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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:45 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:45 -0700 |
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diff --git a/12369-0.txt b/12369-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1ee263 --- /dev/null +++ b/12369-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21181 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12369 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 12369-h.htm or 12369-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/6/12369/12369-h/12369-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/6/12369/12369-h.zip) + + + + + +LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE, ANCIENT AND MODERN, VOL. I + +CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER + +EDITOR + +HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE +LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE +GEORGE HENRY WARNER + +ASSOCIATE EDITORS + +Connoisseur Edition + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The plan of this Work is simple, and yet it is novel. In its distinctive +features it differs from any compilation that has yet been made. Its +main purpose is to present to American households a mass of good +reading. But it goes much beyond this. For in selecting this reading it +draws upon all literatures of all time and of every race, and thus +becomes a conspectus of the thought and intellectual evolution of man +from the beginning. Another and scarcely less important purpose is the +interpretation of this literature in essays by scholars and authors +competent to speak with authority. + +The title, "A Library of the World's Best Literature," is strictly +descriptive. It means that what is offered to the reader is taken from +the best authors, and is fairly representative of the best literature +and of all literatures. It may be important historically, or because at +one time it expressed the thought and feeling of a nation, or because it +has the character of universality, or because the readers of to-day will +find it instructive, entertaining, or amusing. The Work aims to suit a +great variety of tastes, and thus to commend itself as a household +companion for any mood and any hour. There is no intention of presenting +merely a mass of historical material, however important it is in its +place, which is commonly of the sort that people recommend others to +read and do not read themselves. It is not a library of reference only, +but a library to be read. The selections do not represent the +partialities and prejudices and cultivation of any one person, or of a +group of editors even; but, under the necessary editorial supervision, +the sober judgment of almost as many minds as have assisted in the +preparation of these volumes. By this method, breadth of appreciation +has been sought. + +The arrangement is not chronological, but alphabetical, under the names +of the authors, and, in some cases, of literatures and special +subjects. Thus, in each volume a certain variety is secured, the +heaviness or sameness of a mass of antique, classical, or mediaeval +material is avoided, and the reader obtains a sense of the varieties and +contrasts of different periods. But the work is not an encyclopaedia, or +merely a dictionary of authors. Comprehensive information as to all +writers of importance may be included in a supplementary reference +volume; but the attempt to quote from all would destroy the Work for +reading purposes, and reduce it to a herbarium of specimens. + +In order to present a view of the entire literary field, and to make +these volumes especially useful to persons who have not access to large +libraries, as well as to treat certain literatures or subjects when the +names of writers are unknown or would have no significance to the +reader, it has been found necessary to make groups of certain +nationalities, periods, and special topics. For instance, if the reader +would like to know something of ancient and remote literatures which +cannot well be treated under the alphabetical list of authors, he will +find special essays by competent scholars on the Accadian-Babylonian +literature, on the Egyptian, the Hindu, the Chinese, the Japanese, the +Icelandic, the Celtic, and others, followed by selections many of which +have been specially translated for this Work. In these literatures names +of ascertained authors are given in the Index. The intention of the +essays is to acquaint the reader with the spirit, purpose, and tendency +of these writings, in order that he may have a comparative view of the +continuity of thought and the value of tradition in the world. Some +subjects, like the Arthurian Legends, the Nibelungen Lied, the Holy +Grail, Provençal Poetry, the Chansons and Romances, and the Gesta +Romanorum, receive a similar treatment. Single poems upon which the +authors' title to fame mainly rests, familiar and dear hymns, and +occasional and modern verse of value, are also grouped together under an +appropriate heading, with reference in the Index whenever the poet +is known. + +It will thus be evident to the reader that the Library is fairly +comprehensive and representative, and that it has an educational value, +while offering constant and varied entertainment. This comprehensive +feature, which gives the Work distinction, is, however, supplemented by +another of scarcely less importance; namely, the critical interpretive +and biographical comments upon the authors and their writings and their +place in literature, not by one mind, or by a small editorial staff, but +by a great number of writers and scholars, specialists and literary +critics, who are able to speak from knowledge and with authority. Thus +the Library becomes in a way representative of the scholarship and wide +judgment of our own time. But the essays have another value. They give +information for the guidance of the reader. If he becomes interested in +any selections here given, and would like a fuller knowledge of the +author's works, he can turn to the essay and find brief observations and +characterizations which will assist him in making his choice of books +from a library. + +The selections are made for household and general reading; in the belief +that the best literature contains enough that is pure and elevating and +at the same time readable, to satisfy any taste that should be +encouraged. Of course selection implies choice and exclusion. It is +hoped that what is given will be generally approved; yet it may well +happen that some readers will miss the names of authors whom they desire +to read. But this Work, like every other, has its necessary limits; and +in a general compilation the classic writings, and those productions +that the world has set its seal on as among the best, must predominate +over contemporary literature that is still on its trial. It should be +said, however, that many writers of present note and popularity are +omitted simply for lack of space. The editors are compelled to keep +constantly in view the wider field. The general purpose is to give only +literature; and where authors are cited who are generally known as +philosophers, theologians, publicists, or scientists, it is because they +have distinct literary quality, or because their influence upon +literature itself has been so profound that the progress of the race +could not be accounted for without them. + +These volumes contain not only or mainly the literature of the past, but +they aim to give, within the limits imposed by such a view, an idea of +contemporary achievement and tendencies in all civilized countries. In +this view of the modern world the literary product of America and Great +Britain occupies the largest space. + +It should be said that the plan of this Work could not have been +carried out without the assistance of specialists in many departments of +learning, and of writers of skill and insight, both in this country and +in Europe. This assistance has been most cordially given, with a full +recognition of the value of the enterprise and of the aid that the +Library may give in encouraging and broadening literary tastes. Perhaps +no better service could be rendered the American public at this period +than the offer of an opportunity for a comprehensive study of the older +and the greater literatures of other nations. By this comparison it can +gain a just view of its own literature, and of its possible mission in +the world of letters. + +Chas. Dudley Warner + + + + +THE ADVISORY COUNCIL + + * * * * * + +CRAWFORD H. TOY, A.M., LL.D., + Professor of Hebrew, + HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. + +THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL.D., L.H.D., + Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of + YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn. + +WILLIAM M. SLOANE, PH.D., L.H.D., + Professor of History and Political Science, + PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, N.J. + +BRANDER MATTHEWS, A.M., LL.B., + Professor of Literature, + COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York City. + +JAMES B. ANGELL, LL.D., + President of the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Mich. + +WILLARD FISKE, A.M., PH.D., + Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages + and Literatures, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, N.Y. + +EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D., + Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer, + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Cal. + +ALCÉE FORTIER, LIT.D., + Professor of the Romance Languages, + TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, La. + +WILLIAM P. TRENT, M.A., + Dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of + English and History, UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH, Sewanee, Tenn. + +PAUL SHOREY, PH.D., + Professor of Greek and Latin Literature, + UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, Chicago, Ill. + +WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL.D., + United States Commissioner of Education, + BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D.C. + +MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, A.M., LL.D., + Professor of Literature in the + CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, Washington, D.C. + + + + +NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +Owing to the many changes in the assignment of topics and engaging of +writers incident to so extended a publication as the Library of the +World's Best Literature, the Editor finds it impossible, before the +completion of the work, adequately to recognize the very great aid which +he has received from a large number of persons. A full list of +contributors will be given in one of the concluding volumes. He will +expressly acknowledge also his debt to those who have assisted him +editorially, or in other special ways, in the preparation of +these volumes. + +Both Editor and Publishers have endeavored to give full credit to every +author quoted, and to accompany every citation with ample notice of +copyright ownership. At the close of the work it is their purpose to +express in a more formal way their sense of obligation to the many +publishers who have so courteously given permission for this use of +their property, and whose rights of ownership it is intended thoroughly +to protect. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + +VOL. I + +/* + LIVED +ABÉLARD AND HÉLOISE (by Thomas Davidson) 1079-1142 + Letter of Héloise to Abélard + Abélard's Answer to Héloise + Vesper Hymn of Abélard + +EDMOND ABOUT 1828-1885 + The Capture ('The King of the Mountains') + Hadgi-Stavros (same) + The Victim ('The Man with the Broken Ear') + The Man without a Country (same) + +ACCADIAN-BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE (by Crawford H. Toy) + Theogony Adapa and the Southwind + Revolt of Tiamat Penitential Psalms + Descent to the Underworld Inscription of Sennacherib + The Flood Invocation to the Goddess Beltis + The Eagle and the Snake Oracles of Ishtar of Arbela + The Flight of Etana An Erechite's Lament + The God Zu + +ABIGAIL ADAMS (by Lucia Gilbert Runkle) 1744-1818 + Letters--To her Husband: May 24, 1775; June 15, 1775; + June 18, 1775; Nov. 27, 1775; April 20, 1777; + June 8, 1779 + To her Sister: Sept. 5, 1784; May 10, 1785; + July 24, 1784; June 24, 1785 + To her Niece + +HENRY ADAMS 1838- + Auspices of the War of 1812 + What the War of 1812 Demonstrated + Battle between the Constitution and the Guerrière + +JOHN ADAMS 1735-1826 + At the French Court ('Diary') + Character of Franklin (Letter to the Boston Patriot) + +JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 1767-1848 + Letter to his Father, at the Age of Ten + From the Memoirs, at the Age of Eighteen + From the Memoirs, Jan. 14, 1831; June 7, 1833; Sept. 9, 1833 + The Mission of America (Fourth of July Oration, 1821) + The Right of Petition (Speech in Congress) + Nullification (Fourth of July Oration, 1831) + +SARAH FLOWER ADAMS 1805-1848 + He Sendeth Sun, He Sendeth Shower + Nearer, My God, to Thee + +JOSEPH ADDISON (by Hamilton Wright Mabie) 1672-1720 + Sir Roger de Coverley at Vanity of Human Life + the Play Essay on Fans + Visit to Sir Roger de Coverley Hymn, 'The Spacious Firmament' + +AELIANUS CLAUDIUS Second Century + Of Certain Notable Men that made themselves Playfellowes + with Children + Of a Certaine Sicilian whose Eyesight was Woonderfull + Sharpe and Quick + The Lawe of the Lacedaemonians against Covetousness + That Sleep is the Brother of Death, and of Gorgias drawing + to his End + Of the Voluntary and Willing Death of Calanus + Of Delicate Dinners, Sumptuous Suppers, and Prodigall + Banqueting + Of Bestowing Time, and how Walking Up and Downe + was not Allowable among the Lacedaemonians + How Socrates Suppressed the Pryde and Hautinesse of + Alcibiades + Of Certaine Wastgoodes and Spendthriftes + +AESCHINES B.C. 389-314 + A Defense and an Attack ('Oration against Ctesiphon') + +AESCHYLUS (by John Williams White) B.C. 525-456 + Complaint of Prometheus ('Prometheus') + Prayer to Artemis ('The Suppliants') + Defiance of Eteocles ('The Seven against Thebes') + Vision of Cassandra ('Agamemnon') + Lament of the Old Nurse ('The Libation-Pourers') + Decree of Athena ('The Eumenides') + +AESOP (by Harry Thurston Peck) Seventh Century B.C. + The Fox and the Lion The Belly and the Members + The Ass in the Lion's Skin The Satyr and the Traveler + The Ass Eating Thistles The Lion and the other Beasts + The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing The Ass and the Little Dog + The Countryman and the Snake The Country Mouse and the + The Dog and the Wolf City Mouse + + +JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ 1807-1873 + The Silurian Beach ('Geological Sketches') + Voices ('Methods of Study in Natural History') + Formation of Coral Reefs (same) + +AGATHIAS A.D. 536-581 + Apostrophe to Plutarch + +GRACE AGUILAR 1816-1847 + Greatness of Friendship ('Woman's Friendship') + Order of Knighthood ('The Days of Bruce') + Culprit and Judge ('Home Influence') + +WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH 1805-1882 + Students of Paris ('Crichton') + +MARK AKENSIDE 1721-1770 + From the Epistle to Curio + Aspirations after the Infinite ('Pleasures of the Imagination') + On a Sermon against Glory + +PEDRO ANTONIO DE ALARCÓN 1833-1891 + A Woman Viewed from Without ('The Three-Cornered Hat') + How the Orphan Manuel gained his Sobriquet ('The Child of the + Ball') + +ALCAEUS Sixth Century B.C. + The Palace + A Banquet Song + An Invitation + The Storm + The Poor Fisherman + The State + Poverty + +BALTÁZAR DE ALCÁZAR 1530?-1606 + Sleep + The Jovial Supper + +ALCIPHRON (by Harry Thurston Peck) Second Century + From a Mercenary Girl--Petala to Simalion + Pleasures of Athens--Euthydicus to Epiphanio + From an Anxious Mother--Phyllis to Thrasonides + From a Curious Youth--Philocomus to Thestylus + From a Professional Diner-out--Capnosphrantes to Aristomachus + Unlucky Luck--Chytrolictes to Patellocharon + +ALCMAN Seventh Century B.C. + Poem on Night + +LOUISA MAY ALCOTT 1832-1888 + The Night Ward ('Hospital Sketches') + Amy's Valley of Humiliation ('Little Women') + Thoreau's Flute (Atlantic Monthly) + Song from the Suds ('Little Women') + +ALCUIN (by William H. Carpenter) 735?-804 + On the Saints of the Church at York ('Alcuin and the Rise of the + Christian Schools') + Disputation between Pepin, the Most Noble and Royal Youth, and + Albinus the Scholastic + A Letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne + +HENRY M. ALDEN 1836- + A Dedication--To My Beloved Wife ('A Study of Death') + The Dove and the Serpent (same) + Death and Sleep (same) + The Parable of the Prodigal (same) + +THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 1837- + Destiny + Identity + Prescience + Alec Yeaton's Son + Memory + Tennyson (1890) + Sweetheart, Sigh No More + Broken Music + Elmwood + Sea Longings + A Shadow of the Night + Outward Bound + Reminiscence + Père Antoine's Date-Palm + Miss Mehetabel's Son + +ALEARDO ALEARDI 1812-1878 + Cowards ('The Primal Histories') + The Harvesters ('Monte Circello') + The Death of the Year ('An Hour of My Youth') + +JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT 1717-1783 + Montesquieu (Eulogy in the 'Encyclopédie') + +VITTORIO ALFIERI (by L. Oscar Kuhns) 1749-1803 + Scenes from 'Agamemnon' + +ALFONSO THE WISE 1221-1284 + What Meaneth a Tyrant, and How he Useth his Power ('Las Siete + Partidas') + On the Turks, and Why they are So Called ('La Gran Conquista de + Ultramar') + To the Month of Mary ('Cantigas') + +ALFRED THE GREAT 849-901 + King Alfred on King-Craft + Alfred's Preface to the Version of Pope Gregory's 'Pastoral Care' + From Boethius + Blossom Gatherings from St. Augustine + +CHARLES GRANT ALLEN 1848- + The Coloration of Flowers ('The Colors of Flowers') + Among the Heather ('The Evolutionist at Large') + The Heron's Haunt ('Vignettes from Nature') + +JAMES LANE ALLEN 1850- + A Courtship ('A Summer in Arcady') + Old King Solomon's Coronation ('Flute and Violin') + +WILLIAM ALLINGHAM 1828-1889 + The Ruined Chapel + The Winter Pear + O Spirit of the Summer-time + The Bubble + St. Margaret's Eve + The Fairies + Robin Redbreast + An Evening + Daffodil + Lovely Mary Donnelly + +KARL JONAS LUDVIG ALMQUIST 1793-1866 + Characteristics of Cattle + A New Undine (from 'The Book of the Rose') + God's War + +JOHANNA AMBROSIUS 1854- + A Peasant's Thoughts + Struggle and Peace + Do Thou Love, Too! + Invitation + +EDMONDO DE AMICIS 1846- + The Light ('Constantinople') + Resemblances (same) + Birds (same) + Cordova ('Spain') + The Land of Pluck ('Holland and Its People') + The Dutch Masters ('Holland and Its People') + +HENRI FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL (by Richard Burton) 1821-1881 + Extracts from Amiel's Journal: + Christ's Real Message + Duty + Joubert + Greeks vs. Moderns + Nature, and Teutonic and Scandinavian Poetry + Training of Children + Mozart and Beethoven + + + + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + + +VOLUME I. + + +The Book of the Dead (Colored Plate). +First English Printing (Fac-simile). +Assyrian Clay Tablet (Fac-simile). +John Adams (Portrait). +John Quincy Adams (Portrait). +Joseph Addison (Portrait). +Louis Agassiz (Portrait). +"Poetry" (Photogravure). +Vittorio Alfieri (Portrait). +"A Courtship" (Photogravure). +"A Dutch Girl" (Photogravure). + + +VIGNETTE PORTRAITS + +Pierre Abélard. +Edmond About. +Abigail Adams. +Aeschines. +Aeschylus. +Aesop. +Grace Aguilar. +William Harrison Ainsworth. +Mark Akenside. +Alcaeus. +Louisa May Alcott. +Thomas Bailey Aldrich. +Jean le Rond D'Alembert. +Edmondo de Amicis. + + + + _Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a + potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was + whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial + the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect + that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously + productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown + up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet on + the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill + a man as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable + creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills + reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. + Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is + the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and + treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life._ + + _JOHN MILTON._ + + + +_CAXTON_. + +Reduced facsimile of the first page of the only copy extant of + +GODEFREY OF BOLOYNE + +_or_ + +LAST SIEGE AND CONQUESTE OF JHERUSALEM. + +The Prologue, at top of page, begins: + +Here begynneth the boke Intituled Eracles, and also Godefrey of Boloyne, +the whiche speketh of the Conquest of the holy lande of Jherusalem. + +Printed by Caxton, London, 1481. In the British Museum. + +A good specimen page of the earliest English printing. Caxton's first +printed book, and the first book printed in English, was "The Game and +Play of the Chess," which was printed in 1474. The blank space on this +page was for the insertion by hand of an illuminated initial T. + + + + +ABÉLARD + + +(1079--1142) + +BY THOMAS DAVIDSON + +Pierre, the eldest son of Bérenger and Lucie (Abélard?) was born at +Palais, near Nantes and the frontier of Brittany, in 1079. His knightly +father, having in his youth been a student, was anxious to give his +family, and especially his favorite Pierre, a liberal education. The boy +was accordingly sent to school, under a teacher who at that time was +making his mark in the world,--Roscellin, the reputed father of +Nominalism. As the whole import and tragedy of his life may be traced +back to this man's teaching, and the relation which it bore to the +thought of the time, we must pause to consider these. + +[Illustration: Abélard] + +In the early centuries of our era, the two fundamental articles of the +Gentile-Christian creed, the Trinity and the Incarnation, neither of +them Jewish, were formulated in terms of Platonic philosophy, of which +the distinctive tenet is, that the real and eternal is the universal, +not the individual. On this assumption it was possible to say that the +same real substance could exist in three, or indeed in any number of +persons. In the case of God, the dogma-builders were careful to say, +essence is one with existence, and therefore in Him the individuals are +as real as the universal. Platonism, having lent the formula for the +Trinity, became the favorite philosophy of many of the Church fathers, +and so introduced into Christian thought and life the Platonic dualism, +that sharp distinction between the temporal and the eternal which +belittles the practical life and glorifies the contemplative. + +This distinction, as aggravated by Neo-Platonism, further affected +Eastern Christianity in the sixth century, and Western Christianity in +the ninth, chiefly through the writings of (the pseudo-) Dionysius +Areopagita, and gave rise to Christian mysticism. It was then erected +into a rule of conduct through the efforts of Pope Gregory VII., who +strove to subject practical and civil life entirely to the control of +ecclesiastics and monks, standing for contemplative, supernatural life. +The latter included all purely mental work, which more and more tended +to concentrate itself upon religion and confine itself to the clergy. In +this way it came to be considered an utter disgrace for any man engaged +in mental work to take any part in the institutions of civil life, and +particularly to marry. He might indeed enter into illicit relations, and +rear a family of "nephews" and "nieces," without losing prestige; but to +marry was to commit suicide. Such was the condition of things in the +days of Abélard. + +But while Platonism, with its real universals, was celebrating its +ascetic, unearthly triumphs in the West, Aristotelianism, which +maintains that the individual is the real, was making its way in the +East. Banished as heresy beyond the limits of the Catholic Church, in +the fifth and sixth centuries, in the persons of Nestorius and others, +it took refuge in Syria, where it flourished for many years in the +schools of Edessa and Nisibis, the foremost of the time. From these it +found its way among the Arabs, and even to the illiterate Muhammad, who +gave it (1) theoretic theological expression in the cxii. surah of the +Koran: "He is One God, God the Eternal; He neither begets nor is +begotten; and to Him there is no peer," in which both the fundamental +dogmas of Christianity are denied, and that too on the ground of +revelation; (2) practical expression, by forbidding asceticism and +monasticism, and encouraging a robust, though somewhat coarse, natural +life. Islam, indeed, was an attempt to rehabilitate the human. + +In Abélard's time Arab Aristotelianism, with its consequences for +thought and life, was filtering into Europe and forcing Christian +thinkers to defend the bases of their faith. Since these, so far as +defensible at all, depended upon the Platonic doctrine of universals, +and this could be maintained only by dialectic, this science became +extremely popular,--indeed, almost the rage. Little of the real +Aristotle was at that time known in the West; but in Porphyry's +Introduction to Aristotle's Logic was a famous passage, in which all the +difficulties with regard to universals were stated without being solved. +Over this the intellectual battles of the first age of Scholasticism +were fought. The more clerical and mystic thinkers, like Anselm and +Bernard, of course sided with Plato; but the more worldly, robust +thinkers inclined to accept Aristotle, not seeing that his doctrine is +fatal to the Trinity. + +Prominent among these was a Breton, Roscellin, the early instructor of +Abélard. From him the brilliant, fearless boy learnt two terrible +lessons: (1) that universals, instead of being real substances, external +and superior to individual things, are mere names (hence Nominalism) for +common qualities of things as recognized by the human mind; (2) that +since universals are the tools and criteria of thought, the human mind, +in which alone these exist, is the judge of all truth,--a lesson which +leads directly to pure rationalism, and indeed to the rehabilitation of +the human as against the superhuman. No wonder that Roscellin came into +conflict with the church authorities, and had to flee to England. +Abélard afterwards modified his nominalism and behaved somewhat +unhandsomely to him, but never escaped from the influence of his +teaching. Abélard was a rationalist and an asserter of the human. +Accordingly, when, definitely adopting the vocation of the scholar, he +went to Paris to study dialectic under the then famous William of +Champeaux, a declared Platonist, or realist as the designation then was, +he gave his teacher infinite trouble by his subtle objections, and not +seldom got the better of him. + +These victories, which made him disliked both by his teacher and his +fellow-pupils, went to increase his natural self-appreciation, and +induced him, though a mere youth, to leave William and set up a rival +school at Mélun. Here his splendid personality, his confidence, and his +brilliant powers of reasoning and statement, drew to him a large number +of admiring pupils, so that he was soon induced to move his school to +Corbeil, near Paris, where his impetuous dialectic found a wider field. +Here he worked so hard that he fell ill, and was compelled to return +home to his family. With them he remained for several years, devoting +himself to study,--not only of dialectic, but plainly also of theology. +Returning to Paris, he went to study rhetoric under his old enemy, +William of Champeaux, who had meanwhile, to increase his prestige, taken +holy orders, and had been made bishop of Châlons. The old feud was +renewed, and Abélard, being now better armed than before, compelled his +master openly to withdraw from his extreme realistic position with +regard to universals, and assume one more nearly approaching that of +Aristotle. + +This victory greatly diminished the fame of William, and increased that +of Abélard; so that when the former left his chair and appointed a +successor, the latter gave way to Abélard and became his pupil (1113). +This was too much for William, who removed his successor, and so forced +Abélard to retire again to Mélun. Here he remained but a short time; +for, William having on account of unpopularity removed his school from +Paris Abélard returned thither and opened a school outside the city, on +Mont Ste. Généviève. William, hearing this, returned to Paris and tried +to put him down, but in vain. Abélard was completely victorious. + +After a time he returned once more to Palais, to see his mother, who was +about to enter the cloister, as his father had done some time before. +When this visit was over, instead of returning to Paris to lecture on +dialectic, he went to Laon to study theology under the then famous +Anselm. Here, convinced of the showy superficiality of Anselm, he once +more got into difficulty, by undertaking to expound a chapter of Ezekiel +without having studied it under any teacher. Though at first derided by +his fellow-students, he succeeded so well as to draw a crowd of them to +hear him, and so excited the envy of Anselm that the latter forbade him +to teach in Laon. Abélard accordingly returned once more to Paris, +convinced that he was fit to shine as a lecturer, not only on dialectic, +but also on theology. And his audiences thought so also; for his +lectures on Ezekiel were very popular and drew crowds. He was now at the +height of his fame (1118). + +The result of all these triumphs over dialecticians and theologians was +unfortunate. He not only felt himself the intellectual superior of any +living man, which he probably was, but he also began to look down upon +the current thought of his time as obsolete and unworthy, and to set at +naught even current opinion. He was now on the verge of forty, and his +life had so far been one of spotless purity; but now, under the +influence of vanity, this too gave way. Having no further conquests to +make in the intellectual world, he began to consider whether, with his +great personal beauty, manly bearing, and confident address, he might +not make conquests in the social world, and arrived at the conclusion +that no woman could reject him or refuse him her favor. + +It was just at this unfortunate juncture that he went to live in the +house of a certain Canon Fulbert, of the cathedral, whose brilliant +niece, Héloïse, had at the age of seventeen just returned from a convent +at Argenteuil, where she had been at school. Fulbert, who was proud of +her talents, and glad to get the price of Abélard's board, took the +latter into his house and intrusted him with the full care of Héloïse's +further education, telling him even to chastise her if necessary. So +complete was Fulbert's confidence in Abélard, that no restriction was +put upon the companionship of teacher and pupil. The result was that +Abélard and Héloïse, both equally inexperienced in matters of the heart, +soon conceived for each other an overwhelming passion, comparable only +to that of Faust and Gretchen. And the result in both cases was the +same. Abélard, as a great scholar, could not think of marriage; and if +he had, Héloïse would have refused to ruin his career by marrying him. +So it came to pass that when their secret, never very carefully guarded, +became no longer a secret, and threatened the safety of Héloïse, the +only thing that her lover could do for her was to carry her off secretly +to his home in Palais, and place her in charge of his sister. Here she +remained until the birth of her child, which received the name of +Astralabius, Abélard meanwhile continuing his work in Paris. And here +all the nobility of his character comes out. Though Fulbert and his +friends were, naturally enough, furious at what they regarded as his +utter treachery, and though they tried to murder him, he protected +himself, and as soon as Héloïse was fit to travel, hastened to Palais, +and insisted upon removing her to Paris and making her his lawful wife. +Héloïse used every argument which her fertile mind could suggest to +dissuade him from a step which she felt must be his ruin, at the same +time expressing her entire willingness to stand in a less honored +relation to him. But Abélard was inexorable. Taking her to Paris, he +procured the consent of her relatives to the marriage (which they agreed +to keep secret), and even their presence at the ceremony, which was +performed one morning before daybreak, after the two had spent a night +of vigils in the church. + +After the marriage, they parted and for some time saw little of each +other. When Héloïse's relatives divulged the secret, and she was taxed +with being Abélard's lawful wife, she "anathematized and swore that it +was absolutely false." As the facts were too patent, however, Abélard +removed her from Paris, and placed her in the convent at Argenteuil, +where she had been educated. Here she assumed the garb of a novice. Her +relatives, thinking that he must have done this in order to rid himself +of her, furiously vowed vengeance, which they took in the meanest and +most brutal form of personal violence. It was not a time of fine +sensibilities, justice, or mercy; but even the public of those days was +horrified, and gave expression to its horror. Abélard, overwhelmed with +shame, despair, and remorse, could now think of nothing better than to +abandon the world. Without any vocation, as he well knew, he assumed the +monkish habit and retired to the monastery of St. Denis, while Héloïse, +by his order, took the veil at Argenteuil. Her devotion and heroism on +this occasion Abélard has described in touching terms. Thus +supernaturalism had done its worst for these two strong, impetuous +human souls. + +If Abélard had entered the cloister in the hope of finding peace, he +soon discovered his mistake. The dissolute life of the monks utterly +disgusted him, while the clergy stormed him with petitions to continue +his lectures. Yielding to these, he was soon again surrounded by crowds +of students--so great that the monks at St. Denis were glad to get rid +of him. He accordingly retired to a lonely cell, to which he was +followed by more admirers than could find shelter or food. As the +schools of Paris were thereby emptied, his rivals did everything in +their power to put a stop to his teaching, declaring that as a monk he +ought not to teach profane science, nor as a layman in theology sacred +science. In order to legitimatize his claim to teach the latter, he now +wrote a theological treatise, regarding which he says:-- + + "It so happened that I first endeavored to illuminate the + basis of our faith by similitudes drawn from human reason, + and to compose for our students a treatise on 'The Divine + Unity and Trinity,' because they kept asking for human and + philosophic reasons, and demanding rather what could be + understood than what could be said, declaring that the mere + utterance of words was useless unless followed by + understanding; that nothing could be believed that was not + first understood, and that it was ridiculous for any one to + preach what neither he nor those he taught could comprehend, + God himself calling such people blind leaders of the blind." + +Here we have Abélard's central position, exactly the opposite to that of +his realist contemporary, Anselm of Canterbury, whose principle was +"Credo ut intelligam" (I believe, that I may understand). We must not +suppose, however, that Abélard, with his rationalism, dreamed of +undermining Christian dogma. Very far from it! He believed it to be +rational, and thought he could prove it so. No wonder that the book gave +offense, in an age when faith and ecstasy were placed above reason. +Indeed, his rivals could have wished for nothing better than this book, +which gave them a weapon to use against him. Led on by two old enemies, +Alberich and Lotulf, they caused an ecclesiastical council to be called +at Soissons, to pass judgment upon the book (1121). This judgment was a +foregone conclusion, the trial being the merest farce, in which the +pursuers were the judges, the Papal legate allowing his better reason to +be overruled by their passion. Abélard was condemned to burn his book in +public, and to read the Athanasian Creed as his confession of faith +(which he did in tears), and then to be confined permanently in the +monastery of St. Médard as a dangerous heretic. + +His enemies seemed to have triumphed and to have silenced him forever. +Soon after, however, the Papal legate, ashamed of the part he had taken +in the transaction, restored him to liberty and allowed him to return to +his own monastery at St. Denis. Here once more his rationalistic, +critical spirit brought him into trouble with the bigoted, licentious +monks. Having maintained, on the authority of Beda, that Dionysius, the +patron saint of the monastery, was bishop of Corinth and not of Athens, +he raised such a storm that he was forced to flee, and took refuge on a +neighboring estate, whose proprietor, Count Thibauld, was friendly to +him. Here he was cordially received by the monks of Troyes, and allowed +to occupy a retreat belonging to them. + +After some time, and with great difficulty, he obtained leave from the +abbot of St. Denis to live where he chose, on condition of not joining +any other order. Being now practically a free man, he retired to a +lonely spot near Nogent-sur-Seine, on the banks of the Ardusson. There, +having received a gift of a piece of land, he established himself along +with a friendly cleric, building a small oratory of clay and reeds to +the Holy Trinity. No sooner, however, was his place of retreat known +than he was followed into the wilderness by hosts of students of all +ranks, who lived in tents, slept on the ground, and underwent every kind +of hardship, in order to listen to him (1123). These supplied his wants, +and built a chapel, which he dedicated to the "Paraclete,"--a name at +which his enemies, furious over his success, were greatly scandalized, +but which ever after designated the whole establishment. + +So incessant and unrelenting were the persecutions he suffered from +those enemies, and so deep his indignation at their baseness, that for +some time he seriously thought of escaping beyond the bounds of +Christendom, and seeking refuge among the Muslim. But just then (1125) +he was offered an important position, the abbotship of the monastery of +St. Gildas-de-Rhuys, in Lower Brittany, on the lonely, inhospitable +shore of the Atlantic. Eager for rest and a position promising +influence, Abélard accepted the offer and left the Paraclete, not +knowing what he was doing. + +His position at St. Gildas was little less than slow martyrdom. The +country was wild, the inhabitants were half barbarous, speaking a +language unintelligible to him; the monks were violent, unruly, and +dissolute, openly living with concubines; the lands of the monastery +were subjected to intolerable burdens by the neighboring lord, leaving +the monks in poverty and discontent. Instead of finding a home of +God-fearing men, eager for enlightenment, he found a nest of greed and +corruption. His attempts to introduce discipline, or even decency, among +his "sons," only stirred up rebellion and placed his life in danger. +Many times he was menaced with the sword, many times with poison. In +spite of all that, he clung to his office, and labored to do his duty. +Meanwhile the jealous abbot of St. Denis succeeded in establishing a +claim to the lands of the convent at Argenteuil,--of which Héloïse, long +since famous not only for learning but also for saintliness, was now the +head,--and she and her nuns were violently evicted and cast on the +world. Hearing of this with indignation, Abélard at once offered the +homeless sisters the deserted Paraclete and all its belongings. The +offer was thankfully accepted, and Héloïse with her family removed there +to spend the remainder of her life. It does not appear that Abélard and +Héloïse ever saw each other at this time, although he used every means +in his power to provide for her safety and comfort. This was in 1129. +Two years later the Paraclete was confirmed to Héloïse by a Papal bull. +It remained a convent, and a famous one, for over six hundred years. + +After this Abélard paid several visits to the convent, which he justly +regarded as his foundation, in order to arrange a rule of life for its +inmates, and to encourage them in their vocation. Although on these +occasions he saw nothing of Héloïse, he did not escape the malignant +suspicions of the world, nor of his own flock, which now became more +unruly than ever,--so much so that he was compelled to live outside the +monastery. Excommunication was tried in vain, and even the efforts of a +Papal legate failed to restore order. For Abélard there was nothing but +"fear within and conflict without." It was at this time, about 1132, +that he wrote his famous 'Historia Calamitatum,' from which most of the +above account of his life has been taken. In 1134, after nine years of +painful struggle, he definitely left St. Gildas, without, however, +resigning the abbotship. For the next two years he seems to have led a +retired life, revising his old works and composing new ones. + +Meanwhile, by some chance, his 'History of Calamities' fell into the +hands of Héloïse at the Paraclete, was devoured with breathless +interest, and rekindled the flame that seemed to have smoldered in her +bosom for thirteen long years. Overcome with compassion for her husband, +for such he really was, she at once wrote to him a letter which reveals +the first healthy human heart-beat that had found expression in +Christendom for a thousand years. Thus began a correspondence which, for +genuine tragic pathos and human interest, has no equal in the world's +literature. In Abélard, the scholarly monk has completely replaced the +man; in Héloïse, the saintly nun is but a veil assumed in loving +obedience to him, to conceal the deep-hearted, faithful, devoted +flesh-and-blood woman. And such a woman! It may well be doubted if, for +all that constitutes genuine womanhood, she ever had an equal. If there +is salvation in love, Héloïse is in the heaven of heavens. She does not +try to express her love in poems, as Mrs. Browning did; but her simple, +straightforward expression of a love that would share Francesca's fate +with her lover, rather than go to heaven without him, yields, and has +yielded, matter for a hundred poems. She looks forward to no salvation; +for her chief love is for him. _Domino specialiter, sua singulariter_: +"As a member of the species woman I am the Lord's, as Héloïse I am +yours"--nominalism with a vengeance! + +But to return to Abélard. Permanent quiet in obscurity was plainly +impossible for him; and so in 1136 we find him back at Ste. Généviève, +lecturing to crowds of enthusiastic students. He probably thought that +during the long years of his exile, the envy and hatred of his enemies +had died out; but he soon discovered that he was greatly mistaken. He +was too marked a character, and the tendency of his thought too +dangerous, for that. Besides, he emptied the schools of his rivals, and +adopted no conciliatory tone toward them. The natural result followed. +In the year 1140, his enemies, headed by St. Bernard, who had long +regarded him with suspicion, raised a cry of heresy against him, as +subjecting everything to reason. Bernard, who was nothing if not a +fanatic, and who managed to give vent to all his passions by placing +them in the service of his God, at once denounced him to the Pope, to +cardinals, and to bishops, in passionate letters, full of rhetoric, +demanding his condemnation as a perverter of the bases of the faith. + +At that time a great ecclesiastical council was about to assemble at +Sens; and Abélard, feeling certain that his writings contained nothing +which he could not show to be strictly orthodox, demanded that he should +be allowed to explain and dialectically defend his position, in open +dispute, before it. But this was above all things what his enemies +dreaded. They felt that nothing was safe before his brilliant dialectic. +Bernard even refused to enter the lists with him; and preferred to draw +up a list of his heresies, in the form of sentences sundered from their +context in his works,--some of them, indeed, from works which he never +wrote,--and to call upon the council to condemn them. (These theses may +be found in Denzinger's 'Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum,' pp. +109 _seq._) Abélard, clearly understanding the scheme, feeling its +unfairness, and knowing the effect of Bernard's lachrymose pulpit +rhetoric upon sympathetic ecclesiastics who believed in his power to +work miracles, appeared before the council, only to appeal from its +authority to Rome. The council, though somewhat disconcerted by this, +proceeded to condemn the disputed theses, and sent a notice of its +action to the Pope. Fearing that Abélard, who had friends in Rome, might +proceed thither and obtain a reversal of the verdict, Bernard set every +agency at work to obtain a confirmation of it before his victim could +reach the Eternal City. And he succeeded. + +The result was for a time kept secret from Abélard, who, now over sixty +years old, set out on his painful journey. Stopping on his way at the +famous, hospitable Abbey of Cluny, he was most kindly entertained by its +noble abbot, who well deserved the name of Peter the Venerable. Here, +apparently, he learned that he had been condemned and excommunicated; +for he went no further. Peter offered the weary man an asylum in his +house, which was gladly accepted; and Abélard, at last convinced of the +vanity of all worldly ambition, settled down to a life of humiliation, +meditation, study, and prayer. Soon afterward Bernard made advances +toward reconciliation, which Abélard accepted; whereupon his +excommunication was removed. Then the once proud Abélard, shattered in +body and broken in spirit, had nothing more to do but to prepare for +another life. And the end was not far off. He died at St. Marcel, on the +21st of April, 1142, at the age of sixty-three. His generous host, in a +letter to Héloïse, gives a touching account of his closing days, which +were mostly spent in a retreat provided for him on the banks of the +Saône. There he read, wrote, dictated, and prayed, in the only quiet +days which his life ever knew. + +The body of Abélard was placed in a monolith coffin and buried in the +chapel of the monastery of St. Marcel; but Peter the Venerable +twenty-two years afterward allowed it to be secretly removed, and +carried to the Paraclete, where Abélard had wished to lie. When Héloïse, +world-famous for learning, virtue, and saintliness, passed away, and her +body was laid beside his, he opened his arms and clasped her in close +embrace. So says the legend, and who would not believe it? The united +remains of the immortal lovers, after many vicissitudes, found at last +(let us hope), in 1817, a permanent resting place, in the Parisian +cemetery of Père Lachaise, having been placed together in Abélard's +monolith coffin. "In death they were not divided." + +Abélard's character may be summed up in a few words. He was one of the +most brilliant and variously gifted men that ever lived, a sincere lover +of truth and champion of freedom. But unfortunately, his extraordinary +personal beauty and charm of manner made him the object of so much +attention and adulation that he soon became unable to live without +seeing himself mirrored in the admiration and love of others. Hence his +restlessness, irritability, craving for publicity, fondness for +dialectic triumph, and inability to live in fruitful obscurity; hence, +too, his intrigue with Héloïse, his continual struggles and +disappointments, his final humiliation and tragic end. Not having +conquered the world, he cannot claim the crown of the martyr. + +Abélard's works were collected by Cousin, and published in three 4to +volumes (Paris, 1836, 1849, 1859). They include, besides the +correspondence with Héloïse, and a number of sermons, hymns, answers to +questions, etc., written for her, the following:--(1) 'Sic et Non,' a +collection of (often contradictory) statements of the Fathers concerning +the chief dogmas of religion, (2) 'Dialectic,' (3) 'On Genera and +Species,' (4) Glosses to Porphyry's 'Introduction,' Aristotle's +'Categories and Interpretation,' and Boethius's 'Topics,' (5) +'Introduction to Theology,' (6) 'Christian Theology,' (7) 'Commentary on +the Epistle to the Romans,' (9) 'Abstract of Christian Theology,' (10) +'Ethics, or Know Thyself,' (11) 'Dialogue between a Philosopher, a Jew, +and a Christian,' (12) 'On the Intellects,' (12) 'On the Hexameron,' +with a few short and unimportant fragments and tracts. None of Abélard's +numerous poems in the vernacular, in which he celebrated his love for +Héloïse, which he sang ravishingly (for he was a famous singer), and +which at once became widely popular, seem to have come down to us; but +we have a somewhat lengthy poem, of considerable merit (though of +doubtful authenticity), addressed to his son Astralabius, who grew to +manhood, became a cleric, and died, it seems, as abbot of Hauterive in +Switzerland, in 1162. + +Of Abélard's philosophy, little need be added to what has been already +said. It is, on the whole, the philosophy of the Middle Age, with this +difference: that he insists upon making theology rational, and thus may +truly be called the founder of modern rationalism, and the initiator of +the struggle against the tyrannic authority of blind faith. To have been +so is his crowning merit, and is one that can hardly be overestimated. +At the same time it must be borne in mind that he was a loyal son of the +Church, and never dreamed of opposing or undermining her. His greatest +originality is in 'Ethics,' in which, by placing the essence of morality +in the intent and not in the action, he anticipated Kant and much modern +speculation. Here he did admirable work. Abélard founded no school, +strictly speaking; nevertheless, he determined the method and aim of +Scholasticism, and exercised a boundless influence, which is not dead. +Descartes and Kant are his children. Among his immediate disciples were +a pope, twenty-nine cardinals, and more than fifty bishops. His two +greatest pupils were Peter the Lombard, bishop of Paris, and author of +the 'Sentences,' the theological text-book of the schools for hundreds +of years; and Arnold of Brescia, one of the noblest champions of human +liberty, though condemned and banished by the second Council of +the Lateran. + +The best biography of Abélard is that by Charles de Rémusat (2 vols., +8vo, Paris, 1845). See also, in English, Wight's 'Abelard and Eloise' +(New York, 1853). + +Thomas Davidson + + * * * * * + +HÉLOÏSE TO ABÉLARD + +A letter of yours sent to a friend, best beloved, to console him in +affliction, was lately, almost by a chance, put into my hands. Seeing +the superscription, guess how eagerly I seized it! I had lost the +reality; I hoped to draw some comfort from this faint image of you. But +alas!--for I well remember--every line was written with gall +and wormwood. + +How you retold our sorrowful history, and dwelt on your incessant +afflictions! Well did you fulfill that promise to your friend, that, in +comparison with your own, his misfortunes should seem but as trifles. +You recalled the persecutions of your masters, the cruelty of my uncle, +and the fierce hostility of your fellow-pupils, Albericus of Rheims, and +Lotulphus of Lombardy--how through their plottings that glorious book +your Theology was burned, and you confined and disgraced--you went on to +the machinations of the Abbot of St. Denys and of your false brethren of +the convent, and the calumnies of those wretches, Norbert and Bernard, +who envy and hate you. It was even, you say, imputed to you as an +offense to have given the name of Paraclete, contrary to the common +practice, to the Oratory you had founded. + +The persecutions of that cruel tyrant of St. Gildas, and of those +execrable monks,--monks out of greed only, whom notwithstanding you call +your children,--which still harass you, close the miserable history. +Nobody could read or hear these things and not be moved to tears. What +then must they mean to me? + +We all despair of your life, and our trembling hearts dread to hear the +tidings of your murder. For Christ's sake, who has thus far protected +you,--write to us, as to His handmaids and yours, every circumstance of +your present dangers. I and my sisters alone remain of all who were your +friends. Let us be sharers of your joys and sorrows. Sympathy brings +some relief, and a load laid on many shoulders is lighter. And write the +more surely, if your letters may be messengers of joy. Whatever message +they bring, at least they will show that you remember us. You can write +to comfort your friend: while you soothe his wounds, you inflame mine. +Heal, I pray you, those you yourself have made, you who bustle about to +cure those for which you are not responsible. You cultivate a vineyard +you did not plant, which grows nothing. Give heed to what you owe your +own. You who spend so much on the obstinate, consider what you owe the +obedient. You who lavish pains on your enemies, reflect on what you owe +your daughters. And, counting nothing else, think how you are bound to +me! What you owe to all devoted women, pay to her who is most devoted. + +You know better than I how many treatises the holy fathers of the Church +have written for our instruction; how they have labored to inform, to +advise, and to console us. Is my ignorance to suggest knowledge to the +learned Abélard? Long ago, indeed, your neglect astonished me. Neither +religion, nor love of me, nor the example of the holy fathers, moved you +to try to fix my struggling soul. Never, even when long grief had worn +me down, did you come to see me, or send me one line of comfort,--me, to +whom you were bound by marriage, and who clasp you about with a +measureless love! And for the sake of this love have I no right to even +a thought of yours? + +You well know, dearest, how much I lost in losing you, and that the +manner of it put me to double torture. You only can comfort me. By you I +was wounded, and by you I must be healed. And it is only you on whom the +debt rests. I have obeyed the last tittle of your commands; and if you +bade me, I would sacrifice my soul. + +To please you my love gave up the only thing in the universe it +valued--the hope of your presence--and that forever. The instant I +received your commands I quitted the habit of the world, and denied all +the wishes of my nature. I meant to give up, for your sake, whatever I +had once a right to call my own. + +God knows it was always you, and you only that I thought of. I looked +for no dowry, no alliance of marriage. And if the name of wife is holier +and more exalted, the name of friend always remained sweeter to me, or +if you would not be angry, a meaner title; since the more I gave up, the +less should I injure your present renown, and the more deserve +your love. + +Nor had you yourself forgotten this in that letter which I recall. You +are ready enough to set forth some of the reasons which I used to you, +to persuade you not to fetter your freedom, but you pass over most of +the pleas I made to withhold you from our ill-fated wedlock. I call God +to witness that if Augustus, ruler of the world, should think me worthy +the honor of marriage, and settle the whole globe on me to rule forever, +it would seem dearer and prouder to me to be called your mistress than +his empress. + +Not because a man is rich or powerful is he better: riches and power may +come from luck, constancy is from virtue. _I_ hold that woman base who +weds a rich man rather than a poor one, and takes a husband for her own +gain. Whoever marries with such a motive--why, she will follow his +prosperity rather than the man, and be willing to sell herself to a +richer suitor. + +That happiness which others imagine, best beloved, I experienced. Other +women might think their husbands perfect, and be happy in the idea, but +I knew that you were so and the universe knew the same. What +philosopher, what king, could rival your fame? What village, city, +kingdom, was not on fire to see you? When you appeared in public, who +did not run to behold you? Wives and maidens alike recognized your +beauty and grace. Queens envied Héloïse her Abélard. + +Two gifts you had to lead captive the proudest soul, your voice that +made all your teaching a delight, and your singing, which was like no +other. Do you forget those tender songs you wrote for me, which all the +world caught up and sang,--but not like you,--those songs that kept your +name ever floating in the air, and made me known through many lands, the +envy and the scorn of women? + +What gifts of mind, what gifts of person glorified you! Oh, my loss! Who +would change places with me now! + +And _you_ know, Abelard, that though I am the great cause of your +misfortunes, I am most innocent. For a consequence is no part of a +crime. Justice weighs not the thing done, but the intention. And how +pure was my intention toward you, you alone can judge. Judge me! I +will submit. + +But how happens it, tell me, that since my profession of the life which +you alone determined, I have been so neglected and so forgotten that you +will neither see me nor write to me? Make me understand it, if you can, +or I must tell you what everybody says: that it was not a pure love like +mine that held your heart, and that your coarser feeling vanished with +absence and ill-report. Would that to me alone this seemed so, best +beloved, and not to all the world! Would that I could hear others excuse +you, or devise excuses myself! + +The things I ask ought to seem very small and easy to you. While I +starve for you, do, now and then, by words, bring back your presence to +me! How can you be generous in deeds if you are so avaricious in words? +I have done everything for your sake. It was not religion that dragged +me, a young girl, so fond of life, so ardent, to the harshness of the +convent, but only your command. If I deserve nothing from you, how vain +is my labor! God will not recompense me, for whose love I have +done nothing. + +When you resolved to take the vows, I followed,--rather, I ran before. +You had the image of Lot's wife before your eyes; you feared I might +look back, and therefore you deeded _me_ to God by the sacred vestments +and irrevocable vows before you took them yourself. For this, I own, I +grieved, bitterly ashamed that I could depend on you so little, when I +would lead or follow you straight to perdition. For my soul is always +with you and no longer mine own. And if it is not with you in these last +wretched years, it is nowhere. Do receive it kindly. Oh, if only you had +returned favor for favor, even a little for the much, words for things! +Would, beloved, that your affection would not take my tenderness and +obedience always for granted; that it might be more anxious! But just +because I have poured out all I have and am, you give me nothing. +Remember, oh, remember how much you owe! + +There was a time when people doubted whether I had given you all my +heart, asking nothing. But the end shows how I began. I have denied +myself a life which promised at least peace and work in the world, only +to obey your hard exactions. I have kept back nothing for myself, except +the comfort of pleasing you. How hard and cruel are you then, when I ask +so little and that little is so easy for you to give! + +In the name of God, to whom you are dedicate, send me some lines of +consolation. Help me to learn obedience! When you wooed me because +earthly love was beautiful, you sent me letter after letter. With your +divine singing every street and house echoed my name! How much more +ought you now to persuade to God her whom then you turned from Him! Heed +what I ask; think what you owe. I have written a long letter, but the +ending shall be short. Farewell, darling! + + +ABÉLARD'S ANSWER TO HÉLOÏSE + + _To Héloïse, his best beloved Sister in Christ, + Abélard, her Brother in Him:_ + +If, since we resigned the world I have not written to you, it was +because of the high opinion I have ever entertained of your wisdom and +prudence. How could I think that she stood in need of help on whom +Heaven had showered its best gifts? You were able, I knew, by example as +by word, to instruct the ignorant, to comfort the timid, to kindle +the lukewarm. + +When prioress of Argenteuil, you practiced all these duties; and if you +give the same attention to your daughters that you then gave to your +sisters, it is enough. All my exhortations would be needless. But if, in +your humility, you think otherwise, and if my words can avail you +anything, tell me on what subjects you would have me write, and as God +shall direct me I will instruct you. I thank God that the constant +dangers to which I am exposed rouse your sympathies. Thus I may hope, +under the divine protection of your prayers, to see Satan bruised +under my feet. + +Therefore I hasten to send you the form of prayer you beseech of +me--you, my sister, once dear to me in the world, but now far dearer in +Christ. Offer to God a constant sacrifice of prayer. Urge him to pardon +our great and manifold sins, and to avert the dangers which threaten me. +We know how powerful before God and his saints are the prayers of the +faithful, but chiefly of faithful women for their friends, and of wives +for their husbands. The Apostle admonishes us to pray without +ceasing.... But I will not insist on the supplications of your +sisterhood, day and night devoted to the service of their Maker; to you +only do I turn. I well know how powerful your intercession may be. I +pray you, exert it in this my need. In your prayers, then, ever remember +him who, in a special sense, is yours. Urge your entreaties, for it is +just that you should be heard. An equitable judge cannot refuse it. + +In former days, you remember, best beloved, how fervently you +recommended me to the care of Providence. Often in the day you uttered a +special petition. Removed now from the Paraclete, and surrounded by +perils, how much greater my need! Convince me of the sincerity of your +regard, I entreat, I implore you. + +[The Prayer:] "O God, who by Thy servant didst here assemble Thy +handmaids in Thy Holy Name, grant, we beseech Thee, that he be protected +from all adversity, and be restored safe to us, Thy handmaids." + +If Heaven permit my enemies to destroy me, or if I perish by accident, +see that my body is conveyed to the Paraclete. There, my daughters, or +rather my sisters in Christ, seeing my tomb, will not cease to implore +Heaven for me. No resting-place is so safe for the grieving soul, +forsaken in the wilderness of its sins, none so full of hope as that +which is dedicated to the Paraclete--that is, the Comforter. + +Where could a Christian find a more peaceful grave than in the society +of holy women, consecrated by God? They, as the Gospel tells us, would +not leave their divine Master; they embalmed His body with precious +spices; they followed Him to the tomb, and there they held their vigil. +In return, it was to them that the angel of the resurrection appeared +for their consolation. + +Finally, let me entreat you that the solicitude you now too strongly +feel for my life you will extend to the repose of my soul. Carry into my +grave the love you showed me when alive; that is, never forget to pray +Heaven for me. + +Long life, farewell! Long life, farewell, to your sisters also! Remember +me, but let it be in Christ! + +Translated for the 'World's Best Literature.' + + + THE VESPER HYMN OF ABÉLARD + + Oh, what shall be, oh, when shall be that holy Sabbath day, + Which heavenly care shall ever keep and celebrate alway, + When rest is found for weary limbs, when labor hath reward, + When everything forevermore is joyful in the Lord? + + The true Jerusalem above, the holy town, is there, + Whose duties are so full of joy, whose joy so free from care; + Where disappointment cometh not to check the longing heart, + And where the heart, in ecstasy, hath gained her better part. + + O glorious King, O happy state, O palace of the blest! + O sacred place and holy joy, and perfect, heavenly rest! + To thee aspire thy citizens in glory's bright array, + And what they feel and what they know they strive in vain to say. + + For while we wait and long for home, it shall be ours to raise + Our songs and chants and vows and prayers in that dear country's + praise; + And from these Babylonian streams to lift our weary eyes, + And view the city that we love descending from the skies. + + There, there, secure from every ill, in freedom we shall sing + The songs of Zion, hindered here by days of suffering, + And unto Thee, our gracious Lord, our praises shall confess + That all our sorrow hath been good, and Thou by pain canst bless. + + There Sabbath day to Sabbath day sheds on a ceaseless light, + Eternal pleasure of the saints who keep that Sabbath bright; + Nor shall the chant ineffable decline, nor ever cease, + Which we with all the angels sing in that sweet realm of peace. + + Translation of Dr. Samuel W. Duffield. + + + + +EDMOND ABOUT + +(1828-1885) + + +Early in the reign of Louis Napoleon, a serial story called 'Tolla,' a +vivid study of social life in Rome, delighted the readers of the Revue +des Deux Mondes. When published in book form in 1855 it drew a storm of +opprobrium upon its young author, who was accused of offering as his own +creation a translation of the Italian work 'Vittoria Savorelli.' This +charge, undoubtedly unjust, he indignantly refuted. It served at least +to make his name well known. Another book, 'La Question Romaine,' a +brilliant if somewhat superficial argument against the temporal power of +pope and priests, was a philosophic employment of the same material. +Appearing in 1860, about the epoch of the French invasion of Austrian +Italy, its tone agreed with popular sentiment and it was +favorably received. + +[Illustration: EDMOND ABOUT] + +Edmond François Valentin About had a freakish, evasive, many-sided +personality, a nature drawn in too many directions to achieve in any one +of these the success his talents warranted. He was born in Dreuze, and +like most French boys of literary ambition, soon found his way to Paris, +where he studied at the Lycée Charlemagne. Here he won the honor prize; +and in 1851 was sent to Athens to study archaeology at the École +Française. He loved change and out-of-the-way experiences, and two +studies resulted from this trip: 'La Grèce Contemporaine,' a book of +charming philosophic description; and the delightful story 'Le Roi des +Montagnes' (The King of the Mountains). This tale of the long-limbed +German student, enveloped in the smoke from his porcelain pipe as he +recounts a series of impossible adventures,--those of himself and two +Englishwomen, captured for ransom by Hadgi Stavros, brigand king in the +Grecian mountains,--is especially characteristic of About in the +humorous atmosphere of every situation. + +About wrote stories so easily and well that his early desertion of +fiction is surprising. His mocking spirit has often suggested comparison +with Voltaire, whom he studied and admired. He too is a skeptic and an +idol-breaker; but his is a kindlier irony, a less incisive philosophy. +Perhaps, however, this influence led to lack of faith in his own work, +to his loss of an ideal, which Zola thinks the real secret of his +sudden change from novelist to journalist. Voltaire taught him to scoff +and disbelieve, to demand "à quoi bon?" and that took the heart out of +him. He was rather fond of exposing abuses, a habit that appears in +those witty letters to the Gaulois which in 1878 obliged him to suspend +that journal. His was a positive mind, interested in political affairs, +and with something always ready to say upon them. In 1872 he founded a +radical newspaper, Le XIXme Siècle (The Nineteenth Century), in +association with another aggressive spirit, that of Francisque Sarcey. +For many years he proved his ability as editor, business man, and +keen polemist. + +He tried drama, too, inevitable ambition of young French authors; but +after the failure of 'Guillery' at the Théâtre Française and 'Gaétena' +at the Odéon, renounced the theatre. Indeed, his power is in odd +conceptions, in the covert laugh and humorous suggestion of the +phrasing, rather than in plot or characterization. He will always be +best known for the tales and novels in that thoroughly French +style--clear, concise, and witty--which in 1878 elected him president of +the Société des Gens de Lettres, and in 1884 won him a seat in +the Academy. + +About wrote a number of novels, most of them as well known in +translation to English and American readers as to his French audience. +The bright stories originally published in the Moniteur, afterward +collected with the title 'Les Mariages de Paris' had a conspicuous +success, and were followed by a companion volume, 'Les Mariages de +Province.' 'L'Homme à l'Oreille Cassée' (The Man with the Broken +Ear)--the story of a mummy resuscitated to a world of new conditions +after many years of apparent death--shows his freakish delight in +oddity. So does 'Le Nez du Notaire' (The Notary's Nose), a gruesome tale +of the tribulations of a handsome society man, whose nose is struck off +in a duel by a revengeful Turk. The victim buys a bit of living skin +from a poor water-carrier, and obtains a new nose by successful +grafting. But he can nevermore get rid of the uncongenial Aquarius, who +exercises occult influence over the skin with which he has parted. When +he drinks too much, the Notary's nose is red; when he starves, it +dwindles away; when he loses the arm from which the graft was made, the +important feature drops off altogether, and the sufferer must needs buy +a silver one. About's latest novel, 'Le Roman d'un Brave Homme' (The +Story of an Honest Man), is in quite another vein, a charming picture of +bourgeois virtue in revolutionary days. 