fact, the +reader will see at once the prodigious significance of those materials +in the economy of trade, and the prime necessity that they should be +not only uniform in value, but so equally distributed that they may be +easily attainable when needed. Every change in their value is a virtual +change in the value of the vast variety of obligations which are +measured and liquidated by them; and every apprehension of their +scarcity or disappearance, by whatever cause excited, is an apprehension +of embarrassment on the part of all those who have debts to pay or to +receive. + +But it happens that this standard is not an accurate standard. It does +not _stand_, while other things alone move, but moves itself; its value +is changeable,--fluctuating from time to time according to the relation +of supply and demand, and from place to place according to the +perturbations of the trade of the world. Moreover, its very preeminence +of function--the universality and the durability of its worth--renders it +peculiarly sensitive to accidental influences, or to influences outside +of the usual workings of trade. A great war or revolution occurring +anywhere, the loss by tempests or frosts of an important staple, such +as wheat or cotton, the fall and reaction consequent upon some great +speculative excitement, are all likely to produce enormous drains or +sequestrations of this valuable material. When the revolt of 1848 broke +out in Italy, every particle of specie disappeared as effectually as if +it had been thrown into the Adriatic or the mouth of Vesuvius; when +the corn crop failed in England in 1846, the Bank of England lost ten +millions of dollars in gold in less than nine days, and the country five +times that in about a month; and in our own late experiences, with three +hundred millions of gold among the people, we have seen it so put away, +that no charm or bait could allure it from its hiding-places. + +Need we go any farther, then, than these simple truths, to lay our +finger on the primal fact which underlies all financial embarrassments +and panics? The mass of the transactions in commerce rests upon credit; +the solvent of that credit is gold; and gold has not only a sliding +scale of value, but is apt to disappear when most wanted. While business +is moving on in the ordinary way, it is more than ample for every +purpose; but the moment any event arises, such as a rapidly falling +market, inducing hurried sales, or a drain of specie, disturbing the +general confidence, everybody gets apprehensive, everybody calls upon +everybody for payment, and everybody puts everybody off,--till a feeling +of _sauve qui peut_ becomes universal. + +If there were no currency anywhere but a metallic currency, this +liability to sudden revulsions would still hang over trade, provided +credit and paper tokens of credit continued to be the media of +exchanges; and the instinctive or experimental perception of this truth, +combined with other motives, is what has led men to their various +attempts to provide a money substitute for gold and silver. Lycurgus, in +Sparta, found it, as he supposed, in stamped leather; but modern wisdom +has preferred paper. The degree of success attained by Lycurgus we do +not know; but of the success of the moderns we do know, by some one +hundred and fifty years of recurring disaster. There are some steeds +that cannot be ridden; they are so fractious and intractable, that, put +whom you will upon their back, he is thrown, and invent what snaffle or +breaking-bit you may, they will not be held to an equable or moderate +pace. And of this sort, judging by the past attempts, is Paper Money. +All the ingenuity and efforts of the most skillful trainers of the Old +World, and of the most cunning jockeys of the New, have been tasked in +vain to devise an effective discipline and curb for this impatient colt. +Paper Money either refuses to be ridden, and runs rampant away, or, if +any one succeed in mounting him for a time, he performs a journey like +that which Don Quixote took on the back of the famous Cavalino, or +Winged Horse. In imagination he ascended to the enchanted regions,--but +in reality he was only dragged through alternate gusts of fire and of +cold winds, to find the horse himself, in the end, a mere depository of +squibs and crackers. + +Paper money has been issued, for the most part, on the one or the other +of two conditions, namely: as irredeemable, when it has been made to +rest on the vague obligation of some government to pay it some time or +other in property; or as convertible into gold and silver on demand. But +under both conditions it seems to have been impossible to preserve it +from excess and consequent depreciation. Nothing would appear to be +safer and sounder, on the face of it, than a money-obligation backed by +all the responsibility and property of a government; and yet we do not +recall a single instance in which an irredeemable government-money has +been issued, where it did not sooner or later swamp the government +beyond all hope of its redemption. No virtue of statesmanship is proof +against the temptation of creating money at will. Even where there has +been a nominal convertibility on demand of the bills of government +banks, they have worked badly in practice. In 1637, for instance, the +monarch of Sweden established the Bank of Stockholm; yet in a little +while its issues amounted to forty-eight millions of roubles, and their +depreciation to ninety-six per cent. In 1736, Denmark created the Bank +of Copenhagen; but within nine years from its foundation it suspended +redemptions altogether, and its notes were depreciated forty-six +per cent. We need not refer to the extraordinary issues of French +_assignats_, or of American continental money,--nor to the deluges +of paper which have fallen upon Russia and Austria. During all these +experiments, the sufferings of the people, according to the different +historians, were absolutely appalling. One of these experiments of +paper money, however, begun under the most promising auspices, and on a +professed basis of convertibility, was yet so stupendous and awful in +its effects, that it has taken its place as a Pharos in History, and is +never to be forgotten. We refer, of course, to the banking prodigalities +of the Regency of France, undertaken in connection with the scheme known +as Law's Mississippi Bubble,--although the Bank and the Bubble were not +essentially connected. We presume that our readers are acquainted with +the incidents, because all the modern historians have described them, +and because the more philosophical impute to them an active agency in +the origination of that moral corruption and lack of political principle +which hastened the advent of the great Revolution. Louis XIV. having +left behind him, as the price of his glory, a debt of about a thousand +millions of dollars, the French ministry, with a view to reduce it, +ordered a re-coinage of the louis-d'or. An edict was promulgated, +calling in the coin at sixteen livres, to be issued again at twenty; but +Law, an acute and enterprising Scotchman, suggested that the end might +be more happily accomplished by a project for a bank, which he carried +in his pocket. He proposed to buy up the old coin at a higher rate than +the mint allowed, and to pay for it in bank-notes. This project was so +successful that the Regent took it into his own hands, and then began +an issue of bills which literally intoxicated the whole of France. +No scenes of stock-jobbing, of gambling, of frenzied speculation, of +reckless excitement and licentiousness ever surpassed the scenes daily +enacted in the Rue Quincampoix; and when the bubble burst, the distress +was universal, heartrending, and frightful. With millions in their +pockets, says a contemporary memoir, many did not know where to get +a dinner; complaints and imprecations resounded on every side; some, +utterly ruined, killed themselves in despair; and mysterious rumors of +popular risings spread throughout Paris the terror of another expected +St. Bartholomew. + +In this case the phenomena were the more striking because they were +gathered within a short compass of time, and took place among a people +proverbial for the versatility and extravagance of their impressions. +The French are an excitable race, who carry whatever they do or suffer +to the last extreme of theatrical effect; and for that reason it might +be supposed that the tremendous revulsions we have alluded to were owing +in part to national temperament. But similar effects have been wrought, +by similar causes, among the slower and cooler English, with whom +commercial disturbances have been as numerous and as disastrous as among +the French, only that they have been distributed over wider spaces of +time, and controlled by the more sluggish and conservative habits of the +nation. Some twenty years before Law made his approaches to the French +Regent, another Scotchman, William Patterson, had got the ear of +Macaulay's hero, William, and of his ministers, and laid the foundations +of the great Bank of England. It was chartered in 1694, on advances made +to the government; and gradually, under its auspices, the vast system of +English banking, which gives tone to that of the world, grew up. Let us +see with what results; they may be expressed in a few words: every ten +or fifteen years, a terrific commercial overturn, with intermediate +epochs of speculation, panic, and bankruptcy. + +We cannot here go into a history of this bank, nor of the various causes +of its reverses; but we select from a brief chronological table, in its +own words, some of the principal events, which are also the events of +British trade and finance. + +1694. The Bank went into operation. + +1696. Bank suspended specie payments. Panic and failures. + +1707. Threatened invasion of the Pretender. Run upon the Bank,--panic. +Government helped it through, by guarantying its bills at six per cent. + +1714. The Pretender proclaimed in Scotland. Run upon the Bank,--panic. + +1718-20. Time of the South-Sea Bubble. Reaction,--demand for +money,--Bank of England nearly swept away,--trade suspended,--nation +involved in suffering. + +1744. Charles Edward sails for Scotland, and marches upon Derby. Panic. +Run upon the Bank,--is obliged to pay in sixpences, and to block its +doors, in order to gain time. + +1772. Extensive failures and a monetary panic. The Bank maintains the +convertibility of its notes for several years, at an annual expense of +£850,000. + +1793. War with France,--drain of gold,--Bank +contracts,--panic,--failures throughout the country,--universal +hoarding,--one hundred country banks stop,--notes as low as five pounds +first issued,--general fall of prices. + +1796. An Order in Council suspends specie payment by the Bank. + +1799. Numerous failures,--chiefly on the Continent. The pressure in +England relieved by an issue of Exchequer bills. + +1807-9. Great speculations in flax, hemp, silk, wool, etc. + +1810. Recoil of speculation,--extensive failures, and great demand for +money. + +1811. Parliament adopts a resolution declaring a one-pound note and a +shilling legal tender for a guinea. + +1814-16. Heavy losses and bankruptcies,--failure of two hundred and +forty country banks,--the distress and suffering of the people compared +to that in France after the bursting of the Mississippi Scheme. + +1819. Law passed for the resumption of specie payments in 1823,--after a +suspension of twenty-seven years. + +1822. Great commercial depression throughout Europe,--agricultural +distress,--famine in Ireland. + +1824. Speculations in scrips and shares of foreign loans and new +companies, to a fabulous amount. + +1825. Recoil of the speculations,--run upon the banks,--seventy banks +stop,--a drain of gold exhausts the bullion of the Bank. + +1826. Depression of trade,--government advances Exchequer bills to the +Bank. + +1832. A run for gold,--bullion in the Bank again alarmingly reduced. + +1834-7. Jackson vs. Biddle in America produces considerable derangements +in England,--drain of gold,--great alternate contractions and +expansions,--severe mercantile distress. + +1844. Renewal of the Bank Charter, limiting its issues,--great +speculations in railroad shares, to the amount of £500,000,000. + +1845. Recoil of the speculations,--immense sacrifice of property. + +1846. Drain of gold,--large importations of corn,--alarm. + +1847. Drain of gold continues,--panic and universal mercantile +depression,--Bank refuses discounts,--forced sales of all kinds of +property,--the Bank Charter suspended. + +1857. The experiences of 1847 repeated on a more injurious scale, with +another suspension of the Bank Charter Act. + +Now this record does not show a brilliant success in banking; it does +not encourage the hopes of those who place great hopes in a national +institution; for the Bank of England is the highest result of the +financial sagacity and political wisdom of the first commercial nation +of the globe. A recognized ally of the government,--at the very centre +of the world's trade,--enjoying a large freedom of movement within its +sphere,--conducted by the most eminent merchants of the metropolis, +assisted by the advice of the most accomplished political +economists,--sanctioned and amended, from time to time, by the greatest +ministers, from Walpole to Peel,--it has had, from its position, its +power, and the talent at its command, every opportunity for doing +the best things that a bank could do; and yet behold this record of +periodical impotence! Its periodical mischiefs we leave out of the +account. + +In the United States, we have suffered from similarly recurring attacks +of financial epilepsy; we have tried every expedient, and we have failed +in each one; we have had three national banks; we have had thousands +of chartered banks, under an infinity of regulations and restrictions +against excesses and frauds; and we have had, as the appropriate +commentary, three tremendous cataclysms, in which the whole continent +was submerged in commercial ruin, besides a dozen lesser epochs of +trying vicissitude. The history of our trade has been that of an +incessant round of inflations and collapses; and the amount of rascality +and fraud perpetrated in connection with the banks, in order to defeat +the restrictions upon them, has no parallel but in the sponging-houses. +A Belgian philosopher, from the study of statistics, has deduced a +certain order in disorder,--or a law of periodicity in the recurrence of +murders, suicides, crimes, and illegitimate births; and it appears that +a similar regularity of irregularity might be easily detected in our +cyclic bank explosions. + +With the sad experiences of other nations before us,--with the rocks of +danger standing high out of the water, and covered all over with the +fragments of former wrecks, we have yet persisted in following the old +wretched way. What a humiliating confession! what a comment on the +alleged practical discernment of this practical people! what a text +for radicals, socialists, and all sorts of Utopian dreamers! If the +mischiefs of these monetary aberrations were confined to a mere loss +of wealth,[B] which is proverbial for its winged uncertainty, we might +regard them as a seeming admonition of Providence against putting +too much trust in riches; but they are to be considered as something +infinitely worse than mere reverses of fortune: the disorders they +generate shake the very foundations of morals; and while shattering +the industry, they undermine the economy and frugality and rend the +integrity of mankind. We doubt whether any of the great forms of evil +incident to our imperfect civilization--the slave-trade, debauchery, +pauperism--cause more individual anguish or more public detriment than +these incessant revolutions in the value and tenure of property. Those +afflict limited classes alone, but these every class; they relax and +pervert the whole moral regimen of society; and if, as it is sometimes +alleged, the present age is more profoundly steeped in materialism +than any before,--if its enterprise is not simply more bold, but more +reckless and prodigal,--if the monitions of conscience have lost their +force in practical affairs, and the dictates of religion and honor alike +their sanctity, it is because of the uncertain principle, the gambling +spirit, the feverish eagerness, and the insane extravagance, which beset +the ways of traffic. Living in a world in which days of golden and +delusive dreams are rapidly succeeded by nights of monstrous nightmares +and miseries, society loses its grasp upon the realities of life, and +goes staggering blindly on towards a fatal degeneracy and dissolution. + +[Footnote B: Yet this is not to be lightly estimated. Seaman, in his +_Progress of Nations_ says the direct losses by paper money, within the +last century and a half, have equalled $2,000,000,000.] + +The question, then, is, whether this melancholy march of things should +be allowed to proceed, or whether we should strive to do better. Our +good sense, our moral sense, our progressive instincts, conspire with +our interests in proclaiming that we ought to do better; but how shall +we do better? "Why," reply the great Democratic doctors,--Mr. Buchanan, +the President, and Mr. Benton, the Nestor of the people,--"suppress the +issue of small bank-notes!" Well, that nostrum is not to be despised; +there would be some advantages in such a measure; it would, to a certain +extent, operate as a check upon the issues of the banks; it would +enlarge the specie basis, by confining the note circulation to the +larger dealers, and so exempt the poorer and laboring classes from the +chances of bank failures and suspensions. But if these gentlemen suppose +that the extrusion of small notes would be in any degree a remedy for +overtrading, or moderate in any degree the disastrous fluctuations of +which everybody complains, they have read the history of commerce only +in the most superficial manner. Speculations, overtrading, panics, money +convulsions, occur in countries where small notes are not tolerated, +just as they do in countries where they are; and they occur in both +without our being able to trace them always to the state of the +currency. The truth is, indeed, that nearly all the great catastrophes +of trade have occurred in times and places when and where there were no +small notes. Every one has heard of the tulip-mania of Holland,--when +the Dutchmen, nobles, farmers, mechanics, sailors, maid-servants, and +even chimney-sweeps and old-clothes-women, dabbled in bulbs,--when +immense fortunes were staked upon the growth of a root, and the whole +nation went mad about it, although there was never a bank nor a paper +florin yet in existence.[C] Every one has heard of the great South-Sea +Bubble in England, in 1719, when the stock of a company chartered simply +to trade in the South Seas rose in the course of a few weeks to the +extraordinary height of _eight hundred and ninety per cent.,_ and filled +all England with an epidemic frenzy of gambling, so that the recoil +ruined thousands upon thousands of persons, who dragged down with them +vast companies and institutions.[D] Yet there was not a banknote in +England, at that time, for less than twenty pounds, or nearly a hundred +dollars. + +[Footnote C: Mackay's _History of Popular Delusions._] + +[Footnote D: Doubleday's _Financial History of England_, p. 93.] + +More recent revulsions are still more to the point. In 1825, in England, +there were enormous speculations in joint-stock enterprises and foreign +loans. Some five hundred and thirty-two new companies were formed, with +a nominal capital of about $2,200,000,000, and Greek, Austrian, and +South American loans were negotiated, to the extent of $275,000,000. +Scarcely one of these companies or of these loans ever paid a dividend; +and the consequence was a general destruction of credit and property, +and a degree of distress which was compared to the terrible sufferings +inflicted by the Mississippi and the South-Sea Bubbles. Yet there +were no bank-notes in circulation in England under five pounds, or +twenty-five dollars. Again, our readers may recall the monstrous +overtrading in railroad shares in the years 1845-6. Projects involving +the investment of £500,000,000 were set on foot in a very little while; +the contagion of purchasing spread to all the provincial towns; the +traditionally staid and sober Englishman got as mad as a March hare +about them; Mr. Murdle reigned triumphant; and, in the end, the nation +had to pay for its delirium with another season of panic, misery, and +ruin. Yet during all this excitement there were not only no small notes +in circulation, but, what is most remarkable, there was no unusual +increase in the issues of the banks, of any kind. + +Let us not hope too much, therefore, from the suppression of small +notes, should that scheme be carried into effect; let us not delude +ourselves with the expectation that it will prove a satisfactory remedy, +in any sense, for the periodical disease of the currency; for its +benefits, though probable, must be limited.[E] It is a remedy which +merely plays round the extremities of the disorder, without invading the +seat of it at all. + +[Footnote E: It is very curious, that, while our leaders are in favor +of exorcising small notes, many of the French and English Liberals are +calling for an issue of them!] + +We have endeavored, in the foregoing remarks, to point out (for our +limits do not allow us to expound) two things: first, that in the +universal modern use of credit as the medium of exchanges,--which credit +refers to a standard in itself fluctuating,--there is a liability to +certain critical derangements, when the machinery will be thrown out of +gear, if we may so speak, or when credit will dissolve in a vain longing +for cash; and, second, that in the paper-money substitutes which men +have devised as a provision against the consequences of this liability, +they have enormously aggravated, instead of counteracting or alleviating +the danger. But if these views be correct, the questions to be +determined by society are also two, namely: whether it be possible to +get rid of these aggravations; and whether credit itself may not be so +organized as to be self-sufficient and self-supporting, whatever the +vagaries of the standard. The suppression of small notes might have a +perceptible effect in lessening the aggravations of paper, but it would +not touch the more fundamental point, as to a stable organization +of credit. Yet it is in this direction, we are persuaded, that +all reformatory efforts must turn. Credit is the new principle of +trade,--the _nexus_ of modern society; but it has scarcely yet been +properly considered. While it has been shamefully _exploited_, as the +French say, it has never been scientifically constituted. + +Neither will it be, under the influence of the old methods,--not until +legislators and politicians give over the business of tampering with the +currency,--till they give over the vain hope of "hedging the cuckoo," to +use Locke's figure,--and the principle of FREEDOM be allowed to adjust +this, as it has already adjusted equally important matters. Let the +governments adhere to their task of supplying a pure standard of the +precious metals, and of exacting it in the discharge of what is due +to them, if they please; but let them leave to the good sense, the +sagacity, and the self-interest of Commerce, under the guardianship of +just and equal laws, the task of using and regulating its own tokens +of credit. Our past experiments in the way of providing an artificial +currency are flagrant and undeniable failures; but as it is still +possible to deduce from them, as we believe, ample proof of the +principle, that the security, the economy, and the regularity of the +circulation have improved just in the degree in which the entire money +business has been opened to the healthful influences of unobstructed +trade,--so we infer that a still larger liberty would insure a still +more wholesome action of the system. The currency is rightly named _the +circulation_, and, like the great movements of blood in the human body, +depends upon a free inspiration of the air. + +Under a larger freedom, we should expect Credit to be organized on a +basis of MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND GUARANTY, which would afford a stable +and beautiful support to the great systolic and disastolic movements +of trade; that it would reduce all paper emissions to their legitimate +character as mere mercantile tokens, and liberate humanity from the +fearful debaucheries of a factitious money; and that Commerce, which +has been compelled hitherto to sit in the markets of the world, like +a courtesan at the gaming-table, with hot eye and panting chest and +painted cheeks, would be regenerated and improved, until it should +become, what it was meant to be, a beneficent goddess, pouring out to +all the nations from her horns of plenty the grateful harvests of the +earth. + + + + +THE BUSTS OF GOETHE AND SCHILLER. + + + This is GOETHE, with a forehead + Like the fabled front of Jove; + In its massive lines the tokens + More of majesty than love. + + This is SCHILLER, in whose features, + With their passionate calm regard, + We behold the true ideal + Of the high heroic Bard, + + Whom the inward world of feeling + And the outward world of sense + To the endless labor summon, + And the endless recompense. + + These are they, sublime and silent, + From whose living lips have rung + Words to be remembered ever + In the noble German tongue: + + Thoughts whose inspiration, kindling + Into loftiest speech or song, + Still through all the listening ages + Pours its torrent swift and strong. + + As to-day in sculptured marble + Side by side the Poets stand, + So they stood in life's great struggle, + Side by side and hand to hand, + + In the ancient German city, + Dowered with many a deathless name, + Where they dwelt and toiled together, + Sharing each the other's fame: + + One till evening's lengthening shadows + Gently stilled his faltering lips, + But the other's sun at noonday + Shrouded in a swift eclipse. + + There their names are household treasures, + And the simplest child you meet + Guides you where the house of Goethe + Fronts upon the quiet street; + + And, hard by, the modest mansion + Where full many a heart has felt + Memories uncounted clustering + Round the words, "Here Schiller dwelt." + + In the churchyard both are buried, + Straight beyond the narrow gate, + In the mausoleum sleeping + With Duke Charles in sculptured state. + + For the Monarch loved the Poets, + Called them to him from afar, + Wooed them near his court to linger, + And the planets sought the star. + + He, his larger gifts of fortune + With their larger fame to blend, + Living, counted it an honor + That they named him as their friend; + + Dreading to be all-forgotten, + Still their greatness to divide, + Dying, prayed to have his Poets + Buried one on either side. + + But this suited not the gold-laced + Ushers of the royal tomb, + Where the princely House of Weimar + Slumbered in majestic gloom. + + So they ranged the coffins justly, + Each with fitting rank and stamp, + And with shows of court precedence + Mocked the grave's sepulchral damp. + + Fitly now the clownish sexton + Narrow courtier-rules rebukes; + First he shows the grave of Goethe, + Schiller's next, and last--the Duke's. + + Vainly 'midst these truthful shadows + Pride would daunt her painted wing; + Here the Monarch waits in silence, + And the Poet is the King! + + + + +THE LIBRARIAN'S STORY. + + +Librarians are a singular class of men,--or rather, a class of singular +men. I choose the latter phrase, because I think that the singularities +do not arise from the employment, but characterize the men who are most +likely to gravitate toward it. A great philosopher, whom nobody knows, +once stated the Problem of Humanity thus: "There are two kinds of +people,--round people, and three-cornered people; and two kinds +of holes,--round holes, and three-cornered holes. All mysterious +providences, misfortunes, dispensations, evils, and wrong things +generally, are attributable to this cause, namely, that round people +get into three-cornered holes, and three-cornered people get into +round holes." The librarian is not only a three-cornered person, but a +many-cornered one,--a human polyhedron. And he is in his right place,--a +many-cornered man in a many-cornered hole; especially if the hole be +like that which I am thinking of,--an Historical Library. + +The only bibliothecarian peculiarity in point at present is, a gift +to root up, (country boys, speaking of pigs, say _rootle_; it is more +onomatopoeian,) to rootle up the most obscure and useless pieces of +information; not, like Mr. Nadgett, to work them into a chain of +connected evidence for some actual purpose, but merely to know them, to +possess a record of them, either as found in some printed or manuscript +document, or as recorded by the librarian himself; and to keep the +record pickled away in some place where it will be as little likely as +possible to be found or read by anybody else. + +So much concerning Librarians; a word now about Character. + +Bad blood is hereditary. I don't mean scrofulous, but wicked blood. +Vicious tendencies pass down in a family, appearing in the most various +manifestations, until at last the evil of the race works its only +possible remedy, by resulting in its extinction. There is, in some +sense, an absolute unity amongst the successive generations of those of +one blood; at least, so much so that our feeling of poetical justice is +rather gratified than otherwise when the crimes of one are avenged, it +may be a century after, upon the person of another of the name. This was +the truth which underlay the vast gloomy fables of the ancient Fates, +and the stories of the inevitable destruction of the great ancient +houses of Greece. It is the same which the Indian feels when he revenges +upon one of the white race the wrongs inflicted by another. Succession +in time does not interfere with the stern promise of Jehovah to visit +the sins of the fathers upon the children.--The reader will see +presently how I have been led into this train of reflection. + +My predecessor in office had a strong fancy for Numismatology. I have, +too; nobody would more enjoy a vast collection of coins; but, oddly +enough, I should prefer contemporary ones. He was simple and almost +penurious in personal expenditure; yet, besides a great collection of +books, he had, from his scanty income, got together, in the course of +a long life, a large and very valuable collection of coins and medals, +especially rich in gold. These coins lay--they do not now, for I assure +you I keep them pretty carefully out of sight latterly--luxuriously +imbedded in a neat case, among the great collection of antique objects, +weapons, ornaments, furniture, clothing, etc., which usually accumulate +within the precincts of an Historical Society's Library. + +In the one under my charge there is an astonishing number of them; and +naturally, where the long series of the ancient Indian wars, and later +ones with civilized foes, form together so strong a strand in the thread +of our history, there is a very great number proportionally of warlike +weapons. + +I like to read old books, both _ex officio_ and _ex naturâ_. But I need +not enlarge upon this liking. For my part, however, they please me most +when I am wholly alone, in that deep silence which by listening you can +seem to hear, and in a place well furnished,--especially in such a place +as the Historical Library is, with many full bookshelves, and a great +multitude of ancient portraits, grim curiosities, and weapons of war. + +It may be unfortunate to be sensitive, but I am. The few things that do +excite me excite me easily, and by virtue of the trooping together and +thronging on of the procession of my own imaginations, thus awakened, I +am prone to reveries of the most various complexion. + +In one of the secret repositories where during his latter years +my venerable predecessor used with senile cunning to hide, +indiscriminately, the coins of the Romans and of the Yankees, rags, +bottles of rhubarb and magnesia, books, papers, and buttons, I had +found, one night, an ancient MS. I had been all the evening reading a +High-German Middle-Age volume, illustrated with wood-cuts, cut as with +a hatchet, and being, as per title-page, _Julius der erste Römische +Kayser, von seinen Kriegen_,--"Julius the first Roman Emperor, of his +Wars." + +Buried in the extraordinary adventures of the Kayser, not to be found +in any Roman historian, and full of quaint and ludicrous jumbles of the +ancient and the modern, I was suddenly stopped by finding that the last +folios were missing. + +After a moment of ineffectual vexation, I bethought me of several +repositories in which I had seen portions of _débris_,--leaves, covers, +brazen bosses, and other _membra disjecta_; in one of these I might very +probably find the missing pages. + +I fumbled through half a dozen; did not find what I sought, but did +find the aforesaid MS. I was interested at once by the close but clear +penmanship, and by the date, February 29, 1651/2; for this day, by +its numeral, would be in leap-year, according to old style, but not +according to new. How did they settle it? I asked; and what was to +determine for lovelorn maidens, whether they might or might not use the +privilege of the year? + +I returned to my desk, and sat down to read; and, as I remember, the +heavy bell of the First Church, close by, just then struck eleven, and I +listened with pleasure to the long, mellow cadence of the reverberations +after each deliberate and solid stroke. + +Beginning at the beginning, I read until past midnight. The contents, +after all, were not remarkable. It was a collection of copies of papers +relating to various matters of accounts and law, all pertaining to a +certain Beardsley family, of high and ancient fame in the Colony, and +afterwards in the State. Somewhat beyond the middle, however, I lighted +upon a document which attracted my more particular attention. It was a +transcript from the State Records, and, as the date showed, from a very +early volume of them, now missing from the office of the Secretary of +State. It immediately occurred to me that this volume was strongly +suspected to have been purloined by one Isaac Beardsley, an unscrupulous +man, of some influence, who used, for amusement, to potter about in +various antiquarian enterprises of no moment, but who had now been dead +for some fifteen years. I then also recollected that he had an only +child, a graceless gallows-bird of a son, who broke his father's heart, +then wasted his substance in riotous living, and, after being long a +disgrace and nuisance at home, had sunk out of sight amid the lowest +strata of vice and crime in New York. + +The document was a complaint to the "Generall Court" against "Goodman +Joab Brice"--the complainant being designated by the honorable prefix of +"Mr."--"for y't hee, the s'd Goodman Brice, had sayd in y'e hearing of" +various persons mentioned, "and to the verry face of y'e s'd Mr. Isaac +Beardslie, y't y'e s'd Mr. Beardslie did grind y'e faces of the poor, +and had served him, the s'd Brice, worse than anie Turk w'd serve his +slaves; and this with fearfull and blasphemous curses, and prayres +that God would return evill upon the heads of this complaynant and his +children after him," etc. + +The transcript was long, alleging various similar offences. Its perusal +recalled to my mind several hints and obscure allusions, and one or two +brief histories of the proceedings in this case, which may be found +in ancient books relating to the Colony. These proceedings between +Beardsley and Brice were famous in their day, and were thought little +creditable to the head of the Beardsley family. That he himself partook +of the general opinion is shown by the circumstance that the matter +was diligently hushed up in that day; and those most familiar with the +ancient records of the State averred, that upon the pages of the missing +volume was spread matter amply sufficient to account for its theft and +destruction by the late Col. Isaac Beardsley. + +The details of this ancient quarrel have perished out of remembrance. +The chief substance of it was, however, a lawsuit which ended in the +rich man's obtaining possession of the poor man's land. Brice, a yeoman +of vindictive, obstinate, and fearless character, had insulted his +opponent, who was a magistrate, had threatened his life, and otherwise +so bore himself that his oppressor procured him to be whipped at the +cart's tail, and to be held to give large sureties for the peace, with +the alternative penalty of banishment. The bitter vehemence of Brice's +curses was remarkable even among the dry phrases of the complaint; +and tradition relates that his fearful imprecations even caused his +dignified opponent, the magistrate, to turn pale and tremble. + +I was sure, too, that among the stores of the Library I had seen some +memorial of Brice as well as of Beardsley; but could not at the time +call up any remembrance more definite than an impression that this +memorial was something which had belonged to a descendant of Joab Brice, +who had been in his youth a soldier in the old French War, and later a +subaltern in the "State line" during the Revolution. + +The Library room, in which I was reading, is a large, lofty hall, fitted +with dark bookcases, heavy and huge as if for giants, singularly perfect +in point of inconvenience and inaccessibility, and good only in that +they bore a certain architectural proportion to the great height and +expanse of the dark room. My desk was so placed that my back was toward +the entrance, which was the balustraded opening, in the Library floor, +of a wide staircase; and close at my side and before me were racks with +muskets and spears, cases of curiosities, and other appurtenances of the +room. It being now past the middle of the night, when sleep is heaviest, +the stillness was perfect. My two shaded lamps made a small sphere of +dusky yellow light, which I felt to be surrounded and, as it were, +compressed by the thick darkness, which I could easily fancy to be +something tangible and heavy, settling noiselessly down from beneath the +lofty arches of the roof. The ancient penmanship and curious contents +of the faded pages before me carried my thoughts backward into the old +Colonial times, with their rigid social distinctions, lofty manners, +and ill-concealed superstition; and I mused upon grim old magistrates, +wizened witches, stately dames, rugged Indian-fighters, and all +their strange doings and sayings in the ancient days, until, between +drowsiness and imagining, I fell into a tangled labyrinth of romance, +history, and reverie. + +Then all at once I seemed half to awake, and fell into one of those fits +of foolish nervous apprehension to which many even of the coolest and +bravest are liable in deep solitude and darkness,--and if they, how much +more an excitable person like myself! My heart throbbed for no reason, +and, sitting with my head bowed down upon my hands, I fancied the most +impossible dangers,--of men taking aim at me with the antique firearms +out of the far dark corners, or casting heavy weights upon me through +the skylight overhead. How easily, I fancied, could it happen. Did not +the cellar-door open just now? + +I half arose, almost frightened. I believe I should have taken an old +rapier and a light and gone to look, but for very shame. And besides, +there were two thick floors between me and the door, and that itself was +set in the heavy wall between the cellar of this wing of the building +and that under its main body; so that if it had been opened, I could not +have heard it. Accordingly I resumed my posture and my painful intense +musing. But now I could have almost sworn that I heard soft steps coming +up the staircase, and whispers floating upon the air of the great +solitary room:--_I did!_ + +But not soon enough. At the sound of a distinct, heavy footstep behind +me, I sprang up and turned about, but only to find myself pinioned by +one of the arms of a rough-looking, vicious-faced man, who pressed his +other hand tightly over my mouth. A confederate was busy at the case of +coins. + +Although only a librarian, I have in my day been something of an +athlete; much more than the person who had rushed into so sudden an +intimacy reckoned upon. And I was pretty well strung up, too, with my +nonsensical fancies. + +Being face to face with me, therefore, my assailant had mastered my +right arm, and was clasping my back with his left hand, while his right +was over my month. So driving back my left elbow, I struck him a sharp +and cruel blow in the right side, just above the hip-bone. It is a bad +place to strike; I would not hit there, unless unfairly attacked. The +sudden pain jerked a groan out of him, and surprised him into slackening +his hold; so that I wrenched myself loose, and gave him a straight, +heavy, right-hand hit in the nose, sending him reeling against the old +chest that came over in the Mayflower, which saved him from a fall. + +At one and the same moment, both the thieves drew knives and made at me +together, and I, springing backwards, seized from the wooden rack of +weapons the first which my hand reached. It was a musket. Instinctively, +for there was no time to reason, I cocked, presented in a sort of +charge-bayonet attitude, the only one possible, and pulled trigger. The +old weapon went off with a deafening report, sending out a blinding +sheet of flame in the darkness. One thief fell headlong at my very feet; +the other, turning, fled blindly towards the staircase. I ought to have +caught him; but, in the unreflecting anger of the moment, coming up with +him at the stair-head, I struck at him with such good will and good +effect, that he fell down stairs faster than I cared to chase him in +the dark. Scrambling up at the bottom, he hurried out by the way he had +come, and fled; while I returned to my prisoner. + +He was quite dead. The charge, a bullet, had passed in just above the +region of the heart, killing him instantly. I searched him, but found +only a knife, a little money, and some tobacco; nothing which could +identify him. He was well-made, middle-aged, and of a thoroughly vile +and repulsive countenance. + +The necessary legal formalities were gone through as quickly and quietly +as possible, and the entrances by which the burglars had come in well +secured. They had evidently reconnoitred within and without the building +during the day, and selected a back way into the cellar, through which +they found no trouble in ascending to the Library. + +Some days afterwards, I bethought me to examine the old musket. It was a +heavy, old-fashioned "queen's arm," with no unusual marks, as I thought; +but upon a silver plate, let into the hollow of the butt, I found, +coarsely and strongly engraved, "JOAB BRYCE, 1765." + +Upon mentioning this circumstance to our Recording Secretary, and +wondering how the gun came to be loaded, he told me that the fault was +his. The weapon, he said, had been deposited in the Library by a son of +the old revolutionary soldier; and he added, that this son had informed +him that the old man, who seems to have inherited something of the +peculiar traits of his ancient race, having had this charge in his gun +at the conclusion of the siege of Yorktown, where he was present with +a New England regiment, had managed afterwards to avoid discharging or +drawing it, and had left it by will to his eldest son to be kept loaded +as it was; with the strange clause, that the charge "might sarve out a +Beardsley, if it couldn't a Britisher." + +The depositor, the Secretary further told me, had religiously kept the +old gun, and, with a curious, simple strictness of adherence to the +spirit of his father's directions, had oiled the lock, picked the flint, +wired the touch-hole, and put in fresh priming, when he brought the +weapon to the Library. + +"I meant to have unloaded it, of course," pursued the excellent +Secretary, "but it passed out of my mind." + +A week or two afterwards, I found in one of those obscure columns of +"minion solid," in which the great New York papers embalm the memory of +their current metropolitan crime, the following notice:-- + +"We are informed that the burglar lately killed in an attempt to rob the +---- Historical Library has been found to be the notorious cracksman, +'Bill Young'; but that his real name was Isaac Beardsley." + + * * * * * + + +DAYLIGHT AND MOONLIGHT. + + + In broad daylight, and at noon, + Yesterday I saw the moon + Sailing high, but faint and white, + As a school-boy's paper kite. + + In broad daylight, yesterday, + I read a poet's mystic lay; + And it seemed to me at most + As a phantom, or a ghost. + + But at length the feverish day + Like a passion died away, + And the night, serene and still, + Fell on village, vale, and hill. + + Then the moon, in all her pride, + Like a spirit glorified, + Filled and overflowed the night + With revelations of her light. + + And the poet's song again + Passed like music through my brain; + Night interpreted to me + All its grace and mystery. + + + + +SOMETHING ABOUT PICTURES. + + +It is not surprising that pictures, with all their attraction for eye +and mind, are, to many honest and intelligent people, too much of a +riddle to be altogether pleasant. What with the oracular dicta of +self-constituted arbiters of taste, the discrepancies of popular writers +on Art, the jargon of connoisseurship, the vagaries of fashion, the +endless theories about color, style, chiaro 'scuro, composition, design, +imitation, nature, schools, etc., painting has become rather a subject +for the gratification of vanity and the exercise of pedantic dogmatism, +than a genuine source of enjoyment and culture, of sympathy and +satisfaction,--like music, literature, scenery, and other recognized +intellectual recreations. In these latter spheres it is not thought +presumptuous to assert and enjoy individual taste; the least independent +talkers will bravely advocate their favorite composer, describe the +landscape which has charmed or the book which has interested them; but +when a picture is the subject of discussion, few have the moral +courage to say what they think; there is a self-distrust of one's own +impressions and even convictions in regard to what is represented on +canvas, that never intervenes between thought and expression, where +ideas or sentiments are embodied in writing or in melody. Nor is this to +be ascribed wholly to the technicalities of pictorial art, in which so +few are deeply versed, but in a great measure to the incongruous and +irrelevant associations which have gradually overlaid and mystified a +subject in itself as open to the perception of a candid mind and healthy +senses as any other department of human knowledge. Half the want of +appreciation of pictures arises from ignorance, not of the principles +of Art, but of the elements of Nature. Good observers are rare. The +peasant's criticism upon Moreland's "Farm-yard"--that three pigs never +eat together without one foot at least in the trough--was a strict +inference from personal knowledge of the habits of the animal; so the +surgeon found a head of the Baptist untrue, because the skin was not +withdrawn somewhat from the line of decollation. These and similar +instances show that some knowledge of or interest in the thing +represented is essential to the appreciation of pictures. Sailors and +their wives crowded around Wilkie's "Chelsea Pensioners," when first +exhibited; French soldiers enjoy the minutiae of Vernet's battle-pieces; +a lover can judge of his betrothed's miniature; and the most unrefined +sportsman will point out the niceties of breed in one of Landseer's +dogs. To the want of correspondence so frequent between the subject of a +picture and the observer's experience may, therefore, be attributed no +small degree of the prevalent want of sympathy and confident judgment. +"Gang into an Exhibition," says the Ettrick Shepherd, "and only look at +a crowd o' cockneys, some with specs, and some wi' quizzing-glasses, and +faces without ae grain o' meaning in them o' ony kind whatsomever, a' +glowering, perhaps, at a picture o' ane o' Nature's maist fearfu' or +magnificent warks! What, I ask, could a Prince's-Street maister or +missy ken o' sic a wark mair than a red deer wad ken o' the inside o' +George's-Street Assembly-Rooms?" + +The incidental associations of pictures link them to history, tradition, +and human character, in a manner which indefinitely enhances their +suggestiveness. Horace Walpole wove a standard collection of anecdotes +from the lives and works of painters. The frescoes of St. Mark's, at +Florence, have a peculiar significance to the spectator familiar with +Fra Angelico's life. One of the most pathetic and beautiful tragedies +in modern literature is that which a Danish poet elaborated from +Correggio's artist career. Lamb's great treasure was a print from Da +Vinci, which he called "My Beauty," and its exhibition to a literal +Scotchman gave rise to one of the richest jokes in Elia's record. The +pen-drawing Andre made of himself the night before his execution,--the +curtain painted in the space where Faliero's portrait should have been, +in the ducal palace at Venice,--and the head of Dante, discovered by Mr. +Kirkup, on the wall of the Bargello, at Florence,--convey impressions +far beyond the mere lines and hues they exhibit; each is a drama, a +destiny. And the hard but true lineaments of Holbein, the aërial grace +of Malbone's "Hours," Albert Durer's mediaeval sanctities, Overbeck's +conservative self-devotion, a market-place by Ostade, Reynolds's +"Strawberry Girl," one of Copley's colonial grandees in a New England +farmer's parlor, a cabinet gem by Greuze, a dog or sheep of Landseer's, +the misty depths of Turner's "Carthage," Domenichino's "Sibyl," Claude's +sunset, or Allston's "Rosalie,"--how much of eras in Art, events +in history, national tastes, and varieties of genius do they each +foreshadow and embalm! Even when no special beauty or skill is manifest, +the character of features transmitted by pictorial art, their antiquity +or historical significance, often lends a mystery and meaning to the +effigies of humanity. In the carved faces of old German church choirs +and altars, the existent facial peculiarities of race are curiously +evident; a Grecian life breathes from many a profile in the Elgin +marbles, and a sacred marvel invests the exhumed giants of Nineveh; in +the cartoons of Raphael, and the old Gobelin tapestries, are hints +of what is essential in the progress and the triumphs of painting. +Considered as a language, how definitely is the style of painters +associated with special forms of character and spheres of life! It is +this variety of human experience typified and illustrated on canvas, +that forms our chief obligations to the artist; through him our +perception of and acquaintance with our race, its individuality and +career, its phases and aspects, is indefinitely enlarged. "The greatest +benefit," says a late writer, "we owe to the artist, whether painter, +poet, or novelist, is the _extension of our sympathies_. Art is the +nearest thing to life; it is a mode of amplifying our experience and +extending our contact with our fellow-creatures beyond the bounds of our +personal lot." + +The effect of a picture is increased by isolation and surprise. I never +realized the physiognomical traits of Madame de Maintenon, until +her portrait was encountered in a solitary country-house, of whose +drawing-room it was the sole ornament; and the romance of a miniature by +Malbone first came home to me, when an ancient dame, in the costume of +the last century, with trembling fingers drew one of her husband from +an antique cabinet, and descanted on the manly beauty of the deceased +original, and the graceful genius of the young and lamented artist. +Hazlitt wrote an ingenious essay on "A Portrait by Vandyck," which gives +us an adequate idea of what such a masterpiece is to the eye and mind +of genuine artistic perception and sympathy. Few sensations, or rather +sentiments, are more inextricably made up of pleasure and sadness than +that with which we contemplate (as is not infrequent in some old gallery +of Europe) a portrait which deeply interests or powerfully attracts +us, and whose history is irrevocably lost. A better homily on the +evanescence of human love and fame can scarcely be imagined: a face +alive with moral personality and human charms, such as win and warm +our stranger eyes, yet the name, subject, artist, owner, all lost in +oblivion! To pause before an interesting but "unknown portrait" is to +read an elegy as pathetic as Gray's. + +The mechanical processes by which Nature is so closely imitated, and +the increase of which during the last few years is one of the most +remarkable facts in science, may at the first glance appear to have +lessened the marvellous in Art, by making available to all the exact +representation of still-life. But, when duly considered, the effect is +precisely the reverse; for exactly in proportion as we become familiar +with the mechanical production of the similitudes of natural and +artificial objects, do we instinctively demand higher powers of +conception, greater spiritual expression in the artist. The discovery +of Daguerre and its numerous improvements, and the unrivalled precision +attained by Photography, render exact imitation no longer a miracle of +crayon or palette; these must now create as well as reflect, invent and +harmonize as well as copy, bring out the soul of the individual and of +the landscape, or their achievements will be neglected in favor of +the fac-similes obtainable through sunshine and chemistry. The best +photographs of architecture, statuary, ruins, and, in some cases, of +celebrated pictures, are satisfactory to a degree which has banished +mediocre sketches, and even minutely finished but literal pictures. +Specimens of what is called "Nature-printing," which gives an impression +directly from the veined stone, the branching fern, or the sea-moss, +are so true to the details as to answer a scientific purpose; natural +objects are thus lithographed without the intervention of pencil or ink. +And these several discoveries have placed the results of mere imitative +art within reach of the mass; in other words, her prose language, that +which mechanical science can utter, is so universal, that her poetry, +that which must be conceived and expressed through individual genius, +the emanation of the soul, is more distinctly recognized and absolutely +demanded from the artist, in order to vindicate his claim to that title, +than ever before. + +Perhaps, indeed, the scope which Painting offers to experimental, +individual, and prescriptive taste, the loyalty it invokes from the +conservative, the "infinite possibilities" it offers to the imaginative, +the intimacy it promotes with Nature and character, are the cause of +so much originality and attractiveness in its votaries. The Lives +of Painters abound in the characteristic, the adventurous, and the +romantic. Open Vasari, Walpole, or Cunningham, at random, and one is +sure to light upon something odd, genial, or exciting. One of the most +popular novelists of our day assured me, that, in his opinion, the +richest unworked vein for his craft, available in these days of +civilized uniformity, is artist-life at Rome, to one thoroughly +cognizant of its humors and aspirations, its interiors and vagrancies, +its self-denials and its resources. I have sometimes imagined what a +story the old white dog who so long frequented the Lepri and the Caffè +Greco, and attached himself so capriciously to the brother artists of +his deceased master, could have told, if blest with memory and language. +He had tasted the freedom and the zest of artist-life in Rome, and +scorned to follow trader or king. He preferred the odor of canvas and +oil to that of conservatories, and had more frolic and dainty morsels at +an _al fresco_ of the painters, in the Campagna, than the kitchen of an +Italian prince could furnish. His very name betokened good cheer, and +was pronounced after the manner of the pert waiters who complacently +enunciate a few words of English. _Bif-steck_ was a privileged dog; and +though occasionally made the subject of a practical joke, taught absurd +tricks, sent on fools' errands, and his white coat painted like a zebra, +these were but casual troubles; he was a sensible dog to despise them, +when he could enjoy such quaint companionship, behold such experiments +in color and drawing, serve as a model himself, and go on delicious +sketching excursions to Albano and Tivoli, besides inhaling +tobacco-smoke and hearing stale jests and love soliloquies _ad +infinitum_. I am of _Bif-steck's_ opinion. There is no such true, +earnest, humorous, and individual life, in these days of high +civilization, as that of your genuine painter; impoverished as it often +is, baffled in its aspirations, unregarded by the material and the +worldly, it often rears and keeps pure bright, genial natures whose +contact brings back the dreams of youth. It is pleasant, too, to +realize, in a great commercial city, that man "does not live by bread +alone," that fun is better than furniture, and a private resource of +nature more prolific of enjoyment than financial investments. It is rare +comfort, here, in the land of bustle and sunshine, to sit in a tempered +light and hear a man sing or improvise stories over his work, to behold +once more vagaries of costume, to let the eye rest upon pictorial +fragments of Italy,--the "old familiar faces" of Roman models, the +endeared outlines of Apennine hills, the _contadina_ bodice and the +brigand hat, until these objects revive to the heart all the romance of +travel. + +The technicalities of Art, its refinements of style, its absolute +significance, are, indeed, as dependent for appreciation on a +special endowment as are mathematics; but the general and incidental +associations, in which is involved a world of poetry, may be enjoyed to +the full extent by those whose perception of form, sense of color, +and knowledge of the principles of sculpture, painting, music, and +architecture are notably deficient. It is a law of life and nature, that +truth and beauty, adequately represented, create and diffuse a limitless +element of wisdom and pleasure. Such memorials are talismanic, and +their influence is felt in all the higher and more permanent spheres of +thought and emotion; they are the gracious landmarks that guide humanity +above the commonplace and the material, along the "line of infinite +desires." Art, in its broad and permanent meaning, is a language,--the +language of sentiment, of character, of national impulse, of individual +genius; and for this reason it bears a lesson, a charm, or a sanction +to all,--even those least versed in its rules and least alive to its +special triumphs. Sir Walter Scott was no amateur, yet, through his +reverence for ancestry and his local attachments, portraiture and +architecture had for him a romantic interest. Sydney Smith was impatient +of galleries when he could talk with men and women, and made a practical +joke of buying pictures; yet Newton and Leslie elicited his best humor. +Talfourd cared little and knew less of the treasures of the Louvre, but +lingered there because it had been his friend Hazlitt's Elysium. Indeed, +there are constantly blended associations in the history of English +authors and artists; Reynolds is identified with Johnson and Goldsmith, +Smibert with Berkeley, Barry with Burke, Constable and Wilkie with Sir +George Beaumont, Haydon with Wordsworth, and Leslie with Irving; the +painters depict their friends of the pen, the latter celebrate in +verse or prose the artist's triumphs, and both intermingle thought and +sympathy; and from this contact of select intelligences of diverse +vocation has resulted the choicest wit and the most genial +companionship. If from special we turn to general associations, from +biography to history, the same prolific affinities are evident, whereby +the artist becomes an interpreter of life, and casts the halo of +romance over the stern features of reality. Hampton Court is the almost +breathing society of Charles the Second's reign; the Bodleian Gallery is +vivid with Britain's past intellectual life; the history of France is +pictured on the walls of Versailles; the luxury of color bred by the +sunsets of the Euganean hills, the waters of the Adriatic, the marbles +of San Marco, and the skies and atmosphere of Venice, are radiant on +the canvas of Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese; Michel Angelo has +embodied the soul of his era and the loftiest spirit of his country; +Salvator typified the half-savage picturesqueness, Neapolitan Claude the +atmospheric enchantments, Carlo Dolce the effeminate grace, Titian the +voluptuous energy, Guido the placid self-possession, and Raphael and +Correggio the religious sentiment of Italy; Watteau put on canvas the +_fête champêtre_; the peasant-life of Spain is pictured by Murillo, +her asceticism by the old religious limners; what English rustics were +before steam and railroads Gainsborough and Moreland reveal, Wilkie has +permanently symbolized Scotch shrewdness and domesticity, and Lawrence +framed and fixed the elegant shapes of a London drawing-room; and each +of these is a normal type and suggestive exemplar to the imagination, +a chapter of romance, a sequestration and initial token of the +characteristic and the historical, either of what has become traditional +or what is forever true. + +The indirect service good artists have rendered by educating observation +has yet to be acknowledged. The Venetian painters cannot be even +superficially regarded, without developing the sense of color; nor the +Roman, without enlarging our cognizance of expression; nor the English, +without refining our perception of the evanescent effects in scenery. +Raphael has made infantile grace obvious to unmaternal eyes; Turner +opened to many a preoccupied vision the wonders of atmosphere; Constable +guided our perception of the casual phenomena of wind; Landseer, that +of the natural language of the brute creation; Lely, of the coiffure; +Michel Angelo, of physical grandeur; Rolfe, of fish; Gerard Dow, of +water; Cuyp, of meadows; Cooper, of cattle; Stanfield, of the sea; and +so on through every department of pictorial art. Insensibly these quiet +but persuasive teachers have made every phase and object of the material +world interesting, environed them with more or less of romance, by +such revelations of their latent beauty and meaning; so that, thus +instructed, the sunset and the pastoral landscape, the moss-grown arch +and the craggy seaside, the twilight grove and the swaying cornfield, an +old mill, a peasant, light and shade, form and feature, perspective +and anatomy, a smile, a gesture, a cloud, a waterfall, weather-stains, +leaves, deer,--every object in Nature, and every impress of the +elements, speaks more distinctly to the eye and more effectively to the +imagination. + +The vicissitudes which sometimes attend a picture or statue furnish no +inadequate materials for narrative interest. Amateur collectors can +unfold a tale in reference to their best acquisitions which outvies +fiction. Beckford's table-talk abounded in such reminiscences. An +American artist, who had resided long in Italy and made a study of old +pictures, caught sight at a shop-window in New Orleans of an "Ecce +Homo" so pathetic in expression as to arrest his steps and engross his +attention. Upon inquiry, he learned that it had been purchased of a +soldier fresh from Mexico, after the late war between that country and +the United States; he bought it for a trifle, carried it to Europe, and +soon authenticated it as an original Guercino, painted for the royal +chapel in Madrid, and sent thence by the government to a church in +Mexico, whence, after centuries, it had found its way, through the +accidents of war, to a pawnbroker's shop in Louisiana. A lady in one +of our eastern cities, wishing to possess, as a memorial, some article +which had belonged to a deceased neighbor, and not having the means, +at the public sale of her effects, to bid for an expensive piece of +furniture, contented herself with buying for a few shillings a familiar +chimney-screen. One day she discovered a glistening surface under the +flowered paper which covered it, and when this was torn away, there +stood revealed a picture of Jacob and Rebecca at the Well, by Paul +Veronese; doubtless thus concealed with a view to its secret removal +during the first French Revolution. The missing Charles First of +Velasquez was lately exhibited in this country, and the account its +possessor gives of the mode of its discovery and the obstacles which +attended the establishment of its legal ownership in England is a +remarkable illustration both of the tact of the connoisseur and the +mysteries of jurisprudence. + +There is scarcely, indeed, an artist or a patron of art, of any +eminence, who has not his own "story of a picture." Like all things +of beauty and of fame, the very desire of possession which a painting +excites, and the interest it awakens, give rise to some costly +sacrifice, or incidental circumstance, which associates the prize with +human fortune and sentiment. I remember an anecdote of this kind told me +by a friend in Western New York. + +"Waiting," said he, "in the little front-parlor of a house in the town +of C----, to transact some business with its occupant, I was attracted +by a clean sketch in oil that hung above the fireplace. It might have +escaped notice elsewhere, but traces of real skill in Art were too +uncommon in this region to be disregarded by any lover of her fruits. +The readiness to seize upon any casual source of interest, common +with those who "stand and wait" in a place where they are strangers, +doubtless had something to do with the careful attention I bestowed upon +this production. It was a very modest attempt,--a bit of landscape, with +two horses grazing and a man at work in the foreground. Quiet in tone, +and half-concealed by the shaded casement, it was only by degrees, and +to ward off the _ennui_ of a listless half-hour, that I gradually became +absorbed in its examination. There were some masterly lines, clever +arrangement, a true feeling, and a peculiar delicacy of treatment, that +implied the hand of a trained artist. + +"My pleasant communion with the unknown was at last interrupted by the +entrance of my tardy man-of-business, but the instant our affair was +transacted I inquired about the sketch. It proved to be the work of +a young Englishman then residing in the neighborhood. I obtained his +address and sought his dwelling. He was scraping an old palette as we +entered, and advanced with it in one hand, while he saluted me with the +air of a gentleman and the simplicity of an honest man. He wore a linen +blouse, his collar was open, his hair long and dark, his complexion +pale, his eye thoughtful, and a settled expression of sweetness and +candor about the mouth made me feel, at a glance, that I had rightly +interpreted the sketch. I mentioned it as an apology for my intrusion, +and added, that a natural fondness for Art, and rare opportunities for +gratifying the taste, induced me to improve occasions like this with +alacrity. He seemed delighted to welcome such a visitor, as his life, +for several weeks, had been quite isolated. The retirement and agreeable +scenery of this inland town harmonized with his feelings; he was +unambitious, happy in his domestic relations, and had managed, from time +to time, to execute a portrait or dispose of a sketch, and thus subsist +in comfort; so that an accidental and temporary visit to this secluded +region had unconsciously lengthened into a whole summer's residence,-- +partly to be ascribed to the kindness and easy terms of his good old +host, a thrifty farmer, whose wife, having no children of her own, doted +upon the painter's boy, and grieved at the mention of their departure. I +doubt if my new friend would have had the enterprise to migrate at all, +but for my urgency; but I soon discovered, that, with the improvidence +of his tribe, he had laid nothing by, and that he stood in need of +medical advice, and, after a long conversation, upon my engaging to +secure him an economical home and plenty of work in Utica, he promised +to remove thither in a month; and then becoming more cheerful, he +exhibited, one by one, the trophies of Art in his possession. + +"Among them were a Moreland and a Gainsborough, some fine engravings +after Reynolds, prints, cartoons, and crayon heads by famous artists, +and two or three Hogarth proof-impressions; but the treasure which +riveted my gaze was a masterly head of such vigorous outline and +effective tints, that I immediately recognized the strong, free, bold +handling of Gilbert Stuart. 'That was given me,' said the gratified +painter, 'by the son of an Edinburgh physician, who, when a young +practitioner, had the good-fortune to call one day upon Stuart when he +was suffering from the effects of a fall. He had been thrown from a +vehicle and had broken his arm, which was so unskilfully set that +it became inflamed and swollen, and the clumsy surgeon talked of +amputation. Imagine the feeling of such an artist at the idea of losing +his right arm! The doctor's visit was not professional, but, seeing the +despondent mood of the invalid artist, he could not refrain the offer +of service. It was accepted, and proved successful, and the patient's +gratitude was unbounded. As the doctor refused pecuniary compensation, +Stuart insisted upon painting a likeness of his benefactor; and as +he worked under no common impulse, the result, as you see, was a +masterpiece.' + +"A few weeks after this pleasant interview, I had established my +_protégé_ at Utica, and obtained him several commissions. But his +medical attendant pronounced his disease incurable; he lingered a +few months, conversing to the last, during the intervals of pain and +feebleness, with a resignation and intelligence quite endearing. When he +died, I advised his widow to preserve as long as possible the valuable +collection he had left, and with it she repaired to one of her kindred +in affluent circumstances, living fifty miles away. She endeavored to +force upon my acceptance one, at least, of her husband's cherished +pictures; but, knowing her poverty, I declined, only stipulating that if +ever she parted with the Stuart, I should have the privilege of taking +it at her own price. + +"A year passed, and I was informed that many of her best things had +become the property of her relative, who, however, knew not how to +appreciate them. I commissioned a friend, who knew him, to purchase at +any cost the one I craved. He discovered that a native artist, who +had been employed to delineate the family, had obtained this work in +payment, and had it carefully enshrined in his studio at Syracuse. This +was Charles Elliot; and the possession of so excellent an original +by one of the best of our artists in this department explains his +subsequent triumphs in portraiture. He made a study of this trophy; it +inspired his pencil; from its contemplation he caught the secret of +color, the breadth and strength of execution, which have since placed +him among the first of American portrait-painters, especially for old +and characteristic heads. Thus, in the centre of Western New York, he +found his Academy, his Royal College, his Gallery and life-school, in +one adequate effort of Stuart's masterly hand; the offering of gratitude +became the model and the impulse whereby a farmer's son on the banks +of the Mohawk rose to the highest skill and eminence. But this was a +gradual process; and meantime it is easy to imagine what a treasure the +picture became in his estimation. It was only by degrees that his merit +gained upon public regard. His first visit to New York was a failure; +and after waiting many weeks in vain for a sitter, he was obliged to +pay his indulgent landlord with a note of hand, and return to the more +economical latitude of Syracuse. There he learned that a wealthy trader, +desirous of the _éclat_ of a connoisseur, was resolved to possess the +cherished portrait. Although poor, he was resolved never to part with +it; but the sagacious son of Mammon was too keen for him; discovering +his indebtedness, he bought the artist's note of the inn-keeper, and +levied an execution upon his effects. But genius is often more than a +match for worldly-wisdom. Elliot soon heard of the plot, and determined +to defeat it. He worked hard and secretly, until he had made so good a +copy that the most practised eye alone could detect the counterfeit; and +then concealing the original at his lodgings, he quietly awaited the +legal attachment. It was duly levied, the sale took place, and the +would-be amateur bought the familiar picture hanging in its accustomed +position, and then boasted in the market-place of the success of his +base scheme. Ere long one of Elliot's friends revealed the clever trick. +The enraged purchaser commenced a suit, and, although the painter +eventually retained the picture, the case was carried to the Supreme +Court, and he was condemned to pay costs. Ten years elapsed. The artist +became an acknowledged master, and prosperity followed his labors. No +one can mistake the rich tints and vigorous expression, the character +and color, which distinguish Elliot's portraits; but few imagine how +much he is indebted to the long possession and study of so invaluable an +original for these traits, moulded by his genius into so many admirable +representations of the loved, the venerable, and the honored, both +living and dead." + +Another friend of mine, in exploring the more humble class of +boarding-houses in one of our large commercial towns, in search of an +unfortunate relation, found himself, while expecting the landlady, +absorbed in a portrait on the walls of a dingy back-parlor. The +furniture was of the most common description. A few smutched and faded +annuals, half-covered with dust, lay on the centre-table, beside an +old-fashioned astral lamp, a cracked porcelain vase of wax-flowers, a +yellow satin pincushion embroidered with tarnished gold-lace, and an +album of venerable hue filled with hyperbolic apostrophes to the charms +of some ancient beauty; which, with the dilapidated window-curtains, the +obsolete sideboard, the wooden effigy of a red-faced man with a spyglass +under his arm, and the cracked alabaster clock-case on the mantel, all +bespoke an impoverished establishment, so devoid of taste that the +beautiful and artistic portrait seemed to have found its way there by a +miracle. It represented a young and _spirituelle_ woman, in the +costume, so elegant in material and formal in mode, which Copley has +immortalized; in this instance, however, there was a French look about +the coiffure and robe. The eyes were bright with intelligence chastened +by sentiment, the features at once delicate and spirited, and altogether +the picture was one of those visions of blended youth, grace, sweetness, +and intellect, from which the fancy instinctively infers a tale of love, +genius, or sorrow, according to the mood of the spectator. Subdued by +his melancholy errand and discouraged by a long and vain search, my +friend, whose imagination was quite as excitable as his taste was +correct, soon wove a romance around the picture. It was evidently not +the work of a novice; it was as much out of place in this obscure +and inelegant domicil, as a diamond set in filigree, or a rose among +pigweed. How came it there? who was the original? what her history and +her fate? Her parentage and her nurture must have been refined; she must +have inspired love in the chivalric; perchance this was the last relic +of an illustrious exile, the last memorial of a princely house. + +This reverie of conjecture was interrupted by the entrance of the +landlady. My friend had almost forgotten the object of his visit; and +when his anxious inquiries proved vain, he drew the loquacious hostess +into general conversation, in order to elicit the mystery of the +beautiful portrait. She was a robust, gray-haired woman, with whose +constitutional good-nature care had waged a long and partially +successful war. That indescribable air which speaks of better days was +visible at a glance; the remnants of bygone gentility were obvious in +her dress; she had the peculiar manner of one who had enjoyed social +consideration; and her language indicated familiarity with cultivated +society; yet the anxious expression habitual to her countenance, and +the bustling air of her vocation which quickly succeeded conversational +repose, hinted but too plainly straitened circumstances and daily toil. +But what struck her present curious visitor more than these casual +traits were the remains of great beauty in the still lovely contour of +the face, the refined lines of her mouth, and the depth and varied play +of the eyes. He was both sympathetic and ingenious, and ere long gained +the confidence of his auditor. The unfeigned interest and the true +perception he manifested in speaking of the portrait rendered him, in +its owner's estimation, worthy to know the story his own intuition had +so nearly divined. The original was Theodosia, the daughter of Aaron +Burr. His affection for her was the redeeming fact of his career and +character. Both were anomalous in our history. In an era remarkable for +patriotic self-sacrifice, he became infamous for treasonable ambition; +among a phalanx of statesmen illustrious for directness and integrity, +he pursued the tortuous path of perfidious intrigue; in a community +where the sanctities of domestic life were unusually revered, he bore +the stigma of unscrupulous libertinism. With the blood of his gallant +adversary and his country's idol on his hands, the penalties of debt and +treason hanging over him, the fertility of an acute intellect wasted on +vain expedients,--an outlaw, an adventurer, a plausible reasoner +with one sex and fascinating betrayer of the other, poor, bereaved, +contemned,--one holy, loyal sentiment lingered in his perverted +soul,--love for the fair, gifted, gentle being who called him father. +The only disinterested sympathy his letters breathe is for her; and the +feeling and sense of duty they manifest offer a remarkable contrast to +the parallel record of a life of unprincipled schemes, misused talents, +and heartless amours. As if to complete the tragic antithesis of +destiny, the beloved and gifted woman who thus shed an angelic ray upon +that dark career was soon after her father's return from Europe lost in +a storm at sea while on her way to visit him, thus meeting a fate which, +even at the distance of time, is remembered with pity. Her wretched +father bore with him, in all his wanderings and through all his +remorseful exile, her picture--emblem of filial love, of all that is +beautiful in the ministry of woman, and all that is terrible in human +fate. At length he lay dangerously ill in a garret. He had parted with +one after another of his articles of raiment, books, and trinkets, +to defray the expenses of a long illness; Theodosia's picture alone +remained; it hung beside him,--the one talisman of irreproachable +memory, of spotless love, and of undying sorrow; he resolved to die with +this sweet relic of the loved and lost in his possession; there his +sacrifices ended. Life seemed slowly ebbing; the underpaid physician +lagged in his visits; the importunate landlord threatened to send this +once dreaded partisan, favored guest, and successful lover to the +almshouse; when, as if the spell of woman's affection were spiritually +magnetic, one of the deserted old man's early victims--no other than +she who spoke--accidentally heard of his extremity, and, forgetting her +wrongs, urged by compassion and her remembrance of the past, sought +her betrayer, provided for his wants, and rescued him from impending +dissolution. In grateful recognition of her Christian kindness, he gave +her all he had to bestow,--Theodosia's portrait. + + * * * * * + + +CRETINS AND IDIOTS: + +WHAT HAS BEEN AND WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THEM. + + +Among the numerous philanthropic movements which have characterized the +nineteenth century, none, perhaps, are more deserving of praise than +those which have had for their object the improvement of the cretin and +the idiot, classes until recently considered as beyond the reach of +curative treatment. + +The traveller, whom inclination or science may have led into the Canton +Valais, or Pays-de-Vaud, in Switzerland, or into the less frequented +regions of Savoy, Aosta, or Styria, impressed as he may be with the +beauty and grandeur of the scenery through which he passes, finds +himself startled also at the frightful deformity and degradation of the +inhabitants. By the roadside, basking in the sun, he beholds beings +whose appearance seems such a caricature upon humanity, that he is at a +loss to know whether to assign them a place among the human or the brute +creation. Unable to walk,--usually deaf and dumb,--with bleared eyes, +and head of disproportionate size,--brown, flabby, and leprous skin,--a +huge goitre descending from the throat and resting upon the breast,--an +abdomen enormously distended,--the lower limbs crooked, weak, and +ill-shaped,--without the power of utterance, or thoughts to utter,--and +generally incapable of seeing, not from defect of the visual organs, but +from want of capacity to fix the eye upon any object,--the cretin seems +beyond the reach of human sympathy or aid. In intelligence he is far +below the horse, the dog, the monkey, or even the swine; the only +instincts of his nature are hunger and lust, and even these are fitful +and irregular. + +The number of these unfortunate beings in the mountainous districts of +Europe, and especially of Central and Southern Europe, is very great. In +several of the Swiss cantons they form from four to five per cent of +the population. In Rhenish Prussia, and in the Danubian provinces of +Austria, the number is still greater; in Styria, many villages of four +or five thousand inhabitants not having a single man capable of bearing +arms. In Würtemberg and Bavaria, in Savoy, Sardinia, the Alpine regions +of France, and the mountainous districts of Spain, the disease is very +prevalent. + +The causes of so fearful a degeneration of body and mind are not +satisfactorily ascertained. Extreme poverty, impure air, filthiness of +person and dwelling, unwholesome diet, the use of water impregnated with +some of the magnesian salts, intemperance, (particularly in the use of +the cheap and vile brandy of Switzerland,) and the intermarriage of near +relatives and of those affected with goitre, have all been assigned, and +with apparently good reason; yet there are cases which are attributable +to none of these causes. + +The disease is not, however, confined to Europe. It is prevalent also +in China and Chinese Tartary, in Thibet, along the base of the Himalaya +range in India, in Sumatra, in the vicinity of the Andes in South +America, in Mexico; and sporadic cases are found along the line of the +Alleghanies. It is said not to occur in Europe at a higher elevation +than four thousand feet above the sea level. + +The derivation of the name is involved in some mystery; most writers +regarding it as a corruption of the French _Chrétien_, as indicative +of the incapacity of these unfortunate beings to commit sin. A +more probable theory, however, is that which deduces it from the +Grison-Romance _Cretira_, "creature." + +The existence of this disease has long been known; references are made +to it by Pliny, as well as by some of the Roman writers in the second +century of the Christian era; and in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries its prevalence and causes were frequently discussed. Most of +the writers on the subject, however, considered the case of the poor +cretin as utterly hopeless; and the few who deemed a partial improvement +of his health, though not of his intellect, possible, merely suggested +some measures for that purpose, without making any effort to reduce them +to practice. It was reserved for a young physician of Zurich, Doctor +Louis Guggenbühl, whose practical benevolence was active enough to +overcome any repugnance he might feel to labors in behalf of a class so +degraded and apparently unpromising, to be the pioneer in an effort to +improve their physical, mental, and moral condition. + +It is now twenty-one years since this noble philanthropist, then just +entering upon the duties of his profession, was first led by some +incidents occurring during a tour in the Bernese Alps to investigate the +condition of the cretin. For three years he devoted himself to the study +of the disease and the method of treating it. Two years of this period +were spent in the small village of Seruf, in the Canton Glarus, where he +was successful in restoring several to the use of their limbs. It was at +the end of this period, that, with a moral courage and devotion of which +history affords but few examples, Doctor Guggenbühl resolved to dedicate +his life to the elevation of the cretins from their degraded condition. +Consecrating his own property to the work, he asked assistance from the +Canton Bern in the purchase of land for a hospital, and received a +grant of six hundred francs ($120) for the work. His investigations had +satisfied him that an elevated and dry locality was desirable, and that +it was only the young who could be benefited. He accordingly purchased, +in 1840, a tract of about forty acres of land, comprising a portion of +the hill called the Abendberg, in the Canton Bern, above Interlachen. +The site of his Hospital buildings is about four thousand feet above the +sea, and one or two hundred feet below the summit of the hill; it is +well protected from the cold winds, and the soil is tolerably fertile. + +There are few spots, even among the Alps, which can compare with the +Abendberg in beauty and grandeur of scenery. Doctor Guggenbühl was +led to select it as much for this reason as for its salubrity, in the +belief, which his subsequent experience has fully justified, that the +striking nobleness of the landscape would awaken, even in the torpid +mind of the cretin, that sense of the beautiful in Nature which would +materially aid in his intellectual culture. + +On the southern slope of the Abendberg he erected his Hospital +buildings, plain, wooden structures, without ornament, but comfortable, +and well adapted to his purpose. Here he gathered about thirty cretin +children, mostly under ten years of age, and began his work. + +To understand fully what was to be accomplished, in order to transform +the young cretin into an active, healthy child, it is necessary that we +should glance at his physical and mental condition, when placed under +treatment. + +Cretinism seems to be a combination of two diseases, the one physical, +the other mental. The physical disorder is akin to _Rachitis_, or +rickets, while the mental is substantially idiocy. The osseous +structure, deficient in the phosphate of lime, is unable to sustain the +weight of the body, and the cretin is thus incapacitated for active +motion; the muscles are soft and wasted; the skin dingy, cold, and +unhealthy; the appetite voracious; spasmodic and convulsed action +frequent; and the digestion imperfect and greatly disordered. The mind +seems to exist only in a germinal state; observation, memory, thought, +the power of combination, are all wanting. The external senses are so +torpid, that, for months perhaps, it is in vain to address either eye +or ear; nor is the sense of touch much more active. The cretin is +insensible to pain or annoyance, and seems to have as little sensation +as an oyster. + +It was to the work of restoring these diseased and enfeebled bodies +to health, and of developing these germs of intellect, that Doctor +Guggenbühl addressed himself. For this purpose, pure air, enforced +exercise, the use of cold, warm, and vapor baths, of spirituous lotions +and frictions, a simple yet eminently nutritive diet, regular habits, +and the administration of those medicinal alternatives which would +give tone to the system, activity to the absorbents, and vigor to +the muscles, were the remedial measures adopted. As their strength +increased, they were led to practise the simpler gymnastic +exercises,--running, jumping, climbing, marching, the use of the +dumb-bells, etc. + +The body thus partially invigorated, the culture of the mind was next to +be attempted,--a far more difficult task. The first step was, to teach +the child to speak; and as this implied the ability to hear, the ear, +hitherto dead to all sounds, must be impressed. For this purpose, sound +was communicated by speaking trumpets or other instruments, which should +force and fix the attention. The lips and vocal organs were then moulded +to imitate these sounds. The process was long and wearisome, often +occupying months, and even years; but in the end it was successful. +The eye was trained by the attraction of bright and varied colors, +and little by little simple ideas were communicated to the feeble +intellect,--great care being necessary, however, to proceed very slowly, +as the cretin is easily discouraged, and when once overtasked, will make +no further attempts to learn. + +It was only by gaining the love of these poor creatures that they could +be led to make any progress; and at an early stage of their training, +Doctor Guggenbühl deemed it wise to infuse into their dawning minds the +knowledge and the love of a higher Being, to teach them something of the +power and goodness of God. The result, he assures us, has been highly +satisfactory; the mind, too feeble for earthly lore, too weak to grasp +the simplest facts of science, has yet comprehended something of the +love of the All-father, and lifted up to him its imperfect but plaintive +supplication. That the enthusiasm of this good man may have led him +to exaggerate somewhat the extent of the religious attainments of his +pupils is possible; but the experience of every teacher of the cretin or +the idiot has satisfactorily demonstrated that simple religious truths +are acquired by those who seem incapable of understanding the plainest +problems in arithmetic or the most elementary facts of science. God has +so willed it, that the mightiest intellect which strives unavailingly +to comprehend the wisdom and glory of his creation, and the feeblest +intelligence which knows only and instinctively his love, shall alike +find in that love their highest solace and delight. + +The phenomena of Nature were next made the objects of instruction; +and to this the well-chosen position of the establishment largely +contributed. Sunshine and storm, the light clouds which mottled the sky +and the black heaps which foreboded the tempest, the lightning and the +rainbow, all in turn served to awaken the slumbering faculties, and to +rouse the torpid intellect to greater activity. + +The next step was, to teach the cretin some knowledge of objects around +him, animate and inanimate, and of his relations to them. The exercise +of the senses followed, and gayly colored pictures were presented to the +eye, charming music to the ear, fragrant odors to the smell, and the +varieties of sweet, bitter, sour, and pungent substances to the taste. + +When the perceptive faculties were thus trained, books were made to take +the place of object lessons; reading and writing were taught by long and +patient endeavor; the elements of arithmetic, of Scripture history, and +of geography were communicated; and mechanical instruction was imparted +at the same time. + +Under this general routine of instruction, Dr. Guggenbühl has conducted +his establishment for seventeen years, often with limited means, and at +times struggling with debt, from which, more than once, kind English +friends, who have visited the Hospital, or become interested in the man, +during his occasional hasty visits to Great Britain, have relieved him. +His personal appearance is thus described by a friend who was on +terms of intimacy with him; the place is at one of Lord Rosse's +_conversazioni_. "Imagine in the crowd which swept through his +Lordship's suite of rooms a small, foreign-looking man, with features of +a Grecian cast, and long, shoulder-covering, black hair; look at +that man's face; there is a gentleness, an amiability combined with +intelligence, which wins you to him. His dress is peculiar in that crowd +of white cravats and acres of cambric shirt-fronts; black, +well-worn black, is his suit; but his waistcoat is of black +satin,--double-breasted, and buttoned closely up to the throat. It is +Dr. Guggenbühl, the mildest, the gentlest of men, but one of those calm, +reflecting minds that push on after a worthy object, undismayed by +difficulties, undeterred by ridicule or rebuff." + +In his labors in behalf of the unfortunate class to whom he has devoted +himself, Dr. Guggenbühl has been assisted very greatly by the Protestant +Sisters of Charity, who, like the Catholic sisterhood, dedicate their +lives to offices of charity and love to the sick, the unfortunate, and +the erring. + +Dr. Guggenbühl claims to have effected a perfect cure in about one third +of the cases which have been under his charge, by a treatment of from +three to six years' duration. The attainment of so large a measure of +success has been questioned by some who have visited the Hospital on the +Abendberg; and while a part of these critics were undoubtedly actuated +by a jealous and fault-finding disposition, it is not impossible that +the enthusiasm of the philanthropist may have led him to regard the +acquirements of his pupils as beyond what they really were. + +A greater source of fallacy, however, is in the want of fixed standards +for estimating the comparative capacity of children affected with +cretinism, when placed under treatment, and the degree of intellectual +and physical development which constitutes a "perfect cure," in the +opinion of such men as Dr. Guggenbühl. It is a fact, which all who have +long had charge of either cretins or idiots well understand, that a +great degree of physical deformity and disorder, a strongly marked +rachitic condition of the body, complicated even with loss of hearing +and speech, may exist, while the intellectual powers are but slightly +affected; in other words, that a child may be in external appearance +a cretin, and even one of low grade, yet with a higher degree of +intellectual capacity than most cretins possess. On the other hand, the +bodily weakness and deformity may be slight, while the mental condition +is very low. In the former case, we might reasonably expect, on the +successful treatment of the rachitic symptoms, a rapid intellectual +development; the child would soon be able to pursue its studies in an +ordinary school, and a "perfect cure" would be effected. In the latter +case, though far more promising, apparently, at first, a longer course +of training would be requisite, and the most strenuous efforts on the +part of the teacher would not, in all probability, bring the pupil up to +the level of a respectable mediocrity. + +From a great number of cases, narrated in the different Reports of Dr. +Guggenbühl before us, we select one as the type of a large class, in +which the development of the intellect seems to have been retarded by +the physical disorder, but proceeded regularly on the return of health. + +"C. was four years old when she entered, with every symptom of confirmed +rachitic cretinism. Her nervous system was completely out of order, so +that the strongest electric shocks produced scarcely any effect on her +for some months. Aromatic baths, frictions, moderate exercise, a regimen +of meat and milk, were the means of restoring her. Her bones and muscles +grew so strong, that, in the course of a year, she could run and jump. +Her mind appeared to advance in proportion to her body, for she learned +to talk in French as well as in German. The life and spirits of her age +at length burst forth, and she was as gay and happy as she had before +been cross and disagreeable. She was particularly open-hearted, active, +kind, and cleanly. She learned to read, write, and cipher, to sew and +knit, and above all she loved to sing. It is now two years since she +left, and she continues quite well, and goes to school." + +We think our readers will perceive that this was not a case of confirmed +intellectual degradation, but only of retarded mental development, the +result of diseased bodily condition. These diseases are distressing to +parents and friends, and he who succeeds in restoring them to health, +intelligence, and the enjoyment of life, accomplishes a great and good +work; but it does not necessarily follow that the cases where the mental +degeneration is as complete as the physical would as readily yield to +treatment; and we are driven to the conviction that the enthusiasm and +zeal of Dr. Guggenbühl have led him to exaggerate the measure of success +attained in these cases of low grade, and thus to excite hopes which +could never be fulfilled.[A] + +[Footnote A: Dr. F. Kern, Superintendent of the Idiot School at +Gohlis, near Leipzig, in an article in the _Allgemeine Zeitschrift für +Psychiatrie_, published the present year, (1857,) states that he +examined a boy in the Abendberg Hospital in 1853, of whom Dr. Guggenbühl +had said, in his work _Upon the Cure of Cretinism_, published a few +months previously, that, "after the painstaking examination of Dr. +Naville, he was held to be capable of entering a training school for +teachers, in order to qualify himself for a teacher": Dr. Kern found +that he knew neither the day of the week or the mouth, nor his birthday, +nor his age.] + +There are four other institutions in Germany devoted wholly or in part +to the treatment of cretins; they are located at Bendorf, Mariaberg, +Winterbach, and Hubertsburg. There are also two in Sardinia. All +together they may contain three hundred children. The success of these +institutions has not been equal to that of the Abendberg, although the +teachers seem to have been faithful and patient. The statistics of the +latest census of the countries of Central and Southern Europe render +it certain that those countries contain from seventy-five to eighty +thousand cretins, and as the cretin seldom passes his thirtieth year, +the number under ten years of age must exceed thirty thousand. The +provision for their training is, of course, entirely inadequate to their +needs. + +The limited experience of the few institutions already established +warrants, we think, the conclusion, that too high expectations have been +raised in regard to the complete cure of cretinism; that only a +small proportion (cases in which the bodily disease is the principal +difficulty, and the mental deterioration slight) can be perfectly cured; +but that these institutions, regarded as hospitals for the treatment and +training of cretins, are in the highest degree important and beneficial; +and that, under proper care and medication, the physical symptoms of the +disease may be greatly diminished and in many cases entirely eradicated, +and the mental condition so far improved, that the patient shall be +able, under proper direction, to support himself wholly or in part by +his own labor. The hideous and repulsive condition of the body can +be cured; the mental deformity will yield less readily; yet in some +instances this, too, may disappear, and the cretin take his place with +his fellow-men. + +Let us now turn our attention to another class, in whom, as a people, we +have a deeper interest; for though cretinism does undoubtedly exist in +the United States, yet the cases are but few; while idiocy is fearfully +prevalent throughout the country. + +The possibility of improving the condition of the idiot is one of those +discoveries which will make the nineteenth century remarkable in the +annals of the future for its philanthropic spirit. Idiots have existed +in all ages, and have commonly vegetated through life in utter +wretchedness and degrading filth, concealed from public view. + +During the early part of the present century, a few attempts were made +to instruct them; the earliest known being at the American Asylum for +the Deaf and Dumb, in Hartford, in 1818. In 1824, Dr. Belhomme, of +Paris, published an essay on the possibility of improving the condition +of idiots; and in 1828, a few were instructed for a short time at the +Bicêtre, one of the large insane hospitals of Paris. In 1831, M. Falret +attempted the same work at the Salpêtrière, another of the hospitals for +the insane in the same city. Neither of these efforts was continued long +in existence. In 1833, Dr. Voisin, a distinguished French physiologist +and phrenologist, attempted the organization of a school for idiots in +Paris. In 1839, aided by Dr. Leuret, he revived the School for Idiots in +the Bicêtre, subsequently under the charge of M. Vallée. The "Apostle to +the Idiots," however, to use a French expression, was Dr. Edward +Seguin. The friend and pupil of Itard, the celebrated surgeon and +philanthropist, he had in early youth entered into the views of his +master respecting the practicability of their instruction; and when, +during his last illness, Itard, with a philanthropy which triumphed over +the terrible pangs of disease, reminded him of the work which he had +himself longed to undertake, and urged him to devote his abilities to +it, the young physician accepted the sacred trust, and thenceforth +consecrated his life to the work of endeavoring to elevate the helpless +idiot in the scale of humanity. + +Previous teachers of the imbecile had not attempted to master the +philosophy of idiocy. They had gone to work at hap-hazard, striking at +random, hoping somehow, they knew not exactly how, to get some ideas +into the mind of the patient, and, by exciting the faculty of imitation, +perhaps improve his condition. They succeeded in making him more +cleanly, and in inducing him to perform certain acts and exercises, as a +well-trained dog, monkey, or parrot might perform them. + +Seguin adopted an entirely different course. By a long and careful +investigation he satisfied himself as to what idiocy consisted in, +and then adopted such measures as he deemed most judicious, for the +development of the intellect, and the elevation of the social, mental, +moral, and physical character of the idiot. + +In his view idiocy is only a prolonged infancy, in which the infantile +grace and intelligence having passed away, there remains only the feeble +muscular development and mental weakness of that earliest stage of +growth. He proposes to follow Nature in his processes of treatment; to +invigorate the muscles by bathing and exercise, using some compulsion, +if necessary, to effect this; to fix the attention by bright colors, +strong contrasts, military manoeuvres, etc.; to strengthen and develope +the will, the imagination, the senses, and the imitative powers, by a +great variety of exercises; and at each step, to impress the mind with +moral principles. The mere acquisition of a few facts, more or less, and +the capacity to repeat these, parrot-like, he regards as an attainment +of very little consequence; the great object should be to make the child +do his own thinking, and this once attained, he will acquire facts as he +needs them. + +Dr. Seguin met with a high degree of success in the instruction of +idiotic and imbecile children, and in 1846 published a treatise on the +treatment of idiocy, which will, for years to come, be the manual of +every teacher of this unfortunate class. + +While Seguin was demonstrating the truth of his theory of instruction +at Paris, Herr Saegert, a teacher of deaf mutes at Berlin, having +attempted, unsuccessfully, the instruction of a deaf and dumb idiot, was +led to inquire into the reasons of his failure. Without any knowledge of +Seguin's labors, he arrived substantially at the same conclusions, +and devoted his leisure to medical study, in order to grapple more +successfully with the problem of the instruction of idiots. In 1840 he +commenced receiving idiotic pupils, and has maintained a school for them +in Berlin up to the present time. Herr Saegert is inclined to regard +idiocy as dependent upon the condition of the brain and nervous system, +to a greater extent, perhaps, than Dr. Seguin, and to rely upon +medication to some extent; though in his writings he professes to +consider it a condition, and not a disease. + +The success of the efforts of Seguin and Saegert was soon reported +in other countries, and as early as 1846 excited the attention of +philanthropists in England and the United States. Schools for the +training of idiots were established, on a small scale at first, by some +benevolent ladies, at Bath, Brighton, and Lancaster, England. In +1847, an effort was made to establish an institution in some degree +commensurate with the wants of the unfortunate class for whom it +was intended. In this movement, Dr. John Conolly, the father of the +non-restraint system in the treatment of the insane, Rev. Dr. Andrew +Reed, Rev. Edwin Sidney, and Sir S.M. Peto have distinguished themselves +by their zeal and liberality. Extensive buildings were rented at +Highgate, near London, and at Colchester, for the accommodation of +idiotic pupils, while a strenuous and successful effort was made to +obtain the necessary funds for the erection of an asylum of great size. +The Royal Institution for Idiots, completed in 1856, has between four +hundred and five hundred beds, and is already nearly or quite full. +Essex Hall, at Colchester, has also been fitted up as a permanent +establishment for their instruction, and furnishes accommodation for +some two hundred more. Two small institutions, supported by private +beneficence, have also been organized in Scotland. + +The British institutions have admitted, to a very considerable extent, +a class of pupils who are not properly idiots, but only persons of +imbecile purpose, or simply awkward, and of partially developed +intellects. Some of these, who have arrived even at the age of +twenty-five or thirty years, have been greatly benefited, and, after +two or three years' instruction, have left the institution with as much +intelligence, apparently, as most of those in the same walk of life. +This result is, and should be, a matter of great gratification to the +managers; but it is hardly just to regard success in such cases as cures +of idiocy. The greater part of the admissions to the Royal Institution +are from the pauper and poor laboring classes; and the simple +substitution of wholesome and sufficient food for a meagre and +innutritious diet is alone sufficient to effect a marked change in them. +The greater part of the pupils in that institution are instructed in +some of the simpler mechanic arts, and the Reports assure us that they +have generally acquired them with facility. + +There can be no question of the benevolence of attempting the +restoration to society, and to active and useful life, of these +awkward, undeveloped, and backward youth,--of educating their hitherto +undeveloped faculties, of eradicating those habits which rendered them +disagreeable, and often almost unendurable; but these youths are not +idiots, and no such analogy exists between them and idiots as would +enable us to infer with certainty the successful treatment of the latter +from the comparatively rapid development of the former. + +In our own country more satisfactory data exist for determining this +point. The movement for the instruction of idiots commenced almost +simultaneously in New York and Massachusetts. The first school for +idiots in this country was commenced at Barre, Massachusetts, by Dr. +H.B. Wilbur, in July, 1848; and the Massachusetts Experimental School, +by Dr. S.G. Howe, in October of the same year. There are now in the +United States six institutions for the instruction and training of this +unfortunate class, namely: the Massachusetts School, at South Boston, +still under the general superintendence of Dr. Howe; a private +institution for idiots, imbeciles, backward and eccentric children at +Barre, under the care of Dr. George Brown, being the one originally +founded by Dr. Wilbur; the New York State Asylum for Idiots, at +Syracuse, of which Dr. Wilbur is the superintendent; a private school +for idiots and imbeciles at Haerlem, N.Y., under the care of Mr. J.B. +Richards; the Pennsylvania Training School for Idiots, at Germantown, +Penn., under the care of Dr. Parish; and an Experimental School, +recently organized, at Columbus, Ohio, under an appropriation from the +State legislature, presided over by Dr. Patterson. Of these, only the +first three have had an experience sufficiently long to offer any +reliable results from which the success of idiot instruction can be +deduced. + +The solution of the question, whether the idiot can be elevated to the +standard of mediocrity, physically and intellectually, is not merely one +of interest to the psychologist, who seeks to ascertain the metes and +bounds of the mental capacity of the race; it is also of paramount +importance to the political economist, who wishes to determine the +productive force of the community, physical and intellectual; it is +of practical interest to the statesman, who seeks to know how large a +proportion of the population are necessarily dependent upon the state or +individuals for their support; it is a matter of pecuniary importance +to the tax-payer, who is naturally desirous of learning whether these +drones in the hive, who not only perform no labor themselves, but +require others to attend them, and who often, also, from their +imbecility, are made the tools and dupes of others in the commission of +crime, cannot be transformed into producers instead of consumers, and +become quiet and orderly citizens, instead of pests in the community. + +The statistics of idiocy are necessarily imperfect. No United States +census or State enumeration is at all reliable; the idea of what +constitutes idiocy is so very vague, that one census-taker would report +_none_, in a district where another might find twenty. It is very seldom +the case that the friends or relatives of an idiot will admit that he +is more than a little eccentric; many of the worst cases in the +institutions for idiots were brought there by friends who protested that +they were not idiots, but only a little singular in their habits. + +In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ohio, efforts have been made, by +correspondence with physicians and town officers, to obtain data from +which an approximate estimate might be attained. These efforts, though +not so satisfactory as could be desired, are yet sufficient to authorize +the conclusion that there are in those three States (and probably the +same figures would hold good for the rest of the Union) about one fifth +of one per cent. of the population who are idiots of low grade, and +about the same number who are of weak and imbecile intellect. This would +give us in the United States about fifty-two thousand idiots, and as +many more imbeciles. At the lowest estimate, the cost of supporting this +vast army of the unfortunate, beyond the trifling sum which a few of +them may be able to earn, is more than ten millions of dollars per +annum. Nor is this all, or even the worst feature of their case. The +greater part of them are without sense of shame, without any notions of +chastity or decency, and so weak in moral sense as to be the ready +tools and dupes of artful villains, and often themselves exhibit a +perverseness and malignity of character which render them dangerous +members of society. Their influence for evil, direct and indirect, no +man can estimate. The chaplains and other officers of our State prisons +and penitentiaries will testify that a large proportion of the inmates +of those establishments, though not idiots, are weak-minded and +imbecile; and it by no means a rare circumstance to find persons, who +should properly be under treatment as idiots, suffering the doom of the +felon. + +Under these circumstances, the question, What can be done with this +unfortunate and helpless class? becomes one of great importance. + +A careful examination of the institutions for their training in this +country and Europe, and an extended inquiry into their present condition +when not under instruction, have enabled us to arrive at the following +conclusions. + +There is very little hope of any considerable permanent improvement of +the idiot, if not placed under training before his sixteenth year. +His habits may, indeed, be somewhat amended, and the mind temporarily +roused; but this improvement will seldom continue after he is removed +from the institution. + +The existence of severe epilepsy, or other profound disease, is a +serious bar to success. + +Of those not affected by epilepsy, who are brought under instruction in +childhood, from one third to one fourth may be so far improved as to +become capable of performing the ordinary duties of life with tolerable +fidelity and ability. They may acquire sufficient knowledge to be able +to read, to write, to understand the elementary facts of geography, +history, and arithmetic; they may be capable of writing a passable +letter; they may acquire a sufficient knowledge of farming, or of the +mechanic arts, to be able to work well and faithfully under appropriate +supervision; they may attain a sufficient knowledge of the government +and laws under which they live, to be qualified to exercise the +electoral franchise quite as well as many of those who do exercise it; +they may make such advances in morals, as to act with justice and honor +toward their fellow-men, and exhibit the influence of Christianity in +changing their degraded and wayward natures to purity, chastity, and +holiness. + +A larger class, probably one half of the whole, can be so much +benefited, as to become cleanly in their habits, quiet in their +deportment, capable, perhaps, of reading and writing, but not of +original composition, able to perform, with suitable supervision, many +kinds of work which require little close thought, and, under the care of +friends, of becoming happy and useful. This class, if neglected after +leaving the school, will be likely to relapse into some of their early +habits, but if properly cared for, may continue to improve. + +A small number, and as frequently, perhaps, as otherwise, those +apparently the most promising at entering, will make little or no +progress. It cannot be predicted beforehand that such will be the result +of any case, for the most hopeless at entering have often made decided +advancement; but the fact remains, that no methods of instruction +yet adopted will _invariably_ develope the slumbering intellect, or +strengthen and correct the enfeebled or depraved will. + +The institutions for the training of idiots should be greatly +multiplied, and should have a department for awkward, eccentric, and +backward children. The methods adopted would be of great benefit to +these, and would often call into activity intellects which might be +useful in their proper spheres. + +We regard this great movement for the improvement of a class hitherto +considered so hopeless, as one of the most honorable and benevolent +enterprises of our time. It is yet in its infancy; but we hope to see, +ere many years have passed, in every State of our Union, asylums reared, +where these waifs of humanity shall be gathered, and such training +given them as may develope in the highest degree possible the hitherto +rudimentary faculties of their minds, and render them capable of +performing, in some humble measure, their part in the drama of life. + + * * * * * + + +AMOURS DE VOYAGE. + + Oh, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, + And taste with a distempered appetite! Shakspeare. + + Il doutait de tout, même de l'amour.