'Madelon' and 'La Vielle Roche' +(The Old School) are also popular. + +French critics have not found much to say of this non-evolutionist of +letters, who is neither pure realist nor pure romanticist, and who has +no new theory of art. Some, indeed, may have scorned him for the wise +taste which refuses to tread the debatable ground common to French +fiction. But the reading public has received him with less conscious +analysis, and has delighted in him. If he sees only what any clever man +may see, and is no profound psychologist, yet he tells what he sees and +what he imagines with delightful spirit and delightful wit, and tinges +the fabric of his fancy with the ever-changing colors of his own +versatile personality, fanciful suggestions, homely realism, and bright +antithesis. Above all, he has the great gift of the story-teller. + + + + +THE CAPTURE + +From 'The King of the Mountains' + + +"ST! ST!" + +I raised my eyes. Two thickets of mastic-trees and arbutus enclosed the +road on the right and left. From each tuft of trees protruded three or +four musket-barrels. A voice cried out in Greek, "Seat yourselves on the +ground!" This operation was the more easy to me, as my legs gave way +under me. But I consoled myself by thinking that Ajax, Agamemnon, and +the fiery Achilles, if they had found themselves in the same situation, +would not have refused the seat that was offered. + +The musket-barrels were leveled upon us. It seemed to me that they +stretched out immeasurably, and that their muzzles were about to join +above our heads. It was not that fear disturbed my vision; but I had +never remarked so sensibly the desperate length of the Greek muskets! +The whole arsenal soon debouched into the road, and every barrel showed +its stock and its master. + +The only difference which exists between devils and brigands is, that +devils are less black than they are said to be, and brigands more dirty +than people suppose. The eight bullies, who packed themselves in a +circle around us, were so filthy in appearance that I should have wished +to give them my money with a pair of tongs. You might guess, with a +little effort, that their caps had been red; but lye-wash itself could +not have restored the original color of their clothes. All the rocks of +the kingdom had stained their cotton shirts, and their vests preserved a +sample of the different soils on which they had reposed. Their hands, +their faces, and even their moustachios were of a reddish-gray, like the +soil which supports them. Every animal is colored according to its abode +and its habits: the foxes of Greenland are of the color of snow; lions, +of the desert; partridges, of the furrow; Greek brigands, of +the highway. + +The chief of the little troop which had made us prisoners was +distinguished by no outward mark. Perhaps, however, his face, his hands, +and his clothes were richer in dust than those of his comrades. He +leaned toward us from the height of his tall figure, and examined us so +closely that I felt the grazing of his moustachios. You would have +pronounced him a tiger, who smells of his prey before tasting it. When +his curiosity was satisfied, he said to Dimitri, "Empty your pockets!" + +Dimitri did not give him cause to repeat the order: he threw down before +him a knife, a tobacco-pouch, and three Mexican dollars, which compose a +sum of about sixteen francs. + +"Is that all?" demanded the brigand. + +"Yes, brother." + +"You are the servant?" + +"Yes, brother." + +"Take back one dollar. You must not return to the city without money." + +Dimitri haggled. "You could well allow me two," said he: "I have two +horses below; they are hired from the riding-school; I shall have to pay +for the day." + +"You will explain to Zimmerman that we have taken your money from you." + +"And if he wishes to be paid, notwithstanding?" + +"Answer that he is lucky enough to see his horses again." + +"He knows very well that you do not take horses. What would you do with +them in the mountains?" + +"Enough! What is this big raw-boned animal next you?" + +I answered for myself: "An honest German, whose spoils will not enrich +you." + +"You speak Greek well. Empty your pockets." + +I deposited on the road a score of francs, my tobacco, my pipe, and my +handkerchief. + +"What is that?" asked the grand inquisitor. + +"A handkerchief." + +"For what purpose?" + +"To wipe my nose." + +"Why did you tell me that you were poor? It is only milords who wipe +their noses with handkerchiefs. Take off the box which you have behind +your back. Good! Open it!" + +My box contained some plants, a book, a knife, a little package of +arsenic, a gourd nearly empty, and the remnants of my breakfast, which +kindled a look of covetousness in the eyes of Mrs. Simons. I had the +assurance to offer them to her before my baggage changed masters. She +accepted greedily, and began to devour the bread and meat. To my great +astonishment, this act of gluttony scandalized our robbers, who murmured +among themselves the word "Schismatic:" The monk made half a dozen signs +of the cross, according to the rite of the Greek Church. + +"You must have a watch," said the brigand: "put it with the rest." + +I gave up my silver watch, a hereditary toy of the weight of four +ounces. The villains passed it from hand to hand, and thought it very +beautiful. I was in hopes that admiration, which makes men better, would +dispose them to restore me something, and I begged their chief to let me +have my tin box. He imposed silence upon me roughly. "At least," said I, +"give me back two crowns for my return to the city!" He answered with a +sardonic smile, "You will not have need of them." + +The turn of Mrs. Simons had come. Before putting her hand in her pocket, +she warned our conquerors in the language of her fathers. The English is +one of those rare idioms which one can speak with a mouth full. "Reflect +well on what you are going to do," said she, in a menacing tone. "I am +an Englishwoman, and English subjects are inviolable in all the +countries of the world. What you will take from me will serve you +little, and will cost you dear. England will avenge me, and you will all +be hanged, to say the least. Now if you wish my money, you have only to +speak; but it will burn your fingers: it is English money!" + +"What does she say?" asked the spokesman of the brigands. + +Dimitri answered, "She says that she is English." + +"So much the better! All the English are rich. Tell her to do as you +have done." + +The poor lady emptied on the sand a purse, which contained twelve +sovereigns. As her watch was not in sight, and as they made no show of +searching us, she kept it. The clemency of the conquerors left her her +pocket-handkerchief. + +Mary Ann threw down her watch, with a whole bunch of charms against the +evil eye. She cast before her, by a movement full of mute grace, a +shagreen bag, which she carried in her belt. The brigand opened it with +the eagerness of a custom-house officer. He drew from it a little +English dressing-case, a vial of English salts, a box of pastilles of +English mint, and a hundred and some odd francs in English money. + +"Now," said the impatient beauty, "you can let us go: we have nothing +more for you." They indicated to her, by a menacing gesture, that the +session was not ended. The chief of the band squatted down before our +spoils, called "the good old man," counted the money in his presence, +and delivered to him the sum of forty-five francs. Mrs. Simons nudged me +on the elbow. "You see," said she, "the monk and Dimitri have betrayed +us: he is dividing the spoils with them." + +"No, madam," replied I, immediately. "Dimitri has received a mere +pittance from that which they had stolen from him. It is a thing which +is done everywhere. On the banks of the Rhine, when a traveler is ruined +at roulette, the conductor of the game gives him something wherewith to +return home." + +"But the monk?" + +"He has received a tenth part of the booty in virtue of an immemorial +custom. Do not reproach him, but rather be thankful to him for having +wished to save us, when his convent was interested in our capture." + +This discussion was interrupted by the farewells of Dimitri. They had +just set him at liberty. + +"Wait for me," said I to him: "we will return together." He shook his +head sadly, and answered me in English, so as to be understood by the +ladies:-- "You are prisoners for some days, and you will not see Athens +again before paying a ransom. I am going to inform the milord. Have +these ladies any messages to give me for him?" + +"Tell him," cried Mrs. Simons, "to run to the embassy, to go then to the +Piraeus and find the admiral, to complain at the foreign office, to +write to Lord Palmerston! They shall take us away from here by force of +arms, or by public authority, but I do not intend that they shall +disburse a penny for my liberty." + +"As for me," replied I, without so much passion, "I beg you to tell my +friends in what hands you have left me. If some hundreds of drachms are +necessary to ransom a poor devil of a naturalist, they will find them +without trouble. These gentlemen of the highway cannot rate me very +high. I have a mind, while you are still here, to ask them what I am +worth at the lowest price." + +"It would be useless, my dear Mr. Hermann! It is not they who fix the +figures of your ransom." + +"And who then?" + +"Their chief, Hadgi-Stavros." + + + + +HADGI-STAVROS + +From 'The King of the Mountains' + + +The camp of the King was a plateau, covering a surface of seven or eight +hundred metres. I looked in vain for the tents of our conquerors. The +brigands are not sybarites, and they sleep under the open sky on the +30th of April. I saw neither spoils heaped up nor treasures displayed, +nor any of those things which one expects to find at the headquarters of +a band of robbers. Hadgi-Stavros makes it his business to have the booty +sold; every man receives his pay in money, and employs it as he chooses. +Some make investments in commerce, others take mortgages on houses in +Athens, others buy land in their villages; no one squanders the products +of robbery. Our arrival interrupted the breakfast of twenty-five or +thirty men, who flocked around us with their bread and cheese. The chief +supports his soldiers; there is distributed to them every day one ration +of bread, oil, wine, cheese, caviare, allspice, bitter olives, and meat +when their religion permits it. The epicures who wish to eat mallows or +other herbs are at liberty to gather delicacies in the mountains. + +The office of the King was as much like an office as the camp of the +robbers was like a camp. Neither tables nor chairs nor movables of any +sort were to be seen there. Hadgi-Stavros was seated cross-legged on a +square carpet in the shade of a fir-tree. Four secretaries and two +servants were grouped around him. A boy of sixteen or eighteen was +occupied incessantly in filling, lighting, and cleaning the chibouk of +his master. He carried in his belt a tobacco-pouch, embroidered with +gold and fine mother-of-pearl, and a pair of silver pincers intended for +taking up coals. Another servant passed the day in preparing cups of +coffee, glasses of water, and sweetmeats to refresh the royal mouth. The +secretaries, seated on the bare rock, wrote on their knees, with pens +made of reeds. Each of them had at hand a long copper box containing +reeds, penknife, and inkhorn. Some tin cylinders, like those in which +our soldiers roll up their discharges, served as a depository for the +archives. The paper was not of native manufacture, and for a good +reason, Every leaf bore the word BATH in capital letters. + +The King was a fine old man, marvelously well preserved, straight, slim, +supple as a spring, spruce and shining as a new sabre. His long white +moustachios hung under his chin like two marble stalactites. The rest of +his face was carefully shaved, the skull bare even to the occiput, where +a long tress of white hair was rolled up under his hat. The expression +of his features appeared to me calm and thoughtful. A pair of small, +clear blue eyes and a square chin announced an indomitable will. His +face was long, and the position of the wrinkles lengthened it still +more. All the creases of the forehead were broken in the middle, and +seemed to direct themselves toward the meeting of the eyebrows; two wide +and deep furrows descended perpendicularly to the corners of the lips, +as if the weight of the moustachios had drawn in the muscles of +the face. + +I have seen a good many septuagenarians; I have even dissected one who +would have reached a hundred years, if the diligence of Osnabrück had +not passed over his body: but I do not remember to have observed a more +green and robust old age than that of Hadgi-Stavros. He wore the dress +of Tino and of all the islands of the Archipelago. His red cap formed a +large crease at its base around his forehead. He had a vest of black +cloth, faced with black silk, immense blue pantaloons which contained +more than twenty metres of cotton cloth, and great boots of Russia +leather, elastic and stout. The only rich thing in his costume was a +scarf embroidered with gold and precious stones, which might be worth +two or three thousand francs. It inclosed in its folds an embroidered +cashmere purse, a Damascus sanjar in a silver sheath, a long pistol +mounted in gold and rubies, and the appropriate baton. + +Quietly seated in the midst of his employees, Hadgi-Stavros moved only +the ends of his fingers and his lips; the lips to dictate his +correspondence, the fingers to count the beads in his chaplet. It was +one of those beautiful chaplets of milky amber which do not serve to +number prayers, but to amuse the solemn idleness of the Turk. + +He raised his head at our approach, guessed at a glance the occurrence +which had brought us there, and said to us, with a gravity which had in +it nothing ironical, "You are welcome! Be seated." + +"Sir," cried Mrs. Simons, "I am an Englishwoman, and--" He interrupted +the discourse by making his tongue smack against the teeth of his upper +jaw--superb teeth, indeed! "Presently," said he: "I am occupied." He +understood only Greek, and Mrs. Simons knew only English; but the +physiognomy of the King was so speaking that the good lady comprehended +easily without the aid of an interpreter. + +Selections from 'The King of the Mountains' used by permission of J.E. +Tilton and Company. + + + + +THE VICTIM + +From 'The Man with the Broken Ear': by permission of Henry Holt, the +Translator. + + +Léon took his bunch of keys and opened the long oak box on which he had +been seated. The lid being raised, they saw a great leaden casket which +inclosed a magnificent walnut box carefully polished on the outside, +lined on the inside with white silk, and padded. + +The others brought their lamps and candles near, and the colonel of the +Twenty-third of the line appeared as if he were in a chapel illuminated +for his lying in state. + +One would have said that the man was asleep. The perfect preservation of +the body attested the paternal care of the murderer. It was truly a +remarkable preparation, and would have borne comparison with the finest +European mummies described by Vicq d'Azyr in 1779, and by the younger +Puymaurin in 1787. The part best preserved, as is always the case, was +the face. All the features had maintained a proud and manly expression. +If any old friend of the colonel had been at the opening of the third +box, he would have recognized him at first sight. Undoubtedly the point +of the nose was a little sharper, the nostrils less expanded and +thinner, and the bridge a little more marked, than in the year 1813. The +eyelids were thinned, the lips pinched, the corners of the mouth drawn +down, the cheek bones too prominent, and the neck visibly shrunken, +which exaggerated the prominence of the chin and larynx. But the eyelids +were closed without contraction, and the sockets much less hollow than +one could have expected; the mouth was not at all distorted, like the +mouth of a corpse; the skin was slightly wrinkled, but had not changed +color,--it had only become a little more transparent, showing after a +fashion the color of the tendons, the fat, and the muscles, wherever it +rested directly upon them. It also had a rosy tint which is not +ordinarily seen in embalmed corpses. Dr. Martout explained this anomaly +by saying that if the colonel had actually been dried alive, the +globules of the blood were not decomposed, but simply collected in the +capillary vessels of the skin and subjacent tissues, where they still +preserved their proper color, and could be seen more easily than +otherwise on account of the semi-transparency of the skin. + +The uniform had become much too large, as may be readily understood, +though it did not seem at a casual glance that the members had become +deformed. The hands were dry and angular, but the nails, although a +little bent inward toward the root, had preserved all their freshness. +The only very noticeable change was the excessive depression of the +abdominal walls, which seemed crowded downward to the posterior side; at +the right, a slight elevation indicated the place of the liver. A tap of +the finger on the various parts of the body produced a sound like that +from dry leather. While Léon was pointing out these details to his +audience and doing the honors of his mummy, he awkwardly broke off the +lower part of the right ear, and a little piece of the colonel remained +in his hand. This trifling accident might have passed unnoticed had not +Clémentine, who followed with visible emotion all the movements of her +lover, dropped her candle and uttered a cry of affright. All gathered +around her. Léon took her in his arms and carried her to a chair. M. +Renault ran after salts. She was as pale as death, and seemed on the +point of fainting. She soon recovered, however, and reassured them all +by a charming smile. + +"Pardon me," she said, "for such a ridiculous exhibition of terror; but +what Monsieur Léon was saying to us--and then--that figure which seemed +sleeping--it appeared to me that the poor man was going to open his +mouth and cry out, when he was injured." + +Léon hastened to close the walnut box, while M. Martout picked up the +piece of ear and put it in his pocket. But Clémentine, while continuing +to smile and make apologies, was overcome by a fresh access of emotion +and melted into tears. The engineer threw himself at her feet, poured +forth excuses and tender phrases, and did all he could to console her +inexplicable grief. + +Clémentine dried her eyes, looked prettier than ever, and sighed fit to +break her heart, without knowing why. + +"Beast that I am!" muttered Léon, tearing his hair. "On the day when I +see her again after three years' absence, I can think of nothing more +soul-inspiring than showing her mummies!" He launched a kick at the +triple coffin of the colonel, saying, "I wish the devil had the +confounded colonel!" + +"No!" cried Clémentine, with redoubled energy and emotion. "Do not curse +him, Monsieur Léon! He has suffered so much! Ah! poor, poor, +unfortunate man!" + +Mlle. Sambucco felt a little ashamed. She made excuses for her niece, +and declared that never, since her tenderest childhood, had she +manifested such extreme sensitiveness ... Clémentine was no sensitive +plant. She was not even a romantic school-girl. Her youth had not been +nourished by Anne Radcliffe, she did not trouble herself about ghosts, +and she would go through the house very tranquilly at ten o'clock at +night without a candle. When her mother died, some months before Léon's +departure, she did not wish to have any one share with her the sad +satisfaction of watching and praying in the death chamber. + +"This will teach us," said the aunt, "what staying up after ten o'clock +does. What! it is midnight, within a quarter of an hour! Come, my child; +you will recover fast enough after you get to bed." + +Clémentine arose submissively; but at the moment of leaving the +laboratory she retraced her steps, and with a caprice more inexplicable +than her grief, she absolutely demanded to see the mummy of the colonel +again. Her aunt scolded in vain; in spite of the remarks of Mlle. +Sambucco and all the others present, she reopened the walnut box, knelt +down beside the mummy, and kissed it on the forehead. + +"Poor man!" said she, rising. "How cold he is! Monsieur Léon, promise me +that if he is dead you will have him laid in consecrated ground!" + +"As you please, mademoiselle. I intended to send him to the +anthropological museum, with my father's permission; but you know that +we can refuse you nothing." + +Selections from 'The Man with the Broken Ear' used by permission of +Henry Holt and Company. + + + + +THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY + +From 'The Man with the Broken Ear': by permission of Henry Holt, the +Translator. + + +Forthwith the colonel marched and opened the windows with a +precipitation which upset the gazers among the crowd. + +"People," said he, "I have knocked down a hundred beggarly pandours, who +respect neither sex nor infirmity. For the benefit of those who are not +satisfied, I will state that I call myself Colonel Fougas of the +Twenty-third. And _Vive l'Empéreur!_" + +A confused mixture of plaudits, cries, laughs, and jeers answered this +unprecedented allocution. Léon Renault hastened out to make apologies to +all to whom they were due. He invited a few friends to dine the same +evening with the terrible colonel, and of course he did not forget to +send a special messenger to Clémentine. Fougas, after speaking to the +people, returned to his hosts, swinging himself along with a swaggering +air, set himself astride a chair, took hold of the ends of his mustache, +and said:-- + +"Well! Come, let's talk this over. I've been sick, then?" + +"Very sick." + +"That's incredible! I feel entirely well; I'm hungry; and moreover, +while waiting for dinner I'll try a glass of your schnick." + +Mme. Renault went out, gave an order, and returned in an instant. + +"But tell me, then, where I am?" resumed the colonel. "By these +paraphernalia of work, I recognize a disciple of Urania; possibly a +friend of Monge and Berthollet. But the cordial friendliness impressed +on your countenances proves to me that you are not natives of this land +of sauerkraut. Yes, I believe it from the beatings of my heart. Friends, +we have the same fatherland. The kindness of your reception, even were +there no other indications, would have satisfied me that you are French. +What accidents have brought you so far from our native soil? Children of +my country, what tempest has thrown you upon this inhospitable shore?" + +"My dear colonel," replied M. Nibor, "if you want to become very wise, +you will not ask so many questions at once. Allow us the pleasure of +instructing you quietly and in order, for you have a great many things +to learn." + +The colonel flushed with anger, and answered sharply:-- + +"At all events, you are not the man to teach them to me, my little +gentleman!" + +A drop of blood which fell on his hand changed the current of his +thoughts. + +"Hold on!" said he: "am I bleeding?" + +"That will amount to nothing: circulation is re-established, and--and +your broken ear--" + +He quickly carried his hand to his ear, and said:-- + +"It's certainly so. But devil take me if I recollect this accident!" + +"I'll make you a little dressing, and in a couple of days there will be +no trace of it left." + +"Don't give yourself the trouble, my dear Hippocrates: a pinch of powder +is a sovereign cure!" + +M. Nibor set to work to dress the ear in a little less military fashion. +During his operations Léon re-entered. + +"Ah! ah!" said he to the doctor: "you are repairing the harm I did." + +"Thunderation!" cried Fougas, escaping from the hands of M. Nibor so as +to seize Léon by the collar, "was it you, you rascal, that hurt my ear?" + +Léon was very good-natured, but his patience failed him. He pushed his +man roughly aside. + +"Yes, sir: it was I who tore your ear, in pulling it; and if that little +misfortune had not happened to me, it is certain that you would have +been to-day six feet under ground. It is I who saved your life, after +buying you with my money when you were not valued at more than +twenty-five louis. It is I who have passed three days and two nights in +cramming charcoal under your boiler. It is my father who gave you the +clothes you now have on. You are in our house. Drink the little glass of +brandy Gothon just brought you; but for God's sake give up the habit of +calling me rascal, of calling my mother 'Good Mother,' and of flinging +our friends into the street and calling them beggarly pandours!" + +The colonel, all dumbfounded, held out his hand to Léon, M. Renault, and +the doctor, gallantly kissed the hand of Mme. Renault, swallowed at a +gulp a claret glass filled to the brim with brandy, and said, in a +subdued voice:-- + +"Most excellent friends, forget the vagaries of an impulsive but +generous soul. To subdue my passions shall hereafter be my law. After +conquering all the nations in the universe, it is well to conquer +one's self." + +This said, he submitted his ear to M. Nibor, who finished dressing it. + +"But," said he, summoning up his recollections, "they did not shoot me, +then?" + +"No." + +"And I wasn't frozen to death in the tower?" + +"Not quite." + +"Why has my uniform been taken off? I see! I am a prisoner!" + +"You are free." + +"Free! _Vive l'Empéreur!_ But then there's not a moment to lose! How +many leagues is it to Dantzic?" + +"It's very far." + +"What do you call this chicken-coop of a town?" + +"Fontainebleau." + +"Fontainebleau! In France?" + +"Prefecture of Seine-et-Marne. We are going to introduce to you the +sub-préfect, whom you just pitched into the street." + +"What the devil are your sub-prefects to me? I have a message from the +Emperor to General Rapp, and I must start this very day for Dantzic. God +knows whether I'll be there in time!" + +"My poor colonel, you will arrive too late. Dantzic is given up." + +"That's impossible! Since when?" + +"About forty-six years ago." + +"Thunder! I did not understand that you were--mocking me!" + +M. Nibor placed in his hand a calendar, and said, "See for yourself! It +is now the 17th of August, 1859; you went to sleep in the tower of +Liebenfeld on the 11th of November, 1813: there have been, then, +forty-six years, within three months, during which the world has moved +on without you." + +"Twenty-four and forty-six: but then I would be seventy years old, +according to your statement!" + +"Your vitality clearly shows that you are still twenty-four." + +He shrugged his shoulders, tore up the calendar, and said, beating the +floor with his foot, "Your almanac is a humbug!" + +M. Renault ran to his library, took up half a dozen books at haphazard, +and made him read, at the foot of the title-pages, the dates 1826, 1833, +1847, and 1858. + +"Pardon me!" said Fougas, burying his head in his hands. "What has +happened to me is so new! I do not think that another human being was +ever subjected to such a trial. I am seventy years old!" + +Good Mme. Renault went and got a looking-glass from the bath-room and +gave it to him, saying:-- + +"Look!" + +He took the glass in both hands, and was silently occupied in resuming +acquaintance with himself, when a hand-organ came into the court and +began playing 'Partant pour la Syrie.' + +Fougas threw the mirror to the ground, and cried out:-- + +"What is that you are telling me? I hear the little song of Queen +Hortense!" + +M. Renault patiently explained to him, while picking up the pieces of +the mirror, that the pretty little song of Queen Hortense had become a +national air, and even an official one, since the regimental bands had +substituted that gentle melody for the fierce 'Marseillaise'; and that +our soldiers, strange to say, had not fought any the worse for it. But +the colonel had already opened the window, and was crying out to the +Savoyard with the organ:-- + +"Eh! Friend! A napoleon for you if you will tell me in what year I am +drawing the breath of life!" + +The artist began dancing as lightly as possible, playing on his musical +instrument. + +"Advance at the order!" cried the colonel, "and keep that devilish +machine still!" + +"A little penny, my good monsieur!" + +"It is not a penny that I'll give you, but a napoleon, if you'll tell +what year it is." + +"Oh, but that's funny! Hi--hi--hi!" + +"And if you don't tell me quicker than this amounts to, I'll cut your +ears off!" + +The Savoyard ran away, but he came back pretty soon, having meditated, +during his flight, on the maxim "Nothing risk, nothing gain." + +"Monsieur," said he, in a wheedling voice, "this is the year eighteen +hundred and fifty-nine." + +"Good!" cried Fougas. He felt in his pockets for money, and found +nothing there. Léon saw his predicament, and flung twenty francs into +the court. Before shutting the window, he pointed out, to the right, +the façade of a pretty little new building, where the colonel could +distinctly read:-- + + AUDRET ARCHITECTE + MDCCCLIX + +A perfectly satisfactory piece of evidence, and one which did not cost +twenty francs. + +Fougas, a little confused, pressed Léon's hand and said to him:-- + +"My friend, I do not forget that Confidence is the first duty from +Gratitude toward Beneficence. But tell me of our country! I tread the +sacred soil where I received my being, and I am ignorant of the career +of my native land. France is still the queen of the world, is she not?" + +"Certainly," said Léon. + +"How is the Emperor?" + +"Well." + +"And the Empress?" + +"Very well." + +"And the King of Rome?" + +"The Prince Imperial? He is a very fine child." + +"How? A fine child! And you have the face to say that this is 1859!" + +M. Nibor took up the conversation, and explained in a few words that the +reigning sovereign of France was not Napoleon I., but Napoleon III. + +"But then," cried Fougas, "my Emperor is dead!" + +"Yes." + +"Impossible! Tell me anything you will but that! My Emperor is +immortal." + +M. Nibor and the Renaults, who were not quite professional historians, +were obliged to give him a summary of the history of our century. Some +one went after a big book, written by M. de Norvins and illustrated with +fine engravings by Raffet. He only believed in the presence of Truth +when he could touch her with his hand, and still cried out almost every +moment, "That's impossible! This is not history that you are reading to +me: it is a romance written to make soldiers weep!" + +This young man must indeed have had a strong and well-tempered soul; for +he learned in forty minutes all the woful events which fortune had +scattered through eighteen years, from the first abdication up to the +death of the King of Rome. Less happy than his old companions in arms, +he had no interval of repose between these terrible and repeated shocks, +all beating upon his heart at the same time. One could have feared that +the blow might prove mortal, and poor Fougas die in the first hour of +his recovered life. But the imp of a fellow yielded and recovered +himself in quick succession like a spring. He cried out with admiration +on hearing of the five battles of the campaign in France; he reddened +with grief at the farewells of Fontainebleau. The return from the Isle +of Elba transfigured his handsome and noble countenance; at Waterloo his +heart rushed in with the last army of the Empire, and there shattered +itself. Then he clenched his fists and said between his teeth, "If I had +been there at the head of the Twenty-Third, Blücher and Wellington would +have seen another fate!" The invasion, the truce, the martyr of St. +Helena, the ghastly terror of Europe, the murder of Murat,--the idol of +the cavalry,--the deaths of Ney, Bruno, Mouton-Duvernet, and so many +other whole-souled men whom he had known, admired, and loved, threw him +into a series of paroxysms of rage; but nothing crushed him. In hearing +of the death of Napoleon, he swore that he would eat the heart of +England; the slow agony of the pale and interesting heir of the Empire +inspired him with a passion to tear the vitals out of Austria. When the +drama was over, and the curtain fell on Schönbrunn, he dashed away his +tears and said, "It is well. I have lived in a moment a man's entire +life. Now show me the map of France!" + +Léon began to turn over the leaves of an atlas, while M. Renault +attempted to continue narrating to the colonel the history of the +Restoration, and of the monarchy of 1830. But Fougas's interest was in +other things. + +"What do I care," said he, "if a couple of hundred babblers of deputies +put one king in place of another? Kings! I've seen enough of them in the +dirt. If the Empire had lasted ten years longer, I could have had a king +for a bootblack." + +When the atlas was placed before him, he at once cried out with profound +disdain, "That France?" But soon two tears of pitying affection, +escaping from his eyes, swelled the rivers Ardèche and Gironde. He +kissed the map and said, with an emotion which communicated itself to +nearly all those who were present:-- + +"Forgive me, poor old love, for insulting your misfortunes. Those +scoundrels whom we always whipped have profited by my sleep to pare down +your frontiers; but little or great, rich or poor, you are my mother, +and I love you as a faithful son! Here is Corsica, where the giant of +our age was born; here is Toulouse, where I first saw the light; here is +Nancy, where I felt my heart awakened--where, perhaps, she whom I call +my Aeglé waits for me still! France! Thou hast a temple in my soul; this +arm is thine; thou shalt find me ever ready to shed my blood to the last +drop in defending or avenging thee!" + + + + +ACCADIAN-BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE + +BY CRAWFORD H. TOY + + +Recent discoveries have carried the beginnings of civilization farther +and farther back into the remote past. Scholars are not agreed as to +what region can lay claim to the greatest literary antiquity. The oldest +historical records are found in Egypt and Babylonia, and each of these +lands has its advocates, who claim for it priority in culture. The data +now at our command are not sufficient for the decision of this question. +It may be doubted whether any one spot on the globe will ever be shown +to have precedence in time over all others,--whether, that is, it will +appear that the civilization of the world has proceeded from a single +centre. But though we are yet far from having reached the very +beginnings of culture, we know that they lie farther back than the +wildest dreams of half a century ago would have imagined. Established +kingdoms existed in Babylonia in the fourth millennium before the +beginning of our era; royal inscriptions have been found which are with +great probability assigned to about the year 3800 B.C. These are, it is +true, of the simplest description, consisting of a few sentences of +praise to a deity or brief notices of a campaign or of the building of a +temple; but they show that the art of writing was known, and that the +custom existed of recording events of the national history. We may +thence infer the existence of a settled civilization and of some sort of +literary productiveness. + +The Babylonian-Assyrian writings with which we are acquainted may be +divided into the two classes of prose and poetry. The former class +consists of royal inscriptions (relating to military campaigns and the +construction of temples), chronological tables (eponym canons), legal +documents (sales, suits, etc.), grammatical tables (paradigms and +vocabularies), lists of omens and lucky and unlucky days, and letters +and reports passing between kings and governors; the latter class +includes cosmogonic poems, an epic poem in twelve books, detached +mythical narratives, magic formulas and incantations, and prayers to +deities (belonging to the ritual service of the temples). The prose +pieces, with scarcely an exception, belong to the historical period, and +may be dated with something like accuracy. The same thing is true of a +part of the poetical material, particularly the prayers; but the +cosmogonic and other mythical poems appear to go back, at least so far +as their material is concerned, to a very remote antiquity, and it is +difficult to assign them a definite date. + +Whether this oldest poetical material belongs to the Semitic Babylonians +or to a non-Semitic (Sumerian-Accadian) people is a question not yet +definitely decided. The material which comes into consideration for the +solution of this problem is mainly linguistic. Along with the +inscriptions, which are obviously in the Semitic-Babylonian language, +are found others composed of words apparently strange. These are held by +some scholars to represent a priestly, cryptographic writing, by others +to be true Semitic words in slightly altered form, and by others still +to belong to a non-Semitic tongue. This last view supposes that the +ancient poetry comes, in substance at any rate, from a non-Semitic +people who spoke this tongue; while on the other hand, it is maintained +that this poetry is so interwoven into Semitic life that it is +impossible to regard it as of foreign origin. The majority of Semitic +scholars are now of the opinion that the origin of this early literature +is foreign. However this may be, it comes to us in Babylonian dress, it +has been elaborated by Babylonian hands, has thence found its way into +the literature of other Semitic peoples, and for our purposes may be +accepted as Babylonian. In any case it carries us back to very early +religious conceptions. + +The cosmogonic poetry is in its outlines not unlike that of Hesiod, but +develops the ruder ideas at greater length. In the shortest (but +probably not the earliest) form of the cosmogony, the beginning of all +things is found in the watery abyss. Two abysmal powers (Tiamat and +Apsu), represented as female and male, mingle their waters, and from +them proceed the gods. The list of deities (as in the Greek cosmogony) +seems to represent several dynasties, a conception which may embody the +belief in the gradual organization of the world. After two less-known +gods, called Lahmu and Lahamu, come the more familiar figures of later +Babylonian writing, Anu and Ea. At this point the list unfortunately +breaks off, and the creative function which may have been assigned to +the gods is lost, or has not yet been discovered. The general similarity +between this account and that of Gen. i. is obvious: both begin with +the abysmal chaos. Other agreements between the two cosmogonies will be +pointed out below. The most interesting figure in this fragment is that +of Tiamat. We shall presently see her in the character of the enemy of +the gods. The two conceptions of her do not agree together perfectly, +and the priority in time must be assigned to the latter. The idea that +the world of gods and men and material things issued out of the womb of +the abyss is a philosophic generalization that is more naturally +assigned to a period of reflection. + +In the second cosmogonic poem the account is more similar to that of the +second chapter of Genesis, and its present form originated in or near +Babylon. Here we have nothing of the primeval deep, but are told how the +gods made a beautiful land, with rivers and trees; how Babylon was built +and Marduk created man, and the Tigris and the Euphrates, and the beasts +and cities and temples. This also must be looked on as a comparatively +late form of the myth, since its hero is Marduk, god of Babylon. As in +the Bible account, men are created before beasts, and the region of +their first abode seems to be the same as the Eden of Genesis. + +Let us now turn to the poem in which the combat between Tiamat and +Marduk forms the principal feature. For some unexplained reason Tiamat +rebels against the gods. Collecting her hosts, among them frightful +demon shapes of all imaginable forms, she advances for the purpose of +expelling the gods from their seats. The affrighted deities turn for +protection to the high gods, Anu and Ea, who, however, recoil in terror +from the hosts of the dragon Tiamat. Anshar then applies to Marduk. The +gods are invited to a feast, the situation is described, and Marduk is +invited to lead the heavenly hosts against the foe. He agrees on +condition that he shall be clothed with absolute power, so that he shall +only have to say "Let it be," and it shall be. To this the gods assent: +a garment is placed before him, to which he says "Vanish," and it +vanishes, and when he commands it to appear, it is present. The hero +then dons his armor and advances against the enemy. He takes Tiamat and +slays her, routs her host, kills her consort Kingu, and utterly destroys +the rebellion. Tiamat he cuts in twain. Out of one half of her he forms +the heavens, out of the other half the earth, and for the gods Anu and +Bel and Ea he makes a heavenly palace, like the abyss itself in extent. +To the great gods also he assigns positions, forms the stars, +establishes the year and month and the day. At this point the history is +interrupted, the tablet being broken. The creation of the heavenly +bodies is to be compared with the similar account in Gen. i.; whether +this poem narrates the creation of the rest of the world it is +impossible to say. + +In this history of the rebellion of Tiamat against the gods we have a +mythical picture of some natural phenomenon, perhaps of the conflict +between the winter and the enlivening sun of summer. The poem appears to +contain elements of different dates. The rude character of some of the +procedures suggests an early time: Marduk slays Tiamat by driving the +wind into her body; the warriors who accompany her have those composite +forms familiar to us from Babylonian and Egyptian statues, paintings, +and seals, which are the product of that early thought for which there +was no essential difference between man and beast. The festival in which +the gods carouse is of a piece with the divine Ethiopian feasts of +Homer. On the other hand, the idea of the omnipotence of the divine +word, when Marduk makes the garment disappear and reappear, is scarcely +a primitive one. It is substantially identical with the Biblical "Let it +be, and it was." It is probable that the poem had a long career, and in +successive recensions received the coloring of different generations. +Tiamat herself has a long history. Here she is a dragon who assaults the +gods; elsewhere, as we have seen, she is the mother of the gods; here +also her body forms the heaven and the earth. She appears in Gen. i. 2 +as the Tehom, the primeval abyss. In the form of the hostile dragon she +is found in numerous passages of the Old Testament, though under +different names. She is an enemy of Yahwe, god of Israel, and in the New +Testament (Rev. xii.) the combat between Marduk and Tiamat is +represented under the form of a fight between Michael and the Dragon. In +Christian literature Michael has been replaced by St. George. The old +Babylonian conception has been fruitful of poetry, representing, as it +does, in grand form the struggle between the chaotic and the formative +forces of the universe. + +The most considerable of the old Babylonian poems, so far as length and +literary form are concerned, is that which has been commonly known as +the Izdubar epic. The form of the name is not certain: Mr. Pinches has +recently proposed, on the authority of a Babylonian text, to write it +Gilgamesh, and this form has been adopted by a number of scholars. The +poem (discovered by George Smith in 1872) is inscribed on twelve +tablets, each tablet apparently containing a separate episode. + +The first tablet introduces the hero as the deliverer of his country +from the Elamites, an event which seems to have taken place before 2000 +B.C. Of the second, third, fourth, and fifth tablets, only fragments +exist, but it appears that Gilgamesh slays the Elamite tyrant. + +The sixth tablet recounts the love of Ishtar for the hero, to whom she +proposes marriage, offering him the tribute of the land. The reason he +assigns for his rejection of the goddess is the number and fatal +character of her loves. Among the objects of her affection were a wild +eagle, a lion, a war-horse, a ruler, and a husbandman; and all these +came to grief. Ishtar, angry at her rejection, complains to her father, +Anu, and her mother, Anatu, and begs them to avenge her wrong. Anu +creates a divine bull and sends it against Gilgamesh, who, however, with +the aid of his friend Eabani, slays the bull. Ishtar curses Gilgamesh, +but Eabani turns the curse against her. + +The seventh tablet recounts how Ishtar descends to the underworld +seeking some better way of attacking the hero. The description of the +Babylonian Sheol is one of the most effective portions of the poem, and +with it George Smith connects a well-known poem which relates the +descent of Ishtar to the underworld. The goddess goes down to the house +of darkness from which there is no exit, and demands admittance of the +keeper; who, however, by command of the queen of the lower world, +requires her to submit to the conditions imposed on all who enter. There +are seven gates, at each of which he removes some portion of her +ornaments and dress. Ishtar, thus unclothed, enters and becomes a +prisoner. Meantime the upper earth has felt her absence. All love and +life has ceased. Yielding to the persuasions of the gods, Ea sends a +messenger to demand the release of the goddess. The latter passes out, +receiving at each gate a portion of her clothing. This story of Ishtar's +love belongs to one of the earliest stages of religious belief. Not only +do the gods appear as under the control of ordinary human passions, but +there is no consciousness of material difference between man and beast. +The Greek parallels are familiar to all. Of these ideas we find no trace +in the later Babylonian and Assyrian literature, and the poem was +doubtless interpreted by the Babylonian sages in allegorical fashion. + +In the eighth and ninth tablets the death of Eabani is recorded, and the +grief of Gilgamesh. The latter then wanders forth in search of +Hasisadra, the hero of the Flood-story. After various adventures he +reaches the abode of the divinized man, and from him learns the story of +the Flood, which is given in the eleventh tablet. + +This story is almost identical with that of the Book of Genesis. The God +Bel is determined to destroy mankind, and Hasisadra receives directions +from Ea to build a ship, and take into it provisions and goods and +slaves and beasts of the field. The ship is covered with bitumen. The +flood is sent by Shamash (the sun-god). Hasisadra enters the ship and +shuts the door. So dreadful is the tempest that the gods in affright +ascend for protection to the heaven of Anu. Six days the storm lasts. On +the seventh conies calm. Hasisadra opens a window and sees the mountain +of Nizir, sends forth a dove, which returns; then a swallow, which +returns; then a raven, which does not return; then, knowing that the +flood has passed, sends out the animals, builds an altar, and offers +sacrifice, over which the gods gather like flies. Ea remonstrates with +Bel, and urges that hereafter, when he is angry with men, instead of +sending a deluge, he shall send wild beasts, who shall destroy them. +Thereupon Bel makes a compact with Hasisadra, and the gods take him and +his wife and people and place them in a remote spot at the mouth of the +rivers. It is now generally agreed that the Hebrew story of the Flood is +taken from the Babylonian, either mediately through the Canaanites (for +the Babylonians had occupied Canaan before the sixteenth century B.C.), +or immediately during the exile in the sixth century. The Babylonian +account is more picturesque, the Hebrew more restrained and solemn. The +early polytheistic features have been excluded by the Jewish editors. + +In addition to these longer stories there are a number of legends of no +little poetical and mythical interest. In the cycle devoted to the eagle +there is a story of the struggle between the eagle and the serpent. The +latter complains to the sun-god that the eagle has eaten his young. The +god suggests a plan whereby the hostile bird may be caught: the body of +a wild ox is to be set as a snare. Out of this plot, however, the eagle +extricates himself by his sagacity. In the second story the eagle comes +to the help of a woman who is struggling to bring a man-child +(apparently Etana) into the world. In the third is portrayed the +ambition of the hero Etana to ascend to heaven. The eagle promises to +aid him in accomplishing his design. Clinging to the bird, he rises with +him higher and higher toward the heavenly space, reaching the abode of +Anu, and then the abode of Ishtar. As they rise to height after height +the eagle describes the appearance of the world lying stretched out +beneath: at first it rises like a huge mountain out of the sea; then the +ocean appears as a girdle encircling the land, and finally but as a +ditch a gardener digs to irrigate his land. When they have risen so high +that the earth is scarcely visible, Etana cries to the eagle to stop; so +he does, but his strength is exhausted, and bird and man fall to +the earth. + +Another cycle of stories deals with the winds. The god Zu longs to have +absolute power over the world. To that end he lurks about the door of +the sun-god, the possessor of the tablets of fate whereby he controls +all things. Each morning before beginning his journey, the sun-god steps +out to send light showers over the world. Watching his opportunity, Zu +glides in, seizes the tablets of fate, and flies away and hides himself +in the mountains. So great horror comes over the world: it is likely to +be scorched by the sun-god's burning beams. Anu calls on the storm-god +Ramman to conquer Zu, but he is frightened and declines the task, as do +other gods. Here, unfortunately, the tablet is broken, so that we do not +know by whom the normal order was finally restored. + +In the collection of cuneiform tablets disinterred at Amarna in 1887 +was found the curious story of Adapa. The demigod Adapa, the son of Ea, +fishing in the sea for the family of his lord, is overwhelmed by the +stormy south wind and cast under the waves. In anger he breaks the wings +of the wind, that it may no longer rage in the storm. Anu, informed that +the south wind no longer blows, summons Adapa to his presence. Ea +instructs his son to put on apparel of mourning, present himself at +Anu's gate, and there make friends with the porters, Tammuz and Iszida, +so that they may speak a word for him to Anu; going into the presence of +the royal deity, he will be offered food and drink which he must reject, +and raiment and oil which he must accept. Adapa carries out the +instructions of his father to the letter. Anu is appeased, but laments +that Adapa, by rejecting heavenly food and drink, has lost the +opportunity to become immortal. This story, the record of which is +earlier than the sixteenth century B.C., appears to contain two +conceptions: it is a mythical description of the history of the south +wind, but its conclusion presents a certain parallelism with the end of +the story of Eden in Genesis; as there Adam, so here Adapa, fails of +immortality because he infringes the divine command concerning the +divine food. We have here a suggestion that the story in Genesis is one +of the cycle which dealt with the common earthly fact of man's +mortality. + +The legend of Dibbarra seems to have a historical basis. The god +Dibbarra has devastated the cities of Babylonia with bloody wars. +Against Babylon he has brought a hostile host and slain its people, so +that Marduk, the god of Babylon, curses him. And in like manner he has +raged against Erech, and is cursed by its goddess Ishtar. He is charged +with confounding the righteous and unrighteous in indiscriminate +destruction. But Dibbarra determines to advance against the dwelling of +the king of the gods, and Babylonia is to be further desolated by civil +war. It is a poetical account of devastating wars as the production of a +hostile diety. It is obvious that these legends have many features in +common with those of other lands, myths of conflict between wind and +sun, and the ambition of heroes to scale the heights of heaven. How far +these similarities are the independent products of similar situations, +and how far the results of loans, cannot at present be determined. + +The moral-religious literature of the Babylonians is not inferior in +interest to the stories just mentioned. The hymns to the gods are +characterized by a sublimity and depth of feeling which remind us of the +odes of the Hebrew Psalter. The penitential hymns appear to contain +expressions of sorrow for sin, which would indicate a high development +of the religious consciousness. These hymns, apparently a part of the +temple ritual, probably belong to a relatively late stage of history; +but they are none the less proof that devotional feeling in ancient +times was not limited to any one country. + +Other productions, such as the hymn to the seven evil spirits +(celebrating their mysterious power), indicate a lower stage of +religious feeling; this is specially visible in the magic formulas, +which portray a very early stratum of religious history. They recall the +Shamanism of Central Asia and the rites of savage tribes; but there is +no reason to doubt that the Semitic religion in its early stages +contained this magic element, which is found all the world over. + +Riddles and Proverbs are found among the Babylonians, as among all +peoples. Comparatively few have been discovered, and these present +nothing of peculiar interest. The following may serve as +specimens:--"What is that which becomes pregnant without conceiving, fat +without eating?" The answer seems to be "A cloud." "My coal-brazier +clothes me with a divine garment, my rock is founded in the sea" (a +volcano). "I dwell in a house of pitch and brick, but over me glide the +boats" (a canal). "He that says, 'Oh, that I might exceedingly avenge +myself!' draws from a waterless well, and rubs the skin without oiling +it." "When sickness is incurable and hunger unappeasable, silver and +gold cannot restore health nor appease hunger." "As the oven waxes old, +so the foe tires of enmity." "The life of yesterday goes on every day." +"When the seed is not good, no sprout comes forth." + +The poetical form of all these pieces is characterized by that +parallelism of members with which we are familiar in the poetry of the +Old Testament. It is rhythmical, but apparently not metrical: the +harmonious flow of syllables in any one line, with more or less beats or +cadences, is obvious; but it does not appear that syllables were +combined into feet, or that there was any fixed rule for the number of +syllables or beats in a line. So also strophic divisions may be +observed, such divisions naturally resulting from the nature of all +narratives. Sometimes the strophe seems to contain four lines, sometimes +more. No strophic rule has yet been established; but it seems not +unlikely that when the longer poetical pieces shall have been more +definitely fixed in form, certain principles of poetical composition +will present themselves. The thought of the mythical pieces and the +prayers and hymns is elevated and imaginative. Some of this poetry +appears to have belonged to a period earlier than 2000 B.C. Yet the +Babylonians constructed no epic poem like the (Iliad,) or at any rate +none such has yet been found. Their genius rather expressed itself in +brief or fragmentary pieces, like the Hebrews and the Arabs. + +The Babylonian prose literature consists almost entirely of short +chronicles and annals. Royal inscriptions have been found covering the +period from 3000 B.C. to 539 B.C. There are eponym canons, statistical +lists, diplomatic letters, military reports; but none of these rise to +the dignity of history. Several connected books of chronicles have +indeed been found; there is a synchronistic book of annals of Babylonia +and Assyria, there is a long Assyrian chronicle, and there are +annalistic fragments. But there is no digested historical narrative, +which gives a clear picture of the general civil and political +situation, or any analysis of the characters of kings, generals, and +governors, or any inquiry into causes of events. It is possible that +narratives having a better claim to the name of history may yet be +discovered, resembling those of the Biblical Book of Kings; yet the Book +of Kings is scarcely history--neither the Jews nor the Babylonians and +Assyrians seem to have had great power in this direction. + +One of the most interesting collections of historical pieces is that +recently discovered at Amarna. Here, out of a mound which represents a +palace of the Egyptian King Amenhotep IV., were dug up numerous letters +which were exchanged between the kings of Babylonia and Egypt in the +fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and numerous reports sent to the +Egyptian government by Egyptian governors of Canaanite cities. These +tablets show that at this early time there was lively communication +between the Euphrates and the Nile, and they give a vivid picture of the +chaotic state of affairs in Canaan, which was exposed to the assaults of +enemies on all sides. This country was then in possession of Egypt, but +at a still earlier period it must have been occupied by the Babylonians. +Only in this way can we account for the surprising fact that the +Babylonian cuneiform script and the Babylonian language form the means +of communication between the east and west and between Egypt and Canaan. +The literary value of these letters is not great; their interest is +chiefly historic and linguistic. The same thing is true of the contract +tablets, which are legal documents: these cover the whole area of +Babylonian history, and show that civil law attained a high state of +perfection; they are couched in the usual legal phrases. + +The literary monuments mentioned above are all contained in tablets, +which have the merit of giving in general contemporaneous records of the +things described. But an account of Babylonian literature would be +incomplete without mention of the priest Berosus. Having, as priest of +Bel, access to the records of the temples, he wrote a history of his +native land, in which he preserved the substance of a number of poetical +narratives, as well as the ancient accounts of the political history. +The fragments of his work which have been preserved (see Cory's 'Ancient +Fragments') exhibit a number of parallels with the contents of the +cuneiform tablets. Though he wrote in Greek (he lived in the time of +Alexander the Great), and was probably trained in the Greek learning of +his time, his work doubtless represents the spirit of Babylonian +historical writing. So far as can be judged from the remains which have +come down to us, its style is of the annalistic sort which appears in +the old inscriptions and in the historical books of the Bible. + +The Babylonian literature above described must be understood to include +the Assyrian. Civilization was first established in Babylonia, and there +apparently were produced the great epic poems and the legends. But +Assyria, when she succeeded to the headship of the Mesopotamian valley, +in the twelfth century B.C., adopted the literature of her southern +sister. A great part of the old poetry has been found in the library of +Assurbanipal, at Nineveh (seventh century B.C.), where a host of scribes +occupied themselves with the study of the ancient literature. They +seem to have had almost all the apparatus of modern critical work. +Tablets were edited, sometimes with revisions. There are bilingual +tablets, presenting in parallel columns the older texts (called +Sumerian-Accadian) and the modern version. There are numerous +grammatical and lexicographical lists. The records were accessible, and +often consulted. Assurbanipal, in bringing back a statue of the goddess +Nana from the Elamite region, says that it was carried off by the +Elamites 1635 years before; and Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon +(circa B.C. 550), a man devoted to temple restoration, refers to an +inscription of King Naram-Sin, of Agane, who, he says, reigned 3200 +years before. In recent discoveries made at Nippur, by the American +Babylonian Expedition, some Assyriologists find evidence of the +existence of a Babylonian civilization many centuries before B.C. 4000 +(the dates B.C. 5000 and B.C. 6000 have been mentioned); the material is +now undergoing examination, and it is too early to make definite +statements of date. See Peters in American Journal of Archaeology for +January-March, 1895, and July-September, 1895; and Hilprecht, 'The +Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania,' Vol. i., +Part 2, 1896. + +The Assyrian and Babylonian historical inscriptions, covering as they do +the whole period of Jewish history down to the capture of Babylon by +Cyrus, are of very great value for the illustration of the Old +Testament. They have a literary interest also. Many of them are written +in semi-rhythmical style, a form which was favored by the inscriptional +mode of writing. The sentences are composed of short parallel clauses, +and the nature of the material induced a division into paragraphs which +resemble strophes. They are characterized also by precision and +pithiness of statement, and are probably as trust-worthy as official +records ever are. + +[Illustration: Signature] + + + + + I. THEOGONY + + + In the time when above the heaven was not named, + The earth beneath bore no name, + When the ocean, the primeval parent of both, + The abyss Tiamat the mother of both.... + + The waters of both mingled in one. + No fields as yet were tilled, no moors to be seen, + When as yet of the gods not one had been produced, + + No names they bore, no titles they had, + Then were born of the gods.... + Lachmu Lachamu came into existence. + Many ages past.... + Anshar, Kishar were born. + Many days went by. Anu.... + +[Here there is a long lacuna. The lost lines completed the history of +the creation of the gods, and gave the reason for the uprising of Tiamat +with her hosts. What it was that divided the divine society into two +hostile camps can only be conjectured; probably Tiamat, who represents +the unfriendly or chaotic forces of nature, saw that her domain was +being encroached on by the light-gods, who stand for cosmic order.] + + + + II. REVOLT OF TIAMAT + + + To her came flocking all the gods, + They gathered together, they came to Tiamat; + Angry they plan, restless by night and by day, + Prepare for war with gestures of rage and hate, + With combined might to begin the battle. + The mother of the abyss, she who created them all, + Unconquerable warriors, gave them giant snakes, + Sharp of tooth, pitiless in might, + With poison like blood she filled their bodies, + Huge poisonous adders raging, she clothed them with dread, + Filled them with splendor.... + He who sees them shuddering shall seize him, + They rear their bodies, none can resist their breast. + Vipers she made, terrible snakes.... + ... raging dogs, scorpion-men ... fish men.... + Bearing invincible arms, fearless in the fight. + Stern are her commands, not to be resisted. + Of all the first-born gods, because he gave her help, + She raised up Kingu in the midst, she made him the greatest, + To march in front of the host, to lead the whole, + To begin the war of arms, to advance the attack, + Forward in the fight to be the triumpher. + This she gave into his hand, made him sit on the throne:-- + By my command I make thee great in the circle of the gods; + Rule over all the gods I have given to thee, + The greatest shalt thou be, thou my chosen consort; + Be thy name made great over all the earth. + She gave him the tablets of fate, laid them on his breast. + Thy command be not gainsaid, thy word stand fast. + Thus lifted up on high, endued with Anu's rank, + Among the gods her children Kingu did bear rule. + +[The gods, dismayed, first appeal to Anu for aid against Tiamat, but he +refuses to lead the attack. Anshar then sends to invite the gods to +a feast.] + + Anshar opened his mouth, + To Gaga, his servant, spake he:-- + Go, O Gaga, my servant thou who delightest my soul, + To Lachmu Lachamu I will send thee... + That the gods may sit at the feast, + Bread to eat, wine to drink, + To give the rule to Marduk. + Up Gaga, to them go, + And tell what I say to thee:-- + Anshar, your son, has sent me, + Told me the desire of his heart. + +[He repeats the preceding description of Tiamat's preparations, and +announces that Marduk has agreed to face the foe.] + + I sent Anu, naught can he against her. + Nudimmud was afraid and turned cowering back, + Marduk accepted the task, the ruler of gods, your son, + Against Tiamat to march his heart impels him. + So speaks he to me: + If I succeed, I, your avenger, + Conquer Tiamat and save your lives. + Come, ye all, and declare me supreme, + In Upsukkenaku enter ye joyfully all. + With my mouth will I bear rule, + Unchangeable be whate'er I do, + The word of my lips be never reversed or gainsaid. + Come and to him give over the rule, + That he may go and meet the evil foe. + Gaga went, strode on his way, + Humbly before Lachmu and Lachamu, the gods, his fathers, + He paid his homage and kissed the ground, + Bent lowly down and to them spake:-- + Anshar, your son, has sent me, + Told me the desire of his heart. + +[Gaga then repeats Anshar's message at length, and the narrative proceeds.] + + Lachmu and Lachamu heard and were afraid, + The Igigi all lamented sore: + What change has come about that she thus hates us? + We cannot understand this deed of Tiamat. + With hurry and haste they went, + The great gods, all the dealers of fate, + ... with eager tongue, sat themselves down to the feast. + Bread they ate, wine they drank, + The sweet wine entered their souls, + They drank their fill, full were their bodies. + +[In this happy state they were ready to accept Marduk's conditions.] + + To Marduk, their avenger, they gave over the rule. + They lifted him up on a lofty throne, + Above his fathers he took his place as judge:-- + Most honored be thou among the great gods, + Unequaled thy rule, thy word is Anu. + From this time forth thy command be not gainsaid; + To lift up and cast down be the work of thy hand; + The speech of thy mouth stand fast, thy word be irresistible, + None of the gods shall intrude on thy domain, + Fullness of wealth, the desire of the temples of the gods, + Be the portion of thy shrine, though they be in need. + Marduk, thou, our avenger, + Thine be the kingdom over all forever. + Sit thee down in might, noble be thy word, + Thy arms shall never yield, the foes they shall crush. + O lord, he who trusts in thee, him grant thou life, + But the deity who set evil on foot, her life pour out. + Then in the midst they placed a garment. + To Marduk their first-born thus spake they:-- + Thy rule, O lord, be chief among the gods, + To destroy and to create--speak and let it be. + Open thy mouth, let the garment vanish. + Utter again thy command, let the garment appear. + He spake with his mouth, vanished the garment; + Again he commanded, and the garment appeared. + When the gods, his fathers, saw thus his word fulfilled, + Joyful were they and did homage: Marduk is king. + On him conferred sceptre and throne.... + Gave him invincible arms to crush them that hate him. + Now go and cut short the life of Tiamat, + May the winds into a secret place carry her blood. + The ruler of the gods they made him, the gods, his fathers, + Wished him success and glory in the way on which he went. + He made ready a bow, prepared it for use, + Made ready a spear to be his weapon. + He took the ... seized it in his right hand, + Bow and quiver hung at his side, + Lightning he fashioned flashing before him, + With glowing flame he filled its body, + A net he prepared to seize Tiamat, + Guarded the four corners of the world that nothing of her + should escape, + On South and North, on East and West + He laid the net, his father Anu's gift. + He fashioned the evil wind, the south blast, the tornado, + The four-and-seven wind, the wind of destruction and woe, + Sent forth the seven winds which he had made + Tiamat's body to destroy, after him they followed. + Then seized the lord the thunderbolt, his mighty weapon, + The irresistible chariot, the terrible, he mounted, + To it four horses he harnessed, pitiless, fiery, swift, + Their teeth were full of venom covered with foam. + + * * * * * + + On it mounted Marduk the mighty in battle. + To right and left he looked, lifting his eye. + His terrible brightness surrounded his head. + Against her he advanced, went on his way, + To Tiamat lifted his face. + + * * * * * + + They looked at him, at him looked the gods, + The gods, his fathers, looked at him; at him looked the gods. + And nearer pressed the lord, with his eye piercing Tiamat. + On Kingu her consort rested his look. + As he so looked, every way is stopped. + His senses Kingu loses, vanishes his thought, + And the gods, his helpers, who stood by his side + Saw their leader powerless.... + But Tiamat stood, not turning her back. + With fierce lips to him she spake:-- + + * * * * * + + Then grasped the lord his thunderbolt, his mighty weapon, + Angry at Tiamat he hurled his words:-- + + * * * * * + + When Tiamat heard these words, + She fell into fury, beside herself was she. + Tiamat cried wild and loud + Till through and through her body shook. + She utters her magic formula, speaks her word, + And the gods of battle rush to arms. + Then advance Tiamat, and Marduk the ruler of the gods + To battle they rush, come on to the fight. + His wide-stretched net over her the lord did cast, + The evil wind from behind him he let loose in her face. + Tiamat opened her throat as wide as she might, + Into it he sent the evil wind before she could close her lips. + The terrible winds filled her body, + Her senses she lost, wide open stood her throat. + He seized his spear, through her body he ran it, + Her inward parts he hewed, cut to pieces her heart. + Her he overcame, put an end to her life, + Cast away her corpse and on it stood. + So he, the leader, slew Tiamat, + Her power he crushed, her might he destroyed. + Then the gods, her helpers, who stood at her side, + Fear and trembling seized them, their backs they turned, + Away they fled to save their lives. + Fast were they girt, escape they could not, + Captive he took them, broke in pieces their arms. + They were caught in the net, sat in the toils, + All the earth they filled with their cry. + Their doom they bore, held fast in prison, + And the eleven creatures, clothed with dread, + A herd of demons who with her went, + These he subdued, destroyed their power, + Crushed their valor, trod them under foot; + And Kingu, who had grown great over them all, + Him he overcame with the god Kugga, + Took from him the tablets of fate which were not rightfully his, + Stamped thereon his seal, and hung them on his breast. + When thus the doughty Marduk had conquered his foes, + His proud adversary to shame had brought, + Had completed Anshar's triumph over the enemy, + Had fulfilled Nudimmud's will, + Then the conquered gods he put in prison, + And to Tiamat, whom he had conquered, returned. + Under his foot the lord Tiamat's body trod, + With his irresistible club he shattered her skull, + Through the veins of her blood he cut; + Commanded the north wind to bear it to a secret place. + His fathers saw it, rejoiced and shouted. + Gifts and offerings to him they brought. + The lord was appeased seeing her corpse. + Dividing her body, wise plans he laid. + Into two halves like a fish he divided her, + Out of one half he made the vault of heaven, + A bar he set and guards he posted, + Gave them command that the waters pass not through. + Through the heaven he strode, viewed its spaces, + Near the deep placed Nudimmud's dwelling. + And the lord measured the domain of the deep, + A palace like it, Eshara, he built, + The palace Eshara which he fashioned as heaven. + Therein made he Anu, Bel, and Ea to dwell. + He established the station of the great gods, + Stars which were like them, constellations he set, + The year he established, marked off its parts, + Divided twelve months by three stars, + From the day that begins the year to the day that ends it + He established the station Nibir to mark its limits. + That no harm come, no one go astray, + The stations of Bel and Ea be set by its side. + Great doors he made on this side and that, + Closed them fast on left and right. + + * * * * * + + The moon-god he summoned, to him committed the night. + +[Here the account breaks off; there probably followed the history of the +creation of the earth and of man.] + + + + + III. FRAGMENTS OF A DESCENT TO THE UNDERWORLD + + + To the underworld I turn, + I spread my wings like a bird, + I descend to the house of darkness, to the dwelling of Irkalla, + To the house from which there is no exit, + The road on which there is no return, + To the house whose dwellers long for light, + Dust is their nourishment and mud their food, + Whose chiefs are like feathered birds, + Where light is never seen, in darkness they dwell. + In the house which I will enter + There is treasured up for me a crown, + With the crowned ones who of old ruled the earth, + To whom Anu and Bel have given terrible names, + Carrion is their food, their drink stagnant water. + There dwell the chiefs and unconquered ones, + There dwell the bards and the mighty men, + Monsters of the deep of the great gods. + It is the dwelling of Etana, the dwelling of Ner, + Of Ninkigal, the queen of the underworld.... + Her I will approach and she will see me. + + + + ISHTAR'S DESCENT TO THE UNDERWORLD + +[After a description substantially identical with the first half of the +preceding poem, the story goes on:--] + + To the gate of the underworld Ishtar came, + To the keeper of the gate her command she addressed:-- + Keeper of the waters, open thy gate, + Open thy gate that I may enter. + If thou open not the gate and let me in, + I will strike the door, the posts I will shatter, + I will strike the hinges, burst open the doors, + I will raise up the dead devourers of the living, + Over the living the dead shall triumph. + The keeper opened his mouth and spake, + To the Princess Ishtar he cried:-- + Stay, lady, do not thus, + Let me go and repeat thy words to Queen Ninkigal. + +[He goes and gets the terrible queen's permission for Ishtar to enter +on certain conditions.] + + Through the first gate he caused her to pass + The crown of her head he took away. + Why, O keeper, takest thou away the great crown of my head? + Thus, O lady, the goddess of the underworld doeth to all + her visitors at the entrance. + Through the second gate he caused her to pass, + The earrings of her ears he took away. + Why, O