--French Novel. + + Solvitur ambulando. Solutio Sophismatum. + + Flevit amores + Non elaboratum ad pedem.--Horace. + + + Over the great windy waters, and over the clear crested summits, + Unto the sun and the sky, and unto the perfecter earth, + Come, let us go,--to a land wherein gods of the old time wandered, + Where every breath even now changes to ether divine. + Come, let us go; though withal a voice whisper, "The world that we + live in, + Whithersoever we turn, still is the same narrow crib; + 'Tis but to prove limitation, and measure a cord, that we travel; + Let who would 'scape and be free go to his chamber and think; + 'Tis but to change idle fancies for memories wilfully falser; + 'Tis but to go and have been."--Come, little bark, let us go! + + + I.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Dear Eustatio, I write that you may write me an answer, + Or at the least to put us _en rapport_ with each other. + Rome disappoints me much,--St. Peter's, perhaps, in especial; + Only the Arch of Titus and view from the Lateran please me: + This, however, perhaps, is the weather, which truly is horrid. + Greece must be better, surely; and yet I am feeling so spiteful, + That I could travel to Athens, to Delphi, and Troy, and Mount Sinai, + Though but to see with my eyes that these are vanity also. + + Rome disappoints me much; I hardly as yet understand, but + _Rubbishy_ seems the word that most exactly would suit it. + All the foolish destructions, and all the sillier savings, + All the incongruous things of past incompatible ages, + Seem to be treasured up here to make fools of present and future. + Would to Heaven the old Goths had made a cleaner sweep of it! + Would to Heaven some new ones would come and destroy me these churches! + However, one can live in Rome as also in London. + Rome is better than London, because it is other than London. + It is a blessing, no doubt, to be rid, at least for a time, of + All one's friends and relations,--yourself (forgive me!) included,-- + All the _assujettissement_ of having been what one has been, + What one thinks one is, or thinks that others suppose one; + Yet, in despite of all, we turn like fools to the English. + Vernon has been my fate; who is here the same that you knew him,-- + Making the tour, it seems, with friends of the name of Trevellyn. + + + II.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Rome disappoints me still; but I shrink and adapt myself to it. + Somehow a tyrannous sense of a superincumbent oppression + Still, wherever I go, accompanies ever, and makes me + Feel like a tree (shall I say?) buried under a ruin of brick-work. + Rome, believe me, my friend, is like its own Monte Testaceo, + Merely a marvellous mass of broken and castaway wine-pots. + Ye gods! what do I want with this rubbish of ages departed, + Things that Nature abhors, the experiments that she has failed in? + What do I think of the Forum? An archway and two or three pillars. + Well, but St. Peter's? Alas, Bernini has filled it with sculpture! + No one can cavil, I grant, at the size of the great Coliseum. + Doubtless the notion of grand and capacious and massive amusement, + This the old Romans had; but tell me, is this an idea? + Yet of solidity much, but of splendor little is extant: + "Brickwork I found thee, and marble I left thee!" their Emperor vaunted; + "Marble I thought thee, and brickwork I find thee!" the Tourist may + answer. + + + III.--GEORGINA TREVELLYN TO LOUISA -----. + + At last, dearest Louisa, I take up my pen to address you. + Here we are, you see, with the seven-and-seventy boxes, + Courier, Papa and Mamma, the children, and Mary and Susan: + Here we all are at Rome, and delighted of course with St Peter's, + And very pleasantly lodged in the famous Piazza di Spagna. + Rome is a wonderful place, but Mary shall tell you about it; + Not very gay, however; the English are mostly at Naples; + There are the A.s, we hear, and most of the W. party. + George, however, is come; did I tell you about his mustachios? + Dear, I must really stop, for the carriage, they tell me, is waiting. + Mary will finish; and Susan is writing, they say, to Sophia. + Adieu, dearest Louise,--evermore your faithful Georgina. + Who can a Mr. Claude be whom George has taken to be with? + Very stupid, I think, but George says so _very_ clever. + + + IV.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + No, the Christian faith, as at any rate I understood it, + With its humiliations and exaltations combining, + Exaltations sublime, and yet diviner abasements, + Aspirations from something most shameful here upon earth and + In our poor selves to something most perfect above in the heavens,-- + No, the Christian faith, as I, at least, understood it, + Is not here, O Rome, in any of these thy churches; + Is not here, but in Freiberg, or Rheims, or Westminster Abbey. + What in thy Dome I find, in all thy recenter efforts, + Is a something, I think, more _rational_ far, more earthly, + Actual, less ideal, devout not in scorn and refusal, + But in a positive, calm, Stoic-Epicurean acceptance. + This I begin to detect in St. Peter's and some of the churches, + Mostly in all that I see of the sixteenth-century masters; + Overlaid of course with infinite gauds and gewgaws, + Innocent, playful follies, the toys and trinkets of childhood, + Forced on maturer years, as the serious one thing essential, + By the barbarian will of the rigid and ignorant Spaniard. + + + V.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Luther, they say, was unwise; like a half-taught German, he could not + See that old follies were passing most tranquilly out of remembrance; + Leo the Tenth was employing all efforts to clear out abuses; + Jupiter, Juno, and Venus, Fine Arts, and Fine Letters, the Poets, + Scholars, and Sculptors, and Painters, were quietly clearing away the + Martyrs, and Virgins, and Saints, or at any rate Thomas Aquinas. + He must forsooth make a fuss and distend his huge Wittenberg lungs, and + Bring back Theology once yet again in a flood upon Europe: + Lo, you, for forty days from the windows of heaven it fell; the + Waters prevail on the earth yet more for a hundred and fifty; + Are they abating at last? The doves that are sent to explore are + Wearily fain to return, at the best with a leaflet of promise,-- + Fain to return, as they went, to the wandering wave-tost vessel,-- + Fain to reënter the roof which covers the clean and the unclean. + Luther, they say, was unwise; he didn't see how things were going; + Luther was foolish,--but, O great God! what call you Ignatius? + O my tolerant soul, be still! but you talk of barbarians, + Alaric, Attila, Genseric;--why, they came, they killed, they + Ravaged, and went on their way; but these vile, tyrannous Spaniards, + These are here still,--how long, O ye Heavens, in the country of Dante? + These, that fanaticized Europe, which now can forget them, release not + This, their choicest of prey, this Italy; here you can see them,-- + Here, with emasculate pupils and gimcrack churches of Gesu, + Pseudo-learning and lies, confessional-boxes and postures,-- + Here, with metallic beliefs and regimental devotions,-- + Here, overcrusting with shame, perverting, defacing, debasing, + Michael Angelo's dome, that had hung the Pantheon in heaven, + Raphael's Joys and Graces, and thy clear stars, Galileo! + + + VI.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Which of three Misses Trevellyn it is that Vernon shall marry + Is not a thing to be known; for our friend's is one of those natures + Which have their perfect delight in the general tender-domestic, + So that he trifles with Mary's shawl, ties Susan's bonnet, + Dances with all, but at home is most, they say, with Georgina, + Who is, however, _too_ silly in my apprehension for Vernon. + I, as before when I wrote, continue to see them a little; + Not that I like them so much, or care a _bajocco_ for Vernon, + But I am slow at Italian, have not many English acquaintance, + And I am asked, in short, and am not good at excuses. + Middle-class people these, bankers very likely, not wholly + Pure of the taint of the shop; will at table d'hôte and restaurant + Have their shilling's worth, their penny's pennyworth even: + Neither man's aristocracy this, nor God's, God knoweth! + Yet they are fairly descended, they give you to know, well connected; + Doubtless somewhere in some neighborhood have, and careful to keep, some + Threadbare-genteel relations, who in their turn are enchanted + Grandly among county people to introduce at assemblies + To the unpennied cadets our cousins with excellent fortunes. + Neither man's aristocracy this, nor God's, God knoweth! + + + VII.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Ah, what a shame, indeed, to abuse these most worthy people! + Ah, what a sin to have sneered at their innocent rustic pretensions! + Is it not laudable really, this reverent worship of station? + Is it not fitting that wealth should tender this homage to culture? + Is it not touching to witness these efforts, if little availing, + Painfully made, to perform the old ritual service of manners? + Shall not devotion atone for the absence of knowledge? and fervor + Palliate, cover, the fault of a superstitious observance? + Dear, dear, what have I said? but, alas, just now, like Iago, + I can be nothing at all, if it is not critical wholly; + So in fantastic height, in coxcomb exaltation, + Here in the Garden I walk, can freely concede to the Maker + That the works of his hand are all very good: his creatures, + Beast of the field and fowl, he brings them before me; I name them; + That which I name them, they are,--the bird, the beast, and the cattle. + But for Adam,--alas, poor critical coxcomb Adam! + But for Adam there is not found an help-meet for him. + + + VIII.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + No, great Dome of Agrippa, thou art not Christian! canst not, + Strip and replaster and daub and do what they will with thee, be so! + Here underneath the great porch of colossal Corinthian columns, + Here as I walk, do I dream of the Christian belfries above them; + Or on a bench as I sit and abide for long hours, till thy whole vast + Round grows dim as in dreams to my eyes, I repeople thy niches, + Not with the Martyrs, and Saints, and Confessors, and Virgins, + and children, + But with the mightier forms of an older, austerer worship; + And I recite to myself, how + + Eager for battle here + Stood Vulcan, here matronal Juno, + And with the bow to his shoulder faithful + He who with pure dew laveth of Castaly + His flowing locks, who holdeth of Lycia + The oak forest and the wood that bore him, + Delos and Patara's own Apollo.[A] + +[Footnote A: + + Hic avidus stetit + Vulcanus, hic matrona Juno, et + Nunquam humero positurus arcum; + Qui rore puro Castaliae lavat + Crines solutos, qui Lyciae tenet + Dumeta natalemque sylvum, + Delius et Patareus Apollo.] + + + IX.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Yet it is pleasant, I own it, to be in their company: pleasant, + Whatever else it may be, to abide in the feminine presence. + Pleasant, but wrong, will you say? But this happy, serene coexistence + Is to some poor soft souls, I fear, a necessity simple, + Meat and drink and life, and music, filling with sweetness, + Thrilling with melody sweet, with harmonies strange overwhelming, + All the long-silent strings of an awkward, meaningless fabric. + Yet as for that, I could live, I believe, with children; to have those + Pure and delicate forms encompassing, moving about you, + This were enough, I could think; and truly with glad resignation + Could from the dream of romance, from the fever of flushed adolescence, + Look to escape and subside into peaceful avuncular functions. + Nephews and nieces! alas, for as yet I have none! and, moreover, + Mothers are jealous, I fear me, too often, too rightfully; fathers + Think they have title exclusive to spoiling their own little darlings; + And by the law of the land, in despite of Malthusian doctrine, + No sort of proper provision is made for that most patriotic, + Most meritorious subject, the childless and bachelor uncle. + + + X.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + Ye, too, marvellous Twain, that erect on the Monte Cavallo + Stand by your rearing steeds in the grace of your motionless movement, + Stand with your upstretched arms and tranquil regardant faces, + Stand as instinct with life in the might of immutable manhood,-- + O ye mighty and strange, ye ancient divine ones of Hellas, + Are ye Christian too? to convert and redeem and renew you, + Will the brief form have sufficed, that a Pope has set up on the apex + Of the Egyptian stone that o'ertops you the Christian symbol? + And ye, silent, supreme in serene and victorious marble, + Ye that encircle the walls of the stately Vatican chambers, + Juno and Ceres, Minerva, Apollo, the Muses and Bacchus, + Ye unto whom far and near come posting the Christian pilgrims, + Ye that are ranged in the halls of the mystic Christian pontiff, + Are ye also baptized? are ye of the Kingdom of Heaven? + Utter, O some one, the word that shall reconcile Ancient and Modern! + Am I to turn me for this unto thee, great Chapel of Sixtus? + + + XI.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + These are the facts. The uncle, the elder brother, the squire, (a + Little embarrassed, I fancy,) resides in a family place in + Cornwall, of course. "Papa is in business," Mary informs me; + He's a good sensible man, whatever his trade is. The mother + Is--shall I call it fine?--herself she would tell you refined, and + Greatly, I fear me, looks down on my bookish and maladroit manners; + Somewhat affecteth the blue; would talk to me often of poets; + Quotes, which I hate, Childe Harold; but also appreciates Wordsworth; + Sometimes adventures on Schiller; and then to religion diverges; + Questions me much about Oxford; and yet, in her loftiest flights, still + Grates the fastidious ear with the slightly mercantile accent. + + Is it contemptible, Eustace,--I'm perfectly ready to think so,-- + Is it,--the horrible pleasure of pleasing inferior people? + I am ashamed my own self; and yet true it is, if disgraceful, + That for the first time in life I am living and moving with freedom. + I, who never could talk to the people I meet with my uncle,-- + I, who have always failed,--I, trust me, can suit the Trevellyns; + I, believe me,--great conquest,--am liked by the country bankers. + And I am glad to be liked, and like in return very kindly. + So it proceeds; _Laissez faire, laissez aller_,--such is the watchword. + Well, I know there are thousands as pretty and hundreds as pleasant, + Girls by the dozen as good, and girls in abundance with polish + Higher and manners more perfect than Susan or Mary Trevellyn. + Well, I know, after all, it is only juxtaposition,-- + Juxtaposition, in short; and what is juxtaposition? + + + XII.--CLAUDE TO EUSTACE. + + But I am in for it now,--_laissez faire_, of a truth, _laissez aller_. + Yes, I am going,--I feel it, I feel and cannot recall it,-- + Fusing with this thing and that, entering into all sorts of relations, + Tying I know not what ties, which, whatever they are, I know one thing, + Will and must, woe is me, be one day painfully broken,-- + Broken with painful remorses, with shrinkings of soul, and relentings, + Foolish delays, more foolish evasions, most foolish renewals. + But I am in for it now,--I have quitted the ship of Ulysses; + Yet on my lips is the _moly_, medicinal, offered of Hermes. + I have passed into the precinct, the labyrinth closes around me, + Path into path rounding slyly; I pace slowly on, and the fancy, + Struggling awhile to sustain the long sequences, weary, bewildered, + Fain must collapse in despair; I yield, I am lost and know nothing; + Yet in my bosom unbroken remaineth the clue; I shall use it. + Lo, with the rope on my loins I descend through the fissure; I sink, yet + Inly secure in the strength of invisible arms up above me; + Still, wheresoever I swing, wherever to shore, or to shelf, or + Floor of cavern untrodden, shell-sprinkled, enchanting, I know I + Yet shall one time feel the strong cord tighten about me,-- + Feel it, relentless, upbear me from spots I would rest in; and though the + Rope sway wildly, I faint, crags wound me, from crag unto crag re- + Bounding, or, wide in the void, I die ten deaths ere the end, I + Yet shall plant firm foot on the broad lofty spaces I quit, shall + Feel underneath me again the great massy strengths of abstraction, + Look yet abroad from the height o'er the sea whose salt wave I + have tasted. + + + XIII.--GEORGINA TREVELLYN TO LOUISA ----- + + DEAREST LOUISA,--Inquire, if you please, about Mr. Claude -----. + He has been once at R., and remembers meeting the H.s. + Harriet L., perhaps, may be able to tell you about him. + It is an awkward youth, but still with very good manners; + Not without prospects, we hear; and, George says, highly connected. + Georgy declares it absurd, but Mamma is alarmed and insists he has + Taken up strange opinions and may be turning a Papist. + Certainly once he spoke of a daily service he went to. + "Where?" we asked, and he laughed and answered, "At the Pantheon." + This was a temple, you know, and now is a Catholic church; and + Though it is said that Mazzini has sold it for Protestant service, + Yet I suppose the change can hardly as yet be effected. + Adieu again,--evermore, my dearest, your loving Georgina. + + P.S. BY MARY TREVELLYN. + + I am to tell you, you say, what I think of our last new acquaintance. + Well, then, I think that George has a very fair right to be jealous. + I do not like him much, though I do not dislike being with him. + He is what people call, I suppose, a superior man, and + Certainly seems so to me; but I think he is frightfully selfish. + + * * * * * + + Alba, thou findest me still, and, Alba, thou findest me ever, + Now from the Capitol steps, now over Titus's Arch, + Here from the large grassy spaces that spread from the Lateran portal, + Towering o'er aqueduct lines lost in perspective between, + Or from a Vatican window, or bridge, or the high Coliseum, + Clear by the garlanded line cut of the Flavian ring. + Beautiful can I not call thee, and yet thou hast power to o'ermaster, + Power of mere beauty; in dreams, Alba, thou hauntest me still. + Is it religion? I ask me; or is it a vain superstition? + Slavery abject and gross? service, too feeble, of truth? + Is it an idol I bow to, or is it a god that I worship? + Do I sink back on the old, or do I soar from the mean? + So through the city I wander and question, unsatisfied ever, + Reverent so I accept, doubtful because I revere. + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + +MY AQUARIUM. + + +On the tenth of May, 1857, I became the glad possessor of a tank capable +of holding thirteen or fourteen gallons of water. Its substantial frame +of well-seasoned oak, its stout plank bottom, lavishly covered with +cement, promised to resist alike the heat and dryness from without and +the wet within. The sides and ends, of double flint-glass, seemed to +invite the eye across their clearness. Its chosen site was at a south +window, so shaded by a wing of the house as to receive only the morning +sun for about two hours; and clustering vines overhung the window, so +that the beams fell in checkered light. All was now ready. + +A few fragments of white quartz were arranged in rude imitation of ocean +recesses, and in their fissures were placed four or five small plants +of Enteromorpha and Corallina. Sand was strewn upon the bottom, to the +depth of two inches, and ten gallons of sea-water were then poured in. +This had been brought from one of the wharves, at high tide, twenty-four +hours previously, and twice drawn off with a siphon,--each time after +twelve hours' rest. It was not, however, perfectly translucent, and at +the end of a week was still cloudy. On the fifth day after the tank was +filled, I began to introduce the animals to their future home. + +Ten Buccina were first put in possession, in the hope that they would +perform the part of gardeners to the young plants. On the sixth day, +seven Actinias were disposed upon the rock-work. On the seventh, a +Horsefoot (or, as our Southern neighbors call it, a King-Crab, though of +most unregal aspect) was allowed to make his burrow in the sand. On +the eighth day, four Hermit and Soldier Crabs and two Sand-Crabs were +invited to choose their several retreats. On the ninth, three fine +Sticklebacks and three Minnows were made free of the mimic ocean; and on +the tenth, an Eel and two Prawns. + +All seemed well until the evening of the twelfth day, when a small white +cloud was seen rising from the bottom. The spot was searched for some +dead member of the new colony; but none was found, either there, or in +any other part of the tank. + +Supposing that the impure gas might be generated by the decay of minute +creatures congregated in the cloudy corner, a lump of charcoal was tied +to a stone and sunk upon the spot. Next morning, the cloud had cleared +from around the charcoal, but slender wreaths of similar appearance were +rapidly rising from the sand in every other part of the Aquarium. The +fishes came oftener to the surface than they were wont, and all the +animals had lost vigor. + +Aeration was resorted to, which was performed by dipping up the water, +and pouring it back in a thin stream from a height of several feet, +continuing the operation for ten minutes. This was repeated four or five +times during the day, and at night more charcoal was added. Some of the +pieces were sunk to the bottom, and others were suspended at different +depths in the water. + +Two or three days passed in this way,--the putrescence kept in check by +the means used, but not entirely overcome. Meantime, though none of the +stock had died, there was less vitality than at first; especially each +morning, after seven or eight hours unaided by aeration. + +Tired of what seemed an ineffectual struggle, I determined to leave the +Aquarium untouched for a day, and await the result. Accordingly, the +charcoal was withdrawn and aeration discontinued. The milky cloud +increased in density, and the whole mass of water became turbid. The +fishes kept constantly near the surface, swam languidly, and snatched +mouthfuls of atmospheric air. The Eel became bloodshot about the gills, +and, writhing, gasped for breath. The Soldier-Crabs hung listlessly +from their shells, and no longer went about in quest of food. Even the +Actinise shrunk to half their former size; and the Buccina, crawling +above the water, ranged themselves in a row upon the dry glass. + +Disappointed, but not discouraged, I filled several shallow pans with +pure sea-water, clean sand, and fresh plants, and transferred to them my +suffering and wellnigh exhausted animals. A day restored them to their +normal condition, and now I was ready to begin my Aquarium anew. + +But to what purpose should I begin anew? Would there not be the same +failure? What had been wrong? + +At least two great faults were evident. First, in order to guard against +the possibility of a leak, the bottom and posts of the tank had been +covered with many coats of an alcoholic varnish. Now it was probable +that time enough had not elapsed between the several applications for +the thorough evaporation of the alcohol. Might not its gradual infusion +in the water have caused the death of the animalcula in such numbers as +to taint the whole by their decay? + +The second fault was, strewing upon the surface of the sand a handful or +two of white powdered quartz, which, from having been pulverized in an +iron mortar, was so oxydized as to turn a deep yellow. This might have +poisoned the animalcula. + +The first fault seemed to me the chief, but I proceeded to remedy both. +The whole contents of the tank being removed, it was thoroughly washed +on the inside, exposed for several days to the sun and air, and then +soaked for twelve hours in clean sea-water. This being thrown away, the +stones, scalded and well-washed, were restored, and clean sand, replaced +the old. + +Water was drawn from the dock at high tide; but it was less clear now, +on the fourth of June, than that which had been got early in May. This +surprised me not a little; for, as I stood upon the wharf and looked +down into it just before sunset on the previous evening, I was struck +with its beautiful limpidity. Curious to see if its aspect remained +unaltered, I went to the same spot where I had stood the night before. +The tide was at the same height, but twelve hours had made a marvellous +change in the appearance of the water. Its sparkling clearness had given +way to greenness and turbidity, and no object could be seen a foot below +the surface. No storm had stirred its depths during the night,--why this +change? Conjecture was of no practical utility, and I returned home +satisfied that my fifteen gallons of water were as clear as any it was +then in my power to obtain. Covering the tub from the dust, I left it to +settle until sunset. Then the ever-useful siphon drew off two thirds of +it tolerably clear, leaving a thick green deposit upon the sides +and bottom of the vessel. Next day, it was again drawn off from the +sediment, (at this time, small in quantity,) and poured into the tank. +Several newly obtained plants of well-growing Enteromorpha and Corallina +were arranged among the stones, and the Aquarium was left at rest. +Gradually the water became nearly clear, but not perfectly so until +after the introduction of animals. + +Eight days after it was filled, the Actinias were put in; on the ninth, +several small Mollusks; on the tenth, Crustacea; and on the eleventh and +twelfth, other varieties of the same types; but not until the fourteenth +day were fishes ventured upon. + +Day by day the water grew clearer and clearer, until, at the end of +three weeks, it was beautifully translucent. Three more weeks passed, +during which the beauty of the Aquarium was much heightened by a +luxuriant growth of Confervae mingled with Enteromorpha, which together +covered all those parts of the stones which received a direct light. +The mimic rocks seemed draped in green velvet, and in the sunlight were +studded with pearly bubbles. There was, however, one blemish: the hungry +crabs had so nibbled the larger plants that it was deemed necessary to +renew them, in order to secure a sufficient supply of food and oxygen. +Accordingly, a fine specimen of Enteromorpha was added. It consisted of +five or six delicate fronds about five inches in length, and these soon +increased to treble their original number and twice their original size. +At the end of about two weeks, they suddenly became covered with a dull +bluish mould, at the same time ceasing to give out bubbles; and the +whole plant, instead of rising to the surface of the water as hitherto, +hung limp from the fissure where it was placed, and trailed upon the +sand. Coincidently, (was it consequently?) a greenish tinge pervaded the +water, speedily increasing in depth and opacity. In five days, no object +could be discerned six inches from the glass, and my beautiful Aquarium +was transformed to an unsightly ditch. + +Yet the water was apparently pure, and the activity of its inhabitants +was in no wise lessened. What was this vexatious greenness? Was it +animal or vegetable? Was it the diffused spores of the perfected +Enteromorpha or of the rank Confervae upon the stones? If neither, what +was its cause? + +Excess of light was the most obvious suggestion; and so it was supposed +that its exclusion might be a potent remedy. Therefore a double curtain +of glazed muslin was stretched across the window; and the tank, both top +and sides, wrapped in folds of paper. A week of darkness changed the +deep green to a dingy olive. But the experiment could not be continued. +The nightly admission of air by lifting the paper covering was +insufficient to maintain the imprisoned creatures. They were happy, +though captive, while in a mimic ocean, but miserable in a dark dungeon. +Languid and spiritless, they lay supine, or crawled listlessly and +aimlessly about. This would not do, and so light was again admitted +freely to all but one side of the tank; there, a screen of yellow paper +intercepted the direct rays of the sun, while upon the top they fell +through the foliage of a Clematis vine. + +Three weeks more wrought a slight change for the better; but it was too +slight and too slow for my patience, or that of curious friends waiting +to see my Aquarium. + +The second experiment had failed, and so once more the tank was emptied. +Two or three animals only had died; all the others gave evidence of +health. Again they were removed to other vessels, and again I began +anew. + +Clean sand, clean stones, water drawn at high tide and carefully +decanted, three small plants of Ulva Latissima, with one clump of +Corallina Officinalis, made up the contents of the tank, when, on the +tenth of August, it was the third time filled. A sheet of yellow paper +was placed between the tank and the window, and it was left three days +at rest. At the end of that time, the water, which was beautifully clear +when introduced, had grown a little hazy, and, as the sunbeams fell +aslant it, the unaided eye could perceive a multitude of minute whitish +creatures darting forward and backward like a swarm of bees. Then five +Actinias were laid upon the rocks, to which they at once adhered, +spreading out their restless tentacles in busy seizure of the tiny prey. +In a week more the foggy appearance had ceased; but the clearness of the +water was marred by the slimy exudations from the Actinias. Knowing +that this matter was eaten by some of the Crustacea, five or six small +Soldier-Crabs were dropped in, which faithfully performed their allotted +labor. From this time, animals were added daily, until they had reached +to thirty in number. On the fifteenth of September, a fine specimen of +brown Chondrus Crispus was added, and on the thirtieth, a very large +frond of Ulva Latissima. A great portion of the Chondrus decayed at its +junction with the shell on which it grew, and fell off; but the Ulva +increased much in size, as well as in depth of color and firmness of +texture. + +And now months have gone by, and at last my Aquarium is successful. +Fifty lively denizens now sport in the crystalline water and come at the +daily roll-call. Come with me and I will introduce them to you. A fig +for scientific nomenclature! you shall know them by their household +names. + +This Bernhard Crab in the front, so leisurely pushing away the sand +before him with his broad, flat claws, quietly enjoys the meal he finds, +undisturbed by fears of a failing supply. There is less of enterprise +than complacency in his character, and I call him Micawber, for he +is always expecting "something to turn up." Twice since March has he +changed his coat, and thrown off his tight boots and gloves for new +ones. The disrobing seemed to give him little trouble, though he sat +dozing at the door of his cell some hours after, as though fatigued by +the unusual effort. Very becoming is the new costume; and the red coat +is prettily relieved by the gray tint of his Diogenes-like dwelling. + +There goes a military cousin of his, striding along, with his heavy +armor clattering against the glass as he walks. A pugnacious fellow is +that same soldier; and if he meet an opponent, you may see the tug of +war. Should he chance to prefer the other's shield to his own, he will +seize him in his burly arms, and shake him from under its protection. +Yet he is cautious withal; for though obliged to doff his own armor +before he can try that of his denuded foe, he retains hold of both until +satisfied with the trial. If he like the new mail, he will march off +with it; if not, he will array himself in his own again. Meanwhile the +vanquished combatant waits tremblingly the result of the examination, +glad to get possession of the rejected defence, be it which it may. + +Yon dark little crab, with the bulky claws so gayly mottled with yellow +and black, lurks in that hole at the base of the cliff nearly all day +long. His name is 'Possum; for at the slightest sign of danger +he doubles up his claws like a dead spider, and lies in feigned +lifelessness. + +Speaking of spiders,--here are two Spider-Crabs, the very monkeys of +this aqueous menagerie. The small one climbing the post is Topsy. There +she is, sliding down again, and with headlong pace is now scampering +over yon yielding Anemone. Heedless of its hundred arms, so generally +dreaded and avoided, she jumps this way and that across its wide mouth; +and now, seated on its back, she snatches morsels from its shrinking +side. Now look at her sister sprite, Crazy Kate. Her head adorned with +a long plume of Coralline, she is tearing ribbon-like shreds from the +silky lettuce and hanging them upon her already fantastic person. Anon +she dances in mad glee, and next her arms are solemnly stretched upward +in grotesque similitude to one in prayer. + +When she is hungry, she will, one by one, take off those weedy trophies +from her back and feed upon them. + +Why do you start? That is not a sea-serpent winding from under the arch, +but only an innocent Eel. Yet innocent and tiny though it be, there is +something frightful about it. Its fixed, staring eye, its snake-like +stealthiness, bid you be on your guard. Sometimes it rises behind that +bushy Carrageen, and with high uplifted head peers over at me in such +a way that I am half afraid; it is so like the old pictures of Satan +tempting Eve. + +Would you like to see an Actinia eat? I will drop a bit of raw oyster +upon its outspread disk. See with what eager start it closes its fingers +about the dainty viand, passing it along slowly, but surely, to its +now gaping mouth, while every nerve is vibrating with the anticipated +pleasure of the feast! That milk-white one is my favorite, and I call it +Una. Seated in modest contentment on that brown-stone seat, she upturns +her pure face to the mild light of evening; but folds her arms, and bows +her head, and veils herself, when the noon-day sun gazes too ardently +upon her. + +This one in the rich salmon-colored robe has all our national propensity +for travelling. Wandering restlessly about, she never remains two days +on the same spot. Yesterday, she climbed the cliff, and sat looking off +upon the water nearly all day long. To-day, she has come down to the +sand, where, with base distended, as if in caricature of crinoline, she +perambulates the crowded thoroughfare. + +Here is a semi-twin, one base and two trunks. Shall I call it Janus, for +its two faces? or will Chang-and-Eng best distinguish this dual unit? +Sometimes, one, with tentacles in-tucked and mouth sealed, seems dozing; +while his waking brother is busily waving his arms for food. At another +time, you may see them both folded together in sleep, like the Babes in +the Woods all bestrewn with leaves. + +Ah, you should have seen my Amphitrite! She bore her plumy crown so +grandly, you would have said she was indeed the queen of Actiniae. But, +alas! she could not brook imprisonment, and, pining for the unwalled +grottoes of Poseidon, she drooped and died. + +Behind that sheltering rock, and overhung with sea-weed, there is a +dark, deep cave, the chosen abode of Giant Grim. Push one of those +soldiers to the mouth of the den and wait the result. At the first +movement made by the unwitting trespasser on guarded ground, two long, +flexile rods are thrust out, reconnoitring right and left. Two huge +claws follow, lighted up by two great glaring eyes. At last the whole +creature emerges, seizes the intruder, and bears him swiftly away, far +beyond his jealously kept premises. With dogged mien he stalks gravely +back to his stronghold. You exclaim, "It is a Lobster!" A lobster truly; +but saw you ever a lobster with such presence before? Does he resemble +the poor bewildered crustaceans you have seen bunched together at a +fish-stall? Bears he any likeness to the innocent-looking edibles you +have seen lying on a dish, by boiling turned, like the morn, from black +to red? + +Those ghost-like Prawns are near relatives of the giant. See them, +gliding so gracefully from under the arch, disappearing under the waving +Ulva, and floating into sight again from behind the cliff. At night, if +you look at them athwart a lighted candle, their eyes are seen to glow +like living rubies. As they row silently and swiftly towards you, you +might fancy each a fairy gondola, with gem-lighted prow. + +A quick dashing startles you, and you see a Scallop rising to the top of +the water with zigzag jerks, and immediately sinking to the sand again, +on the side opposite that whence it started. There it rests with +expanded branchiae and moving cilia; a rude passer-by jostles it, and +with startled sensitiveness it shrinks from the outer world and hides +behind a stony mask. + +The small, greenish, rough-coated creature, so like a flattened burr, +is an Echinus. It is hardly domiciliated, being a new-comer, and creeps +restlessly across the glass. + +Under this sand-mound some one lies self-buried,--not dead, but only +hiding from the crowd in this bustling watering-place. He must learn +that there is no lasting retirement in Newport; so tap with a stick at +his lodging. With anger vexed, forth rushes the Swimming-Crab and dashes +away from the unwelcome visitor. As if he knew a bore to be the most +persistent of hunters, he plies his paddles with rapid beat until far +from his invaded chamber. His swimming is more like the fluttering of a +butterfly than the steady poise of a fish. Pretty as is his variegated +coat by day, it is far more beautiful by night; then his limbs shine +with metallic lustre, and every joint seems tinged with molten gold. + +I could spend the day in showing you my Aquarium;--the merry antics +of the blithe Minnows; the slow wheeling of the less vivacious +Sticklebacks; the beautiful siphon of the Quahaug and the Clam; the +starry disk of the Serpula; the snug tent of the Limpet; the lithe +proboscis of the busy Buccinum; the erect and rapid march of his little +flesh-tinted cousin; the slow Horsefoot, balancing his huge umbrella as +he goes; the----But I cannot name them all. + +Neither could you learn to know them at a single visit. Come and sit by +this indoor sea, day by day, and learn to love its people. Many a lesson +for good have they taught me. When weary and disheartened, the patient +perseverance of these undoubting beings has given me new impulses upward +and onward. Remembering that their sole guide is instinct, while mine is +the voice behind me, saying, "This is the way," I have risen with new +resolve to walk therein. Seeing the blind persistency with which some +straying zoöphyte has refused to follow other counsel than its own, I +have learned that self-reliance and strength of will are not, in higher +natures, virtues for gratulation, but, if unsanctified, faults to blush +for. Finding each creature here so fitted with organs and instincts for +the life it was meant to lead, I have considered that to me also is +given all that I ought to wish, more than I have ever rightly used. + +New evidences are here disclosed to me of God's care for his creation, +deepening my faith in the fact that he is not merely the great First +Cause, but still the watchful Father. New revelations teach me of his +sympathy in our joys, as well as of his care for our necessities. The +Maker's love of the beautiful fills me with gladness, and I catch +new glimpses of those boundless regions where the perfection of his +conceptions has never been marred by sin; and where each of us who +may attain thereto shall find a fitting sphere for every energy, an +answering joy for every pure aspiration. + + * * * * * + + +THE QUEEN OF THE RED CHESSMEN. + + +The box of chessmen had been left open all night. That was a great +oversight! For everybody knows that the contending chessmen are but too +eager to fight their battles over again by mid-night, if a chance is +only allowed them. + +It was at the Willows,--so called, not because the house is surrounded +by willows, but because a little clump of them hangs over the pond close +by. It is a pretty place, with its broad lawn in front of the door-way, +its winding avenue hidden from the road by high trees. It is a quiet +place, too; the sun rests gently on the green lawn, and the drooping +leaves of the willows hang heavily over the water. + +No one would imagine what violent contests were going on under the still +roof, this very night. It was the night of the first of May. The moon +came silently out from the shadows; the trees were scarcely stirring. +The box of chessmen had been left on the balcony steps by the +drawing-room window, and the window, too, that warm night, had been left +open. So, one by one, all the chessmen came out to fight over again +their evening's battles. + +It was a famously carved set of chessmen. The bishops wore their mitres, +the knights pranced on spirited steeds, the castles rested on the backs +of elephants,--even the pawns mimicked the private soldiers of an army. +The skilful carver had given to each piece, and each pawn, too, a +certain individuality. That night there had been a close contest. Two +well-matched players had guided the game, and it had ended with leaving +a deep irritation on the conquered side. + +It was Isabella, the Queen of the Red Chessmen, who had been obliged to +yield. She was young and proud, and it was she, indeed, who held the +rule; for her father, the old Red King, had grown too imbecile to direct +affairs; he merely bore the name of sovereignty. And Isabella was loved +by knights, pawns, and all; the bishops were willing to die in her +cause, the castles would have crumbled to earth for her. Opposed to her, +stood the detested White Queen. All the Whites, of course, were despised +by her; but the haughty, self-sufficient queen angered her most. + +The White Queen was reigning during the minority of her only son. The +White Prince had reached the age of nineteen, but the strong mind of +his mother had kept him always under restraint. A simple youth, he had +always yielded to her control. He was pure-hearted and gentle, but never +ventured to make a move of his own. He sought shelter under cover of his +castles, while his more energetic mother went forth at the head of his +army. She was dreaded by her subjects,--never loved by them. Her own +pawn, it is true, had ventured much for her sake, had often with his own +life redeemed her from captivity; but it was loyalty that bound even +him,--no warmer feeling of devotion or love. + +The Queen Isabella was the first to come out from her prison. + +"I will stay here no longer," she cried; "the blood of the Reds grows +pale in this inactivity." + +She stood upon the marble steps; the May moon shone down upon her. She +listened a moment to a slight murmuring within the drawing-room window. +The Spanish lady, the Murillo-painted Spanish lady, had come down from +her frame that bound her against the wall. Just for this one night in +the year, she stepped out from the canvas to walk up and down the +rooms majestically. She would not exchange a word with anybody; nobody +understood her language. She could remember when Murillo looked at her, +watched over her, created her with his pencil. She could have nothing to +say to little paltry shepherdesses, and other articles of _virtù_, that +came into grace and motion just at this moment. + +The Queen of the Red Chessmen turned away, down into the avenue. The May +moon shone upon her. Her feet trod upon unaccustomed ground; no black or +white square hemmed her in; she felt a new liberty. + +"My poor old father!" she exclaimed, "I will leave him behind; better +let him slumber in an ignoble repose than wander over the board, a +laughing-stock for his enemies. We have been conquered,--the foolish +White Prince rules!" + +A strange inspiration stole upon her; the breath of the May night +hovered over her; the May moon shone upon her. She could move without +waiting for the will of another; she was free. She passed down the +avenue; she had left her old prison behind. + +Early in the morning,--it was just after sunrise,--the kind Doctor +Lester was driving home, after watching half the night out with a +patient. He passed the avenue to the Willows, but drew up his horse just +as he was leaving the entrance. He saw a young girl sitting under the +hedge. She was without any bonnet, in a red dress, fitting closely and +hanging heavily about her. She was so very beautiful, she looked so +strangely lost and out of place here at this early hour, that the Doctor +could not resist speaking to her. + +"My child, how came you here?" + +The young girl rose up, and looked round with uncertainty. + +"Where am I?" she asked. + +She was very tall and graceful, with an air of command, but with a +strange, wild look in her eyes. + +"The young woman must be slightly insane," thought the Doctor; "but she +cannot have wandered far." + +"Let me take you home," he said aloud. "Perhaps you come from the +Willows?" + +"Oh, don't take me back there!" cried Isabella, "they will imprison me +again! I had rather be a slave than a conquered queen!" + +"Decidedly insane!" thought the Doctor. "I must take her back to the +Willows." + +He persuaded the young girl to let him lift her into his chaise. She did +not resist him; but when he turned up the avenue, she leaned back in +despair. He was fortunate enough to find one of the servants up at the +house, just sweeping the steps of the hall-door. Getting out of his +chaise, he said confidentially to the servant,-- + +"I have brought back your young lady." + +"Our young lady!" exclaimed the man, as the Doctor pointed out Isabella. + +"Yes, she is a little insane, is she not?" + +"She is not our young lady," answered the servant; "we have nobody +in the house just now, but Mr. and Mrs. Fogerty, and Mrs. Fogerty's +brother, the old geologist." + +"Where did she come from?" inquired the Doctor. + +"I never saw her before," said the servant, "and I certainly should +remember. There's some foreign folks live down in the cottage, by the +railroad; but they are not the like of her!" + +The Doctor got into his chaise again, bewildered. + +"My child," he said, "you must tell me where you came from." + +"Oh, don't let me go back again!" said Isabella, clasping her hands +imploringly. "Think how hard it must be never to take a move of one's +own! to know how the game might be won, then see it lost through folly! +Oh, that last game, lost through utter weakness! There was that one +move! Why did he not push me down to the king's row? I might have +checkmated the White Prince, shut in by his own castles and pawns,--it +would have been a direct checkmate! Think of his folly! he stopped +to take the queen's pawn with his bishop, and within one move of a +checkmate!" + +"Quite insane!" repeated the Doctor. "But I must have my breakfast. She +seems quiet; I think I can keep her till after breakfast, and then I +must try and find where the poor child's friends live. I don't know what +Mrs. Lester will think of her." + +They rode on. Isabella looked timidly round. + +"You don't quite believe me," she said, at last. "It seems strange to +you." + +"It does," answered the Doctor, "seem very strange." + +"Not stranger than to me," said Isabella,--"it is so very grand to me! +All this motion! Look down at that great field there, not cut up into +squares! If I only had my knights and squires there! I would be willing +to give her as good a field, too; but I would show her where the true +bravery lies. What a place for the castles, just to defend that pass!" + +The Doctor whipped up his horse. + +Mrs. Lester was a little surprised at the companion her husband had +brought home to breakfast with him. + +"Who is it?" she whispered. + +"That I don't know,--I shall have to find out," he answered, a little +nervously. + +"Where is her bonnet?" asked Mrs. Lester; this was the first absence of +conventionality she had noticed. + +"You had better ask her," answered the Doctor. + +But Mrs. Lester preferred leaving her guest in the parlor while she +questioned her husband. She was somewhat disturbed when she found he had +nothing more satisfactory to tell her. + +"An insane girl! and what shall we do with her?" she asked. + +"After breakfast I will make some inquiries about her," answered the +Doctor. + +"And leave her alone with us? that will never do! You must take her away +directly,--at least to the Insane Asylum,--somewhere! What if she should +grow wild while you were gone? She might kill us all! I will go in and +tell her that she cannot stay here." + +On returning to the parlor, she found Isabella looking dreamily out of +the window. As Mrs. Lester approached, she turned. + +"You will let me stay with you a little while, will you not?" + +She spoke in a quiet tone, with an air somewhat commanding. It imposed +upon nervous little Mrs. Lester. But she made a faint struggle. + +"Perhaps you would rather go home," she said. + +"I have no home now," said Isabella; "some time I may recover it; but my +throne has been usurped." + +Mrs. Lester looked round in alarm, to see if the Doctor were near. + +"Perhaps you had better come in to breakfast," she suggested. + +She was glad to place the Doctor between herself and their new guest. + +Celia Lester, the only daughter, came down stairs. She had heard that +her father had picked up a lost girl in the road. As she came down in +her clean morning dress, she expected to have to hold her skirts away +from some little squalid object of charity. She started when she saw the +elegant-looking young girl who sat at the table. There was something in +her air and manner that seemed to make the breakfast equipage, and the +furniture of the room about her, look a little mean and poor. Yet the +Doctor was very well off, and Mrs. Lester fancied she had everything +quite in style. Celia stole into her place, feeling small in the +presence of the stranger. + +After breakfast, when the Doctor had somewhat refreshed himself by its +good cheer from his last night's fatigue, Isabella requested to speak +with him. + +"Let me stay with you a little while," she asked, beseechingly; "I will +do everything for you that you desire. You shall teach me anything;--I +know I can learn all that you will show me, all that Mrs. Lester will +tell me." + +"Perhaps so,--perhaps that will be best," answered the Doctor, "until +your friends inquire for you; then I must send you back to them." + +"Very well, very well," said Isabella, relieved. "But I must tell you +they will not inquire for me. I see you will not believe my story. If +you only would listen to me, I could tell it all to you." + +"That is the only condition I can make with you," answered the Doctor, +"that you will not tell your story,--that you will never even think of +it yourself. I am a physician. I know that it is not good for you to +dwell upon such things. Do not talk of them to me, nor to my wife or +daughter. Never speak of your story to any one who comes here. It will +be better for you." + +"Better for me," said Isabella, dreamily, "that no one should know! +Perhaps so. I am, in truth, captive to the White Prince; and if he +should come and demand me,--I should be half afraid to try the risks of +another game." + +"Stop, stop!" exclaimed the Doctor, "you are already forgetting the +condition. I shall be obliged to take you away to some retreat, unless +you promise me"---- + +"Oh, I will promise you anything." interrupted Isabella; "and you will +see that I can keep my promise." + +Meanwhile Mrs. Lester and Celia had been holding a consultation. + +"I think she must be some one in disguise," suggested Celia. + +Celia was one of the most unromantic of persons. Both she and her mother +had passed their lives in an unvarying routine of duties. Neither of +them had ever found time from their sewing even to read. Celia had her +books of history laid out, that she meant to take up when she should get +through her work; but it seemed hopeless that this time would ever come. +It had never come to Mrs. Lester, and she was now fifty years old. Celia +had never read any novels. She had tried to read them, but never was +interested in them. So she had a vague idea of what romance was, +conceiving of it only as something quite different from her every-day +life. For this reason the unnatural event that was taking place this +very day was gradually appearing to her something possible and natural. +Because she knew there was such a thing as romance, and that it was +something quite beyond her comprehension, she was the more willing to +receive this event quietly from finding it incomprehensible. + +"We can let her stay here to-day, at least," said Mrs. Lester. "We will +keep John at work in the front door-yard, in case we should want him. +And I will set Mrs. Anderson's boy to weeding in the border; we can call +him, if we should want to send for help." + +She was quite ashamed of herself, when she had uttered these words, and +Isabella walked into the room, so composed, so refined in her manners. + +"The Doctor says I may stay here a little while, if you will let me," +said Isabella, as she took Mrs. Lester's hands. + +"We will try to make you comfortable," replied Mrs. Lester. + +"He says you will teach me many things,--I think he said, how to sew." + +"How to sew! Was it possible she did not know how to sew?" Celia thought +to herself, "How many servants she must have had, never to have learned +how to sew, herself!" + +And this occupation was directly provided, while the Doctor set forth +on his day's duties, and at the same time to inquire about the strange +apparition of the young girl. He was so convinced that there was a vein +of insanity about her, that he was very sure that questioning her only +excited her the more. Just as he had parted from her, some compunction +seized her, and she followed him to the door. + +"There is my father," said she. + +"Your father! where shall I find him?" asked the Doctor. + +"Oh, he could not help me," she replied; "it is a long time since he +has been able to direct affairs. He has scarcely been conscious of my +presence, and will hardly feel my absence, his mind is so weak." + +"But where can I find him?" persisted the Doctor. + +"He did not come out," said Isabella; "the White Queen would not allow +it, indeed." + +"Stop, stop!" exclaimed the Doctor, "we are on forbidden ground." + +He drove away. + +"So there is insanity in the family," he thought to himself. "I am quite +interested in this case. A new form of monomania! I should be quite +sorry to lose sight of it. I shall be loath to give her up to her +friends." + +But he was not yet put to that test. No one could give him any light +with regard to the strange girl. He went first to the Willows, and found +there so much confusion that he could hardly persuade any one to listen +to his questions. Mrs. Fogerty's brother, the geologist, had been riding +that morning, and had fallen from his horse and broken his leg. The +Doctor arrived just in time to be of service in setting it. Then he must +linger some time to see that the old gentleman was comfortable, so that +he was obliged to stay nearly the whole morning. He was much amused at +the state of disturbance in which he left the family. The whole house +was in confusion, looking after some lost chessmen. + +"There was nothing," said Mrs. Fogerty, apologetically, "that would +soothe her brother so much as a game of chess. That, perhaps, might keep +him quiet. He would be willing to play chess with Mr. Fogerty by the day +together. It was so strange! they had a game the night before, and now +some of the pieces could not be found. Her brother had lost the game, +and to-day he was so eager to take his revenge!" + +"How absurd!" thought the Doctor; "what trifling things people interest +themselves in! Here is this old man more disturbed at losing his game of +chess than he is at breaking his leg! It is different in my profession, +where one deals with life and death. Here is this young girl's fate in +my hands, and they talk to me of the loss of a few paltry chessmen!" + +The "foreign people" at the cottage knew nothing of Isabella. No one had +seen her the night before, or at any time. Dr. Lester even drove ten +miles to Dr. Giles's Retreat for the Insane, to see if it were possible +that a patient could have wandered away from there. Dr. Giles was deeply +interested in the account Dr. Lester gave. He would very gladly take +such a person under his care. + +"No," said Dr. Lester, "I will wait awhile. I am interested in the young +girl. It is not impossible but that I shall in time find out from her, +by chance, perhaps, who her friends are, and where she came from. She +must have wandered away in some delirium of fever,--but it is very +strange, for she appears perfectly calm now. Yet I hardly know in what +state I shall find her." + +He returned to find her very quiet and calm, learning from his wife +and daughter how to sew. She seemed deeply interested in this new +occupation, and had given all her time and thought to it. Celia and +her mother privately confided to the Doctor their admiration of their +strange guest. Her ways were so graceful and beautiful! all that she +said seemed so new and singular! The Doctor, before he went away, had +exhorted Mrs. Lester and Celia to ask her no questions about her former +life, and everything had gone on very smoothly. And everything went on +as smoothly for some weeks. Isabella seemed willing to be as silent as +the Doctor, upon all exciting subjects. She appeared to be quite taken +up with her sewing, much to Mrs. Lester's delight. + +"She will turn out quite as good a seamstress as Celia," said she to the +Doctor. "She sews steadily all the time, and nothing seems to please her +so much as to finish a piece of work. She will be able to do much more +than her own sewing, and may prove quite a help to us." + +"I shall be very glad," said the Doctor, "if anything can be a help, to +prevent you and Celia from working yourselves to death. I shall be glad +if you can ever have done with that eternal sewing. It is time that +Celia should do something about cultivating her mind." + +"Celia's mind is so well regulated," interrupted Mrs. Lester. + +"We won't discuss that," continued the Doctor,--"we never come to an +agreement there. I was going on to say that I am becoming so interested +in Isabella, that I feel towards her as if she were my own. If she is of +help to the family, that is very well,--it is the best thing for her to +be able to make herself of use. But I don't care to make any profit to +ourselves out of her help. Somehow I begin to think of her as belonging +to us. Certainly she belongs to nobody else. Let us treat her as our own +child. We have but one, yet God has given us means enough to care for +many more. I confess I should find it hard to give Isabella up to any +one else. I like to find her when I come home,--it is pleasant to look +at her." + +"And I, too, love her," said Mrs. Lester. "I like to see her as she sits +quietly at her work." + +So Isabella went on learning what it was to be one of the family, and +becoming, as Mrs. Lester remarked, a very experienced seamstress. She +seldom said anything as she sat at her work, but seemed quite occupied +with her sewing; while Mrs. Lester and Celia kept up a stream of +conversation, seldom addressing Isabella, as, indeed, they had few +topics in common. + +One day, Celia and Isabella were sitting together. + +"Have you always sewed?" asked Isabella. + +"Oh, yes," answered Celia,--"since I was quite a child." + +"And do you remember when you were a child?" asked Isabella, laying down +her work. + +"Oh, yes, indeed," said Celia; "I used to make all my doll's dresses +myself." + +"Your doll's dresses!" repeated Isabella. + +"Oh, yes," replied Celia,--"I was not ashamed to play with dolls in that +way." + +"I should like to see some dolls," said Isabella. + +"I will show you my large doll," said Celia; "I have always kept it, +because I fitted it out with such a nice set of clothes. And I keep it +for children to play with." + +She brought her doll, and Isabella handled it and looked at it with +curiosity. + +"So you dressed this, and played with it," said Isabella, inquiringly, +"and moved it about as one would move a piece at chess?" + +Celia started at this word "chess." It was one of the forbidden words. +But Isabella went on:-- + +"Suppose this doll should suddenly have begun to speak, to move, and +walk round, would not you have liked it?" + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Celia. "What! a wooden thing speak and move! It +would have frightened me very much." + +"Why should it not speak, if it has a mouth, and walk, if it has feet?" +asked Isabella. + +"What foolish questions you ask!" exclaimed Celia, "of course it has not +life." + +"Oh, life,--that is it!" said Isabella. "Well, what is life?" + +"Life! why it is what makes us live," answered Celia. "Of course you +know what life is." + +"No, I don't know," said Isabella, "but I have been thinking about it +lately, while I have been sewing,--what it is." + +"But you should not think, you should talk more, Isabella," said Celia. +"Mamma and I talk while we are at work, but you are always very silent." + +"But you think sometimes?" asked Isabella. + +"Not about such things," replied Celia. "I have to think about my work." + +"But your father thinks, I suppose, when he comes home and sits in his +study alone?" + +"Oh, he reads when he goes into his study,--he reads books and studies +them," said Celia. + +"Do you know how to read?" asked Isabella. + +"Do I know how to read!" cried Celia, angrily. + +"Forgive me," said Isabella, quickly, "but I never saw you reading. I +thought perhaps--women are so different here!" + +She did not finish her sentence, for she saw Celia was really angry. Yet +she had no idea of hurting her feelings. She had tried to accommodate +herself to her new circumstances. She had observed a great deal, and +had never been in the habit of asking questions. Celia was disturbed at +having it supposed that she did not know how to read; therefore it must +be a very important thing to know how to read, and she determined she +must learn. She applied to the Doctor. He was astonished at her entire +ignorance, but he was very glad to help her. Isabella gave herself up to +her reading, as she had done before to her sewing. The Doctor was now +the gainer. All the time he was away, Isabella sat in his study, poring +over her books; when he returned, she had a famous lesson to recite to +him. Then he began to tell her of books that he was interested in. He +made Celia come in, for a history class. It was such a pleasure to him +to find Isabella interested in what he could tell her of history! + +"All this really happened," said Isabella to Celia once,--"these people +really lived!" + +"Yes, but they died," responded Celia, in an indifferent tone,--"and +ever so long ago, too!" + +"But did they die," asked Isabella, "if we can talk about them, and +imagine how they looked? They live for us as much as they did then." + +"That I can't understand," said Celia. "My uncle saw Napoleon when he +was in Europe, long ago. But I never saw Napoleon. He is dead and gone +to me, just as much as Alexander the Great." + +"Well, who does live, if Alexander the Great, if Napoleon, and Columbus +do not live?" asked Isabella, impatiently. + +"Why, papa and mamma live," answered Celia, "and you"---- + +"And the butcher," interrupted Isabella, "because he brings you meat to +eat; and Mr. Spool, because he keeps the thread store. Thank you for +putting me in, too! Once"---- + +"Once!" answered Celia, in a dignified tone, "I suppose once you lived +in a grander circle, and it appears to you we have nobody better than +Mr. Spool and the butcher." + +Isabella was silent, and thought of her "circle," her former circle. +The circle here was large enough, the circumference not very great, but +there were as many points in it as in a larger one. There were pleasant, +motherly Mrs. Gibbs, and her agreeable daughters,--the Gresham +boys, just in college,--the Misses Tarletan, fresh from a New York +boarding-school,--Mr. Lovell, the young minister,--and the old Misses +Pendleton, that made raspberry-jam,--together with Celia's particular +friends, Anna and Selina Mountfort, who had a great deal of talking with +Celia in private, but not a word to say to anybody in the parlor. All +these, with many others in the background, had been speculating upon the +riddle that Isabella presented,--"Who was she? and where did she come +from?" + +Nobody found any satisfactory answer. Neither Celia nor her mother would +disclose anything. It is a great convenience in keeping a secret, not to +know what it is. One can't easily tell what one does not know. + +"The Doctor really has a treasure in his wife and daughter," said Mrs. +Gibbs, "they keep his secrets so well! Neither of them will lisp a word +about this handsome Isabella." + +"I have no doubt she is the daughter of an Italian refugee," said one of +the Misses Tarletan. "We saw a number of Italian refugees in New York." + +This opinion became prevalent in the neighborhood. That Dr. Lester +should be willing to take charge of an unknown girl did not astonish +those who knew of his many charitable deeds. It was not more than he had +done for his cousin's child, who had no especial claim upon him. He had +adopted Lawrence Egerton, educated him, sent him to college, and was +giving him every advantage in his study of the law. In the end Lawrence +would probably marry Celia and the pretty property that the Doctor would +leave behind for his daughter. + +"She is one of my patients," the Doctor would say, to any one who asked +him about her. + +The tale that she was the daughter of an Italian refugee became more +rife after Isabella had begun to study Italian. She liked to have the +musical Italian words linger on her tongue. She quoted Italian poetry, +read Italian history. In conversation, she generally talked of the +present, rarely of the past or of the future. She listened with wonder +to those who had a talent for reminiscence. How rich their past must be, +that they should be willing to dwell in it! Her own she thought very +meagre. If she wanted to live in the past, it must be in the past of +great men, not in that of her own little self. So she read of great +painters and great artists, and because she read of them she talked of +them. Other people, in referring to bygone events, would say, "When I +was in Trenton last summer,"--"In Cuba the spring that we were there"; +but Isabella would say, "When Raphael died, or when Dante lived." +Everybody liked to talk with her,--laughed with her at her enthusiasm. +There was something inspiring, too, in this enthusiasm; it compelled +attention, as her air and manner always attracted notice. By her side, +the style and elegance of the Misses Tarletan faded out; here was a moon +that quite extinguished the light of their little tapers. She became the +centre of admiration; the young girls admired her, as they are prone to +admire some one particular star. She never courted attention, but it was +always given. + +"Isabella attracts everybody," said Celia to her mother. "Even the old +Mr. Spencers, who have never been touched by woman before, follow her, +and act just as she wills." + +Little Celia, who had been quite a belle hitherto, sunk into the shade +by the side of the brilliant Isabella. Yet she followed willingly in the +sunny wake that Isabella left behind. She expanded somewhat, herself, +for she was quite ashamed to know nothing of all that Isabella talked +about so earnestly. The sewing gave place to a little reading, to Mrs. +Lester's horror. The Mountforts and the Gibbses met with Isabella and +Celia to read and study, and went into town with them to lectures and to +concerts. + +A winter passed away and another summer came. Still Isabella was at Dr. +Lester's; and with the lapse of time the harder did it become for the +Doctor to question her of her past history,--the more, too, was she +herself weaned from it. + +The young people had been walking in the garden one evening. + +"Let me sit by you here in the porch," said Lawrence Egerton to +Celia,--"I want rest, for body and spirit. I am always in a battle-field +when I am talking with Isabella. I must either fight with her or against +her. She insists on my fighting all the time. I have to keep my +weapons bright, ready for use, every moment. She will lead me, too, in +conversation, sends me here, orders me there. I feel like a poor knight +in chess, under the sway of a queen"---- + +"I don't know anything about chess," said Celia, curtly. + +"It is a comfort to have you a little ignorant," said Lawrence. "Please +stay in bliss awhile. It is repose, it is refreshment. Isabella drags +one into the company of her heroes, and then one feels completely +ashamed not to be on more familiar terms with them all. Her Mazzinis, +her Tancreds, heroes false and true,--it makes no difference to +her,--put one into a whirl between history and story. What a row she +would make in Italy, if she went back there!" + +"What could we do without her?" said Celia; "it was so quiet and +commonplace before she came!" + +"That is the trouble," replied Lawrence, "Isabella won't let anything +remain commonplace. She pulls everything out of its place,--makes a hero +or heroine out of a piece of clay. I don't want to be in heroics all the +time. Even Homer's heroes ate their suppers comfortably. I think it was +a mistake in your father, bringing her here. Let her stay in her sphere +queening it, and leave us poor mortals to our bread and butter." + +"You know you don't think so," expostulated Celia; "you worship her +shoe-tie, the hem of her garment." + +"But I don't want to," said Lawrence,--"it is a compulsory worship. I +had rather be quiet." + +"Lazy Lawrence!" cried Celia, "it is better for you. You would be +the first to miss Isabella. You would find us quite flat without her +brilliancy, and would be hunting after some other excitement." + +"Perhaps so," said Lawrence. "But here she comes to goad us on again. +Queen Isabella, when do the bull-fights begin?" + +"I wish I were Queen Isabella!" she exclaimed. "Have you read the last +accounts from Spain? I was reading them to the Doctor to-day. Nobody +knows what to do there. Only think what an opportunity for the Queen to +show herself a queen! Why will not she make of herself such a queen as +the great Isabella of Castile was?" + +"I can't say," answered Lawrence. + +"Queens rule in chess," said Horace Gresham. "I always wondered that the +king was made such a poor character there. He is not only ruled by his +cabinet, bishops, and knights, but his queen is by far the more warlike +character." + +"Whoever plays the game rules,--you or Mr. Egerton," said Isabella, +bitterly; "it is not the poor queen. She must yield to the power of the +moving hand. I suppose it is so with us women. We see a great aim before +us, but have not the power." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Lawrence, "it is just the reverse. With some +women,--for I won't be personal,--the aim, as you call it, is very +small,--a poor amusement, another dress, a larger house"---- + +"You may stop," interrupted Isabella, "for you don't believe this. At +least, keep some of your flings for the women that deserve them; Celia +and I don't accept them." + +"Then we'll talk of the last aim we were discussing,--the ride +to-morrow." + +The next winter was passed by Mrs. Lester, her daughter, and Isabella in +Cuba. Lawrence Egerton accompanied them thither, and the Doctor hoped to +go for them in the spring. They went on Mrs. Lester's account. She had +worn herself out with her household labors,--very uselessly, the Doctor +thought,--so he determined to send her away from them. Isabella and +Celia were very happy all this winter and spring. With Isabella Spanish +took the place of Italian studies. She liked talking in Spanish. They +made some friends among the residents, as well as among the strangers, +particularly the Americans. Of these last, they enjoyed most the society +of Mrs. Blanchard and her son, Otho, who were at the same hotel with +them. + +The opera, too, was a new delight to Isabella, and even Celia was +excited by it. + +"It is a little too absurd, to see the dying scene of Romeo and Juliet +sung out in an opera!" remarked Lawrence Egerton, one morning; "all +the music of the spheres could not have made that scene, last night, +otherwise than supremely ridiculous." + +"I am glad you did not sit by us, then," replied Celia; "Isabella and I +were crying." + +"I dare say," said Lawrence. "I should be afraid to take you to see a +tragedy well acted. You would both be in hysterics before the killing +was over." + +"I should be really afraid," said Celia, "to see Romeo and Juliet finely +performed. It would be too sad." + +"It would be much better to end it up comfortably," said Lawrence. "Why +should not Juliet marry her Romeo in peace?" + +"It would be impossible!" exclaimed Isabella,--"impossible to bring +together two such hostile families! Of course the result must be a +tragedy." + +"In romances," answered Lawrence, "that may be necessary; but not in +real life." + +"Why not in real life?" asked Isabella. "When two thunder-clouds meet, +there must be an explosion." + +"But we don't have such hostile families arrayed against each other +now-a-days," said Lawrence. "The Bianchi and the Neri have died out; +unless the feud lives between the whites and the blacks of the present +day." + +"Are you sure that it has died out everywhere?" asked Isabella. + +"Certainly not," said Otho Blanchard; "my mother, Bianca Bianco, +inherits her name from a long line of ancestry, and with it come its +hatreds as well as its loves." + +"You speak like an Italian or Spaniard," said Lawrence. "We are +cold-blooded Yankees, and in our slow veins such passions do die out. I +should have taken you for an American from your name." + +"It is our name Americanized; we have made Americans of ourselves, and +the Bianchi have become the Blanchards." + +"The romance of the family, then," persisted Lawrence, "must needs +become Americanized too. If you were to meet with a lovely young lady of +the enemy's race, I think you would be willing to bury your sword in the +sheath for her sake." + +"I hope I should not forget the honor of my family," said Otho. "I +certainly never could, as long as my mother lives; her feelings on the +subject are stronger even than mine." + +"I cannot imagine the possibility of such feelings dying out," said +Isabella. "I cannot imagine such different elements amalgamating. It +would be like fire and water uniting. Then there would be no longer any +contest; the game of life would be over." + +"Why will you make out life to be a battle always?" exclaimed Lawrence; +"won't you allow us any peace? I do not find such contests all the +time,--never, except when I am fighting with you." + +"I had rather fight with you than against you," said Isabella, laughing. +"But when one is not striving, one is sleeping." + +"That reminds me that it is time for our siesta," said Lawrence; "so we +need not fight any longer." + +Afterwards Isabella and Celia were talking of their new friend Otho. + +"He does not seem to me like a Spaniard," said Celia, "his complexion is +so light; then, too, his name sounds German." + +"But his passions are quick," replied Isabella. "How he colored up when +he spoke of the honor of his family!" + +"I wonder that you like him," said Celia; "when he is with his mother, +he hardly ventures to say his soul is his own." + +"I don't like his mother," said Isabella; "her manner is too imperious +and unrefined, it appears to me. No wonder that Otho is ill at ease in +her presence. It is evident that her way of talking is not agreeable to +him. He is afraid that she will commit herself in some way." + +"But he never stands up for himself," answered Celia; "he always yields +to her. Now I should not think you would like that." + +"He yields because she is his mother," said Isabella; "and it would not +be becoming to contradict her." + +"He yields to you, too," said Celia; "how happens that?" + +"I hope he does not yield to me more than is becoming," answered +Isabella, laughing; "perhaps that is why I like him. After all, I don't +care to be always sparring, as I am with Lawrence Egerton. With Otho I +find that I agree wonderfully in many things. Neither of us yields to +the other, neither of us is obliged to convince the other." + +"Now I should think you would find that stupid," said Celia. "What +becomes of this desire of yours never to rest, always to be struggling +after something?" + +"We might strive together, we might struggle together," responded +Isabella. + +She said this musingly, not in answer to Celia, but to her own +thoughts,--as she looked away, out from everything that surrounded her. +The passion for ruling had always been uppermost in her mind; suddenly +there dawned upon her the pleasure of being ruled. She became conscious +of the pleasure of conquering all things for the sake of giving all to +another. A new sense of peace stole upon her mind. Before, she had felt +herself alone, even in the midst of the kindness of the home that had +been given her. She had never dared to think or to speak of the past, +and as little of the future. She had gladly flung herself into the +details of every-day life. She had given her mind to the study of all +that it required. She loved the Doctor, because he was always leading +her on to fresh fields, always exciting her to a new knowledge. She +loved him, too, for himself, for his tenderness and kindness to her. +With Mrs. Lester and Celia she felt herself on a different footing. They +admired her, but they never came near her. She led them, and they were +always behind her. + +With Otho she experienced a new feeling. He seemed, very much as she +did herself, out of place in the world just around him. He was a +foreigner,--was not yet acclimated to the society about him. He was +willing to talk of other things than every-day events. He did not talk +of "things," indeed, but he speculated, as though he lived a separate +life from that of mere eating and drinking. He was not content with what +seemed to every-day people possible, but was willing to believe that +there were things not dreamed of in their philosophy. + +"It is a satisfaction," said Lawrence once to Celia, "that Isabella has +found somebody who will go high enough into the clouds to suit her. +Besides, it gives me a little repose." + +"And a secret jealousy at the same time; is it not so?" asked Celia. "He +takes up too much of Isabella's time to please you." + +"The reason he pleases her," said Lawrence, "is because he is more +womanly than manly, and she thinks women ought to rule the world. Now +if the world were made up of such as he, it would be very easily ruled. +Isabella loves power too well to like to see it in others. Look at her +when she is with Mrs. Blanchard! It is a splendid sight to see them +together!" + +"How can you say so? I am always afraid of some outbreak." + +These families were, however, so much drawn together, that, when the +Doctor came to summon his wife and daughter and Isabella home, Mrs. +Blanchard was anxious to accompany them to New England. She wondered if +it were not possible to find a country-seat somewhere near the Lesters, +that she could occupy for a time. The Doctor knew that the Willows was +to be vacant this spring. The Fogertys were all going to Europe, and +would be very willing to let their place. + +So it was arranged after their return. The Fogertys left for Europe, and +Mrs. Blanchard took possession of the Willows. It was a pleasant walking +distance from the Lesters, but it was several weeks before Isabella made +her first visit there. She was averse to going into the house, but, +in company with Celia, Lawrence, and Otho, walked about the grounds. +Presently they stopped near a pretty fountain that was playing in the +midst of the garden. + +"That is a pretty place for an Undine," said Otho. + +"The idea of an Undine makes me shiver," said Lawrence. "Think what a +cold-blooded, unearthly being she would be!" + +"Not after she had a soul!" exclaimed Isabella. + +"An Undine with a soul!" cried Lawrence. "I conceive of them as +malicious spirits, who live and die as the bubbles of water rise and +fall." + +"You talk as if there were such things as Undines," said Celia. "I +remember once trying to read the story of Undine, but I never could +finish it." + +"It ends tragically," remarked Otho. + +"Of course all such stories must," responded Lawrence; "of course it is +impossible to bring the natural and the unnatural together." + +"That depends upon what you call the natural," said Otho. + +"We should differ, I suppose," said Lawrence, "if we tried to explain +what we each call the natural. I fancy your 'real life' is different +from mine." + +"Pictures of real life," said Isabella, "are sometimes pictures of +horses and dogs, sometimes of children playing, sometimes of fruits of +different seasons heaped upon one dish, sometimes of watermelons cut +open." + +"That is hardly your picture of real life," said Lawrence, laughing,--"a +watermelon cut open! I think you would rather choose the picture of the +Water Fairies from the Düsseldorf Gallery." + +"Why not?" said Isabella. "The life we see must be very far from being +the only life that is." + +"That is very true," answered Lawrence; "but let the fairies live their +life by themselves, while we live our life in our own way. Why should +they come to disturb our peace, since we cannot comprehend them, and +they certainly cannot comprehend us?" + +"You do not think it well, then," said Isabella, stopping in their walk, +and looking down,--"you do not think it well that beings of different +natures should mingle?" + +"I do not see how they can," replied Lawrence. "I am limited by my +senses; I can perceive only what they show me. Even my imagination can +picture to me only what my senses can paint." + +"Your senses!" cried Otho, contemptuously,--"it is very true, as you +confess, you are limited by your senses. Is all this beauty around you +created merely for you--and the other insects about us? I have no doubt +it is filled with invisible life." + +"Do let us go in!" said Celia. "This talk, just at twilight, under +the shade of this shrubbery, makes me shudder. I am not afraid of the +fairies. I never could read fairy stories when I was a child; they were +tiresome to me. But talking in this way makes one timid. There might be +strollers or thieves under all these hedges." + +They went into the house, through the hall, and different apartments, +till they reached the drawing-room. Isabella stood transfixed upon the +threshold. It was all so familiar to her!--everything as she had known +it before! Over the mantelpiece hung the picture of the scornful Spanish +lady; a heavy bookcase stood in one corner; comfortable chairs and +couches were scattered round the room; beautiful landscapes against the +wall seemed like windows cut into foreign scenery. There was an air of +ease in the room, an old-fashioned sort of ease, such as the Fogertys +must have loved. + +"It is a pretty room, is it not?" said Lawrence. "You look at it as if +it pleased you. How much more comfort there is about it than in the +fashionable parlors of the day! It is solid, substantial comfort." + +"You look at it as if you had seen it before," said Otho to Isabella. +"Do you know the room impressed me in that way, too?" + +"It is singular," said Lawrence, "the feeling, that 'all this has been +before,' that comes over one at times. I have heard it expressed by a +great many people." + +"Have you, indeed, ever had this feeling?" asked Isabella. + +"Certainly," replied Lawrence; "I say to myself sometimes, 'I have been +through all this before!' and I can almost go on to tell what is to come +next,--it seems so much a part of my past experience." + +"It is strange it should be so with you,--and with you too," she said, +turning to Otho. + +"Perhaps we are all more alike than we have thought," said Otho. + +Otho's mother appeared, and the conversation took another turn. + +Isabella did not go to the Willows again, until all the Lester family +were summoned there to a large party that Mrs. Blanchard gave. She +called it a house-warming, although she had been in the house some time. +It was a beautiful evening. A clear moonlight made it as brilliant +outside on the lawn as the lights made the house within. There was a +band of music stationed under the shrubbery, and those who chose could +dance. Those who were more romantic wandered away down the shaded walks, +and listened to the dripping of the fountain. + +Lawrence and Isabella returned from a walk through the grounds, and +stopped a moment on the terrace in front of the house. Just then a dark +cloud appeared in the sky, threatening the moon. The wind, too, was +rising, and made a motion among the leaves of the trees. + +"Do you remember," asked Lawrence, "that child's story of the Fisherman +and his Wife? how the fisherman went down to the sea-shore, and cried +out,-- + + 'O man of the sea, + Come listen to me! + For Alice, my wife, + The plague of my life, + Has sent me to beg a boon of thee!' + +The sea muttered and roared;--do you remember? There was always something +impressive to me in the descriptions, in the old story, of the changes +in the sea, and of the tempest that rose up, more and more fearful, as +the fisherman's wife grew more ambitious and more and more grasping in +her desires, each time that the fisherman went down to the sea-shore. I +believe my first impression of the sea came from that. The coming on of +a storm is always associated with it. I always fancy that it is bringing +with it something beside the tempest,--that there is something ruinous +behind it." + +"That is more fanciful than you usually are," said Isabella; "but, alas! +I cannot remember your story, for I never read it." + +"That is where your education and Celia's was fearfully neglected," said +Lawrence; "you were not brought up on fairy stories and Mother Goose. +You have not needed the first, as Celia has; but Mother Goose would have +given a tone to your way of thinking, that is certainly wanting." + +A little while afterwards, Isabella stood upon the balcony steps leading +from the drawing-room. Otho was with her. The threatening clouds had +driven almost every one into the house. There was distant thunder and +lightning; but through the cloud-rifts, now and then, the moonlight +streamed down. Isabella and Otho had been talking earnestly,--so +earnestly, that they were quite unobservant of the coming storm, of the +strange lurid light that hung around. + +"It is strange that this should take place here!" said Isabella,--"that +just here I should learn that you love me! Strange that my destiny +should be completed in this spot!" + +"And this spot has its strange associations with me," said Otho, "of +which I must some time speak to you. But now I can think only of the +present. Now, for the first time, do I feel what life is,--now that you +have promised to be mine!" + +Otho was interrupted by a sudden cry. He turned to find his mother +standing behind him. + +"You are here with Isabella! she has promised herself to you!" she +exclaimed. "It is a fatality, a terrible fatality! Listen, Isabella! +You are the Queen of the Red Chessmen; and he, Otho, is the King of the +White Chessmen,--and I, their Queen. Can there be two queens? Can there +be a marriage between two hostile families? Do you not see, if there +were a marriage between the Reds and the Whites, there were no game? +Look! I have found our old prison! The pieces would all be here,--but +we, we are missing! Would you return to the imprisonment of this poor +box,--to your old mimic life? No, my children, go back! Isabella, marry +this Lawrence Egerton, who loves you. You will find what life is, then. +Leave Otho, that he may find this same life also." + +Isabella stood motionless. + +"Otho, the White Prince! Alas! where is my hatred? But life without +him! Even stagnation were better! I must needs be captive to the White +Prince!" + +She stretched out her hand to Otho. He seized it passionately. At this +moment there was a grand crash of thunder. + +A gust of wind extinguished at once all the lights in the drawing-room. +The terrified guests hurried into the hall, into the other rooms. + +"The lightning must have struck the house!" they exclaimed. + +A heavy rain followed; then all was still. Everybody began to recover +his spirits. The servants relighted the candles. The drawing-room was +found untenanted. It was time to go; yet there was a constraint upon all +the party, who were eager to find their hostess and bid her good-bye. + +But the hostess could not be found! Isabella and Otho, too, were +missing! The Doctor and Lawrence went everywhere, calling for them, +seeking them in the house, in the grounds. They were nowhere to be +found,--neither that night, nor the next day, nor ever afterwards! + +The Doctor found in the balcony a box of chessmen fallen down. It was +nearly filled; but the red queen, and the white king and queen, were +lying at a little distance. In the box was the red king, his crown +fallen from his head, himself broken in pieces. The Doctor took up the +red queen, and carried it home. + +"Are you crazy?" asked his wife. "What are you going to do with that red +queen?" + +But the Doctor placed the figure on his study-table, and often gazed at +it wistfully. + +Whenever, afterwards, as was often the case, any one suggested a new +theory to account for the mysterious disappearance of Isabella and the +Blanchards, the Doctor looked at the carved image on his table and was +silent. + + * * * * * + + +DAYBREAK. + + + A wind came up out of the sea, + And said, "O mists, make room for me!" + + It hailed the ships, and cried, "Sail on, + Ye mariners! the night is gone!" + + And hurried landward far away, + Crying, "Awake! it is the day!" + + It said unto the forest, "Shout! + Hang all your leafy banners out!" + + It touched the wood-bird's folded wing, + And said, "O bird, awake and sing!" + + And o'er the farms, "O chanticleer, + Your clarion blow! the day is near!" + + It whispered to the fields of corn, + "Bow down, and hail the coming morn!" + + It shouted through the belfry-tower, + "Awake, O bell! proclaim the hour!" + + It crossed the churchyard with a sigh, + And said, "Not yet! in quiet lie!" + + + + +TEA. + + +Gossiping Mr. Pepys little imagined, when he wrote in his Diary, +September 25th, 1660, "I did send for a cup of tee, (a China drink,) +of which I never had drank before," that he had mentioned a beverage +destined to exert a world-wide influence on civilization, and in due +time gladden every heart in his country, from that of the Sovereign Lady +Victoria, down to humble Mrs. Miff with her "mortified bonnet." Reader, +if you wish some little information on the subjects of tea-growing, +gathering, curing, and shipping, you must come with us to China, in +spite of the war. We know how to elude the blockade, how to beard +Viceroy Yeh; and in one of the great _hongs_ on the Canton River we will +give you a short lecture on the virtues of Souchong and flowery Pekoe. + +The native name of the article is _Cha_, although it has borne two or +three names among the Chinese,--in the fourth century being called +_Ming_. To botanists it is known as _Thea_, having many affinities with +the Camellia. It has long been a doubtful point whether or not two +species exist, producing the green and black teas. True, there are the +green-tea country and the black-tea region, hundreds of miles apart; +but the latest investigation goes to prove that there is really but one +plant. Mr. Robert Fortune, whose recent and interesting work, "The Tea +Countries of China and India," is familiar to many of our readers, has +not only had peculiar facilities for gaining a knowledge of tea as +grown in the Central Flowery Kingdom, but is, moreover, one of the most +scientific of English botanists. He maintains the "unity theory" of the +plant, and we are content to agree with him,--the differences in the +leaves being owing to climate, situation, soil, and other accidental +influences. The shrub is generally from three to six feet high, having +numerous branches and a very dense foliage. Its wood is hard and tough, +giving off a disagreeable smell when cut. The leaves are smooth, +shining, of a dark green color, and with notched edges; those of the +_Thea Bohea_, the black tea, being curled and oblong,--while those of +the _Thea viridis_, the green tea, are broader in proportion to their +length, but not so thick, and curled at the apex. The plant flowers +early in the spring, remaining in bloom about a month; and its seeds +ripen in December and January. According to Chinese authority, tea is +grown in nearly every province of the empire; but the greater part of +it is produced in four or five provinces, affording all that is shipped +from Canton. Very large quantities, however, are consumed by the +countries adjoining the western frontier, and Russia draws an immense +supply by caravans, all of which is the product of the northwest +provinces. The Bohea Hills, in Lat. 27° 47' North, and Long. 119° East, +distant about nine hundred miles from Canton, produce the finest kinds +of black tea; while the green teas are chiefly raised in another +province, several hundred miles farther north. The soil of many +plantations examined by Mr. Fortune is very thin and poor, in some +places little more than sand, such soil as would grow pines and scrub +oaks. The shrubs are generally planted on the slopes of hills, the +plants in many places not interfering with the cultivation of wheat and +other grain. They are always raised from seeds, which in the first place +are sown very thickly together, as many of them never shoot; and when +the young plants have attained the proper size they are transplanted +into the beds prepared for them, although in some cases the seeds are +sown in the proper situations without removal. Care is taken that the +plants be not overshadowed by large trees, and many superstitious +notions prevail as to the noxious influence of certain vegetables in the +vicinity. Although the shrub is very hardy, not being injured even by +snow, yet the weather has great influence on the quality of the leaves, +and many directions are given by Chinese authors with regard to the +proper care to be observed in the culture of the plant. Leaves are first +gathered from it when it is three years old, but it does not attain +its greatest size for six or seven,--thriving, according to care and +situation, from ten to twenty years. + +The famous Bohea Hills are said to derive their name from two brothers, +Woo and E, the sons of a prince in ancient times, who refused to succeed +him, and came to reside among these mountains, where to this day the +people burn incense to their memory. Another legend states that the +people of this district were first taught the use of tea as a beverage +by a venerable man who suddenly appeared among them, holding a sprig in +his hand, from which he proposed that they should make a decoction +and drink it. On their doing so and approving the drink, he instantly +vanished. + +There is very great choice in the teas; connoisseurs being much more +particular in their taste than even the most fastidious wine-drinkers. +Purchasers inquire the position of the gardens from which the samples +were taken; teas from the summit of a hill, from the middle, and from +the base bearing different values. Some of the individual shrubs are +greatly prized; one being called the "egg-plant," growing in a deep +gully between two hills, and nourished by water which trickles from the +precipice. Another is appropriated exclusively to the imperial use, and +an officer is appointed every year to superintend the gathering and +curing. The produce of such plants is never sent to Canton, being +reserved entirely for the emperor and the grandees of the court, and +commanding enormous prices; the most valuable being said to be worth +one hundred and fifty dollars a pound, and the cheapest not less than +twenty-five dollars. There is said to be a very fine kind called "monkey +tea," from the fact that it grows upon heights inaccessible to man, and +that monkeys are therefore trained to pick it. For the truth of this +story I cannot vouch, and of course ask no one to believe it. + +The picking of the leaf is frequently performed by a different class of +laborers from those who cultivate it; but the customs vary in different +places. There are four pickings in the course of the year,--the last +one, however, being considered a mere gleaning. The first is made as +early as the 15th of April, and sometimes sooner, when the delicate buds +appear and the foliage is just opening, being covered with a whitish +down. From this picking the finest kinds of tea are made, although the +quantity is small. The next gathering is technically called "second +spring," and takes place in the early part of June, when the branches +are well covered, producing the greatest quantity of leaves. The third +gathering, or "third spring," follows in about one month, when the +branches are again searched, the most common kinds of tea being the +result. The fourth gleaning is styled the "autumn dew"; but this is not +universally observed, as the leaves are now old and of very inferior +quality. These poorest sorts are sometimes clipped off with shears; but +the general mode of gathering is by hand, the leaves being laid lightly +on bamboo trays. + +The curing of the leaf is of the utmost importance,--some kinds of tea +depending almost entirely for their value on the mode of preparation. +When the leaves are brought to the curing-houses, they are thinly spread +upon bamboo trays, and placed in the wind to dry until they become +somewhat soft; then, while lying on the trays, they are gently rubbed +and rolled many times. From the labor attending this process the tea is +called _kung foocha_, or "worked tea"; hence the English name of Congou. +When the leaves have been sufficiently worked they are ready for the +firing, an operation requiring the exercise of the greatest care. The +iron pan used in the process is made red hot, and the workman sprinkles +a handful of leaves upon it and waits until each leaf pops with a slight +noise, when he at once sweeps all out of the pan, lest they should be +burned, and then fires another handful. The leaves are then put into dry +baskets over a pan of coals. Care is taken, by laying ashes over the +fire, that no smoke shall ascend among the leaves, which are slowly +stirred with the hand until perfectly dry. The tea is then poured +into chests, and, when transported, placed in boxes enclosing leaden +canisters, and papered to keep out the dampness. In curing the finest +kinds of tea, such as Powchong, Pekoe, etc., not more than ten to twenty +leaves are fired in the pan at one time, and only a few pounds rolled +at once in the trays. As soon as cured, these fine teas are packed in +papers, two or three pounds in each, and stamped with the name of the +plantation and the date of curing. + +Beside the hongs in Canton, which I shall presently speak of, there are +large buildings, styled "pack-houses," containing all the apparatus for +curing. Into these establishments foreigners are not readily admitted. +Two or three rows of furnaces are built in a large, airy apartment, +having a number of hemispherical iron pans inserted into the brick-work, +two pans being heated by one fire. Into these pans the rolled leaves are +thrown and stirred with the arm until too hot for the flesh to bear, +when they are swept out and laid on a table covered with matting, where +they are again rolled. The firing and rolling are sometimes repeated +three or four times, according to the state of the leaves. The rolling +is attended with some pain, as an acrid juice exudes from the leaves, +which acts upon the hands; and the whole operation of tea-curing and +packing is somewhat unpleasant, from the fine dust arising, and entering +the nose and mouth,--to prevent which, the workmen often cover the lower +part of the face with a cloth. The leaves are frequently tested, during +the process of curing, by pouring boiling water upon them; and their +strength and quality are judged of by the number of infusions that can +be made from the same leaves, as many as fifteen drawings being obtained +from the richest kinds. + +Many persons have imagined that the peculiar effects of green tea upon +the nerves after drinking it, as well as its color, are owing to its +having been fired in copper pans, which is not the case, as no copper +instruments are used in its manufacture; but these effects are probably +due to the partial curing of the leaf, and its consequent retention of +many of the peculiar properties of the growing plant. The bloom upon the +cheaper kinds of green tea is produced by gypsum or Prussian blue; +and perhaps the effects alluded to are in some degree caused by these +minerals. Such teas are prepared entirely for exportation, the Chinese +themselves never drinking them. + +Each foreign house employs an inspector or taster, whose business it is +to examine samples of all the teas submitted to the firm for purchase. +When a taster has a lot of teas to examine, several samples, selected +from various chests, being placed before him, he first of all takes up +a large handful and smells it repeatedly, then chews some of it, and +records his opinion in a huge folio, wherein are chronicled the merits +of every lot examined by him; and lastly, he puts small portions of the +various kinds into a great many little cups into which boiling water is +poured, and when the tea is drawn he takes a sip of the infusion. With +all due deference to his art, sometimes, when the taster does not know +exactly what to say of a sample, the book will bear witness that the +parcel has "a decided tea flavor." But the accuracy of good tasters is +really wonderful; they will classify and fix the true value of a chop +of teas beyond dispute, and the East India Company's tasters were +occasionally of eminent service in detecting frauds. A first-rate +tea-taster may make a fortune in a few years; but, from constantly +inhaling minute particles of the herb, the health is frequently ruined. + +The teas which come to Canton are brought chiefly by water. Only +occasional land stages are used in transportation, the principal one +being the pass which crosses the Ineiling Mountain, in the north of +the Canton or Quang-tong Province, cut through at the beginning of the +eighth century. As every article of merchandise which goes through the +pass, either from the south or the north, is carried across on the +backs of men, several hundred thousand porters are here employed. +Many tortuous paths are cut over the mountain, and through them are +continually passing these poor creatures, condemned by poverty to +terrible fatigue, the work being so laborious that the generality of +them live but a short time. At certain intervals are little bamboo +sheds, where travellers rest on their journey, smoking a pipe and +drinking tea for refreshment; while at the summit of the pass is an +immense portal, or kind of triumphal arch, erected on the boundary line +of the two Provinces of Quang-tong and Kiang-si. The teas, securely +packed in chests wrapped in matting, are placed in the boats which ply +upon the rivers flowing from the tea countries into the Poyang Lake, +and after successive changes are at length brought to the foot of the +Ineiling Mountain, carried over it on the backs of men, and reshipped +on the south side of the pass. The boats in which the tea is brought to +Canton convey from five hundred to eight hundred chests each, and are +called chopboats by foreigners, from each lot of teas being called a +_chop_. They serve admirably for inland navigation, drawing but little +water, and are so rounded as to make it almost impossible to overset +one. A ledge is built upon each side of the boat for the trackers, who, +when the wind fails, collect in the bow, and, sticking long bamboo poles +into the bed of the stream, walk along the ledge to the stern, thus +propelling the barge, and repeating the operation as often as they +have traversed the length of the planks. A number of excise posts and +custom-houses are established along the route from the tea regions +to Canton, for the purpose of levying duties on the teas, none being +allowed to be sent to that city by coastwise voyages. + +And now of the various kinds of black and green teas.--But, Reader, I +hear you cry, "Halt! halt! pray do not bore us with a dry catalogue of +the 'Padre Souchongs' and 'Twankays'; we know them already."--Then speak +for me, immortal Pindar Cockloft! crusty bachelor that thou art! who +hast told that tea and scandal are inseparable, and hast so wittily +described a gathering around the urn as + + "A convention of tattling, a tea-party hight, + Which, like meeting of witches, is brewed up + at night, + Where each matron arrives fraught with tales + of surprise, + With knowing suspicion and doubtful surmise; + Like the broomstick-whirled hags that appear + in Macbeth, + Each bearing some relic of venom or death, + To stir up the toil and to double the trouble, + That fire may burn, and that cauldron may + bubble. + The wives of our cits of inferior degree + Will soak up repute in a little Bohea; + The potion is vulgar, and vulgar the slang + With which on their neighbors' defects they + harangue. + But the scandal improves,--a refinement in + wrong!-- + As our matrons are richer and rise to Souchong. + With Hyson, a beverage that's still more refined, + Our ladies of fashion enliven their mind, + And by nods, innuendoes, and hints, and what + not, + Reputations and tea send together to pot; + While madam in cambrics and laces arrayed, + With her plate and her liveries in splendid + parade, + Will drink in Imperial a friend at a sup, + Or in Gunpowder blow them by dozens all + up." + +There, now, Reader, you have the best classification extant of teas; and +I will not detain you with any long descriptions of other kinds, seldom +heard of by Americans, such as the "Sparrow's Tongue," the "Black +Dragon," the "Dragon's Whiskers," the "Dragon's Pellet," the "Flowery +Fragrance," and the "Careful Firing." + +Perhaps a notice of the great hongs will prove more interesting to you. +They stretch for miles along the Canton River, and in the busy season +are crammed with hundreds of thousands of chests, filled with the +fragrant herb. The hongs front upon the river, in order that cargo-boats +may approach them; but they have also another entrance at the end which +opens from the suburbs. Imagine a building twelve hundred feet long by +twenty to forty broad, and in some portions fifty feet high, built of +brick, of one story, here and there open to the sky, with the floor +as level as that of a ropewalk, and of such extent, that, to a person +standing at one end, forms at the other end appear dwarfed, and men seem +engaged in noiseless occupations: you have here the picture of a Chinese +hong. In these warehouses the tea is assorted, repacked, and then put +on board the chop-boats and sent down the river to the ships at their +anchorage off Whampoa. Here are enormous scales for weighing the chests; +here, where the light falls in from the roof, are tables placed for +superintendents, who carefully watch the workmen; farther off, are +foreigners inspecting a newly arrived chop; at the extreme end is the +little apartment where the tea merchant receives people upon business; +and through the high door beyond, we see the crowded river, and +chopboats waiting for cargoes. At the river end of the building a second +story is added, often fitted up with immense suites of beautiful rooms, +elegantly furnished, and abounding with rare and costly articles of +_virtù_. Here is a door leading higher still, out upon the roof, which +is flat. Below us is the river with its myriads of boats, visible as far +as the eye can reach, no less than eighty-four thousand belonging to +Canton alone. On our right is the public square, where of late stood the +foreign factories, now destroyed by the mob, while the flags of France, +England, and America have disappeared. On our left is another vista of +river life, the pagoda near Whampoa, and the forts of Dutch and French +Folly. In our rear is the immense city of Canton, and opposite to us, +across the river, lies the verdant island of Honan, with its villages, +its canals, and its great Buddhist temple. On descending, we find that a +servant has placed for us on a superb table in one of the pretty rooms +cups of delicious tea,--it being the custom in all the hongs to offer +the beverage to strangers at all times. A cup of the aromatic Oulong +will serve to steady our nerves for the completion of the tea-lecture. + +The visitor will soon form some idea of the magnitude of the tea trade, +by going from one hong to another, and finding all of them filled with +chests, while armies of coolies are bringing in chops, sorting cargoes, +loading chop-boats, making leaden canisters, packing, and labelling +the packages. A heavy gate, with brilliant, figures painted on it, and +adorned with enormous lanterns, swings yawning open, and admits the +stranger. Just inside of the gate, at a little table, sits a man who +keeps count of the coolies, as they enter with chests of tea, and sees +that they do not carry any out except for good reasons. Looking down the +length of the hong, a busy scene presents itself. It is crammed with +big square chests just from the tea regions, and piled up to the roof. +Presently a string of coolies, stretching out like a flock of wild +geese, come past, and set down chests enough on the floor to cover half +an acre. These half-naked fellows are nimble workmen, and will unload a +boat full of tea in an incredibly short time. Very valuable as an animal +is the cooly: he is a Jack-at-all-trades; works at the scull of a boat, +or in a tea pack-house; bears a mandarin's sedan-chair, or sweeps out a +chamber. His ideas are as limited as his means, and nearly as much so +as his clothing; but he works all day without grumbling at his lot, is +cheerful, and seems to enjoy life, although he lives on a few cents a +day. He sleeps soundly at night, though his accommodations are such as +an American beggar would scorn. Any person visiting a hong will see on +the sides of the building, at a considerable elevation from the ground, +a number of shelves with divisions arranged like berths in a steamboat, +intended for beds, but consisting of rough boards with square +wooden blocks for pillows. Each one is enclosed with a coarse blue +mosquito-netting; and mounting to the apartments by a ladder, here the +coolies sleep the year round. + +The teas are not generally brought to the hongs until sold. Before sale +they are stored in warehouses, chiefly on Honan Island, opposite the +city; but after disposal the large-sized chests are carried into the +hongs, where they are sorted and repacked into smaller boxes, according +to the wants of the purchaser. You will see different parts of the +floor covered with packages large and small, into which the coolies are +shaking teas. Each box contains a leaden canister, into some of which +the teas are loosely poured, while in others the herb is wrapped in +papers of half a pound weight, each stamped with Chinese characters. The +canister is then closed by a lid, and afterward securely fastened down +by the top of the chest. These canisters are made near at hand. Look +around, and a few rods off you will see three or four expert hands +turning the large sheets of the prepared metal into shape. Knowing the +required size, the operators have a cubic block placed on the metal +sheet, which, bending like paper, is folded over the block, assuming its +shape, and the edges of the canister are instantly soldered by a second +hand; a third, with the aid of another wooden form, prepares the lids; +and thus a knot of half a dozen workmen, keeping steadily at their +tasks, will make a large number of canisters in a day. Besides the +laborers who cultivate and those who cure the tea, and the porters +and boatmen who transport it, thousands are employed in different +occupations connected with the trade. Carpenters make the chests, +plumbers the leaden canisters, while painters adorn the boxes containing +the finer kinds of teas with brilliant flowers or grotesque scenes. + +About the season of the arrival of the tea in Canton, the Chinese +dealers come to the foreign factories with "musters," or samples in nice +little tin canisters, with the names of the owners written on paper +pasted down the sides, and you can select such as you like. The +principal business is of course held with the tea merchants themselves, +not those who come from the North, but the Cantonese, while the minor +business of all the hongs is in a great measure conducted through the +"pursers," or foremen, who act between the Chinese and the foreigners, +bringing in the accounts to the shipping-houses, and receiving the +orders for cargoes. Give one of these men an order for tea and go to the +hong shortly afterward, you will find numbers of workmen employed for +you;--some bringing in the small boxes; others filling them, or, when +filled, fastened, papered, and covered with matting, securing them +firmly with ratans; others, finally, labelling them on the outer +covering,--the labels being printed with the name of the vessel, of the +tea merchant, of the tea, and of the Canton forwarding-house, also with +the initials of the purchaser, and the number of the lot. These labels +are printed rapidly, being cut by one set of hands to the proper size +for the use of the others who stamp them. All the types are carved in +blocks of wood, and the whole formed into a frame; then, in a little +space just large enough for work,--for the printer has no immense +establishment with signs on the outside of "Book and Job Printing,"--a +Chinaman will sit down, snatch up a paper in one hand, and stamp it +instantly with the wooden block letters, moistened with the coloring +mixture used in printing. + +When the teas are fairly ready to be conveyed to the ships, heavy +cargo-boats are moored at the foot of the hong, their crews prepare +for the chop, and the coolies within the hong stand ready to carry the +chests. Every box is properly weighed, papered, and bound with split +ratan, the bill of the purchase has gone duly authenticated to the +foreign factory, and the teas bid farewell to their native soil. The +word is given, and each cooly, placing his two chests in the ropes +swinging from his shoulder-bar, lifts them from the ground, and with a +brisk walk conveys them on board the chop-boat, where they are carefully +stowed away. As they are carried out of the hong, a fellow stands ready, +and, as if about to stab the packages, thrusts at each one two sharp +sticks with red ends, leaving them jammed between the ratan and the +tea-box. One of these sticks is taken out when the chest leaves the +chop-boat, and the other when it reaches the deck of the vessel; and +as soon as one hundred chests are passed into the ship, the sticks +are counted and thus serve as tallies. Should the two bundles not +correspond, a chest is missing somewhere, and woe betide the blunderer! + +In the busy season the chop-boats are seen pushing down the river with +every favorable tide. As for pushing against the tide, no Chinaman ever +thinks of such a thing, unless absolutely compelled, the value of time +being quite unknown in China. Coolly anchoring as soon as the tide is +adverse, the crew fall to playing cards until it is time to get under +way again. Nearly every chop-boat contains a whole family, father, +mother, and children,--sometimes an old grandparent, also, being +included in the domestic circle,--and all assist in working. At the +stern of the boat the wife has a little cooking-apparatus, and prepares +the cheap rice for the squad of eager gormandizers, who bolt it in huge +quantities without fear of indigestion. The family sit down to their +repast on the deck; the men keep an eye to windward and a hand on the +tiller; the mother knots the cord that goes around the baby's waist +into an iron ring, and, feeling secure against the bantling's falling +overboard, chats sociably, occasionally enforcing a mild reproof to a +vagabond son by a tap on the head with her chopstick. There is but one +dish, rice, of a very ordinary sort and of a pink color, but all seem to +thrive upon it. The meal over, the men smoke their pipes, and the wife +washes her cooking utensils with water drawn from the muddy river, and +then, strapping her infant to her back, overhauls the scanty wardrobe +and mends the ragged garments. + +It is interesting to mark how accurately the chop-boat is brought +alongside of the ship for which it is destined. No matter how strong the +wind blows or the tide runs, the sails are trimmed as occasion requires, +and the big scull does its offices without ever the least mistake. The +boat running under the quarter scrapes along the edge, the ropes are +thrown, caught, and belayed, and the crew prepare for passing the cargo +into the vessel's hold. The stevedores who load the ships are very +active men. They have also good heads, and, measuring the length, +breadth, and height of the hold, calculate pretty accurately how many +chests the ship will carry, and the number of small boxes to be squeezed +into narrow places. When the hold is full the hatch is fastened down and +caulked, as exposure to the salt air injures the teas. The finest kinds +are so delicate, indeed, that they cannot be exported by sea; for, +however tightly sealed, they would deteriorate during the voyage. The +very superior flavor noticed by travellers in the tea used at St. +Petersburg is doubtless to be attributed in an important measure to its +overland transportation, and its consequent escape from dampness; the +large quantities consumed in Russia being, as before observed, all +carried from the northwest of China to Kiakhta, whence it is distributed +over the empire. + +One of the most remarkable and interesting facts in the history of +commerce is the comparatively recent origin of the tea trade. The leaves +of the tea-plant were extensively used by the people of China and Japan +centuries before it was known to Western nations. This is the more +singular from the fact that the silks of China found their way to the +West at a very early period,--as early, at least, as the first century +of the Christian era,--while the use of tea in Europe dates back +only about two hundred years. The earliest notices of its use in the +countries where it is indigenous are found in the writings of the +Moorish historians and travellers, about the end of the eighth century, +at which time the Mahometans were freely allowed to visit China, and +travel through the empire as they pleased. Soliman, an Arabian merchant, +who visited China about A.D. 850, describes it under the name of _Sah_, +as being the favorite beverage of the people; and Ibn Batuta, A.D. 1323, +speaks of it as used for correcting the bad properties of water, and as +a medicine. Mandelslo, a German, who travelled in India, 1638-40, in +describing the customs of the European merchants at Surat, speaks of tea +as of something unfamiliar. The reasons he gives for drinking both it +and coffee are charmingly incongruous, as is generally the case when men +undertake to find some solemn excuse for doing what they like. "At our +ordinary meetings every day we took only _Thé_, which is commonly used +all over the Indies, not only among those of the Country, but among the +_Dutch_ and _English_, who take it as a Drug that cleanses the stomach +and digests the superfluous humours, by a temperate heat particular +thereto. The Persians, instead of _Thé_, drink their _Kahwa_, which +cools and abates the natural heat which _Thé_ preserves."