keeper, takest thou away the earrings of my ears? + So, O lady, the goddess of the underworld doeth to all that + enter her realm. + +[And so at each gate till she is stripped of clothing. A long time +Ninkigal holds her prisoner, and in the upper world love vanishes and +men and gods mourn. Ea sees that Ishtar must return, and sends his +messenger to bring her.] + + Go forth, O messenger, + Toward the gates of the underworld set thy face, + Let the seven gates of Hades be opened at thy presence, + Let Ninkigal see thee and rejoice at thy arrival, + That her heart be satisfied and her anger be removed. + Appease her by the names of the great gods . . . + Ninkigal, when this she heard, + Beat her breast and wrung her hands, + Turned away, no comfort would she take. + Go, thou messenger, + Let the great jailer keep thee, + The refuse of the city be thy food, + The drains of the city thy drink, + The shadow of the dungeon be thy resting-place, + The slab of stone be thy seat. + Ninkigal opened her mouth and spake, + To Simtar, her attendant, her command she gave. + Go, Simtar, strike the palace of judgment, + Pour over Ishtar the water of life, and bring her before me. + Simtar went and struck the palace of judgment, + On Ishtar he poured the water of life and brought her. + Through the first gate he caused her to pass, + And restored to her her covering cloak. + +[And so through the seven gates till all her ornaments are restored. The +result of the visit to the underworld is not described.] + + + + + IV. THE FLOOD + + +[The hero Gilgamesh (Izdubar), wandering in search of healing for his +sickness, finds Hasisadra (Xisuthros), the Babylonian Noah, who tells +him the story of the Flood.] + + Hasisadra spake to him, to Gilgamesh:--- + To thee I will reveal, Gilgamesh, the story of my deliverance, + And the oracle of the gods I will make known to thee. + The city Surippak, which, as thou knowest, + Lies on the Euphrates' bank, + Already old was this city + When the gods that therein dwell + To send a flood their heart impelled them, + All the great gods: their father Anu, + Their counsellor the warlike Bel, + Adar their throne-bearer and the Prince Ennugi. + The lord of boundless wisdom, + Ea, sat with them in council. + Their resolve he announced and so he spake:-- + O thou of Surippak, son of Ubaratutu, + Leave thy house and build a ship. + They will destroy the seed of life. + Do thou preserve in life, and hither bring the seed of life + Of every sort into the ship. + +[Here follows a statement of the dimensions of the ship, but the numbers +are lost.] + + When this I heard to Ea my lord I spake:-- + The building of the ship, O lord, which thou commandest + If I perform it, people and elders will mock me. + Ea opened his mouth and spake, + Spake to me, his servant:-- + +[The text is here mutilated: Hasisadra is ordered to threaten the +mockers with Ea's vengeance.] + + Thou, however, shut not thy door till I shall send thee word. + Then pass through the door and bring + All grain and goods and wealth, + Family, servants and maids and all thy kin, + The cattle of the field, the beasts of the field. + Hasisadra opened his mouth, to Ea his lord he said:-- + O my lord, a ship in this wise hath no one ever built.... + +[Hasisadra tells how he built the ship according to Ea's directions.] + + All that I had I brought together, + All of silver and all of gold, + And all of the seed of life into the ship I brought. + And my household, men and women, + The cattle of the field, the beasts of the field, + And all my kin I caused to enter. + Then when the sun the destined time brought on, + To me he said at even-fall:-- + Destruction shall the heaven rain. + Enter the ship and close the door. + With sorrow on that day I saw the sun go down. + The day on which I was to enter the ship I was afraid. + Yet into the ship I went, behind me the door I closed. + Into the hands of the steersman I gave the ship with its cargo. + Then from the heaven's horizon rose the dark cloud + Raman uttered his thunder, + Nabu and Sarru rushed on, + Over hill and dale strode the throne-bearers, + Adar sent ceaseless streams, floods the Anunnaki brought. + Their power shakes the earth, + + * * * * * + + Raman's billows up to heaven mount, + All light to darkness is turned. + + * * * * * + + Brother looks not after brother, no man for another cares. + The gods in heaven are frightened, refuge they seek, + Upward they mount to the heaven of Anu. + Like a dog in his lair, + So cower the gods together at the bars of heaven. + Ishtar cries out in pain, loud cries the exalted goddess:-- + All is turned to mire. + This evil to the gods I announced, to the gods foretold the evil. + This exterminating war foretold + Against my race of mankind. + Not for this bare I men that like the brood of the fishes + They should fill the sea. + Then wept the gods with her over the Anunnaki, + In lamentation sat the gods, their lips hard pressed together. + Six days and seven nights ruled wind and flood and storm. + But when the seventh day broke, subsided the storm, and the flood + +_ASSYRIAN CLAY TABLET_, +Containing a part of the story of the flood, from the library of +Assurbanipal. Found in recent explorations in Ancient Babylon, London: +British Museum. + + + Which raged like a mighty host, settled itself to quiet. + Down went the sea, ceased storm and flood. + Through the sea I rode lamenting. + The upper dwellings of men were ruined, + Corpses floated like trees. + A window I opened, on my face the daylight fell. + I shuddered and sat me down weeping, + Over my face flowed my tears. + I rode over regions of land, on a terrible sea. + Then rose one piece of land twelve measures high. + To the land Nizir the ship was steered, + The mountain Nizir held the ship fast, and let it no more go. + + * * * * * + + At the dawn of the seventh day + I took a dove and sent it forth. + Hither and thither flew the dove, + No resting-place it found, back to me it came. + A swallow I took and sent it forth, + No resting-place it found, and back to me it came. + A raven I took and sent it forth, + Forth flew the raven and saw that the water had fallen, + Carefully waded on but came not back. + All the animals then to the four winds I sent. + A sacrifice I offered, + An altar I built on the mountain-top, + By sevens I placed the vessels, + Under them spread sweet cane and cedar. + The gods inhaled the smoke, inhaled the sweet-smelling smoke, + Like flies the gods collected over the offering. + Thither then came Ishtar, + Lifted on high her bow, which Anu had made:-- + These days I will not forget, will keep them in remembrance, + Them I will never forget. + Let the gods come to the altar, + But let not Bel to the altar come, + Because he heedlessly wrought, the flood he brought on, + To destruction my people gave over. + Thither came Bel and saw the ship, + Full of anger was he + Against the gods and the spirits of heaven:-- + What soul has escaped! + In the destruction no man shall live. + Then Adar opened his mouth and spake, + Spake to the warlike Bel:-- + Who but Ea knew it? + He knew and all he hath told. + Then Ea opened his mouth, + Spake to the warlike Bel:-- + Thou art the valiant leader of the gods, + Why hast thou heedlessly wrought, and brought on the flood? + Let the sinner bear his sin, the wrongdoer his wrong; + Yield to our request, that he be not wholly destroyed. + Instead of sending a flood, send lions that men be reduced; + Instead of sending a flood, send hyenas that men be reduced; + Instead of sending a flood, send flames to waste the land; + Instead of sending a flood, send pestilence that men be reduced. + The counsel of the great gods to him I did not impart; + A dream to Hasisadra I sent, and the will of the gods he learned. + Then came right reason to Bel, + Into the ship he entered, + Took my hand and lifted me up, + Raised my wife and laid her hand in mine, + To us he turned, between us he stepped, + His blessing he gave. + Human Hasisadra has been, + But he and his wife united + Now to the gods shall be raised, + And Hasisadra shall dwell far off at the mouth of the streams. + Then they took me and placed me + Far off at the mouth of the streams. + + + + V. THE EAGLE AND THE SNAKE + + To Samas came the snake and said:-- + The eagle has come to my nest, my young are scattered. + See, O Samas, what evil he has done me. + Help me, thy nest is as broad as the earth, + Thy snare is like the heavens, + Who can escape out of thy net? + Hearing the snake's complaint, + Samas opened his mouth and spake:-- + Get thee on thy way, go to the mountain. + A wild ox shall be thy hiding-place. + Open his body, tear out his inward parts, + Make thy dwelling within him. + All the birds of heaven will descend, with them will + come the eagle, + Heedless and hurrying on the flesh he will swoop, + Thinking of that which is hidden inside. + So soon as he enters the ox, seize his wing, + Tear off his wing-feathers and claws, + Pull him to pieces and cast him away, + Let him die of hunger and thirst. + So as the mighty Samas commanded, + Rose the snake, went to the mountain, + There he found a wild ox, + Opened his body, tore out his inward parts, + Entered and dwelt within him. + And the birds of heaven descended, with them came the eagle. + Yet the eagle, fearing a snare, ate not of the flesh with + the birds. + The eagle spake to his young:-- + We will not fly down, nor eat of the flesh of the wild ox. + An eaglet, keen of eye, thus to his father spake:-- + In the flesh of the ox lurks the snake + + [The rest is lost.] + + + VI. THE FLIGHT OF ETANA + +/* + The priests have offered my sacrifice + With joyful hearts to the gods. + O Lord, issue thy command, + Give me the plant of birth, show me the plant of birth, + Bring the child into the world, grant me a son. + Samas opened his mouth and spake to Etana:-- + Away with thee, go to the mountain.... + The eagle opened his mouth and spake to Etana:-- + Wherefore art thou come? + Etana opened his mouth and said to the eagle:-- + My friend, give me the plant of birth, show me the plant of birth, + Bring the child into the world, grant me a son.... + To Etana then spake the eagle:-- + My friend, be of good cheer. + Come, let me bear thee to Anu's heaven, + On my breast lay thy breast, + Grasp with thy hands the feathers of my wings. + On my side lay thy side. + On his breast he laid his breast, + On his feathers he placed his hands, + On his side laid his side, + Firmly he clung, great was his weight. + Two hours he bore him on high. + The eagle spake to him, to Etana:-- + See my friend, the land, how it lies, + Look at the sea, the ocean-girded, + Like a mountain looks the land, the sea like petty waters. + Two hours more he bore him up. + The eagle spake to him, to Etana:-- + See my friend the land, how it lies, + The sea is like the girdle of the land. + Two hours more he bore him up. + The eagle spake to him, to Etana:-- + See my friend the land, how it lies, + The sea is like the gardener's ditches. + Up they rose to Anu's heaven, + Came to the gate of Anu, Bel and Ea.... + Come, my friend, let me bear thee to Ishtar, + To Ishtar, the queen, shalt thou go, and dwell at her feet. + On my side lay thy side, + Grasp my wing-feathers with thy hands. + On his side he laid his side, + His feathers he grasped with his hands. + Two hours he bore him on high. + My friend see the land, how it lies, + How it spreads itself out. + The broad sea is as great as a court. + Two hours he bore him on high. + My friend see the land, how it lies, + The land is like the bed of a garden, + The broad sea is as great as a [.] + Two hours he bore him on high. + My friend see the land, how it lies. + +[Etana, frightened, begs the eagle to ascend no further; then, as it +seems, the bird's strength is exhausted.] + + To the earth the eagle fell down + Shattered upon the ground. + + + + + VII. THE GOD ZU + + He sees the badges of rule, + His royal crown, his raiment divine. + On the tablets of fate of the god Zu fixes his look. + On the father of the gods, the god of Duranki, Zu fixes his gaze. + Lust after rule enters into his soul. + I will take the tablets of fate of the gods, + Will determine the oracle of all the gods, + Will set up my throne, all orders control, + Will rule all the heavenly spirits. + His heart was set on combat. + At the entrance of the hall he stands, waiting the break of day, + When Bel dispensed the tender rains, + Sat on his throne, put off his crown, + He snatched the tablets of fate from his hands, + Seized the power, the control of commands. + Down flew Zu, in a mountain he hid. + There was anguish and crying. + On the earth Bel poured out his wrath. + Anu opened his mouth and spake, + Said to the gods his children:-- + Who will conquer Zu? + Great shall be his name among the dwellers of all lands. + They called for Ramman, the mighty, Anu's son. + To him gives Anu command:-- + Up, Ramman, my son, thou hero, + From thine attack desist not, conquer Zu with thy weapons, + That thy name may be great in the assembly of the great gods. + Among the gods thy brethren, none shall be thy equal, + Thy shrines on high shall be built; + Found thee cities in all the world; + Thy cities shall reach to the mountain of the world; + Show thyself strong for the gods, strong be thy name! + To Anu his father's command Ramman answered and spake:-- + My father, who shall come to the inaccessible mound? + Who is like unto Zu among the gods thy sons? + The tablets of fate he has snatched from his hands, + Seized on the power, the control of commands. + Zu has fled and hides in his mountain. + + [The rest is lost.] + + + + + VIII. ADAPA AND THE SOUTHWIND + + Under the water the Southwind blew him + Sunk him to the home of the fishes. + O Southwind, ill hast thou used me, thy wings I will break. + As thus with his mouth he spake the wings of the Southwind + were broken. + Seven days long the Southwind over the earth blew no more. + To his messenger Ila-Abrat + Anu then spake thus:-- + Why for seven days long + Blows the Southwind no more on the earth? + His messenger Ila-Abrat answered and said: My lord, + Adapa, Ea's son, hath broken the wings of the Southwind. + When Anu heard these words, + "Aha!" he cried, and went forth. + +[Ea, the ocean-god, then directs his son how to proceed in order to +avert Anu's wrath. Some lines are mutilated.] + + At the gate of Anu stand. + The gods Tammuz and Iszida will see thee and ask:-- + Why lookest thou thus, Adapa, + For whom wearest thou garments of mourning? + From the earth two gods have vanished, therefore do I thus. + Who are these two gods who from the earth have vanished? + At each other they will look, Tammuz and Iszida, and lament. + A friendly word they will speak to Anu + Anu's sacred face they will show thee. + When thou to Anu comest, + Food of death will be offered thee, eat not thereof. + Water of death will be offered thee, drink not thereof. + A garment will be offered thee, put it on. + Oil will be offered thee, anoint thyself therewith. + What I tell thee neglect not, keep my word in mind. + Then came Anu's messenger:-- + The wing of the Southwind Adapa has broken, + Deliver him up to me. + Up to heaven he came, approached the gate of Anu. + At Anu's gate Tammuz and Iszida stand, + Adapa they see, and "Aha!" they cry. + O Adapa, wherefore lookest thou thus, + For whom wearest thou apparel of mourning? + From the earth two gods have vanished + Therefore I wear apparel of mourning. + Who are these two gods who from the earth have vanished? + At one another look Tammuz and Iszida and lament. + Adapa go hence to Anu. + When he came, Anu at him looked, saying, O Adapa, + Why hast thou broken the Southwind's wing? + Adapa answered: My lord, + 'Fore my lord's house I was fishing, + In the midst of the sea, it was smooth, + Then the Southwind began to blow + Under it forced me, to the home of the fishes I sank. + + [By this speech Ann's anger is turned away.] + + A beaker he set before him. + What shall we offer him? Food of life + Prepare for him that he may eat. + Food of life was brought for him, but he ate not. + Water of life was brought for him, but he drank not. + A garment was brought him, he put it on, + Oil they gave him, he anointed himself therewith. + Anu looked at him and mourned:-- + And now, Adapa, wherefore + Has thou not eaten or drunken? + Now canst thou not live forever ... + Ea, my lord, commanded me:-- + Thou shalt not eat nor drink. + + + + + IX. PENITENTIAL PSALMS + + I + + _The Suppliant_: + I, thy servant, full of sin cry to thee. + The sinner's earnest prayer thou dost accept, + The man on whom thou lookest lives, + Mistress of all, queen of mankind, + Merciful one, to whom it is good to turn, + Who acceptest the sigh of the heart. + + _The Priest_: + Because his god and his goddess are angry, he cries to thee. + To him turn thy face, take his hand. + + _The Suppliant_: + Beside thee there is no god to guide me. + Look in mercy on me, accept my sigh, + Say why do I wait so long. + Let thy face be softened! + How long, O my lady! + May thy kindness be turned to me! + Like a dove I mourn, full of sighing. + + _The Priest_: + With sorrow and woe + His soul is full of sighing, + Tears he sheds, he pours out laments. + + + II + + O mother of the gods, who performest the commands of Bel, + Who makest the young grass sprout, queen of mankind, + Creator of all, guide of every birth, + Mother Ishtar, whose might no god approaches, + Exalted mistress, mighty in command! + A prayer I will utter, let her do what seems her good. + O my lady, make me to know my doing, + Food I have not eaten, weeping was my nourishment, + Water I have not drunk, tears were my drink, + My heart has not been joyful nor my spirits glad. + Many are my sins, sorrowful my soul. + O my lady, make me to know my doing, + Make me a place of rest, + Cleanse my sin, lift up my face. + May my god, the lord of prayer, before thee set my prayer! + May my goddess, the lady of supplication, before thee set + my supplication! + May the storm-god set my prayer before thee! + + [The intercession of a number of gods is here invoked.] + + Let thy eye rest graciously on me.... + Turn thy face graciously to me.... + Let thy heart be gentle, thy spirit mild.... + + + III + + O lady, in sorrow of heart sore oppressed I cry to thee. + O lady, to thy servant favor show. + Let thy heart be favorable, + To thy servant full of sorrow show thy pity, + Turn to him thy face, accept his prayer. + + + IV + + To thy servant with whom thou art angry graciously turn. + May the anger of my lord be appeased, + Appeased the god I know not! + The goddess I know, the goddess I know not, + The god who was angry with me, + The goddess who was angry with me be appeased! + The sin which I have committed I know not. + May my god name a gracious name, + My goddess name a gracious name, + The god I know, the god I know not + Name a gracious name, + The goddess I know, the goddess I know not + Name a gracious name! + Pure food I have not eaten, + Pure water I have not drunk, + The wrath of my god, though I knew it not, was my food, + The anger of my goddess, though I knew it not, cast me down. + O lord, many are my sins, great my misdeeds. + + [These phrases are repeated many times.] + + The lord has looked on me in anger, + The god has punished me in wrath, + The goddess was angry with me and hath brought me to sorrow. + I sought for help, but no one took my hand, + I wept, but no one to me came, + I cry aloud, there is none that hears me, + Sorrowful I lie on the ground, look not up. + To my merciful god I turn, I sigh aloud, + The feet of my goddess I kiss [.] + To the known and unknown god I loud do sigh, + To the known and unknown goddess I loud do sigh, + O lord, look on me, hear my prayer, + O goddess, look on me, hear my prayer. + + * * * * * + + Men are perverse, nothing they know. + Men of every name, what do they know? + Do they good or ill, nothing they know. + O lord, cast not down thy servant! + Him, plunged into the flood, seize by the hand! + The sin I have committed turn thou to favor! + The evil I have done may the wind carry it away! + Tear in pieces my wrong-doings like a garment! + My god, my sins are seven times seven--forgive my sins! + My goddess, my sins are seven times seven--forgive my sins! + Known and unknown god, my sins are seven times seven--forgive + my sins! + Known and unknown goddess, my sins are seven times seven--forgive + my sins! + Forgive my sins, and I will humbly bow before thee. + + + V + + May the lord, the mighty ruler Adar, announce my prayer to thee! + May the suppliant lady Nippur announce my prayer to thee! + May the lord of heaven and earth, the lord of Eridu, announce my + prayer to thee! + The mother of the great house, the goddess Damkina, announce my + prayer to thee! + May Marduk, the lord of Babylon, announce my prayer to thee! + May his consort, the exalted child of heaven and earth, announce my + prayer to thee! + May the exalted minister, the god who names the good name, announce + my prayer to thee! + May the bride, the first-born of the god, announce my prayer + to thee! + May the god of storm-flood, the lord Harsaga, announce my prayer + to thee! + May the gracious lady of the land announce my prayer to thee! + + + + + X. INSCRIPTION OF SENNACHERIB + + (Taylor-cylinder, B.C. 701. Cf. 2 Kings xviii., xix.) + + Sennacherib, the great king, the powerful king, + The king of the world, the king of Assyria, + The king of the four zones, + The wise shepherd, the favorite of the great gods, + The protector of justice, the lover of righteousness, + The giver of help, the aider of the weak, + The perfect hero, the stalwart warrior, the first of princes, + The destroyer of the rebellious, the destroyer of enemies, + Assur, the mighty rock, a kingdom without rival has granted me. + Over all who sit on sacred seats he has exalted my arms, + From the upper sea of the setting sun + To the lower sea of the rising sun, + All the blackheaded people he has cast beneath my feet, + The rebellious princes shun battle with me. + They forsook their dwellings; like a falcon + Which dwells in the clefts, they fled alone to an inaccessible + place. + + * * * * * + + To the city of Ekron I went, + The governors and princes who had done evil I slew, + I bound their corpses to poles around the city. + The inhabitants of the city who had done evil I reckoned as spoil; + To the rest who had done no wrong I spoke peace. + Padi, their king, I brought from Jerusalem, + King over them I made him. + The tribute of my lordship I laid upon him. + Hezekiah of Judah, who had not submitted to me, + Forty-six of his strong cities, small cities without number, + I besieged. + Casting down the walls, advancing engines, by assault I took them. + Two hundred thousand, one hundred and fifty men and women, young + and old, + Horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen, sheep, + I brought out and reckoned as spoil. + Hezekiah himself I shut up like a caged bird + In Jerusalem, his royal city, + The walls I fortified against him, + Whoever came out of the gates I turned him back. + His cities which I had plundered I divided from his land + And gave them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, + To Padi, king of Ekron, and to Silbal, king of Gaza. + To the former tribute paid yearly + I added the tribute of alliance of my lordship and + Laid that upon him. Hezekiah himself + Was overwhelmed by the fear of the brightness of my lordship. + The Arabians and his other faithful warriors + Whom, for the defence of Jerusalem, his royal city, + He had brought in, fell into fear, + With thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, + precious stones, + Couches of ivory, thrones of ivory, + And his daughters, his women of the palace, + The young men and the young women, to Nineveh, the city of my + lordship, + I caused to be brought after me, and he sent his ambassadors + To give tribute and to pay homage. + + + + XI. INVOCATION TO THE GODDESS BELTIS + + To Beltis, the great Lady, chief of heaven and earth, + Queen of all the gods, mighty in all the lands. + Honored is her festival among the Ishtars. + She surpasses her offspring in power. + She, the shining one, like her brother, the sun, + Enlightens Heaven and earth, + Mistress of the spirits of the underworld, + First-born of Anu, great among the gods, + Ruler over her enemies, + The seas she stirs up, + The wooded mountains tramples under foot. + Mistress of the spirits of upper air, + Goddess of battle and fight, + Without whom the heavenly temple + None would render obedience, + She, the bestower of strength, grants the desire of the faithful, + Prayers she hears, supplication receives, entreaty accepts. + Ishtar, the perfect light, all-powerful, + Who enlightens Heaven and earth, + Her name is proclaimed throughout all the lands, + Esarhaddon, king of lands, fear not. + To her it is good to pray. + + + + + XII. ORACLES OF ISHTAR OF ARBELA + (B.C. 680-668) + + Esarhaddon, king of lands, fear not. + The lord, the spirit who speaks to thee + I speak to him, I have not kept it back. + Thine enemies, like the floods of Sivan + Before thee flee perpetually. + I the great goddess, Ishtar of Arbela + Have put thine enemies to flight. + Where are the words I spake to thee? + Thou hast not trusted them. + I, Ishtar of Arbela, thy foes + Into thy hands I give + In the van and by thy side I go, fear not + In the midst of thy princes thou art. + In the midst of my host I advance and rest. + + O Esarhaddon, fear not. + Sixty great gods are with me to guard thee, + The Moon-god on thy right, the Sun-god on thy left, + Around thee stand the sixty great gods, + And make the centre firm. + Trust not to man, look thou to me + Honor me and fear not. + To Esarhaddon, my king, + Long days and length of years I give. + Thy throne beneath the heavens I have established; + In a golden dwelling thee I will guard in heaven + Guard like the diadem of my head. + The former word which I spake thou didst not trust, + But trust thou now this later word and glorify me, + When the day dawns bright complete thy sacrifice. + Pure food thou shalt eat, pure waters drink, + In thy palace thou shalt be pure. + Thy son, thy son's son the kingdom + By the blessing of Nergal shall rule. + + + + + XIII. AN ERECHITE'S LAMENT + + How long, O my Lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary? + There is want in Erech, thy principal city; + Blood is flowing like water in Eulbar, the house of thy oracle; + He has kindled and poured out fire like hailstones on all thy + lands. + My Lady, sorely am I fettered by misfortune; + My Lady, thou hast surrounded me, and brought me to grief. + The mighty enemy has smitten me down like a single reed. + Not wise myself, I cannot take counsel; + I mourn day and night like the fields. + I, thy servant, pray to thee. + Let thy heart take rest, let thy disposition be softened. + + + + +ABIGAIL ADAMS +(1744-1818) + +BY LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE + + +The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, adopted in the year +1780, contains an article for the Encouragement of Literature, which, it +declares, should be fostered because its influence is "to countenance +and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public +and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in +dealings, sincerity and good humor, and all social affections and +generous sentiments among the people." In these words, as in a mirror, +is reflected the Massachusetts of the eighteenth century, where +households like the Adamses', the Warrens', the Otises', made the +standard of citizenship. Six years before this remarkable document was +framed, Abigail Adams had written to her husband, then engaged in +nation-making in Philadelphia:--"I most sincerely wish that some more +liberal plan might be laid and executed for the benefit of the rising +generation, and that our new Constitution may be distinguished for +encouraging learning and virtue." And he, spending his days and nights +for his country, sacrificing his profession, giving up the hope of +wealth, writes her:--"I believe my children will think that I might as +well have labored a little, night and day, for their benefit. But I will +tell them that I studied and labored to procure a free constitution of +government for them to solace themselves under; and if they do not +prefer this to ample fortune, to ease and elegance, they are not my +children. They shall live upon thin diet, wear mean clothes, and work +hard with cheerful hearts and free spirits, or they may be the children +of the earth, or of no one, for me." + +[Illustration: ABIGAIL ADAMS] + +In old Weymouth, one of those quiet Massachusetts towns, half-hidden +among the umbrageous hills, where the meeting-house and the school-house +rose before the settlers' cabins were built, where the one elm-shaded +main street stretches its breadth between two lines of self-respecting, +isolated frame houses, each with its grassy dooryard, its lilac bushes, +its fresh-painted offices, its decorous wood-pile laid with +architectural balance and symmetry,--there, in the dignified parsonage, +on the 11th of November, 1744, was born to Parson William Smith and +Elizabeth his wife, Abigail, the second of three beautiful daughters. +Her mother was a Quincy, of a distinguished line, and _her_ mother was a +Norton, of a strain not less honorable. Nor were the Smiths unimportant. + +In that day girls had little instruction. Abigail says of herself, in +one of her letters:--"I never was sent to any school. Female education, +in the best families, went no further than writing and arithmetic; in +some few and rare instances, music and dancing. It was fashionable to +ridicule female learning." But the household was bookish. Her mother +knew the "British Poets" and all the literature of Queen Anne's Augustan +age. Her beloved grandmother Quincy, at Mount Wollaston, seems to have +had both learning and wisdom, and to her father she owed the sense of +fun, the shrewdness, the clever way of putting things which make her +letters so delightful. + +The good parson was skillful in adapting Scripture to special +exigencies, and throughout the Revolution he astonished his hearers by +the peculiar fitness of his texts to political uses. It is related of +him that when his eldest daughter married Richard Cranch, he preached to +his people from Luke, tenth chapter, forty-second verse: "And Mary hath +chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her." When, a +year later, young John Adams came courting the brilliant Abigail, the +parish, which assumed a right to be heard on the question of the destiny +of the minister's daughter, grimly objected. He was upright, singularly +abstemious, studious; but he was poor, he was the son of a small farmer, +and she was of the gentry. He was hot-headed and somewhat tactless, and +offended his critics. Worst of all, he was a lawyer, and the prejudice +of colonial society reckoned a lawyer hardly honest. He won this most +important of his cases, however, and Parson Smith's marriage sermon for +the bride of nineteen was preached from the text, "For John came neither +eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, He hath a devil." + +For ten years Mrs. Adams seems to have lived a most happy life, either +in Boston or Braintree, her greatest grief being the frequent absences +of her husband on circuit. His letters to her are many and delightful, +expressing again and again, in the somewhat formal phrases of the +period, his affection and admiration. She wrote seldom, her household +duties and the care of the children, of whom there were four in ten +years, occupying her busy hands. + +Meanwhile, the clouds were growing black in the political sky. Mr. Adams +wrote arguments and appeals in the news journals over Latin signatures, +papers of instructions to Representatives to the General Court, and +legal portions of the controversy between the delegates and Governor +Hutchinson. In all this work Mrs. Adams constantly sympathized and +advised. In August, 1774, he went to Philadelphia as a delegate to a +general council of the colonies called to concert measures for united +action. And now begins the famous correspondence, which goes on for a +period of nine years, which was intended to be seen only by the eyes of +her husband, which she begs him, again and again, to destroy as not +worth the keeping, yet which has given her a name and place among the +world's most charming letter-writers. + +Her courage, her cheerfulness, her patriotism, her patience never fail +her. Braintree, where, with her little brood, she is to stay, is close +to the British lines. Raids and foraging expeditions are imminent. Hopes +of a peaceful settlement grow dim. "What course you can or will take," +she writes her husband, "is all wrapped in the bosom of futurity. +Uncertainty and expectation leave the mind great scope. Did ever any +kingdom or State regain its liberty, when once it was invaded, without +bloodshed? I cannot think of it without horror. Yet we are told that all +the misfortunes of Sparta were occasioned by their too great solicitude +for present tranquillity, and, from an excessive love of peace, they +neglected the means of making it sure and lasting. They ought to have +reflected, says Polybius, that, 'as there is nothing more desirable or +advantageous than peace, when founded in justice and honor, so there is +nothing more shameful, and at the same time more pernicious, when +attained by bad measures, and purchased at the price of liberty.'" + +Thus in the high Roman fashion she faces danger; yet her sense of fun +never deserts her, and in the very next letter she writes, parodying her +husband's documents:--"The drouth has been very severe. My poor cows +will certainly prefer a petition to you, setting forth their grievances, +and informing you that they have been deprived of their ancient +privileges, whereby they are become great sufferers, and desiring that +these may be restored to them. More especially as their living, by +reason of the drouth, is all taken from them, and their property which +they hold elsewhere is decaying, they humbly pray that you would +consider them, lest hunger should break through stone walls." + +By midsummer the small hardships entailed by the British occupation of +Boston were most vexatious. "We shall very soon have no coffee, nor +sugar, nor pepper, but whortleberries and milk we are not obliged to +commerce for," she writes, and in letter after letter she begs for pins. +Needles are desperately needed, but without pins how can domestic life +go on, and not a pin in the province! + +On the 14th of September she describes the excitement in Boston, the +Governor mounting cannon on Beacon Hill, digging intrenchments on the +Neck, planting guns, throwing up breastworks, encamping a regiment. In +consequence of the powder being taken from Charlestown, she goes on to +say, a general alarm spread through all the towns and was soon caught in +Braintree. And then she describes one of the most extraordinary scenes +in history. About eight o'clock on Sunday evening, she writes to her +husband, at least two hundred men, preceded by a horse-cart, passed by +her door in dead silence, and marched down to the powder-house, whence +they took out the town's powder, because they dared not trust it where +there were so many Tories, carried it into the other parish, and there +secreted it. On their way they captured a notorious "King's man," and +found on him two warrants aimed at the Commonwealth. When their +patriotic trust was discharged, they turned their attention to the +trembling Briton. Profoundly excited and indignant though they were, +they never thought of mob violence, but, true to the inherited instincts +of their race, they resolved themselves into a public meeting! The +hostile warrants being produced and exhibited, it was put to a vote +whether they should be burned or preserved. The majority voted for +burning them. Then the two hundred gathered in a circle round the single +lantern, and maintained a rigid silence while the offending papers were +consumed. That done--the blazing eyes in that grim circle of patriots +watching the blazing writs--"they called a vote whether they should +huzza; but, it being Sunday evening, it passed in the negative!" + +Only in the New England of John Winthrop and the Mathers, of John Quincy +and the Adamses, would such a scene have been possible: a land of +self-conquest and self-control, of a deep love of the public welfare and +a willingness to take trouble for a public object. + +A little later Mrs. Adams writes her husband that there has been a +conspiracy among the negroes, though it has been kept quiet, "I wish +most sincerely," she adds, "that there was not a slave in the province. +It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me--to fight ourselves +for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good +a right to freedom as we have." + +Nor were the sympathies of this clever logician confined to the slaves. +A month or two before the Declaration of Independence was made she +writes her constructive statesman:--"I long to hear that you have +declared an independence. And by the way, in the new code of laws which +I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would +remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than +your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the +husbands! Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could! If +particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are +determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by +any laws in which we have no voice or representation. That your sex are +naturally tyrannical is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of +no dispute; but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the +harsh title of master for the more tender and endearing one of friend. +Why, then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the lawless to +use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of sense in all +ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex. +Regard us, then, as being placed by Providence under your protection; +and in imitation of the Supreme Being, make use of that power only for +our happiness."--a declaration of principles which the practical +housewife follows up by saying:--"I have not yet attempted making +salt-petre, but after soap-making, believe I shall make the experiment. +I find as much as I can do to manufacture clothing for my family, which +would else be naked. I have lately seen a small manuscript describing +the proportions of the various sorts of powder fit for cannon, small +arms, and pistols. If it would be of any service your way, I will get it +transcribed and send it to you." + +She is interested in everything, and she writes about everything in the +same whole-hearted way,--farming, paper money, the making of molasses +from corn-stalks, the new remedy of inoculation, 'Common Sense' and its +author, the children's handwriting, the state of Harvard College, the +rate of taxes, the most helpful methods of enlistment, Chesterfield's +Letters, the town elections, the higher education of women, and the +getting of homespun enough for Mr. Adams's new suit. + +She manages, with astonishing skill, to keep the household in comfort. +She goes through trials of sickness, death, agonizing suspense, and ever +with the same heroic cheerfulness, that her anxious husband may be +spared the pangs which she endures. When he is sent to France and +Holland, she accepts the new parting as another service pledged to her +country. She sees her darling boy of ten go with his father, aware that +at the best she must bear months of silence, knowing that they may +perish at sea or fall into the hands of privateers; but she writes with +indomitable cheer, sending the lad tender letters of good advice, a +little didactic to modern taste, but throbbing with affection. "Dear as +you are to me," says this tender mother, "I would much rather you should +have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed than see you an +immoral, profligate, or graceless child." + +It was the lot of this country parson's daughter to spend three years in +London as wife of the first American minister, to see her husband +Vice-President of the United States for eight years and President for +four, and to greet her son as the eminent Monroe's valued Secretary of +State, though she died, "seventy-four years young," before he became +President. She could not, in any station, be more truly a lady than when +she made soap and chopped kindling on her Braintree farm. At Braintree +she was no more simply modest than at the Court of St. James or in the +Executive Mansion. Her letters exactly reflect her ardent, sincere, +energetic nature. She shows a charming delight when her husband tells +her that his affairs could not possibly be better managed than she +manages them, and that she shines not less as a statesman than as a +farmeress. And though she was greatly admired and complimented, no +praise so pleased her as his declaration that for all the ingratitude, +calumnies, and misunderstandings that he had endured,--and they were +numberless,--her perfect comprehension of him had been his sufficient +compensation. + +Lucia Gilbert Runkle + + + +TO HER HUSBAND + +BRAINTREE, May 24th, 1775. + +_My Dearest Friend_: + +Our house has been, upon this alarm, in the same scene of +confusion that it was upon the former. Soldiers coming in +for a lodging, for breakfast, for supper, for drink, etc. +Sometimes refugees from Boston, tired and fatigued, seek an +asylum for a day, a night, a week. You can hardly imagine +how we live; yet-- + + "To the houseless child of want, + Our doors are open still; + And though our portions are but scant, + We give them with good will." + +My best wishes attend you, both for your health and happiness, and that +you may be directed into the wisest and best measures for our safety and +the security of our posterity. I wish you were nearer to us: we know not +what a day will bring forth, nor what distress one hour may throw us +into. Hitherto I have been able to maintain a calmness and presence of +mind, and hope I shall, let the exigency of the time be what it will. +Adieu, breakfast calls. + +Your affectionate PORTIA. + + + +WEYMOUTH, June 15th, 1775. + +I hope we shall see each other again, and rejoice together in happier +days; the little ones are well, and send duty to papa. Don't fail of +letting me hear from you by every opportunity. Every line is like a +precious relic of the saints. + +I have a request to make of you; something like the barrel of sand, I +suppose you will think it, but really of much more importance to me. It +is, that you would send out Mr. Bass, and purchase me a bundle of pins +and put them in your trunk for me. The cry for pins is so great that +what I used to buy for seven shillings and sixpence are now twenty +shillings, and not to be had for that. A bundle contains six thousand, +for which I used to give a dollar; but if you can procure them for fifty +shillings, or three pounds, pray let me have them. I am, with the +tenderest regard, Your PORTIA. + + + +BRAINTREE, June 18th, 1775. + +_My Dearest Friend_: + +The day--perhaps the decisive day is come, on which the fate of America +depends. My bursting heart must find vent at my pen. I have just heard +that our dear friend, Dr. Warren, is no more, but fell gloriously +fighting for his country, saying, "Better to die honorably in the field +than ignominiously hang upon the gallows." Great is our loss. He has +distinguished himself in every engagement by his courage and fortitude, +by animating the soldiers, and leading them on by his own example. A +particular account of these dreadful but, I hope, glorious days, will be +transmitted you, no doubt, in the exactest manner. + +"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but the God +of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Trust in +Him at all times, ye people: pour out your hearts before Him; God is a +refuge for us." Charlestown is laid in ashes. The battle began upon our +intrenchments upon Bunker's Hill, Saturday morning about three o'clock, +and has not ceased yet, and it is now three o'clock Sabbath afternoon. + +It is expected they will come out over the Neck to-night, and a dreadful +battle must ensue. Almighty God, cover the heads of our countrymen, and +be a shield to our dear friends! How many have fallen we know not. The +constant roar of the cannon is so distressing that we cannot eat, drink, +or sleep. May we be supported and sustained in the dreadful conflict. I +shall tarry here till it is thought unsafe by my friends, and then I +have secured myself a retreat at your brother's, who has kindly offered +me part of his house. I cannot compose myself to write any further at +present. I will add more as I hear further. + +Your PORTIA. + + + +BRAINTREE, November 27th, 1775. + +Colonel Warren returned last week to Plymouth, so that I shall not hear +anything from you until he goes back again, which will not be till the +last of this month. He damped my spirits greatly by telling me that the +court had prolonged your stay another month. I was pleasing myself with +the thought that you would soon be upon your return. It is in vain to +repine. I hope the public will reap what I sacrifice. + +I wish I knew what mighty things were fabricating. If a form of +government is to be established here, what one will be assumed? Will it +be left to our Assemblies to choose one? And will not many men have many +minds? And shall we not run into dissensions among ourselves? + +I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that +power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the +grave, cries, "Give, give!" The great fish swallow up the small; and he +who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with +power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government. You tell me of +degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and +I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should +arise from the scarcity of the instances. + +The building up a great empire, which was only hinted at by my +correspondent, may now, I suppose, be realized even by the unbelievers; +yet will not ten thousand difficulties arise in the formation of it? The +reins of government have been so long slackened that I fear the people +will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the +peace and security of the community. If we separate from Britain, what +code of laws will be established? How shall we be governed so as to +retain our liberties? Can any government be free which is not +administered by general stated laws? Who shall frame these laws? Who +will give them force and energy? It is true, your resolutions, as a +body, have hitherto had the force of laws; but will they continue +to have? + +When I consider these things, and the prejudices of people in favor of +ancient customs and regulations, I feel anxious for the fate of our +monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in +the labyrinth of perplexities; but, whatever occurs, may justice and +righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of +confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and +perseverance. + +I believe I have tired you with politics. As to news, we have not any at +all. I shudder at the approach of winter, when I think I am to +remain desolate. + +I must bid you good-night; 'tis late for me, who am much of an invalid. +I was disappointed last week in receiving a packet by post, and, upon +unsealing it, finding only four newspapers. I think you are more +cautious than you need be. All letters, I believe, have come safe to +hand. I have sixteen from you, and wish I had as many more. + + Your PORTIA. + + [By permission of the family.] + + +BRAIN TREE, April 20th, 1777. + +There is a general cry against the merchants, against monopolizers, +etc., who, 'tis said, have created a partial scarcity. That a scarcity +prevails of every article, not only of luxury but even the necessaries +of life, is a certain fact. Everything bears an exorbitant price. The +Act, which was in some measure regarded and stemmed the torrent of +oppression, is now no more heeded than if it had never been made. Indian +corn at five shillings; rye, eleven and twelve shillings, but scarcely +any to be had even at that price; beef, eightpence; veal, sixpence and +eightpence; butter, one and sixpence; mutton, none; lamb, none; pork, +none; mean sugar, four pounds per hundred; molasses, none; cotton-wool, +none; New England rum, eight shillings per gallon; coffee, two and +sixpence per pound; chocolate, three shillings. + +What can be done? Will gold and silver remedy this evil? By your +accounts of board, housekeeping, etc., I fancy you are not better off +than we are here. I live in hopes that we see the most difficult time +we have to experience. Why is Carolina so much better furnished than any +other State, and at so reasonable prices? Your PORTIA. + + +BRAINTREE, June 8th, 1779. + +Six months have already elapsed since I heard a syllable from you or my +dear son, and five since I have had one single opportunity of conveying +a line to you. Letters of various dates have lain months at the Navy +Board, and a packet and frigate, both ready to sail at an hour's +warning, have been months waiting the orders of Congress. They no doubt +have their reasons, or ought to have, for detaining them. I must +patiently wait their motions, however painful it is; and that it is so, +your own feelings will testify. Yet I know not but you are less a +sufferer than you would be to hear from us, to know our distresses, and +yet be unable to relieve them. The universal cry for bread, to a humane +heart, is painful beyond description, and the great price demanded and +given for it verifies that pathetic passage of Sacred Writ, "All that a +man hath will he give for his life." Yet He who miraculously fed a +multitude with five loaves and two fishes has graciously interposed in +our favor, and delivered many of the enemy's supplies into our hands, so +that our distresses have been mitigated. I have been able as yet to +supply my own family, sparingly, but at a price that would astonish you. +Corn is sold at four dollars, hard money, per bushel, which is equal to +eighty at the rate of exchange. + +Labor is at eight dollars per day, and in three weeks it will be at +twelve, it is probable, or it will be more stable than anything else. +Goods of all kinds are at such a price that I hardly dare mention it. +Linens are sold at twenty dollars per yard; the most ordinary sort of +calicoes at thirty and forty; broadcloths at forty pounds per yard; West +India goods full as high; molasses at twenty dollars per gallon; sugar, +four dollars per pound; Bohea tea at forty dollars; and our own produce +in proportion; butcher's meat at six and eight shillings per pound; +board at fifty and sixty dollars per week; rates high. That, I suppose, +you will rejoice at; so would I, did it remedy the evil. I pay five +hundred dollars, and a new Continental rate has just appeared, my +proportion of which will be two hundred more. I have come to this +determination,--to sell no more bills, unless I can procure hard money +for them, although I shall be obliged to allow a discount. If I sell for +paper, I throw away more than half, so rapid is the depreciation; nor do +I know that it will be received long. I sold a bill to Blodget at five +for one, which was looked upon as high at that time. The week after I +received it, two emissions were taken out of circulation, and the +greater part of what I had proved to be of that sort; so that those to +whom I was indebted are obliged to wait, and before it becomes due, or +is exchanged, it will be good for--as much as it will fetch, which will +be nothing, if it goes on as it has done for this three months past. I +will not tire your patience any longer. I have not drawn any further +upon you. I mean to wait the return of the Alliance, which with longing +eyes I look for. God grant it may bring me comfortable tidings from my +dear, dear friend, whose welfare is so essential to my happiness that it +is entwined around my heart, and cannot be impaired or separated from it +without rending it asunder. + +I cannot say that I think our affairs go very well here. Our currency +seems to be the source of all our evils. We cannot fill up our +Continental army by means of it. No bounty will prevail with them. What +can be done with it? It will sink in less than a year. The advantage the +enemy daily gains over us is owing to this. Most truly did you prophesy, +when you said that they would do all the mischief in their power with +the forces they had here. + +My tenderest regards ever attend you. In all places and situations, know +me to be ever, ever yours. + + +AUTEUIL, 5th September, 1784. + +_My, Dear Sister_: + +Auteuil is a village four miles distant from Paris, and one from Passy. +The house we have taken is large, commodious, and agreeably situated +near the woods of Boulogne, which belong to the King, and which Mr. +Adams calls his park, for he walks an hour or two every day in them. The +house is much larger than we have need of; upon occasion, forty beds may +be made in it. I fancy it must be very cold in winter. There are few +houses with the privilege which this enjoys, that of having the salon, +as it is called, the apartment where we receive company, upon the first +floor. This room is very elegant, and about a third larger than General +Warren's hall. The dining-room is upon the right hand, and the salon +upon the left, of the entry, which has large glass doors opposite to +each other, one opening into the court, as they call it, the other into +a large and beautiful garden. Out of the dining-room you pass through an +entry into the kitchen, which is rather small for so large a house. In +this entry are stairs which you ascend, at the top of which is a long +gallery fronting the street, with six windows, and opposite to each +window you open into the chambers, which all look into the garden. + +But with an expense of thirty thousand livres in looking-glasses, there +is no table in the house better than an oak board, nor a carpet +belonging to the house. The floors I abhor, made of red tiles in the +shape of Mrs. Quincy's floor-cloth tiles. These floors will by no means +bear water, so that the method of cleaning them is to have them waxed, +and then a manservant with foot brushes drives round your room, dancing +here and there like a Merry Andrew. This is calculated to take from your +foot every atom of dirt, and leave the room in a few moments as he found +it. The house must be exceedingly cold in winter. The dining-rooms, of +which you make no other use, are laid with small stones, like the red +tiles for shape and size. The servants' apartments are generally upon +the first floor, and the stairs which you commonly have to ascend to get +into the family apartments are so dirty that I have been obliged to hold +up my clothes as though I was passing through a cow-yard. + +I have been but little abroad. It is customary in this country for +strangers to make the first visit. As I cannot speak the language, I +think I should make rather an awkward figure. I have dined abroad +several times with Mr. Adams's particular friends, the Abbés, who are +very polite and civil,--three sensible and worthy men. The Abbé de Mably +has lately published a book, which he has dedicated to Mr. Adams. This +gentleman is nearly eighty years old; the Abbé Chalut, seventy-five; and +Arnoux about fifty, a fine sprightly man, who takes great pleasure in +obliging his friends. Their apartments were really nice. I have dined +once at Dr. Franklin's, and once at Mr. Barclay's, our consul, who has a +very agreeable woman for his wife, and where I feel like being with a +friend. Mrs. Barclay has assisted me in my purchases, gone with me to +different shops, etc. To-morrow I am to dine at Monsieur Grand's; but I +have really felt so happy within doors, and am so pleasingly situated, +that I have had little inclination to change the scene. I have not been +to one public amusement as yet, not even the opera, though we have one +very near us. + +You may easily suppose I have been fully employed, beginning +housekeeping anew, and arranging my family to our no small expenses and +trouble; for I have had bed-linen and table-linen to purchase and make, +spoons and forks to get made of silver,--three dozen of each,--besides +tea furniture, china for the table, servants to procure, etc. The +expense of living abroad I always supposed to be high, but my ideas were +nowise adequate to the thing. I could have furnished myself in the town +of Boston with everything I have, twenty or thirty per cent, cheaper +than I have been able to do it here. Everything which will bear the name +of elegant is imported from England, and if you will have it, you must +pay for it, duties and all. I cannot get a dozen handsome wineglasses +under three guineas, nor a pair of small decanters for less than a +guinea and a half. The only gauze fit to wear is English, at a crown a +yard; so that really a guinea goes no further than a copper with us. For +this house, garden, stables, etc., we give two hundred guineas a year. +Wood is two guineas and a half per cord; coal, six livres the basket of +about two bushels; this article of firing we calculate at one hundred +guineas a year. The difference between coming upon this negotiation to +France, and remaining at the Hague, where the house was already +furnished at the expense of a thousand pounds sterling, will increase +the expense here to six or seven hundred guineas; at a time, too, when +Congress has cut off five hundred guineas from what they have heretofore +given. For our coachman and horses alone (Mr. Adams purchased a coach in +England) we give fifteen guineas a month. It is the policy of this +country to oblige you to a certain number of servants, and one will not +touch what belongs to the business of another, though he or she has time +enough to perform the whole. In the first place, there is a coachman who +does not an individual thing but attend to the carriages and horses; +then the gardener, who has business enough; then comes the cook; then +the _maitre d'hotel_,--his business is to purchase articles in the +family, and oversee that nobody cheats but himself; a _valet de +chambre,_--John serves in this capacity; a _femme de chambre_,--Esther +serves for this, and is worth a dozen others; a _coiffeuse_,--for this +place I have a French girl about nineteen, whom I have been upon the +point of turning-away, because madam will not brush a chamber: "it is +not de fashion, it is not her business." I would not have kept her a day +longer, but found, upon inquiry, that I could not better myself, and +hair-dressing here is very expensive unless you keep such a madam in the +house. She sews tolerably well, so I make her as useful as I can. She is +more particularly devoted to mademoiselle. Esther diverted me yesterday +evening by telling me that she heard her go muttering by her chamber +door, after she had been assisting Abby in dressing. "Ah, mon Dieu, 'tis +provoking"--(she talks a little English).--"Why, what is the matter, +Pauline: what is provoking?"--"Why, Mademoiselle look so pretty, I so +_mauvais_." There is another indispensable servant, who is called a +_frotteur_: his business is to rub the floors. + +We have a servant who acts as _maitre d'hotel,_ whom I like at present, +and who is so very gracious as to act as footman too, to save the +expense of another servant, upon condition that we give him a +gentleman's suit of clothes in lieu of a livery. Thus, with seven +servants and hiring a charwoman upon occasion of company, we may +possibly make out to keep house; with less, we should be hooted at as +ridiculous, and could not entertain any company. To tell this in our own +country would be considered as extravagance; but would they send a +person here in a public character to be a public jest? At lodgings in +Paris last year, during Mr. Adams's negotiation for a peace, it was as +expensive to him as it is now at housekeeping, without half the +accommodations. + +Washing is another expensive article: the servants are all allowed +theirs, besides their wages; our own costs us a guinea a week. I have +become steward and bookkeeper, determined to know with accuracy what our +expenses are, to prevail with Mr. Adams to return to America if he finds +himself straitened, as I think he must be. Mr. Jay went home because he +could not support his family here with the whole salary; what then can +be done, curtailed as it now is, with the additional expense? Mr. Adams +is determined to keep as little company as he possibly can; but some +entertainments we must make, and it is no unusual thing for them to +amount to fifty or sixty guineas at a time. More is to be performed by +way of negotiation, many times, at one of these entertainments, than at +twenty serious conversations; but the policy of our country has been, +and still is, to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. We stand in +sufficient need of economy, and in the curtailment of other salaries I +suppose they thought it absolutely necessary to cut off their foreign +ministers. But, my own interest apart, the system is bad; for that +nation which degrades their own ministers by obliging them to live in +narrow circumstances, cannot expect to be held in high estimation +themselves. We spend no evenings abroad, make no suppers, attend very +few public entertainments,--or spectacles, as they are called,--and +avoid every expense that is not held indispensable. Yet I cannot but +think it hard that a gentleman who has devoted so great a part of his +life to the service of the public, who has been the means, in a great +measure, of procuring such extensive territories to his country, who +saved their fisheries, and who is still laboring to procure them further +advantages, should find it necessary so cautiously to calculate his +pence, for fear of overrunning them. I will add one more expense. There +is now a court mourning, and every foreign minister, with his family, +must go into mourning for a Prince of eight years old, whose father is +an ally to the King of France. This mourning is ordered by the Court, +and is to be worn eleven days only. Poor Mr. Jefferson had to his away +for a tailor to get a whole black-silk suit made up in two days; and at +the end of eleven days, should another death happen, he will be obliged +to have a new suit of mourning, of cloth, because that is the season +when silk must be left off. We may groan and scold, but these are +expenses which cannot be avoided; for fashion is the deity every one +worships in this country, and from the highest to the lowest, you must +submit. Even poor John and Esther had no comfort among the servants, +being constantly the subjects of ridicule, until we were obliged to +direct them to have their hair dressed. Esther had several crying fits +upon the occasion, that she should be forced to be so much of a fool; +but there was no way to keep them from being trampled upon but this, and +now that they are _à la mode de Paris_, they are much respected. To be +out of fashion is more criminal than to be seen in a state of nature, to +which the Parisians are not averse. + + +AUTEUIL, NEAR PARIS, 10th May, 1785. + +Did you ever, my dear Betsey, see a person in real life such as your +imagination formed of Sir Charles Grandison? The Baron de Staël, the +Swedish Ambassador, comes nearest to that character, in his manners and +personal appearance, of any gentleman I ever saw. The first time I saw +him I was prejudiced in his favor, for his countenance commands your +good opinion: it is animated, intelligent, sensible, affable, and +without being perfectly beautiful, is most perfectly agreeable; add to +this a fine figure, and who can fail in being charmed with the Baron de +Staël? He lives in a grand hotel, and his suite of apartments, his +furniture, and his table, are the most elegant of anything I have seen. +Although you dine upon plate in every noble house in France, I cannot +say that you may see your face in it; but here the whole furniture of +the table was burnished, and shone with regal splendor. Seventy thousand +livres in plate will make no small figure; and that is what his Majesty +gave him. The dessert was served on the richest china, with knives, +forks, and spoons of gold. As you enter his apartments, you pass through +files of servants into his ante-chamber, in which is a throne covered +with green velvet, upon which is a chair of state, over which hangs the +picture of his royal master. These thrones are common to all ambassadors +of the first order, as they are immediate representatives of the king. +Through this ante-chamber you pass into the grand salon, which is +elegantly adorned with architecture, a beautiful lustre hanging from the +middle. Settees, chairs, and hangings of the richest silk, embroidered +with gold; marble slabs upon Muted pillars, round which wreaths of +artificial flowers in gold entwine. It is usual to find in all houses of +fashion, as in this, several dozens of chairs, all of which have stuffed +backs and cushions, standing in double rows round the rooms. The +dining-room was equally beautiful, being hung with Gobelin tapestry, the +colors and figures of which resemble the most elegant painting. In this +room were hair-bottom mahogany-backed chairs, and the first I have seen +since I came to France. Two small statues of a Venus de Medicis, and a +Venus de ---- (ask Miss Paine for the other name), were upon the +mantelpiece. The latter, however, was the most modest of the kind, +having something like a loose robe thrown partly over her. From the +Swedish Ambassador's we went to visit the Duchess d'Enville, who is +mother to the Duke de Rochefoucault. We found the old lady sitting in an +easy-chair; around her sat a circle of Academicians, and by her side a +young lady. Your uncle presented us, and the old lady rose, and, as +usual, gave us a salute. As she had no paint, I could put up with it; +but when she approached your cousin I could think of nothing but Death +taking hold of Hebe. The duchess is near eighty, very tall and lean. +She was dressed in a silk chemise, with very large sleeves, coming +half-way down her arm, a large cape, no stays, a black-velvet girdle +round her waist, some very rich lace in her chemise, round her neck, and +in her sleeves; but the lace was not sufficient to cover the upper part +of her neck, which old Time had harrowed; she had no cap on, but a +little gauze bonnet, which did not reach her ears, and tied under her +chin, her venerable white hairs in full view. The dress of old women and +young girls in this country is _detestable_, to speak in the French +style; the latter at the age of seven being clothed exactly like a woman +of twenty, and the former have such a fantastical appearance that I +cannot endure it. The old lady has all the vivacity of a young one. She +is the most learned woman in France; her house is the resort of all men +of literature, with whom she converses upon the most abstruse subjects. +She is of one of the most ancient, as well as the richest families in +the kingdom. She asked very archly when Dr. Franklin was going to +America. Upon being told, says she, "I have heard that he is a prophet +there;" alluding to that text of Scripture, "A prophet is not without +honor," etc. It was her husband who commanded the fleet which once +spread such terror in our country. + + +TO HER SISTER + + LONDON, Friday, 24th July 1784. + +_My Dear Sister_: + +I am not a little surprised to find dress, unless upon public occasions, +so little regarded here. The gentlemen are very plainly dressed, and the +ladies much more so than with us. 