[A] Of its +first introduction into Europe little is known. In 1517, King Emanuel of +Portugal sent a fleet of eight ships to China, and an embassy to Peking; +but it was not until after the formation of the Dutch East India +Company, in 1602, that the use of tea became known on the Continent, and +even then, although the Hollanders paid much attention to it, it made +its way slowly for many years. The first notice of it in England is +found in Pepys's "Diary," under date of September 25th, 1660,--as before +quoted. In 1664, the East India Company presented to the king, among +other "raretyes," 2 lb. 2 oz. of "thea"; and in 1667, they desire their +agent at Bantam to send "100 lb. waight of the best tey that he can +gett."[B] From this insignificant beginning the importation has grown +from year to year, until ninety million pounds went to Great Britain in +1856, forty million coming to the United States the same year. + +[Footnote A: Mandelslo's _Voyages and Travels into the East Indies_, p. +18, ed. 1662.] + +[Footnote B: Grant's _History of the East India Company_. London, 1813, +p. 76.] + +The "Edinburgh Review," in an article on this subject, says: "The +progress of this famous plant has been somewhat like the progress of +_Truth_;--suspected at first, though very palatable to those who had the +courage to taste it; resisted as it encroached; abused as its popularity +seemed to spread; and establishing its triumph at last in cheering +the whole land, from the palace to the cottage, only by the slow and +resistless efforts of time and its own virtues." + +Many substitutes for tea are in vogue among the Chinese, but in general +only the very lowest of the population are debarred the use of the +genuine article. Being the universal drink, it is found at all times in +every house. Few are so poor that a simmering tea-pot does not stand +ever filled for the visitor. It is invariably offered to strangers; +and any omission to do so is considered, and is usually intended, as a +slight. It appears to be preferred by the people to any other beverage, +even in the hottest weather; and while Americans in the heats of July +would gladly resort to ice-water or lemonade, the Chinaman will quench +his thirst with large draughts of boiling tea. + +The Muse of China has not disdained to warble harmonious numbers in +praise of her favorite beverage. There is a celebrated ballad on +tea-picking, in thirty stanzas, sung by a young woman who goes from home +early in the day to work, and lightens her labors with song. I give a +few of the verses, distinctly informing the reader, at the same time, +that for the real sparkle and beauty of the poem he must consult the +Chinese original. + + "By earliest dawn I at my toilet only half-dress my hair + And seizing my basket, pass the door, while yet the mist is thick. + The little maids and graver dames, hand in hand winding along, + Ask me, 'Which steep of Semglo do you climb to-day?' + + "In social couples, each to aid her fellow, we seize the tea twigs, + And in low words urge one another, 'Don't delay!' + Lest on the topmost bough the bud has now grown old, + And lest with the morrow come the drizzling silky rain. + + "My curls and hair are all awry, my face is quite begrimed; + In whose house lives the girl so ugly as your slave? + 'Tis only because that every day the tea I'm forced to pick; + The soaking rains and driving winds have spoiled my former charms. + + "Each picking is with toilsome labor, but yet I shun it not; + My maiden curls are all askew, my pearly fingers all benumbed; + But I only wish our tea to be of a superfine kind,-- + To have it equal his 'Sparrow's Tongue' and their 'Dragon's Pellet.' + + "For a whole month where can I catch a single leisure day? + For at the earliest dawn I go to pick, and not till dusk return; + Till the deep midnight I'm still before the firing-pan. + Will not labor like this my pearly complexion deface? + + "But if my face is lank, my mind is firmly fixed + So to fire my golden buds they shall excel all beside. + But how know I who'll put them into the gemmy cup? + Who at leisure will with her taper fingers give them to the maid to + draw?" + +Will any one say, after this, that there is no poetry connected with +tea? + +The theme, in truth, is replete with poetical associations, and of a +kind that we look in vain for in connection with any other potable. +Unlike the Anacreontic in praise of the grape,--song suggestive chiefly +of bacchanal revels and loose jollity,--the verse which extols "the cup +that cheers, but not inebriates," brings to mind home comforts and a +happy household. And not only have some of the "canonized bards" of +England celebrated its honors,--like Pope, in the "Rape of the Lock," +when describing Hampton Court,-- + + "There, thou great Anna, whom three realms obey, + Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes _tea_,"-- + +but, if it be true that + + "Many are poets who have never penned + Their inspiration," + +how many an unknown bard have we among us, who, at the close of a hard +day's work, tramps cheerily home, whistling,-- + + "Molly, put the kettle on, + We'll all have tea,"-- + +and thinking of a well-spread board, a simmering urn, a sweet wife, and +rosy-cheeked children, waiting his coming. Grave father of a family! +Your heart has grown cold and hard, if you have ceased to enjoy such +scenes. Young husband! cannot you remember the first time you hoped with +good reason, when, as you took leave after an afternoon call, a pair of +witching eyes looked into yours, and a sweet voice sounded sweeter, as +it timidly asked, "Won't you stay--_and take a cup of tea_?" + + + + +THE OLD BURYING-GROUND. + + + Our vales are sweet with fern and rose, + Our hills are maple-crowned; + But not from them our fathers chose + The village burying-ground. + + The dreariest spot in all the land + To Death they set apart; + With scanty grace from Nature's hand, + And none from that of Art. + + A winding wall of mossy stone, + Frost-flung and broken, lines + A lonesome acre thinly grown + With grass and wandering vines. + + Without the wall a birch-tree shows + Its drooped and tasselled head; + Within, a stag-horned sumach grows, + Fern-leafed with spikes of red. + + There, sheep that graze the neighboring plain + Like white ghosts come and go, + The farm-horse drags his fetlock chain, + The cow-bell tinkles slow. + + Low moans the river from its bed, + The distant pines reply; + Like mourners shrinking from the dead, + They stand apart and sigh. + + Unshaded smites the summer sun, + Unchecked the winter blast; + The school-girl learns the place to shun, + With glances backward cast. + + For thus our fathers testified-- + That he might read who ran-- + The emptiness of human pride, + The nothingness of man. + + They dared not plant the grave with flowers, + Nor dress the funeral sod, + Where, with a love as deep as ours, + They left their dead with God. + + The hard and thorny path they kept, + From beauty turned aside; + Nor missed they over those who slept + The grace to life denied. + + Yet still the wilding flowers would blow, + The golden leaves would fall, + The seasons come, the seasons go. + And God be good to all. + + Above the graves the blackberry hung + In bloom and green its wreath, + And harebells swung as if they rung + The chimes of peace beneath. + + The beauty Nature loves to share, + The gifts she hath for all, + The common light, the common air, + O'ercrept the graveyard's wall. + + It knew the glow of eventide, + The sunrise and the noon, + And glorified and sanctified + It slept beneath the moon. + + With flowers or snow-flakes for its sod, + Around the seasons ran, + And evermore the love of God + Rebuked the fear of man. + + We dwell with fears on either hand, + Within a daily strife, + And spectral problems waiting stand + Before the gates of life. + + The doubts we vainly seek to solve, + The truths we know, are one; + The known and nameless stars revolve + Around the Central Sun. + + And if we reap as we have sown, + And take the dole we deal, + The law of pain is love alone, + The wounding is to heal. + + Unharmed from change to change we glide, + We fall as in our dreams; + The far-off terror, at our side, + A smiling angel seems. + + Secure on God's all-tender heart + Alike rest great and small; + Why fear to lose our little part, + When He is pledged for all? + + O fearful heart and troubled brain! + Take hope and strength from this,-- + That Nature never hints in vain, + Nor prophesies amiss. + + Her wild birds sing the same sweet stave, + Her lights and airs are given, + Alike, to playground and the grave,-- + And over both is Heaven. + + * * * * * + + +THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST-TABLE. + +EVERY MAN HIS OWN BOSWELL. + + +[I am so well pleased with my boarding-house that I intend to remain +there, perhaps for years. Of course I shall have a great many +conversations to report, and they will necessarily be of different tone +and on different subjects. The talks are like the breakfasts,--sometimes +dipped toast, and sometimes dry. You must take them as they come. How +can I do what all these letters ask me to? No. 1. wants serious and +earnest thought. No. 2. (letter smells of bad cigars) must have more +jokes; wants me to tell a "good storey" that he has copied out for me. +(I suppose two letters before the word "good" refer to some Doctor of +Divinity who told the story.) No. 3. (in female hand)--more poetry. No. +4. wants something that would be of use to a practical man. +(_Prahctical mahn_ he probably pronounces it.) No. 5. (gilt-edged, +sweet-scented)--"more sentiment,"--"heart's outpourings."---- + +My dear friends, one and all, I can do nothing but report such remarks +as I happen to have made at our breakfast-table. Their character will +depend on many accidents,--a good deal on the particular persons in +the company to whom they were addressed. It so happens that those +which follow were mainly intended for the divinity-student and the +school-mistress; though others, whom I need not mention, saw fit to +interfere, with more or less propriety, in the conversation. This is one +of my privileges as a talker; and of course, if I was not talking for +our whole company, I don't expect all the readers of this periodical to +be interested in my notes of what was said. Still, I think there may be +a few that will rather like this vein,--possibly prefer it to a livelier +one,--serious young men, and young women generally, in life's roseate +parenthesis from ---- years of age to ---- inclusive. + +Another privilege of talking is to misquote.--Of course it wasn't +Proserpina that actually cut the yellow hair,--but _Iris_. It was the +former lady's regular business, but Dido had used herself ungenteelly, +and Madame d'Enfer stood firm on the point of etiquette. So the +bathycolpian Here--Juno, in Latin--sent down Iris instead. But I was +mightily pleased to see that one of the gentlemen that do the heavy +articles for this magazine misquoted Campbell's line without any excuse. +"Waft us _home_ the _message_" of course it ought to be. Will he be duly +grateful for the correction?] + +----The more we study the body and the mind, the more we find both to be +governed, not _by_, but _according to_ laws, such as we observe in the +larger universe.--You think you know all about _walking_,--don't you, +now? Well, how do you suppose your lower limbs are held to +your body? They are sucked up by two cupping vessels, +("cotyloid"--cup-like-cavities,) and held there as long as you live, and +longer. At any rate, you think you move them backward and forward at +such a rate as your will determines, don't you? On the contrary, they +swing just as any other pendulums swing, at a fixed rate, determined by +their length. You can alter this by muscular power, as you can take hold +of the pendulum of a clock and make it move faster or slower; but your +ordinary gait is timed by the same mechanism as the movements of the +solar system. + +[My friend, the Professor, told me all this, referring me to certain +German physiologists by the name of Weber for proof of the facts, which, +however, he said he had often verified. I appropriated it to my own use; +what can one do better than this, when one has a friend that tells him +anything worth remembering? + +The Professor seems to think that man and the general powers of the +universe are in partnership. Some one was saying that it had cost nearly +half a million to move the Leviathan only so far as they had got it +already.--Why,--said the Professor,--they might have hired an EARTHQUAKE +for less money!] + +Just as we find a mathematical rule at the bottom of many of the bodily +movements, just so thought may be supposed to have its regular cycles. +Such or such a thought comes round periodically, in its turn. Accidental +suggestions, however, so far interfere with the regular cycles, that we +may find them practically beyond our power of recognition. Take all this +for what it is worth, but at any rate you will agree that there are +certain particular thoughts that do not come up once a day, nor once a +week, but that a year would hardly go round without your having them +pass through your mind. Here is one that comes up at intervals in this +way. Some one speaks of it, and there is an instant and eager smile of +assent in the listener or listeners. Yes, indeed; they have often been +struck by it. + +_All at once a conviction flashes through us that we have been in the +same precise circumstances as at the present instant, once or many times +before_. + +O, dear, yes!--said one of the company,--everybody has had that feeling. + +The landlady didn't know anything about such notions; it was an idee in +folks' heads, she expected. + +The schoolmistress said, in a hesitating sort of way, that she knew the +feeling well, and didn't like to experience it; it made her think she +was a ghost, sometimes. + +The young fellow whom they call John said he knew all about it; he had +just lighted a cheroot the other day, when a tremendous conviction all +at once came over him that he had done just that same thing ever so many +times before. I looked severely at him, and his countenance immediately +fell--_on the side toward me;_ I cannot answer for the other, for he can +wink and laugh with either half of his face without the other half's +knowing it. + +----I have noticed--I went on to say--the following circumstances +connected with these sudden impressions. First, that the condition which +seems to be the duplicate of a former one is often very trivial,--one +that might have presented itself a hundred times. Secondly, that the +impression is very evanescent, and that it is rarely, if ever, recalled +by any voluntary effort, at least after any time has elapsed. Thirdly, +that there is a disinclination to record the circumstances, and a sense +of incapacity to reproduce the state of mind in words. Fourthly, I have +often felt that the duplicate condition had not only occurred once +before, but that it was familiar, and, as it seemed, habitual. Lastly, I +have had the same convictions in my dreams. + +How do I account for it?--Why, there are several ways that I can +mention, and you may take your choice. The first is that which the +young lady hinted at;--that these flashes are sudden recollections of a +previous existence. I don't believe that; for I remember a poor student +I used to know told me he had such a conviction one day when he was +blacking his boots, and I can't think he had ever lived in another world +where they use Day and Martin. + +Some think that Dr. Wigan's doctrine of the brain's being a double +organ, its hemispheres working together like the two eyes, accounts +for it. One of the hemispheres hangs fire, they suppose, and the small +interval between the perceptions of the nimble and the sluggish half +seems an indefinitely long period, and therefore the second perception +appears to be the copy of another, ever so old. But even allowing +the centre of perception to be double, I can see no good reason for +supposing this indefinite lengthening of the time, nor any analogy +that bears it out. It seems to me most likely that the coincidence of +circumstances is very partial, but that we take this partial resemblance +for identity, as we occasionally do resemblances of persons. A momentary +posture of circumstances is so far like some preceding one that +we accept it as exactly the same, just as we accost a stranger +occasionally, mistaking him for a friend. The apparent similarity may be +owing, perhaps, quite as much to the mental state at the time as to the +outward circumstances. + +----Here is another of these curiously recurring remarks. I have said it +and heard it many times, and occasionally met with something like it in +books,--somewhere in Bulwer's novels, I think, and in one of the works +of Mr. Olmsted, I know. + +_Memory, imagination, old sentiments and associations, are more readily +reached through the sense of SMELL than by almost any other channel._ + +Of course the particular odors which act upon each person's +susceptibilities differ.--O, yes! I will tell you some of mine. +The smell of _phosphorus_ is one of them. During a year or two of +adolescence I used to be dabbling in chemistry a good deal, and as about +that time I had my little aspirations and passions like another, some +of these things got mixed up with each other: orange-colored fumes +of nitrous acid, and visions as bright and transient; reddening +litmus-paper, and blushing cheeks;--_eheu!_ + + "Soles occidere et redire possunt," + +but there is no reagent that will redden the faded roses of eighteen +hundred and----spare them! But, as I was saying, phosphorus fires this +train of associations in an instant; its luminous vapors with their +penetrating odor throw me into a trance; it comes to me in a double +sense "trailing clouds of glory." Only the confounded Vienna matches, +_ohne phosphor-geruch_, have worn my sensibilities a little. + +Then there is the _marigold_. When I was of smallest dimensions, and +wont to ride impacted between the knees of fond parental pair, we would +sometimes cross the bridge to the next village-town and stop opposite a +low, brown, "gambrel-roofed" cottage. Out of it would come one Sally, +sister of its swarthy tenant, swarthy herself, shady-lipped, sad-voiced, +and, bending over her flower-bed, would gather a "posy," as she called +it, for the little boy. Sally lies in the churchyard with a slab of blue +slate at her head, lichen-crusted, and leaning a little within the last +few years. Cottage, garden-beds, posies, grenadier-like rows of seedling +onions,--stateliest of vegetables,--all are gone, but the breath of a +marigold brings them all back to me. + +Perhaps the herb _everlasting_, the fragrant _immortelle_ of our autumn +fields, has the most suggestive odor to me of all those that set me +dreaming. I can hardly describe the strange thoughts and emotions that +come to me as I inhale the aroma of its pale, dry, rustling flowers. A +something it has of sepulchral spicery, as if it had been brought from +the core of some great pyramid, where it had lain on the breast of +a mummied Pharaoh. Something, too, of immortality in the sad, faint +sweetness lingering so long in its lifeless petals. Yet this does not +tell why it fills my eyes with tears and carries me in blissful thought +to the banks of asphodel that border the River of Life. + +----I should not have talked so much about these personal +susceptibilities, if I had not a remark to make about them that I +believe is a new one. It is this. There may be a physical reason for +the strange connection between the sense of smell and the mind. The +olfactory nerve--so my friend, the Professor, tells me--is the only +one directly connected with the hemispheres of the brain, the parts in +which, as we have every reason to believe, the intellectual processes +are performed. To speak more truly, the olfactory "nerve" is not a nerve +at all, he says, but a part of the brain, in intimate connection with +its anterior lobes. Whether this anatomical arrangement is at the bottom +of the facts I have mentioned, I will not decide, but it is curious +enough to be worth remembering. Contrast the sense of taste, as a source +of suggestive impressions, with that of smell. Now the Professor assures +me that you will find the nerve of taste has no immediate connection +with the brain proper, but only with the prolongation of the spinal +cord. + +[The old gentleman opposite did not pay much attention, I think, to this +hypothesis of mine. But while I was speaking about the sense of smell +he nestled about in his seat, and presently succeeded in getting out a +large red bandanna handkerchief. Then he lurched a little to the other +side, and after much tribulation at last extricated an ample round +snuff-box. I looked as he opened it and felt for the wonted pugil. +Moist rappee, and a Tonka-bean lying therein. I made the manual sign +understood of all mankind that use the precious dust, and presently my +brain, too, responded to the long unused stimulus.----O boys,--that +were,--actual papas and possible grandpapas,--some of you with crowns +like billiard-balls,--some in locks of sable silvered, and some +of silver sabled,--do you remember, as you doze over this, those +after-dinners at the Trois Frères, when the Scotch-plaided snuff-box +went round, and the dry Lundy-Foot tickled its way along into our happy +sensoria? Then it was that the Chambertin or the Clôt Vougêot came in, +slumbering in its straw cradle. And one among you,--do you remember how +he would have a bit of ice always in his Burgundy, and sit tinkling it +against the sides of the bubble-like glass, saying that he was hearing +the cow-bells as he used to hear them, when the deep-breathing kine +came home at twilight from the huckleberry pasture, in the old home a +thousand leagues towards the sunset?] + +Ah, me! what strains and strophes of unwritten verse pulsate through my +soul when I open a certain closet in the ancient house where I was born! +On its shelves used to lie bundles of sweet-marjoram and pennyroyal and +lavender and mint and catnip; there apples were stored until their seeds +should grow black, which happy period there were sharp little milk-teeth +always ready to anticipate; there peaches lay in the dark, thinking of +the sunshine they had lost, until, like the hearts of saints that dream +of heaven in their sorrow, they grew fragrant as the breath of angels. +The odorous echo of a score of dead summers lingers yet in those dim +recesses. + +----Do I remember Byron's line about "striking the electric chain"?--To +be sure I do. I sometimes think the less the hint that stirs the +automatic machinery of association, the more easily this moves us. What +can be more trivial than that old story of opening the folio Shakspeare +that used to lie in some ancient English hall and finding the flakes of +Christmas pastry between its leaves, shut up in them perhaps a hundred +years ago? And, lo! as one looks on those poor relics of a bygone +generation, the universe changes in the twinkling of an eye; old George +the Second is back again, and the elder Pitt is coming into power, and +General Wolfe is a fine, promising young man, and over the Channel they +are pulling the Sieur Damiens to pieces with wild horses, and across the +Atlantic the Indians are tomahawking Hirams and Jonathans and Jonases at +Fort William Henry; all the dead people that have been in the dust so +long--even to the stout-armed cook that made the pastry--are alive +again; the planet unwinds a hundred of its luminous coils, and the +precession of the equinoxes is retraced on the dial of heaven! And all +this for a bit of pie-crust! + +----I will thank you for that pie,--said the provoking young fellow whom +I have named repeatedly. He looked at it for a moment, and put his hands +to his eyes as if moved.--I was thinking,--he said, indistinctly---- + +----How? What is't?--said our landlady. + +----I was thinking--said he--who was king of England when this old pie +was baked,--and it made me feel bad to think how long he must have been +dead. + +[Our landlady is a decent body, poor, and a widow, of course; _celà va +sans dire_. She told me her story once; it was as if a grain of corn +that had been ground and bolted had tried to individualize itself by a +special narrative. There was the wooing and the wedding,--the start in +life,--the disappointment,--the children she had buried,--the struggle +against fate,--the dismantling of life, first of its small luxuries, and +then of its comforts,--the broken spirits,--the altered character of the +one on whom she leaned,--and at last the death that came and drew the +black curtain between her and all her earthly hopes. + +I never laughed at my landlady after she had told me her story, but I +often cried,--not those pattering tears that run off the eaves upon our +neighbors' grounds, the _stillicidium_ of self-conscious sentiment, but +those which steal noiselessly through their conduits until they reach +the cisterns lying round about the heart; those tears that we weep +inwardly with unchanging features;--such I did shed for her often when +the imps of the boarding-house Inferno tugged at her soul with their +red-hot pincers.] + +Young man,--I said,--the pasty you speak lightly of is not old, but +courtesy to those who labor to serve us, especially if they are of the +weaker sex, is very old, and yet well worth retaining. The pasty looks +to me as if it were tender, but I know that the hearts of women are so. +May I recommend to you the following caution, as a guide, whenever you +are dealing with a woman, or an artist, or a poet;--if you are handling +an editor or politician, it is superfluous advice. I take it from the +back of one of those little French toys which contain paste-board +figures moved by a small running stream of fine sand; Benjamin Franklin +will translate it for you: "_Quoiqu'elle soit très solidement montée, il +faut ne pas BRUTALISER la machine_."--I will thank you for the pie, if +you please. + +[I took more of it than was good for me,--as much as 85°, I should +think,--and had an indigestion in consequence. While I was suffering +from it, I wrote some sadly desponding poems, and a theological essay +which took a very melancholy view of creation. When I got better I +labelled them all "Pie-crust," and laid them by as scarecrows and solemn +warnings. I have a number of books on my shelves that I should like +to label with some such title; but, as they have great names on their +title-pages,--Doctors of Divinity, some of them,--it wouldn't do.] + +----My friend, the Professor, whom I have mentioned to you once or +twice, told me yesterday that somebody had been abusing him in some of +the journals of his calling. I told him that I didn't doubt he deserved +it; that I hoped he did deserve a little abuse occasionally, and would +for a number of years to come; that nobody could do anything to make +his neighbors wiser or better without being liable to abuse for it; +especially that people hated to have their little mistakes made fun of, +and perhaps he had been doing something of the kind.--The Professor +smiled.--Now, said I, hear what I am going to say. It will not take many +years to bring you to the period of life when men, at least the majority +of writing and talking men, do nothing but praise. Men, like peaches and +pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay--I don't +know what it is,--whether a spontaneous change, mental or bodily, or +whether it is thorough experience of the thanklessness of critical +honesty,--but it is a fact, that most writers, except sour and +unsuccessful ones, tired of finding fault at about the time when they +are beginning to grow old. As a general thing, I would not give a great +deal for the fair words of a critic, if he is himself an author, over +fifty years of age. At thirty we are all trying to cut our names in big +letters upon the walls of this tenement of life; twenty years later we +have carved it, or shut up our jack-knives. Then we are ready to help +others, and care less to hinder any, because nobody's elbows are in our +way. So I am glad you have a little life left; you will be saccharine +enough in a few years. + +----Some of the softening effects of advancing age have struck me very +much in what I have heard or seen here and elsewhere. I just now spoke +of the sweetening process that authors undergo. Do you know that in the +gradual passage from maturity to helplessness the harshest characters +sometimes have a period in which they are gentle and placid as young +children? I have heard it said, but I cannot be sponsor for its truth, +that the famous chieftain, Lochiel, was rocked in a cradle like a baby, +in his old age. An old man, whose studies had been of the severest +scholastic kind, used to love to hear little nursery-stories read over +and over to him. One who saw the Duke of Wellington in his last years +describes him as very gentle in his aspect and demeanor. I remember +a person of singularly stern and lofty bearing who became remarkably +gracious and easy in all his ways in the later period of his life. + +And that leads me to say that men often remind me of pears in their way +of coming to maturity. Some are ripe at twenty, like human Jargonelles, +and must be made the most of, for their day is soon over. Some come +into their perfect condition late, like the autumn kinds, and they last +better than the summer fruit. And some, that, like the Winter-Nelis, +have been hard and uninviting until all the rest have had their season, +get their glow and perfume long after the frost and snow have done +their worst with the orchards. Beware of rash criticisms; the rough and +astringent fruit you condemn may be an autumn or a winter pear, and that +which you picked up beneath the same bough in August may have been only +its worm-eaten windfalls. Milton was a Saint-Germain with a graft of the +roseate Early-Catherine. Rich, juicy, lively, fragrant, russet-skinned +old Chaucer was an Easter-Beurré; the buds of a new summer were swelling +when he ripened. + +----There is no power I envy so much--said the divinity-student--as that +of seeing analogies and making comparisons. I don't understand how it is +that some minds are continually coupling thoughts or objects that seem +not in the least related to each other, until all at once they are put +in a certain light, and you wonder that you did not always see that they +were as like as a pair of twins. It appears to me a sort of miraculous +gift. + +[He is rather a nice young man, and I think has an appreciation of the +higher mental qualities remarkable for one of his years and training. +I try his head occasionally as housewives try eggs,--give it an +intellectual shake and hold it up to the light, so to speak, to see +if it has life in it, actual or potential, or only contains lifeless +albumen.] + +You call it _miraculous_,--I replied,--tossing the expression with my +facial eminence, a little smartly, I fear.--Two men are walking by the +poly-phloesboean ocean, one of them having a small tin cup with which he +can scoop up a gill of sea-water when he will, and the other nothing but +his hands, which will hardly hold water at all,--and you call the tin +cup a miraculous possession! + +It is the ocean that is the miracle, my infant apostle! Nothing is +clearer than that all things are in all things, and that just according +to the intensity and extension of our mental being we shall see the many +in the one and the one in the many. Did Sir Isaac think what he was +saying when he made _his_ speech about the ocean,--the child and the +pebbles, you know? Did he mean to speak slightingly of a pebble? Of +a spherical solid which stood sentinel over its compartment of space +before the stone that became the pyramids had grown solid, and has +watched it until now! A body which knows all the currents of force that +traverse the globe; which holds by invisible threads to the ring of +Saturn and the belt of Orion! A body from the contemplation of which an +archangel could infer the entire inorganic universe as the simplest of +corollaries! A throne of the all-pervading Deity, who has guided its +every atom since the rosary of heaven was strung with beaded stars! + +So,--to return to _our_ walk by the ocean,--if all that poetry has +dreamed, all that insanity has raved, all that maddening narcotics have +driven through the brains of men, or smothered passion nursed in +the fancies of women,--if the dreams of colleges and convents and +boarding-schools,--if every human feeling that sighs, or smiles, or +curses, or shrieks, or groans, should bring all their innumerable +images, such as come with every hurried heart-beat,--the epic that held +them all, though its letters filled the zodiac, would be but a cupful +from the infinite ocean of similitudes and analogies that rolls through +the universe. + +[The divinity-student honored himself by the way in which he received +this. He did not swallow it at once, neither did he reject it; but he +took it as a pickerel takes the bait, and carried it off with him to his +hole (in the fourth story) to deal with at his leisure.] + +--Here is another remark made for his especial benefit.--There is a +natural tendency in many persons to run their adjectives together +in _triads_, as I have heard them called,--thus: He was honorable, +courteous, and brave; she was graceful, pleasing, and virtuous. Dr. +Johnson is famous for this; I think it was Bulwer who said you could +separate a paper in the "Rambler" into three distinct essays. Many +of our writers show the same tendency,--my friend, the Professor, +especially. Some think it is in humble imitation of Johnson,--some that +it is for the sake of the stately sound only. I don't think they get +to the bottom of it. It is, I suspect, an instinctive and involuntary +effort of the mind to present a thought or image with the _three +dimensions_ that belong to every solid,--an unconscious handling of an +idea as if it had length, breadth, and thickness. It is a great deal +easier to say this than to prove it, and a great deal easier to dispute +it than to disprove it. But mind this: the more we observe and study, +the wider we find the range of the automatic and instinctive principles +in body, mind, and morals, and the narrower the limits of the +self-determining conscious movement. + +----I have often seen piano-forte players and singers make such strange +motions over their instruments or song-books that I wanted to laugh at +them. "Where did our friends pick up all these fine ecstatic airs?" I +would say to myself. Then I would remember My Lady in "Marriage a la +Mode," and amuse myself with thinking how affectation was the same thing +in Hogarth's time and in our own. But one day I bought me a Canary-bird +and hung him up in a cage at my window. By-and-by he found himself at +home, and began to pipe his little tunes; and there he was, sure enough, +swimming and waving about, with all the droopings and liftings and +languishing side-turnings of the head that I had laughed at. And now I +should like to ask, WHO taught him all this?--and me, through him, that +the foolish head was not the one swinging itself from side to side and +bowing and nodding over the music, but that other which was passing its +shallow and self-satisfied judgment on a creature made of finer clay +than the frame which carried that same head upon its shoulders? + +----Do you want an image of the human will, or the self-determining +principle, as compared with its prearranged and impassable restrictions? +A drop of water, imprisoned in a crystal; you may see such a one in any +mineralogical collection. One little fluid particle in the crystalline +prism of the solid universe! + +----Weaken moral obligations?--No, not weaken, but define them. When I +preach that sermon I spoke of the other day, I shall have to lay down +some principles not fully recognized in some of your text-books. + +I should have to begin with one most formidable preliminary. You saw an +article the other day in one of the journals, perhaps, in which some old +Doctor or other said quietly that patients were very apt to be fools and +cowards. But a great many of the clergyman's patients are not only fools +and cowards, but also liars. + +[Immense sensation at the table.--Sudden retirement of the angular +female in oxydated bombazine. Movement of adhesion--as they say in the +Chamber of Deputies--on the part of the young fellow they call John. +Falling of the old-gentleman-opposite's lower jaw--(gravitation is +beginning to get the better of him). Our landlady to Benjamin Franklin, +briskly,--Go to school right off, there's a good boy! Schoolmistress +curious,--takes a quick glance at divinity-student. Divinity-student +slightly flushed; draws his shoulders back a little, as if a big +falsehood--or truth--had hit him in the forehead. Myself calm.] + +----I should not make such a speech as that, you know, without having +pretty substantial indorsers to fall back upon, in case my credit should +be disputed. Will you run up stairs, Benjamin Franklin, (for B.F. had +_not_ gone right off, of course,) and bring down a small volume from the +left upper corner of the right-hand shelves? + +[Look at the precious little black, ribbed-backed, clean-typed, +vellum-papered 32mo. "DESIDERII ERASMI COLLOQUIA. Amstelodami. Typis +Ludovici Elzevirii. 1650." Various names written on title-page. Most +conspicuous this: Gul. Cookeson: E. Coll. Oum. Anim. 1725. Oxon. + +----O William Cookeson, of All-Souls College, Oxford,--then writing as I +now write,--now in the dust, where I shall lie,--is this line all that +remains to thee of earthly remembrance? Thy name is at least once more +spoken by living men;--is it a pleasure to thee? Thou shalt share with +me my little draught of immortality,--its week, its month, its year, +whatever it may be,--and then we will go together into the solemn +archives of Oblivion's Uncatalogued Library!] + +----If you think I have used rather strong language, I shall have +to read something to you out of the book of this keen and witty +scholar,--the great Erasmus,--who "laid the egg of the Reformation which +Luther hatched." Oh, you never read his _Naufragium_, or "Shipwreck," +did you? Of course not; for, if you had, I don't think you would have +given me credit--or discredit--for entire originality in that speech +of mine. That men are cowards in the contemplation of futurity he +illustrates by the extraordinary antics of many on board the sinking +vessel; that they are fools, by their praying to the sea, and making +promises to bits of wood from the true cross, and all manner of similar +nonsense; that they are fools, cowards, and liars all at once, by this +story: I will put it into rough English for you,--"I couldn't help +laughing to hear one fellow bawling out, so that he might be sure to be +heard, a promise to Saint Christopher of Paris--the monstrous statue in +the great church there--that he would give him a wax taper as big as +himself. 'Mind what you promise!' said an acquaintance that stood near +him, poking him with his elbow; 'you couldn't pay for it, if you sold +all your things at auction.' 'Hold your tongue, you donkey!' said +the fellow,--but softly, so that Saint Christopher should not hear +him,--'do you think I'm in earnest? If I once get my foot on dry ground, +catch me giving him so much as a tallow candle!'" + +Now, therefore, remembering that those who have been loudest in their +talk about the great subject of which we were speaking have not +necessarily been wise, brave, and true men, but, on the contrary, have +very often been wanting in one or two or all of the qualities these +words imply, I should expect to find a good many doctrines current in +the schools which I should be obliged to call foolish, cowardly, and +false. + +----So you would abuse other people's beliefs, Sir, and yet not tell us +your own creed!--said the divinity-student, coloring up with a spirit +for which I liked him all the better. + +----I have a creed,--I replied;--none better, and none shorter. It is +told in two words,--the two first of the Paternoster. And when I say +these words I mean them. And when I compared the human will to a drop +in a crystal, and said I meant to _define_ moral obligations, and not +weaken them, this was what I intended to express: that the fluent, +self-determining power of human beings is a very strictly limited agency +in the universe. The chief planes of its enclosing solid are, of course, +organization, education, condition. Organization may reduce the power +of the will to nothing, as in some idiots; and from this zero the scale +mounts upwards by slight gradations. Education is only second to nature. +Imagine all the infants born this year in Boston and Timbuctoo to change +places! Condition does less, but "Give me neither poverty nor riches" +was the prayer of Agur, and with good reason. If there is any +improvement in modern theology, it is in getting out of the region +of pure abstractions and taking these every-day working forces into +account. The great theological question now heaving and throbbing in the +minds of Christian men is this:-- + +No, I won't talk about these things now. My remarks might be repeated, +and it would give my friends pain to see with what personal incivilities +I should be visited. Besides, what business has a mere boarder to be +talking about such things at a breakfast-table? Let him make puns. To +be sure, he was brought up among the Christian fathers, and learned his +alphabet out of a quarto "Concilium Tridentinum." He has also heard many +thousand theological lectures by men of various denominations; and it +is not at all to the credit of these teachers, if he is not fit by this +time to express an opinion on theological matters. + +I know well enough that there are some of you who had a great deal +rather see me stand on my head than use it for any purpose of thought. +Does not my friend, the Professor, receive at least two letters a week, +requesting him to ..... .. ..... .. .. ...,--on the strength of some +youthful antic of his, which, no doubt, authorizes the intelligent +constituency of autograph-hunters to address him as a harlequin? + +----Well, I can't be savage with you for wanting to laugh, and I like to +make you laugh, well enough, when I can. But then observe this: if the +sense of the ridiculous is one side of an impressible nature, it is very +well; but if that is all there is in a man, he had better have been an +ape at once, and so have stood at the head of his profession. Laughter +and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same machinery of +sensibility; one is wind-power, and the other water-power; that is all. +I have often heard the Professor talk about hysterics as being Nature's +cleverest illustration of the reciprocal convertibility of the two +states of which these acts are the manifestations; but you may see it +every day in children; and if you want to choke with stifled tears at +sight of the transition, as it shows itself in older years, go and see +Mr. Blake play _Jesse Rural_. + +It is a very dangerous thing for a literary man to indulge his love for +the ridiculous. People laugh _with_ him just long as he amuses them; but +if he attempts to be serious, they must still have their laugh, and so +they laugh _at_ him. There is in addition, however, a deeper reason for +this than would at first appear. Do you know that you feel a little +superior to every man who makes you laugh, whether by making faces or +verses? Are you aware that you have a pleasant sense of patronizing him, +when you condescend so far as to let him turn somersets, literal or +literary, for your royal delight? Now if a man can only be allowed to +stand on a dais, or raised platform, and look down on his neighbor +who is exerting his talent for him, oh, it is all right!--first-rate +performance!--and all the rest of the fine phrases. But if all at once +the performer asks the gentleman to come upon the floor, and, stepping +upon the platform, begins to talk down at him,--ah, that wasn't in the +programme! + +I have never forgotten what happened when Sydney Smith--who, as +everybody knows, was an exceedingly sensible man, and a gentleman, every +inch of him--ventured to preach a sermon on the Duties of Royalty. The +"Quarterly," "so savage and tartarly," came down upon him in the most +contemptuous style, as "a joker of jokes," a "diner-out of the first +water," in one of his own phrases; sneering at him, insulting him, as +nothing but a toady of a court, sneaking behind the anonymous, would +ever have been mean enough to do to a man of his position and genius, or +to any decent person even. If I were giving advice to a young fellow of +talent, with two or three facets to his mind, I would tell him by all +means to keep his wit in the background until after he had made a +reputation by his more solid qualities. And so to an actor: _Hamlet_ +first, and _Bob Logic_ afterwards, if you like; but don't think, as they +say poor Liston used to, that people will be ready to allow that you can +do anything great with _Macbeth's_ dagger after flourishing about with +_Paul Pry's_ umbrella. Do you know, too, that the majority of men look +upon all who challenge their attention,--for a while, at least,--as +beggars, and nuisances? They always try to get off as cheaply as they +can; and the cheapest of all things they can give a literary man--pardon +the forlorn pleasantry!--is the _funny_-bone. That is all very well so +far as it goes, but satisfies no man, and makes a good many angry, as I +told you on a former occasion. + +----Oh, indeed, no! I am not ashamed to make you laugh, occasionally. I +think I could read you something I have in my desk that would probably make +you smile. Perhaps I will read it one of these days, if you are patient +with me when I am sentimental and reflective; not just now. The +ludicrous has its place in the universe; it is not a human invention, +but one of the Divine idea; illustrated in the practical jokes of +kittens and monkeys long before Aristophanes or Shakspeare. How curious +it is that we always consider solemnity and the absence of all gay +surprises and encounter of wits as essential to the idea of the future +life of those whom we thus deprive of half their faculties and then +call _blessed!_ There are not a few who, even in this life, seem to be +preparing themselves for that smileless eternity to which they look +forward, by banishing all gayety from their hearts and all joyousness +from their countenances. I meet one such in the street not unfrequently, +a person of intelligence and education, but who gives me (and all that +he passes) such a rayless and chilling look of recognition,--something +as if he were one of Heaven's assessors, come down to "doom" every +acquaintance he met,--that I have sometimes begun to sneeze on the spot, +and gone home with a violent cold, dating from that instant. I don't +doubt he would cut his kitten's tail off, if he caught her playing with +it. Please tell me, who taught her to play with it? + +No, no!--give me a chance to talk to you, my fellow-boarders, and you +need not be afraid that I shall have any scruples about entertaining +you, if I can do it, as well as giving you some of my serious thoughts, +and perhaps my sadder fancies. I know nothing in English or any other +literature more admirable than that sentiment of Sir Thomas Browne: +"EVERY MAN TRULY LIVES, SO LONG AS HE ACTS HIS NATURE, OR SOME WAY MAKES +GOOD THE FACULTIES OF HIMSELF." + +----I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, +as in what direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we must +sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it,--but we must +sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. There is one very sad thing in +old friendships, to every mind that is really moving onward. It is this: +that one cannot help using his early friends as the seaman uses the log, +to mark his progress. Every now and then we throw an old schoolmate over +the stern with a string of thought tied to him, and look--I am afraid +with a kind of luxurious and sanctimonious compassion--to see the rate +at which the string reels off, while he lies there bobbing up and down, +poor fellow! and we are dashing along with the white foam and bright +sparkle at our bows;--the ruffled bosom of prosperity and progress, with +a sprig of diamonds stuck in it! But this is only the sentimental side +of the matter; for grow we must, if we outgrow all that we love. + +Don't misunderstand that metaphor of heaving the log, I beg you. It is +merely a smart way of saying that we cannot avoid measuring our rate of +movement by those with whom we have long been in the habit of comparing +ourselves; and when they once become stationary, we can get our +reckoning from them with painful accuracy. We see just what we were +when they were our peers, and can strike the balance between that and +whatever we may feel ourselves to be now. No doubt we may sometimes be +mistaken. If we change our last simile to that very old and familiar one +of a fleet leaving the harbor and sailing in company for some distant +region, we can get what we want out of it. There is one of our +companions;--her streamers were torn into rags before she had got into +the open sea, then by and by her sails blew out of the ropes one after +another, the waves swept her deck, and as night came on we left her a +seeming wreck, as we flew under our pyramid of canvas. But lo! at +dawn she is still in sight,--it may be in advance of us. Some deep +ocean-current has been moving her on, strong, but silent,--yes, stronger +than these noisy winds that puff our sails until they are swollen as the +cheeks of jubilant cherubim. And when at last the black steam-tug with +the skeleton arms, that comes out of the mist sooner or later and takes +us all in tow, grapples her and goes off panting and groaning with her, +it is to that harbor where all wrecks are refitted, and where, alas! we, +towering in our pride, may never come. + +So you will not think I mean to speak lightly of old friendships, +because we cannot help instituting comparisons between our present and +former selves by the aid of those who were what we were, but are not +what we are. Nothing strikes one more, in the race of life, than to see +how many give out in the first half of the course. "Commencement day" +always reminds me of the start for the "Derby," when the beautiful +high-bred three-year olds of the season are brought up for trial. That +day is the start, and life is the race. Here we are at Cambridge, and a +class is just "graduating." Poor Harry! he was to have been there too, +but he has paid forfeit; step out here into the grass back of the +church; ah! there it is:-- + +"HUNC LAPIDEM POSUERUNT SOCII MOERENTES." + +But this is the start, and here they are,--coats bright as silk, and +manes as smooth as _eau lustrale_ can make them. Some of the best of the +colts are pranced round, a few minutes each, to show their paces. What +is that old gentleman crying about? and the old lady by him, and the +three girls, all covering their eyes for? Oh, that is _their_ colt that +has just been trotted up on the stage. Do they really think those little +thin legs can do anything in such a slashing sweepstakes as is coming +off in these next forty years? Oh, this terrible gift of second-sight +that comes to some of us when we begin to look through the silvered +rings of the _arcus senilis_! + +_Ten years gone_. First turn in the race. A few broken down; two or +three bolted. Several show in advance of the ruck. _Cassock_, a black +colt, seems to be ahead of the rest; those black colts commonly get the +start, I have noticed, of the others, in the first quarter. _Meteor_ has +pulled up. + +_Twenty years_. Second corner turned. _Cassock_ has dropped from the +front, and _Judex_, an iron-gray, has the lead. But look! how they have +thinned out! Down flat,--five,--six,--how many? They lie still enough! +they will not get up again in this race, be very sure! And the rest +of them, what a "tailing off"! Anybody can see who is going to +win,--perhaps. + +_Thirty years_. Third corner turned. _Dices_, bright sorrel, ridden by +the fellow in a yellow jacket, begins to make play fast; is getting +to be the favorite with many. But who is that other one that has been +lengthening his stride from the first, and now shows close up to the +front? Don't you remember the quiet brown colt _Asteroid_, with the star +in his forehead? That is he; he is one of the sort that lasts; look out +for him! The black "colt," as we used to call him, is in the background, +taking it easy in a gentle trot. There is one they used to call _the +Filly_, on account of a certain feminine air he had; well up, you see; +the Filly is not to be despised, my boy! + +_Forty years_. More dropping off,--but places much as before. + +_Fifty years_. Race over. All that are on the course are coming in at a +walk; no more running. Who is ahead? Ahead? What! and the winning-post a +slab of white or gray stone standing out from that turf where there is +no more jockeying or straining for victory! Well, the world marks their +places in its betting-book; but be sure that these matter very little, +if they have run as well as they knew how! + +----Did I not say to you a little while ago that the universe swam in an +ocean of similitudes and analogies? I will not quote Cowley, or Burns, +or Wordsworth, just now, to show you what thoughts were suggested to +them by the simplest natural objects, such as a flower or a leaf; but I +will read you a few lines, if you do not object, suggested by looking at +a section of one of those chambered shells to which is given the name +of Pearly Nautilus. We need not trouble ourselves about the distinction +between this and the Paper Nautilus, the _Argonauta_ of the ancients. +The name applied to both shows that each has long been compared to +a ship, as you may see more fully in Webster's Dictionary, or the +"Encyclopedia," to which he refers. If you will look into Roget's +Bridgewater Treatise, you will find a figure of one of these shells, +and a section of it. The last will show you the series of enlarging +compartments successively dwelt in by the animal that inhabits the +shell, which is built in a widening spiral. Can you find no lesson in +this? + + + + +THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. + + + This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, + Sails the unshadowed main,-- + The venturous bark that flings + On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings + In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings, + And coral reefs lie bare, + Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. + + Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; + Wrecked is the ship of pearl! + And every chambered cell, + Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, + As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell, + Before thee lies revealed,-- + Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! + + Year after year beheld the silent toil + That spread his lustrous coil; + Still, as the spiral grew, + He left the past year's dwelling for the new, + Stole with soft step its shining archway through, + Built up its idle door, + Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. + + Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, + Child of the wandering sea, + Cast from her lap, forlorn! + From thy dead lips a clearer note is born + Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! + While on mine ear it rings, + Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:-- + + Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, + As the swift seasons roll! + Leave thy low-vaulted past! + Let each new temple, nobler than the last, + Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, + Till thou at length art free, + Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! + + * * * * * + + +BÉRANGER. + + +Béranger is certainly the most popular poet there has ever been in +France; there was convincing proof of it at the time of and after +his death. He had not printed anything since 1833, the epoch when he +published the last collection of his poems; when he died, then, on the +16th of July, 1857, he had been silent twenty-four years. He had, it +is true, appeared for a moment in the National Assembly, after the +Revolution of February, 1848; but it was only to withdraw again almost +immediately and to resign his seat. In spite of this long silence and +this retirement, in which he seemed a little forgotten, no sooner did +the news of his last illness spread and it was known that his life was +in danger, than the interest, or we should rather say the anxiety, of +the public was awakened. In the ranks of the people, in the most humble +classes of society, everybody began inquiring about him and asking day +by day for news; his house was besieged by visitors; and as the danger +increased, the crowd gathered, restless, as if listening for his +last sigh. The government, in charging itself with his obsequies and +declaring that his funeral should be celebrated at the cost of the +State, may have been taking a wise precaution to prevent all pretext for +disturbance; but it responded also to a public and popular sentiment. At +sight of the honors paid to this simple poet, with as much distinction +as if he had been a Marshal of France,--at sight of that extraordinary +military pomp, (and in France military pomp is the great sign of +respectability, and has its place whenever it is desired to bestow +special honor,) no one among the laboring population was surprised, and +it seemed to all that Béranger received only what was his due. + +And since that time there has been in the French journals nothing but +a succession of hymns to the memory of Béranger, hymns scarcely +interrupted by now and then some cooler and soberer judgments. People +have vied with each other in making known his good deeds done in secret, +his gifts,--we will not call them alms,--for when he gave, he did not +wish that it should have the character of alms, but of a generous, +brotherly help. Numbers of his private letters have been printed; and +one of his disciples has published recollections of his conversations, +under the title of _Mémoires de Béranger_. The same disciple, once a +simple artisan, a shoemaker, we believe, M. Savinien Lapointe, has +also composed _Le petit Évangile de la Jeunesse de Béranger_. M. de +Lamartine, in one of the numbers of his _Cours familier de Littérature_, +has devoted two hundred pages to an account of Béranger and a commentary +on him, and has recalled curious conversations which he had with him in +the most critical political circumstances of the Revolution of 1848. In +short, there has been a rivalry in developing and amplifying the +memory of the national songster, treating him as Socrates was once +treated,--bringing up all his apophthegms, reproducing the dialogues in +which he figured,--going even farther,--carrying him to the very borders +of legend, and evidently preparing to canonize in him one of the Saints +in the calendar of the future. + +What is there solid in all this? How much is legitimate, and how much +excessive? Béranger himself seems to have wished to reduce things to +their right proportions, having left behind him ready for publication +two volumes: one being a collection of his last poems and songs; the +other an extended notice, detailing the decisive circumstances of his +poetic and political life, and entitled "My Biography." + +The collection of his last songs, let us say it frankly, has not +answered expectation. In reading them, we feel that the poet has grown +old, that he is weary. He complains continually that he has no longer +any voice,--that the tree is dead,--that even the echo of the woods +answers only in prose,--that the source of song is dried up; and says, +prettily,-- + + "If Time still make the clock run on, + He makes it strike no longer." + +And unhappily he is right. We find here and there pretty designs, short +felicitous passages, smiling bits of nature; but obscurity, stiffness of +expression, and the dragging in of Fancy by the hair continually mar the +reading and take away all its charm. Even the pieces most highly lauded +in advance, and which celebrate some of the most inspiring moments in +the life of Napoleon,--such as his Baptism, his Horoscope cast by a +Gypsy, and others,--have neither sparkle nor splendor. The prophet is +not intoxicated, and wants enthusiasm. On the theme of Napoleon, Victor +Hugo has done incomparably better; and as to the songs, properly so +called, of this last collection, there are at this moment in France +numerous song-writers (Pierre Dupont and Nadaud, for instance) who have +the ease, the spirit, and the brilliancy of youth, and who would be +able easily to triumph over this forced and difficult elevation of the +Remains of Béranger, if one chose to institute a comparison. We may well +say that youth is youth; to write verses, and especially songs, when one +is old, is to wish still to dance, still to mount a curvetting horse; +one gains no honor by the experiment. Anacreon, we know, succeeded; but +in French, with rhyme and refrain, (that double butterfly-chase,) it +seems to be more difficult. + +But in prose, in the Autobiography, the entire Béranger, the Béranger of +the best period, the man of wit, freshness, and sense, is found again; +and it is pleasant to follow him in the story of his life, till now +imperfectly known. He was born at Paris, on the 19th of August, 1780; +and he glories in being a Parisian by birth, saying, that "Paris had not +to wait for the great Revolution of 1789 to be the city of liberty +and equality, the city where misfortune receives, perhaps, the most +sympathy." He came into the world in the house of a tailor, his good +old grandfather, in the Rue Montorgueil,--one of the noisiest of the +Parisian streets, famous for its _restaurants_ and the number of oysters +consumed in them. "Seeing me born," he says, "in one of the dirtiest and +noisiest streets, who would have thought that I should love the woods, +fields, flowers, and birds so much?" It is true that Béranger loved +them,--but he loved them always, as his poems show, like a Parisian and +child of the Rue Montorgueil. A pretty enclosure, as many flowers and +hedges as there are in the Closerie des Lilas, a little garden, +a courtyard surrounded by apple-trees, a path winding beside +wheat-fields,--these were enough for him. His Muse, we feel, has never +journeyed, never soared, never beheld its first horizon in the Alps, the +ocean, or the illimitable prairie. Lamartine, born in the country, amid +all the wealth of the old rural and patriarchal life, had a right to +oppose him, to put his own first instincts as poet in contrast with his, +and to say to him, "I was born among shepherds; but you, you were born +among citizens, among proletaries." Béranger loved the country as people +love it on a Sunday at Paris, in walks just without the suburbs. How +different from Burns, that other poet of the people, with whom he has +sometimes been compared! But, on the other hand, Béranger loved +the dweller in the city, the mechanic, the _ouvrier_, industrious, +intellectual, full of enthusiasm and also of imprudence, passionate, +with the heart of a soldier, and with free, adventurous ideas. He loved +him even in his faults, aided him in his poverty, consoled him with his +songs. Before all things he loved the street, and the street returned +his love. + +His father was a careless, dissipated man, who had tried many +employments, and who strove to rise from the ranks of the people without +having the means. His mother was a pretty woman, a dress-maker, and +thorough _grisette_, whom his father married for her beauty, and who +left her husband six months after their marriage and never gave a +thought to her child. The little Béranger, born with difficulty and only +with the aid of instruments, put out to nurse in the neighborhood of +Auxerre, and forgotten for three years, was the object of no motherly +cares. He may be said never to have had a mother. His Muse always showed +traces of this privation of a mother's smile. The sentiment of home, of +family, is not merely absent from his poems,--it is sometimes shocked by +them. + +Returning to his grandparents in Paris, and afterwards sent to a school +in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, where, on the 14th of July, 1789, he saw +the Bastille taken, he pursued his primary studies very irregularly. He +never learned Latin, a circumstance which always prejudiced him. Later +in life, he sometimes blushed at not knowing it, and yet mentioned the +fact so often as almost to make one believe he was proud of it. The +truth is, that this want of classical training must have been felt +more painfully by Béranger than it would have been by almost any other +person; for Béranger was a studied poet, full of combinations, of +allusion and artifice, even in his pleasantry,--a delicate poet, +moreover, of the school of Boileau and Horace. + +The _pension_ in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, even, was too much for the +narrow means of his father. He was taken away and sent to Péronne, in +Picardy, to an aunt who kept an inn in one of the suburbs, at the sign +of the Royal Sword. It was while he was with this excellent person, who +had a mind superior to her condition, that he began to form himself +by the reading of good French authors. His intelligence was not less +aroused by the spectacle of the events which were passing under his +eyes. The Terror, the invasion by the armies of the Coalition, the roar +of cannon, which could be heard at this frontier town, inspired him +with a patriotism which was always predominant in him, and which at all +decisive crises revived so strongly as even to silence and eclipse for +the moment other cherished sentiments which were only less dear. + +"This love of country," said he, emphatically, "was the great, I should +say the only, passion of my life." It was this love which was his best +inspiration as poet,--love of country, and with it of equality. Out of +devotion to these great objects of his worship, he will even consent +that the statue of Liberty be sometimes veiled, when there is a +necessity for it. That France should be great and glorious, that she +should not cease to be democratic, and to advance toward a democracy +more and more equitable and favorable to all,--such were the aspirations +and the programme of Béranger. He goes so far as to say that in his +childhood he had an aversion, almost a hatred, for Voltaire, on account +of the insult to patriotism in his famous poem of _La Pucelle_; and that +afterwards, even while acknowledging all his admirable qualities and the +services he rendered to the cause of humanity, he could acquire only a +very faint taste for his writing. This is a striking singularity, +if Béranger does not exaggerate it a little; it is almost an +ingratitude,--for Voltaire is one of his nearest and most direct +masters. + +There is, indeed, a third passion which disputes with those for country +and equality the heart of Béranger, and which he shares fully with +Voltaire,--the hatred, namely, we will not say of Christianity, but +of religious hypocrisy, of Jesuitic Tartufery. What Voltaire did in +innumerable pamphlets, _facetioe_, and philosophic diatribes, Béranger +did in songs. He gave a refrain, and with it popular currency to the +anti-clerical attacks and mockeries of Voltaire; he set them to his +violin and made them sing with the horsehair of his bow. Béranger was in +this respect only the minstrel of Voltaire. + +Bold songs against hypocrites, the Reverend Fathers and the Tartufes, so +much in favor under the Restoration, and some which carry the attack yet +higher, and which sparkle with the very spirit of buffoonery, like _Le +Bâtard du Pape_; beautiful patriotic songs, like _Le vieux Drapeau_; +and beautiful songs of humanity and equality, like _Le vieux +Vagabond_;--these are the three chief branches which unite and +intertwine to make the poetic crown of Béranger in his best days, +and they had their root in passions which with him were profound and +living,--hatred of superstition, love of country, love of humanity and +equality. + +His aunt at Péronne was superstitious, and during thunder-storms had +recourse to all kinds of expedients, such as signs of the cross, +holy-water, and the like. One day the lightning struck near the house +and knocked down young Béranger, who was standing on the door-step. He +was insensible for some time, and they thought him killed. His first +words, on recovering consciousness, were, "Well, what good did your +holy-water do?" + +At Péronne he finished his very irregular course of study at a kind of +primary school founded by a philanthropic citizen. During the Directory, +attempts were made all over France to get up free institutions for the +young, on plans more or less reasonable or absurd, by men who had fed +upon Rousseau's _Émile_ and invented variations upon his system. On +leaving school, Béranger was placed with a printer in the city, where +he became a journeyman printer and compositor, which has occasioned +his being often compared to Franklin,--a comparison of which he is +not unworthy, in his love for the progress of the human race, and the +piquant and ingenious turn he knew how to give to good sense. From this +first employment as printer Béranger acquired and retained great nicety +in language and grammar. He insisted on it, in his counsels to the +young, more than seems natural in a poet of the people. He even +exaggerated its importance somewhat, and might seem a purist. + +Béranger's father reappeared suddenly during the Directory and reclaimed +his son, whom he carried to Paris. The father had formed connections in +Brittany with the royalists. He had become steward of the household +of the Countess of Bourmont, mother of the famous Bourmont who was +afterwards Marshal of France and Minister of War. Bourmont himself, then +young, was living in Paris, in order the better to conspire for the +restoration of the Bourbons. The elder Béranger was neck-deep in these +intrigues, and was even prosecuted after the discovery of one of the +numerous conspiracies of the day, but acquitted for want of proof. He +was the banker and money-broker of the party,--a wretched banker enough! +The narrative of the son enables us to see what a miserable business +the father was engaged in. This near view of political intriguers, of +royalists driven to all manner of expedients and standing at bay, of +adventurers who did not shrink from the use of any means, not even the +infernal-machine, did not dispose the young man already imbued with +republican sentiments to change them, and this initiation into the +secrets of the party was not likely to inspire him with much respect for +the future Restoration. He had too early seen men and things behind the +scenes. His father, in consequence of his swindling transactions, made a +bankruptcy, which reduced the son to poverty and filled him with grief +and shame. + +He was now twenty years old; he had courage and hope, and he already +wrote verses on all sorts of subjects,--serious, religious, epic, and +tragic. One day, when he was in especial distress, he made up a little +packet of his best verses and sent them to Lucien Bonaparte, with a +letter, in which he set forth his unhappy situation. Lucien loved +literature, and piqued himself on being author and poet. He was pleased +with the attempts of the young man, and made him a present of the salary +of a thousand or twelve hundred francs to which he was entitled as +member of the Institute. It was Béranger's first step out of the poverty +in which he had been plunged for several years, and he was indebted for +the benefit to a Bonaparte, and to the most republican Bonaparte of the +family. He was always especially grateful for it to Lucien, and somewhat +to the Bonapartes in general. + +Receiving a small appointment in the bureau of the University through +the intervention of the Academician Arnault, a friend of Lucien +Bonaparte, Béranger lived gayly during the last six years of the Empire. +He managed to escape the conscription, and never shouldered a musket. He +reserved himself to sing of military glory at a later day, but had no +desire to share in it as soldier. He was elected into a singing club +called _The Cellar_, all of whose members were songwriters and good +fellows, presided over by Désaugiers, the lord of misrule and of jolly +minstrels. Béranger, after his admission to the _Caveau_, at first +contended with Désaugiers in his own style, but already a ground of +seriousness and thought showed through his gayety. He wrote at this +time his celebrated song of the _Roi d'Yvetot_, in which, while he +caricatured the little play-king, the king in the cotton nightcap, he +seemed to be slyly satirizing the great conquering Emperor himself. + +The Empire fell, and Béranger hesitated for some time to take part +against the Bourbons. It was not till after the battle of Waterloo and +the return of Louis XVIII. under convoy of the allied armies, that he +began to feel the passion of patriotism blaze up anew within him and +dictate stinging songs which soon became darts of steel. Meanwhile he +wrote pretty songs, in which a slight sentiment of melancholy mingled +with and heightened the intoxication of wine and pleasure. _La bonne +Vieille_ is his _chef-d'oeuvre_ in this style. He arranged the design of +these little pieces carefully, sketching his subjects beforehand, and +herein belongs to the French school, that old classic school which left +nothing to chance. He composed his couplets slowly, even those +which seem the most easy. Commonly the song came to him through the +refrain;--he caught the butterfly by the wings;--when he had seized the +refrain, he finished at intervals, and put in the nicer shadings at +leisure. He wrote hardly ten songs a year at the time of his greatest +fecundity. It has since been remarked that they smell of the lamp here +and there; but at first no one had eyes except for the rose, the vine, +and the laurel. + +The Bourbons, brought back for the second time in 1815, committed all +manner of blunders: they insulted the remains of the old _grande armée_; +they shot Marshal Ney and many others; a horrible royalist reaction +ensanguined the South of France. The Jesuit party insinuated itself at +Court, and assumed to govern as in the high times of the confessors of +Louis XIV. It was hoped to conquer the spirit of the Revolution, and to +drive modern France back to the days before 1789; hence thousands of +hateful things impossible to be realized, and thousands of ridiculous +ones. Towards 1820 the liberal opposition organized itself in the +Chambers and in the press. The Muse of Béranger came to its assistance +under the mask of gay raillery. He was the angry bee that stung flying, +and whose stings are not harmless; nay, he would fain have made them +mortal to the enemy. He hated even Louis XVIII., a king who was esteemed +tolerably wise, and more intelligent than his party. "I stick my pins," +said Béranger, "into the calves of Louis XVIII." One must have seen +the fat king in small-clothes, his legs as big as posts and round as +pin-cushions, to appreciate all the point of the epigram. + +Béranger had been very intimate since 1815 with the Deputy Manuel, a man +of sense and courage, but very hostile to the Bourbons, and who, for +words spoken from the Tribune, was expelled from the Chamber of Deputies +and declared incapable of reëlection. Though intimate with many +influential members of the opposition, such as Laffitte the banker, and +General Sebastiani, it was only with Manuel that Béranger perfectly +agreed. It is by his side, in the same tomb, that he now reposes in Père +la Chaise, and after the death of Manuel he always slept on the mattress +upon which his friend had breathed his last. Manuel and Béranger +were ultra-inimical to the Restoration. They believed that it was +irreconcilable with the modern spirit of France, with the common sense +of the new form of society, and they accordingly did their best to goad +and irritate it, never giving it any quarter. At certain times, other +opposition deputies, such as General Foy, would have advised a more +prudent course, which would not have rendered the Bourbons impossible +by attacking them so fiercely as to push them to extremes. However +this might have been, poetry is always more at home in excess than in +moderation. Béranger was all the more a poet at this period, that he was +more impassioned. The Bourbons and the Jesuits, his two most violent +antipathies, served him well, and made him write his best and most +spirited songs. Hence his great success. The people, who never perceive +nice shades of opinion, but love and hate absolutely, at once adopted +Béranger as the singer of its loves and hatreds, the avenger of the old +army, of national glory and freedom, and the inaugurator or prophet of +the future. The spirit prisoned in these little couplets, these tiny +bodies, is of amazing force, and has, one might almost say, a devilish +audacity. In larger compositions, breath would doubtless have failed the +poet,--the greater space would have been an injury to him. Even in songs +he has a constrained air sometimes, but this constraint gave him more +force. He produces the impression of superiority to his class. + +Béranger had given up his little post at the University before declaring +open war against the government. He was before long indicted, and in +1822 condemned to several months' imprisonment, for having scandalized +the throne and the altar. His popularity became at once boundless; he +was sensible of it, and enjoyed it. "They are going to indict your +songs," said some one to him. "So much the better!" he replied,--"that +will gilt-edge them." He thought so well of this _gilding_, that in +1828, during the ministry of M. Martignac, a very moderate man and of a +conciliatory semi-liberalism, he found means to get indicted again and +to undergo a new condemnation, by attacks which some even of his friends +then thought untimely. Once again Béranger was impassioned; he declared +his enemies incurable and incorrigible; and soon came the ordinances of +July, 1830, and the Revolution in their train, to prove him right. + +In 1830, at the moment when the Revolution took place, the popularity +of Béranger was at its height. His opinion was much deferred to in the +course taken during and after "the three great days." The intimate +friend of most of the chiefs of the opposition who were now in power, +of great influence with the young, and trusted by the people, it was +essential that he should not oppose the plan of making the Duke of +Orleans King. Béranger, in his Biography, speaks modestly of his part +in these movements. In his conversations he attributed a great deal to +himself. He loved to describe himself in the midst of the people who +surrounded the Hôtel of M. Laffitte, going and coming, listening to +each, consulted by all, and continually sent for by Laffitte, who was +confined to his armchair by a swollen foot. Seeing the hesitation +prolonged, he whispered in Laffitte's ear that it was time to decide, +for, if they did not take the Duke of Orleans for King pretty soon, the +Revolution was in danger of turning out an _émeute_. He gave this advice +simply as a patriot, for he was not of the Orleans party. When he came +out, his younger friends, the republicans, reproached him; but he +replied, "It is not a king I want, but only a plank to get over the +stream." He set the first example of disrespect for the plank he thought +so useful; indeed, the comparison itself is rather a contemptuous one. + +He afterwards behaved, however, with great sense and wisdom. He declined +all offices and honors, considering his part as political songster at an +end. In 1833 he published a collection in which were remarked some songs +of a higher order, less partisan, and in which he foreshadowed a broader +and more peaceful democracy. After this he was silent, and as he was +continually visited and consulted, he resolved upon leaving Paris for +some years, in order to escape this annoyance. He went first to the +neighborhood of Tours, and then to Fontainebleau; but the free, +conversational life of Paris was too dear to him, and he returned to +live in seclusion, though always much visited by his troops of friends, +and much sought after. In leaving Paris during the first years of Louis +Philippe's reign, and _closing_, as he called it, _his consulting +office_, his chief aim was to escape the questions, solicitations, and +confidences of opposite parties, in all of which he continued to have +many friends who would gladly have brought him over to their way of +thinking. He did not wish to be any longer what he had been so +much,--a consulting politician; but he did not cease to be a practical +philosopher with a crowd of disciples, and a consulting democrat. +Chateaubriand, Lamennais, Lamartine,--the chiefs of parties at first +totally opposed to his own,--came to seek his friendship, and loved to +repose and refresh themselves in his conversation. He enjoyed, a +little mischievously, seeing one of them (Chateaubriand) lay aside his +royalism, another (Lamennais) abjure his Catholicism, and the third +(Lamartine) forget his former aristocracy, in visiting him. He looked +upon this, and justly, as a homage paid to the manners and spirit of the +age, of which he was the humble but inflexible representative. + +When the Revolution of 1848 burst unexpectedly, he was not charmed +with it,--nay, it made him even a little sad. Less a republican than +a patriot, he saw immense danger for France, as he knew her, in the +establishment of the pure republican form. He was of opinion that it was +necessary to wear out the monarchy little by little,--that with time and +patience it would fall of itself; but he had to do with an impatient +people, and he lamented it. "We had a ladder to go down by," said he, +"and here we are jumping out of the window!" It was the same sentiment +of patriotism, mingled with a certain almost mystical enthusiasm for +the great personality of Napoleon, nourished and augmented with growing +years, which made him accept the events of 1851-2 and the new Empire. + +The religion of Béranger, which was so anti-Catholic, and which seems +even to have dispensed with Christianity, reduced itself to a vague +Deism, which in principle had too much the air of a pleasantry. His +_Dieu des bonnes gens_, which he opposed to the God of the congregation +and the preachers, could not be taken seriously by any one. +Nevertheless, the poet, as he grew older, grew more and more attached +to this symbol of a Deity, indulgent before all else, but very real and +living, and in whom the poor and the suffering could put their trust. +What passed in the days preceding his death has been much discussed, and +many stories are told about it. He received, in fact, some visits from +the curate of the parish of Saint Elizabeth, in which he lived. This +curate had formerly officiated at Passy,--a little village near Paris, +where Béranger had resided,--and was already acquainted with the poet. +The conversations at these visits, according to the testimony of those +best informed, amounted to very little; and the last time the curate +came, just as he was going out, Béranger, already dying, said to +him, "Your profession gives you the right to bless me; I also bless +you;--pray for me, and for all the unfortunate!" The priest and the +old man exchanged blessings,--the benedictions of two honest men, and +nothing more. + +Béranger had one rare quality, and it was fundamental with +him,--obligingness, readiness to perform kind offices, humanity carried +to the extent of Charity. He loved to busy himself for others. To some +one who said that time lay heavy on his hands, he answered, "Then you +have never occupied yourself about other people?" "Take more thought +of others than of yourself" was his maxim. And he did so occupy +himself,--not out of curiosity, but to aid, to succor with advice and +with deeds. His time belonged to everybody,--to the humblest, the +poorest, the first stranger who addressed him and told him his sorrows. +Out of a very small income (at most, four or five thousand francs a +year) he found means to give much. He loved, above all, to assist poor +artisans, men of the people, who appealed to him; and he did it always +without wounding the fibre of manhood in them. He loved everything that +wore a blouse. He had, even stronger than the love of liberty, the love +of equality, the great passion of the French. + +He spent the last years of his life with an old friend of his youth by +the name of Madame Judith. This worthy person died a few months before +him, and he accompanied her remains to the church. He was seventy-seven +years old when he died. + +Estimating and comparing chiefly literary and poetic merits, some +persons in France have been astonished that the obsequies of Béranger +should have been so magnificently celebrated, while, but a few months +before, the coffin of another poet, M. Alfred de Musset, had been +followed by a mere handful of mourners; yet M. de Musset was capable of +tones and flights which in inspiration and ardor surpassed the habitual +range of Béranger. Without attempting here to institute a comparison, +there is one thing essential to be remarked: in Béranger there was not +only a poet, but a man, and the man in him was more considerable than +the poet,--the reverse of what is the case with so many others. People +went to see him, after having heard his songs sung, to tell him how much +they had been applauded and enjoyed,--and, after the first compliments, +found that the poet was a man of sense, a good talker on all subjects, +interested in politics, a wonderful reasoner, with great knowledge +of men, and characterizing them delicately with a few fine and happy +touches. They became sincerely attached to him; they came again, and +delighted to draw out in talk that wisdom armed with epigram, that +experience full of agreeable counsels. His passions had been the talent +of the poet; his good sense gave authority to the man. Even by those +least willing to accept popular idols, Béranger will always be ranked as +one of the subtilest wits of the French school, and as something more +than this,--as one of the acutest servants of free human thought. + + + + +A TIFFIN OF PARAGRAPHS. + + +How runs the Hindoo saw? "Are we not to milk when there is a cow?" When +India is giving down generous streams of paragraphy to all the greedy +buckets of the press, shall we not hold our pretty pail under? As our +genial young friend, Ensign Isnob, of the "Sappies and Minors," would +say,--"I believe you, me boy!" + +Then come with us to Cossitollah, and we'll have a tiffin of talk; some +cloves of adventure, with a capsicum or two of tragic story, shall stand +for the curry; the customs of the country may represent the familiar +rice; a whiff of freshness and fragrance from the Mofussil will be as +the mangoes and the dorians; in the piquancy and grotesqueness of the +first pure Orientalism that may come to hand we shall recognize the +curious chow-chow of the chutney; and as for the beer,--why, we will be +the beer ourselves. + +"Kitmudgar, remove that scorpion from the punka, before it drops into +the Sahib's plate.--Hold, miscreant! who told you to kill it? + + "'Take it up tenderly, + Lift it with care,-- + Fashioned so slenderly, + Young, and so fair!' + +"For know, O Kitmudgar, that there is one beauty of women, and another +beauty of scorpions; and if the beauty of scorpions be to thee as the +ugliness of women, the fault is in thy godless eye. + +"'Only a crawling kafir,' sayest thou, O heathen! and straightway goest +about to stick a fork into a political symbol? Verily, the hapless +wretch shall be sacrificed unto Agnee, god of Fire, that a timely +warning may enter into thy purblind soul! + +"Here, take this bottle of brandy,--'_Sahib_ brandy,' you +perceive,--genuine old 'London Dock,'--and pour a cordon of ardent +spirits on the table, to 'weave a circle round him thrice.' So! that's +for British Ascendency! + +"Now drop your subjugated brother into the midst thereof. See how, in +his senseless, drunken rage, he wriggles and squirms,--then desperately +dashes, and venomously snaps! That's Indian Revolt! + +"Quickly, now! light the train; so!--What think you of Anglo-Saxon +power and hereditary pride? + +"Oho, my Kitmudgar! you begin to understand!--the living fable is not +lost on you! + +"But watch your Great Mogul! Barrackpore, Meerut, Cawnpore, Lucknow, +Delhi,--five imposing plunges, but impotent; for at every point +the Sahib's fatal fire, fire, fire, fire, fire!--insurmountable, +all-subduing 'destiny'! + +"Maimed, discomfited, dismayed, shivering, at wits' end, a crippled +wriggler, in the midst of the exulting flames,--there lies your Great +Mogul! + +"But see!--the scorpion, brave wretch! with a gladiator's fortitude, +loosens the shameful coil in which its last agonies have twisted it, +fiercely erects its head once more, lashes defiantly with its tail, and +then--_click! click! click!--_stings itself to death. + +"And with that ends our figure of speech; for only the pitifulness of +the defeat is the Great Mogul's; the sublimity of suicide is proper to +the scorpion alone. + +"Take away the fable, Kitmudgar!" + +I lay in bed this morning half an hour after the sun had risen, watching +my Parsee neighbor on his house-top, and thereby lost my drive on the +Esplanade. But I console myself with imagining that the pretty Chee-chee +spinster who comes every morning from Raneemoody Gully in a green +tonjon, and makes romantic eyes at me through the silk curtains, missed +the Boston gentleman with the gray moustache, and was lonesome. + +My Parsee neighbor is quite as fat, but by no means as saucy, as ever. +Last week his youngest boy died,--little Kirsajee Samsajee Bonnarjee, +a contemplative young fire-worshipper, with eyes as profound as the +philosophy of Zoroaster. I saw the dismal procession depart from the +house, and my heart ached for the little Gheber. + +Four awful creatures, that were like ghosts, clad all in white, solemnly +dumb and veiled, bore him away on an iron bier. When they arrived at the +drawbridge, great sheets of copper were spread before them, and they +crossed upon those; for wood is sacred to their adored Element, and the +touch of "them on whose shoulders the dead doth ride" would pollute it. + +So they carried little Kirsajee to Golgotha, their Place of Skulls, +which is a dreary, treeless field, encompassed round about with a blank +wall; and they laid him naked in a stone trough on the edge of a great +pit, and left him there, betaking them, still solemnly veiled and mute, +to their homes again. + +All but my Parsee neighbor; he went and sat him down, like Hagar in the +wilderness, over against the dead Kirsajee, "a good way off, as it were +a bowshot"; and he lifted up his voice, and wept for the lad that was +dead. But still he waited there, till the crows and the Brahminee kites +should come to perform the last horrid rites; for to Parsee custom the +sepulture most becoming to men and most acceptable to God is in the +stomachs of the fowls of the air, in the craws of ghoulish vultures and +sacrilegious crows. + +And presently there came a great Pondicherry eagle, sniffing the feast +from afar; and he came alone. Swiftly sailing, poised on silent wings, +he circled over Golgotha, circle within circle, circle below circle, +over the child sleeping naked, over the father watching veiled. + +One moment he flutters, as for a foothold on the pinnacle of his +purpose; then + + "Like a thunderbolt he falls." + +Sitting solemnly on the breast of the dead boy, the "grim, ungainly, +gaunt, and ominous bird" peers with sidelong glance into his face, +gloating; and then-- + +Immediately my Parsee neighbor uprises in his place, throws aside his +veil, and, shouting, runs forward. The Pondicherry eagle soars screaming +to the clouds, and the sorrow-stricken Gheber bends over the dear +corpse. Is it Heaven or Hell? _the right eye or the left?_ Alas, the +left! + +He beats his breast, he falls upon his knees, and cries with frantic +gestures to the setting Sun; but the sullen god only draws a cloud +before his face, and leaves his poor worshipper to despair. Then my +Parsee neighbor arises and girds up his loins, muffles his haggard face +more closely than before, and with dishevelled beard, and chin sadly +sunk upon his breast, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, +and meeting no man's gaze, wends silently homeward. + +To-morrow he will take his wife and go to Bombay, to feed with +consecrated sandal-wood and oil the Sacred Flame the Magi brought from +Persia, when they were driven thence with all their people to Ormuz. But +the name of little Kirsajee will cross their lips no more; his memory is +a forbidden thing in the household; he is as if he never had been. + +When Brahminee kite, and adjutant, and white-breasted crow have done +their ghoulish office on little Kirsajee, his bones shall lie bleaching +under the pitiless eye of his people's blazing god, till the rains +come, and fill the pit, and carry the waste of Gheber skeletons by +subterraneous sewers down to the sea. But the Pondicherry eagle took +the _left eye_ first; wherefore the most pious deeds of merit, to be +performed by my Parsee neighbor,--even a hospital for maimed dogs, or +feeding the Sacred Flame with great store of sandal-wood and precious +gums, or tilling the earth with a diligence equivalent to the efficacy +of ten thousand prayers,--can hardly suffice to save the soul of little +Kirsajee, the Forbidden! + + * * * * * + +There is a blood-feud of three months' standing between two members of +our household. + +One day, Lootee, the chuprassey's cat, took Tchoop, the khansamah's +monkey, unawares, as he was sunning himself on the house-top, and with +scratching and spitting, sudden and furious, so startled him, that he +threw himself over the parapet into the crowded Cossitollah, and would +have been killed by the fall, had he not chanced to alight on the +voluminous turban of a dandy hurkaru from the Mint. As it was, one of +his arms sustained a compound fracture, and his nerves suffered so +frightful a shock, that it was only by a miracle of surgery, and the +most patient nursing, that he was ever restored to his wonted agility +and sagacity. + +But the day of retribution has arrived; Lootee has had kittens. There +were five of them in the original litter; but only one remains. Tchoop +tossed two of them from the house-top when no dandy hurkaru from the +Mint was below to soften the fall; the old adjutant-bird, that for three +years has stood on one leg on the Parsee's godown, gobbled up another as +it lay choked in the south veranda; while the dismayed sirdar found the +head of a fourth jammed inextricably in the neck of his sacred lotah, +wherewith he performs his pious ablutions every morning at the ghaut. + +On the other hand, Lootee has made prize of about three inches of +Tehoop's tail, and displays it all over the house for a trophy.--It is a +blood-feud, fierce and implacable as any between Afghans, and there's no +knowing where it will all end. + +In Europe the monkey is a cynic, in South America an overworked slave, +in Africa a citizen, but in India an imp,--I mean to the eye of +the Western stranger, for in the estimation of the native he is +mythologically a demigod, and socially a guest. At Ahmedabad, the +capital of Guzerat, there are certainly two--Mr. De Ward says +three--hospitals for sick and lame monkeys, who are therein provided +with salaried physicians, apothecaries, and nurses. + +In the famous Hindoo epic, the "Ramayana" of Valmiki,--"by singing and +hearing which continually a man may attain to the highest state of +enjoyment, and be shortly admitted to fraternity with the gods,"--the +exploits of Hoonamunta, the Divine Monkey, are gravely related, with +a dramatic force and figurativeness that hold a street audience +spell-bound; but to the European imagination the childish drollery of +the plot is irrestistible. + +Boodhir, the Earth, was beset by giants, demons, and chimeras dire; so +she besought Vishnu, with many tears, and vows of peculiar adoration, +to put forth his strength of arms and arts against her abominable +tormentors, and rout them utterly. The god was gracious; whence his nine +avatars, or incarnations,--as fish, as tortoise, as boar, as man-lion, +as dwarf Brahmin, as Pursuram,--the Brahmin-warrior who overthrew the +Kshatriya, or soldier-caste; the eighth avatar appeared in the person of +Krishna, and the ninth in that of Boodh. + +But the seventh incarnation was the avatar of Rama, and it is this that +the "Ramayana" celebrates. + +Vishnu proceeds to be born unto Doosurath, King of Ayodhya, (Oude,) as +the Prince Rama, or Ramchundra. Nothing remarkable occurs thereupon +until Rama has attained the marriageable age, when he espouses Seeta, +daughter of the King of Mithili. + +Immediately old Mrs. Mithili, our hero's mother-in-law, being of an +intriguing turn of mind, applies herself to the amiable task of worrying +the poor old King of Ayodhya out of his crown or his life; and so well +does she succeed, that Doosurath, for the sake of peace and quietness, +would fain abdicate in favor of his son. + +But Rama will have none of his royalty. Was it for bored kings and +mischief-making mothers-in-law, he asks, speaking with the ante-natal +memories of Vishnu, that he came among the sons of men? Not at all! he +has a mission, and he bides his time. For the present he will take his +wife Seeta, whose will is his, and go out into the wilderness, there to +build him a hut of bamboos and banian-boughs and palmyra-leaves, and +be--Seeta and he--two jolly yogees, that is, religious gypsies,--living +on grass-roots, wild rice, and white ants, and being dirty and devout to +their heart's content. + +So they went; and for a little while they enjoyed, undisturbed, +their yogeeish ideas of a good time. But by-and-by tidings came to +Rawunna--the giant with ten heads and twice ten arms, that was King +of Lunka (Ceylon)--of the plots of Mrs. Mithili, the disgust of old +Doosurath, the distraction of the kingdom of Ayodhya, and the whimsical +adventure of Rama and Seeta. + +And immediately Rawunna, the giant, is seized in all his heads and arms +with a great longing to know what manner of man this Rama may be, that +he should prefer the yogee's breech-cloth to the royal purple, a hut of +leaves, with only his Seeta, to a harem of a hundred wives, white ants +and paddy to the white camel's flesh and golden partridges of Ayodhya's +imperial repasts. Especially is he curious as to the charms of Seeta, as +to the mighty magic wherewithal she renders monogamy acceptable to an +Ayodhyan prince. + +By Indra! he will see for himself! So, pleading exhaustion from the +cares of state, and ten headaches of trouble and dyspepsia, he announces +his intention to make an excursion a few hundred coss into the country +for the benefit of his health; and taking twenty carpet-bags in his +hands, he sets out, in his monstrous way, for Ayodhya, leaving his +kingdom in the care of a blue dwarf with an eye in the back of his neck. + +With seven-coss strides he comes to Ayodhya, and straightway finds the +banian hut in the forest, where Rama dwells with Seeta in the devout +dirtiness of their jolly yogeery. + +The god has gone abroad in search of a dinner, and is over the hills to +the sandy nullahs, where the white ants are fattest; while that greasy +Joan, Seeta, "doth keel the pot" at home. + +Then Rawunna, the giant, assuming the shape of a pilgrim yogee rolling +to the Caves of Ellora,--with Gayntree, the mystical text, on his lips, +and the shadow of Siva's beard in his soul,--rolls to Rama's door, and +cries, "Alms, alms, in the name of the Destroyer!" + +And Seeta comes forth, with water in a palm-leaf and grass-roots in the +fold of her saree; and when she beholds the false yogee her heart blooms +with pity, so that her smile is as the alighting of butterflies, and her +voice as the rustling of roses. + +But, behold you, as she bends over the prostrate yogee, and, saying, +"Drink from the cup of Vishnu!" offers the crisp leaf to his dusty lips, +a great spasm of desire impels the impostor; and, flinging off the +yogee, he leaps erect, Rawunna, the Abhorred! + +With ten mouths he kisses her; with twenty arms he clasps her; and away, +away to Lunka! while yet poor Seeta gasps with fear. + +When Rama returned and found no Seeta, his soul was seized with a mighty +horror; and a blankness, like unto the mystery of Brahm, fell upon his +heart. He shed not a tear, but the sky wept floods; he uttered not a +groan, but Earth shook from her centre, and the mountains fell on their +faces. But Rama, stupefied, stood stock still where he was stricken, and +stared, till his eyelids stiffened, at the desolate hut, at the desolate +hearth. + +Then all the angels in heaven, who had witnessed the crime of Rawunna, +and his flight, passed into the forms of monkeys; and a million of them +made a monkey chain, that the rest of the celestial host might descend +into the banian-groves of Ayodhya. The tails glide swiftly through each +glowing hand, and quick as lightning on the trees they stand. + +And Hoonamunta, their chief, prostrated himself before Rama, and said, +"Behold, my Lord, we are here! I and all my host are yours,--command +us!" + +But Rama spoke not; he only stood where he was stricken, and stared at +his desolation. + +Then Hoonamunta turned him to his host, and said, "Bide here till I +come, and be silent; break not the quiet of divine sorrow." And he went +forth with mighty bounds. + +That night he came to Lunka. But the city slept; if Seeta yet lived, +she, too, was silent; no cry of sorrow rose on the night; no stir, as of +an unusual event, disturbed the stillness and the gloom. + +So Hoonamunta took upon himself the form of a rat, and sped nimbly +through the huts of dwarfs and the towers of giants, through the +hiding-places of misery and the high seats of power, through the places +of trouble and the places of ease; till at last he came to an ivory +dome, hard by the silver palace of Rawanna, the Monstrous; and there lay +Seeta, buried in a profound trance of despair. + +Hoonamunta bit, very tenderly, her slender white finger; but she stirred +not, she made no sign. + +Then he whispered softly in her ear, "Rama comes!" and Seeta started +from her death-sleep, and sat erect; her eyes were open, and she cried, +"My Lord, I am here!" + +So Hoonamunta spake to her, bidding her be of good cheer, for Brahm was +with her, and the Omnipotent Three,--bade her be of good heart and wait. +And Seeta's smile was as the alighting of many butterflies, and her +voice of murmured joy was as the rustling of all the roses of Ayodhya. + +Then Hoonamunta took counsel with his cunning; and he said unto himself, +"I will arouse the sleepers; I will take the strength of the city; I +will count the heads of Rawunna, and the arms of him." + +So straightway he resumed his monkey shape, and went forth into the +streets, by the tanks and through the bazaars, among the places of the +oppressed and the places of the powerful. + +And he bit the ears of the Pariah dogs, so that they howled; he twisted +the tails of the Brahmin bulls, so that they rushed, bellowing, down to +the ghauts; he plucked the beards of gorged adjutants, till they snapped +their great beaks with a terrible clatter. + +He made a great splashing in the tanks; he ran through the bazaars, +banging the gongs of the bell-makers, and smashing the brittle wares of +the potters; he tore holes in the roofs of houses, and threw down tiles +upon them that were buried in slumber; he cried with a loud voice, +"Siva, Siva, the Destroyer, cometh!" + +So that the city awoke with a great outcry and a din, with all its +torches and all its dogs. And the multitude filled the streets, and the +compounds, and the open places round about the tanks; and all cried, +"Siva, Siva!" + +But when they beheld Hoonamunta, how he tore off roofs, and pelted them +with tiles,--how he climbed to the tops of pagodas, and jangled the +sacred bells,--how he laid his shoulder to the city walls and overthrew +them, so that the noise of their fall was as the roar of the breakers on +the far-off coast of Lunka when the Typhoon blows,--then they cried, +"A demon! a fiend from the halls of Yama!" and they gave chase with a +mighty uproar,--the gooroos, and the yogees, and the jugglers going +first. + +Then Hoonamunta took counsel with his cunning; and he came down and +stood in the midst of the angry people, and asked, "What would you with +me? and where is this demon you pursue?" + +But they cried, "Hear him, how he mocks us! Hear him, how he flouts us!" +and they dragged him into the presence of Rawunna, the king. + +And when the giant would have questioned him, who he was, and whence +he came, and what his mission, he only mocked, and mimicked the +fee-faw-fumness of Rawunna's tones, and said, "Lo! This beggar goes +a-foot, but his words ride in a palanquin!" + +And the king said, "I have been foolish, I have been weak, to waste +words on this kafir. Am not I a mighty monarch? Am not I a terrible +giant? Let him be cast out!" + +And again Hoonamunta mocked him, saying, "His insanity is past! fetch +him the rice-pounder that he may gird himself! fetch him the gong that +he may cover his feet!" + +And Hoonamunta would have sat on the throne, on Rawunna's right hand; +but Rawunna thrust him off, and cursed him. + +So Hoonamunta took his tail in his hand, and pulled and pulled; and the +tail grew, and grew,--a fathom, a furlong, a whole coss. + +And Hoonamunta coiled it on the floor, a lofty coil, on the right hand +of the throne, higher and higher, till it overlooked the golden cushion +of the king; and Hoonamunta laughed. + +Then Rawunna turned him to his counsellors, and said, "What shall we do +with this audacious fellow?" + +And with one voice all the counsellors cried, "Burn his tremendous +tail!" + +And the king commanded:-- + + "Let all the dwarfs of Lunka + Bring rags from near and far; + Call all the dwarfs of Lunka + To soak them all in tar!" + +So they went, and brought as many rags as ten strong giants could lift, +and a thousand maunds of tar. + +And they soaked the rags in the tar, even as Kawunna had commanded, and +bound them all at once on the tremendous tail of Hoonamunta. + +And when they had done this, the king said, "Lead him forth, and light +him!" + +And they led him forth into the great Midaun, hard by the triple pagoda; +and they lighted his tail with a torch. And immediately the flames +leaped to the skies, and the smoke filled all the city. + +Then Hoonamunta broke away from his captors, and with a loud laugh +started on his fiery race,--over house-tops and hay-ricks, through close +bazaars and dry rice-fields, through the porticoes of palaces and the +porches of pagodas,--kindling a roaring conflagration as he went. + +And all the people pursued him, screaming with fear, imploring +mercy, imploring pardon, crying, "Spare us, and we will make you our +high-priest! Spare us, and you shall be our king!" + +But Hoonamunta staid not, till, having laid half the city in flames, +he ascended to the top of a lofty tower to survey his work with +satisfaction. + +Thither the great men of Lunka followed him,--the princes, and the +Brahmins, and the victorious chieftains, the strong giants, and the +cunning dwarfs. + +And when they were all gathered underneath the tower, and in the porch +of it, he shook it, till it fell and crushed a thousand of the first +citizens. + +Then Hoonamunta sped away northward to Ayodhya, extinguishing his tail +in the sea as he went. + +And when he came to where his army lay, he found them all waiting in +silence. When he entered the hut of Rama, the bereaved one still lay on +his face. But Hoonamunta spake softly in his ear: "My Lord, arise! for +Seeta calls you, and her heart sickens within her that you come not!" + +Immediately Rama uprose, and stood erect, and all the god blazed in his +eyes; and he grew in the sight of Hoonamunta until his stature was +as the stature of Rawunna, the giant, and his countenance was as the +countenance of Indra, King of Heaven. + +And he went forth, and stood at the head of Hoonamunta's monkey host, +and called for a sword; and when they gave him one, it became alive in +his hand, and was a sword of flame; and when they gave him a spear, lo! +it became his slave, flying whithersoever he bade it, and striking where +he listed. + +So Rama and Hoonamunta, with all their monkey host, took up their march +for Lunka. + +When they came to the sea (which is the Gulf of Manaar) there was no +bridge; but Rama mounted the back of Hoonamunta, and called to the host +to follow him; and all the monkeys leaped across. + +Then immediately they fell upon Lunka; and Rama slew Rawunna, the +Monster, and rescued the delighted Seeta. + +And now those three sit together on a throne in heaven,--Seeta, the +faithful wife, on the left hand of Rama,--and Hoonamunta on his right +hand, the shrewd and courageous friend. + +Who would not be a monkey in Hindostan? + + * * * * * + + +THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. + + + Oh, that last day in Lucknow fort! + We knew that it was the last, + That the enemy's lines crept surely on, + And the end was coming fast. + + To yield to that foe was worse than death, + And the men and we all worked on; + It was one day more of smoke and roar, + And then it would all be done. + + There was one of us, a corporal's wife, + A fair, young, gentle thing, + Wasted with fever in the siege, + And her mind was wandering. + + She lay on the ground, in her Scottish plaid, + And I took her head on my knee: + "When my father comes hame frae the pleugh," she said, + "Oh! then please wauken me." + + She slept like a child on her father's floor + In the flecking of woodbine-shade, + When the house-dog sprawls by the open door, + And the mother's wheel is staid. + + It was smoke and roar and powder-stench, + And hopeless waiting for death; + And the soldier's wife, like a full-tired child, + Seemed scarce to draw her breath. + + I sank to sleep; and I had my dream + Of an English village-lane, + And wall and garden;--but one wild scream + Brought me back to the roar again. + + There Jessie Brown stood listening + Till a sudden gladness broke + All over her face, and she caught my hand + And drew me near, as she spoke:-- + + "The Hielanders! Oh! dinna ye hear + The slogan far awa? + The McGregor's? Oh! I ken it weel; + It's the grandest o' them a'! + + "God bless thae bonny Hielanders! + We're saved! we're saved!" she cried; + And fell on her knees; and thanks to God + Flowed forth like a full flood-tide. + + Along the battery-line her cry + Had fallen among the men, + And they started back;--they were there to die; + But was life so near them, then? + + They listened for life; the rattling fire + Far off, and the far-off roar, + Were all; and the colonel shook his head, + And they turned to their guns once more. + + But Jessie said, "The slogan's done; + But winna ye hear it noo, + _The Campbells are comin'_? It's no a dream; + Our succors hae broken through!" + + We heard the roar and the rattle afar, + But the pipes we could not hear; + So the men plied their work of hopeless war, + And knew that the end was near. + + It was not long ere it made its way,-- + A shrilling, ceaseless sound: + It was no noise from the strife afar, + Or the sappers under ground. + + It _was_ the pipes of the Highlanders! + And