'Tis true, you must put a hoop on and +have your hair dressed; but a common straw hat, no cap, with only a +ribbon upon the crown, is thought dress sufficient to go into company. +Muslins are much in taste; no silks but lutestrings worn; but send not +to London for any article you want: you may purchase anything you can +name much lower in Boston. I went yesterday into Cheapside to purchase a +few articles, but found everything higher than in Boston. Silks are in a +particular manner so; they say, when they are exported, there is a +drawback upon them, which makes them lower with us. Our country, alas, +our country! they are extravagant to astonishment in entertainments +compared with what Mr. Smith and Mr. Storer tell me of this. You will +not find at a gentleman's table more than two dishes of meat, though +invited several days beforehand. Mrs. Atkinson went out with me +yesterday, and Mrs. Hay, to the shops. I returned and dined with Mrs. +Atkinson, by her invitation the evening before, in company with Mr. +Smith, Mrs. Hay, Mr. Appleton. We had a turbot, a soup, and a roast leg +of lamb, with a cherry pie.... + +The wind has prevented the arrival of the post. The city of London is +pleasanter than I expected; the buildings more regular, the streets much +wider, and more sunshine than I thought to have found: but this, they +tell me, is the pleasantest season to be in the city. At my lodgings I +am as quiet as at any place in Boston; nor do I feel as if it could be +any other place than Boston. Dr. Clark visits us every day; says he +cannot feel at home anywhere else: declares he has not seen a handsome +woman since he came into the city; that every old woman looks like Mrs. +H----, and every young one like--like the D---l. They paint here nearly +as much as in France, but with more art. The head-dress disfigures them +in the eyes of an American. I have seen many ladies, but not one elegant +one since I came; there is not to me that neatness in their appearance +which you see in our ladies. + +The American ladies are much admired here by the gentlemen, I am told, +and in truth I wonder not at it. Oh, my country, my country! preserve, +preserve the little purity and simplicity of manners you yet possess. +Believe me, they are jewels of inestimable value; the softness, +peculiarly characteristic of our sex, and which is so pleasing to the +gentlemen, is wholly laid aside here for the masculine attire and +manners of Amazonians. + + +LONDON, BATH HOTEL, WESTMINSTER, 24th June, 1785. + +_My Dear Sister_: + +I have been here a month without writing a single line to my American +friends. On or about the twenty-eighth of May we reached London, and +expected to have gone into our old quiet lodgings at the Adelphi; but we +found every hotel full. The sitting of Parliament, the birthday of the +King, and the famous celebration of the music of Handel, at Westminster +Abbey, had drawn together such a concourse of people that we were glad +to get into lodgings at the moderate price of a guinea per day, for two +rooms and two chambers, at the Bath Hotel, Westminster, Piccadilly, +where we yet are. This being the Court end of the city, it is the +resort of a vast concourse of carriages. It is too public and noisy for +pleasure, but necessity is without law. The ceremony of presentation, +upon one week to the King, and the next to the Queen, was to take place, +after which I was to prepare for mine. It is customary, upon +presentation, to receive visits from all the foreign ministers; so that +we could not exchange our lodgings for more private ones, as we might +and should, had we been only in a private character. The foreign +ministers and several English lords and earls have paid their +compliments here, and all hitherto is civil and polite. I was a +fortnight, all the time I could get, looking at different houses, but +could not find any one fit to inhabit under £200, beside the taxes, +which mount up to £50 or £60. At last my good genius carried me to one +in Grosvenor Square, which was not let, because the person who had the +care of it could let it only for the remaining lease, which was one year +and three-quarters. The price, which is not quite two hundred pounds, +the situation, and all together, induced us to close the bargain, and I +have prevailed upon the person who lets it to paint two rooms, which +will put it into decent order; so that, as soon as our furniture comes, +I shall again commence housekeeping. Living at a hotel is, I think, more +expensive than housekeeping, in proportion to what one has for his +money. We have never had more than two dishes at a time upon our table, +and have not pretended to ask any company, and yet we live at a greater +expense than twenty-five guineas per week. The wages of servants, horse +hire, house rent, and provisions are much dearer here than in France. +Servants of various sorts, and for different departments, are to be +procured; their characters are to be inquired into, and this I take upon +me, even to the coachman, You can hardly form an idea how much I miss my +son on this, as well as on many other accounts; but I cannot bear to +trouble Mr. Adams with anything of a domestic kind, who, from morning +until evening, has sufficient to occupy all his time. You can have no +idea of the petitions, letters, and private applications for assistance, +which crowd our doors. Every person represents his case as dismal. Some +may really be objects of compassion, and some we assist; but one must +have an inexhaustible purse to supply them all. Besides, there are so +many gross impositions practiced, as we have found in more instances +than one, that it would take the whole of a person's time to trace all +their stories. Many pretend to have been American soldiers, some have +served as officers. A most glaring instance of falsehood, however, +Colonel Smith detected in a man of these pretensions, who sent to Mr. +Adams from the King's Bench prison, and modestly desired five guineas; a +qualified cheat, but evidently a man of letters and abilities: but if it +is to continue in this way, a galley slave would have an easier task. + +The Tory venom has begun to spit itself forth in the public papers, as I +expected, bursting with envy that an American minister should be +received here with the same marks of attention, politeness, and +civility, which are shown to the ministers of any other power. When a +minister delivers his credentials to the King, it is always in his +private closet, attended only by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, which +is called a private audience, and the minister presented makes some +little address to his Majesty, and the same ceremony to the Queen, whose +reply was in these words: "Sir, I thank you for your civility to me and +my family, and I am glad to see you in this country;" then she very +politely inquired whether he had got a house yet. The answer of his +Majesty was much longer; but I am not at liberty to say more respecting +it, than that it was civil and polite, and that his Majesty said he was +glad the choice of his country had fallen upon him. The news-liars know +nothing of the matter; they represent it just to answer their purpose. +Last Thursday, Colonel Smith was presented at Court, and to-morrow, at +the Queen's circle, my ladyship and your niece make our compliments. +There is no other presentation in Europe in which I should feel as much +as in this. Your own reflections will easily suggest the reasons. + +I have received a very friendly and polite visit from the Countess of +Effingham. She called, and not finding me at home, left a card. I +returned her visit, but was obliged to do it by leaving my card too, as +she was gone out of town; but when her ladyship returned, she sent her +compliments and word that if agreeable she would take a dish of tea with +me, and named her day. She accordingly came, and appeared a very polite, +sensible woman. She is about forty, a good person, though a little +masculine, elegant in her appearance, very easy and social. The Earl of +Effingham is too well remembered by America to need any particular +recital of his character. His mother is first lady to the Queen. When +her ladyship took leave, she desired I would let her know the day I +would favor her with a visit, as she should be loath to be absent. She +resides, in summer, a little distance from town. The Earl is a member of +Parliament, which obliges him now to be in town, and she usually comes +with him, and resides at a hotel a little distance from this. + +I find a good many ladies belonging to the Southern States here, many of +whom have visited me; I have exchanged visits with several, yet neither +of us have met. The custom is, however, here much more agreeable than in +France, for it is as with us: the stranger is first visited. + +The ceremony of presentation here is considered as indispensable. There +are four minister-plenipotentiaries' ladies here; but one ambassador, +and he has no lady. In France, the ladies of ambassadors only are +presented. One is obliged here to attend the circles of the Queen, which +are held in summer once a fortnight, but once a week the rest of the +year; and what renders it exceedingly expensive is, that you cannot go +twice the same season in the same dress, and a Court dress you cannot +make use of anywhere else. I directed my mantuamaker to let my dress be +elegant, but plain as I could possibly appear, with decency; +accordingly, it is white lutestring, covered and full trimmed with white +crape, festooned with lilac ribbon and mock point lace, over a hoop of +enormous extent; there is only a narrow train of about three yards in +length to the gown waist, which is put into a ribbon upon the left side, +the Queen only having her train borne. Ruffle cuffs for married ladies, +treble lace lappets, two white plumes, and a blond lace handkerchief. +This is my rigging, I should have mentioned two pearl pins in my hair, +earrings and necklace of the same kind. + + +THURSDAY MORNING. + +My head is dressed for St. James's, and in my opinion looks very tasty. +While my daughter's is undergoing the same operation, I set myself down +composedly to write you a few lines. "Well," methinks I hear Betsey and +Lucy say, "what is cousin's dress?" White, my dear girls, like your +aunt's, only differently trimmed and ornamented: her train being wholly +of white crape, and trimmed with white ribbon; the petticoat, which is +the most showy part of the dress, covered and drawn up in what are +called festoons, with light wreaths of beautiful flowers; the sleeves +white crape, drawn over the silk, with a row of lace round the sleeve +near the shoulder, another half-way down the arm, and a third upon the +top of the ruffle, a little flower stuck between; a kind of hat-cap, +with three large feathers and a bunch of flowers; a wreath of flowers +upon the hair. Thus equipped, we go in our own carriage, and Mr. Adams +and Colonel Smith in his. But I must quit my pen to put myself in order +for the ceremony, which begins at two o'clock. When I return, I will +relate to you my reception; but do not let it circulate, as there may be +persons eager to catch at everything, and as much given to +misrepresentation as here. I would gladly be excused the ceremony. + + +FRIDAY MORNING. + +Congratulate me, my dear sister: it is over. I was too much fatigued to +write a line last evening. At two o'clock we went to the circle, which +is in the drawing-room of the Queen. We passed through several +apartments, lined as usual with spectators upon these occasions. Upon +entering the ante-chamber, the Baron de Lynden, the Dutch Minister, who +has been often here, came and spoke with me. A Count Sarsfield, a French +nobleman, with whom I was acquainted, paid his compliments. As I passed +into the drawing-room, Lord Carmarthen and Sir Clement Cotterel Dormer +were presented to me. Though they had been several times here, I had +never seen them before. The Swedish and the Polish Ministers made their +compliments, and several other gentlemen; but not a single lady did I +know until the Countess of Effingham came, who was very civil. There +were three young ladies, daughters of the Marquis of Lothian, who were +to be presented at the same time, and two brides. We were placed in a +circle round the drawing-room, which was very full; I believe two +hundred persons present. Only think of the task! The royal family have +to go round to every person and find small talk enough to speak to them +all, though they very prudently speak in a whisper, so that only the +person who stands next to you can hear what is said. The King enters the +room and goes round to the right; the Queen and Princesses to the left. +The lord-in-waiting presents you to the King; and the lady-in-waiting +does the same to her Majesty. The King is a personable man; but, my dear +sister, he has a certain countenance, which you and I have often +remarked: a red face and white eyebrows. The Queen has a similar +countenance, and the numerous royal family confirm the observation. +Persons are not placed according to their rank in the drawing-room, but +promiscuously; and when the King comes in, he takes persons as they +stand. When he came to me, Lord Onslow said, "Mrs. Adams;" upon which I +drew off my right-hand glove, and his Majesty saluted my left cheek; +then asked me if I had taken a walk to-day. I could have told his +Majesty that I had been all the morning preparing to wait upon him; but +I replied, "No, Sire." "Why, don't you love walking?" says he. I +answered that I was rather indolent in that respect. He then bowed, and +passed on. It was more than two hours after this before it came to my +turn to be presented to the Queen. The circle was so large that the +company were four hours standing. The Queen was evidently embarrassed +when I was presented to her. I had disagreeable feelings, too. She, +however, said, "Mrs. Adams, have you got into your house? Pray, how do +you like the situation of it?" While the Princess Royal looked +compassionate, and asked me if I was not much fatigued; and observed, +that it was a very full drawing-room. Her sister, who came next, +Princess Augusta, after having asked your niece if she was ever in +England before, and her answering "Yes," inquired of me how long ago, +and supposed it was when she was very young. All this is said with much +affability, and the ease and freedom of old acquaintance. The manner in +which they make their tour round the room is, first, the Queen, the +lady-in-waiting behind her, holding up her train; next to her, the +Princess Royal; after her, Princess Augusta, and their lady-in-waiting +behind them. They are pretty, rather than beautiful; well-shaped, fair +complexions, and a tincture of the King's countenance. The two sisters +look much alike; they were both dressed in black and silver silk, with +silver netting upon the coat, and their heads full of diamond pins. The +Queen was in purple and silver. She is not well shaped nor handsome. As +to the ladies of the Court, rank and title may compensate for want of +personal charms; but they are, in general, very plain, ill-shaped, and +ugly; but don't you tell anybody that I say so. If one wants to see +beauty, one must go to Ranelagh; there it is collected, in one bright +constellation. There were two ladies very elegant, at Court,--Lady +Salisbury and Lady Talbot; but the observation did not in general hold +good that fine feathers make fine birds. I saw many who were vastly +richer dressed than your friends, but I will venture to say that I saw +none neater or more elegant: which praise I ascribe to the taste of Mrs. +Temple and my mantuamaker; for, after having declared that I would not +have any foil or tinsel about me, they fixed upon the dress I have +described. + + +[Inclosure to her niece] + +_My Dear Betsey_: + +I believe I once promised to give you an account of that kind of +visiting called a ladies' rout. There are two kinds; one where a lady +sets apart a particular day in the week to see company. These are held +only five months in the year, it being quite out of fashion to be seen +in London during the summer. When a lady returns from the country she +goes round and leaves a card with all her acquaintance, and then sends +them an invitation to attend her routs during the season. The other kind +is where a lady sends to you for certain evenings, and the cards are +always addressed in her own name, both to gentlemen and ladies. The +rooms are all set open, and card tables set in each room, the lady of +the house receiving her company at the door of the drawing-room, where a +set number of courtesies are given and received, with as much order as +is necessary for a soldier who goes through the different evolutions of +his exercise. The visitor then proceeds into the room without appearing +to notice any other person, and takes her seat at the card table. + + "Nor can the muse her aid impart, + Unskilled in all the terms of art, + Nor in harmonious numbers put + The deal, the shuffle, and the cut. + Go, Tom, and light the ladies up, + It must be one before we sup." + +At these parties it is usual for each lady to play a rubber, as it is +termed, when you must lose or win a few guineas. To give each a fair +chance, the lady then rises and gives her seat to another set. It is no +unusual thing to have your rooms so crowded that not more than half the +company can sit at once, yet this is called _society and polite life_. +They treat their company with coffee, tea, lemonade, orgeat, and cake. I +know of but one agreeable circumstance attending these parties, which +is, that you may go away when you please without disturbing anybody. I +was early in the winter invited to Madame de Pinto's, the Portuguese +Minister's. I went accordingly. There were about two hundred persons +present. I knew not a single lady but by sight, having met them at +Court; and it is an established rule, though you were to meet as often +as three nights in the week, never to speak together, or know each other +unless particularly introduced. I was, however, at no loss for +conversation, Madame de Pinto being very polite, and the foreign +ministers being the most of them present, who had dined with us, and to +whom I had been early introduced. It being Sunday evening, I declined +playing cards; indeed, I always get excused when I can. And Heaven +forbid I should + + "Catch the manners living as they rise." + +Yet I must submit to a party or two of this kind. Having attended +several, I must return the compliment in the same way. Yesterday we +dined at Mrs. Paradice's. I refer you to Mr. Storer for an account of +this family. Mr. Jefferson, Colonel Smith, the Prussian and Venetian +ministers, were of the company, and several other persons who were +strangers. At eight o'clock we returned home in order to dress ourselves +for the ball at the French Ambassador's, to which we had received an +invitation a fortnight before. He has been absent ever since our arrival +here, till three weeks ago. He has a levee every Sunday evening, at +which there are usually several hundred persons. The Hotel de France is +beautifully situated, fronting St. James's Park, one end of the house +standing upon Hyde Park. It is a most superb building. About half-past +nine we went, and found some company collected. Many very brilliant +ladies of the first distinction were present. The dancing commenced +about ten, and the rooms soon filled. The room which he had built for +this purpose is large enough for five or six hundred persons. It is most +elegantly decorated, hung with a gold tissue, ornamented with twelve +brilliant cut lustres, each containing twenty-four candles. At one end +there are two large arches; these were adorned with wreaths and bunches +of artificial flowers upon the walls; in the alcoves were cornucopiae +loaded with oranges, sweetmeats, and other trifles. Coffee, tea, +lemonade, orgeat, and so forth, were taken here by every person who +chose to go for them. There were covered seats all around the room for +those who chose to dance. In the other rooms, card tables, and a large +faro table, were set; this is a new kind of game, which is much +practiced here. Many of the company who did not dance retired here to +amuse themselves. The whole style of the house and furniture is such as +becomes the ambassador from one of the first monarchies in Europe. He +had twenty thousand guineas allowed him in the first instance to furnish +his house, and an annual salary of ten thousand more. He has agreeably +blended the magnificence and splendor of France with the neatness and +elegance of England. Your cousin had unfortunately taken a cold a few +days before, and was very unfit to go out. She appeared so unwell that +about one we retired without staying for supper, the sight of which only +I regretted, as it was, in style, no doubt, superior to anything I have +seen. The Prince of Wales came about eleven o'clock. Mrs. Fitzherbert +was also present, but I could not distinguish her. But who is this lady? +methinks I hear you say. She is a lady to whom, against the laws of the +realm, the Prince of Wales is privately married, as is universally +believed. She appears with him in all public parties, and he avows his +marriage wherever he dares. They have been the topic of conversation in +all companies for a long time, and it is now said that a young George +may be expected in the course of the summer. She was a widow of about +thirty-two years of age, whom he a long time persecuted in order to get +her upon his own terms; but finding he could not succeed, he quieted her +conscience by matrimony, which, however valid in the eye of heaven, is +set aside by the laws of the land, which forbids a prince of the blood +to marry a subject. As to dresses, I believe I must leave them to be +described to your sister. I am sorry I have nothing better to send you +than a sash and a Vandyke ribbon. The narrow is to put round the edge of +a hat, or you may trim whatever you please with it. + + + + +HENRY ADAMS + +(1838-) + + +The gifts of expression and literary taste which have always +characterized the Adams family are most prominently represented by this +historian. He has also its great memory, power of acquisition, +intellectual independence, and energy of nature. The latter is tempered +in him with inherited self-control, the moderation of judgment bred by +wide historical knowledge, and a pervasive atmosphere of literary +good-breeding which constantly substitutes allusive irony for crude +statement, the rapier for the tomahawk. + +Henry Adams is the third son of Charles Francis Adams, Sr.,--the able +Minister to England during the Civil War,--and grandson of John Quincy +Adams. He was born in Boston, February 16th, 1838, graduated from +Harvard in 1858, and served as private secretary to his father in +England. In 1870 he became editor of the North American Review and +Professor of History at Harvard, in which place he won wide repute for +originality and power of inspiring enthusiasm for research in his +pupils. He has written several essays and books on historical subjects, +and edited others,--'Essays on Anglo-Saxon Law' (1876), 'Documents +Relating to New England Federalism' (1877), 'Albert Gallatin' (1879), +'Writings of Albert Gallatin' (1879), 'John Randolph' (1882) in the +'American Statesmen' Series, and 'Historical Essays'; but his great +life-work and monument is his 'History of the United States, 1801-17' +(the Jefferson and Madison administrations), to write which he left his +professorship in 1877, and after passing many years in London, in other +foreign capitals, in Washington, and elsewhere, studying archives, +family papers, published works, shipyards, and many other things, in +preparation for it, published the first volume in 1889, and the last in +1891. It is in nine volumes, of which the introductory chapters and the +index make up one. + +The work in its inception (though not in its execution) is a polemic +tract--a family vindication, an act of pious duty; its sub-title might +be, 'A Justification of John Quincy Adams for Breaking with the +Federalist Party.' So taken, the reader who loves historical fights and +seriously desires truth should read the chapters on the Hartford +Convention and its preliminaries side by side with the corresponding +pages in Henry Cabot Lodge's 'Life of George Cabot.' If he cannot judge +from the pleadings of these two able advocates with briefs for different +sides, it is not for lack of full exposition. + +But the 'History' is far more and higher than a piece of special +pleading. It is in the main, both as to domestic and international +matters, a resolutely cool and impartial presentation of facts and +judgments on all sides of a period where passionate partisanship lies +almost in the very essence of the questions--a tone contrasting oddly +with the political action and feeling of the two Presidents. Even where, +as toward the New England Federalists, many readers will consider him +unfair in his deductions, he never tampers with or unfairly proportions +the facts. + +The work is a model of patient study, not alone of what is +conventionally accepted as historic material, but of all subsidiary +matter necessary to expert discussion of the problems involved. He goes +deeply into economic and social facts; he has instructed himself in +military science like a West Point student, in army needs like a +quartermaster, in naval construction, equipment, and management like a +naval officer. Of purely literary qualities, the history presents a +high order of constructive art in amassing minute details without +obscuring the main outlines; luminous statement; and the results of a +very powerful memory, which enables him to keep before his vision every +incident of the long chronicle with its involved groupings, so that an +armory of instructive comparisons, as well as of polemic missiles, is +constantly ready to his hand. He follows the latest historical canons as +to giving authorities. + +The history advances many novel views, and controverts many accepted +facts. The relation of Napoleon's warfare against Hayti and Toussaint to +the great Continental struggle, and the position he assigns it as the +turning point of that greater contest, is perhaps the most important of +these. But almost as striking are his views on the impressment problem +and the provocations to the War of 1812; wherein he leads to the most +unexpected deduction,--namely, that the grievances on _both_ sides were +much greater than is generally supposed. He shows that the profit and +security of the American merchant service drew thousands of English +seamen into it, where they changed their names and passed for American +citizens, greatly embarrassing English naval operations. On the other +hand, he shows that English outrages and insults were so gross that no +nation with spirit enough to be entitled to separate existence ought to +have endured them. He reverses the severe popular judgment on Madison +for consenting to the war--on the assumed ground of coveting another +term as President--which every other historian and biographer from +Hildreth to Sydney Howard Gay has pronounced, and which has become a +stock historical convention; holds Jackson's campaign ending at New +Orleans an imbecile undertaking redeemed only by an act of instinctive +pugnacity at the end; gives Scott and Jacob Brown the honor they have +never before received in fair measure; and in many other points +redistributes praise and blame with entire independence, and with +curious effect on many popular ideas. His views on the Hartford +Convention of 1814 are part of the Federalist controversy already +referred to. + + + + +THE AUSPICES OF THE WAR OF 1812 + +From 'History of the United States': copyright 1890, by Charles +Scribner's Sons. + + +The American declaration of war against England, July 18th, 1812, +annoyed those European nations that were gathering their utmost +resources for resistance to Napoleon's attack. Russia could not but +regard it as an unfriendly act, equally bad for political and commercial +interests. Spain and Portugal, whose armies were fed largely if not +chiefly on American grain imported by British money under British +protection, dreaded to see their supplies cut off. Germany, waiting only +for strength to recover her freedom, had to reckon against one more +element in Napoleon's vast military resources. England needed to make +greater efforts in order to maintain the advantages she had gained in +Russia and Spain. Even in America no one doubted the earnestness of +England's wish for peace; and if Madison and Monroe insisted on her +acquiescence in their terms, they insisted because they believed that +their military position entitled them to expect it. The reconquest of +Russia and Spain by Napoleon, an event almost certain to happen, could +hardly fail to force from England the concessions, not in themselves +unreasonable, which the United States required. + +This was, as Madison to the end of his life maintained, "a fair +calculation;" but it was exasperating to England, who thought that +America ought to be equally interested with Europe in overthrowing the +military despotism of Napoleon, and should not conspire with him for +gain. At first the new war disconcerted the feeble Ministry that +remained in office on the death of Spencer Perceval: they counted on +preventing it, and did their utmost to stop it after it was begun. The +tone of arrogance which had so long characterized government and press +disappeared for the moment. Obscure newspapers, like the London Evening +Star, still sneered at the idea that Great Britain was to be "driven +from the proud pre-eminence which the blood and treasure of her sons +have attained for her among the nations, by a piece of striped bunting +flying at the mastheads of a few fir-built frigates, manned by a handful +of bastards and outlaws,"--a phrase which had great success in +America,--but such defiances expressed a temper studiously held in +restraint previous to the moment when the war was seen to be inevitable. + +The realization that no escape could be found from an American war was +forced on the British public at a moment of much discouragement. Almost +simultaneously a series of misfortunes occurred which brought the +stoutest and most intelligent Englishmen to the verge of despair. In +Spain Wellington, after winning the battle of Salamanca in July, +occupied Madrid in August, and obliged Soult to evacuate Andalusia; but +his siege of Burgos failed, and as the French generals concentrated +their scattered forces, Wellington was obliged to abandon Madrid once +more. October 21st he was again in full retreat on Portugal. The +apparent failure of his campaign was almost simultaneous with the +apparent success of Napoleon's; for the Emperor entered Moscow September +14th, and the news of this triumph, probably decisive of Russian +submission, reached England about October 3d. Three days later arrived +intelligence of William Hull's surrender at Detroit; but this success +was counterbalanced by simultaneous news of Isaac Hull's startling +capture of the Guerrière, and the certainty of a prolonged war. + +In the desponding condition of the British people,--with a deficient +harvest, bad weather, wheat at nearly five dollars a bushel, and the +American supply likely to be cut off; consols at 57 1/2, gold at thirty +per cent premium; a Ministry without credit or authority, and a general +consciousness of blunders, incompetence, and corruption,--every new tale +of disaster sank the hopes of England and called out wails of despair. +In that state of mind the loss of the Guerrière assumed portentous +dimensions. The Times was especially loud in lamenting the capture:-- + + "We witnessed the gloom which that event cast over high and + honorable minds.... Never before in the history of the world + did an English frigate strike to an American; and though we + cannot say that Captain Dacres, under all circumstances, is + punishable for this act, yet we do say there are commanders + in the English navy who would a thousand times rather have + gone down with their colors flying, than have set their + fellow sailors so fatal an example." + +No country newspaper in America, railing at Hull's cowardice and +treachery, showed less knowledge or judgment than the London Times, +which had written of nothing but war since its name had been known in +England. Any American could have assured the English press that British +frigates before the Guerrière had struck to American; and even in +England men had not forgotten the name of the British frigate Serapis, +or that of the American captain Paul Jones. Yet the Times's ignorance +was less unreasonable than its requirement that Dacres should have gone +down with his ship,--a cry of passion the more unjust to Dacres because +he fought his ship as long as she could float. Such sensitiveness seemed +extravagant in a society which had been hardened by centuries of +warfare; yet the Times reflected fairly the feelings of Englishmen. +George Canning, speaking in open Parliament not long afterward, said +that the loss of the Guerrière and the Macedonian produced a sensation +in the country scarcely to be equaled by the most violent convulsions of +nature. "Neither can I agree with those who complain of the shock of +consternation throughout Great Britain as having been greater than the +occasion required.... It cannot be too deeply felt that the sacred spell +of the invincibility of the British navy was broken by those unfortunate +captures." + +Of all spells that could be cast on a nation, that of believing itself +invincible was perhaps the one most profitably broken; but the process +of recovering its senses was agreeable to no nation, and to England, at +that moment of distress, it was as painful as Canning described. The +matter was not mended by the Courier and Morning Post, who, taking their +tone from the Admiralty, complained of the enormous superiority of the +American frigates, and called them "line-of-battle ships in disguise." +Certainly the American forty-four was a much heavier ship than the +British thirty-eight, but the difference had been as well known in the +British navy before these actions as it was afterward; and Captain +Dacres himself, the Englishman who best knew the relative force of the +ships, told his court of inquiry a different story:--"I am so well aware +that the success of my opponent was owing to fortune, that it is my +earnest wish, and would be the happiest period of my life, to be once +more opposed to the Constitution, with them [the old crew] under my +command, in a frigate of similar force with the Guerrière." After all +had been said, the unpleasant result remained that in future, British +frigates, like other frigates, could safely fight only their inferiors +in force. What applied to the Guerrière and Macedonian against the +Constitution and United States, where the British force was inferior, +applied equally to the Frolic against the Wasp, where no inferiority +could be shown. The British newspapers thenceforward admitted what +America wished to prove, that, ship for ship, British were no more than +the equals of Americans. + +Society soon learned to take a more sensible view of the subject; but as +the first depression passed away, a consciousness of personal wrong took +its place. The United States were supposed to have stabbed England in +the back at the moment when her hands were tied, when her existence was +in the most deadly peril and her anxieties were most heavy. England +never could forgive treason so base and cowardice so vile. That Madison +had been from the first a tool and accomplice of Bonaparte was +thenceforward so fixed an idea in British history that time could not +shake it. Indeed, so complicated and so historical had the causes of +war become that no one even in America could explain or understand them, +while Englishmen could see only that America required England as the +price of peace to destroy herself by abandoning her naval power, and +that England preferred to die fighting rather than to die by her own +hand. The American party in England was extinguished; no further protest +was heard against the war; and the British people thought moodily +of revenge. + +This result was unfortunate for both parties, but was doubly unfortunate +for America, because her mode of making the issue told in her enemy's +favor. The same impressions which silenced in England open sympathy with +America, stimulated in America acute sympathy with England. Argument was +useless against people in a passion, convinced of their own injuries. +Neither Englishmen nor Federalists were open to reasoning. They found +their action easy from the moment they classed the United States as an +ally of France, like Bavaria or Saxony; and they had no scruples of +conscience, for the practical alliance was clear, and the fact proved +sufficiently the intent.... + +The loss of two or three thirty-eight-gun frigates on the ocean was a +matter of trifling consequence to the British government, which had a +force of four ships-of-the-line and six or eight frigates in Chesapeake +Bay alone, and which built every year dozens of ships-of-the-line and +frigates to replace those lost or worn out; but although American +privateers wrought more injury to British interests than was caused or +could be caused by the American navy, the pride of England cared little +about mercantile losses, and cared immensely for its fighting +reputation. The theory that the American was a degenerate Englishman--a +theory chiefly due to American teachings--lay at the bottom of British +politics. Even the late British minister at Washington, Foster, a man of +average intelligence, thought it manifest good taste and good sense to +say of the Americans in his speech of February 18th, 1813, in +Parliament, that "generally speaking, they were not a people we should +be proud to acknowledge as our relations." Decatur and Hull were engaged +in a social rather than in a political contest, and were aware that the +serious work on their hands had little to do with England's power, but +much to do with her manners. The mortification of England at the capture +of her frigates was the measure of her previous arrogance.... + +Every country must begin war by asserting that it will never give way; +and of all countries England, which had waged innumerable wars, knew +best when perseverance cost more than concession. Even at that early +moment Parliament was evidently perplexed, and would willingly have +yielded had it seen means of escape from its naval fetich, impressment. +Perhaps the perplexity was more evident in the Commons than in the +Lords; for Castlereagh, while defending his own course with elaborate +care, visibly stumbled over the right of impressment. Even while +claiming that its abandonment would have been "vitally dangerous if not +fatal" to England's security, he added that he "would be the last man in +the world to underrate the inconvenience which the Americans sustained +in consequence of our assertion of the right of search." The +embarrassment became still plainer when he narrowed the question to one +of statistics, and showed that the whole contest was waged over the +forcible retention of some eight hundred seamen among one hundred and +forty-five thousand employed in British service. Granting the number +were twice as great, he continued, "would the House believe that there +was any man so infatuated, or that the British empire was driven to such +straits that for such a paltry consideration as seventeen hundred +sailors, his Majesty's government would needlessly irritate the pride of +a neutral nation or violate that justice which was due to one country +from another?" If Liverpool's argument explained the causes of war, +Castlereagh's explained its inevitable result; for since the war must +cost England at least 10,000,000 pounds a year, could Parliament be so +infatuated as to pay 10,000 pounds a year for each American sailor +detained in service, when one-tenth of the amount, if employed in +raising the wages of the British sailor, would bring any required number +of seamen back to their ships? The whole British navy in 1812 cost +20,000,000 pounds; the pay-roll amounted to only 3,000,000 pounds; the +common sailor was paid four pounds bounty and eighteen pounds a year, +which might have been trebled at half the cost of an American war. + + + + +WHAT THE WAR OF 1812 DEMONSTRATED + +From 'History of the United States': copyright 1890, by Charles +Scribner's Sons. + +A people whose chief trait was antipathy to war, and to any system +organized with military energy, could scarcely develop great results in +national administration; yet the Americans prided themselves chiefly on +their political capacity. Even the war did not undeceive them, although +the incapacity brought into evidence by the war was undisputed, and was +most remarkable among the communities which believed themselves to be +most gifted with political sagacity. Virginia and Massachusetts by turns +admitted failure in dealing with issues so simple that the newest +societies, like Tennessee and Ohio, understood them by instinct. That +incapacity in national politics should appear as a leading trait in +American character was unexpected by Americans, but might naturally +result from their conditions. The better test of American character was +not political but social, and was to be found not in the government but +in the people. + +The sixteen years of Jefferson and Madison's rule furnished +international tests of popular intelligence upon which Americans could +depend. The ocean was the only open field for competition among nations. +Americans enjoyed there no natural or artificial advantages over +Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Spaniards; indeed, all these countries +possessed navies, resources, and experience greater than were to be +found in the United States. Yet the Americans developed, in the course +of twenty years, a surprising degree of skill in naval affairs. The +evidence of their success was to be found nowhere so complete as in the +avowals of Englishmen who knew best the history of naval progress. The +American invention of the fast-sailing schooner or clipper was the more +remarkable because, of all American inventions, this alone sprang from +direct competition with Europe. During ten centuries of struggle the +nations of Europe had labored to obtain superiority over each other in +ship-construction; yet Americans instantly made improvements which gave +them superiority, and which Europeans were unable immediately to imitate +even after seeing them. Not only were American vessels better in model, +faster in sailing, easier and quicker in handling, and more economical +in working than the European, but they were also better equipped. The +English complained as a grievance that the Americans adopted new and +unwarranted devices in naval warfare; that their vessels were heavier +and better constructed, and their missiles of unusual shape and improper +use. The Americans resorted to expedients that had not been tried +before, and excited a mixture of irritation and respect in the English +service, until "Yankee smartness" became a national misdemeanor. + +The English admitted themselves to be slow to change their habits, but +the French were both quick and scientific; yet Americans did on the +ocean what the French, under stronger inducements, failed to do. The +French privateer preyed upon British commerce for twenty years without +seriously injuring it; but no sooner did the American privateer sail +from French ports than the rates of insurance doubled in London, and an +outcry for protection arose among English shippers which the Admiralty +could not calm. The British newspapers were filled with assertions that +the American cruiser was the superior of any vessel of its class, and +threatened to overthrow England's supremacy on the ocean. + +Another test of relative intelligence was furnished by the battles at +sea. Instantly after the loss of the Guerrière the English discovered +and complained that American gunnery was superior to their own. They +explained their inferiority by the length of time that had elapsed since +their navy had found on the ocean an enemy to fight. Every vestige of +hostile fleets had been swept away, until, after the battle of +Trafalgar, British frigates ceased practice with their guns. Doubtless +the British navy had become somewhat careless in the absence of a +dangerous enemy, but Englishmen were themselves aware that some other +cause must have affected their losses. Nothing showed that Nelson's +line-of-battle ships, frigates, or sloops were, as a rule, better fought +than the Macedonian and Java, the Avon and Reindeer. Sir Howard Douglas, +the chief authority on the subject, attempted in vain to explain British +reverses by the deterioration of British gunnery. His analysis showed +only that American gunnery was extraordinarily good. Of all vessels, the +sloop-of-war--on account of its smallness, its quick motion, and its +more accurate armament of thirty-two-pound carronades--offered the best +test of relative gunnery, and Sir Howard Douglas in commenting upon the +destruction of the Peacock and Avon could only say:--"In these two +actions it is clear that the fire of the British vessels was thrown too +high, and that the ordnance of their opponents were expressly and +carefully aimed at and took effect chiefly in the hull." + +The battle of the Hornet and Penguin, as well as those of the Reindeer +and Avon, showed that the excellence of American gunnery continued till +the close of the war. Whether at point-blank range or at long-distance +practice, the Americans used guns as they had never been used at +sea before. + +None of the reports of former British victories showed that the British +fire had been more destructive at any previous time than in 1812, and no +report of any commander since the British navy existed showed so much +damage inflicted on an opponent in so short a time as was proved to have +been inflicted on themselves by the reports of British commanders in the +American war. The strongest proof of American superiority was given by +the best British officers, like Broke, who strained every nerve to +maintain an equality with American gunnery. So instantaneous and +energetic was the effort that according to the British historian of the +war, "A British forty-six-gun frigate of 1813 was half as effective +again as a British forty-six-gun frigate of 1812;" and as he justly +said, "the slaughtered crews and the shattered hulks" of the captured +British ships proved that no want of their old fighting qualities +accounted for their repeated and almost habitual mortifications. + +Unwilling as the English were to admit the superior skill of Americans +on the ocean, they did not hesitate to admit it, in certain respects, on +land. The American rifle in American hands was affirmed to have no equal +in the world. This admission could scarcely be withheld after the lists +of killed and wounded which followed almost every battle; but the +admission served to check a wider inquiry. In truth, the rifle played +but a small part in the war. Winchester's men at the river Raisin may +have owed their over-confidence, as the British Forty-first owed its +losses, to that weapon, and at New Orleans five or six hundred of +Coffee's men, who were out of range, were armed with the rifle; but the +surprising losses of the British were commonly due to artillery and +musketry fire. At New Orleans the artillery was chiefly engaged. The +artillery battle of January 1st, according to British accounts, amply +proved the superiority of American gunnery on that occasion, which was +probably the fairest test during the war. The battle of January 8th was +also chiefly an artillery battle: the main British column never arrived +within fair musket range; Pakenham was killed by a grape-shot, and the +main column of his troops halted more than one hundred yards from +the parapet. + +The best test of British and American military qualities, both for men +and weapons, was Scott's battle of Chippawa. Nothing intervened to throw +a doubt over the fairness of the trial. Two parallel lines of regular +soldiers, practically equal in numbers, armed with similar weapons, +moved in close order toward each other across a wide, open plain, +without cover or advantage of position, stopping at intervals to load +and fire, until one line broke and retired. At the same time two +three-gun batteries, the British being the heavier, maintained a steady +fire from positions opposite each other. According to the reports, the +two infantry lines in the centre never came nearer than eighty yards. +Major-General Riall reported that then, owing to severe losses, his +troops broke and could not be rallied. Comparison of official reports +showed that the British lost in killed and wounded four hundred and +sixty-nine men; the Americans, two hundred and ninety-six. Some doubts +always affect the returns of wounded, because the severity of the wound +cannot be known; but dead men tell their own tale. Riall reported one +hundred and forty-eight killed; Scott reported sixty-one. The severity +of the losses showed that the battle was sharply contested, and proved +the personal bravery of both armies. Marksmanship decided the result, +and the returns proved that the American fire was superior to that of +the British in the proportion of more than fifty per cent, if estimated +by the entire loss, and of two hundred and forty-two to one hundred if +estimated by the deaths alone. + +The conclusion seemed incredible, but it was supported by the results of +the naval battles. The Americans showed superiority amounting in some +cases to twice the efficiency of their enemies in the use of weapons. +The best French critic of the naval war, Jurien de la Gravière, +said:--"An enormous superiority in the rapidity and precision of their +fire can alone explain the difference in the losses sustained by the +combatants." So far from denying this conclusion, the British press +constantly alleged it, and the British officers complained of it. The +discovery caused great surprise, and in both British services much +attention was at once directed to improvement in artillery and musketry. +Nothing could exceed the frankness with which Englishmen avowed their +inferiority. According to Sir Francis Head, "gunnery was in naval +warfare in the extraordinary state of ignorance we have just described, +when our lean children, the American people, taught us, rod in hand, our +first lesson in the art." The English text-book on Naval Gunnery, +written by Major-General Sir Howard Douglas immediately after the peace, +devoted more attention to the short American war than to all the battles +of Napoleon, and began by admitting that Great Britain had "entered with +too great confidence on war with a marine much more expert than that of +any of our European enemies." The admission appeared "objectionable" +even to the author; but he did not add, what was equally true, that it +applied as well to the land as to the sea service. + +No one questioned the bravery of the British forces, or the ease with +which they often routed larger bodies of militia; but the losses they +inflicted were rarely as great as those they suffered. Even at +Bladensburg, where they met little resistance, their loss was several +times greater than that of the Americans. At Plattsburg, where the +intelligence and quickness of Macdonough and his men alone won the +victory, his ships were in effect stationary batteries, and enjoyed the +same superiority in gunnery. "The Saratoga," said his official report, +"had fifty-five round-shot in her hull; the Confiance, one hundred and +five. The enemy's shot passed principally just over our heads, as there +were not twenty whole hammocks in the nettings at the close of +the action." + +The greater skill of the Americans was not due to special training; for +the British service was better trained in gunnery, as in everything +else, than the motley armies and fleets that fought at New Orleans and +on the Lakes. Critics constantly said that every American had learned +from his childhood the use of the rifle; but he certainly had not +learned to use cannon in shooting birds or hunting deer, and he knew +less than the Englishman about the handling of artillery and muskets. +The same intelligence that selected the rifle and the long pivot-gun for +favorite weapons was shown in handling the carronade, and every other +instrument however clumsy. + +Another significant result of the war was the sudden development of +scientific engineering in the United States. This branch of the military +service owed its efficiency and almost its existence to the military +school at West Point, established in 1802. The school was at first much +neglected by government. The number of graduates before the year 1812 +was very small; but at the outbreak of the war the corps of engineers +was already efficient. Its chief was Colonel Joseph Gardner Swift, of +Massachusetts, the first graduate of the academy: Colonel Swift planned +the defenses of New York Harbor. The lieutenant-colonel in 1812 was +Walker Keith Armistead, of Virginia,--the third graduate, who planned +the defenses of Norfolk. Major William McRee, of North Carolina, became +chief engineer to General Brown and constructed the fortifications at +Fort Erie, which cost the British General Gordon Drummond the loss of +half his army, besides the mortification of defeat. Captain Eleazer +Derby Wood, of New York, constructed Fort Meigs, which enabled Harrison +to defeat the attack of Proctor in May, 1813. Captain Joseph Gilbert +Totten, of New York, was chief engineer to General Izard at Plattsburg, +where he directed the fortifications that stopped the advance of +Prevost's great army. None of the works constructed by a graduate of +West Point was captured by the enemy; and had an engineer been employed +at Washington by Armstrong and Winder, the city would have been +easily saved. + +Perhaps without exaggeration the West Point Academy might be said to +have decided, next to the navy, the result of the war. The works at New +Orleans were simple in character, and as far as they were due to +engineering skill were directed by Major Latour, a Frenchman; but the +war was already ended when the battle of New Orleans was fought. During +the critical campaign of 1814, the West Point engineers doubled the +capacity of the little American army for resistance, and introduced a +new and scientific character into American life. + + + + +THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE GUERRIÈRE + +From 'History of the United States': copyright 1890, by Charles +Scribner's Sons. + +As Broke's squadron swept along the coast it seized whatever it met, and +on July 16th caught one of President Jefferson's sixteen-gun brigs, the +Nautilus. The next day it came on a richer prize. The American navy +seemed ready to outstrip the army in the race for disaster. The +Constitution, the best frigate in the United States service, sailed into +the midst of Broke's five ships. Captain Isaac Hull, in command of the +Constitution, had been detained at Annapolis shipping a new crew until +July 5th, the day when Broke's squadron left Halifax; then the ship got +under way and stood down Chesapeake Bay on her voyage to New York. The +wind was ahead and very light. Not until July 10th did the ship anchor +off Cape Henry lighthouse, and not till sunrise of July 12th did she +stand to the eastward and northward. Light head winds and a strong +current delayed her progress till July 17th, when at two o'clock in the +afternoon, off Barnegat on the New Jersey coast, the lookout at the +masthead discovered four sails to the northward, and two hours later a +fifth sail to the northeast. Hull took them for Rodgers's squadron. The +wind was light, and Hull being to windward determined to speak the +nearest vessel, the last to come in sight. The afternoon passed without +bringing the ships together, and at ten o'clock in the evening, finding +that the nearest ship could not answer the night signal, Hull decided to +lose no time in escaping. + +Then followed one of the most exciting and sustained chases recorded in +naval history. At daybreak the next morning one British frigate was +astern within five or six miles, two more were to leeward, and the rest +of the fleet some ten miles astern, all making chase. Hull put out his +boats to tow the Constitution; Broke summoned the boats of the squadron +to tow the Shannon. Hull then bent all his spare rope to the cables, +dropped a small anchor half a mile ahead, in twenty-six fathoms of +water, and warped his ship along. Broke quickly imitated the device, and +slowly gained on the chase. The Guerrière crept so near Hull's lee beam +as to open fire, but her shot fell short. Fortunately the wind, though +slight, favored Hull. All night the British and American crews toiled +on, and when morning came the Belvidera, proving to be the best sailer, +got in advance of her consorts, working two kedge anchors, until at two +o'clock in the afternoon she tried in her turn to reach the Constitution +with her bow guns, but in vain. Hull expected capture, but the Belvidera +could not approach nearer without bringing her boats under the +Constitution's stern guns; and the wearied crews toiled on, towing and +kedging, the ships barely out of gunshot, till another morning came. The +breeze, though still light, then allowed Hull to take in his boats, the +Belvidera being two and a half miles in his wake, the Shannon three and +a half miles on his lee, and the three other frigates well to leeward. +The wind freshened, and the Constitution drew ahead, until, toward seven +o'clock in the evening of July 19th, a heavy rain squall struck the +ship, and by taking skillful advantage of it Hull left the Belvidera +and Shannon far astern; yet until eight o'clock the next morning they +were still in sight, keeping up the chase. + +Perhaps nothing during the war tested American seamanship more +thoroughly than these three days of combined skill and endurance in the +face of the irresistible enemy. The result showed that Hull and the +Constitution had nothing to fear in these respects. There remained the +question whether the superiority extended to his guns; and such was the +contempt of the British naval officers for American ships, that with +this expedience before their eyes they still believed one of their +thirty-eight-gun frigates to be more than a match for an American +forty-four, although the American, besides the heavier armament, had +proved his capacity to outsail and out-manoeuvre the Englishman. Both +parties became more eager than ever for the test. For once, even the +Federalists of New England felt their blood stir; for their own +President and their own votes had called these frigates into existence, +and a victory won by the Constitution, which had been built by their +hands, was in their eyes a greater victory over their political +opponents than over the British. With no half-hearted spirit the +seagoing Bostonians showered well-weighed praises on Hull when his ship +entered Boston Harbor, July 26th, after its narrow escape, and when he +sailed again New England waited with keen interest to learn his fate. + +Hull could not expect to keep command of the Constitution. Bainbridge +was much his senior, and had the right to a preference in active +service. Bainbridge then held and was ordered to retain command of the +Constellation, fitting out at the Washington Navy Yard; but Secretary +Hamilton, July 28th, ordered him to take command also of the +Constitution on her arrival in port. Doubtless Hull expected this +change, and probably the expectation induced him to risk a dangerous +experiment; for without bringing his ship to the Charlestown Navy Yard, +but remaining in the outer harbor, after obtaining such supplies as he +needed, August 2d, he set sail without orders, and stood to the +eastward. Having reached Cape Race without meeting an enemy, he turned +southward, until on the night of August 18th he spoke a privateer, which +told him of a British frigate near at hand. Following the +privateersman's directions, the Constitution the next day, August 19th, +[1812,] at two o'clock in the afternoon, latitude 41 deg. 42 min., +longitude 55 deg. 48 min., sighted the Guerrière. + +The meeting was welcome on both sides. Only three days before, Captain +Dacres had entered on the log of a merchantman a challenge to any +American frigate to meet him off Sandy Hook. Not only had the Guerrière +for a long time been extremely offensive to every seafaring American, +but the mistake which caused the Little Belt to suffer so seriously for +the misfortune of being taken for the Guerrière had caused a +corresponding feeling of anger in the officers of the British frigate. +The meeting of August 19th had the character of a preconcerted duel. + +The wind was blowing fresh from the northwest, with the sea running +high. Dacres backed his main topsail and waited. Hull shortened sail, +and ran down before the wind. For about an hour the two ships wore and +wore again, trying to get advantage of position; until at last, a few +minutes before six o'clock, they came together side by side, within +pistol shot, the wind almost astern, and running before it, they pounded +each other with all their strength. As rapidly as the guns could be +worked, the Constitution poured in broadside after broadside, +double-shotted with round and grape; and without exaggeration, the echo +of these guns startled the world. "In less than thirty minutes from the +time we got alongside of the enemy," reported Hull, "she was left +without a spar standing, and the hull cut to pieces in such a manner as +to make it difficult to keep her above water." + +That Dacres should have been defeated was not surprising; that he should +have expected to win was an example of British arrogance that explained +and excused the war. The length of the Constitution was one hundred and +seventy-three feet, that of the Guerrière was one hundred and fifty-six +feet; the extreme breadth of the Constitution was forty-four feet, that +of the Guerrière was forty feet: or within a few inches in both cases. +The Constitution carried thirty-two long twenty-four-pounders, the +Guerrière thirty long eighteen-pounders and two long twelve-pounders; +the Constitution carried twenty thirty-two-pound carronades, the +Guerrière sixteen. In every respect, and in proportion of ten to seven, +the Constitution was the better ship; her crew was more numerous in +proportion of ten to six. Dacres knew this very nearly as well as it was +known to Hull, yet he sought a duel. What he did not know was that in a +still greater proportion the American officers and crew were better and +more intelligent seamen than the British, and that their passionate wish +to repay old scores gave them extraordinary energy. So much greater was +the moral superiority than the physical, that while the Guerrière's +force counted as seven against ten, her losses counted as though her +force were only two against ten. + +Dacres's error cost him dear; for among the Guerrière's crew of two +hundred and seventy-two, seventy-nine were killed or wounded, and the +ship was injured beyond saving before Dacres realized his mistake, +although he needed only thirty minutes of close fighting for the +purpose. He never fully understood the causes of his defeat, and never +excused it by pleading, as he might have done, the great superiority of +his enemy. + +Hull took his prisoners on board the Constitution, and after blowing up +the Guerrière sailed for Boston, where he arrived on the morning of +August 30th. The Sunday silence of the Puritan city broke into +excitement as the news passed through the quiet streets that the +Constitution was below in the outer harbor with Dacres and his crew +prisoners on board. No experience of history ever went to the heart of +New England more directly than this victory, so peculiarly its own: but +the delight was not confined to New England, and extreme though it +seemed, it was still not extravagant; for however small the affair might +appear on the general scale of the world's battles, it raised the United +States in one half-hour to the rank of a first class Power in the world. + +Selections used by permission of Charles Scribner's Sons, Publishers. + + + + +JOHN ADAMS + +(1735-1826) + +John Adams, second President of the United States, was born at +Braintree, Mass., October 19th, 1735, and died there July 4th, 1826, the +year after his son too was inaugurated President. He was the first +conspicuous member of an enduringly powerful and individual family. The +Adams race have mostly been vehement, proud, pugnacious, and +independent, with hot tempers and strong wills; but with high ideals, +dramatic devotion to duty, and the intense democratic sentiment so often +found united with personal aristocracy of feeling. They have been men of +affairs first, with large practical ability, but with a deep strain of +the man of letters which in this generation has outshone the other +faculties; strong-headed and hard-working students, with powerful +memories and fluent gifts of expression. + +[Illustration: JOHN ADAMS.] + +All these characteristics went to make up John Adams; but their +enumeration does not furnish a complete picture of him, or reveal the +virile, choleric, masterful man. And he was far more lovable and far +more popular than his equally great son, also a typical Adams, from +the same cause which produced some of his worst blunders and +misfortunes,--a generous impulsiveness of feeling which made it +impossible for him to hold his tongue at the wrong time and place for +talking. But so fervid, combative, and opinionated a man was sure +to gain much more hate than love; because love results from comprehension, +which only the few close to him could have, while hate--toward +an honest man--is the outcome of ignorance, which most of +the world cannot avoid. Admiration and respect, however, he had +from the majority of his party at the worst of times; and the best +encomium on him is that the closer his public acts are examined, the +more credit they reflect not only on his abilities but on his +unselfishness. + +Born of a line of Massachusetts farmers, he graduated from Harvard in +1755. After teaching a grammar school and beginning to read theology, he +studied law and began practice in 1758, soon becoming a leader at the +bar and in public life. In 1764 he married the noble and delightful +woman whose letters furnish unconscious testimony to his lovable +qualities. All through the germinal years of the Revolution he was one +of the foremost patriots, steadily opposing any abandonment or +compromise of essential rights. In 1765 he was counsel for Boston with +Otis and Gridley to support the town's memorial against the Stamp Act. +In 1766 he was selectman. In 1768 the royal government offered him the +post of advocate-general in the Court of Admiralty,--a lucrative bribe +to desert the opposition; but he refused it. Yet in 1770, as a matter of +high professional duty, he became counsel (successfully) for the British +soldiers on trial for the "Boston Massacre." Though there was a present +uproar of abuse, Mr. Adams was shortly after elected Representative to +the General Court by more than three to one. In March, 1774, he +contemplated writing the "History of the Contest between Britain and +America!" On June 17th he presided over the meeting at Faneuil Hall to +consider the Boston Port Bill, and at the same hour was elected +Representative to the first Congress at Philadelphia (September 1) by +the Provincial Assembly held in defiance of the government. Returning +thence, he engaged in newspaper debate on the political issues till the +battle of Lexington. + +Shortly after, he again journeyed to Philadelphia to the Congress of May +5th, 1775; where he did on his own motion, to the disgust of his +Northern associates and the reluctance even of the Southerners, one of +the most important and decisive acts of the Revolution,--induced +Congress to adopt the forces in New England as a national army and put +George Washington of Virginia at its head, thus engaging the Southern +colonies irrevocably in the war and securing the one man who could make +it a success. In 1776 he was a chief agent in carrying a declaration of +independence. He remained in Congress till November, 1777, as head of +the War Department, very useful and laborious though making one dreadful +mistake: he was largely responsible for the disastrous policy of +ignoring the just claims and decent dignity of the military commanders, +which lost the country some of its best officers and led directly to +Arnold's treason. His reasons, exactly contrary to his wont, were good +abstract logic but thorough practical nonsense. + +In December, 1777, he was appointed commissioner to France to succeed +Silas Deane, and after being chased by an English man-of-war (which he +wanted to fight) arrived at Paris in safety. There he reformed a very +bad state of affairs; but thinking it absurd to keep three envoys at one +court (Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee were there before him), he induced +Congress to abolish his office, and returned in 1779. Chosen a delegate +to the Massachusetts constitutional convention, he was called away from +it to be sent again to France. There he remained as Franklin's +colleague, detesting and distrusting him and the French foreign +minister, Vergennes, embroiling himself with both and earning a cordial +return of his warmest dislike from both, till July, 1780. He then went +to Holland as volunteer minister, and in 1782 was formally recognized as +from an independent nation. Meantime Vergennes intrigued with all his +might to have Adams recalled, and actually succeeded in so tying his +hands that half the advantages of independence would have been lost but +for his contumacious persistence. In the final negotiations for peace, +he persisted against his instructions in making the New England +fisheries an ultimatum, and saved them. In 1783 he was commissioned to +negotiate a commercial treaty with Great Britain, and in 1785 was made +minister to that power. The wretched state of American affairs under the +Confederation made it impossible to obtain any advantages for his +country, and the vindictive feeling of the English made his life a +purgatory, so that he was glad to come home in 1788. + +In the first Presidential election of that year he was elected +Vice-President on the ticket with Washington; and began a feud with +Alexander Hamilton, the mighty leader of the Federalist party and chief +organizer of our governmental machine, which ended in the overthrow of +the party years before its time, and had momentous personal and literary +results as well. He was as good a Federalist as Hamilton, and felt as +much right to be leader if he could; Hamilton would not surrender his +leadership, and the rivalry never ended till Hamilton's murder. In 1796 +he was elected President against Jefferson. His Presidency is recognized +as one of the ablest and most useful on the roll; but its personal +memoirs are most painful and scandalous. The cabinet were nearly all +Hamiltonians, regularly laid all the official secrets before Hamilton, +and took advice from him to thwart the President. They disliked Mr. +Adams's overbearing ways and obtrusive vanity, considered his policy +destructive to the party and injurious to the country, and felt that +loyalty to these involved and justified disloyalty to him. Finally his +best act brought on an explosion. The French Directory had provoked a +war with this country, which the Hamiltonian section of the leaders and +much of the party hailed with delight; but showing signs of a better +spirit, Mr. Adams, without consulting his Cabinet, who he knew would +oppose it almost or quite unanimously, nominated a commission to frame a +treaty with France. The storm of fury that broke on him from his party +has rarely been surpassed, even in the case of traitors outright, and he +was charged with being little better. He was renominated for President +in 1800, but beaten by Jefferson, owing to the defections in his own +party, largely of Hamilton's producing. The Federalist party never won +another election; the Hamilton section laid its death to Mr. Adams, and +American history is hot with the fires of this battle even yet. + +Mr. Adams's later years were spent at home, where he was always +interested in public affairs and sometimes much too free in comments on +them; where he read immensely and wrote somewhat. He heartily approved +his son's break with the Federalists on the Embargo. He died on the same +day as Jefferson, both on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of +Independence. + +As a writer, Mr. Adams's powers show best in the work which can hardly +be classed as literature,--his forcible and bitter political letters, +diatribes, and polemics. As in his life, his merits and defects not only +lie side by side, but spring from the same source,--his vehemence, +self-confidence, and impatience of obstruction. He writes impetuously +because he feels impetuously. With little literary grace, he possesses +the charm that belongs to clear and energetic thought and sense +transfused with hot emotion. John Fiske goes so far as to say that "as a +writer of English, John Adams in many respects surpassed all his +American contemporaries." He was by no means without humor,--a +characteristic which shows in some of his portraits,--and sometimes +realized the humorous aspects of his own intense and exaggerative +temperament. His remark about Timothy Pickering, that "under the simple +appearance of a bald head and straight hair, he conceals the most +ambitious designs," is perfectly self-conscious in its quaint naiveté. + +His 'Life and Works,' edited by his grandson, Charles Francis Adams, +Sr., in ten volumes, is the great storehouse of his writings. The best +popular account of his life is by John T. Morse, Jr., in the 'American +Statesmen' series. + + + + +AT THE FRENCH COURT + +From his Diary, June 7th, 1778, with his later comments in brackets. + +Went to Versailles, in company with Mr. Lee, Mr. Izard and his lady, Mr. +Lloyd and his lady, and Mr. François. Saw the grand procession of the +Knights _du Saint-Esprit_, or _du Cordon Bleu_. At nine o'clock at +night, went to the _grand convert_, and saw the king, queen, and royal +family, at supper; had a fine seat and situation close by the royal +family, and had a distinct and full view of the royal pair. + +[Our objects were to see the ceremonies of the knights, and in the +evening the public supper of the royal family. The kneelings, the bows, +and the courtesies of the knights, the dresses and decorations, the king +seated on his throne, his investiture of a new created knight with the +badges and ornaments of the order, and his majesty's profound and +reverential bow before the altar as he retired, were novelties and +curiosities to me, but surprised me much less than the patience and +perseverance with which they all kneeled, for two hours together, upon +the hard marble of which the floor of the chapel was made. The +distinction of the blue ribbon was very dearly purchased at the price of +enduring this painful operation four times in a year, The Count de +Vergennes confessed to me that he was almost dead with the pain of it. +And the only insinuation I ever heard, that the king was in any degree +touched by the philosophy of the age, was, that he never discovered so +much impatience, under any of the occurrences of his life, as in going +through those tedious ceremonies of religion, to which so many hours of +his life were condemned by the catholic church. + +The queen was attended by her ladies to the gallery opposite to the +altar, placed in the centre of the seat, and there left alone by the +other ladies, who all retired. She was an object too sublime and +beautiful for my dull pen to describe. I leave this enterprise to Mr. +Burke. But in his description, there is more of the orator than of the +philosopher. Her dress was everything that art and wealth could make it. +One of the maids of honor told me she had diamonds upon her person to +the value of eighteen millions of livres; and I always thought her +majesty much beholden to her dress. Mr. Burke saw her probably but once. +I have seen her fifty times perhaps, and in all the varieties of her +dresses. She had a fine complexion, indicating perfect health, and was a +handsome woman in her face and figure. But I have seen beauties much +superior, both in countenance and form, in France, England, and America. + +After the ceremonies of this institution are over, there is a collection +for the poor; and that this closing scene may be as elegant as any of +the former, a young lady of some of the first families in France is +appointed to present the box to the knights. Her dress must be as rich +and elegant, in proportion, as the Queen's, and her hair, motions, and +curtsies must have as much dignity and grace as those of the knights. It +was a curious entertainment to observe the easy air, the graceful bow, +and the conscious dignity of the knight, in presenting his contribution; +and the corresponding ease, grace, and dignity of the lady, in receiving +it, were not less charming. Every muscle, nerve, and fibre of both +seemed perfectly disciplined to perform its functions. The elevation of +the arm, the bend of the elbow, and every finger in the hand of the +knight, in putting his louis d'ors into the box appeared to be perfectly +studied, because it was perfectly natural. How much devotion there was +in all this I know not, but it was a consummate school to teach the +rising generation the perfection of the French air, and external +politeness and good-breeding. I have seen nothing to be compared to it +in any other country.... + +At nine o'clock we went and saw the king, queen, and royal family, at +the _grand couvert_. Whether M. François, a gentleman who undertook upon +this occasion to conduct us, had contrived a plot to gratify the +curiosity of the spectators, or whether the royal family had a fancy to +see the raw American at their leisure, or whether they were willing to +gratify him with a convenient seat, in which he might see all the royal +family, and all the splendors of the place, I know not; but the scheme +could not have been carried into execution, certainly, without the +orders of the king. I was selected, and summoned indeed, from all my +company, and ordered to a seat close beside the royal family. The seats +on both sides of the hall, arranged like the seats in a theatre, were +all full of ladies of the first rank and fashion in the kingdom, and +there was no room or place for me but in the midst of them. It was not +easy to make room for one more person. However, room was made, and I was +situated between two ladies, with rows and ranks of ladies above and +below me, and on the right hand and on the left, and ladies only. My +dress was a decent French dress, becoming the station I held, but not to +be compared with the gold, and diamonds, and embroidery, about me. I +could neither speak nor understand the language in a manner to support a +conversation, but I had soon the satisfaction to find it was a silent +meeting, and that nobody spoke a word but the royal family to each +other, and they said very little. The eyes of all the assembly were +turned upon me, and I felt sufficiently humble and mortified, for I was +not a proper object for the criticisms of such a company. I found myself +gazed at, as we in America used to gaze at the sachems who came to make +speeches to us in Congress; but I thought it very hard if I could not +command as much power of face as one of the chiefs of the Six Nations, +and therefore determined that I would assume a cheerful countenance, +enjoy the scene around me, and observe it as coolly as an astronomer +contemplates the stars. Inscriptions of _Fructus Belli_ were seen on the +ceiling and all about the walls of the room, among paintings of the +trophies of war; probably done by the order of Louis XIV., who confessed +in his dying hour, as his successor and exemplar Napoleon will probably +do, that he had been too fond of war. The king was the royal carver for +himself and all his family. His majesty ate like a king, and made a +royal supper of solid beef, and other things in proportion. The queen +took a large spoonful of soup, and displayed her fine person and +graceful manners, in alternately looking at the company in various parts +of the hall, and ordering several kinds of seasoning to be brought to +her, by which she fitted her supper to her taste.] + + + + +THE CHARACTER OF FRANKLIN + +From Letter to the Boston Patriot, May 15th, 1811 + +Franklin had a great genius, original, sagacious, and inventive, capable +of discoveries in science no less than of improvements in the fine arts +and the mechanic arts. He had a vast imagination, equal to the +comprehension of the greatest objects, and capable of a cool and steady +comprehension of them. He had wit at will. He had humor that when he +pleased was delicate and delightful. He had a satire that was +good-natured or caustic, Horace or Juvenal, Swift or Rabelais, at his +pleasure. He had talents for irony, allegory, and fable, that he could +adapt with great skill to the promotion of moral and political truth. He +was master of that infantine simplicity which the French call _naiveté_ +which never fails to charm in Phaedrus and La Fontaine, from the cradle +to the grave. Had he been blessed with the same advantages of scholastic +education in his early youth, and pursued a course of studies as +unembarrassed with occupations of public and private life as Sir Isaac +Newton, he might have emulated the first philosopher. Although I am not +ignorant that most of his positions and hypotheses have been +controverted, I cannot but think he has added much to the mass of +natural knowledge, and contributed largely to the progress of the human +mind, both by his own writings and by the controversies and experiments +he has excited in all parts of Europe. He had abilities for +investigating statistical questions, and in some parts of his life has +written pamphlets and essays upon public topics with great ingenuity and +success; but after my acquaintance with him, which commenced in Congress +in 1775, his excellence as a legislator, a politician, or a negotiator +most certainly never appeared. No sentiment more weak and superficial +was ever avowed by the most absurd philosopher than some of his, +particularly one that he procured to be inserted in the first +constitution of Pennsylvania, and for which he had such a fondness as to +insert it in his will. I call it weak, for so it must have been, or +hypocritical; unless he meant by one satiric touch to ridicule his own +republic, or throw it into everlasting contempt. + +I must acknowledge, after all, that nothing in life has mortified or +grieved me more than the necessity which compelled me to oppose him so +often as I have. He was a man with whom I always wished to live in +friendship, and for that purpose omitted no demonstration of respect, +esteem, and veneration in my power, until I had unequivocal proofs of +his hatred, for no other reason under the sun but because I gave my +judgment in opposition to his in many points which materially affected +the interests of our country, and in many more which essentially +concerned our happiness, safety, and well-being. I could not and would +not sacrifice the clearest dictates of my understanding and the purest +principles of morals and policy in compliance to Dr. Franklin. + + + + +JOHN QUINCY ADAMS + +(1767-1848) + +The chief distinction in character between John Adams and his son is the +strangest one imaginable, when one remembers that to the fiery, +combative, bristling Adams blood was added an equal strain from the gay, +genial, affectionate Abigail Smith. The son, though of deep inner +affections, and even hungering for good-will if it would come without +his help, was on the surface incomparably colder, harsher, and thornier +than his father, with all the socially repellent traits of the race and +none of the softer ones. The father could never control his tongue or +his temper, and not always his head; the son never lost the bridle of +either, and much of his terrible power in debate came from his ability +to make others lose theirs while perfectly keeping his own. The father +had plenty of warm friends and allies,--at the worst he worked with half +a party; the son in the most superb part of his career had no friends, +no allies, no party except the group of constituents who kept him in +Congress. The father's self-confidence deepened in the son to a solitary +and even contemptuous gladiatorship against the entire government of the +country, for long years of hate and peril. The father's irritable though +generous vanity changed in the son to an icy contempt or white-hot scorn +of nearly all around him. The father's spasms of acrimonious judgment +steadied in the son to a constant rancor always finding new objects. But +only John Quincy Adams could have done the work awaiting John Quincy +Adams, and each of his unamiable qualities strengthened his fibre to do +it. And if a man is to be judged by his fruits, Mr. Morse is justified +in saying that he was "not only pre-eminent in ability and acquirements, +but even more to be honored for profound, immutable honesty of purpose, +and broad, noble humanity of aims." + +[Illustration: John Q. Adams.] + +It might almost be said that the sixth President of the United States +was cradled in statesmanship. Born July 11th, 1767, he was a little lad +of ten when he accompanied his father on the French mission. Eighteen +months elapsed before he returned, and three months later he was again +upon the water, bound once more for the French capital. There were +school days in Paris, and other school days in Amsterdam and in Leyden; +but the boy was only fourteen,--the mature old child!