now they played _Auld Lang Syne_; + It came to our men like the voice of God, + And they shouted along the line. + + And they wept and shook one another's hands, + And the women sobbed in a crowd; + And every one knelt down where he stood, + And we all thanked God aloud. + + That happy time, when we welcomed them, + Our men put Jessie first; + And the general gave her his hand, and cheers + Like a storm from the soldiers burst. + + And the pipers' ribbons and tartans streamed, + Marching round and round our line; + And our joyful cheers were broken with tears + As the pipes played _Auld Lang Syne_. + + + + +NEW ENGLAND MINISTERS. + + +Dr. Sprague, of Albany, has added to the literature of our country +two large octavo volumes, containing biographical accounts of the +Congregational clergy of New England, from its earliest settlement until +the year 1841. The book has been for the most part compiled from letters +furnished by different individuals, who, either through personal +knowledge or through tradition, had the most intimate acquaintance with +the subjects of which they wrote. + +The characters here sketched, though perfectly individual, are in so +great a degree the result of peculiar political influences, that it +would be difficult to suppose their existence elsewhere than in New +England. We have therefore chosen this book as a kind of standpoint from +which to take a glance at the New England clergy and pulpit. + +The earliest constitution of government in New England was a theocracy; +it was the realization of Arnold's idea of the identity of Church and +State. Under it the clergy had peculiar powers and privileges, which, +it is but fair to say, they turned to the advantage of the Commonwealth +more than has generally been the case with any privileged order. + +A time, however, came when the democratic element, which these men +themselves had fostered, worked out its logical results, by depriving +them of all special immunities, and leaving them, like any other +citizens, to make their way by pure force of character, and to be rated, +like other men, simply for what they were and what they could do. + +It is creditable to the intelligence and shrewdness of this body of +men that the more far-sighted among them received this change with +satisfaction; that they were such uncommonly fair logicians as to be +willing to accept the direct inference from principles which they had +been foremost to inculcate, and, like men of strong mind and clear +conscience, were not afraid to rest their claim to influence and +deference on the manfulness with which they should strive to deserve +them. + +Dr. Sprague's book contains pictures of life under both the old _régime_ +and the new. The following extract from the venerable Josiah Quincy's +recollections of the Rev. Mr. French, of Andover, is interesting, as an +illustration of the olden times. + +"Mrs. Dowse, my maternal aunt, has often related to me her pride +and delight at visiting at the Rev. Mr. Phillips', her paternal +grandfather's house, when a child; which was interesting as a statement +of the manners of those early times in Massachusetts, before the sceptre +of worldly power, which the first settlers of the Colony had placed in +the hands of the clergy, had been broken. The period was about between +1760 and the Revolution. The parsonage at Andover was situated about two +or three hundred rods from the meeting-house, which was three stories +high, of immense dimensions, far greater, I should think, than those of +any meeting-houses in these anti-church-going, degenerate times. It was +on a hill, slightly elevated above the parsonage, so that all the flock +could see the pastor as he issued from it. + +"Before the time of service, the congregation gradually assembled in +early season, coming on foot or on horseback, the ladies behind their +lords or brothers or one another, on pillions, so that before the time +of service the whole space before the meeting-house was filled with a +waiting, respectful, and expecting multitude. At the moment of service +the pastor issued from his mansion with Bible and manuscript sermon +under his arm, with his wife leaning on one arm, flanked by his negro +man on his side, as his wife was by her negro woman, the little negroes +being distributed according to their sex by the side of their respective +parents. Then followed every other member of the family according to age +and rank, making often, with family visitants, somewhat of a formidable +procession. As soon as it appeared, the congregation, as if moved by one +spirit, began to move towards the door of the church; and before the +procession reached it, all were in their places. + +"As soon as the pastor entered the church, the whole congregation +rose and stood until the pastor was in the pulpit and his family +seated,--until which was done the whole assembly continued standing. At +the close of the service the congregation stood until he and his family +had left the church, before any one moved towards the door. + +"Forenoon and afternoon the same course of proceeding was had, +expressive of the reverential relation in which the people acknowledged +that they stood towards their clergyman. + +"Such was the account given me by Mrs. Dowse in relation to times +previous to my birth, and which I relate as her narrative, and not +as part of my recollections. The procession from the parsonage, the +disappearance of the people on the appearance of the procession, and +that their pastor was received with every mark of decorum and respect, +I well remember, but of their rising at his entrance and standing after +the service until he had departed, I have no recollection; my time was +almost twenty years after that narrated by Mrs. Dowse. During that +period the Revolution had commenced." + +Some might think it an advantage, if more of the decorum and reverence +of such a state of society had been preserved to our day; for this +respect paid to the minister was but part of a general and all-pervading +system. Children were more reverential to their parents, scholars to +their teachers, the people to their magistrates. A want of reverence +threatens now to become the besetting sin of America, whether young or +old. + +The clergy of New England have, as a body, been distinguished for a rare +union of the speculative and the practical. In both points they have +been so remarkable, that in observing the great development of either of +these qualities by itself one would naturally suppose that there was no +room for the other. + +Generally speaking, they were rural pastors,--living on salaries so +small as to afford hardly a nominal support; and in order to bring up +their families and give their sons a college education, it was necessary +to understand fully the practical _savoir faire_. Accordingly, they +farmed and gardened, and often took young people into their families to +educate, and in these ways eked out a subsistence. It is related of the +venerable Moses Hallock, that he educated in his own family, during his +ministerial lifetime, three hundred young people, of whom thirty were +females. One hundred and thirty-two of these he fitted for college; +fifty became ministers, and six foreign missionaries. + +Some of the clergy gained such an acquaintance with the practice of +medicine as to be able sometimes to unite the offices of physician of +the body and of the soul; and not unfrequently a general knowledge +of law enabled the pastor to be the worldly as well as the spiritual +counsellor of his people. A striking case in point is that of the +venerable Parson Eaton, who resided in a lonely seafaring district +on the coast of Maine, and preached to a congregation who lived the +amphibious life of farmers and fishermen. The town of Harpswell, where +he ministered,-- + +"is a narrow projection of ten miles southward into Casco Bay, on both +sides of which it comprises within its incorporated limits several +islands, some of them of considerable size and well inhabited. In his +pastoral visits and labors, the clergyman was often obliged to ride +several miles, and then cross the inlets of the sea, to preach a lecture +or to minister comfort or aid to some sick or suffering parishioner. +In addition to his clerical duties, Mr. Eaton, having experience and +discernment in the more common forms of disease, was generally applied +to in sickness; and he usually carried with him a lancet and the more +common and simple medicines. If a case was likely to baffle his skill, +he advised his patient to send for a regular physician. His admirable +sense, moreover, and his education fitted him to render aid and counsel +in matters of controversy; so that he often acted as an umpire, and +very often to the settling of disputes. Seldom did his people consult a +lawyer; and it is even said, that, at the time of his death, most of the +wills in the town were in his handwriting." + +It is a singular thing, that the preaching and the bent of mind of a +set of men so intensely practical should have been at the same time +intensely speculative. Nowhere in the world, unless perhaps in Scotland, +have merely speculative questions excited the strong and engrossing +interest among the common people that they have in New England. Every +man, woman, and child was more or less a theologian. The minister, while +he ground his scythe or sharpened his axe or laid stone-fence, was +inwardly grinding and hammering on those problems of existence which are +as old as man, and which Christian and heathen have alike pondered. +The Germans call the whole New England theology rationalistic, in +distinction from traditional. + +There are minds which are capable of receiving certain series of +theological propositions without even an effort at comparison,--without +a perception of contradiction or inconsequency,--without an effort at +harmonizing. Such, however, were not the New England ministers. With +them predestination _must_ be made to harmonize with freewill; the +Divine entire efficiency with human freedom; the existence of sin with +the Divine benevolence;--and at it they went with stout hearts, as men +work who are not in the habit of being balked in their undertakings. +Hence the Edwardses, the Hopkinses, the Emmonses, with all their various +schools and followers, who, leviathan-like, have made the theological +deep of New England to boil like a pot, and the agitation of whose +course remains to this day. + +It is a mark of a shallow mind to scorn these theological wrestlings and +surgings; they have had in them something even sublime. They were always +bounded and steadied by the most profound reverence for God and his +word; and they have constituted in New England the strong mental +discipline needed by a people who were an absolute democracy. The +Sabbath teaching of New England has been a regular intellectual drill as +well as a devotional exercise; and if one does not see the advantage of +this, let him live awhile in France or Italy, and see the reason why, +with all their aspirations after liberty, there is no capability of +self-government in the masses; put the tiller of the Campagna, or +the vine-dresser of France, beside the theologically trained, keen, +thoughtful New England farmer, and see which is best fitted to +administer a government. + +Another leading characteristic of the New England clergy was their great +freedom of original development. The volumes before us are full of +indications of the most racy individuality. There was no such thing as a +clerical mould or pattern; but each minister, particularly in the rural +districts, grew and flourished as freely and unconventionally as the +apple-trees in his own orchard, and was considered none the worse for +that, so long as he bore good fruit of the right sort. Thus we find +among them all stamps and kinds of men,--men of decorum and ceremony, +like Dr. Emmons and President Edwards, and men who, aiming after the +real, despised the form, kept no order, and revered no ceremony; yet all +flourished in peace, and were allowed to do their work in their own way. + +We find here and there records of pleasant little encounters of humor +among them on these points. Parson Deane, of Portland, was a precise +man, and always appeared in the clerical regalia of the times, with +powdered wig, cocked hat, gown, bands. Parson Hemmenway went about with +just such clothes as he happened to find convenient, without the least +regard to the conventional order. + +Being together on a council. Dr. Deane playfully remarked,-- + +"The ferryman, Brother Hemmenway, as we came over, hadn't the least idea +you were a clergyman. Now I am particular always to appear with my wig +on." + +"Precisely," said Dr. Hemmenway; "I know it is well to bestow more +abundant honor on the part that lacketh." + +It is a curious illustration of the times and people to see how quietly +the personal eccentricities of a good minister were received. + +One Mr. Moody, who flourished in the State of Maine, was one of +those born oddities whose growth of mind rejects every outward rule. +Brilliant, original, restless, he found it impossible to bring his +thoughts to march in the regular platoon and file of a properly written +sermon. It is told of him, that, moved by the admiration of his people +for the calm and orderly performances of one of his neighboring brethren +of the name of Emerson, he resolved to write a sermon in the same style. +After the usual introductory services, he began to read his performance, +but soon grew weary, stumbled disconsolately, and at last stopped, +exclaiming,--"Emerson must be Emerson, and Moody must be Moody! I feel +as if I had my head in a bag! You call Moody a rambling preacher;--it is +true enough; but his preaching will do to catch rambling sinners, and +you are all runaways from the Lord." + +His clerical brethren at a meeting of the Association once undertook to +call him to account for his odd expressions and back-handed strokes. He +stepped into his study and produced a record of some twenty or thirty +cases of conversions which had resulted from some of his exceptional +sayings. As he read them over with the dates, they looked at each other +with surprise, and one of them very sensibly remarked, "If the Lord owns +Father Moody's oddities, we must let him take his own way." + +His son, Joseph Moody, furnished the original incident which Hawthorne +has so exquisitely worked up in his story of "The Minister's Black +Veil." Being of a singularly nervous and melancholic temperament, he +actually for many years shrouded his face with a black handkerchief. +When reading a sermon he would lift this, but stood with his back to the +audience so that his face was concealed,--all which appears to have +been accepted by his people with sacred simplicity. He was known in the +neighborhood by the name of Handkerchief Moody. + +It is recorded also of the venerable and eccentric Father Mills, of +Torringford, that, on the death of his much beloved wife, he was greatly +exercised as to how a minister who always dressed in black could +sufficiently express his devotion and respect for the departed by any +outward change of dress. At last he settled the question to his +own satisfaction, by substituting for his white wig a black silk +pocket-handkerchief, with which head-dress he officiated in all +simplicity during the usual term of mourning. + +We think it one result of their great freedom from any strait-laced +conventional ideas, that no point of character is more frequently +noticed in the subjects of these sketches than wit and humor. New +England ministers never held it a sin to laugh; if they did, some of +them had a great deal to answer for; for they could scarce open their +mouths without dropping some provocation to a smile. An ecclesiastical +meeting was always a merry season; for there never were wanting quaint +images, humorous anecdotes, and sharp flashes of wit, and even the +driest and most metaphysical points of doctrine were often lit up and +illuminated by these corruscations. + +A panel taken out of the house of the Rev. John Lowell, of Newbury, is +still preserved, representing the common style of an ecclesiastical +meeting in those days. The divines, each in full wig and gown, are +seated around a table, smoking their pipes, and above is the well-known +inscription: _In necessariis, Unitas: in non necessariis, Libertas: in +utrisque Charitas_. + +In that delightfully naïve and simple journal of the Rev. Thomas Smith, +the first minister settled in Portland, Maine, in the year 1725, we find +the following entries. + +"July 4, 1763. Mr. Brooks was ordained. A multitude of people from my +parish. A decent solemnity." + +"January 16, 1765. Mr. Foxcroft was ordained at New Gloucester. We had a +pleasant journey home. Mr. L. was alert and kept us all merry. A jolly +ordination. We lost sight of decorum." + +This Mr. L., by the by, who was so alert on this occasion, it appears by +a note, was Stephen Longfellow, the great-grandfather of the poet. +Those who enjoy the poet's acquaintance will probably testify that the +property of social alertness has not evaporated from the family in the +lapse of so many years. + +It is recorded of Dr. Griffin, that, when President of the Andover +Theological Seminary, he convened the students at his room one evening, +and told them he had observed that they were all growing thin and +dyspeptical from a neglect of the exercise of Christian laughter, and he +insisted upon it that they should go through a company-drill in it then +and there. The Doctor was an immense man,--over six feet in height, with +great amplitude of chest and most magisterial manners. "Here," said he +to the first, "you must practise; now hear me!" and bursting out into a +sonorous laugh, he fairly obliged his pupils, one by one, to join, till +the whole were almost convulsed. "That will do for once," said the +Doctor, "and now mind you keep in practice!" + +New England used to be full of traditions of the odd sayings of Dr. +Bellamy, one of the most powerful theologians and preachers of his +time. His humor, however, seems to have been wholly a social quality, +requiring to be struck out by the collision of conversation; for nothing +of the peculiar quaintness and wit ascribed to him appears in his +writings, which are in singularly simple, clear English. One or two of +his sayings circulated about us in our childhood. For example, when one +had built a fire of green wood, he exclaimed, "Warm me _here!_ I'd as +soon try to warm me by star-light on the north side of a tombstone!" +Speaking of the chapel-bell of Yale College, he said, "It was about as +good a bell as a fur cap with a sheep's tail in it." + +A young minister, who had made himself conspicuous for a severe and +denunciatory style of preaching, came to him one day to inquire why he +did not have more success. "Why, man," said the Doctor, "can't you take +a lesson of the fisherman? How do you go to work, if you want to catch a +trout? You get a little hook and a fine line, you bait it carefully and +throw it in as gently as possible, and then you sit and wait and humor +your fish till you can get him ashore. Now you get a great cod-hook +and rope-line, and thrash it into the water, and bawl out, 'Bite or be +damned!'" + +The Doctor himself gained such a reputation as an expert spiritual +fisherman, that some of his parishioners, like experienced old trout, +played shy of his hook, though never so skilfully baited. + +"Why, Mr. A.," he said to an old farmer in his neighborhood, "they tell +me you are an Atheist. Don't you believe in the being of a God?" + +"No!" said the man. + +"But, Mr. A., let's look into this. You believe that the world around us +exists from some cause?" + +"No, I don't!" + +"Well, then, at any rate, you believe in your own existence?" + +"No, I don't!" + +"What! not believe that you exist yourself?" + +"I tell you what, Doctor," said the man, "I a'n't going to be twitched +up by any of your syllogisms, and so I tell you I _don't_ believe +anything,--and I'm not going to believe anything!" + +A collection of the table-talk of the clergy whose lives are sketched in +Dr. Sprague's volumes would be a rare fund of humor, shrewdness, genius, +and originality. We must say, however, that as nothing is so difficult +as to collect these sparkling emanations of conversation, the written +record which this work presents falls far below that traditional one +which floated about us in our earlier years. So much in wit and humor +depends on the electric flash, the relation of the idea to the attendant +circumstances, that people often remember only _how_ they have laughed, +and can no more reproduce the expression than they can daguerreotype the +heat-lightning of a July night. + +The doctrine that a minister is to maintain some ethereal, unearthly +station, where, wrapt in divine contemplation, he is to regard with +indifference the actual struggles and realities of life, is a sickly +species of sentimentalism, the growth of modern refinement, and +altogether too moonshiny to have been comprehended by our stout-hearted +and very practical fathers. With all their excellences, they had nothing +sentimental about them; they were bent on reducing all things to +practical, manageable realities. They would not hear of churches, but +called them meeting-houses; they would not be called clergymen, but +_ministers_ or servants,--thereby signifying their calling to real, +tangible work among real men and things. + +As we have already said, in the beginnings of New England, the Church +and State were identical, and the clergy _ex officio_ the main +counsellors and directors of the Commonwealth; and when this especial +prerogative was relinquished, they naturally retained something of the +bent it had given them. + +An interesting portion of these sketches comprises the lives of +ministers during our Revolutionary struggle, showing how ardently and +manfully at that time the clergy headed the people. Many of them went +into the army as chaplains; one or two, more zealous still, even took up +temporal arms; while the greater number showered the enemy with sermons, +tracts, and pamphlets. + +Some of the more zealous politicians among them did not scruple to bring +their sentiments even into the prayers of the church. We recollect +an anecdote of a stout Whig minister of New Haven, who, during the +occupation of the town by the British, was ordered to offer public +prayers for the King, which he did as follows: "O Lord, bless thy +servant, King George, and grant unto him wisdom; for thou knowest, O +Lord, _he needs it_." + +So afterwards, in the time of the Embargo, Parson Eaton, of Harpswell, a +Federalist, is recorded to have introduced his prayer for the President +in a formula which might be recommended at the present day for the use +of the people of Kansas. "Forasmuch as thou hast commanded us to pray +for our enemies, we pray for the President of these United States, that +his heart may be turned to just counsels," etc. + +This same Parson Eaton distinguished himself also for his patriotic +enthusiasm in Revolutionary times. When the British had burned Falmouth, +(Portland,) a messenger came to Harpswell to beat up for recruits to the +Continental forces. Not succeeding to his mind, he went to Parson Eaton, +one Sunday morning, and begged him to say something for him in the +course of the day's services. "It is my sacramental Sabbath," said the +valiant Doctor, "and I cannot. But at the going down of the sun I will +speak to my people." And accordingly, that very evening, Bible in hand, +on the green before the meeting-house, Dr. Eaton addressed the people, +denouncing the curse of Meroz on those who came not up to the help of +the country, and recruits flowed in abundantly. + +The pastors of New England were always in their sphere moral reformers. +Profitable and popular sins, though countenanced by long-established +custom, were fearlessly attacked. No sight could be more impressive than +that of Dr. Hopkins--who with all his power of mind was never a popular +preacher, and who knew he was not popular--rising up in Newport pulpits +to testify against the slave-trade, then as reputable and profitable a +sin as slave-holding is now. He knew that Newport was the stronghold +of the practice, and that the probable consequence of his faithfulness +would be the loss of his pulpit and of his temporal support; but none +the less plainly and faithfully did he testify. Fond as he was of +doctrinal subtilties, keen as was his analysis of disinterested +benevolence, he did not, like some in our day, confine himself to +analyzing virtue in the abstract, but took upon himself the duty of +practicing it in the concrete without fear of consequences,--well +knowing that there is no logic like that of consistent action. + +We should do injustice to our subject, if we did not add a testimony to +the peculiarly religious character and influence of the men of whom we +speak. Shrewd, practical, capable, as they were, in the affairs of this +life, perfectly natural and human as were their characters, still they +were in the best sense unworldly men. Religion was the deep underlying +stratum on which their whole life was built. Like the granite framework +of the earth, it sunk below all and rose above all else in their life. +No _Acta Sanctorum_ contain more pathetic pictures of simple and +all-absorbing godliness than were displayed by the subjects of these +sketches. However they may have differed among themselves as to the +metaphysical adjustment of the Calvinistic system, all agreed in so +presenting it as to make God all in all. + +Doctor Arnold says it is necessary for the highest development of +the soul that it should have somewhere an object of entire reverence +enthroned above all possibility of doubt or criticism. Now a radically +democratic system, like that of New England, at once sweeps all +factitious reliances of this kind from the soul. No crown, no court, +no nobility, no ritual, no hierarchy,--the beautiful principles of +reverence and loyalty might have died out of the American heart, had not +these men by their religious teachings upborne it as on eagles' wings to +the footstool of the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible. Hence we see why +what was commonly called among them the "Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty" +acquired so prominent a place in their preaching and their hearts. They +were men of deep reverence and profound loyalty of nature, from whom +every lower object for the repose of these qualities had been torn +away,--who concentrated on God alone those sentiments of faith and +fealty which in other lands are divided with Church and King. Hence, +more than that of any other clergy, their preaching contemplated God as +King and Ruler. Submission to him without condition, without limit, +they both preached and practised. _Unconditional submission_ was as +constantly on their lips God-ward as it was sparingly uttered man-ward. + +No picture of the "good parson" that was ever drawn could exceed in +beauty that of the Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, whose life and manners had +that indescribable beauty, completeness, and sacredness, which religion +sometimes gives when shining out through a peculiarly congenial natural +temperament,--yet we must confess we are as much interested and +impressed with its effects in those wilder and more erratic +temperaments, such as Bellamy, Backus, and Moody, where genius and +passion were so combined as to lead to many inconsistencies. This book +is a record of how manfully many such men battled with themselves, +repairing the faults of their hasty and passionate hours by the true and +honest humility of their better ones, so that, as one has said of our +Pilgrim Fathers, we feel that they may have been endeared to God even by +their faults. + +The pastoral labors of these ministers were abounding. Two and sometimes +three services on the Sabbath, and a weekly lecture, were only the +beginning of their labors. Multitudes of them held circuit meetings, to +the number of two or three a week, in the outskirts of their parishes; +besides which they labored conversationally from house to house with +individuals. + +Gradual, indefinite, insensible amelioration of character was not by any +means the only or the highest aim of their preaching. They sought to +make religion as definite and as real to men as their daily affairs, and +to bring them, as respects their spiritual history, to crises as marked +and decided as those to which men are brought in temporal matters. +They must become Christians now, today; the change must be immediate, +all-pervading, thorough. + +Such a style of preaching, from men of such power, could not be without +corresponding results, especially as it was based always upon strong +logical appeals to the understanding. From it resulted, from time to +time, periods which are marked in these narratives as revivals of +religion,--seasons in which the cumulative force of the instructions and +power of the pastor, recognized by that gracious assistance on which he +always depended, reached a point of outward development that affected +the whole social atmosphere, and brought him into intimate and +confidential knowledge of the spiritual struggles of his flock. +The preaching of the pastor was then attuned and modified to these +disclosures, and his metaphysical system shaped and adapted to what he +perceived to be the real wants and weaknesses of the soul. Hence arose +modifications of theology,--often interfering with received theory, just +as a judicious physician's clinical practice varies from the book. Many +of the theological disputes which have agitated New England have arisen +in the honest effort to reconcile accepted forms of faith with the +observed phenomena and real needs of the soul in its struggles +heavenward. + + * * * * * + + +A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE KANSAS USURPATION. + + +If it had been the avowed intention of the dominant party in this +country to disgust the people by a long and systematic course of +wrong-doing,--if it had wished to prove that it was indissolubly wedded +to injustice, inconsistency, and error, it could not have chosen a +better method of doing so than it has actually pursued, in the entire +management of the Kansas question. From the beginning to the end, that +has been both a blunder and a crime. Nothing more atrocious,--nothing +more perverse,--nothing more foolish, as a matter of policy,--and +we might add, but for the seriousness of the subject, nothing more +ludicrous,--has occurred in our history, than the attempt, which has now +been persisted in for several years, to force the evils of Slavery upon +a people who cannot and will not endure them. + +We say, to force the evils of slavery upon an unwilling people,--because +such has been and is the only end of this protracted endeavor. The +authors of the scheme have scarcely shown the ordinary cunning of +rogues, which conceals its ulterior purposes. Disdaining the advice +of Mrs. Peachum to her daughter Polly, to be "somewhat nice" in her +deviations from virtue, they have advanced bravely and flagrantly to +their nefarious object. They have been reckless, defiant, aggressive; +but, unfortunately for them, they have not been sagacious. The thin +disguise of principle under which they masked their designs at the +outset--as it were a bit of oiled paper--was soon torn away; the plot +betrayed its inherent wickedness from step to step; the instruments +selected to execute it have one after another abandoned the task, +as quite impracticable for any honest mortal; and now these whilom +advocates of "Popular Sovereignty" stand exposed to the scorn and +derision of the country, as nothing less than what their opponents all +along declared them to be,--the sworn champions of Slavery-Extension. +All the movements and changes of their external policy find their +explication in the single phrase, the actual and the political +advancement of the interests of Slavery. + +It is humiliating to an American citizen to cast his eyes back, even for +a moment, to the history of this Kansas plot,--humiliating in many ways; +but in none more so than in the revelation it makes of the depth +and extent of party-servility in the Northern mind. Throughout the +proceedings of the "Democracy" towards the unhappy settlers of Kansas, +it is difficult to place the finger on a single act of large, just, or +generous policy; every step in it appears to have developed some new +outrage or some new fraud; and yet, every step in it has also elicited +new shouts of approval from the echoing lieges and bondmen of "the +Party." We should willingly, therefore, turn away from the theme, but +that we believe the end is not yet come; a review of its past may +instruct us as to its future. For it is not always true, as Coleridge +says, that experience, like the stern-lights of a ship, illuminates only +the track it has left; the lights may be hung upon the bows, and the +spectator be enabled to discern, by means of them, no less, the way in +which it is going. + +A "Territory," viewed in connection with the political system of +the United States, must be confessed to be a somewhat erratic and +embarrassing member. Few or no specific provisions are made for it in +the Organic Law, which applies primarily, and quite exclusively, +to "States." The word is mentioned there but once,--in the clause +empowering Congress to "make all needful rules and regulations +respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United +States,"--and here it occurs in a somewhat doubtful sense. Judging by +the mere letter or obvious import of the Constitution, the right of +acquiring and governing territory would seem to be a _casus omissus_, or +a power overlooked. Accordingly, Mr. Webster went so far as to assert +that the framers of it never contemplated its extension beyond the +original limits of the country;[A] but this we can scarcely believe of +men so far-seeing and sagacious. It were a better opinion, which +Mr. Benton has recently urged, that the acquisition and control of +territories are necessary incidents of the sovereign and proprietary +character of the government created by the Constitution.[B] But be +this as it may, whatever the theoretic origin of the right to acquire +territory,--whatever the origin of the right to govern it,--whether the +former be derived from the war-making power, which implies conquest, or +from the treaty-making power, which implies purchase,--and whether the +latter be derived from an express grant or is involved as necessary to +the execution of other grants, both questions were definitively settled +by long and universally accepted practice. Under the actual legislation +of Congress, running over a period of sixty years,--a legislation +sanctioned by all administrations, by all departments of the government, +by all the authorities of the individual States, by all statesmen of all +parties, and by frequent popular recognitions,--prescription has taken +the force of law, and that which might once be theoretically doubtful +became forever practically valid and legitimate. + +[Footnote A: Works, Vol. V. p. 306.] + +[Footnote B: See his late pamphlet on the Dred Scott decision, which +we may say, without adopting its conclusions, every statesman ought to +read.] + +It was not till within the last few years that the right of Congress +over the Territories was questioned. Certain classes of politicians then +discovered that the whole of our past statesmanship had been a mistake, +and that the time had come to propound a new doctrine. No! they said, it +is not Congress, not the Federal Government, which is entitled to govern +the Territories, but the Territories themselves,--which means the +handful of their original occupants. The real sovereignty resides in +the squatters, and Squatter Sovereignty is the charm which dispels +all difficulties. Alas! it was rather like the ingredients mingled by +Macbeth's hags, only "a charm of powerful trouble." Overlooking the fact +that the Territories were Territories precisely because they were not +States, this absurd theory proposed to confer the highest character of +an organized political existence upon a society wholly inchoate. As +_land_, the Territories were the property of the United States, to be +disposed of and regulated by the will of Congress; as _collections of +men_, they were yet immature communities, having in reality no social +being, and in that light also wisely and benevolently subjected to the +will of Congress; but Squatter Sovereignty elevated them, _willy nilly_, +to an independent self-subsistence. They were declared full-formed and +fledged before they were out of the shell. A mere conglomeration of +emigrants, Indian traders, and half-breeds was invested with all the +functions of a mature and ripened civilization. Long ere there were +people enough in any Territory to furnish the officers of a regular +government,--before they possessed any of the apparatus of court-houses, +jails, legislative chambers, etc., essential to a regular +government,--before they lived near enough to each other, in fact, +to constitute a respectable town-meeting,--before they could pay the +expenses or gather the means of their own defence from the Indians, +these wonderful entities were held to be endowed with the right of +entering into the most complicated relations and of forming the most +important institutions for themselves,--and not only for themselves, but +for their posterity. + +This puerile dogma was asserted ostensibly in the interest of Slavery, +in order to get rid of the power of Congress over that subject; but the +real source of it was the cowardice of those invertebrate and timorous +politicians who desired to evade the responsibility of expressing +opinions concerning this power. General Cass was the putative father of +it, and it might well have come from one of his pliancy and calibre; but +as Slavery itself, embodied in the person of Calhoun, scouted the feeble +bantling, there was soon no one so mean as to confess the paternity. +Abandoned of its begetters, Squatter Sovereignty wandered the streets +like a squalid and orphaned outcast, begging anybody and everybody to +take it in, and finding no creditable welcome anywhere. + +Calhoun and his friends, no less anxious than Cass and his friends +to rescue Slavery from the discretion of Congress, though for other +reasons, contrived to find a more respectable excuse for such a policy. +As California and New Mexico--both free soil--had lately been acquired, +they contended that the moment new territories attached to the United +States, the same moment the Constitution attached to them; and inasmuch +as the Constitution guarantied the existence of Slavery, _presto_, +Slavery must be regarded as existing under it in the Territories! This, +we say, was more respectable ground than Squatter Sovereignty, because +it met the question more fairly in the face; yet, considered either as +dialectics or history, it was not one whit less absurd. We do not wonder +that Webster, and all the other sound lawyers of the nation, heard such +an announcement of Constitutional hermeneutics with utter surprise and +astonishment. It was enough to astound even the veriest tyro in the law. +The Constitution--and especially by all the premises of the State-Rights +school--is a mere compact between the States; it confers no powers but +delegated and enumerated powers, and such as are indispensable to the +execution of these; and nowhere is there a clause or letter in +it extending its operation beyond the States. Even in respect to +acknowledged powers, these are inoperative until carried into effect by +a special act of Congress; they have no vitality in themselves,--they +are only dead provisions or forms till Congress has breathed into them +the breath of life; and thence to argue that of their own energy they +may leap into or embrace the Territories is to argue that a corpse may +on its own motion rise and walk. + +But granting this caoutchouc property, this migratory power, in the +Constitution, the inference that it would take Slavery with it is a +still more monstrous error than the original premises. Slavery as such +is not recognized or guarantied by the Federal Constitution. Whatever +the five slave-holding judges of the Supreme Court may seek to maintain, +they cannot upset the universal logic of the law, nor extinguish the +fundamental principles of our political system. Slavery exists only by +the local or municipal usage of the States in which it exists; it is +there universally defined as a right of property in man; whereas +the Constitution of the United States, in all its prohibitions and +provisions, designates and acts upon human beings only as persons. +Whatever their characters or relations under the laws of the States, +they are, under the Federal Constitution, MEN. Nowhere in that immortal +paper is there an iota or tittle which gives countenance to the idea +that human beings may be held as property. It speaks of "persons held to +service or labor," as apprentices, for instance,--and of persons other +than free, _i.e._ not politically citizens, as Indians and some negroes; +but it does not speak of Slaves or of Slavery; on the contrary, in every +part, it legislates for men solely as men. The laws of each State, and +the relations of the various inhabitants of each State, it of course +recognizes as valid within each State; but it recognizes them as resting +exclusively on the municipal authority of the State, and not on its own +authority. Against nothing did the framers of the Constitution more +strenuously contend than against the admission of any phrase sanctioning +the tenure of man as property. They refused even to allow of the use +of the word _servitude_, so much did they hate the thing; and Madison +expressed their almost unanimous sentiment when he exclaimed, "We intend +this Constitution to be THE GREAT CHARTER OF HUMAN LIBERTY to the unborn +millions who shall yet enjoy its protection, and who should not see that +such an institution as Slavery was ever known in our midst." In +that spirit was the instrument framed, and in that spirit was it +administered, while its framers lived. + +Nevertheless, under the twofold pretence we have cited,--the one +reconciling the conscience with the cowardice of the North, and the +other conceding the arrogant pretensions of the South,--the negation +of the power of the central government over Slavery was carried into +effect. By a legislative hocus-pocus, known as the Compromise Measures +of 1850, Congress, contrary to the uniform tendency of bodies entrusted +with a discretion, vacated instead of enlarging its powers. Its +sovereign function of territorial legislation was abdicated, in favor of +that wretched and ragged pretender, Squatter Sovereignty; and silly or +misguided people everywhere, who professed to regard as dangerous that +political excitement and agitation which are the life of republics, +hailed the accession of King Log as a glorious triumph of legitimacy. +In the remanding of a delicate question from the central to a +local jurisdiction, in the conversion of a general into a topical +inflammation, they affected to see an end of the difficulty, a cure to +the disease. But no expectation could have been less wise. It was a +transfer, and a possible postponement, but not a settlement of the +trouble. Had they looked deeper, they would have discerned that the +dispute in regard to Slavery is involved in the very structure of our +government, which links two incompatible civilizations under the same +head, which compels a struggle for political power between the diverse +elements by the terms and conditions of their union, and which, if the +contest is suppressed at one time or place, forces it to break out +at another, and will force it to break out incessantly, until either +Freedom or Slavery has achieved a decisive triumph. + +The principle of the non-interference of Congress with the Territories +once secured, there yet stood in the way of its universal application +the time-honored agreement called the Missouri Compromise. Down to +the year 1820, Congress had legislated to keep Slavery out of the +Territories; but at that disastrous era, a weak dread of civil +convulsion led to the surrender of a single State (Missouri) to this +evil,--under a solemn stipulation and warrant, however, that it should +never again be introduced north of a certain line. Originating with the +Slave-holders, and sustained by the Slave-holders, this compact was +sacredly respected by them for thirty-three years; it was respected +until they had got out of it all the advantages they could, and until +Freedom was about to reap _her_ advantages,--when they began to denounce +it as unconstitutional and void. A Northern Senator--whose conduct then +we shall not characterize, as he seems now to be growing weary of the +hard service into which he entered--was made the instrument of its +overthrow. That hallowed landmark, which had lifted its awful front +against the spread of Slavery for more than an entire generation, was +obliterated by a quibble, and the morning sun of the 22d of May, 1854, +rose for the last time "on the guarantied and certain liberties of +all the unsettled and unorganized region of the American Continent." +Everything there was of honor, of justice, of the love of truth and +liberty, in the heart of the nation, was smitten by this painful blow; +the common sense of security felt the wound; the consoling consciousness +that the faith of men might be relied upon was removed by it; and to the +general imagination, in fact, it seemed as if some mighty charm, which +had stayed the issue of untold calamities, were suddenly and wantonly +broken. + +Thus, after the Constitution had been perverted in its fundamental +character,--after Congress had been despoiled of one of its most +important functions,--after a compact, made sacred by the faith, +the feelings, and the hopes of the third of a century, was torn in +pieces,--the road was clear for the organization of the Kansas and +Nebraska Territories. It was given out, amid jubilations which could not +have been louder, if they had been the spontaneous greetings of some +real triumph of principle, that henceforth and forever the inhabitants +of the Territories would be called to determine their "domestic +institutions" for themselves. Under this theory, and amid these shouts, +Kansas was opened for settlement; and it was scarcely opened, before it +became, as might have been expected, the battleground for the opposing +civilizations of the Union, to renew and fight out their long quarrel +upon. From every quarter of the land settlers rushed thither, to take +part in the wager of battle. They rushed thither, as individuals and as +associations, as Yankees and as Corn-crackers, as Blue Lodges and as +Emigrant Aid Societies; and most of them went, not only as it was their +right, but as it was their duty to do. Congress had invited them in; it +had abandoned legitimate legislation in order to substitute for it a +scramble between the first comers; and it had said to every man who knew +that Slavery was more than a simple local interest, that it was in fact +an element of the general political power, "Come and decide the issue +here!" + +Whatever the consequences, therefore, the cowardly action of Congress +was the original cause. But what were the consequences? First, +a protracted anarchy and civil war among the several classes of +emigrants;--second, a murderous invasion of the Territory by the +borderers of a neighboring State, for the purpose of carrying the +elections against the _bonâ-fide_ settlers;--third, the establishment of +a system of terrorism, in which outrages having scarcely a parallel +on this continent were committed, with a view to suppress all protest +against the illegality of those elections, and to drive out settlers of +a particular class;--fourth, the commission of a spurious legislative +assembly, in the enforced absence of protests against the illegal +returns of votes;--fifth, the enactment of a series of laws for the +government of the Territory, the most tyrannical and bloody ever devised +for freemen,--laws which aimed a fatal blow at the four corner-stones of +a free commonwealth,--freedom of speech, of the press, of the jury, and +of suffrage;--sixth, the recognition of Slavery as an existing fact, and +the denunciation of penalties, as for felony, against every attempt +to question it in word or deed;--and, finally, the dismissal of the +Territorial Governor, (Reeder,) who had exhibited some signs of +self-respect and conscience in resisting these wicked schemes, and who +was compelled to fly the Territory in disguise, under a double menace of +public prosecution and private assassination. + +These were the scenes of the first act, in a drama then commenced; and +those of the next were not unlike. A second Governor (Shannon) having +been procured,--a Governor chosen with a double fitness to the use,--on +the ground of his sympathy with whatever was vulgar in border-ruffian +habits and with whatever was obsequious in Presidential policy,--the +deliberate game of forcing the settlers to submit to the infamous +usurpation of the Missourians was opened. But, thank Heaven! those brave +and hardy pioneers would not submit! There was enough of the blood of +the Puritans and of the Revolutionary Sires coursing in their veins, to +make them feel that submission, under such circumstances, would have +been a base betrayal of liberty, a surrender of honor, and a sacrifice +of every honest sentiment of justice and self-respect. "Come," they said +to the marauders,--"come, hack this flesh from our limbs, and scatter +these bones to bleach with those of so many of our friends and brothers, +already strewn upon the unshorn and desolate fields,--but do not ask us +to submit to wrongs so daring or to frauds so foul!" The marauders took +them at their word, and hewed and hacked them with shameless cruelty; +yet, with a singular forbearance, the friends of freedom did not hastily +resent the outrages with which they had been visited. They loved +freedom, but they loved law too; and they proceeded in a legal and +peaceful spirit to procure the redress of their grievances,--in the +first place by an appeal to Congress, and in the second, by the +organization of a State government of their own. Both of these methods +they had an indisputable right to adopt; for the first is guarantied to +every citizen, even the meanest,--and the second, though informal, was +not illegal, and had, time and again, been sanctioned by the highest +political tribunals of the land. + +Congress had dismissed the subject of Territorial Government; and here +it was again, in a more troublesome guise than it had ever before +assumed. The ghost of the murdered Banquo would not down at its bidding. +Nearly the entire session of 1856 was consumed in heated and virulent +debates on Kansas. The House, fresh from the affections of the people, +was disposed to do justice to the sufferers; it confirmed, by the +investigations of its committees, the verity of every complaint, and it +was not willing to allow a trivial technicality to stand in the way of +the great cause of truth and right. But the Senate was dogmatic +and hard,--full of whims, and scruples, and hair-splitting +difficulties,--ever straining at gnats and swallowing camels; of the few +there inclined to bear a manly part, one was overpowered by the club of +a bully, and the others by the despotism of numbers and of party drill. +As for the Executive, it was bound hand and foot to the Slave Power, and +had no option but to let loose its minions, its judges, its sheriffs, +its vagabonds, and its dragoons upon the poor Free-State men, whose only +crime was a refusal to submit to the most outrageous abuses. Their towns +were burned, their presses destroyed, their assemblies dispersed, and +their wives and children brutally insulted. The debauched and imbecile +Governor, who represented the Federal Power, hounded on the miscreants +of the border to the work of destruction, so long as he was able; but he +happily became in the end too weak even for this perfunctory labor; and +he gradually sank into deliquium, till his final withdrawal into +the obscurities whence he had emerged gave a momentary peace to the +distracted and baffled settlers. + +We pass over the administration of Geary, the third of the Kansas +Governors,--a period in which the ravages of the marauders were +continued, but under meliorated circumstances. The great uprising of the +Northern masses, in the Presidential election, had impressed upon the +most desperate of the Pro-Slavery faction the necessity of a restrained +and moderated zeal. Geary went to the Territory with some desire to deal +justly with all parties. He fancied, from the promises made to him, that +he would be sustained in this honorable course by the President. It was +no part of his conception of his task, that he should be called upon +to screen assassins, to justify perjury. But he had reckoned without +knowledge of what he had undertaken. He was soon involved with the +self-styled judiciary of Kansas, whose especial favorites were the +promoters of outrage; his correspondence was intercepted, his plans +thwarted, his motives aspersed, his life menaced; and he resigned +his thankless charge, in a feeling of profound contempt and bitter +disappointment,--of contempt for the restless knot of villains who +circumvented all conciliatory action, and of disappointment towards +superiors at Washington who betrayed their promises of countenance and +support. + +With the advent of Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency a new era was +expected, because a new era had been plainly prescribed by the entire +course and spirit of the Presidential campaign. All through that heated +and violent contest, it was loudly promised on one side, as it was +loudly demanded on the other, that the affairs of Kansas should be +honestly and equitably administered. As the time had then come, in the +progress of population, when the Territory might be considered competent +to determine its political institutions,--the period of its immaturity +and pupilage being past,--the election turned upon the single issue of +Justice to Kansas. Mr. Buchanan and his party,--their conventions, +their orators, and their newspapers,--in order to quell the storm of +indignation swelling the Northern heart, were voluble in their pledges +of a fair field for a fair settlement of all its difficulties. In the +name of Popular Sovereignty,--or of the indisputable right of every +people, that is a people, to determine its political constitution for +itself,--they achieved a hard-won success. On no other ground could they +have met the gallant charge of their opponents, and on no other ground +did they retain their hold of the popular support. In his inaugural +address, Mr. Buchanan foreshadowed a complete and final adjustment of +every element of discord. He selected, for the accomplishment of his +policy, a statesman of national reputation, experienced in politics, +skilful in administration, and of well-known principles and proclivities +in the practical affairs of government. Mr. Walker accepted the place of +Territorial Governor, under the most urgent entreaties, and on repeated +and distinct pledges on the part of the President that the organization +of Kansas as a State should be unfettered and free. His personal +sympathies were strongly on the side of the party which had so long +ruled with truculent hand in the affairs of the Territory; but he was +none the less resolved that the fairly ascertained majority should have +its way. + +Under assurances to that effect, the Free-State men, for the first time +since the great original fraud which had disfranchised them, consented +to enter into an electoral contest with their foes and oppressors. +The result was the return of a Free-State delegate to Congress, and a +Free-State legislature, by a majority which, after the rejection of a +series of patent and wretched frauds, was more than ten to one; and yet +the desperate game of conquest and usurpation was not closed. For, in +the mean time, a convention of delegates to frame a State Constitution +had been summoned to assemble at Lecompton. It was called by the old +spurious legislature, which represented Missouri, and not Kansas; it was +called by a legislature, which, even if not spurious, had no authority +for making such a call; it was called under provisions for a census +and registry of voters which in more than half the Territory were not +complied with; and it was elected by a small proportion of a small +minority, the Free-State men and others refusing to enter into a contest +under proceedings unauthorized at best, and as they believed illegal. +Let it be added, also, that a large number of its members were pledged +to submit the result of their doings to a vote of the people,--according +to what Mr. Buchanan, in his instructions to Governor Walker, and +Governor Walker himself, on the strength of those instructions, had +proclaimed as the policy of "the party." + +This Convention, in the prosecution of its gratuitous task, devised the +scheme of a Constitution wholly in the interest of its members and of +the meagre minority they represented,--and so objectionable in many +respects, that not one in twenty of the voters of the Territory, as +Governor Walker informed the writer of this, could or would approve it. +Recognizing Slavery as an existing fact, and perpetuating it in +every event, it yet purported to submit the question of Slavery to a +determining vote of the people. This was, however, a mere pretence; for +the method proposed for getting at the sense of the people was nothing +but a pitiful juggle, according to which no one could vote on +the Slavery question who did not at the same time vote _for_ the +Constitution. No alternative or discretion was allowed to the citizens +whose Constitution it purported to be; if they voted at all on the vast +variety of subjects usually embraced in an organic law, they must vote +in favor of the measures concocted by the Convention. The entire conduct +of the election and the final adjudication of the returns, moreover, +were taken out of the hands of the officers, and from under the +operation of the laws, already established by the Territorial +authorities, to be vested exclusively in one of the Convention's own +creatures,--a reckless and unprincipled politician, whose whole previous +career had been an offence and a nuisance to the majority of the +inhabitants. Had the Convention been legitimately called and +legitimately chosen, this audacious abrogation of the Territorial laws +and of the functions of the Territorial officers would in itself have +been sufficient to vitiate its authority; but being neither legitimately +called, nor legitimately chosen, and outraging the sentiments of +nineteen twentieths of the community, the illegal election provided for +can be regarded only as the crowning atrocity of the long series of +atrocities to which Kansas has been subjected. + +The most surprising thing, however, could anything surprise us in these +Kansas proceedings, is, that the President, eating all his former +promises, adopts the Lecompton Convention as a legitimate body, and +commends its swindling mode of submission as a "fair" test of the +popular will! Yet, it is sad to say, this is only following up the line +of precedents established from the beginning. The plot against the +freedom of Kansas was conceived in a Congressional breach of faith; it +was inaugurated by invasion, bloodshed, and civil war; it was prosecuted +for two years through a series of unexampled violences; and it would be +strange, if it had not been consummated at Lecompton and Washington by +a series of corresponding frauds. It seems to have been impossible to +touch the business without perpetrating some iniquity, great or small; +and Mr. Buchanan, cautious, circumspect, timorous, as he is, tumbles +into the fatal circle headlong. + +And how do we know all this? Upon what kind and degree of evidence do we +rest these heavy accusations? Upon the hasty opinions of those who are +unfriendly to the principles and purposes of the dominant party? Not at +all; but upon the voluntary confessions of the distinguished and chosen +agents of that party, these agents being themselves eyewitnesses of the +facts to which they testify. For proof of the original invasion and +usurpation, with all its frauds and outrages, we appeal to the testimony +of Governor Reeder; for proof of the continued ravages and persistent +malignity of the border ruffians, we appeal to the testimony of Governor +Geary; and for proof of the illegal and swindling character of the +late Constitutional movement, we appeal to Governor Walker;--all these +witnesses being original friends of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and policy; +all the original coadjutors of the Slave Power; all its carefully +selected instruments; all strongly prejudiced at the outset against the +cause and the men of the Free-State Party; and yet, each one of them, as +soon as he has fairly entered the field of his operations, offering such +loud rebuke of the plans and projects of his own party as to provoke +his speedy removal!