--when he went to +St. Petersburg as private secretary and interpreter to Francis Dana, +just appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of the Empress +Catherine. Such was his apprenticeship to a public career which began in +earnest in 1794, and lasted, with slight interruptions, for +fifty-four years. Minister to the United Netherlands, to Russia, to +Prussia, and to England; commissioner to frame the Treaty of Ghent which +ended the war of 1812; State Senator, United States Senator; Secretary +of State, a position in which he made the treaty with Spain which +conceded Florida, and enunciated the Monroe Doctrine before Monroe and +far more thoroughly than he; President, and then for many years Member +of the National House of Representatives,--it is strange to find this +man writing in his later years, "My whole life has been a succession of +disappointments. I can scarcely recollect a single instance of success +to anything that I ever undertook." + +It is true, however, that his successes and even his glories always had +some bitter ingredient to spoil their flavor. As United States Senator +he was practically "boycotted" for years, even by his own party members, +because he was an Adams. In 1807 he definitely broke with the Federalist +party--for what he regarded as its slavish crouching under English +outrages, conduct which had been for years estranging him--by supporting +Jefferson's Embargo, as better than no show of resistance at all; and +was for a generation denounced by the New England Federalists as a +renegade for the sake of office and a traitor to New England. The +Massachusetts Legislature practically censured him in 1808, and +he resigned. + +His winning of the Presidency brought pain instead of pleasure: he +valued it only as a token of national confidence, got it only as a +minority candidate in a divided party, and was denounced by the +Jacksonians as a corrupt political bargainer. And his later +Congressional career, though his chief title to glory, was one long +martyrdom (even though its worst pains were self-inflicted), and he +never knew the immense victory he had actually won. The "old man +eloquent," after ceasing to be President, was elected in 1830 by his +home district a Representative in Congress, and regularly re-elected +till his death. For a long time he bore the anti-slavery standard almost +alone in the halls of Congress, a unique and picturesque figure, rousing +every demon of hatred in his fellow-members, in constant and envenomed +battle with them, and more than a match for them all. He fought +single-handed for the right of petition as an indefeasible right, not +hesitating to submit a petition from citizens of Virginia praying for +his own expulsion from Congress as a nuisance. In 1836 he presented a +petition from one hundred and fifty-eight ladies, citizens of +Massachusetts, "for, I said, I had not yet brought myself to doubt +whether females were citizens." After eight years of persistent struggle +against the "Atherton gag law," which practically denied the right of +petition in matters relating to slavery, he carried a vote rescinding +it, and nothing of the kind was again enacted. He had a fatal stroke of +paralysis on the floor of Congress February 21st, 1848, and died two +days later. + +As a writer he was perspicuous, vigorous, and straightforward. He had +entered Harvard in the middle of the college course, and been graduated +with honors. He had then studied and practiced law. He was Professor of +Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard from 1806 to 1809, and was well drilled +in the use of language, but was too downright in his temper and purposes +to spend much labor upon artistic effects. He kept an elaborate diary +during the greater part of his life,--since published in twelve volumes +of "Memoirs" by his son Charles Francis Adams; a vast storehouse of +material relating to the political history of the country, but, as +published, largely restricted to public affairs. He delivered orations +on Lafayette, on Madison, on Monroe, on Independence, and on the +Constitution; published essays on the Masonic Institution and various +other matters; a report on weights and measures, of enormous labor and +permanent value; Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory; a tale in verse on +the Conquest of Ireland, with the title 'Dermot MacMorrogh'; an account +of Travels in Silesia; and a volume of 'Poems of Religion and Society.' +He had some facility in rhyme, but his judgment was not at fault in +informing him that he was not a poet. Mr. Morse says that "No man can +have been more utterly void of a sense of humor or an appreciation of +wit"; and yet he very fairly anticipated Holmes in his poem on 'The +Wants of Man,' and hits rather neatly a familiar foible in the verse +with which he begins 'Dermot MacMorrogh':-- + + "'Tis strange how often readers will indulge + Their wits a mystic meaning to discover; + Secrets ne'er dreamt of by the bard divulge, + And where he shoots a cluck, will find a plover; + Satiric shafts from every line promulge, + Detect a tyrant where he draws a lover: + Nay, so intent his hidden thoughts to see, + Cry, if he paint a scoundrel--'That means me.'" + + +Selections from Letters and Memoirs used by permission of +J.B. Lippincott Company. + + +LETTER TO HIS FATHER + +(At the Age of Ten) + +DEAR SIR,--I love to receive letters very well; much better than I love +to write them. I make but a poor figure at composition, my head is too +fickle, my thoughts are running after birds eggs play and trifles, till +I get vexed with myself. Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me +steady, and I own I am ashamed of myself. I have but just entered the +third volume of Smollett, tho' I had designed to have got it half +through by this time. I have determined this week to be more diligent, +as Mr. Thaxter will be absent at Court, and I cannot pursue my other +studies. I have Set myself a Stent and determine to read the 3rd volume +Half out. If I can but keep my resolution, I will write again at the end +of the week and give a better account of myself. I wish, Sir, you would +give me some instructions, with regard to my time, and advise me how to +proportion my Studies and my Play, in writing, and I will keep them by +me, and endeavor to follow them. I am, dear Sir, with a present +determination of growing better, yours. + +P.S.--Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a Blank Book, I +will transcribe the most remarkable occurances I meet with in my +reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind. + + +FROM THE MEMOIRS + +(At the Age of Eighteen) + +April 26th, 1785.--A letter from Mr. Gerry of Feb. 25th Says that Mr. +Adams is appointed Minister to the Court of London. + +I believe he will promote the interests of the United States, as much as +any man, but I fear his duty will induce him to make exertions which may +be detrimental to his health. I wish however it may be otherwise. Were I +now to go with him, probably my immediate satisfaction might be greater +than it will be in returning to America. After having been traveling for +these seven years almost all over Europe, and having been in the World, +and among company, for three; to return to spend one or two years in the +pale of a College, subjected to all the rules which I have so long been +freed from; then to plunge into the dry and tedious study of the Law for +three years; and afterwards not expect (however good an opinion I may +have of myself) to bring myself into notice under three or four years +more; if ever! It is really a prospect somewhat discouraging for a youth +of my ambition (for I have ambition, though I hope its object is +laudable). But still + + "Oh! how wretched + Is that poor Man, that hangs on Princes' favors" + +or on those of anybody else. I am determined that so long as I shall be +able to get my own living in an honorable manner, I will depend upon no +one. My Father has been so much taken up all his lifetime with the +interests of the public, that his own fortune has suffered by it; so +that his children will have to provide for themselves, which I shall +never be able to do, if I loiter away my precious time in Europe and +shun going home until I am forced to it. With an ordinary share of +Common sense which I hope I enjoy, at least in America I can live +_independent_ and _free_; and rather than live otherwise I would wish to +die before the time when I shall be left at my own discretion. I have +before me a striking example of the distressing and humiliating +situation a person is reduced to by adopting a different line of +conduct, and I am determined not to fall into the same error. + + +FROM THE MEMOIRS + +JANUARY 14TH, 1831.--I received a letter from John C. Calhoun, now +Vice-President of the United States, relating to his present controversy +with President Jackson and William H. Crawford. He questions me +concerning the letter of General Jackson to Mr. Monroe which Crawford +alleges to have been produced at the Cabinet meetings on the Seminole +War, and asks for copies, if I think proper to give them, of Crawford's +letter to me which I received last summer, and of my answer. I answered +Mr. Calhoun's letter immediately, rigorously confining myself to the +direct object of his inquiries. This is a new bursting out of the old +and rancorous feud between Crawford and Calhoun, both parties to which, +after suspending their animosities and combining together to effect my +ruin, are appealing to me for testimony to sustain themselves each +against the other. This is one of the occasions upon which I shall +eminently need the direction of a higher power to guide me in every step +of my conduct. I see my duty to discard all consideration of their +treatment of me; to adhere, in everything that I shall say or write, to +the truth; to assert nothing positively of which I am not absolutely +certain; to deny nothing upon which there remains a scruple of doubt +upon my memory; to conceal nothing which it may be lawful to divulge, +and which may promote truth and justice between the parties. With these +principles, I see further the necessity for caution and prudence in the +course I shall take. The bitter enmity of all three of the +parties--Jackson, Calhoun, and Crawford--against me, an enmity the more +virulent because kindled by their own ingratitude and injustice to me; +the interest which every one of them, and all their partisans, have in +keeping up that load of obloquy and public odium which their foul +calumnies have brought down upon me; and the disfavor in which I stand +before a majority of the people, excited against me by their +artifices;--their demerits to me are proportioned to the obligations to +me--Jackson's the greatest, Crawford's the next, Calhoun's the least of +positive obligation, but darkened by his double-faced setting himself up +as a candidate for the Presidency against me in 1821, his prevarications +between Jackson and me in 1824, and his icy-hearted dereliction of all +the decencies of social intercourse with me, solely from the terror of +Jackson, since the 4th of March, 1829. I walk between burning +ploughshares; let me be mindful where I place my foot. + + +FROM THE MEMOIRS + +JUNE 7TH, 1833.--The first seedling apple-tree that I had observed on my +return here just out of the ground was on the 22d of April. It had grown +slowly but constantly since, and had put out five or six leaves. Last +evening, after my return from Boston, I saw it perfectly sound. This +morning I found it broken off, leaving one lobe of the seed-leaves, and +one leaf over it. This may have been the work of a bug, or perhaps of a +caterpillar. It would not be imaginable to any person free from +hobby-horse or fanciful attachments, how much mortification such an +incident occasions. St. Evremond, after removing into the country, +returned to a city life because he found himself in despair for the loss +of a pigeon. His conclusion was, that rural life induced exorbitant +attachment to insignificant objects. My experience is conformable to +this. My natural propensity was to raise trees, fruit and forest, from +the seed. I had it in early youth, but the course of my life deprived me +of the means of pursuing the bent of my inclination. One +shellbark-walnut-tree in my garden, the root of which I planted 8th +October, 1804, and one Mazzard cherry-tree in the grounds north of the +house, the stone of which I planted about the same time, are the only +remains of my experiments of so ancient a date. Had my life been spent +in the country, and my experiments commenced while I was at College, I +should now have a large fruit garden, flourishing orchards of native +fruit, and very valuable forests; instead of which I have a nursery of +about half an acre of ground, half full of seedlings, from five years to +five days old, bearing for the first time perhaps twenty peaches, and a +few blossoms of apricots and cherries; and hundreds of seedlings of the +present year perishing from day to day before my eyes. + + +FROM THE MEMOIRS + +SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1833.--Cold and cloudy day, clearing off toward evening. +In the multitudinous whimseys of a disabled mind and body, the +thick-coming fancies often come to me that the events which affect my +life and adventures are specially shaped to disappoint my purposes. My +whole life has been a succession of disappointments. I can scarcely +recollect a single instance of success to anything that I ever +undertook. Yet, with fervent gratitude to God, I confess that my life +has been equally marked by great and signal successes which I neither +aimed at nor anticipated. Fortune, by which I understand Providence, has +showered blessings upon me profusely. But they have been blessings +unforeseen and unsought. "Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da +gloriam!" I ought to have been taught by it three lessons:--1. Of +implicit reliance upon Providence. 2. Of humility and humiliation; the +thorough conviction of my own impotence to accomplish anything. 3. Of +resignation; and not to set my heart upon anything which can be taken +from me or denied. + + +THE MISSION OF AMERICA + +From his Fourth of July Oration at Washington, 1821 + +And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of +the older world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the +discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of +Congreve rockets and shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed +to inquire, What has America done for mankind? let our answer be +this:--America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence +as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human +nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the +assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, +though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest +friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity. She has uniformly +spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful +ears, the language of equal liberty, equal justice, and equal rights. +She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single +exception, respected the independence of other nations, while asserting +and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the +concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles to +which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She +has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that +Aceldama, the European World, will be contests between inveterate power +and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and independence +has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions, +and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to +destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. +She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend +the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant +sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under +other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign +independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of +extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual +avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the +standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would +insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brows +would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of freedom and +independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an imperial +diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of +dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world; she +would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit. + + +THE RIGHT OF PETITION + +Quoted in Memoir by Josiah Quincy. + +Sir, it is ... well known that, from the time I entered this house, down +to the present day, I have felt it a sacred duty to present any +petition, couched in respectful language, from any citizen of the United +States, be its object what it may,--be the prayer of it that in which I +could concur, or that to which I was utterly opposed. I adhere to the +right of petition; and let me say here that, let the petition be, as the +gentleman from Virginia has stated, from free negroes, prostitutes, as +he supposes,--for he says there is one put on this paper, and he infers +that the rest are of the same description,--_that_ has not altered my +opinion at all. Where is your law that says that the mean, the low, and +the degraded, shall be deprived of the right of petition, if their moral +character is not good? Where, in the land of free-men, was the right of +petition ever placed on the exclusive basis of morality and virtue? +Petition is supplication--it is entreaty--it is prayer! And where is the +degree of vice or immorality which shall deprive the citizen of the +right to supplicate for a boon, or to pray for mercy? Where is such a +law to be found? It does not belong to the most abject despotism. There +is no absolute monarch on earth who is not compelled, by the +constitution of his country, to receive the petitions of his people, +whosoever they may be. The Sultan of Constantinople cannot walk the +streets and refuse to receive petitions from the meanest and vilest in +the land. This is the law even of despotism; and what does your law say? +Does it say, that, before presenting a petition, you shall look into it +and see whether it comes from the virtuous, and the great, and the +mighty? No, sir; it says no such thing. The right of petition belongs to +all; and so far from refusing to present a petition because it might +come from those low in the estimation of the world, it would be an +additional incentive, if such an incentive were wanting. + + +NULLIFICATION + +From his Fourth of July Oration at Quincy, 1831 + +Nullification is the provocation to that brutal and foul contest of +force, which has hitherto baffled all the efforts of the European and +Southern American nations, to introduce among them constitutional +governments of liberty and order. It strips us of that peculiar and +unimitated characteristic of all our legislation--free debate; it makes +the bayonet the arbiter of law; it has no argument but the thunderbolt. +It were senseless to imagine that twenty-three States of the Union would +suffer their laws to be trampled upon by the despotic mandate of one. +The act of nullification would itself be null and void. Force must be +called in to execute the law of the Union. Force must be applied by the +nullifying State to resist its execution-- + + "Ate, hot from Hell, + Cries Havoc! and lets slip the dogs of war." + +The blood of brethren is shed by each other. The citizen of the +nullifying State is a traitor to his country, by obedience to the law of +his State; a traitor to his State, by obedience to the law of his +country. The scaffold and the battle-field stream alternately with the +blood of their victims. Let this agent but once intrude upon your +deliberations, and Freedom will take her flight for heaven. The +Declaration of Independence will become a philosophical dream, and +uncontrolled, despotic sovereignties will trample with impunity, through +a long career of after ages, at interminable or exterminating war with +one another, upon the indefeasible and unalienable rights of man. + +The event of a conflict of arms, between the Union and one of its +members, whether terminating in victory or defeat, would be but an +alternative of calamity to all. In the holy records of antiquity, we +have two examples of a confederation ruptured by the severance of its +members; one of which resulted, after three desperate battles, in the +extermination of the seceding tribe. And the victorious people, instead +of exulting in shouts of triumph, "came to the House of God, and abode +there till even before God; and lifted up their voices, and wept sore, +and said,--O Lord God of Israel, _why_ is this come to pass in Israel, +that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?" The other was +a successful example of resistance against tyrannical taxation, and +severed forever the confederacy, the fragments forming separate +kingdoms; and from that day, their history presents an unbroken series +of disastrous alliances and exterminating wars--of assassinations, +conspiracies, revolts, and rebellions, until both parts of the +confederacy sunk in tributary servitude to the nations around them; till +the countrymen of David and Solomon hung their harps upon the willows of +Babylon, and were totally lost among the multitudes of the Chaldean and +Assyrian monarchies, "the most despised portion of their slaves." + +In these mournful memorials of their fate, we may behold the sure, too +sure prognostication of our own, from the hour when force shall be +substituted for deliberation in the settlement of our Constitutional +questions. This is the deplorable alternative--the extirpation of the +seceding member, or the never-ceasing struggle of two rival +confederacies, ultimately bending the neck of both under the yoke of +foreign domination, or the despotic sovereignty of a conqueror at home. +May Heaven avert the omen! The destinies of not only our posterity, but +of the human race, are at stake. + +Let no such melancholy forebodings intrude upon the festivities of this +anniversary. Serene skies and balmy breezes are not congenial to the +climate of freedom. Progressive improvement in the condition of man is +apparently the purpose of a superintending Providence. That purpose will +not be disappointed. In no delusion of national vanity, but with a +feeling of profound gratitude to the God of our Fathers, let us indulge +the cheering hope and belief, that our country and her people have been +selected as instruments for preparing and maturing much of the good yet +in reserve for the welfare and happiness of the human race. Much good +has already been effected by the solemn proclamation of our principles, +much more by the illustration of our example. The tempest which +threatens desolation, may be destined only to purify the atmosphere. It +is not in tranquil ease and enjoyment that the active energies of +mankind are displayed. Toils and dangers are the trials of the soul. +Doomed to the first by his sentence at the fall, man, by his submission, +converts them into pleasures. The last are since the fall the condition +of his existence. To see them in advance, to guard against them by all +the suggestions of prudence, to meet them with the composure of +unyielding resistance, and to abide with firm resignation the final +dispensation of Him who rules the ball,--these are the dictates of +philosophy--these are the precepts of religion--these are the principles +and consolations of patriotism; these remain when all is lost--and of +these is composed the spirit of independence--the spirit embodied in +that beautiful personification of the poet, which may each of you, my +countrymen, to the last hour of his life, apply to himself:-- + + "Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, + Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye! + Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare, + Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky." + +In the course of nature, the voice which now addresses you must soon +cease to be heard upon earth. Life and all which it inherits, lose of +their value as it draws toward its close. But for most of you, my +friends and neighbors, long and many years of futurity are yet in store. +May they be years of freedom--years of prosperity--years of happiness, +ripening for immortality! But, were the breath which now gives utterance +to my feelings, the last vital air I should draw, my expiring words to +you and your children should be, INDEPENDENCE AND UNION FOREVER! + + + + +SARAH FLOWER ADAMS + +(1805--1848) + + +This English poet, whose hymn, 'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' is known +wherever the English language is spoken, was born at Great Harlow, +Essex, England, in 1805. She was the daughter of Benjamin Flower, who in +1799 was prosecuted for plain speaking in his paper, the Cambridge +Intelligencer. From the outcome of his trial is to be dated the liberty +of political discussion in England. Her mother was Eliza Gould, who +first met her future husband in jail, whither she had gone on a visit to +assure him of her sympathy. She also had suffered for liberal opinions. +From their parents two daughters inherited a distinguished nobility and +purity of character. Eliza excelled in the composition of music for +congregational worship, and arranged a musical service for the Unitarian +South Place Chapel, London. Sarah contributed first to the Monthly +Repository, conducted by W.J. Fox, her Unitarian pastor, in whose family +she lived after her father's death. In 1834 she married William Bridges +Adams. Her delicate health gave way under the shock of her sister's +death in 1846, and she died of decline in 1848. + +Her poetic genius found expression both in the drama and in hymns. Her +play, 'Vivia Perpetua' (1841), tells of the author's rapt aspiration +after an ideal, symbolized in a pagan's conversion to Christianity. She +published also 'The Royal Progress,' a ballad (1845), on the giving tip +of the feudal privileges of the Isle of Wight to Edward I.; and poems +upon the humanitarian interests which the Anti-Corn-Law League +endeavored to further. Her hymns are the happiest expressions of the +religious trust, resignation, and sweetness of her nature. + +'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' was written for the South Place Chapel +service. There are stories of its echoes having been heard from a +dilapidated log cabin in Arkansas, from a remote corner of the north of +England, and from the Heights of Benjamin in the Holy Land. But even +its devotion and humility have not escaped censure--arising, perhaps, +from denominational bias. The fault found with it is the fault of +Addison's 'How are thy servants blessed, O Lord,' and the fault of the +Psalmody begun by Sternhold and Hopkins, which, published in Geneva in +1556, electrified the congregation of six thousand souls in Elizabeth's +reign,--it has no direct reference to Jesus. Compilers of hymn-books +have sought to rectify what they deem a lapse in Christian spirit by the +substitution of a verse begining "Christ alone beareth me." But the +quality of the interpolated verse is so inferior to the lyric itself +that it has not found general acceptance. Others, again, with an excess +of zeal, have endeavored to substitute "the Cross" for "a cross" in the +first stanza. + +An even share of its extraordinary vogue must in bare justice be +credited to the tune which Dr. Lowell Mason has made an inseparable part +of it; though this does not detract in the least from its own high +merit, or its capacity to satisfy the feelings of a devout soul. A +taking melody is the first condition of even the loveliest song's +obtaining popularity; and this hymn was sung for many years to various +tunes, including chants, with no general recognition of its quality. It +was Dr. Mason's tune, written about 1860, which sent it at once into the +hearts of the people. + + + HE SENDETH SUN, HE SENDETH SHOWER + + He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower, + Alike they're needful to the flower; + And joys and tears alike are sent + To give the soul fit nourishment. + As comes to me or cloud or sun, + Father! thy will, not mine, be done. + + Can loving children e'er reprove + With murmurs, whom they trust and love? + Creator, I would ever be + A trusting, loving child to thee: + As comes to me or cloud or sun, + Father! thy will, not mine, be done. + + Oh, ne'er will I at life repine,-- + Enough that thou hast made it mine. + When falls the shadow cold of death, + I yet will sing with parting breath, + As comes to me or cloud or sun, + Father! thy will, not mine, be done. + + + NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE + + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee! + E'en though it be a cross + That raiseth me; + Still all my song shall be,-- + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee! + + Though, like a wanderer, + The sun gone down, + Darkness be over me, + My rest a stone; + Yet in my dreams I'd be + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee! + + There let the way appear + Steps unto heaven; + All that thou sendest me + In mercy given; + Angels to beckon me + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee! + + Then with my waking thoughts + Bright with thy praise, + Out of my stony griefs + Bethel I'll raise; + So by my woes to be + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee! + + Or if on joyful wing, + Cleaving the sky, + Sun, moon, and stars forgot, + Upward I fly; + Still all my song shall be,-- + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee! + + From 'Adoration, Aspiration, and Belief.' + + + + +JOSEPH ADDISON + +(1672-1719) + +BY HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE + + +There are few figures in literary history more dignified and attractive +than Joseph Addison; few men more eminently representative, not only of +literature as a profession, but of literature as an art. It has happened +more than once that literary gifts of a high order have been lodged in +very frail moral tenements; that taste, feeling, and felicity of +expression have been divorced from general intellectual power, from +intimate acquaintance with the best in thought and art, from grace of +manner and dignity of life. There have been writers of force and +originality who failed to attain a representative eminence, to identify +themselves with their art in the memory of the world. There have been +other writers without claim to the possession of gifts of the highest +order, who have secured this distinction by virtue of harmony of +character and work, of breadth of interest, and of that fine +intelligence which instinctively allies itself with the best in its +time. Of this class Addison is an illustrious example. His gifts are not +of the highest order; there was none of the spontaneity, abandon, or +fertility of genius in him; his thought made no lasting contribution to +the highest intellectual life; he set no pulses beating by his eloquence +of style, and fired no imagination by the insight and emotion of his +verse; he was not a scholar in the technical sense: and yet, in an age +which was stirred and stung by the immense satiric force of Swift, +charmed by the wit and elegance of Pope, moved by the tenderness of +Steele, and enchanted by the fresh realism of De Foe, Addison holds the +most representative place. He is, above all others, the Man of Letters +of his time; his name instantly evokes the literature of his period. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH ADDISON.] + +Born in the rectory at Milston, Wiltshire, on May Day, 1672, it was +Addison's fortune to take up the profession of Letters at the very +moment when it was becoming a recognized profession, with a field of its +own, and with emoluments sufficient in kind to make decency of living +possible, and so related to a man's work that their acceptance involved +loss neither of dignity nor of independence. He was contemporary with +the first English publisher, Jacob Tonson. He was also contemporary with +the notable reorganization of English prose which freed it from +exaggeration, complexity, and obscurity; and he contributed not a little +to the flexibility, charm, balance, and ease which have since +characterized its best examples. He saw the rise of polite society in +its modern sense; the development of the social resources of the city; +the enlargement of what is called "the reading class" to embrace all +classes in the community and all orders in the nation. And he was one of +the first, following the logic of a free press, an organized business +for the sale of books, and the appearance of popular interest in +literature, to undertake that work of translating the best thought, +feeling, sentiment, and knowledge of his time, and of all times, into +the language of the drawing-room, the club, and the street, which has +done so much to humanize and civilize the modern world. + +To recognize these various opportunities, to feel intuitively the drift +of sentiment and conviction, and so to adjust the uses of art to life as +to exalt the one, and enrich and refine the other, involved not only the +possession of gifts of a high order, but that training which puts a man +in command of himself and of his materials. Addison was fortunate in +that incomparably important education which assails a child through +every sense, and above all through the imagination--in the atmosphere of +a home, frugal in its service to the body, but prodigal in its ministry +to the spirit. His father was a man of generous culture: an Oxford +scholar, who had stood frankly for the Monarchy and Episcopacy in +Puritan times; a voluminous and agreeable writer; of whom Steele says +that he bred his five children "with all the care imaginable in a +liberal and generous way." From this most influential of schools Addison +passed on to other masters: from the Grammar School at Lichfield, to the +well-known Charter House; and thence to Oxford, where he first entered +Queen's College, and later, became a member of Magdalen, to the beauty +of whose architecture and natural situation the tradition of his walks +and personality adds no small charm. He was a close student, shy in +manner, given to late hours of work. His literary tastes and appetite +were early disclosed, and in his twenty-second year he was already known +in London, had written an 'Account of the Greatest English Poets,' and +had addressed some complimentary verses to Dryden, then the recognized +head of English Letters. + +While Addison was hesitating what profession to follow, the leaders of +the political parties were casting about for men of literary power. A +new force had appeared in English politics--the force of public opinion; +and in their experiments to control and direct this novel force, +politicians were eager to secure the aid of men of Letters. The shifting +of power to the House of Commons involved a radical readjustment, not +only of the mechanism of political action, but of the attitude of public +men to the nation. They felt the need of trained and persuasive +interpreters and advocates; of the resources of wit, satire, and humor. +It was this very practical service which literature was in the way of +rendering to political parties, rather than any deep regard for +literature itself, which brought about a brief but brilliant alliance +between groups of men who have not often worked together to mutual +advantage. It must be said, however, that there was among the great Whig +and Tory leaders of the time a certain liberality of taste, and a care +for those things which give public life dignity and elegance, which were +entirely absent from Robert Walpole and the leaders of the two +succeeding reigns, when literature and politics were completely +divorced, and the government knew little and cared less for the welfare +of the arts. Addison came on the stage at the very moment when the +government was not only ready but eager to foster such talents as his. +He was a Whig of pronounced although modern type, and the Whigs were +in power. + +Lord Somers and Charles Montagu, better known later as Lord Halifax, +were the heads of the ministry, and his personal friends as well. They +were men of culture, lovers of Letters, and not unappreciative of the +personal distinction which already stamped the studious and dignified +Magdalen scholar. A Latin poem on the Peace of Ryswick, dedicated to +Montagu, happily combined Virgilian elegance and felicity with Whig +sentiment and achievement. It confirmed the judgment already formed of +Addison's ability; and, setting aside with friendly insistence the plan +of putting that ability into the service of the Church, Montagu secured +a pension of £300 for the purpose of enabling Addison to fit himself for +public employment abroad by thorough study of the French language, and +of manners, methods, and institutions on the Continent. With eight Latin +poems, published in the second volume of the 'Musae Anglicanae,' as an +introduction to foreign scholars, and armed with letters of introduction +from Montagu to many distinguished personages, Addison left Oxford in +the summer of 1699, and, after a prolonged stay at Blois for purposes of +study, visited many cities and interesting localities in France, Italy, +Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Holland. The shy, reticent, but +observing young traveler was everywhere received with the courtesy which +early in the century had made so deep an impression on the young Milton. +He studied hard, saw much, and meditated more. He was not only fitting +himself for public service, but for that delicate portraiture of manners +which was later to become his distinctive work. Clarendon had already +drawn a series of lifelike portraits of men of action in the stormy +period of the Revolution: Addison was to sketch the society of his time +with a touch at once delicate and firm; to exhibit its life in those +aspects which emphasize individual humor and personal quality, against a +carefully wrought background of habit, manners, usage, and social +condition. The habit of observation and the wide acquaintance with +cultivated and elegant social life which was a necessary part of the +training for the work which was later to appear in the pages of the +Spectator, were perhaps the richest educational results of these years +of travel and study; for Addison the official is a comparatively obscure +figure, but Addison the writer is one of the most admirable and +attractive figures in English history. + +Addison returned to England in 1703 with clouded prospects. The +accession of Queen Anne had been followed by the dismissal of the Whigs +from office; his pension was stopped, his opportunity of advancement +gone, and his father dead. The skies soon brightened, however: the +support of the Whigs became necessary to the Government; the brilliant +victory of Blenheim shed lustre not only on Marlborough, but on the men +with whom he was politically affiliated; and there was great dearth of +poetic ability in the Tory ranks at the very moment when a notable +achievement called for brave and splendid verse. Lord Godolphin, that +easy-going and eminently successful politician of whom Charles the +Second once shrewdly said that he was "never in the way and never out of +it," was directed to Addison in this emergency; and the story goes that +the Chancellor of the Exchequer, afterward Lord Carleton, who was sent +to express to the needy scholar the wishes of the Government, found him +lodged in a garret over a small shop. The result of this memorable +embassy from politics to literature was 'The Campaign': an eminently +successful poem of the formal, "occasional" order, which celebrated the +victor of Blenheim with tact and taste, pleased the ministry, delighted +the public, and brought reputation and fortune to its unknown writer. +Its excellence is in skillful avoidance of fulsome adulation, in the +exclusion of the well-worn classical allusions, and in a straightforward +celebration of those really great qualities in Marlborough which set his +military career in brilliant contrast with his private life. The poem +closed with a simile which took the world by storm:-- + + "So when an angel, by divine command, + With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, + (Such as of late o'er pale Britannia passed,) + Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; + And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, + Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm." + +"Addison left off at a good moment," says Thackeray. "That simile was +pronounced to be the greatest ever produced in poetry. That angel, that +good angel, flew off with Mr. Addison, and landed him in the place of +Commissioner of Appeals--_vice_ Mr. Locke, providentially promoted. In +the following year Mr. Addison went to Hanover with Lord Halifax, and +the year after was made Under-Secretary of State. O angel visits! You +come 'few and far between' to literary gentlemen's lodgings! Your wings +seldom quiver at the second-floor windows now!" + +The prize poem was followed by a narrative of travel in Italy, happily +written, full of felicitous description, and touched by a humor which, +in quality and manner, was new to English readers. Then came one of +those indiscretions of the imagination which showed that the dignified +and somewhat sober young poet, the "parson in a tye-wig," as he was +called at a later day, was not lacking in gayety of mood. The opera +'Rosamond' was not a popular success, mainly because the music to which +it was set fell so far below it in grace and ease. It must be added, +however, that Addison lacked the qualities of a successful libretto +writer. He was too serious, and despite the lightness of his touch, +there was a certain rigidity in him which made him unapt at +versification which required quickness, agility, and variety. When he +attempted to give his verse gayety of manner, he did not get beyond +awkward simulation of an ease which nature had denied him:-- + + "Since conjugal passion + Is come into fashion, + And marriage so blest on the throne is, + Like a Venus I'll shine, + Be fond and be fine, + And Sir Trusty shall be my Adonis." + +Meantime, in spite of occasional clouds, Addison's fortunes were +steadily advancing. The Earl of Wharton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of +Ireland, and Addison accepted the lucrative post of Secretary. Spenser +had found time and place, during a similar service in the same country, +to complete the 'Faery Queene'; although the fair land in which the +loveliest of English poems has its action was not unvexed by the chronic +turbulence of a mercurial and badly used race. Irish residence was +coincident in Addison's case, not only with prosperous fortunes and with +important friendships, but also with the beginning of the work on which +his fame securely rests. In Ireland the acquaintance he had already made +in London with Swift ripened into a generous friendship, which for a +time resisted political differences when such differences were the +constant occasion of personal animosity and bitterness. The two men +represented the age in an uncommonly complete way. Swift had the greater +genius: he was, indeed, in respect of natural endowment, the foremost +man of his time; but his nature was undisciplined, his temper uncertain, +and his great powers quite as much at the service of his passions as of +his principles. He made himself respected, feared, and finally hated; +his lack of restraint and balance, his ferocity of spirit when opposed, +and the violence with which he assailed his enemies, neutralized his +splendid gifts, marred his fortune, and sent him into lonely exile at +Dublin, where he longed for the ampler world of London. Few figures in +literary history are more pathetic than that of the old Dean of St. +Patrick's, broken in spirit, failing in health, his noble faculties gone +into premature decay, forsaken, bitter, and remorseful. At the time of +Addison's stay in Ireland, the days of Swift's eclipse were, however, +far distant; both men were in their prime. That Swift loved Addison is +clear enough; and it is easy to understand the qualities which made +Addison one of the most deeply loved men of his time. He was of an +eminently social temper, although averse to large companies and shy and +silent in their presence. "There is no such thing," he once said, "as +real conversation but between two persons." He was free from malice, +meanness, or jealousy, Pope to the contrary notwithstanding. He was +absolutely loyal to his principles and to his friends, in a time when +many men changed both with as little compunction as they changed wigs +and swords. His personality was singularly winning; his features +regular, and full of refinement and intelligence; his bearing dignified +and graceful; his temper kindly and in perfect control; his character +without a stain; his conversation enchanting, its charm confessed by +persons so diverse in taste as Pope, Swift, Steele, and Young. Lady Mary +Montagu declared that he was the best company she had ever known. He had +two faults of which the world has heard much: he loved the company of +men who flattered him, and at times he used wine too freely. The first +of these defects was venial, and did not blind his judgment either of +himself or his friends; the second defect was so common among the men of +his time that Addison's occasional over-indulgence, in contrast with the +excesses of others, seems like temperance itself. + +The harmony and symmetry of this winning personality has, in a sense, +told against it; for men are prone to call the well-balanced nature cold +and the well-regulated life Pharisaic. Addison did not escape charges of +this kind from the wild livers of his own time, who could not dissociate +genius from profligacy nor generosity of nature from prodigality. It was +one of the great services of Addison to his generation and to all +generations, that in an age of violent passions, he showed how a strong +man could govern himself. In a time of reckless living, he illustrated +the power which flows from subordination of pleasure to duty. In a day +when wit was identified with malice, he brought out its power to +entertain, surprise, and delight, without taking on the irreverent +levity of Voltaire, the bitterness of Swift, or the malice of Pope. + +It was during Addison's stay in Ireland that Richard Steele projected +the Tatler, and brought out the first number in 1709. His friendship +for Addison amounted almost to a passion; their intimacy was cemented by +harmony of tastes and diversity of character. Steele was ardent, +impulsive, warm-hearted, mercurial; full of aspiration and beset by +lamentable weaknesses,--preaching the highest morality and constantly +falling into the prevalent vices of his time; a man so lovable of +temper, so generous a spirit, and so frank a nature, that his faults +seem to humanize his character rather than to weaken and stain it. +Steele's gifts were many, and they were always at the service of his +feelings; he had an Irish warmth of sympathy and an Irish readiness of +humor, with great facility of inventiveness, and an inexhaustible +interest in all aspects of human experience. There had been political +journals in England since the time of the Revolution, but Steele +conceived the idea of a journal which should comment on the events and +characteristics of the time in a bright and humorous way; using freedom +with judgment and taste, and attacking the vices and follies of the time +with the light equipment of wit rather than with the heavy armament of +the formal moralist. The time was ripe for such an enterprise. London +was full of men and women of brilliant parts, whose manners, tastes, and +talk presented rich material for humorous report and delineation or for +satiric comment. Society, in the modern sense, was fast taking form, and +the resources of social intercourse were being rapidly developed. Men in +public life were intimately allied with society and sensitive to its +opinion; and men of all interests--public, fashionable, +literary--gathered in groups at the different chocolate or coffee +houses, and formed a kind of organized community. It was distinctly an +aristocratic society: elegant in dress, punctilious in manner, exacting +in taste, ready to be amused, and not indifferent to criticism when it +took the form of sprightly badinage or of keen and trenchant satire. The +informal organization of society, which made it possible to reach and +affect the Town as a whole, is suggested by the division of +the Tatler:-- + +"All accounts of Gallantry, Pleasure, and Entertainment, shall be under +the article of White's Chocolate-House; Poetry under that of Will's +Coffee-House; Learning under the title of Grecian; Foreign and Domestic +News you will have from St. James's Coffee-House; and what else I have +to offer on any other subject shall be dated from my own apartment." + +So wrote Steele in his introduction to the readers of the new journal, +which was to appear three times a week, at the cost of a penny. Of the +coffee-houses enumerated, St. James's and White's were the headquarters +of men of fashion and of politics; the Grecian of men of legal learning; +Will's of men of Letters. The Tatler was successful from the start. It +was novel in form and in spirit; it was sprightly without being +frivolous, witty without being indecent, keen without being libelous or +malicious. In the general license and coarseness of the time, so close +to the Restoration and the powerful reaction against Puritanism, the +cleanness, courtesy, and good taste which characterized the journal had +all the charm of a new diversion. In paper No. 18, Addison made his +appearance as a contributor, and gave the world the first of those +inimitable essays which influenced their own time so widely, and which +have become the solace and delight of all times. To Addison's influence +may perhaps be traced the change which came over the Tatler, and which +is seen in the gradual disappearance of the news element, and the steady +drift of the paper away from journalism and toward literature. Society +soon felt the full force of the extraordinary talent at the command of +the new censor of contemporary manners and morals. There was a +well-directed and incessant fire of wit against the prevailing taste of +dramatic art; against the vices of gambling and dueling; against +extravagance and affectation of dress and manner: and there was also +criticism of a new order. + +The Tatler was discontinued in January, 1711, and the first number of +the Spectator appeared in March. The new journal was issued daily, but +it made no pretensions to newspaper timeliness or interest; it aimed to +set a new standard in manners, morals, and taste, without assuming the +airs of a teacher. "It was said of Socrates," wrote Addison, in a +memorable chapter in the new journal, "that he brought Philosophy down +from heaven to inhabit among men; and I shall be happy to have it said +of me that I have brought Philosophy out of closets and libraries, +schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables +and in coffee-houses." For more than two years the Spectator discharged +with inimitable skill and success the difficult function of chiding, +reproving, and correcting, without irritating, wounding, or causing +strife. Swift found the paper too gentle, but its influence was due in +no small measure to its persuasiveness. Addison studied his method of +attack as carefully as Matthew Arnold, who undertook a similar +educational work in our own time, studied his means of approach to a +public indifferent or hostile to his ideas. The two hundred and +seventy-four papers furnished by Addison to the columns of the Spectator +may be said to mark the full development of English prose as a free, +flexible, clear, and elegant medium of expressing the most varied and +delicate shades of thought. They mark also the perfection of the essay +form in our literature; revealing clear perception of its limitations +and of its resources; easy mastery of its possibilities of serious +exposition and of pervading charm; ability to employ its full capacity +of conveying serious thought in a manner at once easy and authoritative. +They mark also the beginning of a deeper and more intelligent +criticism; for their exposition of Milton may be said to point the way +to a new quality of literary judgment and a new order of literary +comment. These papers mark, finally, the beginnings of the English +novel; for they contain a series of character-studies full of insight, +delicacy of drawing, true feeling, and sureness of touch. Addison was +not content to satirize the follies, attack the vices, and picture the +manners of his times: he created a group of figures which stand out as +distinctly as those which were drawn more than a century later by the +hand of Thackeray, our greatest painter of manners. De Foe had not yet +published the first of the great modern novels of incident and adventure +in 'Robinson Crusoe,' and Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett were unborn +or unknown, when Addison was sketching Sir Roger de Coverley and Will +Honeycomb, and filling in the background with charming studies of life +in London and in the country. The world has instinctively selected Sir +Roger de Coverley as the truest of all the creations of Addison's +imagination; and it sheds clear light on the fineness of Addison's +nature that among the four characters in fiction whom English readers +have agreed to accept as typical gentlemen,--Don Quixote, Sir Roger de +Coverley, Henry Esmond, and Colonel Newcombe,--the old English baronet +holds a secure place. + +Finished in style, but genuinely human in feeling, betraying the nicest +choice of words and the most studied care for elegant and effective +arrangement, and yet penetrated by geniality, enlivened by humor, +elevated by high moral aims, often using the dangerous weapons of irony +and satire, and yet always well-mannered and kindly,--these papers +reveal the sensitive nature of Addison and the delicate but thoroughly +tempered art which he had at his command. + +Rarely has literature of so high an order had such instant success; for +the popularity of the Spectator has been rivaled in English literature +only by that of the Waverley novels or of the novels of Dickens. Its +influence was felt not only in the sentiment of the day, and in the +crowd of imitators which followed in its wake, but also across the +Channel. In Germany, especially, the genius and methods of Addison made +a deep and lasting impression. + +No man could reach such eminence in the first quarter of the last +century without being tempted to try his hand at play-writing; and the +friendly fortune which seemed to serve Addison at every turn reached its +climax in the applause which greeted the production of 'Cato.' The +motive of this tragedy, constructed on what were then held to be classic +lines, is found in the two lines of the Prologue: it was an endeavor +to portray + + "A brave man struggling in the storms of fate, + And greatly falling with a falling State." + +The play was full of striking lines which were instantly caught up and +applied to the existing political situation; the theatre was crowded +night after night, and the resources of Europe in the way of +translations, plaudits, and favorable criticisms were exhausted in the +endeavor to express the general approval. The judgment of a later period +has, however, assigned 'Cato' a secondary place, and it is remembered +mainly on account of its many felicitous passages. It lacks real +dramatic unity and vitality; the character of Cato is essentially an +abstraction; there is little dramatic necessity in the situations and +incidents. It is rhetorical rather than poetic, declamatory rather than +dramatic. Johnson aptly described it as "rather a poem in dialogue than +a drama, rather a succession of just sentiments in elegant language than +a representation of natural affections, or of any state probable or +possible in human life." + +Addison's popularity touched its highest point in the production of +'Cato.' Even his conciliatory nature could not disarm the envy which +such brilliant success naturally aroused, nor wholly escape the +bitterness which the intense political feeling of the time constantly +bred between ambitious and able men. Political differences separated him +from Swift, and Steele's uncertain character and inconsistent course +blighted what was probably the most delightful intimacy of his life. +Pope doubtless believed that he had good ground for charging Addison +with jealousy and insincerity, and in 1715 an open rupture took place +between them. The story of the famous quarrel was first told by Pope, +and his version was long accepted in many quarters as final; but later +opinion inclines to hold Addison guiltless of the grave accusations +brought against him. Pope was morbidly sensitive to slights, morbidly +eager for praise, and extremely irritable. To a man of such temper, +trifles light as air became significant of malice and hatred. Such +trifles unhappily confirmed Pope's suspicions; his self-love was +wounded, sensitiveness became animosity, and animosity became hate, +which in the end inspired the most stinging bit of satire in the +language:-- + + "Should such a one, resolved to reign alone, + Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne, + View him with jealous yet with scornful eyes, + Hate him for arts that caused himself to rise, + Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, + And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; + Alike unused to blame or to commend, + A timorous foe and a suspicious friend, + Fearing e'en fools, by flatterers besieged, + And so obliging that he ne'er obliged; + Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike." + +There was just enough semblance of truth in these inimitable lines to +give them lasting stinging power; but that they were grossly unjust is +now generally conceded. Addison was human, and therefore not free from +the frailties of men of his profession; but there was no meanness +in him. + +Addison's loyalty to the Whig party and his ability to serve it kept him +in intimate relations with its leaders and bound him to its fortunes. He +served the Whig cause in Parliament, and filled many positions which +required tact and judgment, attaining at last the very dignified post of +Secretary of State. A long attachment for the Countess of Warwick +culminated in marriage in 1716, and Addison took up his residence in +Holland House; a house famous for its association with men of +distinction in politics and letters. The marriage was not happy, if +report is to be trusted. The union of the ill-adapted pair was, in any +event, short-lived; for three years later, in 1719, Addison died in his +early prime, not yet having completed his forty-eighth year. On his +death-bed, Young tells us, he called his stepson to his side and said, +"See in what peace a Christian can die." His body was laid in +Westminster Abbey; his work is one of the permanent possessions of the +English-speaking race; his character is one of its finest traditions. He +was, as truly as Sir Philip Sidney, a gentleman in the sweetness of his +spirit, the courage of his convictions, the refinement of his bearing, +and the purity of his life. He was unspoiled by fortune and applause; +uncorrupted by the tempting chances of his time; stainless in the use of +gifts which in the hands of a man less true would have caught the +contagion of Pope's malice or of Swift's corroding cynicism. + +Hamilton W. Mabie + + +SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY AT THE PLAY + +From the Spectator, No. 335 + +My friend Sir Roger de Coverley, when we last met together at the Club, +told me, that he had a great mind to see the new Tragedy with me, +assuring me at the same time that he had not been at a Play these twenty +Years. The last I saw, said Sir Roger, was the _Committee_, which I +should not have gone to neither, had not I been told beforehand that it +was a good Church-of-_England_ Comedy. He then proceeded to enquire of +me who this Distrest Mother was; and upon hearing that she was +_Hector's_ Widow, he told me that her Husband was a brave Man, and that +when he was a Schoolboy he had read his Life at the end of the +Dictionary. My friend asked me in the next place, if there would not be +some danger in coming home late, in case the _Mohocks_[1] should be +Abroad. I assure you, says he, I thought I had fallen into their Hands +last Night; for I observed two or three lusty black Men that follow'd me +half way up _Fleet-street,_ and mended their pace behind me, in +proportion as I put on to get away from them. You must know, continu'd +the Knight with a Smile, I fancied they had a mind to _hunt_ me; for I +remember an honest Gentleman in my Neighbourhood, who was served such a +trick in King _Charles_ the Second's time; for which reason he has not +ventured himself in Town ever since. I might have shown them very good +Sport, had this been their Design; for as I am an old Fox-hunter, I +should have turned and dodg'd, and have play'd them a thousand tricks +they had never seen in their Lives before. Sir Roger added, that if +these gentlemen had any such Intention, they did not succeed very well +in it: for I threw them out, says he, at the End of _Norfolk street_, +where I doubled the Corner, and got shelter in my Lodgings before they +could imagine what was become of me. However, says the Knight, if +Captain Sentry will make one with us to-morrow night, and if you will +both of you call upon me about four a Clock, that we may be at the House +before it is full, I will have my own Coach in readiness to attend you, +for _John_ tells me he has got the Fore-Wheels mended. + +[Footnote 1: London "bucks" who disguised themselves as savages and +roamed the streets at night, committing outrages on persons and +property.] + +The Captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the appointed Hour, +bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he had put on the same Sword which +he made use of at the Battel of _Steenkirk._ Sir Roger's Servants, and +among the rest my old Friend the Butler, had, I found, provided +themselves with good Oaken Plants, to attend their Master upon this +occasion. When he had placed him in his Coach, with my self at his +Left-Hand, the Captain before him, and his Butler at the Head of his +Footmen in the Rear, we convoy'd him in safety to the Play-house, where, +after having marched up the Entry in good order, the Captain and I went +in with him, and seated him betwixt us in the Pit. As soon as the House +was full, and the Candles lighted, my old Friend stood up and looked +about him with that Pleasure, which a Mind seasoned with Humanity +naturally feels in its self, at the sight of a Multitude of People who +seem pleased with one another, and partake of the same common +Entertainment. I could not but fancy to myself, as the old Man stood up +in the middle of the Pit, that he made a very proper Center to a Tragick +Audience. Upon the entring of _Pyrrhus_, the Knight told me that he did +not believe the King of _France_ himself had a better Strut. I was +indeed very attentive to my old Friend's Remarks, because I looked upon +them as a Piece of natural Criticism, and was well pleased to hear him +at the Conclusion of almost every Scene, telling me that he could not +imagine how the Play would end. One while he appeared much concerned for +_Andromache_; and a little while after as much for _Hermione_: and was +extremely puzzled to think what would become of _Pyrrhus_. + +When Sir Roger saw _Andromache's_ obstinate Refusal to her Lover's +importunities, he whisper'd me in the Ear, that he was sure she would +never have him; to which he added, with a more than ordinary Vehemence, +You can't imagine, Sir, what 'tis to have to do with a Widow. Upon +_Pyrrhus_ his threatning afterwards to leave her, the Knight shook his +Head, and muttered to himself, Ay, do if you can. This Part dwelt so +much upon my Friend's Imagination, that at the close of the Third Act, +as I was thinking of something else, he whispered in my Ear, These +Widows, Sir, are the most perverse Creatures in the World. But pray, +says he, you that are a Critick, is this Play according to your +Dramatick Rules, as you call them? Should your People in Tragedy always +talk to be understood? Why, there is not a single Sentence in this Play +that I do not know the Meaning of. + +The Fourth Act very luckily begun before I had time to give the old +Gentleman an Answer: Well, says the Knight, sitting down with great +Satisfaction, I suppose we are now to see _Hector's_ Ghost. He then +renewed his Attention, and, from time to time, fell a praising the +Widow. He made, indeed, a little Mistake as to one of her Pages, whom at +his first entering, he took for _Astyanax_; but he quickly set himself +right in that Particular, though, at the same time, he owned he should +have been very glad to have seen the little Boy, who, says he, must +needs be a very fine Child by the Account that is given of him. Upon +_Hermione's_ going off with a Menace to _Pyrrhus_, the Audience gave a +loud Clap; to which Sir Roger added, On my Word, a notable +young Baggage! + +As there was a very remarkable Silence and Stillness in the Audience +during the whole Action, it was natural for them to take the Opportunity +of these Intervals between the Acts, to express their Opinion of the +Players, and of their respective Parts. Sir Roger hearing a Cluster of +them praise _Orestes_, struck in with them, and told them, that he +thought his Friend _Pylades_ was a very sensible Man; as they were +afterwards applauding _Pyrrhus_, Sir Roger put in a second time; And let +me tell you, says he, though he speaks but little, I like the old Fellow +in Whiskers as well as any of them. Captain Sentry seeing two or three +Waggs who sat near us, lean with an attentive Ear towards Sir Roger, and +fearing lest they should Smoke the Knight, pluck'd him by the Elbow, and +whisper'd something in his Ear, that lasted till the Opening of the +Fifth Act. The Knight was wonderfully attentive to the Account which +_Orestes_ gives of _Pyrrhus_ his Death, and at the Conclusion of it, +told me it was such a bloody Piece of Work, that he was glad it was not +done upon the Stage. Seeing afterwards _Orestes_ in his raving Fit, he +grew more than ordinary serious, and took occasion to moralize (in his +way) upon an Evil Conscience, adding, that _Orestes, in his Madness, +looked as if he saw something_. + +As we were the first that came into the House, so we were the last that +went out of it; being resolved to have a clear Passage for our old +Friend, whom we did not care to venture among the justling of the Crowd. +Sir Roger went out fully satisfied with his Entertainment, and we +guarded him to his Lodgings in the same manner that we brought him to +the Playhouse; being highly pleased, for my own part, not only with the +Performance of the excellent Piece which had been Presented, but with +the Satisfaction which it had given to the good old Man. L. + + +A VISIT TO SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY + +From the Spectator, No. 106 + +Having often received an Invitation from my Friend Sir Roger de Coverley +to pass away a Month with him in the Country, I last Week accompanied +him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his Country-house, +where I intend to form several of my ensuing Speculations. Sir Roger, +who is very well acquainted with my Humour, lets me rise and go to Bed +when I please, dine at his own Table or in my Chamber as I think fit, +sit still and say nothing without bidding me be merry. When the +Gentlemen of the Country come to see him, he only shews me at a +distance: As I have been walking in his Fields I have observed them +stealing a Sight of me over an Hedge, and have heard the Knight desiring +them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at. + +I am the more at Ease in Sir Roger's Family, because it consists of +sober and staid Persons: for as the Knight is the best Master in the +World, he seldom changes his Servants; and as he is beloved by all about +him, his Servants never care for leaving him: by this means his +Domesticks are all in years, and grown old with their Master. You would +take his Valet de Chambre for his Brother, his Butler is grey-headed, +his Groom is one of the Gravest men that I have ever seen, and his +Coachman has the Looks of a Privy-Counsellor. You see the Goodness of +the Master even in the old House-dog, and in a grey Pad that is kept in +the Stable with great Care and Tenderness out of Regard to his past +Services, tho' he has been useless for several Years. + +I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure the Joy that +appeared in the Countenances of these ancient Domesticks upon my +Friend's Arrival at his Country-Seat. Some of them could not refrain +from Tears at the Sight of their old Master; every one of them press'd +forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not +employed. At the same time the good old Knight, with a Mixture of the +Father and the Master of the Family, tempered the Enquiries after his +own Affairs with several kind Questions relating to themselves. This +Humanity and good Nature engages every Body to him, so that when he is +pleasant upon any of them, all his Family are in good Humour, and none +so much as the Person whom he diverts himself with: On the contrary, if +he coughs, or betrays any Infirmity of old Age, it is easy for a +Stander-by to observe a secret Concern in the Looks of all his Servants. + +My worthy Friend has put me under the particular Care of his Butler, who +is a very prudent Man, and, as well as the rest of his Fellow-Servants, +wonderfully desirous of pleasing me, because they have often heard their +Master talk of me as of his particular Friend. + +My chief Companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself in the Woods or +the Fields, is a very venerable man who is ever with Sir Roger, and has +lived at his House in the Nature of a Chaplain above thirty Years. This +Gentleman is a Person of good Sense and some Learning, of a very regular +Life and obliging Conversation: He heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows +that he is very much in the old Knight's Esteem, so that he lives in the +Family rather as a Relation than a Dependent. + +I have observed in several of my Papers, that my Friend Sir Roger, +amidst all his good Qualities, is something of an Humourist; and that +his Virtues, as well as Imperfections, are as it were tinged by a +certain Extravagance, which makes them particularly _his_, and +distinguishes them from those of other Men. This Cast of Mind, as it is +generally very innocent in it self, so it renders his Conversation +highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same Degree of Sense and +Virtue would appear in their common and ordinary Colours. As I was +walking with him last Night, he asked me how I liked the good Man whom I +have just now mentioned? and without staying for my Answer told me, That +he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at his own Table; +for which Reason he desired a particular Friend of his at the University +to find him out a Clergyman rather of plain Sense than much Learning, of +a good Aspect, a clear Voice, a sociable Temper, and, if possible, a Man +that understood a little of Back-Gammon. My Friend, says Sir Roger, +found me out this Gentleman, who, besides the Endowments required of +him, is, they tell me, a good Scholar, tho' he does not show it. I have +given him the Parsonage of the Parish; and because I know his Value have +settled upon him a good Annuity for Life. If he outlives me, he shall +find that he was higher in my Esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He +has now been with me thirty Years; and tho' he does not know I have +taken Notice of it, has never in all that time asked anything of me for +himself, tho' he is every Day soliciting me for something in behalf of +one or other of my Tenants his Parishioners. There has not been a +Law-suit in the Parish since he has liv'd among them: If any Dispute +arises they apply themselves to him for the Decision, if they do not +acquiesce in his Judgment, which I think never happened above once or +twice at most, they appeal to me. At his first settling with me, I made +him a Present of all the good Sermons which have been printed in +_English_, and only begg'd of him that every _Sunday_ he would pronounce +one of them in the Pulpit. Accordingly, he has digested them into such a +Series, that they follow one another naturally, and make a continued +System of practical Divinity. + +As Sir Roger was going on in his Story, the Gentleman we were talking +of came up to us; and upon the Knight's asking him who preached to +morrow (for it was _Saturday_ Night) told us, the Bishop of St. _Asaph_ +in the Morning, and Dr. _South_ in the Afternoon. He then shewed us his +List of Preachers for the whole Year, where I saw with a great deal of +Pleasure Archbishop _Tillotson_, Bishop _Saunderson_, Doctor _Barrow_, +Doctor _Calamy_, with several living Authors who have published +Discourses of Practical Divinity. I no sooner saw this venerable Man in +the Pulpit, but I very much approved of my Friend's insisting upon the +Qualifications of a good Aspect and a clear Voice; for I was so charmed +with the Gracefulness of his Figure and Delivery, as well as with the +Discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed any Time more to +my Satisfaction. A Sermon repeated after this Manner, is like the +Composition of a Poet in the Mouth of a graceful Actor. + +I could heartily wish that more of our Country Clergy would follow this +Example; and in stead of wasting their Spirits in laborious Compositions +of their own, would endeavour after a handsome Elocution, and all those +other Talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater +Masters. This would not only be more easy to themselves, but more +edifying to the People. + + +THE VANITY OF HUMAN LIFE + +'The Vision of Mirzah,' from the Spectator, No. 159 + +When I was at _Grand Cairo_, I picked up several Oriental Manuscripts, +which I have still by me. Among others I met with one entitled, _The +Visions of Mirzah_, which I have read over with great Pleasure. I intend +to give it to the Publick when I have no other entertainment for them; +and shall begin with the first Vision, which I have translated Word for +Word as follows. + +On the fifth Day of the Moon, which according to the Custom of my +Forefathers I always keep holy, after having washed my self, and offered +up my Morning Devotions, I ascended the high hills of _Bagdat_, in order +to pass the rest of the Day in Meditation and Prayer. As I was here +airing my self on the Tops of the Mountains, I fell into a profound +Contemplation on the Vanity of human Life; and passing from one Thought +to another, Surely, said I, Man is but a Shadow and Life a Dream. +Whilst I was thus musing, I cast my eyes towards the Summit of a Rock +that was not far from me, where I discovered one in the Habit of a +Shepherd, with a little Musical Instrument in his Hand. As I looked upon +him he applied it to his Lips, and began to play upon it. The sound of +it was exceeding sweet, and wrought into a Variety of Tunes that were +inexpressibly melodious, and altogether different from any thing I had +ever heard. They put me in mind of those heavenly Airs that are played +to the departed Souls of good Men upon their first Arrival in Paradise, +to wear out the Impressions of the last Agonies, and qualify them for +the Pleasures of that happy Place. My Heart melted away in +secret Raptures. + +I had been often told that the Rock before me was the Haunt of a Genius; +and that several had been entertained with Musick who had passed by it, +but never heard that the Musician had before made himself visible. When +he had raised my Thoughts by those transporting Airs which he played, to +taste the Pleasures of his Conversation, as I looked upon him like one +astonished, he beckoned to me, and by the waving of his Hand directed me +to approach the Place where he sat. I drew near with that Reverence +which is due to a superior Nature; and as my heart was entirely subdued +by the captivating Strains I heard, I fell down at his Feet and wept. +The Genius smiled upon me with a Look of Compassion and Affability that +familiarized him to my Imagination, and at once dispelled all the Fears +and Apprehensions with which I approached him. He lifted me from the +Ground, and taking me by the hand, _Mirzah,_ said he, I have heard thee +in thy Soliloquies; follow me. + +He then led me to the highest Pinnacle of the Rock, and placing me on +the Top of it, Cast thy Eyes Eastward, said he, and tell me what thou +seest. I see, said I, a huge Valley, and a prodigious Tide of Water +rolling through it. The Valley that thou seest, said he, is the Vale of +Misery, and the Tide of Water that thou seest is part of the great Tide +of Eternity. What is the Reason, said I, that the Tide I see rises out +of a thick Mist at one End, and again loses itself in a thick Mist at +the other? What thou seest, said he, is that Portion of Eternity which +is called Time, measured out by the Sun, and reaching from the Beginning +of the World to its Consummation. Examine now, said he, this Sea that is +bounded with darkness at both Ends, and tell me what thou discoverest +in it. I see a Bridge, said I, standing in the Midst of the Tide. The +Bridge thou seest, said he, is human Life, consider it attentively. Upon +a more leisurely Survey of it, I found that it consisted of threescore +and ten entire Arches, with several broken Arches, which added to those +that were entire, made up the Number about an hundred. As I was counting +the Arches, the Genius told me that this Bridge consisted at first of a +thousand Arches; but that a great Flood swept away the rest, and left +the Bridge in the ruinous Condition I now beheld it: But tell me +further, said he, what thou discoverest on it. I see Multitudes of +People passing over it, said I, and a black Cloud hanging on each End of +it. As I looked more attentively, I saw several of the Passengers +dropping thro' the Bridge, into the great Tide that flowed underneath +it; and upon farther Examination, perceived there were innumerable +Trap-doors that lay concealed in the Bridge, which the Passengers no +sooner trod upon, but they fell thro' them into the Tide and immediately +disappeared. These hidden Pit-falls were set very thick at the Entrance +of the Bridge, so that the Throngs of People no sooner broke through the +Cloud, but many of them fell into them. They grew thinner towards the +Middle, but multiplied and lay closer together toward the End of the +Arches that were entire. There were indeed some Persons, but their +number was very small, that continued a kind of a hobbling March on the +broken Arches, but fell through one after another, being quite tired and +spent with so long a Walk. + +I passed some Time in the Contemplation of this wonderful Structure, and +the great Variety of Objects which it presented. My heart was filled +with a deep Melancholy to see several dropping unexpectedly in the midst +of Mirth and Jollity, and catching at every thing that stood by them to +save themselves. Some were looking up towards the Heavens in a +thoughtful Posture, and in the midst of a Speculation stumbled and fell +out of Sight. Multitudes were very busy in the Pursuit of Bubbles that +glittered in their Eyes and danced before them; but often when they +thought themselves within the reach of them their Footing failed and +down they sunk. In this Confusion of Objects, I observed some with +Scymetars in their Hands, and others with Urinals, who ran to and fro +upon the Bridge, thrusting several Persons on Trap-doors which did not +seem to lie in their way, and which they might have escaped had they not +been forced upon them. + +The Genius seeing me indulge my self in this melancholy Prospect, told +me I had dwelt long enough upon it: Take thine Eyes off the Bridge, said +he, and tell me if thou yet seest any thing thou dost not comprehend. +Upon looking up, What mean, said I, those great Flights of Birds that +are perpetually hovering about the Bridge, and settling upon it from +time to time? I see Vultures, Harpyes, Ravens, Cormorants, and among +many other feather'd Creatures several little winged Boys, that perch in +great Numbers upon the middle Arches. These, said the Genius, are Envy, +Avarice, Superstition, Despair, Love, with the like Cares and Passions +that infest human Life. + +I here fetched a deep Sigh, Alas, said I, Man was made in vain! How is +he given away to Misery and Mortality! tortured in Life, and swallowed +up in Death! The Genius being moved with Compassion towards me, bid me +quit so uncomfortable a Prospect: Look no more, said he, on Man in the +first Stage of his Existence, in his setting out for Eternity; but cast +thine Eye on that thick Mist into which the Tide bears the several +Generations of Mortals that fall into it. I directed my Sight as I was +ordered, and (whether or no the good Genius strengthened it with any +supernatural Force, or dissipated Part of the Mist that was before too +thick for the Eye to penetrate) I saw the Valley opening at the farther +End, and spreading forth into an immense Ocean, that had a huge Rock of +Adamant running through the Midst of it, and dividing it into two equal +parts. The Clouds still rested on one Half of it, insomuch that I could +discover nothing in it: But the other appeared to me a vast Ocean +planted with innumerable Islands, that were covered with Fruits and +Flowers, and interwoven with a thousand little shining Seas that ran +among them. I could see Persons dressed in glorious Habits with Garlands +upon their Heads, passing among the Trees, lying down by the Side of +Fountains, or resting on Beds of Flowers; and could hear a confused +Harmony of singing Birds, falling Waters, human Voices, and musical +Instruments. Gladness grew in me upon the Discovery of so delightful a +Scene. I wished for the Wings of an Eagle, that I might fly away to +those happy Seats; but the Genius told me there was no Passage to them, +except through the Gates of Death that I saw opening every Moment upon +the Bridge. The Islands, said he, that lie so fresh and green before +thee, and with which the whole Face of the Ocean appears spotted as far +as thou canst see, are more in number than the Sands on the Sea-shore; +there are Myriads of Islands behind those which thou here discoverest, +reaching further than thine Eye, or even thine Imagination can extend it +self. These are the Mansions of good Men after Death, who according to +the Degree and Kinds of Virtue in which they excelled, are distributed +among these several Islands, which abound with Pleasures of different +Kinds and Degrees, suitable to the Relishes and Perfections of those who +are settled in them; every Island is a Paradise accommodated to its +respective Inhabitants. Are not these, O _Mirzah_, Habitations worth +contending for? Does Life appear miserable, that gives thee +Opportunities of earning such a Reward? Is Death to be feared, that will +convey thee to so happy an Existence? Think not Man was made in vain, +who has such an Eternity reserved for him. I gazed with inexpressible +Pleasure on these happy Islands. At length, said I, shew me now, I +beseech thee, the Secrets that lie hid under those dark Clouds which +cover the Ocean on the other side of the Rock of Adamant. The Genius +making me no Answer, I turned about to address myself to him a second +time, but I found that he had left me; I then turned again to the Vision +which I had been so long contemplating; but Instead of the rolling Tide, +the arched Bridge, and the happy Islands, I saw nothing but the long +hollow Valley of _Bagdat_, with Oxen, Sheep, and Camels grazing upon the +Sides of it. + + +AN ESSAY ON FANS + +From the Spectator, No. 102 + +I do not know whether to call the following Letter a Satyr upon Coquets, +or a Representation of their several fantastical Accomplishments, or +what other Title to give it; but as it is I shall communicate it to the +Publick. It will sufficiently explain its own Intentions, so that I +shall give it my Reader at Length, without either Preface or Postscript. + + + _Mr. Spectator_: + + Women are armed with Fans as Men with Swords, and sometimes + do more Execution with them. To the end therefore that Ladies + may be entire Mistresses of the Weapon which they bear, I + have erected an Academy for the training up of young Women in + the _Exercise of the Fan_, according to the most fashionable + Airs and Motions that are now practis'd at Court. The Ladies + who _carry_ Fans under me are drawn up twice a-day in my + great Hall, where they are instructed in the Use of their + Arms, and _exercised_ by the following Words of Command, + + Handle your Fans, + Unfurl your Fans, + Discharge your Fans, + Ground your Fans, + Recover your Fans, + Flutter your Fans. + + By the right Observation of these few plain Words of Command, + a Woman of a tolerable Genius, who will apply herself + diligently to her Exercise for the Space of but one half + Year, shall be able to give her Fan all the Graces that can + possibly enter into that little modish Machine. + + But to the end that my Readers may form to themselves a right + Notion of this _Exercise_, I beg leave to explain it to them + in all its Parts. When my Female Regiment is drawn up in + Array, with every one her Weapon in her Hand, upon my giving + the Word to _handle their Fans_, each of them shakes her Fan + at me with a Smile, then gives her Right-hand Woman a Tap + upon the Shoulder, then presses her Lips with the Extremity + of her Fan, then lets her Arms fall in an easy Motion, and + stands in a Readiness to receive the next Word of Command. + All this is done with a close Fan, and is generally learned + in the first Week. + + The next Motion is that of _unfurling the Fan_, in which are + comprehended several little Flirts and Vibrations, as also + gradual and deliberate Openings, with many voluntary Fallings + asunder in the Fan itself, that are seldom learned under a + Month's Practice. This part of the _Exercise_ pleases the + Spectators more than any other, as it discovers on a sudden + an infinite Number of _Cupids,_ [Garlands,] Altars, Birds, + Beasts, Rainbows, and the like agreeable Figures, that + display themselves to View, whilst every one in the Regiment + holds a Picture in her Hand. + + Upon my giving the Word to _discharge their Fans_, they give + one general Crack that may be heard at a considerable + distance when the Wind sits fair. This is one of the most + difficult parts of the _Exercise_; but I have several ladies + with me who at their first Entrance could not give a Pop loud + enough to be heard at the further end of a Room, who can now + _discharge a Fan_ in such a manner that it shall make a + Report like a Pocket-Pistol. I have likewise taken care (in + order to hinder young Women from letting off their Fans in + wrong Places or unsuitable Occasions) to shew upon what + Subject the Crack of a Fan may come in properly: I have + likewise invented a Fan, with which a Girl of Sixteen, by the + help of a little Wind which is inclosed about one of the + largest Sticks, can make as loud a Crack as a Woman of Fifty + with an ordinary Fan. + + When the Fans are thus _discharged_, the Word of Command in + course is to _ground their Fans_. This teaches a Lady to quit + her Fan gracefully, when she throws it aside in order to take + up a Pack of Cards, adjust a Curl of Hair, replace a falling + Pin, or apply her self to any other Matter of Importance. + This Part of the _Exercise_, as it only consists in tossing a + Fan with an Air upon a long Table (which stands by for that + Purpose) may be learned in two Days Time as well as in a + Twelvemonth. + + When my Female Regiment is thus disarmed, I generally let + them walk about the Room for some Time; when on a sudden + (like Ladies that look upon their Watches after a long Visit) + they all of them hasten to their Arms, catch them up in a + Hurry, and place themselves in their proper Stations upon my + calling out _Recover your Fans_. This Part of the _Exercise_ + is not difficult, provided a Woman applies her Thoughts + to it. + + The _Fluttering of the Fan_ is the last, and indeed the + Masterpiece of the whole _Exercise_; but if a Lady does not + mis-spend her Time, she may make herself Mistress of it in + three Months. I generally lay aside the Dog-days and the hot + Time of the Summer for the teaching this Part of the + _Exercise_; for as soon as ever I pronounce _Flutter your + Fans_, the Place is fill'd with so many Zephyrs and gentle + Breezes as are very refreshing in that Season of the Year, + tho' they might be dangerous to Ladies of a tender + Constitution in any other. + + There is an infinite variety of Motions to be made use of in + the _Flutter of a Fan_. There is an Angry Flutter, the modest + Flutter, the timorous Flutter, the confused Flutter, the + merry Flutter, and the amorous Flutter. Not to be tedious, + there is scarce any Emotion in the Mind which does not + produce a suitable Agitation in the Fan; insomuch, that if I + only see the Fan of a disciplin'd Lady, I know very well + whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a Fan so + very Angry, that it would have been dangerous for the absent + Lover who provoked it to have come within the Wind of it; and + at other times so very languishing, that I have been glad + for the Lady's sake the Lover was at a sufficient Distance + from it. I need not add, that a Fan is either a Prude or + Coquet according to the Nature of the Person who bears it. To + conclude my Letter, I must acquaint you that I have from my + own Observations compiled a little Treatise for the use of my + Scholars, entitled _The Passions of the Fan;_ which I will + communicate to you, if you think it may be of use to the + Publick. I shall have a general Review on _Thursday_ next; to + which you shall be very welcome if you will honour it with + your Presence. + + _I am_, &c. + + _P.S._ I teach young Gentlemen the whole Art of Gallanting a + Fan. + + _N.B._ I have several little plain Fans made for this Use, to + avoid Expence. + + L. + + + HYMN + + From the Spectator, No. 465 + + The Spacious Firmament on high + With all the blue Etherial Sky, + And Spangled Heav'ns, a Shining Frame, + Their great Original proclaim: + Th' unwearied Sun, from Day to Day, + Does his Creator's Pow'r display, + And publishes to every Land + The Work of an Almighty Hand. + + Soon as the Evening Shades prevail, + The Moon takes up the wondrous Tale, + And nightly to the list'ning Earth, + Repeats the Story of her Birth: + While all the Stars that round her burn, + And all the Planets in their Turn, + Confirm the Tidings as they rowl, + And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole. + + What though, in solemn Silence, all + Move round the dark terrestrial Ball? + What tho' nor real Voice nor Sound + Amid their radiant Orbs be found? + In Reason's Ear they all rejoice, + And titter forth a glorious Voice, + For ever singing, as they shine, + "The Hand that made us is Divine." + + + + +AELIANUS CLAUDIUS + +(Second Century A.D.) + + +According to his 'Varia Historia,' Aelianus Claudius was a native of +Praeneste and a citizen of Rome, at the time of the emperor Hadrian. He +taught Greek rhetoric at Rome, and hence was known as "the Sophist." He +spoke and wrote Greek with the fluency and ease of a native Athenian, +and gained thereby the epithet of "the honey-tongued". He lived to be +sixty years of age, and never married because he would not incur the +responsibility of children. + +The 'Varia Historia' is the most noteworthy of his works. It is a +curious and interesting collection of short narratives, anecdotes, and +other historical, biographical, and antiquarian matter, selected from +the Greek authors whom he said he loved to study. And it is valuable +because it preserves scraps of works now lost. The extracts are either +in the words of the original, or give the compiler's version; for, as he +says, he liked to have his own way and to follow his own taste. They are +grouped without method; but in this very lack of order--which shows that +"browsing" instinct which Charles Lamb declared to be essential to a +right feeling for literature--the charm of the book lies. This habit of +straying, and his lack of style, prove Aelianus more of a vagabond in +the domain of letters than a rhetorician. + +His other important book, 'De Animalium Natura' (On the Nature of +Animals), is a medley of his own observations, both in Italy and during +his travels as far as Egypt. For several hundred years it was a popular +and standard book on zoölogy; and even as late as the fourteenth +century, Manuel Philes, a Byzantine poet, founded upon it a poem on +animals. Like the 'Varia Historia', it is scrappy and gossiping. He +leaps from subject to subject: from elephants to dragons, from the liver +of mice to the uses of oxen. There was, however, method in this +disorder; for as he says, he sought thereby to give variety and hold his +reader's attention. The book is interesting, moreover, as giving us a +personal glimpse of the man and of his methods of work; for in a +concluding chapter he states the general principle on which he composed: +that he has spent great labor, thought, and care in writing it; that he +has preferred the pursuit of knowledge to the pursuit of wealth; that +for his part, he found more pleasure in observing the habits of the +lion, the panther, and the fox, in listening to the song of the +nightingale, and in studying the migrations of cranes, than in mere +heaping up of riches and finding himself numbered among the great; and +that throughout his work he has sought to adhere to the truth. + +Aelianus was more of a moralizer than an artist in words; his style has +no distinctive literary qualities, and in both of his chief works is the +evident intention to set forth religious and moral principles. He wrote, +moreover, some treatises expressly on religious and philosophic +subjects, and some letters on husbandry. + +The 'Varia Historia' has been twice translated into English: by Abraham +Fleming in 1576, and by Thomas Stanley, son of the poet and philosopher +Stanley, in 1665. Fleming was a poet and scholar of the English +Renaissance, who translated from the ancients, and made a digest of +Holinshed's 'Historie of England.' His version of Aelianus loses nothing +by its quaint wording, as will be seen from the subjoined stories. The +full title of the book is 'A Registre of Hystories containing martiall +Exploits of worthy Warriours, politique Practices and civil Magistrates, +wise Sentences of famous Philosophers, and other Matters manifolde and +memorable written in Greek by Aelianus Claudius and delivered in English +by Abraham Fleming' (1576). + + + +[All the selections following are from 'A Registre of Hystories'] + +OF CERTAIN NOTABLE MEN THAT MADE THEMSELVES PLAYFELLOWES WITH CHILDREN + +Hercules (as some say) assuaged the tediousness of his labors, which he +sustayned in open and common games, with playing. This Hercules, I say, +being an incomparable warriour, and the sonne of Jupiter and Latona, +made himselfe a playfellowe with boys. Euripides the poet introduceth, +and bringeth in, the selfe same god speaking in his owne person, and +saying, "I play because choyce and chaunge of labors is delectable and +sweete unto me," whiche wordes he uttered holdinge a boy by the hande. +Socrates also was espied of Alcibiades upon a time, playing with +Lamprocles, who was in manner but a childe. Agesilaus riding upon a +rude, or cock-horse as they terme it, played with his sonne beeing but a +boy: and when a certayn man passing by sawe him so doe and laughed there +withall, Agesilaus sayde thus, Now hold thy peace and say nothing; but +when thou art a father I doubt not thou wilt doe as fathers should doe +with their children. Architas Tarentinus being both in authoritie in +the commonwealth, that is to say a magestrat, and also a philosopher, +not of the obscurest sorte, but a precise lover of wisdom, at that time +he was a housband, a housekeeper, and maintained many servauntes, he was +greatly delighted with their younglinges, used to play oftentimes with +his servauntes' children, and was wonte, when he was at dinner and +supper, to rejoyce in the sight and presence of them: yet was Tarentinus +(as all men knowe) a man of famous memorie and noble name. + + +OF A CERTAINE SICILIAN WHOSE EYSIGHT WAS WOONDERFULL SHARPE AND QUICK + +There was in Sicilia a certaine man indued with such sharpnesse, +quicknesse, and clearnesse of sight (if report may challenge credite) +that hee coulde see from Lilybaeus to Carthage with such perfection and +constancy that his eies coulde not be deceived: and that he tooke true +and just account of all ships and vessels which went under sayle from +Carthage, over-skipping not so much as one in the universall number. + +Something straunge it is that is recorded of Argus, a man that had no +lesse than an hundred eyes, unto whose custody Juno committed Io, the +daughter of Inachus, being transformed into a young heifer: while Argus +(his luck being such) was slaine sleeping, but the Goddess Juno so +provided that all his eyes (whatsoever became of his carkasse) should be +placed on the pecock's taile; wherupon (sithence it came to passe) the +pecock is called Avis Junonia, or Lady Juno Birde. This historic is +notable, but yet the former (in mine opinion) is more memorable. + + +THE LAWE OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS AGAINST COVETOUSNESS + +A certain young man of Lacedaemonia having bought a plot of land for a +small and easy price (and, as they say, dogge cheape) was arrested to +appear before the magistrates, and after the trial of his matter he was +charged with a penalty. The reason why hee was judged worthy this +punishment was because he being but a young man gaped so gredely after +gain and yawned after filthy covetousness. For yt was a most commendable +thing among the Lacedaemonians not only to fighte against the enemie in +battell manfully; but also to wrestle and struggle with covetousness +(that misschievous monster) valliauntly. + + +THAT SLEEP IS THE BROTHER OF DEATH, AND OF GORGIAS DRAWING TO HIS END + +Gorgias Leontinus looking towardes the end of his life and beeing wasted +with the weaknes and wearysomenesse of drooping olde age, falling into +sharp and sore sicknesse upon a time slumbered and slept upon his soft +pillowe a little season. Unto whose chamber a familiar freend of his +resorting to visit him in his sicknes demaunded how he felt himself +affected in body. To whom Gorgias Leontinus made this pithy and +plausible answeer, "Now Sleep beginneth to deliver me up into the +jurisdiction of his brother-germane, Death." + + +OF THE VOLUNTARY AND WILLING DEATH OF CALANUS + +The ende of Calanus deserveth no lesse commendation than it procureth +admiration; it is no less praiseworthy than it was worthy wonder. The +manner, therefore, was thus. The within-named Calanus, being a sophister +of India, when he had taken his long leave and last farewell of +Alexander, King of Macedonia, and of his life in lyke manner, being +willing, desirous, and earnest to set himselfe at lybertie from the +cloggs, chaines, barres, boults, and fetters of the prison of the body, +pyled up a bonnefire in the suburbs of Babylon of dry woodde and chosen +sticks provided of purpose to give a sweete savour and an odoriferous +smell in burning. The kindes of woodde which hee used to serve his turne +in this case were these: Cedre, Rosemary, Cipres, Mirtle, and Laurell. +These things duely ordered, he buckled himselfe to his accustomed +exercise, namely, running and leaping into the middest of the wodstack +he stoode bolte upright, having about his head a garlande made of the +greene leaves of reedes, the sunne shining full in his face, as he +stoode in the pile of stycks, whose glorious majesty, glittering with +bright beams of amiable beuty, he adored and worshipped. Furthermore he +gave a token and signe to the Macedonians to kindle the fire, which, +when they had done accordingly, hee beeing compassed round about with +flickering flames, stoode stoutly and valiauntly in one and the selfe +same place, and dyd not shrincke one foote, until hee gave up the ghost, +whereat Alexander unvailyng, as at a rare strange sight and worldes +wonder, saide (as the voice goes) these words:--"Calanus hath subdued, +overcome, and vanquished stronger enemies than I. For Alexander made +warre against Porus, Taxiles, and Darius. But Calanus did denounce and +did battell to labor and fought fearcely and manfully with death." + + +OF DELICATE DINNERS, SUMPTUOUS SUPPERS, AND PRODIGALL BANQUETING + +Timothy, the son of Conon, captain of the Athenians, leaving his +sumptuous fare and royall banqueting, beeing desired and intertained of +Plato to a feast philosophicall, seasoned with contentation and musick, +at his returning home from that supper of Plato, he said unto his +familiar freends:--"They whiche suppe with Plato, this night, are not +sick or out of temper the next day following;" and presently upon the +enunciation of that speech, Timothy took occasion to finde fault with +great dinners, suppers, feasts, and banquets, furnished with excessive +fare, immoderate consuming of meats, delicates, dainties, toothsome +junkets, and such like, which abridge the next dayes joy, gladnes, +delight, mirth, and pleasantnes. Yea, that sentence is consonant and +agreeable to the former, and importeth the same sense notwithstanding in +words it hath a little difference. That the within named Timothy meeting +the next day after with Plato said to him:--"You philosophers, freend +Plato, sup better the day following than the night present." + + +OF BESTOWING TIME, AND HOW WALKING UP AND DOWNE WAS NOT ALLOWABLE AMONG +THE LACEDAEMONIANS + +The Lacedaemonians were of this judgment, that measureable spending of +time was greatly to be esteemed, and therefore did they conforme and +apply themselves to any kinde of laboure moste earnestly and painfully, +not withdrawing their hands from works of much bodyly mooving, not +permitting any particular person, beeing a citizen, to spend the time in +idlenes, to waste it in unthrifty gaming, to consume it in trifling, in +vain toyes and lewd loytering, all whiche are at variance and enmity +with vertue. Of this latter among many testimonyes, take this for one. + +When it was reported to the magistrates of the Lacedaemonians called +Ephori, in manner of complaint, that the inhabitants of Deceleia used +afternoone walkings, they sent unto them messengers with their +commandmente, saying:--"Go not up and doune like loyterers, nor walke +not abrode at your pleasure, pampering the wantonnes of your natures +rather than accustoming yourself to exercises of activity. For it +becometh the Lacedaemonians to regarde their health and to maintaine +their safety not with walking to and fro, but with bodily labours." + + +HOW SOCRATES SUPPRESSED THE PRYDE AND HAUTINESSE OF ALCIBIADES + +Socrates, seeing Alcibiades puft up with pryde and broyling in ambitious +behavioure (because possessor of such great wealth and lorde of so large +lands) brought him to a place where a table did hang containing a +discription of the worlde universall. Then did Socrates will Alcibiades +to seeke out the situation of Athens, which when he found Socrates +proceeded further and willed him to point out that plot of ground where +his lands and lordships lay. Alcibiades, having sought a long time and +yet never the nearer, sayde to Socrates that his livings were not set +forth in that table, nor any discription of his possession therein made +evident. When Socrates, rebuked with this secret quip: "And art thou so +arrogant (sayeth he) and so hautie in heart for that which is no parcell +of the world?" + + +OF CERTAINE WASTGOODES AND SPENDTHRIFTES + +Prodigall lavishing of substance, unthrifty and wastifull spending, +voluptuousness of life and palpable sensuality brought Pericles, +Callias, the sonne of Hipponicus, and Nicias not only to necessitie, but +to povertie and beggerie. Who, after their money waxed scant, and turned +to a very lowe ebbe, they three drinking a poysoned potion one to +another (which was the last cuppe that they kissed with their lippes) +passed out of this life (as it were from a banquet) to the powers +infernall. + + + + +AESCHINES + +(389-314 B.C.) + + +The life and oratory of Aeschines fall fittingly into that period of +Greek history when the free spirit of the people which had created the +arts of Pindar and Sophocles, Pericles, Phidias, and Plato, was becoming +the spirit of slaves and of savants, who sought to forget the freedom of +their fathers in learning, luxury, and the formalism of deducers of +rules. To this slavery Aeschines himself contributed, both in action +with Philip of Macedon and in speech. Philip had entered upon a career +of conquest; a policy legitimate in itself and beneficial as judged by +its larger fruits, but ruinous to the advanced civilization existing in +the Greek City-States below, whose high culture was practically +confiscated to spread out over a waste of semi-barbarism and mix with +alien cultures. Among his Greek sympathizers, Aeschines was perhaps his +chief support in the conquest of the Greek world that lay to the south +within his reach. + +[Illustration: AESCHINES] + +Aeschines was born in 389 B.C., six years before his lifelong rival +Demosthenes. If we may trust that rival's elaborate details of his early +life, his father taught a primary school and his mother was overseer of +certain initiatory rites, to both of which occupations Aeschines gave +his youthful hand and assistance. He became in time a third-rate actor, +and the duties of clerk or scribe presently made him familiar with the +executive and legislative affairs of Athens. Both vocations served as an +apprenticeship to the public speaking toward which his ambition was +turning. We hear of his serving as a heavy-armed soldier in various +Athenian expeditions, and of his being privileged to carry to Athens, in +349 B.C., the first news of the victory of Tamynae, in Euboea, in reward +for the bravery he had shown in the battle. + +Two years afterward he was sent as an envoy into the Peloponnesus, with +the object of forming a union of the Greeks against Philip for the +defense of their liberties. But his mission was unsuccessful. Toward the +end of the same year he served as one of the ten ambassadors sent to +Philip to discuss terms of peace. The harangues of the Athenians at this +meeting were followed in turn by a speech of Philip, whose openness of +manner, pertinent arguments, and pretended desire for a settlement led +to a second embassy, empowered to receive from him the oath of +allegiance and peace. It was during this second embassy that Demothenes +says he discovered the philippizing spirit and foul play of Aeschines. +Upon their return to Athens, Aeschines rose before the assembly to +assure the people that Philip had come to Thermopylae as the friend and +ally of Athens. "We, your envoys, have satisfied him," said Aeschines. +"You will hear of benefits still more direct which we have determined +Philip to confer upon you, but which it would not be prudent as yet +to specify." + +But the alarm of the Athenians at the presence of Philip within the +gates was not allayed. The king, however, anxious to temporize with them +until he could receive his army supplies by sea, suborned Aeschines, who +assured his countrymen of Philip's peaceful intentions. On another +occasion, by an inflammatory speech at Delphi, he so played upon the +susceptibilities of the rude Amphictyones that they rushed forth, +uprooted their neighbors' harvest fields, and began a devastating war of +Greek against Greek. Internal dissensions promised the shrewd Macedonian +the conquest he sought. At length, in August, 338, came Philip's victory +at Chaeronea, and the complete prostration of Greek power. Aeschines, +who had hitherto disclaimed all connection with Philip, now boasted of +his intimacy with the king. As Philip's friend, while yet an Athenian, +he offered himself as ambassador to entreat leniency from the victor +toward the unhappy citizens. + +The memorable defense of Demosthenes against the attack of Aeschines was +delivered in 330 B.C. Seven years before this, Ctesiphon had proposed to +the Senate that the patriotic devotion and labors of Demosthenes should +be acknowledged by the gift of a golden crown--a recognition willingly +accorded. But as this decision, to be legal, must be confirmed by the +Assembly, Aeschines gave notice that he would proceed against Ctesiphon +for proposing an unconstitutional measure. He managed to postpone action +on the notice for six years. At last he seized a moment when the +victories of Philip's son and successor, Alexander, were swaying popular +feeling, to deliver a bitter harangue against the whole life and policy +of his political opponent. Demosthenes answered in that magnificent +oration called by the Latin writers 'De Corona' Aeschines was not upheld +by the people's vote. He retired to Asia, and, it is said, opened a +school of rhetoric at Rhodes. There is a legend that after he had one +day delivered in his school the masterpiece of his enemy, his students +broke into applause: "What," he exclaimed, "if you had heard the wild +beast thunder it out himself!" + +Aeschines was what we call nowadays a self-made man. The great faults of +his life, his philippizing policy and his confessed corruption, arose, +doubtless, from the results of youthful poverty: a covetousness growing +out of want, and a lack of principles of conduct which a broader +education would have instilled. As an orator he was second only to +Demosthenes; and while he may at times be compared to his rival in +intellectual force and persuasiveness, his moral defects--which it must +be remembered that he himself acknowledged--make a comparison of +character impossible. + +His chief works remaining to us are the speeches 'Against Timarchus,' +'On the Embassy,' 'Against Ctesiphon,' and letters, which are included +in the edition of G.E. Benseler (1855-60). In his 'History of Greece,' +Grote discusses at length--of course adversely--the influence of +Aeschines; especially controverting Mitford's favorable view and his +denunciation of Demosthenes and the patriotic party. The trend of recent +writing is toward Mitford's estimate of Philip's policy, and therefore +less blame for the Greek statesmen who supported it, though without +Mitford's virulence toward its opponents. Mahaffy ('Greek Life and +Thought') holds the whole contest over the crown to be mere academic +threshing of old straw, the fundamental issues being obsolete by the +rise of a new world under Alexander. + + +A DEFENSE AND AN ATTACK + +From the 'Oration against Ctesiphon' + +In regard to the calumnies with which I am attacked, I wish to say a +word or two before Demosthenes speaks. He will allege, I am told, that +the State has received distinguished services from him, while from me it +has suffered injury on many occasions; and that the deeds of Philip and +Alexander, and the crimes to which they gave rise, are to be imputed to +me. Demosthenes is so clever in the art of speaking that he does not +bring accusation against me, against any point in my conduct of affairs +or any counsels I may have brought to our public meetings; but he rather +casts reflections upon my private life, and charges me with a +criminal silence. + +Moreover, in order that no circumstance may escape his calumny, he +attacks my habits of life when I was in school with my young companions; +and even in the introduction of his speech he will say that I have begun +this prosecution, not for the benefit of the State, but because I want +to make a show of myself to Alexander and gratify Alexander's resentment +against him. He purposes, as I learn, to ask why I blame his +administration as a whole, and yet never hindered or indicted any one +separate act; why, after a considerable interval of attention to public +affairs, I now return to prosecute this action.... + +But what I am now about to notice--a matter which I hear Demosthenes +will speak of--about this, by the Olympian deities, I cannot but feel a +righteous indignation. He will liken my speech to the Sirens', it seems, +and the legend anent their art is that those who listen to them are not +charmed, but destroyed; wherefore the music of the Sirens is not in good +repute. Even so he will aver that knowledge of my words and myself is a +source of injury to those who listen to me. I, for my part, think it +becomes no one to urge such allegations against me; for it is a shame if +one who makes charges cannot point to facts as full evidence. And if +such charges must be made, the making surely does not become +Demosthenes, but rather some military man--some man of action--who has +done good work for the State, and who, in his untried speech, vies with +the skill of antagonists because he is conscious that he can tell no one +of his deeds, and because he sees his accusers able to show his audience +that he had done what in fact he never had done. But when a man made up +entirely of words,--of sharp words and overwrought sentences,--when he +takes refuge in simplicity and plain facts, who then can endure +it?--whose tongue is like a flute, inasmuch as if you take it away the +rest is nothing.... + +This man thinks himself worthy of a crown--that his honor should be +proclaimed. But should you not rather send into exile this common pest +of the Greeks? Or will you not seize upon him as a thief, and avenge +yourself upon him whose mouthings have enabled him to bear full sail +through our commonwealth? Remember the season in which you cast your +vote. In a few days the Pythian Games will come round, and the +convention of the Hellenic States will hold its sessions. Our State has +been concerned on account of the measures of Demosthenes regarding +present crises. You will appear, if you crown him, accessory to those +who broke the general peace. But if, on the other hand, you refuse the +crown, you will free the State from blame. Do not take counsel as if it +were for an alien, but as if it concerned, as it does, the private +interest of your city; and do not dispense your honors carelessly, but +with judgment; and let your public gifts be the distinctive possession +of men most worthy. Not only hear, but also look around you and consider +who are the men who support Demosthenes. Are they his fellow-hunters, or +his associates in old athletic sports? No, by Olympian Zeus, he was +never engaged in hunting the wild boar, nor in care for the well-being +of his body; but he was toiling at the art of those who keep up +possessions. + +Take into consideration also his art of juggling, when he says that by +his embassy he wrested Byzantium from the hands of Philip, and that his +eloquence led the Acarnanians to revolt, and struck dumb the Thebans. He +thinks, forsooth, that you have fallen to such a degree of weakness that +he can persuade you that you have been entertaining Persuasion herself +in your city, and not a vile slanderer. And when at the conclusion of +his argument he calls upon his partners in bribe-taking, then fancy that +you see upon these steps, from which I now address you, the benefactors +of your State arrayed against the insolence of those men. Solon, who +adorned our commonwealth with most noble laws, a man who loved wisdom, a +worthy legislator, asking you in dignified and sober manner, as became +his character, not to follow the pleading of Demosthenes rather than +your oaths and laws. Aristides, who assigned to the Greeks their +tributes, to whose daughters after he had died the people gave +portions--imagine Aristides complaining bitterly at the insult to public +justice, and asking if you are not ashamed that when your fathers +banished Arthurias the Zelian, who brought gold from the Medes (although +while he was sojourning in the city and a guest of the people of Athens +they were scarce restrained from killing him, and by proclamation +forbade him the city and any dominion the Athenians had power over), +nevertheless that you are going to crown Demosthenes, who did not indeed +bring gold from the Medes, but who received bribes and has them still in +his possession. And Themistocles and those who died at Marathon and at +Plataea, and the very graves of your ancestors--will they not cry out if +you venture to grant a crown to one who confesses that he united with +the barbarians against the Greeks? + +And now, O earth and sun! virtue and intelligence! and thou, O genius of +the humanities, who teachest us to judge between the noble and the +ignoble, I have come to your succor and I have done. If I have made my +pleading with dignity and worthily, as I looked to the flagrant wrong +which called it forth, I have spoken as I wished. If I have done ill, it +was as I was able. Do you weigh well my words and all that is left +unsaid, and vote in accordance with justice and the interests of +the city! + + + + +AESCHYLUS + +(B.C. 525-456) + +BY JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE + + +The mightiest of Greek tragic poets was the son of Euphorion, an +Athenian noble, and was born B.C. 525. When he was a lad of eleven, the +tyrant Hipparchus fell in a public street of Athens under the daggers of +Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Later, Aeschylus saw the family of tyrants, +which for fifty years had ruled Attica with varying fortunes, banished +from the land. With a boy's eager interest he followed the establishment +of the Athenian democracy by Cleisthenes. He grew to manhood in stirring +times. The new State was engaged in war with the powerful neighboring +island of Aegina; on the eastern horizon was gathering the cloud that +was to burst in storm at Marathon, Aeschylus was trained in that early +school of Athenian greatness whose masters were Miltiades, Aristides, +and Themistocles. + +[Illustration: AESCHYLUS] + +During the struggle with Persia, fought out on Greek soil, the poet was +at the height of his physical powers, and we may feel confidence in the +tradition that he fought not only at Marathon, but also at Salamis. Two +of his extant tragedies breathe the very spirit of war, and show a +soldier's experience; and the epitaph upon his tomb, which was said to +have been written by himself, recorded how he had been one of those who +met the barbarians in the first shock of the great struggle and had +helped to save his country. + + "How brave in battle was Euphorion's son, + The long-haired Mede can tell who fell at Marathon." + +Before Aeschylus, Attic tragedy had been essentially lyrical. It arose +from the dithyrambic chorus that was sung at the festivals of Dionysus. +Thespis had introduced the first actor, who, in the pauses of the choral +song, related in monologue the adventures of the god or engaged in +dialogue with the leader of the chorus. To Aeschylus is due the +invention of the second actor. This essentially changed the character of +the performance. The dialogue could now be carried on by the two actors, +who were thus able to enact a complete story. The functions of the +chorus became less important, and the lyrical element was subordinated +to the action. (The word "drama" signifies action.) The number of actors +was subsequently increased to three, and Aeschylus in his later plays +used this number. This restriction imposed upon the Greek playwright +does not mean that he was limited to two or three characters in his +play, but that only two, or at the most three, of these might take part +in the action at once. The same actor might assume different parts. The +introduction of the second actor was so capital an innovation that it +rightly entitles Aeschylus to be regarded as the creator of the drama, +for in his hands tragedy first became essentially dramatic. This is his +great distinction, but his powerful genius wrought other changes. He +perfected, if he did not discover, the practice of introducing three +plays upon a connected theme (technically named a _trilogy_), with an +after-piece of lighter character. He invented the tragic dress and +buskin, and perfected the tragic mask. He improved the tragic dance, and +by his use of scenic decoration and stage machinery, secured effects +that were unknown before him. His chief claim to superior excellence, +however, lies after all in his poetry. Splendid in diction, vivid in the +portraiture of character, and powerful in the expression of passion, he +is regarded by many competent critics as the greatest tragic poet of +all time. + +The Greek lexicographer, Suidas, reports that Aeschylus wrote ninety +plays. The titles of seventy-two of these have been handed down in an +ancient register. He brought out the first of these at the age of +twenty-five, and as he died at the age of sixty-nine, he wrote on an +average two plays each year throughout his lifetime. Such fertility +would be incredible, were not similar facts authentically recorded of +the older tragic poets of Greece. The Greek drama, moreover, made +unusual demands on the creative powers of the poet. It was lyrical, and +the lyrics were accompanied by the dance. All these elements--poetry, +song, and dance--the poet contributed; and we gain a new sense of the +force of the word "poet" (it means "creator"), when we contemplate his +triple function. Moreover, he often "staged" the play himself, and +sometimes he acted in it. Aeschylus was singularly successful in an age +that produced many great poets. He took the first prize at least +thirteen times; and as he brought out four plays at each contest, more +than half his plays were adjudged by his contemporaries to be of the +highest quality. After the poet's death, plays which he had written, but +which had not been acted in his lifetime, were brought out by his sons +and a nephew. It is on record that his son Euphorion took the first +prize four times with plays of his father; so the poet's art lived after +him and suffered no eclipse. + +Only seven complete plays of Aeschylus are still extant. The best +present source of the text of these is a manuscript preserved in the +Laurentian Library, at Florence in Italy, which was written in the tenth +or eleventh century after Christ. The number of plays still extant is +small, but fortunately, among them is the only complete Greek trilogy +that we possess, and luckily also the other four serve to mark +successive stages in the poet's artistic development. The trilogy of the +'Oresteia' is certainly his masterpiece; in some of the other plays he +is clearly seen to be still bound by the limitations which hampered the +earlier writers of Greek tragedy. In the following analysis the seven +plays will be presented in their probable chronological order. + +The Greeks signally defeated Xerxes in the great sea fight in the bay of +Salamis, B.C. 480. The poet made this victory the theme of his +'Persians.' This is the only historical Greek tragedy which we now +possess: the subjects of all the rest are drawn from mythology. But +Aeschylus had a model for his historical play in the 'Phoenician Women' +of his predecessor Phrynichus, which dealt with the same theme. +Aeschylus, indeed, is said to have imitated it closely in the +'Persians.' Plagiarism was thought to be a venial fault by the ancients, +just as in the Homeric times piracy was not considered a disgrace. The +scene of the play is not Athens, as one might expect, but Susa. It opens +without set prologue. The Chorus consists of Persian elders, to whom the +government of the country has been committed in the absence of the King. +These venerable men gather in front of the royal palace, and their +leader opens the play with expressions of apprehension: no news has come +from the host absent in Greece. The Chorus at first express full +confidence in the resistless might of the great army; but remembering +that the gods are jealous of vast power and success in men, yield to +gloomy forebodings. These grow stronger when Atossa, the aged mother of +Xerxes, appears from the palace and relates the evil dreams which she +has had on the previous night, and the omen that followed. The Chorus +beseech her to make prayer to the gods, to offer libations to the dead, +and especially to invoke the spirit of Darius to avert the evil which +threatens his ancient kingdom. Too late! A messenger arrives and +announces that all is lost. By one fell stroke the might of Persia has +been laid low at Salamis. At Atossa's request, the messenger, +interrupted at first by the lamentations of the Chorus, recounts what +has befallen. His description of the battle in the straits is a passage +of signal power, and is justly celebrated. The Queen retires, and the +Chorus sing a song full of gloomy reflections. The Queen reappears, and +the ghost of Darius is invoked from the lower world. He hears from +Atossa what has happened, sees in this the fulfillment of certain +ancient prophecies, foretells disaster still to come, and warns the +Chorus against further attempts upon Greece. As he departs to the +underworld, the Chorus sing in praise of the wisdom of his reign. Atossa +has withdrawn. Xerxes now appears with attendants, laments with the +Chorus the disaster that has overtaken him, and finally enters +the palace. + +The economy of the play is simple: only two actors are required. The +first played the parts of Atossa and Xerxes, the second that of the +messenger and the ghost of Darius. The play well illustrates the +conditions under which Aeschylus at this period wrote. The Chorus was +still of first importance; the ratio of the choral parts in the play to +the dialogue is about one to two. + +The exact date of the 'Suppliants' cannot be determined; but the +simplicity of its plot, the lack of a prologue, the paucity of its +characters, and the prominence of the Chorus, show that it is an early +play. The scene is Argos. The Chorus consists of the daughters of +Danaüs, and there are only three characters,--Danaüs, a Herald, and +Pelasgus King of Argos. + +Danaüs and Aegyptus, brothers, and descendants of Io and Epaphus, had +settled near Canopus at the mouth of the Nile. Aegyptus sought to unite +his fifty sons in marriage with the fifty daughters of the brother. The +daughters fled with their father to Argos. Here his play opens. The +Chorus appeal for protection to the country, once the home of Io, and to +its gods and heroes. Pelasgus, with the consent of the Argive people, +grants them refuge, and at the end of the play repels the attempt to +seize them made by the Herald of the sons of Aegyptus. + +A part of one of the choruses is of singular beauty, and it is doubtless +to them that the preservation of the play is due. The play hardly seems +to be a tragedy, for it ends without bloodshed. Further, it lacks +dramatic interest, for the action almost stands still. It is a cantata +rather than a tragedy. Both considerations, however, are sufficiently +explained by the fact that this was the first play of a trilogy. The +remaining plays must have furnished, in the death of forty-nine of the +sons of Aegyptus, both action and tragedy in sufficient measure to +satisfy the most exacting demands. + +The 'Seven Against Thebes' deals with the gloomy myth of the house of +Laïus. The tetralogy to which it belonged consisted of the 'Laïus,' +'Oedipus,' 'Seven Against Thebes,' and 'Sphinx.' The themes of Greek +tragedy were drawn from the national mythology, but the myths were +treated with a free hand. In his portrayal of the fortunes of this +doomed race, Aeschylus departed in important particulars, with gain in +dramatic effect, from the story as it is read in Homer. + +Oedipus had pronounced an awful curse upon his sons, Eteocles and +Polynices, for their unfilial neglect,--"they should one day divide +their land by steel." They thereupon agreed to reign in turn, each for a +year; but Eteocles, the elder, refused at the end of the first year to +give up the throne. Polynices appealed to Adrastus King of Argos for +help, and seven chiefs appeared before the walls of Thebes to enforce +his claim, and beleaguered the town. Here the play opens, with an appeal +addressed by Eteocles to the citizens of Thebes to prove themselves +stout defenders of their State in its hour of peril. A messenger enters, +and describes the sacrifice and oath of the seven chiefs. The Chorus of +Theban maidens enter in confusion and sing the first ode. The hostile +army is hurrying from its camp against the town; the Chorus hear their +shouts and the rattling din of their arms, and are overcome by terror. +Eteocles reproves them for their fears, and bids them sing a paean that +shall hearten the people. The messenger, in a noteworthy scene, +describes the appearance of each hostile chief. The seventh and last is +Polynices. Eteocles, although conscious of his father's curse, +nevertheless declares with gloomy resoluteness that he will meet his +brother in single combat, and, resisting the entreaties of the Chorus, +goes forth to his doom. The attack on the town is repelled, but the +brothers fall, each by the other's hand. Thus is the curse fulfilled. +Presently their bodies are wheeled in. Their sisters, Antigone and +Ismene, follow and sing a lament over the dead. A herald announces that +the Theban Senate forbid the burial of Polynices; his body shall be cast +forth as prey of dogs. Antigone declares her resolution to brave their +mandate, and perform the last sad rites for her brother. + + "Dread tie, the common womb from which we sprang,-- + Of wretched mother born and hapless sire." + +The Chorus divides. The first semi-chorus sides with Antigone; the +second declares its resolution to follow to its last resting-place the +body of Eteocles. And thus the play ends. The theme is here sketched, +just at the close of the play, in outline, that Sophocles has developed +with such pathetic effect in his 'Antigone.' + +The 'Prometheus' transports the reader to another world. The characters +are gods, the time is the remote past, the place a desolate waste in +Scythia, on the confines of the Northern Ocean. Prometheus had sinned +against the authority of Zeus. Zeus wished to destroy the old race of +mankind; but Prometheus gave them fire, taught them arts and +handicrafts, developed in them thought and consciousness, and so assured +both their existence and their happiness. The play deals with his +punishment. Prometheus is borne upon the scene by Force and Strength, +and is nailed to a lofty cliff by Hephaestus. His appeal to Nature, when +his tormentors depart and he is left alone, is peculiarly pathetic. The +daughters of Oceanus, constituting the Chorus, who have heard the sound +of the hammer in their ocean cave, are now borne in aloft on a winged +car, and bewail the fate of the outraged god. Oceanus appears upon a +winged steed, and offers his mediation; but this is scornfully rejected. +The resolution of Prometheus to resist Zeus to the last is strengthened +by the coming of Io. She too, as it seems, is a victim of the Ruler of +the Universe; driven by the jealous wrath of Hera, she roams from land +to land. She tells the tale of her sad wandering, and finally rushes +from the scene in frenzy, crazed by the sting of the gadfly that Hera +has sent to torment her. Prometheus knows a secret full of menace to +Zeus. Relying on this, he prophesies his overthrow, and defies him to do +his worst. Hermes is sent to demand with threats its revelation, but +fails to accomplish his purpose. Prometheus insults and taunts him. +Hermes warns the Chorus to leave, for Zeus is about to display his +wrath. At first they refuse, but then fly affrighted: the cliff is +rending and sinking, the elements are in wild tumult. As he sinks, about +to be engulfed in the bowels of the earth, Prometheus cries:-- + + "Earth is rocking in space! + And the thunders crash up with a roar upon roar, + And the eddying lightnings flash fire in my face, + And the whirlwinds are whirling the dust round and round, + And the blasts of the winds universal leap free + And blow each upon each with a passion of sound, + And aether goes mingling in storm with the sea." + +The play is Titanic. Its huge shapes, its weird effects, its mighty +passions, its wild display of the forces of earth and air,--these +impress us chiefly at first; but its ethical interest is far greater. +Zeus is apparently represented in it as relentless, cruel, and +unjust,--a lawless ruler, who knows only his own will,--whereas in all +the other plays of Aeschylus he is just and righteous, although +sometimes severe. Aeschylus, we know, was a religious man. It seems +incredible that he should have had two contradictory conceptions of the +character of Zeus. The solution of this problem is to be found in the +fact that this 'Prometheus' was the first play of the trilogy. In the +second play, the 'Prometheus Unbound,' of which we have only fragments, +these apparent contradictions must have been reconciled. Long ages are +supposed to elapse between the plays. Prometheus yields. He reveals the +secret and is freed from his bonds. What before seemed to be relentless +wanton cruelty is now seen to have been only the harsh but necessary +severity of a ruler newly established on his throne. By the +reconciliation of this stern ruler with the wise Titan, the giver of +good gifts to men, order is restored to the universe. Prometheus +acknowledges his guilt, and the course of Zeus is vindicated; but the +loss of the second play of the trilogy leaves much in doubt, and an +extraordinary number of solutions of the problem has been proposed. The +reader must not look for one of these, however, in the 'Prometheus +Unbound' of Shelley, who deliberately rejected the supposition of a +reconciliation. + +The three remaining plays are founded on the woful myth of the house of +Atreus, son of Pelops, a theme much treated by the Greek tragic poets. +They constitute the only existing Greek trilogy, and are the last and +greatest work of the poet. They were brought out at Athens, B.C. 458, +two years after the author's death. The 'Agamemnon' sets forth the +crime,--the murder, by his wife, of the great King, on his return home +from Troy; the 'Choëphori,' the vengeance taken on the guilty wife by +her own son; the 'Eumenides,' the atonement made by that son in +expiation of his mother's murder. + +Agamemnon on departing for Troy left behind him in his palace a son and +a daughter, Orestes and Electra. Orestes was exiled from home by his +mother Clytemnestra, who in Agamemnon's absence lived in guilty union +with Aegisthus, own cousin of the King, and who could no longer endure +to look upon the face of her son. + +The scene of the 'Agamemnon' is the royal palace in Argos. The time is +night. A watchman is discovered on the flat roof of the palace. For a +year he has kept weary vigil there, waiting for the beacon-fire that, +sped from mountain-top to mountain-top, shall announce the fall of Troy. +The signal comes at last, and joyously he proclaims the welcome news. +The sacrificial fires which have been made ready in anticipation of the +event are set alight throughout the city. The play naturally falls into +three divisions. The first introduces the Chorus of Argive elders, +Clytemnestra, and a Herald who tells of the hardships of the siege and +of the calamitous return, and ends with the triumphal entrance of +Agamemnon with Cassandra, and his welcome by the Queen; the second +comprehends the prophecy of the frenzied Cassandra of the doom about to +fall upon the house and the murder of the King; the third the conflict +between the Chorus, still faithful to the murdered King, and +Clytemnestra, beside whom stands her paramour Aegisthus. + +Interest centres in Clytemnestra. Crafty, unscrupulous, resolute, +remorseless, she veils her deadly hatred for her lord, and welcomes him +home in tender speech:-- + + "So now, dear lord, I bid thee welcome home-- + True as the faithful watchdog of the fold, + Strong as the mainstay of the laboring bark, + Stately as column, fond as only child, + Dear as the land to shipwrecked mariner, + Bright as fair sunshine after winter's storms, + Sweet as fresh fount to thirsty wanderer-- + All this, and more, thou art, dear