--no strength of party attachment, no pliability of +conscience, no hope of future favor, no dread of instant punishment, +being sufficient to prevent him from turning against his own masters and +colleagues! Even the Senators of the party catch the spirit of revolt; +and the very godfather of the Kansas scheme,--its most efficient +advocate,--the leading and organizing mind of it,--has become the +strongest opponent and bitterest denouncer of the policy which directs +its execution. + +In this view of the case, may we not ask whether this base and cruel +attempt at subduing Kansas has not gone far enough? Have not the +circumstances shown that it is as impracticable as it is base and cruel? +Or are we to see the despotism of the New World as insanely obstinate as +the despotisms of the Old? Is there no warning, no instruction, to be +derived from the examples of those older nations? An eloquent historian +has recently depicted for us, in scenes which the memory can never lose, +the mad attempts of the House of Stuart to Romanize England, to the +loss of the most magnificent dominion the world ever saw; and another +historian, scarcely less eloquent, has drawn a series of fearfully +interesting pictures of the stern efforts of the Spaniards to impose +a detested State and a more detested Church upon the burghers of the +Netherlands. The spirit of James II., and the spirit of Philip II., was +the same spirit which is now striving to force Slavery and Slave Law +upon Kansas; and though the field of battle is narrower, and the scene +less conspicuous, the consequences of the struggle are hardly of less +moment. Kansas is the future seat of empire; she will yet give tone and +law to the entire West; and they who are fighting there, in behalf of +humanity and justice, do not fight for themselves alone, but for a large +posterity. + + * * * * * + + +SONNET. + + + The brave old Poets sing of nobler themes + Than the weak griefs which haunt men's coward souls. + The torrent of their lusty music rolls + Not through dark valleys of distempered dreams, + But murmurous pastures lit by sunny streams; + Or, rushing from some mountain height of Thought, + Swells to strange music, that our minds have sought + Vainly to gather from the doubtful gleams + Of our more gross perceptions. Oh, their strains + Nerve and ennoble Manhood!--no shrill cry, + Set to a treble, tells of querulous woe; + Yet numbers deep-voiced as the mighty Main's + Merge in the ringdove's plaining, or the sigh + Of lovers whispering where sweet streamlets flow. + + + + +ART. + +THE BRITISH GALLERY IN NEW YORK. + + +To speak of English Art was, ten years ago, to speak of something +formless, chaotic, indeed, so far as any order or organization of +principles was concerned,--a mass of individual results, felt out, +often, under the most glorious artistic inspiration, but much oftener +the expression of merely ignorant whim, or still more empty academic +knowledge,--a waste of uncultivated, unpruned brushwood, with here and +there a solitary tree towering into unapproachable and inexplicable +symmetry and beauty. Hogarth, Gainsborough, and Turner are great names +in Art-history; but to deduce their development from the English culture +of Art, one must use the same processes as in proving Cromwell to have +been called up by the loyalty of Englishmen. They towered the higher +from contempt for the abasement around them. If there was greatness in +measure in English Art, it was greatness subjected to tradition and +conventionalism. The three artists we have just named were the only +great freemen, in the realm of Art England had known down to the close +of the first half of the nineteenth century; and of these, Turner alone +has left his impress on the Art succeeding his. + +With the commencement of the present half-century there began a +systematic movement in revolt from the degradation of Art in England, +which, unfortunately, so far as significance was concerned, assumed the +name of Pre-Raphaelitism. It extended itself rapidly, absorbing most of +the young painters of any force or earnestness, and attracting some who +already held high places in public esteem. Being something new, it +was sure of its full measure of derision while it was considered +unimportant, and of bitter and violent antagonism when it became evident +that it was strong enough to make its way. This hostility, beaten down +for the moment by the rhetoric of Ruskin and the inherent earnestness +of the new Art, is, however, as sure to prevail again as the English +character is at once conservative of old forms, reverential of +authorities, and subject to enthusiasms for new things, whose very +extravagance tends to reaction. If Pre-Raphaelitism now holds its own in +England, it is simply because it is neither thoroughly understood nor +completely defined. It is an absolutely revolutionary movement, and +must, therefore, be rejected by the English mind when seen as such,--and +this all the more certainly and speedily because Ruskin with his +imaginative enthusiasm has raised it to a higher position than it really +deserves at present. That cause is unfortunate which retains as its +advocate one whose rhetoric persuades all, while his logic convinces +none; and the too readily believing converts of his enthusiasm and +splendid diction, their sympathetic fire abated, revert with an +implacable bitterness to their former traditions. With all our respect +for Ruskin, we think that he has asserted many things, but proved next +to nothing. He has utterly misunderstood and misstated Pre-Raphaelitism, +which will thus be one day the weaker for his support. + +But, pending this inevitable decline in favor at home, Pre-Raphaelitism +colonizes. During the past year, some lovers of Art in England organized +an association, having as its purpose the introduction of English Art to +the American public,--partly, it was to be expected, with the view of +opening this El Dorado to the English painter, but still more with the +desire to extend the knowledge of what was to them a new and important +revelation of Art. In its inception the plan was almost exclusively +Pre-Raphaelite, but extended itself, on after-consideration, so far as +to admit the worthiest artists of the conventional stamp. We have the +first fruits of the undertaking in an exhibition which has achieved a +success in New York, and which will probably visit the principal cities +of the Union before its return home in the spring to make way for a +second which will open in the autumn. + +It is not as a collection of pictures merely that we purpose to notice +this exhibition. Out of nearly four hundred pictures, the great +proportion are mere conventionalisms,--many of them choice, but most of +them in no wise to be compared with the pictures of the same class by +French and German painters, since neither just drawing nor impressive +color redeems their inanity of conception. There are some curious +water-color drawings by Lance, remarkable mainly as forcibly painted, +some exquisite color-pieces by William Hunt, and a number of fine +examples of the matter-of-fact common-place which forms the great mass +of pictures in the London exhibitions. Two drawings deserve especial, +though brief, notice; one a coast bit by Copley Fielding,--a sultry, +hazy afternoon on the seashore, where sea and sky, distance and +foreground, are fused into one golden, slumberous silence, in which +neither wave laps nor breeze fans, and only the blinding sun moves, +sinking slowly down to where heaven and ocean mingle again in a happy +dream of their old unity before the waters under the firmament were +divided from the waters above the firmament, and the stranded ships lie +with sails drooping and listless on a beach from which the last tide +seems to have ebbed, leaving the ooze glistening and gleaming in the +sunlight,--a picture of rare sentiment and artistic refinement;--the +other is a waterfall by Nesfield,--a dreamy, careless, wayward plunge +of waters over ledge after ledge of massive rock, the merry cascade +enveloping itself in a robe of spray and mist, on the skirt of which +flashes the faintest vision of a rainbow, which wavers and flits, +almost, as you look at it, while the jets of foam plash up from the pool +at the foot of the fall, a tranquil pause of the waters in a depth of +uncertain blue, in which a suggestion of emerald flashes, and from +which they dance on in less frantic mood over the brown and water-worn +boulders to follow their further whims; everything that is most charming +and _spirituelle_ in the water-fall is given, and with a delicacy of +color and subtilty of execution fitting the subject. These are not the +only good drawings, but there is in them a simplicity and singleness +of purpose, a total subordination of all minor matters to the great +impression, which makes them points of poetic value in the collection. +There are some drawings by Finch, scarcely less noticeable for their +rendering of solemn twilight, tender and touching as the memory of a +loved one long dead. The water-color representation is, indeed, complete +and interesting; but we have only present use with five of these +drawings, by Turner, and from different stages of his progress. + +Ruskin, in his pamphlet on Pre-Raphaelitism, has drawn such a comparison +between Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites as to make them only different +manifestations of the same spirit in Art. Nothing, it seems to us, could +be more mistaken than this; for, in all that concerns either the end of +Art or its paths of approach, its purposes or its methods, Turner and +the Pre-Raphaelites are diametrically opposed. Turner was intensely +subjective,--the Pre-Raphaelites are as intensely objective. There is +no evidence whatever in Turner's works that he ever made the slightest +attempt to reproduce Nature in such guise as the Pre-Raphaelites paint +her in; on the contrary, the early drawings of Turner are as inattentive +to absolute truth of detail as they could well be. His course of study +was one of memory. He commenced by expressing in his drawing such +palpable facts and truths as were most strongly retained, and in which +he conveyed the great impression of the scene, with the most complete +indifference to all facts not essential to the telling of his story. +From this, as his memory grew stronger and his perception more minute +and comprehensive, he widened his circle of ideas and facts, always +working from feeling rather than from what Nature set before him. His +mind thus sifting his perceptions, retaining always only those which +constituted the essential features of the impression, and with +a distinctness proportioned to their relative importance, there +necessarily resulted a subjective unity like that of an absolute +creation. The Pre-Raphaelites, on the other hand, endeavor to paint +everything that they see just as they see it; and doing this without +permitting the slightest liberty of choice to their feeling, where +they _have_ feeling, their Art is, of course, in all its early stages, +destitute of that singleness of purpose which marked Turner's works +from the beginning. Turner felt an emotion before Nature, and used the +objects from which he had received the emotion as symbols to +convey it again;--the Pre-Raphaelites look at Nature as full +of beautiful facts, and, like children amid the flowers, they +gather their hands full, "indifferent of worst or best," and when their +hands are full, crowd their laps and bosoms, and even drop some +already picked, to make room for others which beckon from their +stems,--insatiable with beauty. This is delightful,--but childlike, +nevertheless. Turner was, above all, an artist; with him Art stood +first, facts secondary;--with the Pre-Raphaelites it is the reverse; it +is far less important to them that their facts should be broadly stated +and in keeping in their pictures, than that they should be there and +comprehensible. To him a fact that was out of keeping was a nuisance, +and he treated it as such; while any falsehood that was in keeping was +as unhesitatingly admitted, if he needed it to strengthen the impression +of his picture. Turner would put a rainbow by the side of the sun, if he +wanted one there;--a Pre-Raphaelite would paint with a stop-watch, to +get the rainbow in the right place. In brief, Turner's was the purely +subjective method of study, a method fatal to any artist of the opposite +quality of mind;--that of the Pre-Raphaelites is the purely objective, +absolutely enslaving to a subjective artist, and no critic capable of +following out the first principles of Art to logical deductions could +confound the two. The one leads to a sentimental, the other to a +philosophic Art; and the only advice to be given to an artist as to his +choice of method is, that, until he knows that he can trust himself in +the liberty of the subjective, he had better remain in the discipline +of the objective. The fascination of the former, once felt, forbids all +return to the latter. If he be happy in the Pre-Raphaelite fidelity, let +him thank the Muse and tempt her no farther. + +There can be no more valuable lesson in Art given than that series +of Turner drawings in the British collection, both as concerns its +progression in the individual and those subtile analogies between +painting (color) and music,--analogies often hinted at, but never, that +we are aware, fully followed out. Color bears the same relation to form +that sound does to language. If a painter sit down before Nature +and accurately match all her tints, we have an absolute but prosaic +rendering of her; and the analogy to this in music would be found in +a passage of ordinary conversational language written down, with its +inflections and pauses recorded in musical signs. Both are transcripts +of Nature, but neither is in any way poetic, or, strictly speaking, +artistic; we cannot, by any addition or refinement, make them so. Now +mark that in the two early drawings of Turner we have white and +black with only the slightest possible suggestion of blue in the +distance;--the corresponding form in language is verse, with its measure +of time for measure of space, and just so much inflection of voice as +these drawings have of tint,--enough not to be absolutely monotonous. We +have in both cases left the idea of mere imitation of Nature, and have +entered on Art. Verse grows naturally into music by simple increase of +the range of inflection, as Turner's color will grow more melodic and +finally harmonic. And in thus beginning Turner has placed his works +above the level of prosaic painting of Nature, just as verse is placed +above prose by the unanimous consent of mankind. From these simple +presages of Art we may diverge and follow his development as a poet by +his engravings, without ever making reference to him as a colorist. But +beside being a poet, he was a great color-composer. If, leaving poetry +as recited, we take the ballad, or poetry made fully melodic, we have +the single voice, passing through measured inflections and with measured +pauses. Correspondingly, the next in the series of Turner drawings, the +"Aysgarth Force," shows no attempt to give the real color of Nature, but +a single color governing the whole drawing, a golden brown passing in +shadow into its exact negative. There is an absolute tint, full, and +inflected through every shade of its tones to the bottom of the scale. +The strict analogy is broken in this case by a dash of delicate +gray-blue in the sky and gray-red in the figures, the slightest possible +accompaniment to his golden-brown melody; but these were not needed, and +we find earlier drawings which adhere to the strict monochrome. In the +drawing next in date, the "Hastings from the Sea," we have the further +step from monochrome to polychrome; we have the distinct trio, the +golden yellow in the sky, the blue in the sea, and the red in the +figures in the boats,--as in a vocal trio we have the only three +possible musical sounds of the human voice, the soprano, the basso, +and the falsetto of the child's voice. All these colors are distinctly +asserted and perfectly harmonized in a most exquisite play of tints, but +it is still no more like Nature than the trio in "I Puritani" is like +conversation. Turner never dreamed of painting _like_ Nature, and no +sane man ever saw or can see, in this world, Nature in the colors in +which he has painted her, any more than he will find men conducting +business in operatic notes. + +One step farther, and we leave the analogy. In the "Swiss Valley," one +of his last works, we are from the first conscious that his harmonies +have run away with his theme. In Ole Bull's "Niagara" we have almost as +much of matter-of-fact Nature as in Turner's "Swiss Valley." The eye +untrained by study of Turner's works finds nothing but a blaze of color +with no intelligible object, just as we have, in opera, music of which +the words are inaudible;--both are there for practised ear and eye, but +in neither case as of primary importance. Turner has even gone farther, +and given us pictures of pure color, as in the illustration of Goethe's +theory of colors,--a _fantasie_ of the palette. And why shall Turner +not orchestrate color as well as Verdi sound? why not give us his +synchromies as well as Beethoven his symphonies? You prefer common +sense,--Harding and Fripp, Stanfield and Creswick? Well, suppose you +like better to hear some familiar voice talking of past times than to +hear "Robert le Diable" ever so well sung, or Hawthorne's prose better +than Browning's verse,--it proves nothing, save that you do not care for +music and poetry so well as some others do. + +But after all, Turner was one of the old school of artists. Claude was +the first landscape painter of the line, Turner the last; subjective +poets both,--the one a child, the other a mighty man. But the poets +no longer govern the world as in times past; they give place to the +philosophers. The race is no longer content with its inspirations and +emotions, but must see and understand. The old school of Art was one of +sentiment, the new is one of fact; and out of that English mind from +whose seeming common-place level of untrained, unschooled intellect have +burst so many of the loftiest souls the world has known,--from that mind +more inspired in its want of academic greatness, more self-educated in +its wild liberty, than the best-trained nations of Europe, this new +school has fittingly had its origin. + +We speak of it as a School, though yet in its rudiments, because it +has a distinctive character, a real purpose,--and because it is the +embodiment of the new-age spirit of truth-seeking, of the spirit of +science, rather than that of song. Among the pictures contributed to the +English exhibition by the Pre-Raphaelites, there are very few which do +not convey the distinct impression of a determined effort to realize +certain truths. There are few which succeed entirely; but this is so far +from astonishing, that we have only to think that the oldest of these +artists has hardly passed his first decade of recognized artistic +existence, and that their aims are new in Art, to wonder that so much of +fresh and subtile truth is given. There are two respects in which nearly +all the works of the school agree, and which have come to be regarded by +superficial students of Art as its characteristics, namely, that they +are very deficient in drawing and devoid of grace. Both deficiencies +are such as might have been expected from the circumstances. Young men +filled with earnestness and enthusiasm, and with an artistic purpose +full in view, will spend little time in acquiring academic excellences, +or trouble themselves much with methods or styles of drawing. They dash +at once to their purpose, and let technical excellence follow, as it +ought, in the train of the idea of their work. Of course they do not +compare, as draughtsmen and technists, with men who have spent years in +getting a knowledge of the proportions of the human figure, and the best +methods of applying color; but, on the other hand, they are safe from +that most alluring and fatal course of study which makes the subject +only a lay figure to display artistic capacity on. Of all the pictures +of the school, in the collection of which we speak, there is but one of +academic excellence in drawing,--the "King Lear" of Ford Madox Brown. +All the others have errors, and some of them to a ludicrous degree; but +wherever refined drawing is needed to convey the idea of the picture, no +school can furnish drawing more subtile and expressive. The head of +the "Light of the World" is worthy in this respect to be placed beside +Raphael and Da Vinci; and the "Ophelia" of Hughes, though inexcusably +incorrect in the figure, has a refinement of drawing in the face, +and especially in the lines of the open, chanting mouth, which no +draughtsman of the French school can equal. It is where the idea guides +the hand that the Pre-Raphaelites are triumphant; everywhere else they +fail. But this is a fault which will correct itself as they learn the +significance and value of things they do not now understand. They paint +well that which they love, and devotion grows and widens its sphere the +longer it endures, taking in, little by little, all things which bear +relation to the thought or thing it clings to; and the man who draws +because he has something to tell, and draws _that_ well, is certain +of finally drawing all things well. This very deficiency of +Pre-Raphaelitism, then, points to its true excellence, and indicates +that singleness of purpose which is an element in all true Art. The want +of grace, which is made almost a synonyme with Pre-Raphaelitism, has its +origin in the same resolute clinging to truth as the artist comprehends +it, and uncompromising determination to express it as perfectly as he +has the power,--a feeling which never permits him to think whether his +work be graceful, but whether it be just; so that his tremulous and +almost fearful conscientiousness--tremulous with desire to see all, +and fearful lest some line should wander by a hair's breadth from its +fullest expressiveness--makes him lose sight entirely of grace and +repose. No form that has the appearance of being painfully drawn +can ever be a graceful one; and so the Pre-Raphaelite, until he has +something of a master's facility and decision, can never be graceful. +The artist who prefers grace to truth will never be remarkable either +for grace or truth, while the one who clings to truth at all sacrifices +will finally reach the expression of the highest degree of beauty which +his soul is capable of conceiving; for the lines of highest beauty and +supremest truth are coincident. The Ideal meets the Actual finally in +the Real. + +If there be one point of feeling in which the Pre-Raphaelites can be +said to be more than in all others antagonistic to the schools of +painting which preceded them, it would be that indicated by this +distinction,--that the new school is one which in all cases places truth +before beauty, while the old esteems beauty above truth. The tendency +of the one is towards a severe and truth-seeking Art, one in all its +characteristics essentially religious in the highest sense of the term, +holding truth dearer than all success in popular estimation, or than all +attractions of external beauty, reverent, self-forgetting, and humble +before Nature; that of the other is towards an Art Epicurean and +atheistic, holding the truth as something to be used or neglected at +its pleasure, and of no more value than falsehood which is equally +beautiful,--making Nature, indeed, something for weak men to lean on and +for superstitious men to be enslaved by. This distinction is radical; it +cuts the world of Art, as the equator does the earth, with an unswerving +line, on one side or the other of which every work of Art falls, and +which permits no neutral ground, no chance of compromise;--he who is not +for the truth is against it. We will not be so illiberal as to say that +Art lies only on one side of this line; to do so were to shut out works +which have given us exceeding delight;--so neither could we exclude +Epicurus and his philosophy from the company of doers of good;--but the +distinction is as inexorable as the line Christ drew between his and +those not his; it lies not in the product, which may be mixed good and +evil, but in the motive, which is indivisible. + +Pre-Raphaelitism must take its position in the world as the beginning of +a new Art,--new in motive, new in methods, and new in the forms it puts +on. To like it or to dislike it is a matter of mental constitution. +The only mistake men can make about it is to consider it as a mature +expression of the spirit which animates it. Not one, probably not two +or three generations, perhaps not so many centuries, will see it in its +full growth. It is a childhood of Art, but a childhood of so huge a +portent that its maturity may well call out an expectation of awe. +In all its characteristics it is childlike,--in its intensity, its +humility, its untutored expressiveness, its marvellous instincts of +truth, and in its very profuseness of giving,--filling its caskets with +an unchoosing lavishness of pearl and pebble, rose and may-weed, all +treasures alike to its newly opened eyes, all so beautiful that there +can scarcely be choice among them. + +To suppose that a revolution so complete as this could take place +without a bitter opposition would be an hypothesis without any +justification in the world's experience; for, be it in whatever sphere +or form, when a revolution comes, it offends all that is conservative +and reverential of tradition in the minds of men, and arouses an +apparently inexplicable hostility, the bitterness of which is not at all +proportionate to the interest felt by the individual in the subject of +the reform, but to his constitutional antipathy to all reform, to all +agitation. The conservative at heart hates the reformer because he +agitates, not because he disturbs him personally. This is clearly seen +in the hostility with which the new Art has been met in England, where +conservatism has built its strongest batteries in the way of invading +reform. For the moment, the English mind, bending in a surprised +deference to the stormy assault of the enthusiasts of the new school, +partly carried away by its characteristic admiration of the heroism of +their attack and the fiery eloquence of their champion, Ruskin, and +perhaps not quite assured of its final effect, forgets to unmask +its terrible artillery. But to upset the almost immovable English +conservatism, to teach the nation new ways of thought and feeling, in a +generation! Cromwell could not do it; and this wave of reform that +now surges up against those prejudices, more immovable than the white +cliffs of Albion, will break and mingle with the heaving sea again, as +did that of the republicanism of the Commonwealth, whose Protector never +sat in his seat of government more firmly than Ruskin now holds the +protectorate of Art in England. When political reform moved off to +American wildernesses for the life it could not preserve in England, it +but marked the course reform in Art must follow. The apparent ascendency +which it has obtained over the old system will as certainly turn out +to be temporary as there is logic in history; because an Art, like a +political system, to govern a nation, must be in accordance with its +character as a nation,--must, in fact, be the outgrowth of it. The only +unfailing line of kings and protectors is the people; with them is no +interregnum; and when the English people become fitted by intellectual +and moral progress to be protectors of a new and living Art, it will +return to them just as surely as republicanism will one day return from +its exile,-- + + "And all their lands restored to them again, + That were with it exiled." + +The philosophic Art will find a soil free from Art-prejudices and open +to all seeds of truth; it will find quiet and liberty to grow, not +without enemies or struggles, but with no enemies that threaten its +safety, nor struggles greater than will strengthen it. The appreciation +and frank acceptance it has met on its first appearance here, the number +of earnest and intelligent adherents it has already found, are more +than its warmest friends hoped for so soon. But in England, while its +appreciating admirers will remain adherents to its principles, it will +pass out of existence as an independent form of Art, and the elements +of good in it will mingle with the Art of the nation, as a leaven +of nonconformity and radicalism, breeding agitations enough to keep +stagnation away and to secure a steady and irresistible progress. Its +truest devotees will remain in principle what they are, losing gradually +the external characteristics of the school as it is now known,--while +the great mass of its disciples, unthinking, impulsive, will sink back +into the ranks of the old school, carrying with them the strength they +have acquired by the severe training of the system, so that the whole of +English Art will be the better for Pre-Raphaelitism. But with Ruskin's +influence ceases the Commonwealth of Art; for Ruskin governs, not +represents, English feeling,--governs with a tyranny as absolute, an +authority as unquestioned, as did Oliver Cromwell. + +Of the men now enlisted in the reform, few are of very great value +individually. Millais will probably be the first important recusant. +He is a man of quick growth, and his day of power is already past; the +reaction will find in him an ally of name, but he has no real greatness. +William Holman Hunt and Dante Rosetti are great imaginative artists, and +will leave their impress on the age. Ford Madox Brown, as a rational, +earnest painter, holds a noble and manly position. But then we have done +with great names. Much seed has sprung up on stony ground; but, having +little soil, when the sun shines, it will die. The slow growth is the +sure one. + + * * * * * + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_History of the Republic of the United States of America, as traced in +the Writings of Alexander Hamilton and his Contemporaries_. By John C. +HAMILTON Vol. I. New York: D. Appleton & Co., Broadway. 1857. + +Comic Histories have never been to our taste. The late Mr. Gilbert à +Beckett, we always thought, might have employed his _vis comica_, or +force of fun, better than in linking ludicrous images and incongruous +associations with the heroes of ancient and modern times. The department +of Comic Biography, we believe, has received few contributions, if any, +from the frolic quills of wicked wags. The cure, however, of this defect +in our literature, if any there be, may be looked upon as begun in the +work whose title stands at the head of this notice. The author, indeed, +had not the settled purpose of the facetious writers we have just +dispraised, of making game of the subject of his book, no more than he +has the wit and cleverness which half redeem their naughtinesses. +The absence of these latter qualities is supplied in his case by +the self-complacent good faith in which he puts forth his monstrous +assumptions and the stolid assurance with which he maintains them. But +the effect of his labors, as of theirs, is to throw an atmosphere of +ludicrous ideas around the memory of a great man, painful to all persons +of good taste and correct feelings. + +Filial piety is a virtue to which much should be forgiven. And the son +of such a father as Alexander Hamilton might well be pardoned for even +an undue estimate of his services, if it were kept within the decent +bounds of moderate exaggeration. But when he undertakes to make his +father the incarnation of the Revolution and of the Republic, and to +concentrate all the glories of that heroic age in him as the nucleus +from which they radiate, he must pardon us, if we think, that, by long +contemplation of the object of his filial admiration, his mental sight +has become morbid and distorted, and sees things which are not to be +seen. Beginning his book with the assumption that Hamilton was the +first to conceive the idea, of "the Union of the People of the United +States,"--an assumption which we can by no means admit, though supported +(as we learn from a foot note) by the opinion of Mr. George Ticknor +Curtis,--the author proceeds "to trace in his life and writings the +history of the origin and, early policy of this GREAT REPUBLIC." Through +the whole volume, "THE REPUBLIC" stands rubric over the left hand page, +and "HAMILTON" over the right, and the identity of the two is sought to +be established from the beginning to the end. Now, deep as is the sense +we entertain of the services of Hamilton to his country, and scarcely +less than filial as is the veneration we have been taught from our +earliest days to feel for his memory, we must pronounce this pretension +to be as absurd and futile in itself as it is unjust and ungenerous to +the other great men of that pregnant period. + +We do not know whether or not Mr. John C. Hamilton is of opinion, that, +had his illustrious father lived and died a trader in the island of +Nevis, the American Revolution would never have taken place, nor the +American Republic been founded; but he plainly considers that the +great contest began to assume its most momentous gravity from the time +Hamilton first entered upon the scene, as an haranguer at popular +meetings in New York, as a writer on the earnest topics of the day, as +a spectator of the broadside fired by the Asia on the Battery, as a +captain of artillery at White Plains, and especially as the aide-de-camp +and secretary of Washington. This part of the history of Hamilton, and +particularly the testimony about his selection by Washington for this +great confidence when scarcely twenty years of age, bears to his eminent +qualities, one would think, honor enough to satisfy the most pious of +sons. But from this moment, according to the innuendoes, if not the +broad assertion of Mr. Hamilton, Washington was chiefly of use to sign +the letters and papers prepared by his military secretary, and to carry +out the plans he had conceived. On the theatre of the world's history, +from this time forth, Washington is to be presented, like Mr. Punch on +the ledge of his show-box, squeaking and jerking as the strings are +pulled from below by the hand of his boy-aide-de-camp. He writes letters +to Congress, to all and singular the American Generals, to the British +Generals, to the Governors of States, and to all whom it may concern, +"over the signature of Washington," (which detestable Americanism Mr. +Hamilton invariably uses,) the whole credit of the correspondence being +coolly passed over to the account of the secretary! That Hamilton did +his duty excellently well there is no question, but it was a purely +ministerial one. He furnished the words and the sentences, but +Washington breathed into them the breath of their life. As well might +the confidential clerk of Mr. John Jacob Astor claim his estate, in +virtue of having written, under the direction of his principal, the +business letters by which it was acquired. If we are not mistaken, this +Mr. Hamilton some time since included Washington's Farewell Address in +the collection of his father's works. Perhaps Mr. Jefferson owes it to +the accidents of time and distance, that the Declaration of Independence +is not reclaimed as another of Hamilton's estrays. We forbear to +characterize this attempt to transfer the credit of the correspondence +of Washington from the heart to the hand, in the terms which we think it +deserves; for we apprehend the mere statement of the case will enable +every right-judging man to form a very competent opinion of it for +himself. + +Though we cannot conscientiously say, judging from this book, that Mr. +Hamilton has inherited the literary skill of his father, it is very +clear that he is the faithful depositary of his political antipathies. +At the earliest possible moment the hereditary rancor against John Adams +bursts forth, and it bubbles up again whenever an opening occurs or can +be made. His patriotism, his temper, his manners, his courage, are +all in turn made the theme of bitter, and of what is meant for strong +denunciation. His journeys from Philadelphia to Braintree, though with +the permission of Congress, are "flights"; his not taking the direct +road, which would bring him in dangerous vicinity to the enemy, is a +proof of cowardice! His free expression of opinion as to the conduct +of the campaign in the Jerseys--made before the seal of success had +certified to its wisdom--was rancorous hostility to Washington, if not +absolute conspiracy against him; and so on to the end of the chapter. +As this volume only brings the history of the Republic, as contained in +that of Hamilton, then in the twenty-second year of his age, to 1779, we +tremble to think of what yet awaits the Second President, as the twain +in one grow together from the gristle into the bone. What we have here +we conceive to be the mere sockets of the gallows of fifty cubits' +height on which this New England Mordecai is to be hanged up as an +example to all malefactors of his class. We make no protest against this +summary procedure, if the Biographer of the Republic think it due to the +memory of his father; but we would submit that he has begun rather early +in the day to bind the victim doomed to deck the _feralia_ of his hero. + +The literary execution of this book is not better than its substantial +merits deserve. The style is generally clumsy, often obscure, and +not unseldom harsh and inflated. Take an instance or two, picked out +absolutely at random.--"The disaffected, who held throughout the contest +the seaboard of the State in abeyance, driven forth, would have felt in +their wanderings there would be no parley with them." p. l27. Again, "It +became the policy of the Americans, while holding the enemy in check, to +draw him into separate detachments, in successive skirmishes to profit +of their superior aim and activity, and of their better knowledge of the +country, and to keep up its confidence by a system of short and gradual +retreats from fastness to fastness,--from river beyond river." p. +l29.--These sentences, taken at hap-hazard from two consecutive leaves, +are not unfair specimens of the literary merits of this intrepid attempt +to convert the history of the nation, at its most critical period, into +a collection of _Mémoires pour servir_ to the biography of General +Hamilton. + +We are very sure that Mr. Hamilton has undertaken a task for which he +has neither the necessary talent nor materials, and which can only end, +as it has begun, in a ridiculous failure. If we could hope that our +words would reach or influence him, we would entreat him to be content +with the proud heritage of fame which his father left to his children, +without seeking to increase it by encroachments on that left behind +them by his great contemporaries. The fame of Hamilton, indeed, is no +peculiar and personal property of his descendants. It belongs to us all, +and neither the malice of his enemies nor the foolish fondness of his +son can separate it from us. Notwithstanding the amusement we could not +help deriving from the perusal of this volume, and sure as we are that +the book must grow more and more diverting, in its way, as it goes on, +we cannot but feel that the entertainment will be dearly purchased +at the cost of even the shadow of just ridicule resting, even for a +moment, on so illustrious and venerable a name as that of ALEXANDER +HAMILTON. + + +_Parthenia: or the Last Days of Paganism_. By ELIZA BUCKMINSTER LEE, +Author of "Naomi," "Life of Jean Paul," "Lives of the Buckminsters," +etc., etc. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1858. 12mo. pp. 420. + +The true gauge of any civilization, whether of a race, a nation, or a +district, is to be found in the character and position of its women. +Slaves, toys, idols, companions, they rise with every ascending grade of +culture until they have won the natural place so long denied them. The +feminine string rings a true octave with the masculine, and makes a +perfect concord, when left to vibrate in its entire length. But the +lower forms of social humanity are constantly shortening it, and so +producing occasional harmonies at the expense of frequent discords. + +We hold such a book as "Parthenia" to have a wide significance to all +who read thoughtfully. It is the work of a thoroughly cultivated woman, +who, in her nobleness of aim, in her generosity of sentiment, in her +purity of thought and style, may be considered a worthy representative +of our best type of educated womanhood. Mrs. Lee's former writings have +made her name honored and cherished in both hemispheres. Thomas Carlyle +said of her "Lives of the Buckminsters," "that it gave an insight into +the real life of the highest natures,"--"that it had given him a much +better account of character in New England than anything he had seen +since Franklin." + +We hail a production like this, so scholarlike and serene, so remote +from the trivialities and vulgarities of ambitious book-makers, with +pleasure and pride. We are thankful--let us add in a whisper--for +a story, with love and woman in it, which does not rustle with +_crinoline_; that most useful of inventions for ladies with limited +outlines, and literary man-milliners with scanty brains; which has +filled more than half the space in our drawing-rooms, and nearly as +large a part of some of our periodicals, since the Goddesses of Grace +and of Dulness united to bestow the precious gift on Beauties and +Boeotians. + +A story deals with human nature and time. All that is truly human is +interesting, however abstractly stated; but it requires the _mordant_ +of specific circumstance, involving some historical period, to make +it stain permanently. Everything that belongs to Time, as his private +property,--everything _temporary_, using that word in its ordinary +sense,--is uninteresting, except so far as it serves to fix the colors +of that humanity which we always love to contemplate. The statuary, +who cares nothing about Time, loves to drop his costuming, trumpery +altogether. The cheap story, written for the day, is dressed in all the +fashionable articles that can be laid upon it, like the revolving lady +in a shop window. The real story, which alone outlives the _modíste's_ +bonnets and shawls, may drape itself as it pleases; for it does not +depend on its _peplos_, or _stola_, on its _stomacher_, or _basque_,--or +_crinoline_, for its effect. + +"Parthenia" is a tale of the fourth century, but it tells the experience +of lofty souls in all centuries. The particular period chosen is one of +the deepest interest,--that of the conflict of expiring Paganism with +growing Christianity, under Julian the Apostate. Julian's character, as +drawn in the story, may be considered as a true historical study. The +"grand _conservative_ of the fourth century," as Mrs. Lee calls him, is +painted as a violent and arbitrary man, but always sincere and noble in +his delusions. He never loses our respect, and we admire as often as +pity him. When people, professing to believe that a few sestertia +invested in papyri and sent to their barbarian neighbors would be sure +to save hundreds or thousands of fellow-creatures from an eternity +of inconceivable agony, do, notwithstanding, expend great sums on +"snow-white mules and golden harness," to carry them to the Basilica, +or on any other selfish gratification whatsoever, we cannot wonder +that Julian, or anybody else, is ready to take up the pleasant "creed +outworn" which Wordsworth half yearns after in his famous sonnet, as +preferable to that base system of psychophagy prevailing in the church +of Antioch. + +Parthenia, the heroine of the story, is drawn with great power and +feeling. She comes before us at first with the classic charms of an +Athenian beauty; she leaves us resplendent with the aureola of a +Christian saint. The change is gradually and naturally wrought; a +Christian maid-servant wins her love and reverence, and her proud and +restless heart finds peace in the simple faith taught by the little +slave, Areta. + +We cannot in this brief notice follow the incidents of the tale, which +will be found full of interest. A remarkably graceful style and a +harmonious arrangement of scenery and incident make the chapters flow on +like a series of gliding pictures. The pleasure afforded by the beauty +of the story will, perhaps, be enough for most readers; but those +who read carefully will perceive that it furnishes matter for deep +reflection to the student of history and of theology. + + +_The Life of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, with Translations of many of his +Poems and Letters_. Also _Memoirs of Savonarola, Raphael, and Victoria +Colonna_. By JOHN S. HARFORD, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., etc., etc. 2 vols. +8vo. London. 1857. + +Autobiographies are not the only memoirs in which there is scope for the +display of vanity. Some men flatter themselves by connecting their names +on a title-page with the name of some great character of the past. +Self-love quickens their admiration of their hero, and admiration for +their hero gratifies their self-love. Mr. Harford belongs to this class +of biographers. The title and the appearance of his volumes excite +expectations which acquaintance with them disappoints. The book is not a +mere harmless piece of literary presumption; it is a positive evil, as +cumbering ground which might be better occupied, and as giving such +authority as it may acquire to false views of Art and to numerous errors +of fact. There was need of a good biography of Michel Angelo, and Mr. +Harford has made a bad one. The defects of the book are both external +and essential. Mr. Harford's mind is of the commonplace order, and +incapable of a true appreciation either of the character or the works +of such a man as Michel Angelo. He has no sympathetic insight into the +depths of human nature. Nor has he the method and power of arrangement, +such as may often be found in otherwise second-rate biographers, which +might enable him to set forth the external facts of a life in such lucid +and intelligible order as to exhibit the force of circumstances and +position in moulding the character. His learning, of which there is a +considerable display, appears on examination shallow and superficial, +and his style of writing is often clumsy, and never elegant. + +Michel Angelo, like all great men of genius, is the reflex and express +image of many of the ruling characteristics and tendencies of his time. +The strongest natures receive the strongest impressions, and the most +marked individuality pervades the character which is yet the clearest +and best defined type of its own age. The decline of religious faith, +the vagueness of the prevailing religious philosophy, and the approach +of the Reformation, are all to be predicated from the "Last Judgment" in +the Sistine Chapel; the impending fall of Art is to be read in the form +of the "Moses" of San Pietro in Vincoli; the luxury and pomp of the +Papal Court and Church are manifest in the architecture of St. Peter's, +whose dome is swollen with earthly pride; the ceiling of the Sistine +Chapel betrays the recoil toward heathenism from the vices and +corruptions that then hung round Christianity; and the Sacristy of San +Lorenzo is the saddest and grandest exhibition that those days afforded +of the infidelity into which the best men were forced. + +Vasari and Condivi are the great providers of facts in relation to +Michel Angelo, and they have left little to be desired in this respect. +The garrulous fondness of Vasari leads him into delightful Boswellian +details, and gives us more than a mere outline narrative. Mr. Harford +has transferred much of Vasari's writing to his own pages, but has +succeeded in translating or mistranslating all vitality out of it. + +Mr. Harford has attempted, by giving sketches of the chief characters of +Florence and of Rome during Michel Angelo's life, to show some of the +personal influences which most affected him. But his bricks all lie +separate; they are not built up with mortar that holds them together. +A superficial account of the Platonic Academy is inserted to show the +effect of the fashionable philosophy of Florence upon the youthful +artist; but it is so done that we learn little more from it than that +the Academy existed, that Michel Angelo was a member of it, and that he +wrote some poems in which some Platonic ideas are expressed. There is no +philosophic analysis of the individual Platonism which is apparent, not +only in his poems, but in some of his paintings,--no exhibition of its +connection with the other portions of his intellectual development. +Michel Angelo's ideas of beauty, of the relation of the arts, of the +connection between Art and Religion, deserve fuller investigation than +they have yet received. His tremendous power has exerted such a control +over sensitive, imaginative, and weak minds, that even his errors have +been accepted as models, and his false ideas as principles of authority. +Mr. Harford's book will do little to assist in the formation of a true +judgment upon these and similar points. + +But we will not confine our notice to assertions; we will exhibit at +least some of the minor faults upon which our assertions are based,--for +it would demand larger space than we could give to enter upon the +illustration of the principal faults of the book. First, then, for +inaccuracies of statement,--which are the less to be excused, as Mr. +Harford had ample opportunity for correctness. For instance, in the +description of the tombs of the Medici, Mr. Harford writes of the famous +figures of Aurora and Twilight, Day and Night: "The four figures that +adorn the tombs are allegorical; and they are specially worthy of +notice, because they first set the example of connecting ornamental +appendages of this description with funereal monuments. Introduced by +so great an authority, this example was quickly followed throughout the +whole of Europe." The carelessness of this assertion is curious. The +custom of connecting allegorical figures with funereal monuments had +prevailed in Italy for a long time before Michel Angelo. Perhaps the +most striking and familiar instance, and one with which Mr. Harford must +have been acquainted, is that afforded by the tombs of the Scaligeri at +Verona, where, on the monument to Can Signorio, of the latter part of +the fourteenth century, appear Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, and other +allegorical figures. + +Again, in speaking of the old basilica of St. Peter's, he speaks of the +unusual _Orientalism_ of this the principal church of Western Europe, +whose entrance is towards the _east_ and the altar to the _west_. Now +this _Orientalism_ is by no means unusual in the churches at Rome. +Indeed, it seems to have been the rule of building for the early +churches,--and Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni Laterano, San +Sebastiano, San Clemente, and innumerable others, exhibit it in their +construction. The priest, officiating at the altar, which stood advanced +into the church, looked toward the east. + +Again, Mr. Harford says, "The pencil of Giotto was employed by Benedict +XII. in the year 1340"; but he does not tell us how the pencil answered +the purpose for which it was employed in a hand other than its master's. +Giotto died in 1336. + +Such are specimens of errors of statement. We can give but a +very few examples of the numerous mistranslations we have +marked,--mistranslations of such a nature as to throw a doubt over the +statements in every portion of the book. In a letter to Luca Martini, +thanking him for a copy of Varchi's commentary on one of his own +sonnets, Michel Angelo says: "Since I perceive by his words and praises +that I am esteemed by the author to be that which I am not, I pray you +to offer such words to him from me as befit such love, affection, and +courtesy." This Mr. Harford translates as follows: "And since I am +almost persuaded by the praises and commendations of its author to +imagine myself to be that which I am not, I must entreat you to convey +to him some expressions from me appropriate to such love, affection, and +courtesy."--Again, writing to Benvenuto Cellini, to express his pleasure +in a portrait bust of his execution, which he had just seen, he says: +"Bindo Altoviti took me to see it--I had great pleasure in it, but it +vexed me much that it was put in a bad light." Mr. Harford renders: +"Bindo Altoviti recently showed me his own portrait, which delighted +me, but he little understood me, for he had placed it in a very bad +light."[A]--Again, in another letter, Michel Angelo says: "Teaching him +that which I know that his father wished he should learn," which Mr. +Harford transforms into, "I will teach him all that I know, and all that +his father wished him to learn." Rather a considerable promise!--In +another letter, Mr. Harford makes Michel Angelo say, "I thank you for +everything you say on the subject, as far as I can foresee the future." +Michel Angelo did say: "For which news I thank you heartily," or, to +translate literally and to show the origin of Mr. Harford's error, "I +thank you as much as I know how I can,"--_quanto so e posso_. + +[Footnote A: Here Mr. Harford shows his ignorance of the common Italian +idiom, _e' mi seppe molto male_,--"it vexed" or "displeased me much." He +tries to render the words literally, and makes nonsense.] + +One would have supposed that a consciousness of an imperfect +acquaintance with the Italian language might at least have deterred +Mr. Harford from attempting poetical translations from it. But he has +notwithstanding rendered many of Michel Angelo's poems into English +verse. Of these poems Wordsworth said, "So much meaning has been put +by Michel Angelo into so little room, and that meaning sometimes so +excellent in itself, that I found the difficulty of translating him +insurmountable. I attempted at least fifteen of the sonnets, but could +not anywhere succeed." How Mr. Harford has succeeded where Wordsworth +failed, we will leave our readers to infer. + +We wish that dissatisfaction with Mr. Harford's volumes might lead some +better qualified person to attempt the biography of Michael Angelo. + + * * * * * + +*** The continuation of the story, "Akin by Marriage," is unavoidably +deferred, owing to the severe illness of the author. It will be resumed +as soon as his health shall permit. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, +February, 1858, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12319 *** |