love, to me." + +Agamemnon passes within the palace; she slays him in his bath, enmeshed +in a net, and then, reappearing, vaunts her bloody deed: + + "I smote him, and he bellowed; and again + I smote, and with a groan his knees gave way; + And as he fell before me, with a third + And last libation from the deadly mace, + I pledged the crowning draught to Hades due, + That subterranean Saviour--of the dead! + At which he spouted up the Ghost in such + A flood of purple as, bespattered with, + No less did I rejoice than the green ear + Rejoices in the largesse of the skies + That fleeting Iris follows as it flies." + +Aeschylus departs from the Homeric account, which was followed by other +poets, in making the action of the next play, the 'Choëphori,' follow +closer upon that of the 'Agamemnon.' Orestes has heard in Phocis of his +father's murder, and returns in secret, with his friend Pylades, to +exact vengeance. The scene is still Argos, but Agamemnon's tomb is now +seen in front of the palace. The Chorus consists of captive women, who +aid and abet the attempt. The play sets forth the recognition of Orestes +by Electra; the plot by which Orestes gains admission to the palace; the +deceit of the old Nurse, a homely but capital character, by whom +Aegisthus is induced to come to the palace without armed attendants; the +death of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra; the appearance of the avenging +Furies; and the flight of Orestes. + +The last play of the trilogy, the 'Eumenides,' has many singular +features. The Chorus of Furies seemed even to the ancients to be a weird +and terrible invention; the scene of the play shifts from Delphi to +Athens; the poet introduces into the play a trial scene; and he had in +it a distinct political purpose, whose development occupies one-half of +the drama. + +Orestes, pursued by the avenging Furies, "Gorgon-like, vested in sable +stoles, their locks entwined with clustering snakes," has fled to Delphi +to invoke the aid of Apollo. He clasps the navel-stone and in his +exhaustion falls asleep. Around him sleep the Furies. The play opens +with a prayer made by the Pythian priestess at an altar in front of the +temple. The interior of the sanctuary is then laid bare. Orestes is +awake, but the Furies sleep on. Apollo, standing beside Orestes, +promises to protect him, but bids him make all haste to Athens, and +there clasp, as a suppliant, the image of Athena. Orestes flies. The +ghost of Clytemnestra rises from the underworld, and calls upon the +Chorus to pursue. Overcome by their toil, they moan in their sleep, but +finally start to their feet. Apollo bids them quit the temple. + +The scene changes to the ancient temple of Athena on the Acropolis at +Athens, where Orestes is seen clasping the image of the goddess. The +Chorus enter in pursuit of their victim, and sing an ode descriptive of +their powers. + +Athena appears, and learns from the Chorus and from Orestes the reasons +for their presence. She declares the issue to be too grave even for her +to decide, and determines to choose judges of the murder, who shall +become a solemn tribunal for all future time. These are to be the best +of the citizens of Athens. After an ode by the Chorus, she returns, the +court is established, and the trial proceeds in due form. Apollo appears +for the defense of Orestes. When the arguments have been presented, +Athena proclaims, before the vote has been taken, the establishment of +the court as a permanent tribunal for the trial of cases of bloodshed. +Its seat shall be the Areopagus. The votes are cast and Orestes is +acquitted. He departs for Argos. The Furies break forth in anger and +threaten woes to the land, but are appeased by Athena, who establishes +their worship forever in Attica. Heretofore they have been the Erinnyes, +or Furies; henceforth they shall be the Eumenides, or Gracious +Goddesses. The Eumenides are escorted from the scene in solemn +procession. + +Any analysis of the plays so brief as the preceding is necessarily +inadequate. The English reader is referred to the histories of Greek +Literature by K.O. Müller and by J.P. Mahaffy, to the striking chapter +on Aeschylus in J.A. Symonds's 'Greek Poets,' and, for the trilogy, to +Moulton's 'Ancient Classical Drama.' If he knows French, he should add +Croiset's 'Histoire de la Littérature Grecque,' and should by all means +read M. Patin's volume on Aeschylus in his 'Études sur les Tragique +Grècs.' There are translations in English of the poet's complete works +by Potter, by Plumptre, by Blackie, and by Miss Swanwick. Flaxman +illustrated the plays. Ancient illustrations are easily accessible in +Baumeister's 'Denkmäler,' under the names of the different characters in +the plays. There is a translation of the 'Prometheus' by Mrs. Browning, +and of the 'Suppliants' by Morshead, who has also translated the +Atridean trilogy under the title of 'The House of Atreus.' Goldwin Smith +has translated portions of six of the plays in his 'Specimens of Greek +Tragedy.' Many translations of the 'Agamemnon' have been made, among +others by Milman, by Symmons, by Lord Carnarvon, and by Fitzgerald. +Robert Browning also translated the play, with appalling literalness. + + + THE COMPLAINT OF PROMETHEUS + + PROMETHEUS (alone) + + O holy Aether, and swift-winged Winds, + And River-wells, and laughter innumerous + Of yon Sea-waves! Earth, mother of us all, + And all-viewing cyclic Sun, I cry on you,-- + Behold me a god, what I endure from gods! + Behold, with throe on throe, + How, wasted by this woe, + I wrestle down the myriad years of Time! + Behold, how fast around me + The new King of the happy ones sublime + Has flung the chain he forged, has shamed and bound me! + Woe, woe! to-day's woe and the coming morrow's + I cover with one groan. And where is found me + A limit to these sorrows? + And yet what word do I say? I have foreknown + Clearly all things that should be; nothing done + Comes sudden to my soul--and I must bear + What is ordained with patience, being aware + Necessity doth front the universe + With an invincible gesture. Yet this curse + Which strikes me now, I find it hard to brave + In silence or in speech. Because I gave + Honor to mortals, I have yoked my soul + To this compelling fate. Because I stole + The secret fount of fire, whose bubbles went + Over the ferrule's brim, and manward sent + Art's mighty means and perfect rudiment, + That sin I expiate in this agony, + Hung here in fetters, 'neath the blanching sky. + Ah, ah me! what a sound, + What a fragrance sweeps up from a pinion unseen + Of a god, or a mortal, or nature between, + Sweeping up to this rock where the earth has her bound, + To have sight of my pangs, or some guerdon obtain-- + Lo, a god in the anguish, a god in the chain! + The god Zeus hateth sore, + And his gods hate again, + As many as tread on his glorified floor, + Because I loved mortals too much evermore. + Alas me! what a murmur and motion I hear, + As of birds flying near! + And the air undersings + The light stroke of their wings-- + And all life that approaches I wait for in fear. + + From E.B. Browning's Translation of 'Prometheus.' + + + A PRAYER TO ARTEMIS + + STROPHE IV + + Though Zeus plan all things right, + Yet is his heart's desire full hard to trace; + Nathless in every place + Brightly it gleameth, e'en in darkest night, + Fraught with black fate to man's speech-gifted race. + + ANTISTROPHE IV + + Steadfast, ne'er thrown in fight, + The deed in brow of Zeus to ripeness brought; + For wrapt in shadowy night, + Tangled, unscanned by mortal sight, + Extend the pathways of his secret thought. + + STROPHE V + + From towering hopes mortals he hurleth prone + To utter doom; but for their fall + No force arrayeth he; for all + That gods devise is without effort wrought. + A mindful Spirit aloft on holy throne + By inborn energy achieves his thought. + + ANTISTROPHE V + + But let him mortal insolence behold:-- + How with proud contumacy rife, + Wantons the stem in lusty life + My marriage craving;--frenzy over-bold, + Spur ever-pricking, goads them on to fate, + By ruin taught their folly all too late. + + STROPHE VI + + Thus I complain, in piteous strain, + Grief-laden, tear-evoking, shrill; + Ah woe is me! woe! woe! + Dirge-like it sounds; mine own death-trill + I pour, yet breathing vital air. + Hear, hill-crowned Apia, hear my prayer! + Full well, O land, + My voice barbaric thou canst understand; + While oft with rendings I assail + My byssine vesture and Sidonian veil. + + ANTISTROPHE VI + + My nuptial right in Heaven's pure sight + Pollution were, death-laden, rude; + Ah woe is me! woe! woe! + Alas for sorrow's murky brood! + Where will this billow hurl me? Where? + Hear, hill-crowned Apia, hear my prayer; + Full well, O land, + My voice barbaric thou canst understand, + While oft with rendings I assail + My byssine vesture and Sidonian veil. + + STROPHE VII + + The oar indeed and home with sails + Flax-tissued, swelled with favoring gales, + Staunch to the wave, from spear-storm free, + Have to this shore escorted me, + Nor so far blame I destiny. + But may the all-seeing Father send + In fitting time propitious end; + So our dread Mother's mighty brood, + The lordly couch may 'scape, ah me, + Unwedded, unsubdued! + + ANTISTROPHE VII + + Meeting my will with will divine, + Daughter of Zeus, who here dost hold + Steadfast thy sacred shrine,-- + Me, Artemis unstained, behold, + Do thou, who sovereign might dost wield, + Virgin thyself, a virgin shield; + + So our dread Mother's mighty brood + The lordly couch may 'scape, ah me, + Unwedded, unsubdued! + + From Miss Swanwick's Translation of 'The Suppliants.' + + + + THE DEFIANCE OF ETEOCLES + + MESSENGER + + Now at the Seventh Gate the seventh chief, + Thy proper mother's son, I will announce, + What fortune for this city, for himself, + With curses he invoketh:--on the walls + Ascending, heralded as king, to stand, + With paeans for their capture; then with thee + To fight, and either slaying near thee die, + Or thee, who wronged him, chasing forth alive, + Requite in kind his proper banishment. + Such words he shouts, and calls upon the gods + Who o'er his race preside and Fatherland, + With gracious eye to look upon his prayers. + A well-wrought buckler, newly forged, he bears, + With twofold blazon riveted thereon, + For there a woman leads, with sober mien, + A mailèd warrior, enchased in gold; + Justice her style, and thus the legend speaks:-- + "This man I will restore, and he shall hold + The city and his father's palace homes." + Such the devices of the hostile chiefs. + 'Tis for thyself to choose whom thou wilt send; + But never shalt thou blame my herald-words. + To guide the rudder of the State be thine! + + + ETEOCLES + + O heaven-demented race of Oedipus, + My race, tear-fraught, detested of the gods! + Alas, our father's curses now bear fruit. + But it beseems not to lament or weep, + Lest lamentations sadder still be born. + For him, too truly Polyneikes named,-- + What his device will work we soon shall know; + Whether his braggart words, with madness fraught, + Gold-blazoned on his shield, shall lead him back. + Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers, + Guided his deeds and thoughts, this might have been; + But neither when he fled the darksome womb, + Or in his childhood, or in youth's fair prime, + Or when the hair thick gathered on his chin, + Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers, + Nor in this outrage on his Fatherland + Deem I she now beside him deigns to stand. + For Justice would in sooth belie her name, + Did she with this all-daring man consort. + In these regards confiding will I go, + Myself will meet him. Who with better right? + Brother to brother, chieftain against chief, + Foeman to foe, I'll stand. Quick, bring my spear, + My greaves, and armor, bulwark against stones. + +From Miss Swanwick's Translation of 'The Seven Against Thebes.' + + + THE VISION OF CASSANDRA + + CASSANDRA + + Phoebus Apollo! + + CHORUS + + Hark! + The lips at last unlocking. + + CASSANDRA + + Phoebus! Phoebus! + + CHORUS + + Well, what of Phoebus, maiden? though a name + 'Tis but disparagement to call upon + In misery. + + CASSANDRA + + Apollo! Apollo! Again! + Oh, the burning arrow through the brain! + Phoebus Apollo! Apollo! + + CHORUS + + Seemingly + Possessed indeed--whether by-- + + CASSANDRA + + Phoebus! Phoebus! + Through trampled ashes, blood, and fiery rain, + Over water seething, and behind the breathing + War-horse in the darkness--till you rose again, + Took the helm--took the rein-- + + CHORUS + + As one that half asleep at dawn recalls + A night of Horror! + + CASSANDRA + + Hither, whither, Phoebus? And with whom, + Leading me, lighting me-- + + CHORUS + + I can answer that-- + + CASSANDRA + + Down to what slaughter-house! + Foh! the smell of carnage through the door + Scares me from it--drags me toward it-- + Phoebus Apollo! Apollo! + + CHORUS + + One of the dismal prophet-pack, it seems, + That hunt the trail of blood. But here at fault-- + This is no den of slaughter, but the house + Of Agamemnon. + + CASSANDRA + + Down upon the towers, + Phantoms of two mangled children hover--and a famished man, + At an empty table glaring, seizes and devours! + + CHORUS + + Thyestes and his children! Strange enough + For any maiden from abroad to know, + Or, knowing-- + + CASSANDRA + + And look! in the chamber below + The terrible Woman, listening, watching, + Under a mask, preparing the blow + In the fold of her robe-- + + CHORUS + + Nay, but again at fault: + For in the tragic story of this House-- + Unless, indeed the fatal Helen--No + woman-- + + CASSANDRA + + No Woman--Tisiphone! Daughter + Of Tartarus--love-grinning Woman above, + Dragon-tailed under--honey-tongued, Harpy-clawed, + Into the glittering meshes of slaughter + She wheedles, entices him into the poisonous + Fold of the serpent-- + + CHORUS + + Peace, mad woman, peace! + Whose stony lips once open vomit out + Such uncouth horrors. + + CASSANDRA + + I tell you the lioness + Slaughters the Lion asleep; and lifting + Her blood-dripping fangs buried deep in his mane, + Glaring about her insatiable, bellowing, + Bounds hither--Phoebus Apollo, Apollo, Apollo! + Whither have you led me, under night alive with fire, + Through the trampled ashes of the city of my sire, + From my slaughtered kinsmen, fallen throne, insulted shrine, + Slave-like to be butchered, the daughter of a royal line! + + From Edward Fitzgerald's Version of the 'Agamemnon.' + + + + THE LAMENT OF THE OLD NURSE + + NURSE + + Our mistress bids me with all speed to call + Aegisthus to the strangers, that he come + And hear more clearly, as a man from man, + This newly brought report. Before her slaves, + Under set eyes of melancholy cast, + She hid her inner chuckle at the events + That have been brought to pass--too well for her, + But for this house and hearth most miserably,-- + As in the tale the strangers clearly told. + He, when he hears and learns the story's gist, + Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me! + How those old troubles, of all sorts made up, + Most hard to bear, in Atreus's palace-halls + Have made my heart full heavy in my breast! + But never have I known a woe like this. + For other ills I bore full patiently, + But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge, + Whom from his mother I received and nursed . . . + And then the shrill cries rousing me o' nights, + And many and unprofitable toils + For me who bore them. For one needs must rear + The heedless infant like an animal, + (How can it else be?) as his humor serve + For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes, + It speaketh not, if either hunger comes, + Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need; + And children's stomach works its own content. + And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind, + How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes, + And nurse and laundress did the selfsame work. + I then with these my double handicrafts, + Brought up Orestes for his father dear; + And now, woe's me! I learn that he is dead, + And go to fetch the man that mars this house; + And gladly will he hear these words of mine. + + From Plumptre's Translation of 'The Libation-Pourers.' + + + THE DECREE OF ATHENA + + Hear ye my statute, men of Attica-- + Ye who of bloodshed judge this primal cause; + Yea, and in future age shall Aegeus's host + Revere this court of jurors. This the hill + Of Ares, seat of Amazons, their tent, + What time 'gainst Theseus, breathing hate, they came, + Waging fierce battle, and their towers upreared, + A counter-fortress to Acropolis;-- + To Ares they did sacrifice, and hence + This rock is titled Areopagus. + Here then shall sacred Awe, to Fear allied, + By day and night my lieges hold from wrong, + Save if themselves do innovate my laws, + If thou with mud, or influx base, bedim + The sparkling water, nought thou'lt find to drink. + Nor Anarchy, nor Tyrant's lawless rule + Commend I to my people's reverence;-- + Nor let them banish from their city Fear; + For who 'mong men, uncurbed by fear, is just? + Thus holding Awe in seemly reverence, + A bulwark for your State shall ye possess, + A safeguard to protect your city walls, + Such as no mortals otherwhere can boast, + Neither in Scythia, nor in Pelops's realm. + Behold! This Court august, untouched by bribes, + Sharp to avenge, wakeful for those who sleep, + Establish I, a bulwark to this land. + This charge, extending to all future time, + I give my lieges. Meet it as ye rise, + Assume the pebbles, and decide the cause, + Your oath revering. All hath now been said. + + From Miss Swanwick's Translation of 'The Eumenides.' + + + + +AESOP + +(Seventh Century B.C.) + +BY HARRY THURSTON PECK + +Like Homer, the greatest of the world's epic poets, Aesop (Aesopus), the +most famous of the world's fabulists, has been regarded by certain +scholars as a wholly mythical personage. The many improbable stories +that are told about him gain some credence for this theory, which is set +forth in detail by the Italian scholar Vico, who says:--"Aesop, regarded +philosophically, will be found not to have been an actually existing +man, but rather an abstraction representing a class,"--in other words, +merely a convenient invention of the later Greeks, who ascribed to him +all the fables of which they could find no certain author. + +[Illustration: Aesop] + +The only narrative upon which the ancient writers are in the main agreed +represents Aesop as living in the seventh century before Christ. As with +Homer, so with Aesop, several cities of Asia Minor claimed the honor of +having been his birthplace. Born a slave and hideously ugly, his keen +wit led his admiring master to set him free; after which he traveled, +visiting Athens, where he is said to have told his fable of King Log and +King Stork to the citizens who were complaining of the rule of +Pisistratus. Still later, having won the favor of King Croesus of +Lydia, he was sent by him to Delphi with a gift of money for the +citizens of that place; but in the course of a dispute as to its +distribution, he was slain by the Delphians, who threw him over a +precipice. + +The fables that bore his name seem not to have been committed by him to +writing, but for a long time were handed down from generation to +generation by oral tradition; so that the same fables are sometimes +found quoted in slightly different forms, and we hear of men learning +them in conversation rather than from books. They were, however, +universally popular. Socrates while in prison amused himself by turning +some of them into verse. Aristophanes cites them in his plays; and he +tells how certain suitors once tried to win favor of a judge by +repeating to him some of the amusing stories of Aesop. The Athenians +even erected a statue in his honor. At a later period, the fables were +gathered together and published by the Athenian statesman and orator, +Demetrius Phalereus, in B.C. 320, and were versified by Babrius (of +uncertain date), whose collection is the only one in Greek of which any +substantial portion still survives. They were often translated by the +Romans, and the Latin version by Phaedrus, the freedman of Augustus +Caesar, is still preserved and still used as a school-book. Forty-two of +them are likewise found in a Latin work by one Avianus, dating from the +fifth century after Christ. During the Middle Ages, when much of the +classical literature had been lost or forgotten, Aesop, who was called +by the mediaevals "Isopet," was still read in various forms; and in +modern times he has served as a model for a great number of imitations, +of which the most successful are those in French by Lafontaine and those +in English by John Gay. + +Whether or not such a person as Aesop ever lived, and whether or not he +actually narrated the fables that are ascribed to him, it is certain +that he did not himself invent them, but merely gave them currency in +Greece; for they can be shown to have existed long before his time, and +in fact to antedate even the beginnings of Hellenic civilization. With +some changes of form they are found in the oldest literature of the +Chinese; similar stories are preserved on the inscribed Babylonian +bricks; and an Egyptian papyrus of about the year 1200 B.C. gives the +fable of 'The Lion and the Mouse' in its finished form. Other Aesopic +apologues are essentially identical with the Jatakas or Buddhist stories +of India, and occur also in the great Sanskrit story-book, the +'Panchatantra,' which is the very oldest monument of Hindu literature. + +The so-called Aesopic Fables are in fact only a part of the primitive +folk-lore, that springs up in prehistoric times, and passes from country +to country and from race to race by the process of popular +story-telling. They reached Greece, undoubtedly through Egypt and +Persia, and even in their present form they still retain certain +Oriental, or at any rate non-Hellenic elements, such as the introduction +of Eastern animals,--the panther, the peacock, and the ape. They +represent the beginnings of conscious literary effort, when man first +tried to enforce some maxim of practical wisdom and to teach some useful +truth through the fascinating medium of a story. The Fable embodies a +half-unconscious desire to give concrete form to an abstract principle, +and a childish love for the picturesque and striking, which endows rocks +and stones and trees with life, and gives the power of speech +to animals. + +That beasts with the attributes of human beings should figure in these +tales involves, from the standpoint of primeval man, only a very slight +divergence from probability. In nothing, perhaps, has civilization so +changed us as in our mental attitude toward animals. It has fixed a +great gulf between us and them--a gulf far greater than that which +divided them from our first ancestors. In the early ages of the world, +when men lived by the chase, and gnawed the raw flesh of their prey, and +slept in lairs amid the jungle, the purely animal virtues were the only +ones they knew and exercised. They adored courage and strength, and +swiftness and endurance. They respected keenness of scent and vision, +and admired cunning. The possession of these qualities was the very +condition of existence, and they valued them accordingly; but in each +one of them they found their equals, and in fact their superiors, among +the brutes. A lion was stronger than the strongest man. The hare was +swifter. The eagle was more keen-sighted. The fox was more cunning. +Hence, so far from looking down upon the animals from the remotely +superior height that a hundred centuries of civilization have erected +for us, the primitive savage looked up to the beast, studied his ways, +copied him, and went to school to him. The man, then, was not in those +days the lord of creation, and the beast was not his servant; but they +were almost brothers in the subtle sympathy between them, like that +which united Mowgli, the wolf-nursed _shikarri_, and his hairy brethren, +in that most weirdly wonderful of all Mr. Kipling's inventions--the one +that carries us back, not as his other stories do, to the India of the +cities and the bazaars, of the supercilious tourist and the sleek Babu, +but to the older India of unbroken jungle, darkling at noonday through +its green mist of tangled leaves, and haunted by memories of the world's +long infancy when man and brute crouched close together on the earthy +breast of the great mother. + +The Aesopic Fables, then, are the oldest representative that we have of +the literary art of primitive man. The charm that they have always +possessed springs in part from their utter simplicity, their naiveté, +and their directness; and in part from the fact that their teachings are +the teachings of universal experience, and therefore appeal irresistibly +to the consciousness of every one who hears them, whether he be savage +or scholar, child or sage. They are the literary antipodes of the last +great effort of genius and art working upon the same material, and found +in Mr. Kipling's Jungle Books. The Fables show only the first stirrings +of the literary instinct, the Jungle Stories bring to bear the full +development of the fictive art,--creative imagination, psychological +insight, brilliantly picturesque description, and the touch of one who +is a daring master of vivid language; so that no better theme can be +given to a student of literary history than the critical comparison of +these two allied forms of composition, representing as they do the two +extremes of actual development. + +The best general account in English of the origin of the Greek Fable is +that of Rutherford in the introduction to his 'Babrius' (London, 1883). +An excellent special study of the history of the Aesopic Fables is that +by Joseph Jacobs in the first volume of his 'Aesop' (London, 1889). The +various ancient accounts of Aesop's life are collected by Simrock in +'Aesops Leben' (1864). The best scientific edition of the two hundred +and ten fables is that of Halm (Leipzig, 1887). Good disquisitions on +their history during the Middle Ages are those of Du Méril in French +(Paris, 1854) and Bruno in German (Bamberg, 1892). See also the articles +in the present work under the titles 'Babrius,' 'Bidpai,' 'John Gay,' +'Lafontaine,' 'Lokman,' 'Panchatantra,' 'Phaedrus,' 'Reynard the Fox.' + +H.J. Peck + + +THE FOX AND THE LION + +The first time the Fox saw the Lion, he fell down at his feet, and was +ready to die of fear. The second time, he took courage and could even +bear to look upon him. The third time, he had the impudence to come up +to him, to salute him, and to enter into familiar conversation with him. + + +THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN + +An Ass, finding the skin of a Lion, put it on; and, going into the woods +and pastures, threw all the flocks and herds into a terrible +consternation. At last, meeting his owner, he would have frightened him +also; but the good man, seeing his long ears stick out, presently knew +him, and with a good cudgel made him sensible that, notwithstanding his +being dressed in a Lion's skin, he was really no more than an Ass. + + +THE ASS EATING THISTLES + +An Ass was loaded with good provisions of several sorts, which, in time +of harvest, he was carrying into the field for his master and the +reapers to dine upon. On the way he met with a fine large thistle, and +being very hungry, began to mumble it; which while he was doing, he +entered into this reflection:--"How many greedy epicures would think +themselves happy, amidst such a variety of delicate viands as I now +carry! But to me this bitter, prickly thistle is more savory and +relishing than the most exquisite and sumptuous banquet." + + +THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING + +A Wolf, clothing himself in the skin of a sheep, and getting in among +the flock, by this means took the opportunity to devour many of them. At +last the shepherd discovered him, and cunningly fastening a rope about +his neck, tied him up to a tree which stood hard by. Some other +shepherds happening to pass that way, and observing what he was about, +drew near, and expressed their admiration at it. "What!" says one of +them, "brother, do you make hanging of a sheep?" "No," replied the +other, "but I make hanging of a Wolf whenever I catch him, though in the +habit and garb of a sheep." Then he showed them their mistake, and they +applauded the justice of the execution. + + +THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE + +A Villager, in a frosty, snowy winter, found a Snake under a hedge, +almost dead with cold. He could not help having a compassion for the +poor creature, so brought it home, and laid it upon the hearth, near the +fire; but it had not lain there long, before (being revived with the +heat) it began to erect itself, and fly at his wife and children, +filling the whole cottage with dreadful hissings. The Countryman heard +an outcry, and perceiving what the matter was, catched up a mattock and +soon dispatched him; upbraiding him at the same time in these +words:--"Is this, vile wretch, the reward you make to him that saved +your life? Die as you deserve; but a single death is too good for you." + + +THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS + +In former days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body enjoyed +the faculty of speech, and had separate views and designs of their own, +each part, it seems, in particular for himself, and in the name of the +whole, took exception to the conduct of the Belly, and were resolved to +grant him supplies no longer. They said they thought it very hard that +he should lead an idle, good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering +away, upon his own ungodly guts, all the fruits of their labor; and +that, in short, they were resolved, for the future, to strike off his +allowance, and let him shift for himself as well as he could. The Hands +protested they would not lift up a finger to keep him from starving; and +the Mouth wished he might never speak again if he took in the least bit +of nourishment for him as long as he lived; and, said the Teeth, may we +be rotten if ever we chew a morsel for him for the future. This solemn +league and covenant was kept as long as anything of that kind can be +kept, which was until each of the rebel members pined away to skin and +bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was no doing +without the Belly, and that, idle and insignificant as he seemed, he +contributed as much to the maintenance and welfare of all the other +parts as they did to his. + + +THE SATYR AND THE TRAVELER + +A Satyr, as he was ranging the forest in an exceeding cold, snowy +season, met with a Traveler half-starved with the extremity of the +weather. He took compassion on him, and kindly invited him home to a +warm, comfortable cave he had in the hollow of a rock. As soon as they +had entered and sat down, notwithstanding there was a good fire in the +place, the chilly Traveler could not forbear blowing his fingers' ends. +Upon the Satyr's asking why he did so, he answered, that he did it to +warm his hands. The honest sylvan having seen little of the world, +admired a man who was master of so valuable a quality as that of +blowing heat, and therefore was resolved to entertain him in the best +manner he could. He spread the table before him with dried fruits of +several sorts; and produced a remnant of cold wine, which as the rigor +of the season made very proper, he mulled with some warm spices, infused +over the fire, and presented to his shivering guest. But this the +Traveler thought fit to blow likewise; and upon the Satyr's demanding a +reason why he blowed again, he replied, to cool his dish. This second +answer provoked the Satyr's indignation as much as the first had kindled +his surprise: so, taking the man by the shoulder, he thrust him out of +doors, saying he would have nothing to do with a wretch who had so vile +a quality as to blow hot and cold with the same mouth. + + +THE LION AND THE OTHER BEASTS + +The Lion and several other beasts entered into an alliance, offensive +and defensive, and were to live very sociably together in the forest. +One day, having made a sort of an excursion by way of hunting, they took +a very fine, large, fat deer, which was divided into four parts; there +happening to be then present his Majesty the Lion, and only three +others. After the division was made, and the parts were set out, his +Majesty, advancing forward some steps and pointing to one of the shares, +was pleased to declare himself after the following manner:-- "This I +seize and take possession of as my right, which devolves to me, as I am +descended by a true, lineal, hereditary succession from the royal family +of Lion. That [pointing to the second] I claim by, I think, no +unreasonable demand; considering that all the engagements you have with +the enemy turn chiefly upon my courage and conduct, and you very well +know that wars are too expensive to be carried on without proper +supplies. Then [nodding his head toward the third] that I shall take by +virtue of my prerogative; to which, I make no question but so dutiful +and loyal a people will pay all the deference and regard that I can +desire. Now, as for the remaining part, the necessity of our present +affairs is so very urgent, our stock so low, and our credit so impaired +and weakened, that I must insist upon your granting that, without any +hesitation or demur; and hereof fail not at your peril." + + +THE ASS AND THE LITTLE DOG + +The Ass, observing how great a favorite the little Dog was with his +Master, how much caressed and fondled, and fed with good bits at every +meal; and for no other reason, as he could perceive, but for skipping +and frisking about, wagging his tail, and leaping up into his Master's +lap: he was resolved to imitate the same, and see whether such a +behavior would not procure him the same favors. Accordingly, the Master +was no sooner come home from walking about his fields and gardens, and +was seated in his easy-chair, but the Ass, who observed him, came +gamboling and braying towards him, in a very awkward manner. The Master +could not help laughing aloud at the odd sight. But his jest was soon +turned into earnest, when he felt the rough salute of the Ass's +fore-feet, who, raising himself upon his hinder legs, pawed against his +breast with a most loving air, and would fain have jumped into his lap. +The good man, terrified at this outrageous behavior, and unable to +endure the weight of so heavy a beast, cried out; upon which, one of his +servants running in with a good stick, and laying on heartily upon the +bones of the poor Ass, soon convinced him that every one who desires it +is not qualified to be a favorite. + + +THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE CITY MOUSE + +An honest, plain, sensible Country Mouse is said to have entertained at +his hole one day a fine Mouse of the Town. Having formerly been +playfellows together, they were old acquaintances, which served as an +apology for the visit. However, as master of the house, he thought +himself obliged to do the honors of it in all respects, and to make as +great a stranger of his guest as he possibly could. In order to do this +he set before him a reserve of delicate gray pease and bacon, a dish of +fine oatmeal, some parings of new cheese, and, to crown all with a +dessert, a remnant of a charming mellow apple. In good manners, he +forbore to eat any himself, lest the stranger should not have enough; +but that he might seem to bear the other company, sat and nibbled a +piece of a wheaten straw very busily. At last, says the spark of the +town:--"Old crony, give me leave to be a little free with you: how can +you bear to live in this nasty, dirty, melancholy hole here, with +nothing but woods, and meadows, and mountains, and rivulets about you? +Do not you prefer the conversation of the world to the chirping of +birds, and the splendor of a court to the rude aspect of an uncultivated +desert? Come, take my word for it, you will find it a change for the +better. Never stand considering, but away this moment. Remember, we are +not immortal, and therefore have no time to lose. Make sure of to-day, +and spend it as agreeably as you can: you know not what may happen +to-morrow." In short, these and such like arguments prevailed, and his +Country Acquaintance was resolved to go to town that night. So they both +set out upon their journey together, proposing to sneak in after the +close of the evening. They did so; and about midnight made their entry +into a certain great house, where there had been an extraordinary +entertainment the day before, and several tit-bits, which some of the +servants had purloined, were hid under the seat of a window. The Country +Guest was immediately placed in the midst of a rich Persian carpet: and +now it was the Courtier's turn to entertain; who indeed acquitted +himself in that capacity with the utmost readiness and address, changing +the courses as elegantly, and tasting everything first as judiciously, +as any clerk of the kitchen. The other sat and enjoyed himself like a +delighted epicure, tickled to the last degree with this new turn of his +affairs; when on a sudden, a noise of somebody opening the door made +them start from their seats, and scuttle in confusion about the +dining-room. Our Country Friend, in particular, was ready to die with +fear at the barking of a huge mastiff or two, which opened their throats +just about the same time, and made the whole house echo. At last, +recovering himself:--"Well," says he, "if this be your town-life, much +good may you do with it: give me my poor, quiet hole again, with my +homely but comfortable gray pease." + + +THE DOG AND THE WOLF + +A lean, hungry, half-starved Wolf happened, one moonshiny night, to meet +with a jolly, plump, well-fed Mastiff; and after the first compliments +were passed, says the Wolf:--"You look extremely well. I protest, I +think I never saw a more graceful, comely person; but how comes it +about, I beseech you, that you should live so much better than I? I may +say, without vanity, that I venture fifty times more than you do; and +yet I am almost ready to perish with hunger." The Dog answered very +bluntly, "Why, you may live as well, if you will do the same for it that +I do."--"Indeed? what is that?" says he.--"Why," says the Dog, "only to +guard the house a-nights, and keep it from thieves."--"With all my +heart," replies the Wolf, "for at present I have but a sorry time of it; +and I think to change my hard lodging in the woods, where I endure rain, +frost, and snow, for a warm roof over my head, and a bellyful of good +victuals, will be no bad bargain."--"True," says the Dog; "therefore you +have nothing more to do but to follow me." Now, as they were jogging on +together, the Wolf spied a crease in the Dog's neck, and having a +strange curiosity, could not forbear asking him what it meant. "Pooh! +nothing," says the Dog.--"Nay, but pray--" says the Wolf.--"Why," says +the Dog, "if you must know, I am tied up in the daytime, because I am a +little fierce, for fear I should bite people, and am only let loose +a-nights. But this is done with design to make me sleep a-days, more +than anything else, and that I may watch the better in the night-time; +for as soon as ever the twilight appears, out I am turned, and may go +where I please. Then my master brings me plates of bones from the table +with his own hands, and whatever scraps are left by any of the family, +all fall to my share; for you must know I am a favorite with everybody. +So you see how you are to live. Come, come along: what is the matter +with you?"--"No," replied the Wolf, "I beg your pardon: keep your +happiness all to yourself. Liberty is the word with me; and I would not +be a king upon the terms you mention." + + + + +JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ + +(1807-1873) + +"At first, when a mere boy, twelve years of age," writes the great Swiss +naturalist, "I did what most beginners do. I picked up whatever I could +lay my hands on, and tried, by such books and authorities as I had at my +command, to find the names of these objects. My highest ambition at that +time, was to be able to designate the plants and animals of my native +country correctly by a Latin name, and to extend gradually a similar +knowledge in its application to the productions of other countries. This +seemed to me, in those days, the legitimate aim and proper work of a +naturalist. I still possess manuscript volumes in which I entered the +names of all the animals and plants with which I became acquainted, and +I well remember that I then ardently hoped to acquire the same +superficial familiarity with the whole creation. I did not then know how +much more important it is to the naturalist to understand the structure +of a few animals than to command the whole field of scientific +nomenclature. Since I have become a teacher, and have watched the +progress of students, I have seen that they all begin in the same way. +But how many have grown old in the pursuit, without ever rising to any +higher conception of the study of nature, spending their life in the +determination of species, and in extending scientific terminology! Long +before I went to the university, and before I began to study natural +history under the guidance of men who were masters in the science during +the early part of this century, I perceived that though nomenclature and +classification, as then understood, formed an important part of the +study, being, in fact, its technical language, the study of living +beings in their natural element was of infinitely greater value. At that +age--namely, about fifteen--I spent most of the time I could spare from +classical and mathematical studies in hunting the neighboring woods and +meadows for birds, insects, and land and fresh-water shells. My room +became a little menagerie, while the stone basin under the fountain in +our yard was my reservoir for all the fishes I could catch. Indeed, +collecting, fishing, and raising caterpillars, from which I reared +fresh, beautiful butterflies, were then my chief pastimes. What I know +of the habits of the fresh-water fishes of Central Europe I mostly +learned at that time; and I may add, that when afterward I obtained +access to a large library and could consult the works of Bloch and +Lacépède, the only extensive works on fishes then in existence. I +wondered that they contained so little about their habits, natural +attitudes, and mode of action, with which I was so familiar." + +[Illustration: J.L.R. AGASSIZ.] + +It is this way of looking at things that gives to Agassiz's writings +their literary and popular interest. He was born in Mortier, Canton +Fribourg, May 28th, 1807, the son of a clergyman, who sent his gifted +son to the Universities of Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich, where he +acquired reputation for his brilliant powers, and entered into the +enthusiastic, intellectual, and merry student-life, taking his place in +the formal duels, and becoming known as a champion fencer. Agassiz was +an influence in every centre that he touched; and in Munich, his room +and his laboratory, thick with clouds of smoke from the long-stemmed +German pipes, was a gathering-place for the young scientific +aspirants, who affectionately called it "The Little Academy." At the age +of twenty-two, he had published his 'Fishes of Brazil,' a folio that +brought him into immediate recognition. Cuvier, the greatest +ichthyologist of his time, to whom the first volume was dedicated, +received him as a pupil, and gave to him all the material that he had +been collecting during fifteen years for a contemplated work on Fossil +Fishes. In Paris Agassiz also won the friendship of Humboldt, who, +learning that he stood in need of money, presented him with so generous +a sum as to enable the ambitious young naturalist to work with a free +and buoyant spirit. + +His practical career began in 1832, when he was installed at Neufchâtel, +from which point he easily studied the Alps. Two years later, after the +'Poissons fossiles' (Fossil Fishes) appeared, he visited England to +lecture. Then returning to his picturesque home, he applied himself to +original investigation, and through his lectures and publications won +honors and degrees. His daring opinions, however, sometimes provoked +ardent discussion and angry comment. + +Agassiz's passion for investigation frequently led him into dangers that +imperiled both life and limb. In the summer of 1841, for example, he was +lowered into a deep crevasse bristling with huge stalactites of ice, to +reach the heart of a glacier moving at the rate of forty feet a day. +While he was observing the blue bands on the glittering ice, he suddenly +touched a well of water, and only after great difficulty made his +companions understand his signal for rescue. These Alpine experiences +are well described by Mrs. Elizabeth Gary Agassiz, and also by Edouard +Desors in his 'Séjours dans les Glaciers' (Sojourn among the Glaciers: +Neufchâtel, 1844). Interesting particulars of these glacial studies +('Études des Glaciers') were soon issued, and Agassiz received many +gifts from lovers of science, among whom was numbered the King of +Prussia. His zoölogical and geological investigations were continued, +and important works on 'Fossil Mollusks,' 'Tertiary Shells,' and 'Living +and Fossil Echinoderms' date from this period. + +He had long desired to visit America, when he realized this wish in 1846 +by an arrangement with the Lowell Institute of Boston, where he gave a +series of lectures, afterwards repeated in various cities. So attractive +did he find the fauna and flora of America, and so vast a field did he +perceive here for his individual studies and instruction, that he +returned the following year. In 1848 the Prussian government, which had +borne the expenses of his scientific mission,--a cruise along our +Atlantic coast to study its marine life,--released him from further +obligation that he might accept the chair of geology in the Lawrence +Scientific School of Harvard University. His cruises, his explorations, +and his methods, combined with his attractive personality, gave him +unique power as a teacher; and many of his biographers think that of all +his gifts, the ability to instruct was the most conspicuous. He needed +no text-books, for he went directly to Nature, and did not believe in +those technical, dry-as-dust terms which lead to nothing and which are +swept away by the next generation. Many noted American men of science +remember the awakening influence of his laboratories in Charleston and +Cambridge, his museum at Harvard, and his summer school at Penikese +Island in Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, where natural history was +studied under ideal conditions. It was here that he said to his +class:--"A laboratory of natural history is a sanctuary where nothing +profane should be tolerated." Whittier has left a poem called "The +Prayer of Agassiz," describing + + "The isle of Penikese + Ranged about by sapphire seas." + +Just as he was realizing two of his ambitions, the establishment of a +great museum and a practical school of zoölogy, he died, December 14th, +1873, at his home in Cambridge, and was buried at Mount Auburn beneath +pine-trees sent from Switzerland, while a bowlder from the glacier of +the Aar was selected to mark his resting-place. + +Agassiz was greatly beloved by his pupils and associates, and was +identified with the brilliant group--Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes, and +Lowell,--each of whom has written of him. Lowell considered his 'Elegy +on Agassiz,' written in Florence in 1874, among his best verses; +Longfellow wrote a poem for 'The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz,' and +Holmes 'A Farewell to Agassiz' on his departure for the Andes, whose +affectionate and humorous strain thus closes:-- + + "Till their glorious raid is o'er, + And they touch our ransomed shore! + Then the welcome of a nation, + With its shout of exultation, + Shall awake the dumb creation, + And the shapes of buried aeons + Join the living creatures' paeans, + While the mighty megalosaurus + Leads the palaeozoic chorus,-- + God bless the great Professor, + And the land its proud possessor,-- + Bless them now and evermore!" + +Numerous biographies and monographs of Agassiz exist in many languages, +a complete list of which is given in the last published 'Life of +Agassiz,' by Jules Marcou (New York and London, 1896), and also in the +'Life of Agassiz,' by Charles F. Holder (New York, 1893). Complete +lists of Agassiz's works are also given in these biographies, and these +titles show how versatile was his taste and how deep and wide his +research. His principal contributions to science are in French and +Latin, but his most popular books appeared in English. These include +'The Structure of Animal Life,' 'Methods of Study,' 'Geological +Sketches,' and 'Journey in Brazil,' the latter written with Mrs. +Agassiz. His 'Contributions to the Natural History of the United +States,' planned to be in ten large books, only reached four volumes. + +In his 'Researches concerning Fossil Fishes,' Agassiz expressed the +views that made him a lifelong opponent of the Darwinian theories, +although he was a warm friend of Darwin. Considering the demands upon +his time as teacher, lecturer, and investigator, the excellence not less +than the amount of the great naturalist's work is remarkable, and won +such admiration that he was made a member of nearly every scientific +society in the world. One of his favorite pastimes was deep-sea +dredging, which embraced the excitement of finding strange specimens and +studying their singular habits. + +Of his love and gift for instructing, Mrs. Agassiz says in her 'Life' +(Boston, 1885):-- + + "Teaching was a passion with him, and his power over his + pupils might be measured by his own enthusiasm. He was, + intellectually as well as socially, a democrat in the best + sense. He delighted to scatter broadcast the highest results + of thought and research, and to adapt them even to the + youngest and most uninformed minds. In his later American + travels he would talk of glacial phenomena to the driver of a + country stage-coach among the mountains, or to some workman + splitting rock at the roadside, with as much earnestness as + if he had been discussing problems with a brother geologist; + he would take the common fisherman into his scientific + confidence, telling him the intimate secrets of fish-culture + or fish-embryology, till the man in his turn grew + enthusiastic and began to pour out information from the + stores of his own rough and untaught habits of observation. + Agassiz's general faith in the susceptibility of the popular + intelligence, however untaught, to the highest truths of + nature, was contagious, and he created or developed that in + which he believed." + +The following citations exhibit his powers of observation, and that +happy method of stating scientific facts which interests the specialist +and general reader alike. + + +THE SILURIAN BEACH + +From 'Geological Sketches' + +With what interest do we look upon any relic of early human history! The +monument that tells of a civilization whose hieroglyphic records we +cannot even decipher, the slightest trace of a nation that vanished and +left no sign of its life except the rough tools and utensils buried in +the old site of its towns or villages, arouses our imagination and +excites our curiosity. Men gaze with awe at the inscription on an +ancient Egyptian or Assyrian stone; they hold with reverential touch the +yellow parchment-roll whose dim, defaced characters record the meagre +learning of a buried nationality; and the announcement that for +centuries the tropical forests of Central America have hidden within +their tangled growth the ruined homes and temples of a past race, stirs +the civilized world with a strange, deep wonder. + +To me it seems, that to look on the first land that was ever lifted +above the wasted waters, to follow the shore where the earliest animals +and plants were created when the thought of God first expressed itself +in organic forms, to hold in one's hand a bit of stone from an old +sea-beach, hardened into rock thousands of centuries ago, and studded +with the beings that once crept upon its surface or were stranded there +by some retreating wave, is even of deeper interest to men than the +relics of their own race, for these things tell more directly of the +thoughts and creative acts of God. + +The statement that different sets of animals and plants have +characterized the successive epochs is often understood as indicating a +difference of another kind than that which distinguishes animals now +living in different parts of the world. This is a mistake. They are +so-called representative types all over the globe, united to each other +by structural relations and separated by specific differences of the +same kind as those that unite and separate animals of different +geological periods. Take, for instance, mud-flats or sandy shores in the +same latitudes of Europe and America: we find living on each, animals of +the same structural character and of the same general appearance, but +with certain specific differences, as of color, size, external +appendages, etc. They represent each other on the two continents. The +American wolves, foxes, bears, rabbits, are not the same as the +European. but those of one continent are as true to their respective +types as those of the other; under a somewhat different aspect they +represent the same groups of animals. In certain latitudes, or under +conditions of nearer proximity, these differences may be less marked. It +is well known that there is a great monotony of type, not only among +animals and plants but in the human races also, throughout the Arctic +regions; and some animals characteristic of the high North reappear +under such identical forms in the neighborhood of the snow-fields in +lofty mountains, that to trace the difference between the ptarmigans, +rabbits, and other gnawing animals of the Alps, for instance, and those +of the Arctics, is among the most difficult problems of modern science. + +And so is it also with the animated world of past ages: in similar +deposits of sand, mud, or lime, in adjoining regions of the same +geological age, identical remains of animals and plants may be found; +while at greater distances, but under similar circumstances, +representative species may occur. In very remote regions, however, +whether the circumstances be similar or dissimilar, the general aspect +of the organic world differs greatly, remoteness in space being thus in +some measure an indication of the degree of affinity between different +faunae. In deposits of different geological periods immediately +following each other, we sometimes find remains of animals and plants so +closely allied to those of earlier or later periods that at first sight +the specific differences are hardly discernible. The difficulty of +solving these questions, and of appreciating correctly the differences +and similarities between such closely allied organisms, explains the +antagonistic views of many naturalists respecting the range of existence +of animals, during longer or shorter geological periods; and the +superficial way in which discussions concerning the transition of +species are carried on, is mainly owing to an ignorance of the +conditions above alluded to. My own personal observation and experience +in these matters have led me to the conviction that every geological +period has had its own representatives, and that no single species has +been repeated in successive ages. + +The laws regulating the geographical distribution of animals, and their +combination into distinct zoölogical provinces called faunae, with +definite limits, are very imperfectly understood as yet; but so closely +are all things linked together from the beginning till to-day, that I am +convinced we shall never find the clew to their meaning till we carry on +our investigations in the past and the present simultaneously. The same +principle according to which animal and vegetable life is distributed +over the surface of the earth now, prevailed in the earliest geological +periods. The geological deposits of all times have had their +characteristic faunae under various zones, their zoölogical provinces +presenting special combinations of animal and vegetable life over +certain regions, and their representative types reproducing in different +countries, but under similar latitudes, the same groups with specific +differences. + +Of course, the nearer we approach the beginning of organic life, the +less marked do we find the differences to be; and for a very obvious +reason. The inequalities of the earth's surface, her mountain-barriers +protecting whole continents from the Arctic winds, her open plains +exposing others to the full force of the polar blasts, her snug valleys +and her lofty heights, her tablelands and rolling prairies, her +river-systems and her dry deserts, her cold ocean-currents pouring down +from the high North on some of her shores, while warm ones from tropical +seas carry their softer influence to others,--in short, all the +contrasts in the external configuration of the globe, with the physical +conditions attendant upon them, are naturally accompanied by a +corresponding variety in animal and vegetable life. + +But in the Silurian age, when there were no elevations higher than the +Canadian hills, when water covered the face of the earth with the +exception of a few isolated portions lifted above the almost universal +ocean, how monotonous must have been the conditions of life! And what +should we expect to find on those first shores? If we are walking on a +sea-beach to-day, we do not look for animals that haunt the forests or +roam over the open plains, or for those that live in sheltered valleys +or in inland regions or on mountain-heights. We look for Shells, for +Mussels and Barnacles, for Crabs, for Shrimps, for Marine Worms, for +Star-Fishes and Sea-Urchins, and we may find here and there a fish +stranded on the sand or strangled in the sea-weed. Let us remember, +then, that in the Silurian period the world, so far as it was raised +above the ocean, was a beach; and let us seek there for such creatures +as God has made to live on seashores, and not belittle the Creative +work, or say that He first scattered the seeds of life in meagre or +stinted measure, because we do not find air-breathing animals when there +was no fitting atmosphere to feed their lungs, insects with no +terrestrial plants to live upon, reptiles without marshes, birds +without trees, cattle without grass,--all things, in short, without the +essential conditions for their existence.... + +I have spoken of the Silurian beach as if there were but one, not only +because I wished to limit my sketch, and to attempt at least to give it +the vividness of a special locality, but also because a single such +shore will give us as good an idea of the characteristic fauna of the +time as if we drew our material from a wider range. There are, however, +a great number of parallel ridges belonging to the Silurian and Devonian +periods, running from east to west, not only through the State of New +York, but far beyond, through the States of Michigan and Wisconsin into +Minnesota; one may follow nine or ten such successive shores in unbroken +lines, from the neighborhood of Lake Champlain to the Far West. They +have all the irregularities of modern seashores, running up to form +little bays here, and jutting out in promontories there.... + +Although the early geological periods are more legible in North America, +because they are exposed over such extensive tracts of land, yet they +have been studied in many other parts of the globe. In Norway, in +Germany, in France, in Russia, in Siberia, in Kamchatka, in parts of +South America,--in short, wherever the civilization of the white race +has extended, Silurian deposits have been observed, and everywhere they +bear the same testimony to a profuse and varied creation. The earth was +teeming then with life as now; and in whatever corner of its surface the +geologist finds the old strata, they hold a dead fauna as numerous as +that which lives and moves above it. Nor do we find that there was any +gradual increase or decrease of any organic forms at the beginning and +close of the successive periods. On the contrary, the opening scenes of +every chapter in the world's history have been crowded with life, and +its last leaves as full and varied as its first. + + +VOICES + +From 'Methods of Study in Natural History' + +There is a chapter in the Natural History of animals that has hardly +been touched upon as yet, and that will be especially interesting with +reference to families. The voices of animals have a family character not +to be mistaken. All the _Canidae_ bark and howl!--the fox, the wolf, +the dog, have the same kind of utterance, though on a somewhat different +pitch. All the bears growl, from the white bear of the Arctic snows to +the small black bear of the Andes. All the cats meow, from our quiet +fireside companion to the lions and tigers and panthers of the forests +and jungle. This last may seem a strange assertion; but to any one who +has listened critically to their sounds and analyzed their voices, the +roar of the lion is but a gigantic meow, bearing about the same +proportion to that of a cat as its stately and majestic form does to the +smaller, softer, more peaceful aspect of the cat. Yet notwithstanding +the difference in their size, who can look at the lion, whether in his +more sleepy mood, as he lies curled up in the corner of his cage, or in +his fiercer moments of hunger or of rage, without being reminded of a +cat? And this is not merely the resemblance of one carnivorous animal to +another; for no one was ever reminded of a dog or wolf by a lion. + +Again, all the horses and donkeys neigh; for the bray of a donkey is +only a harsher neigh, pitched on a different key, it is true, but a +sound of the same character--as the donkey himself is but a clumsy and +dwarfish horse. All the cows low, from the buffalo roaming the prairie, +the musk-ox of the Arctic ice-fields, or the yak of Asia, to the cattle +feeding in our pastures. + +Among the birds, this similarity of voice in families is still more +marked. We need only recall the harsh and noisy parrots, so similar in +their peculiar utterance. Or, take as an example the web-footed family: +Do not all the geese and the innumerable host of ducks quack? Does not +every member of the crow family caw, whether it be the jackdaw, the jay, +or the magpie, the rook in some green rookery of the Old World, or the +crow of our woods, with its long, melancholy caw that seems to make the +silence and solitude deeper? Compare all the sweet warblers of the +songster family--the nightingales, the thrushes, the mocking-birds, the +robins; they differ in the greater or less perfection of their note, but +the same kind of voice runs through the whole group. + +These affinities of the vocal systems among the animals form a subject +well worthy of the deepest study, not only as another character by which +to classify the animal kingdom correctly, but as bearing indirectly also +on the question of the origin of animals. Can we suppose that +characteristics like these have been communicated from one animal to +another? When we find that all the members of one zoölogical family, +however widely scattered over the surface of the earth, inhabiting +different continents and even different hemispheres, speak with one +voice, must we not believe that they have originated in the places where +they now occur, with all their distinctive peculiarities? Who taught the +American thrush to sing like his European relative? He surely did not +learn it from his cousin over the waters. Those who would have us +believe that all animals originated from common centres and single +pairs, and have been thence distributed over the world, will find it +difficult to explain the tenacity of such characters, and their +recurrence and repetition under circumstances that seem to preclude the +possibility of any communication, on any other supposition than that of +their creation in the different regions where they are now found. We +have much yet to learn, from investigations of this kind, with reference +not only to families among animals, but to nationalities among +men also.... + +The similarity of motion in families is another subject well worth the +consideration of the naturalist: the soaring of the birds of prey,--the +heavy flapping of the wings in the gallinaceous birds,--the floating of +the swallows, with their short cuts and angular turns,--the hopping of +the sparrows,--the deliberate walk of the hens and the strut of the +cocks,--the waddle of the ducks and geese,--the slow, heavy creeping of +the land-turtle,--the graceful flight of the sea-turtle under the +water,--the leaping and swimming of the frog,--the swift run of the +lizard, like a flash of green or red light in the sunshine,--the lateral +undulation of the serpent,--the dart of the pickerel,--the leap of the +trout,--the rush of the hawk-moth through the air,--the fluttering +flight of the butterfly,--the quivering poise of the humming-bird,--the +arrow-like shooting of the squid through the water,--the slow crawling +of the snail on the land,--the sideway movement of the sand-crab,--the +backward walk of the crawfish,--the almost imperceptible gliding of the +sea-anemone over the rock,--the graceful, rapid motion of the +_Pleurobrachia_, with its endless change of curve and spiral. In short, +every family of animals has its characteristic action and its peculiar +voice; and yet so little is this endless variety of rhythm and cadence +both of motion and sound in the organic world understood, that we lack +words to express one-half its richness and beauty. + + +FORMATION OF CORAL REEFS + +From 'Methods of Study in Natural History' + +For a long time it was supposed that the reef-builders inhabited very +deep waters; for they were sometimes brought up upon sounding-lines from +a depth of many hundreds or even thousands of feet, and it was taken for +granted that they must have had their home where they were found: but +the facts recently ascertained respecting the subsidence of +ocean-bottoms have shown that the foundation of a coral-wall may have +sunk far below the place where it was laid. And it is now proved, beyond +a doubt, that no reef-building coral can thrive at a depth of more than +fifteen fathoms, though corals of other kinds occur far lower, and that +the dead reef-corals, sometimes brought to the surface from much greater +depths, are only broken fragments of some reef that has subsided with +the bottom on which it was growing. But though fifteen fathoms is the +maximum depth at which any reef-builder can prosper, there are many +which will not sustain even that degree of pressure; and this fact has, +as we shall see, an important influence on the structure of the reef. + +Imagine now a sloping shore on some tropical coast descending gradually +below the surface of the sea. Upon that slope, at a depth of from ten to +twelve or fifteen fathoms, and two or three or more miles from the +mainland, according to the shelving of the shore, we will suppose that +one of those little coral animals, to whom a home in such deep waters is +congenial, has established itself. How it happens that such a being, +which we know is immovably attached to the ground, and forms the +foundation of a solid wall, was ever able to swim freely about in the +water till it found a suitable resting-place, I shall explain hereafter, +when I say something of the mode of reproduction of these animals. +Accept, for the moment, my unsustained assertion, and plant our little +coral on this sloping shore, some twelve or fifteen fathoms below the +surface of the sea. + +The internal structure of such a coral corresponds to that of the +sea-anemone. The body is divided by vertical partitions from top to +bottom, leaving open chambers between; while in the centre hangs the +digestive cavity, connected by an opening in the bottom with all these +chambers. At the top is an aperture serving as a mouth, surrounded by a +wreath of hollow tentacles, each one of which connects at its base with +one of the chambers, so that all parts of the animal communicate freely +with each other. But though the structure of the coral is identical in +all its parts with the sea-anemone, it nevertheless presents one +important difference. The body of the sea-anemone is soft, while that of +the coral is hard. + +It is well known that all animals and plants have the power of +appropriating to themselves and assimilating the materials they need, +each selecting from the surrounding elements whatever contributes to its +well-being. Now, corals possess in an extraordinary degree, the power of +assimilating to themselves the lime contained in the salt water around +them; and as soon as our little coral is established on a firm +foundation, a lime deposit begins to form in all the walls of its body, +so that its base, its partitions, and its outer wall, which in the +sea-anemone remain always soft, become perfectly solid in the polyp +coral, and form a frame as hard as bone. + +It may naturally be asked where the lime comes from in the sea which the +corals absorb in such quantities. As far as the living corals are +concerned the answer is easy, for an immense deal of lime is brought +down to the ocean by rivers that wear away the lime deposits through +which they pass. The Mississippi, whose course lies through extensive +lime regions, brings down yearly lime enough to supply all the animals +living in the Gulf of Mexico. But behind this lies a question, not so +easily settled, as to the origin of the extensive deposits of limestone +found at the very beginning of life upon earth. This problem brings us +to the threshold of astronomy; for the base of limestone is metallic in +character, susceptible therefore of fusion, and may have formed a part +of the materials of our earth, even in an incandescent state, when the +worlds were forming. But though this investigation as to the origin of +lime does not belong either to the naturalist or the geologist, its +suggestion reminds us that the time has come when all the sciences and +their results are so intimately connected that no one can be carried on +independently of the others. Since the study of the rocks has revealed a +crowded life whose records are hoarded within them, the work of the +geologist and the naturalist has become one and the same; and at that +border-land where the first crust of the earth was condensed out of the +igneous mass of materials which formed its earliest condition, their +investigation mingles with that of the astronomer, and we cannot trace +the limestone in a little coral without going back to the creation of +our solar system, when the worlds that compose it were thrown off from a +central mass in a gaseous condition. + +When the coral has become in this way permeated with lime, all parts of +the body are rigid, with the exception of the upper margin, the stomach, +and the tentacles. The tentacles are soft and waving, projected or drawn +in at will; they retain their flexible character through life, and +decompose when the animal dies. For this reason the dried specimens of +corals preserved in museums do not give us the least idea of the living +corals, in which every one of the millions of beings composing such a +community is crowned by a waving wreath of white or green or +rose-colored tentacles. + +As soon as the little coral is fairly established and solidly attached +to the ground, it begins to bud. This may take place in a variety of +ways, dividing at the top or budding from the base or from the sides, +till the primitive animal is surrounded by a number of individuals like +itself, of which it forms the nucleus, and which now begin to bud in +their turn, each one surrounding itself with a numerous progeny, all +remaining, however, attached to the parent. Such a community increases +till its individuals are numbered by millions, and I have myself counted +no less than fourteen millions of individuals in a coral mass of Porites +measuring not more than twelve feet in diameter. The so-called coral +heads, which make the foundation of a coral wall, and seem by their +massive character and regular form especially adapted to give a strong, +solid base to the whole structure, are known in our classification as +the _Astraeans_, so named on account of the little [star-shaped] pits +crowded upon their surface, each one of which marks the place of a +single more or less isolated individual in such a community. + +Selections used by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Company, +Publishers. + + + + +AGATHIAS + +(536-581) + +Agathas tells us, in his 'Prooemium,' that he was born at Myrina, Asia +Minor, that his father's name was Memnonius, and his own profession the +law of the Romans and practice in courts of justice. He was born about +A.D. 536, and was educated at Alexandria. In Constantinople he studied +and practiced his profession, and won his surname of "Scholasticus," a +title then given to a lawyer. He died, it is believed, at the age of +forty-four or forty-five. He was a Christian, as he testifies in his +epigrams. In the sketch of his life prefixed to his works, Niebuhr +collates the friendships he himself mentions, with his fellow-poet +Paulus Silentiarius, with Theodorus the decemvir, and Macedonius the +ex-consul. To these men he dedicated some of his writings. + +Of his works, he says in his 'Prooemium' that he wrote in his youth the +'Daphniaca,' a volume of short poems in hexameters, set off with +love-tales. His 'Anthology,' or 'Cyclus,' was a collection of poems of +early writers, and also compositions of his friend Paulus Silentiarius +and others of his time. A number of his epigrams, preserved because they +were written before or after his publication of the 'Cyclus,' have come +down to us and are contained in the 'Anthologia Graeca.' His principal +work is his 'Historia,' which is an account of the conquest of Italy by +Narses, of the first war between the Greeks and Franks, of the great +earthquakes and plagues, of the war between the Greeks and Persians, and +the deeds of Belisarius in his contest with the Huns,--of all that was +happening in the world Agathias knew between 553 and 558 A.D., while he +was a young man. He tells, for instance, of the rebuilding of the great +Church of St. Sophia by Justinian, and he adds:--"If any one who happens +to live in some place remote from the city wishes to get a clear notion +of every part, as though he were there, let him read what Paulus +[Silentiarius] has composed in hexameter verse." + +The history of Agathias is valuable as a chronicle. It shows that the +writer had little knowledge of geography, and was not enough of a +philosopher to look behind events and trace the causes from which they +proceeded. He is merely a simple and honest writer, and his history is a +business-like entry of facts. He dwells upon himself and his wishes with +a minuteness that might seem self-conscious, but is really _naif_; and +goes so far in his outspokenness as to say that if for the sake of a +livelihood he took up another profession, his taste would have led him +to devote himself to the Muses and Graces. + +He wrote in the Ionic dialect of his time. The best edition of his +'Historia' is that of Niebuhr (1828). Those of his epigrams preserved in +the Greek anthology have not infrequently been turned into English; the +happiest translation of all is that of Dryden, in his 'Life of +Plutarch.' + + + ON PLUTARCH + + Cheronean Plutarch, to thy deathless praise + Does martial Rome this grateful statue raise; + Because both Greece and she thy fame have shar'd + (Their heroes written, and their lives compar'd); + But thou thyself could'st never write thy own: + Their lives have parallels, but thine has none. + + + + +GRACE AGUILAR + +(1816-1847) + +Fifty years ago a Jewish writer of English fiction was a new and +interesting figure in English literature. Disraeli, indeed, had flashed +into the literary world with 'Coningsby,' that eloquent vindication of +the Jewish race. His grandiose 'Tancred' had revealed to an astonished +public the strange life of the Desert, of the mysterious vastness whence +swept forth the tribes who became the Moors of Spain and the Jews of +Palestine. Disraeli, however, stood in no category, and established no +precedent. But when Miss Aguilar's stories began to appear, they were +eagerly welcomed by a public with whom she had already won reputation +and favor as the defender and interpreter of her faith. + +[Illustration: GRACE AGUILAR] + +The youngest child of a rich and refined household, Grace Aguilar was +born in 1816 at Hackney, near London, of that historic strain of +Spanish-Jewish blood which for generations had produced not only beauty +and artistic sensibility, but intellect. Her ancestors were refugees +from persecution, and in her burned that ardor of faith which +persecution kindles. Fragile and sensitive, she was educated at home, by +her cultivated father and mother, under whose solicitous training she +developed an alarming precocity. At the age of twelve she had written a +heroic drama on her favorite hero, Gustavus Vasa. At fourteen she had +published a volume of poems. At twenty-four she accomplished her chief +work on the Jewish religion, 'The Spirit of Judaism,' a book republished +in America with preface and notes by a well-known rabbi, Dr. Isaac +Leeser of Philadelphia. Although the orthodox priest found much in the +book to criticize, he was forced to commend its ability.--It insists on +the importance of the spiritual and moral aspects of the faith delivered +to Abraham, and deprecates a superstitious reverence for the mere letter +of the law. It presents Judaism as a religion of love, and the Old +Testament as the inspiration of the teachings of Jesus. Written more +than half a century ago, the book is widely read to-day by students of +the Jewish religion. + +Four years later Miss Aguilar published 'The Jewish Faith: Its Spiritual +Consolation, Moral Guidance, and Immortal Hope,' and 'The Women of +Israel,' a series of essays on Biblical history, which was followed by +'Essays and Miscellanies.' So great was the influence of her writings +that the Jewesses of London gave her a public testimonial, and addressed +her as "the first woman who had stood forth as the public advocate of +the faith of Israel." While on her way to visit a brother then residing +at Schwalbach, Germany, she was taken ill at Frankfurt, and died there, +at the early age of thirty-one. + +The earliest and the best known of Miss Aguilar's novels is 'Home +Influence,' which rapidly passed through thirty editions, and is still a +favorite book with young girls. There is little incident in the story, +which is the history of the development of character in a household of +six or seven young persons of very different endowments and tendencies. +It was the fashion of the day to be didactic, and Mrs. Hamilton, from +whom the "home influence" radiates, seems to the modern reader somewhat +inclined to preach, in season and out of season. But the story is +interesting, and the characters are distinctly individualized, while at +least one episode is dramatically treated. + +'The Mother's Recompense' is a sequel to 'Home Influence,' wherein the +further fortunes of the Hamilton family are so set forth that the +wordly-minded reader is driven to the inference that the brilliant +marriages of her children are a sensible part of Mrs. Hamilton's +"recompense." The story is vividly and agreeably told. + +Of a different order is 'The Days of Bruce,' a historic romance of the +late thirteenth century, which is less historic than romantic, and in +whose mirror the rugged chieftain would hardly recognize his +angularities. + +'The Vale of Cedars' is a historic tale of the persecution of the Jews +in Spain under the Inquisition. It is told with intense feeling, with +much imagination, and with a strong love of local color. It is said +that family traditions are woven into the story. This book, as well as +'Home Influence,' had a wide popularity in a German version. + +In reading Grace Aguilar it is not easy to believe her the contemporary +of Currer Bell and George Eliot. Both her manner and her method are +earlier. Her lengthy and artificial periods, the rounded and decorative +sentences that she puts into the mouths of her characters under the +extremest pressure of emotion or suffering, the italics, the +sentimentalities, are of another age than the sinewy English and hard +sense of 'Jane Eyre' or 'Adam Bede.' Doubtless her peculiar, sheltered +training, her delicate health, and a luxuriant imagination that had +seldom been measured against the realities of life, account for the +old-fashioned air of her work. But however antiquated their form may +become, the substance of all her tales is sweet and sound, their charm +for young girls is abiding, their atmosphere is pure, and the spirit +that inspires them is touched only to fine issues. + +The citation from 'The Days of Bruce' illustrates her narrative style; +that from 'Woman's Friendship' her habit of disquisition; and the +passage from 'Home Influence' her rendering of conversation. + + +THE GREATNESS OF FRIENDSHIP + +From 'Woman's Friendship' + +It is the fashion to deride woman's influence over woman, to laugh at +female friendship, to look with scorn on all those who profess it; but +perhaps the world at large little knows the effect of this +influence,--how often the unformed character of a young, timid, and +gentle girl may be influenced for good or evil by the power of an +intimate female friend. There is always to me a doubt of the warmth, the +strength, and purity of her feelings, when a young girl merges into +womanhood, passing over the threshold of actual life, seeking only the +admiration of the other sex; watching, pining, for a husband, or lovers, +perhaps, and looking down on all female friendship as romance and folly. +No young spirit was ever yet satisfied with the love of nature. + +Friendship, or love, gratifies self-love; for it tacitly acknowledges +that we must possess some good qualities to attract beyond the mere love +of nature. Coleridge justly observes, "that it is well ordered that the +amiable and estimable should have a fainter perception of their own +qualities than their friends have, otherwise they would love +themselves." Now, friendship, or love, permits their doing this +unconsciously: mutual affection is a tacit avowal and appreciation of +mutual good qualities,--perhaps friendship yet more than love, for the +latter is far more an aspiration, a passion, than the former, and +influences the permanent character much less. Under the magic of love a +girl is generally in a feverish state of excitement, often in a wrong +position, deeming herself the goddess, her lover the adorer; whereas it +is her will that must bend to his, herself be abnegated for him. +Friendship neither permits the former nor demands the latter. It +influences silently, often unconsciously; perhaps its power is never +known till years afterwards. A girl who stands alone, without acting or +feeling friendship, is generally a cold unamiable being, so wrapt in +self as to have no room for any person else, except perhaps a lover, +whom she only seeks and values as offering his devotion to that same +idol, self. Female friendship may be abused, may be but a name for +gossip, letter-writing, romance, nay worse, for absolute evil: but that +Shakespeare, the mighty wizard of human hearts, thought highly and +beautifully of female friendship, we have his exquisite portraits of +Rosalind and Celia, Helen and the Countess, undeniably to prove; and if +he, who could portray every human passion, every subtle feeling of +humanity, from the whelming tempest of love to the fiendish influences +of envy and jealousy and hate; from the incomprehensible mystery of +Hamlet's wondrous spirit, to the simplicity of the gentle Miranda, the +dove-like innocence of Ophelia, who could be crushed by her weight of +love, but not reveal it;--if Shakespeare scorned not to picture the +sweet influences of female friendship, shall women pass by it as a theme +too tame, too idle for their pens? + + +THE ORDER OF KNIGHTHOOD + +From 'The Days of Bruce' + +A right noble and glorious scene did the great hall of the palace +present the morning which followed this eventful night. The king, +surrounded by his highest prelates and nobles, mingling indiscriminately +with the high-born dames and maidens of his court, all splendidly +attired, occupied the upper part of the hall, the rest of which was +crowded by both his military followers and many of the good citizens of +Scone, who flocked in great numbers to behold the august ceremony of the +day. Two immense oaken doors at the south side of the hall were flung +open, and through them was discerned the large space forming the palace +yard, prepared as a tilting-ground, where the new-made knights were to +prove their skill. The storm had given place to a soft, breezy morning, +the cool freshness of which appeared peculiarly grateful from the +oppressiveness of the night; light downy clouds sailed over the blue +expanse of heaven, tempering without clouding the brilliant rays of the +sun. Every face was clothed with smiles, and the loud shouts which +hailed the youthful candidates for knighthood, as they severally +entered, told well the feeling with which the patriots of Scotland +were regarded. + +Some twenty youths received the envied honor at the hand of their +sovereign this day; but our limits forbid a minute scrutiny of the +bearing of any, however well deserving, save of the two whose vigils +have already detained us so long. A yet longer and louder shout +proclaimed the appearance of the youngest scion of the house of Bruce +and his companion. The daring patriotism of Isabella of Buchan had +enshrined her in every heart, and so disposed all men towards her +children that the name of their traitorous father was forgotten. + +Led by their godfathers, Nigel by his brother-in-law Sir Christopher +Seaton, and Alan by the Earl of Lennox, their swords, which had been +blessed by the abbot at the altar, slung round their necks, they +advanced up the hall. There was a glow on the cheek of the young Alan, +in which pride and modesty were mingled; his step at first was unsteady +and his lip was seen to quiver from very bashfulness, as he first +glanced round the hall and felt that every eye was turned toward him; +but when that glance met his mother's fixed on him, and breathing that +might of love that filled her heart, all boyish tremors fled, the calm, +staid resolve of manhood took the place of the varying glow upon his +cheek, the quivering lip became compressed and firm, and his step +faltered not again. + +The cheek of Nigel Bruce was pale, but there was firmness in the glance +of his bright eye, and a smile unclouded in its joyance on his lip. The +frivolous lightness of the courtier, the mad bravado of knight-errantry, +which was not uncommon to the times, indeed, were not there. It was the +quiet courage of the resolved warrior, the calm of a spirit at peace +with itself, shedding its own high feeling and poetic glory over all +around him. + +On reaching the foot of King Robert's throne, both youths knelt and +laid their sheathed swords at his feet. Their armor-bearers then +approached, and the ceremony of clothing the candidates in steel +commenced; the golden spur was fastened on the left foot of each by his +respective godfather, while Athol, Hay, and other nobles advanced to do +honor to the youths, by aiding in the ceremony. Nor was it +warriors alone. + +"Is this permitted, lady?" demanded the king, smiling, as the Countess +of Buchan approached the martial group, and, aided by Lennox, fastened +the polished cuirass on the form of her son. "Is it permitted for a +matron to arm a youthful knight? Is there no maiden to do such +inspiring office?" + +"Yes, when the knight is one like this, my liege," she answered, in the +same tone. "Let a matron arm him, good my liege," she added, sadly: "let +a mother's hand enwrap his boyish limbs in steel, a mother's blessing +mark him thine and Scotland's, that those who watch his bearing in the +battle-field may know who sent him there, may thrill his heart with +memories of her who stands alone of her ancestral line, that though he +bears the name of Comyn, the blood of Fife flows reddest in his veins!" + +"Arm him and welcome, noble lady," answered the king, and a buzz of +approbation ran through the hall; "and may thy noble spirit and +dauntless loyalty inspire him: we shall not need a trusty follower while +such as he are around us. Yet, in very deed, my youthful knight must +have a lady fair for whom he tilts to-day. Come hither, Isoline, thou +lookest verily inclined to envy thy sweet friend her office, and nothing +loth to have a loyal knight thyself. Come, come, my pretty one, no +blushing now. Lennox, guide those tiny hands aright." + +Laughing and blushing, Isoline, the daughter of Lady Campbell, a sister +of the Bruce, a graceful child of some thirteen summers, advanced +nothing loth, to obey her royal uncle's summons; and an arch smile of +real enjoyment irresistibly stole over the countenance of Alan, +dispersing the emotion his mother's words produced. + +"Nay, tremble not, sweet one," the king continued, in a lower and yet +kinder tone, as he turned from the one youth to the other, and observed +that Agnes, overpowered by emotion, had scarcely power to perform her +part, despite the whispered words of encouraging affection Nigel +murmured in her ear. One by one the cuirass and shoulder-pieces, the +greaves and gauntlets, the gorget and brassards, the joints of which +were so beautifully burnished that they shone as mirrors, and so +flexible that every limb had its free use, enveloped those manly forms. +Their swords once again girt to their sides, and once more kneeling, the +king descended from his throne, alternately dubbing them knight in the +name of God, St. Michael, and St. George. + + +THE CULPRIT AND THE JUDGE + +From 'Home Influence' + +Mrs. Hamilton was seated at one of the tables on the dais nearest the +oriel window, the light from which fell on her, giving her +figure--though she was seated naturally enough in one of the large +maroon-velvet oaken chairs--an unusual effect of dignity and command, +and impressing the terrified beholder with such a sensation of awe that +had her life depended on it, she could not for that one minute have gone +forward; and even when desired to do so by the words "I desired your +presence, Ellen, because I wished to speak to you: come here without any +more delay,"--how she walked the whole length of that interminable room, +and stood facing her aunt, she never knew. + +Mrs. Hamilton for a full minute did not speak, but she fixed that +searching look, to which we have once before alluded, upon Ellen's face; +and then said, in a tone which, though very low and calm, expressed as +much as that earnest look:-- + +"Ellen! is it necessary for me to tell you why you are here--necessary +to produce the proof that my words are right, and that you _have_ been +influenced by the fearful effects of some unconfessed and most heinous +sin? Little did I dream its nature." + +For a moment Ellen stood as turned to stone, as white and rigid--the +next she had sunk down with a wild, bitter cry, at Mrs. Hamilton's feet, +and buried her face in her hands. + +"Is it true--can it be true--that you, offspring of my own sister; dear +to me, cherished by me as my own child--you have been the guilty one to +appropriate, and conceal the appropriation of money, which has been a +source of distress by its loss, and the suspicion thence proceeding, for +the last seven weeks?--that you could listen to your uncle's words, +absolving his whole household as incapable of a deed which was actual +theft, and yet, by neither word nor sign, betray remorse or +guilt?--could behold the innocent suffering, the fearful misery of +suspicion, loss of character, without the power of clearing himself, and +stand calmly, heedlessly by--only proving by your hardened and +rebellious temper that all was not right within--Ellen, can this +be true?" + +"Yes!" was the reply, but with such a fearful effort that her slight +frame shook as with an ague: "thank God that it is known! I dared not +bring down the punishment on myself; but I can bear it." + +"This is mere mockery, Ellen: how dare I believe even this poor evidence +of repentance, with the recollection of your past conduct? What were the +notes you found?" + +Ellen named them. + +"Where are they?--This is but one, and the smallest." + +Ellen's answer was scarcely audible. + +"Used them--and for what?" + +There was no answer; neither then nor when Mrs. Hamilton sternly +reiterated the question. She then demanded:-- + +"How long have they been in your possession?" + +"Five or six weeks;" but the reply was so tremulous it carried no +conviction with it. + +"Since Robert told his story to your uncle, or before?" + +"Before." + +"Then your last answer was a falsehood, Ellen: it is full seven weeks +since my husband addressed the household on the subject. You could not +have so miscounted time, with such a deed to date by. Where did you +find them?" + +Ellen described the spot. + +"And what business had you there? You know that neither you nor your +cousins are ever allowed to go that way to Mrs. Langford's cottage, and +more especially alone. If you wanted to see her, why did you not go the +usual way? And when was this?--you must remember the exact day. Your +memory is not in general so treacherous." + +Again Ellen was silent. + +"Have you forgotten it?" + +She crouched lower at her aunt's feet, but the answer was audible--"No." + +"Then answer me, Ellen, this moment, and distinctly: for what purpose +were you seeking Mrs. Langford's cottage by that forbidden path, +and when?" + +"I wanted money, and I went to ask her to take my trinkets--my watch, +if it must be--and dispose of them as I had read of others doing, as +miserable as I was; and the wind blew the notes to my very hand, and I +used them. I was mad then; I have been mad since, I believe: but I would +have returned the whole amount to Robert if I could have but parted with +my trinkets in time." + +To describe the tone of utter despair, the recklessness as to the effect +her words would produce, is impossible. Every word increased Mrs. +Hamilton's bewilderment and misery. To suppose that Ellen did not feel +was folly. It was the very depth of wretchedness which was crushing her +to earth, but every answered and unanswered question but deepened the +mystery, and rendered her judge's task more difficult. + +"And when was this, Ellen? I will have no more evasion--tell me the +exact day." + +But she asked in vain. Ellen remained moveless and silent as the dead. + +After several minutes Mrs. Hamilton removed her hands from her face, and +compelling her to lift up her head, gazed searchingly on her death-like +countenance for some moments in utter silence, and then said, in a tone +that Ellen never in her life forgot:-- + +"You cannot imagine, Ellen, that this half confession will either +satisfy me, or in the smallest degree redeem your sin. One, and one only +path is open to you; for all that you have said and left unsaid but +deepens your apparent guilt, and so blackens your conduct, that I can +scarcely believe I am addressing the child I so loved--and could still +so love, if but one real sign be given of remorse and penitence--one +hope of returning truth. But that sign, that hope, can only be a full +confession. Terrible as is the guilt of appropriating so large a sum, +granted it came by the merest chance into your hand; dark as is the +additional sin of concealment when an innocent person was +suffering--something still darker, more terrible, must be concealed +behind it, or you would not, could not, continue thus obdurately silent. +I can believe that under some heavy pressure of misery, some strong +excitement, the sum might have been used without thought, and that fear +might have prevented the confession of anything so dreadful; but what +was this heavy necessity for money, this strong excitement? What fearful +and mysterious difficulties have you been led into to call for either? +Tell me the truth, Ellen, the whole truth; let me have some hope of +saving you and myself the misery of publicly declaring you the guilty +one, and so proving Robert's innocence. Tell me what difficulty, what +misery so maddened you, as to demand the disposal of your trinkets. If +there be the least excuse, the smallest possibility of your obtaining in +time forgiveness, I will grant it. I will not believe you so utterly +fallen. I will do all I can to remove error, and yet to prevent +suffering; but to win this, I must have a full confession--every +question that I put to you must be clearly and satisfactorily answered, +and so bring back the only comfort to yourself, and hope to me. Will you +do this, Ellen?" + +"Oh that I could!" was the reply in such bitter anguish, Mrs. Hamilton +actually shuddered. "But I cannot--must not--dare not. Aunt Emmeline, +hate me; condemn me to the severest, sharpest suffering; I wish for it, +pine for it: you cannot loathe me more than I do myself, but do not--do +not speak to me in these kind tones--I cannot bear them. It was because +I knew what a wretch I am, that I have so shunned you. I was not worthy +to be with you; oh, sentence me at once! I dare not answer as you wish." + +"Dare not!" repeated Mrs. Hamilton, more and more bewildered; and to +conceal the emotion Ellen's wild words and agonized manner had produced, +adopting a greater sternness. + +"You dare commit a sin, from which the lowest of my household would +shrink in horror, and yet tell me you dare not make the only atonement, +give me the only proof of real penitence I demand. This is a weak and +wicked subterfuge, Ellen, and will not pass with me. There can be no +reason for this fearful obduracy, not even the consciousness of greater +guilt, for I promise forgiveness, if it be possible, on the sole +condition of a full confession. Once more, will you speak? Your +hardihood will be utterly useless, for you cannot hope to conquer me; +and if you permit me to leave you with your conduct still clothed in +this impenetrable mystery, you will compel me to adopt measures to +subdue that defying spirit, which will expose you and myself to intense +suffering, but which _must_ force submission at last." + +"You cannot inflict more than I have endured the last seven weeks," +murmured Ellen, almost inarticulately. "I have borne that; I can bear +the rest." + +"Then you will not answer? You are resolved not to tell me the day on +which you found that money, the use to which it was applied, the reason +of your choosing that forbidden path, permitting me to believe you +guilty of heavier sins than may be the case in reality. Listen to me, +Ellen; it is more than time this interview should cease; but I will give +you one chance more. It is now half-past seven,"--she took the watch +from her neck, and laid it on the table--"I will remain here one-half +hour longer: by that time this sinful temper may have passed away, and +you will consent to give me the confession I demand. I cannot believe +you so altered in two months as to choose obduracy and misery, when +pardon, and in time confidence and love, are offered in their stead. Get +up from that crouching posture; it can be but mock humility, and so only +aggravates your sin." + +Ellen rose slowly and painfully, and seating herself at the table some +distance from her aunt, leaned her arms upon it, and buried her face +within them. Never before and never after did half an hour appear so +interminable to either Mrs. Hamilton or Ellen. It was well for the +firmness of the former, perhaps, that she could not read the heart of +that young girl, even if the cause of its anguish had been still +concealed. Again and again did the wild longing, turning her actually +faint and sick with its agony, come over her to reveal the whole, to ask +but rest and mercy for herself, pardon and security for Edward: but +then, clear as if held before her in letters of fire, she read every +word of her brother's desperate letter, particularly "Breathe it to my +uncle or aunt--for if she knows it he will--and you will never see me +more." Her mother, pallid as death, seemed to stand before her, freezing +confession on her heart and lips, looking at her threateningly, as she +had so often seen her, as if the very thought were guilt. The rapidly +advancing twilight, the large and lonely room, all added to that fearful +illusion; and if Ellen did succeed in praying it was with desperate +fervor for strength not to betray her brother. If ever there were a +martyr spirit, it was enshrined in that young, frail form. + +"Aunt Emmeline, Aunt Emmeline, speak to me but one word--only one word +of kindness before you go. I do not ask for mercy--there can be none for +such a wretch as I am; I will bear without one complaint, one murmur, +all you may inflict--you cannot be too severe. Nothing can be such agony +as the utter loss of your affection; I thought, the last two months, +that I feared you so much that it was all fear, no love: but now, now +that you know my sin, it has all, all come back to make me still more +wretched." And before Mrs. Hamilton could prevent, or was in the least +aware of her intention, Ellen had obtained possession of one of her +hands, and was covering it with kisses, while her whole frame shook with +those convulsed, but completely tearless sobs. + +"Will you confess, Ellen, if I stay? Will you give me the proof that it +_is_ such agony to lose my affection, that you _do_ love me as you +profess, and that it is only one sin which has so changed you? One word, +and, tardy as it is, I will listen, and it I can, forgive." + +Ellen made no answer, and Mrs. Hamilton's newly raised hopes vanished; +she waited full two or three minutes, then gently disengaged her hand +and dress from Ellen's still convulsive grasp; the door closed, with a +sullen, seemingly unwilling sound, and Ellen was alone. She remained in +the same posture, the same spot, till a vague, cold terror so took +possession of her, that the room seemed filled with ghostly shapes, and +all the articles of furniture suddenly transformed to things of life; +and springing up, with the wild, fleet step of fear, she paused not till +she found herself in her own room, where, flinging herself on her bed, +she buried her face on her pillow, to shut out every object--oh, how she +longed to shut out thought! + + + + +WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH + +(1805-1882) + +In the year 1881, at a commemorative dinner given to her native novelist +by the city of Manchester, it was announced that the public library +contained two hundred and fifty volumes of his works, which passed +through seven thousand six hundred and sixty hands annually, so that his +stories were read at the rate of twenty volumes a day throughout the +year. This exceptional prophet, who was thus not without honor in his +own country, was the son of a prosperous attorney, and was himself +destined to the bar. But he detested the law and he loved letters, and +before he was twenty he had helped to edit a paper, had written essays, +a story, and a play,--none of which, fortunately for him, survive,--and +had gone to London, ostensibly to read in a lawyer's office, and really +to spin his web of fiction whenever opportunity offered. Chance +connected the fortunes of young Ainsworth with periodical literature, +where most of his early work appeared. His first important tale was +'Rookwood,' published in 1834. This describes the fortunes of a family +of Yorkshire gentry in the last century; but its real interest lies in +an episode which includes certain experiences of the notorious +highwayman, Dick Turpin, and his furious ride to outrun the hue and cry. +Sporting England was enraptured with the dash and breathlessness of this +adventure, and the novelist's fame was established. + +His second romance, 'Crichton,' appeared in 1836. The hero of this tale +is the brilliant Scottish gentleman whose handsome person, extraordinary +scholarship, great accomplishments, courage, eloquence, subtlety, and +achievement gained him the sobriquet of "The Admirable." The chief +scenes are laid in Paris at the time of Catherine de' Medici's rule and +Henry III.'s reign, when the air was full of intrigue and conspiracy, +and when religious quarrels were not more bitter and dangerous than +political wrangles. The inscrutable king, the devout Queen Louise of +Lorraine, the scheming queen-mother, and Marguerite of Valois, half +saint, half profligate, a pearl of beauty and grace; Henry of Navarre, +ready to buy his Paris with sword or mass; well-known great nobles, +priests, astrologers, learned doctors, foreign potentates, ambassadors, +pilgrims, and poisoners,--pass before the reader's eye. The pictures of +student life, at a time when all the world swarmed to the great schools +of Paris, serve to explain the hero and the period. + +[Illustration: W. HARRISON AINSWORTH] + +When, in 1839, Dickens resigned the editorship of Bentley's Miscellany, +Ainsworth succeeded him. "The new whip," wrote the old one afterward, +"having mounted the box, drove straight to Newgate. He there took in +Jack Sheppard, and Cruikshank the artist; and aided by that very vulgar +but very wonderful draughtsman, he made an effective story of the +burglar's and housebreaker's life." Everybody read the story, and most +persons cried out against so ignoble a hero, so mean a history, and so +misdirected a literary energy. The author himself seems not to have been +proud of the success which sold thousands of copies of an unworthy book, +and placed a dramatic version of its vulgar adventures on the stage of +eight theatres at once. He turned his back on this profitable field to +produce, in rapid succession, 'Guy Fawkes,' a tale of the famous +Gunpowder Plot; 'The Tower of London,' a story of the Princess +Elizabeth, the reign of Queen Mary, and the melancholy episode of Lady +Jane Grey's brief glory; 'Old Saint Paul,' a story of the time of +Charles II., which contains the history of the Plague and of the Great +Fire; 'The Miser's Daughter'; 'Windsor Castle,' whose chief characters +are Katharine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Cardinal Wolsey, and Henry the +Eighth; 'St. James,' a tale of the court of Queen Anne; 'The Lancashire +Witches'; 'The Star-Chamber,' a historical story of the time of Charles +I.; 'The Constable of the Tower'; 'The Lord Mayor of London'; 'Cardinal +Pole,' which deals with the court and times of Philip and Mary; 'John +Law,' a story of the great Mississippi Bubble; 'Tower Hill,' whose +heroine is the luckless Catharine Howard; 'The Spanish Match,' a story +of the romantic pilgrimage of Prince Charles and "Steenie" Buckingham to +Spain for the fruitless wooing of the Spanish Princess; and at least ten +other romances, many of them in three volumes, all appearing between +1840 and 1873. Two of these were published simultaneously, in serial +form; and no year passed without its book, to the end of the novelist's +long life. + +Whatever the twentieth century may say to Ainsworth's historic romances, +many of them have found high favor in the past. Concerning 'Crichton,' +so good a critic as "Father Prout" wrote:--"Indeed, I scarcely know any +of the so-called historical novels of this frivolous generation which +has altogether so graphically reproduced the spirit and character of the +time as this daring and dashing portraiture of the young Scot and his +contemporaries." The author of 'Waverley' praised more than one of the +romances, saying that they were written in his own vein. Even Maginn, +the satirical, thought that the novelist was doing excellent service to +history in making Englishmen understand how full of comedy and tragedy +were the old streets and the old buildings of London. And if Ainsworth +the writer received some buffetings, Ainsworth the man seems to have +been universally loved and approved. All the literary men of his time +were his cordial friends. Scott wrote for him 'The Bonnets of Bonnie +Dundee,' and objected to being paid. Dickens was eager to serve him. +Talfourd, Barham, Hood, Howitt, James, Jerrold, delighted in his +society. At dinner-parties and in country-houses he was a favorite +guest. Thus, easy in circumstances, surrounded by affection, happy in +the labor of his choice, passed the long life of the upright and kindly +English gentleman who spent fifty industrious years in recording the +annals of tragedy, wretchedness, and crime. + + +THE STUDENTS OF PARIS + +From 'Crichton' + +Toward the close of Wednesday, the 4th of February, 1579, a vast +assemblage of scholars was collected before the Gothic gateway of the +ancient College of Navarre. So numerous was this concourse, that it not +merely blocked up the area in front of the renowned seminary in +question, but extended far down the Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Généviève, +in which it is situated. Never had such a disorderly rout been brought +together since the days of the uproar in 1557, when the predecessors of +these turbulent students took up arms, marched in a body to the +Pré-aux-Clercs, set fire to three houses in the vicinity, and slew a +sergeant of the guard, who vainly endeavored to restrain their fury. +Their last election of a rector, Messire Adrien d'Amboise,--_pater +eruditionum_, as he is described in his epitaph, when the same body +congregated within the cloisters of the Mathurins, and thence proceeded, +in tumultuous array, to the church of Saint Louis, in the isle of the +same name,--had been nothing to it. Every scholastic hive sent forth its +drones. Sorbonne, and Montaigu, Cluny, Harcourt, the Four Nations, and a +host of minor establishments--in all, amounting to forty-two--each added +its swarms; and a pretty buzzing they created! The fair of Saint-Germain +had only commenced the day before; but though its festivities were to +continue until Palm Sunday, and though it was the constant resort of the +scholars, who committed, during their days of carnival, ten thousand +excesses, it was now absolutely deserted. + +The Pomme-de-Pin, the Castel, the Magdaleine, and the Mule, those +"capital caverns," celebrated in Pantagruel's conference with the +Limosin student, which has conferred upon them an immortality like that +of our own hostel, the Mermaid, were wholly neglected; the dice-box was +laid aside for the nonce; and the well-used cards were thrust into the +doublets of these thirsty tipplers of the schools. + +But not alone did the crowd consist of the brawler, the gambler, the +bully, and the debauchee, though these, it must be confessed, +predominated. It was a grand medley of all sects and classes. The modest +demeanor of the retiring, pale-browed student was contrasted with the +ferocious aspect and reckless bearing of his immediate neighbor, whose +appearance was little better than that of a bravo. The grave theologian +and embryo ecclesiastic were placed in juxtaposition with the scoffing +and licentious acolyte; while the lawyer _in posse_, and the law-breaker +_in esse_, were numbered among a group whose pursuits were those of +violence and fraud. + +Various as were the characters that composed it, not less diversified +were the costumes of this heterogeneous assemblage. Subject to no +particular regulations as to dress, or rather openly infracting them, if +any such were attempted to be enforced--each scholar, to whatever +college he belonged, attired himself in such garments as best suited his +taste or his finances. Taking it altogether, the mob was neither +remarkable for the fashion, nor the cleanliness of the apparel of +its members. + +From Rabelais we learn that the passion of play was so strongly +implanted in the students of his day, that they would frequently stake +the points of their doublets at _tric-trac_ or _troumadame_; and but +little improvement had taken place in their morals or manners some +half-century afterward. The buckle at their girdle--the mantle on their +shoulders--the shirt to their back--often stood the hazard of the die; +and hence it not unfrequently happened, that a rusty _pourpoint_ and +ragged _chaussés_ were all the covering which the luckless dicers could +enumerate, owing, no doubt, "to the extreme rarity and penury of money +in their pouches." + +Round or square caps, hoods and cloaks of black, gray, or other sombre +hue, were, however, the prevalent garb of the members of the university; +but here and there might be seen some gayer specimen of the tribe, whose +broad-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat and flaunting feather; whose +puffed-out sleeves and exaggerated ruff--with starched plaits of such +amplitude that they had been not inappropriately named _plats de Saint +Jean-Baptiste_, from the resemblance which the wearer's head bore to +that of the saint, when deposited in the charger of the daughter of +Herodias--were intended to ape the leading mode of the elegant court of +their sovereign, Henri Trois. + +To such an extent had these insolent youngsters carried their license of +imitation that certain of their members, fresh from the fair of +Saint-Germain, and not wholly unacquainted with the hippocras of the +sutlers crowding its mart, wore around their throats enormous collars of +paper, cut in rivalry of the legitimate plaits of muslin, and bore in +their hands long hollow sticks from which they discharged peas and other +missiles, in imitation of the _sarbacanes_ or pea-shooters then in vogue +with the monarch and his favorites. + +Thus fantastically tricked out, on that same day--nay, only a few hours +before, and at the fair above mentioned--had these facetious wights, +with more merriment than discretion, ventured to exhibit themselves +before the cortege of Henri, and to exclaim loud enough to reach the +ears of royalty, "_à la fraise on connoit le veau_!" a piece of +pleasantry for which they subsequently paid dear. + +Notwithstanding its shabby appearance in detail, the general effect of +this scholastic rabble was striking and picturesque. The thick mustaches +and pointed beards with which the lips and chins of most of them were +decorated, gave to their physiognomies a manly and determined air, fully +borne out by their unrestrained carriage and deportment. To a man, +almost all were armed with a tough vine-wood bludgeon, called in their +language an _estoc volant_, tipped and shod with steel--a weapon fully +understood by them, and rendered, by their dexterity in the use of it, +formidable to their adversaries. Not a few carried at their girdles the +short rapier, so celebrated in their duels and brawls, or concealed +within their bosom a poniard or a two-edged knife. + +The scholars of Paris have ever been a turbulent and ungovernable race; +and at the period of which this history treats, and indeed long before, +were little better than a licensed horde of robbers, consisting of a +pack of idle and wayward youths drafted from all parts of Europe, as +well as from the remoter provinces of their own nation. There was little +in common between the mass of students and their brethren, excepting the +fellowship resulting from the universal license in which all indulged. +Hence their thousand combats among themselves--combats almost invariably +attended with fatal consequences--and which the heads of the university +found it impossible to check. + +Their own scanty resources, eked out by what little they could derive +from beggary or robbery, formed their chief subsistence; for many of +them were positive mendicants, and were so denominated: and being +possessed of a sanctuary within their own quarters, to which they could +at convenience retire, they submitted to the constraint of no laws +except those enforced within the jurisdiction of the university, and +hesitated at no means of enriching themselves at the expense of their +neighbors. Hence the frequent warfare waged between them and the +brethren of Saint-Germain des Prés, whose monastic domains adjoined +their territories, and whose meadows were the constant battleground of +their skirmishes; according to Dulaure--"_presque toujours un théâtre de +tumulte, de galanterie, de combats, de duels, de débauches et de +sédition_." Hence their sanguinary conflicts with the good citizens of +Paris, to whom they were wholly obnoxious, and who occasionally repaid +their aggressions with interest. In 1407 two of their number, convicted +of assassination and robbery, were condemned to the gibbet, and the +sentence was carried into execution; but so great was the uproar +occasioned in the university by this violation of its immunities that +the Provost of Paris, Guillaume de Tignonville, was compelled to take +down their bodies from Montfaucon and see them honorably and +ceremoniously interred. This recognition of their rights only served to +make matters worse, and for a series of years the nuisance +continued unabated. + +It is not our purpose to record all the excesses of the university, nor +the means taken for their suppression. Vainly were the civil authorities +arrayed against them. Vainly were bulls thundered from the Vatican. No +amendment was effected. The weed might be cut down, but was never +entirely extirpated. Their feuds were transmitted from generation to +generation, and their old bone of contention with the abbot of +Saint-Germain (the Pré-aux-Clercs) was, after an uninterrupted strife +for thirty years, submitted to the arbitration of the Pope, who very +equitably refused to pronounce judgment in favor of either party. + +Such were the scholars of Paris in the sixteenth century--such the +character of the clamorous crew who besieged the portals of the College +of Navarre. + +The object that summoned together this unruly multitude was, it appears, +a desire on the part of the scholars to be present at a public +controversy or learned disputation, then occurring within the great hall +of the college before which they were congregated; and the +disappointment caused by their finding the gates closed, and all +entrance denied to them, occasioned their present disposition to riot. + +It was in vain they were assured by the halberdiers stationed at the +gates, and who, with crossed pikes, strove to resist the onward pressure +of the mob, that the hall and court were already crammed to +overflowing, that there was not room even for the sole of a foot of a +doctor of the faculties, and that their orders were positive and +imperative that none beneath the degree of a bachelor or licentiate +should be admitted, and that a troop of martinets and new-comers could +have no possible claim to admission. + +In vain they were told this was no ordinary disputation, no common +controversy, where all were alike entitled to license of ingress; that +the disputant was no undistinguished scholar, whose renown did not +extend beyond his own trifling sphere, and whose opinions, therefore, +few would care to hear and still fewer to oppugn, but a foreigner of +high rank, in high favor and fashion, and not more remarkable for his +extraordinary intellectual endowments than for his brilliant personal +accomplishments. + +In vain the trembling officials sought to clinch their arguments by +stating, that not alone did the conclave consist of the chief members of +the university, the senior doctors of theology, medicine, and law, the +professors of the humanities, rhetoric, and philosophy, and all the +various other dignitaries; but that the debate was honored by the +presence of Monsieur Christophe de Thou, first president of Parliament; +by that of the learned Jacques Augustin, of the same name; by one of the +secretaries of state and Governor of Paris, M. René de Villequier; by +the ambassadors of Elizabeth, Queen of England, and of Philip the +Second, King of Spain, and several of their suite; by Abbé de Brantôme; +by M. Miron, the court physician; by Cosmo Ruggieri, the Queen Mother's +astrologer; by the renowned poets and masque writers, Maîtres Ronsard, +Baïf, and Philippe Desportes; by the well-known advocate of Parliament, +Messire Étienne Pasquier: but also (and here came the gravamen of the +objection to their admission) by the two especial favorites of his +Majesty and leaders of affairs, the seigneurs of Joyeuse and D'Epernon. + +It was in vain the students were informed that for the preservation of +strict decorum, they had been commanded by the rector to make fast the +gates. No excuses would avail them. The scholars were cogent reasoners, +and a show of staves soon brought their opponents to a nonplus. In this +line of argument they were perfectly aware of their ability to prove +a major. + +"To the wall with them--to the wall!" cried a hundred infuriated voices. +"Down with the halberdiers--down with the gates--down with the +disputants--down with the rector himself!--Deny our privileges! To the +wall with old Adrien d'Amboise--exclude the disciples of the university +from their own halls!--curry favor with the court minions!--hold a +public controversy in private!--down with him! We will issue a mandamus +for a new election on the spot!" + +Whereupon a deep groan resounded throughout the crowd. It was succeeded +by a volley of fresh execrations against the rector, and an angry +demonstration of bludgeons, accompanied by a brisk shower of peas from +the _sarbacanes_. + +The officials turned pale, and calculated the chance of a broken neck in +reversion, with that of a broken crown in immediate possession. The +former being at least contingent, appeared the milder alternative, and +they might have been inclined to adopt it had not a further obstacle +stood in their way. The gate was barred withinside, and the vergers and +bedels who had the custody of the door, though alarmed at the tumult +without, positively refused to unfasten it. + +Again the threats of the scholars were renewed, and further intimations +of violence were exhibited. Again the peas rattled upon the hands and +faces of the halberdiers, till their ears tingled with pain. "Prate to +us of the king's favorites," cried one of the foremost of the scholars, +a youth decorated with a paper collar: "they may rule within the +precincts of the Louvre, but not within the walls of the university. +_Maugre-bleu!_ We hold them cheap enough. We heed not the idle bark of +these full-fed court lapdogs. What to us is the bearer of a cup and +ball? By the four Evangelists, we will have none of them here! Let the +Gascon cadet, D'Epernon, reflect on the fate of Quélus and Maugiron, and +let our gay Joyeuse beware of the dog's death of Saint-Mégrin. Place for +better men--place for the schools--away with frills and _sarbacanes_." + +"What to us is a president of Parliament, or a governor of the city?" +shouted another of the same gentry. "We care nothing for their +ministration. We recognize them not, save in their own courts. All their +authority fell to the ground at the gate of the Rue Saint Jacques, when +they entered our dominions. We care for no parties. We are trimmers, and +steer a middle course. We hold the Guisards as cheap as the Huguenots, +and the brethren of the League weigh as little with us as the followers +of Calvin. Our only sovereign is Gregory the Thirteenth, Pontiff of +Rome. Away with the Guise and the Béarnaise!" + +"Away with Henri of Navarre, if you please," cried a scholar of +Harcourt; "or Henri of Valois, if you list: but by all the saints, not +with Henri of Lorraine; he is the fast friend of the true faith. +No!--No!--live the Guise--live the Holy Union!" + +"Away with Elizabeth of England," cried a scholar of Cluny: "what doth +her representative here? Seeks he a spouse for her among our schools? +She will have no great bargain, I own, if she bestows her royal hand +upon our Duc d'Anjou." + +"If you value your buff jerkin, I counsel you to say nothing slighting +of the Queen of England in my hearing," returned a bluff, +broad-shouldered fellow, raising his bludgeon after a menacing fashion. +He was an Englishman belonging to the Four Nations, and had a huge +bull-dog at his heels. + +"Away with Philip of Spain and his ambassador," cried a Bernardin. + +"By the eyes of my mistress!" cried a Spaniard belonging to the College +of Narbonne, with huge mustaches curled half-way up his bronzed and +insolent visage, and a slouched hat pulled over his brow. "This may not +pass muster. The representative of the King of Spain must be respected +even by the Academics of Lutetia. Which of you shall gainsay me?--ha!" + +"What business has he here with his suite, on occasions like to the +present?" returned the Bernardin. "_Tête-Dieu!_ this disputation is one +that little concerns the interest of your politic king; and methinks Don +Philip, or his representative, has regard for little else than +whatsoever advances his own interest. Your ambassador hath, I doubt not, +some latent motive for his present attendance in our schools." + +"Perchance," returned the Spaniard. "We will discuss that point anon." + +"And what doth the pander of the Sybarite within the dusty halls of +learning?" ejaculated a scholar of Lemoine. "What doth the jealous-pated +slayer of his wife and unborn child within the reach of free-spoken +voices, and mayhap of well-directed blades? Methinks it were more +prudent to tarry within the bowers of his harem, than to hazard his +perfumed person among us." + +"Well said," rejoined the scholar of Cluny--"down with René de +Villequier, though he be Governor of Paris." + +"What title hath the Abbé de Brantôme to a seat among us?" said the +scion of Harcourt: "faith, he hath a reputation for wit, and +scholarship, and gallantry. But what is that to us? His place might now +be filled by worthier men." + +"And what, in the devil's name, brings Cosmo Ruggieri hither?" asked the +Bernardin. "What doth the wrinkled old dealer in the black art hope to +learn from us? We are not given to alchemy, and the occult sciences; we +practice no hidden mysteries; we brew no philtres; we compound no slow +poisons; we vend no waxen images. What doth he here, I say! 'Tis a +scandal in the rector to permit his presence. And what if he came under +the safeguard, and by the authority of his mistress, Catherine de' +Medicis! Shall we regard her passport? Down with the heathen abbé, his +abominations have been endured too long; they smell rank in our +nostrils. Think how he ensnared La Mole--think on his numberless +victims. Who mixed the infernal potion of Charles the Ninth? Let him +answer that. Down with the infidel--the Jew--the sorcerer! The stake +were too good for him. Down with Ruggieri, I say." + +"Aye, down with the accursed astrologer," echoed the whole crew. "He has +done abundant mischief in his time. A day of reckoning has arrived. Hath +he cast his own horoscope? Did he foresee his own fate? Ha! ha!" + +"And then the poets," cried another member of the Four Nations--"a +plague on all three. Would they were elsewhere. In what does this +disputation concern them? Pierre Ronsard, being an offshoot of this same +College of Navarre, hath indubitably a claim upon our consideration. But +he is old, and I marvel that his gout permitted him to hobble so far. +Oh, the mercenary old scribbler! His late verses halt like himself, yet +he lowereth not the price of his masques. Besides which, he is grown +moral, and unsays all his former good things. _Mort Dieu!_ your +superannuated bards ever recant the indiscretions of their nonage. +Clément Marot took to psalm-writing in his old age. As to Baïf, his name +will scarce outlast the scenery of his ballets, his plays are out of +fashion since the Gelosi arrived. He deserves no place among us. And +Philip Desportes owes all his present preferment to the Vicomte de +Joyeuse. However, he is not altogether devoid of merit--let him wear his +bays, so he trouble us not with his company. Room for the sophisters of +Narbonne, I say. To the dogs with poetry!" + +"_Morbleu!_" exclaimed another. "What are the sophisters of Narbonne to +the decretists of the Sorbonne, who will discuss you a position of +Cornelius à Lapide, or a sentence of Peter Lombard, as readily as you +would a flask of hippocras, or a slice of botargo. Aye, and cry +_transeat_ to a thesis of Aristotle, though it be against rule. What +sayst thou, Capéte?" continued he, addressing his neighbor, a scholar of +Montaigu, whose modest gray capuchin procured him this appellation: "are +we the men to be thus scurvily entreated?" + +"I see not that your merits are greater than ours," returned he of the +capuch, "though our boasting be less. The followers of the lowly John +Standoncht are as well able to maintain their tenets in controversy as +those of Robert of Sorbon; and I see no reason why entrance should be +denied us. The honor of the university is at stake, and all its strength +should be mustered to assert it." + +"Rightly spoken," returned the Bernardin; "and it were a lasting +disgrace to our schools were this arrogant Scot to carry off their +laurels when so many who might have been found to lower his crest are +allowed no share in their defense. The contest is one that concerns us +all alike. We at least can arbitrate in case of need." + +"I care not for the honors of the university," rejoined one of the +Écossais, or Scotch College, then existing in the Rue des Amandiers, +"but I care much for the glory of my countryman, and I would gladly have +witnessed the triumph of the disciples of Rutherford and of the classic +Buchanan. But if the arbitrament to which you would resort is to be that +of voices merely, I am glad the rector in his wisdom has thought fit to +keep you without, even though I myself be personally inconvenienced +by it." + +"Name o' God! what fine talking is this?" retorted the Spaniard. "There +is little chance of the triumph you predicate for your countryman. Trust +me, we shall have to greet his departure from the debate with many +hisses and few cheers; and if we could penetrate through the plates of +yon iron door, and gaze into the court it conceals from our view, we +should find that the loftiness of his pretensions has been already +humbled, and his arguments graveled. _For la Litania de los Santos!_ to +think of comparing an obscure student of the pitiful College of Saint +Andrew with the erudite doctors of the most erudite university in the +world, always excepting those of Valencia and Salamanca. It needs all +thy country's assurance to keep the blush of shame from mantling in +thy cheeks." + +"The seminary you revile," replied the Scot, haughtily, "has been the +nursery of our Scottish kings. Nay, the youthful James Stuart pursued +his studies under the same roof, beneath the same wise instruction, and +at the self-same time as our noble and gifted James Crichton, whom you +have falsely denominated an adventurer, but whose lineage is not less +distinguished than his learning. His renown has preceded him hither, and +he was not unknown to your doctors when he affixed his programme to +these college walls. Hark!" continued the speaker, exultingly, "and +listen to yon evidence of his triumph." + +And as he spoke, a loud and continued clapping of hands proceeding from +within was distinctly heard above the roar of the students. + +"That may be at his defeat," muttered the Spaniard, between his teeth. + +"No such thing," replied the Scot. "I heard the name of Crichton mingled +with the plaudits." + +"And who may be this Phoenix--this Gargantua of intellect--who is to +vanquish us all, as Panurge did Thaumast, the Englishman?" asked the +Sorbonist of the Scot. "Who is he that is more philosophic than +Pythagoras?--ha!" + +"Who is more studious than Carneades!" said the Bernardin. + +"More versatile than Alcibiades!" said Montaigu. + +"More subtle than Averroës!" cried Harcourt. + +"More mystical than Plotinus!" said one of the Four Nations. + +"More visionary than Artemidorus!" said Cluny. + +"More infallible than the Pope!" added Lemoine. + +"And who pretends to dispute _de omni scibili_," shouted the Spaniard. + +"_Et quolibet ente!_! added the Sorbonist. + +"Mine ears are stunned with your vociferations," replied the Scot. "You +ask me who James Crichton is, and yourselves give the response. You have +mockingly said he is a _rara avis_; a prodigy of wit and learning: and +you have unintentionally spoken the truth. He is so. But I will tell you +that of him of which you are wholly ignorant, or which you have +designedly overlooked. His condition is that of a Scottish gentleman of +high rank. Like your Spanish grandee, he need not doff his cap to kings. +On either side hath he the best of blood in his veins. His mother was a +Stuart directly descended from that regal line. His father, who owneth +the fair domains of Eliock and Cluny, was Lord Advocate to our bonny +and luckless Mary (whom Heaven assoilzie!) and still holds his high +office. Methinks the Lairds of Crichton might have been heard of here. +Howbeit, they are well known to me, who being an Ogilvy of Balfour, have +often heard tell of a certain contract or obligation, whereby--" + +"_Basta!_" interrupted the Spaniard, "heed not thine own affairs, worthy +Scot. Tell us of this Crichton--ha!" + +"I have told you already more than I ought to have told," replied +Ogilvy, sullenly. "And if you lack further information respecting James +Crichton's favor at the Louvre, his feats of arms, and the esteem in +which he is held by all the dames of honor in attendance upon your Queen +Mother, Catherine de' Medicis--and moreover," he added, with somewhat of +sarcasm, "with her fair daughter, Marguerite de Valois--you will do well +to address yourself to the king's buffoon, Maître Chicot, whom I see not +far off. Few there are, methinks, who could in such short space have won +so much favor, or acquired such bright renown." + +"Humph!" muttered the Englishman, "your Scotsmen stick by each other all +the world over. This James Crichton may or may not be the hero he is +vaunted, but I shall mistrust his praises from that quarter, till I find +their truth confirmed." + +"He has, to be sure, acquired the character of a stout swords-man," said +the Bernardin, "to give the poor devil his due." + +"He has not met with his match at the _salle-d'armes_, though he has +crossed blades with the first in France," replied Ogilvy. + +"I have seen him at the Manége," said the Sorbonist, "go through his +course of equitation, and being a not altogether unskillful horseman +myself, I can report favorably of his performance." + +"There is none among your youth can sit a steed like him," returned +Ogilvy, "nor can any of the jousters carry off the ring with more +certainty at the lists. I would fain hold my tongue, but you enforce me +to speak in his praise." + +"Body of Bacchus!" exclaimed the Spaniard, half unsheathing the lengthy +weapon that hung by his side, "I will hold you a wager of ten +rose-nobles to as many silver reals of Spain, that with this stanch +Toledo I will overcome your vaunted Crichton in close fight in any +manner or practice of fence or digladiation which he may appoint--sword +and dagger, or sword only--stripped to the girdle or armed to the +teeth. By our Saint Trinidad! I will have satisfaction for the +contumelious affront he hath put upon the very learned gymnasium to +which I belong; and it would gladden me to clip the wings of this +loud-crowing cock, or any of his dunghill crew," added he, with a +scornful gesture at the Scotsman. + +"If that be all you seek, you shall not need to go far in your quest," +returned Ogilvy. "Tarry till this controversy be ended, and if I match +not your Spanish blade with a Scottish broad-sword, and approve you as +recreant at heart as you are boastful and injurious of speech, may Saint +Andrew forever after withhold from me his protection." + +"The Devil!" exclaimed the Spaniard. "Thy Scottish saint will little +avail thee, since thou hast incurred my indignation. Betake thee, +therefore, to thy paternosters, if thou has grace withal to mutter them; +for within the hour thou art assuredly food for the kites of the +Pré-aux-Clercs--sa-ha!" + +"Look to thyself, vile braggart!" rejoined Ogilvy, scornfully: "I +promise thee thou shalt need other intercession than thine own to +purchase safety at my hands." + +"Courage, Master Ogilvy," said the Englishman, "thou wilt do well to +slit the ears of this Spanish swashbuckler. I warrant me he hides a +craven spirit beneath that slashed _pourpoint_. Thou art in the right, +man, to make him eat his words. Be this Crichton what he may, he is at +least thy countryman, and in part mine own." + +"And as such I will uphold him," said Ogilvy, "against any odds." + +"Bravo! my valorous Don Diego Caravaja," said the Sorbonist, slapping +the Spaniard on the shoulder, and speaking in his ear. "Shall these +scurvy Scots carry all before them?--I warrant me, no. We will make +common cause against the whole beggarly nation; and in the meanwhile we +intrust thee with this particular quarrel. See thou acquit thyself in it +as beseemeth a descendant of the Cid." + +"Account him already abased," returned Caravaja. "By Pelayo, I would the +other were at his back, that both might be transfixed at a blow--ha!" + +"To return to the subject of difference," said the Sorbonist, who was +too much delighted with the prospect of a duel to allow the quarrel a +chance of subsiding, while it was in his power to fan the flame; "to +return to the difference," said he, aloud, glancing at Ogilvy; "it must +be conceded that as a wassailer this Crichton is without a peer. None of +us may presume to cope with him in the matter of the flask and the +flagon, though we number among us some jolly topers. Friar John, with +the Priestess of Bacbuc, was a washy bibber compared with him." + +"He worships at the shrines of other priestesses besides hers of Bacbuc, +if I be not wrongly informed," added Montaigu, who understood the drift +of his companion. + +"Else, wherefore our rejoinder to his cartels?" returned the Sorbonist. +"Do you not call to mind that beneath his arrogant defiance of our +learned body, affixed to the walls of the Sorbonne, it was written, +'That he who would behold this miracle of learning must hie to the +tavern or bordel?' Was it not so, my hidalgo?" + +"I have myself seen him at the temulentive tavern of the Falcon," +returned Caravaja, "and at the lupanarian haunts in the Champ Gaillard +and the Val-d'Amour. You understand me--ha!" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" chorused the scholars. "James Crichton is no stoic. He is +a disciple of Epicurus. _Vel in puellam impingit, vel in +poculum_--ha! ha!" + +"'Tis said that he hath dealings with the Evil One," observed the man of +Harcourt, with a mysterious air; "and that, like Jeanne d'Arc, he hath +surrendered his soul for his temporal welfare. Hence his wondrous lore; +hence his supernatural beauty and accomplishments; hence his power of +fascinating the fair sex; hence his constant run of luck with the dice; +hence, also, his invulnerableness to the sword." + +"'Tis said, also, that he has a familiar spirit, who attends him in the +semblance of a black dog," said Montaigu. + +"Or in that of a dwarf, like the sooty imp of Cosmo Ruggieri," said +Harcourt. "Is it not so?" he asked, turning to the Scot. + +"He lies in his throat who says so," cried Ogilvy, losing all patience. +"To one and all of you I breathe defiance; and there is not a brother in +the college to which I belong who will not maintain my quarrel." + +A loud laugh of derision followed this sally; and, ashamed of having +justly exposed himself to ridicule by his idle and unworthy display of +passion, the Scotsman held his peace and endeavored to turn a deaf ear +to their taunts. + +The gates of the College of Navarre were suddenly thrown open, and a +long-continued thunder of applause bursting from within, announced the +conclusion of the debate. That it had terminated in favor of Crichton +could no longer be doubted, as his name formed the burden of all the +plaudits with which the courts were ringing. All was excitement: there +was a general movement. Ogilvy could no longer restrain himself. Pushing +forward by prodigious efforts, he secured himself a position at +the portal. + +The first person who presented himself to his inquiring eyes was a +gallant figure in a glittering steel corselet crossed by a silken sash, +who bore at his side a long sword with a magnificent handle, and upon +his shoulder a lance of some six feet in length, headed with a long +scarlet tassel, and brass half-moon pendant. "Is not Crichton +victorious?" asked Ogilvy of Captain Larchant, for he it was. + +"He hath acquitted himself to admiration," replied the guardsman, who, +contrary to the custom of such gentry (for captains of the guard have +been fine gentlemen in all ages), did not appear to be displeased at +this appeal to his courtesy, "and the rector hath adjudged him all the +honors that can be bestowed by the university." + +"Hurrah for old Scotland," shouted Ogilvy, throwing his bonnet in the +air; "I was sure it would be so; this is a day worth living for. _Hoec +olim meminisse juvabit_." + +"Thou at least shalt have reason to remember it," muttered Caravaja, +who, being opposite to him, heard the exclamation--"and he too, +perchance," he added, frowning gloomily, and drawing his cloak over +his shoulder. + +"If the noble Crichton be compatriot of yours, you are in the right to +be proud of him," replied Captain Larchant, "for the memory of his deeds +of this day will live as long as learning shall be held in reverence. +Never before hath such a marvelous display of universal erudition been +heard within these schools. By my faith, I am absolutely +wonder-stricken, and not I alone, but all. In proof of which I need only +tell you, that coupling his matchless scholarship with his extraordinary +accomplishments, the professors in their address to him at the close of +the controversy have bestowed upon him the epithet of 'Admirable'--an +appellation by which he will ever after be distinguished." + +"The Admirable Crichton!" echoed Ogilvy--"hear you that!--a title +adjudged to him by the whole conclave of the university--hurrah! The +Admirable Crichton! 'Tis a name will find an echo in the heart of every +true Scot. By Saint Andrew! this is a proud day for us." + +"In the mean time," said Larchant, smiling at Ogilvy's exultations, and +describing a circle with the point of his lance, "I must trouble you to +stand back, Messieurs Scholars, and leave free passage for the rector +and his train--Archers advance, and make clear the way, and let the +companies of the Baron D'Epernon and of the Vicomte de Joyeuse be +summoned, as well as the guard of his excellency, Seigneur René de +Villequier. Patience, messieurs, you will hear all particulars anon." + +So saying, he retired, and the men-at-arms, less complaisant than their +leaders, soon succeeded in forcing back the crowd. + + + + +MARK AKENSIDE + +(1721-1770) + +Mark Akenside is of less importance in genuine poetic rank than in +literary history. He was technically a real poet; but he had not a +great, a spontaneous, nor a fertile poetical mind. Nevertheless, a +writer who gave pleasure to a generation cannot be set aside. The fact +that the mid-eighteenth century ranked him among its foremost poets is +interesting and still significant. It determines the poetic standard and +product of that age; and the fact that, judged thus, Akenside was fairly +entitled to his fame. + +[Illustration: Mark Akenside] + +He was the son of a butcher, born November 9th, 1721, in +Newcastle-on-Tyne, whence Eldon and Stowell also sprang. He attracted +great attention by an early poem, 'The Virtuoso.' The citizens of that +commercial town have always appreciated their great men and valued +intellectual distinction, and its Dissenters sent him at their own +expense to Edinburgh to study for the Presbyterian ministry. A year +later he gave up theology for medicine--honorably repaying the money +advanced for his divinity studies, if obviously out of some one's +else pocket. + +After some struggle in provincial towns, his immense literary +reputation--for at twenty-four he was a star of the first magnitude in +Great Britain--and the generosity of a friend enabled him to acquire a +fashionable London practice. He wrote medical treatises which at the +time made him a leader in his profession, secured a rich clientage, and +prospered greatly. In 1759 he was made physician to Christ's Hospital, +where, however valued professionally, he is charged with being brutal +and offensive to the poor; with indulging his fastidiousness, temper, +and pomposity, and with forgetting that he owed anything to mere duty +or humanity. + +Unfortunately, too, Akenside availed himself of that mixture of +complaisance and arrogance by which almost alone a man of no birth can +rise in a society graded by birth. He concealed his origin and was +ashamed of his pedigree. But the blame for his flunkeyism belongs, +perhaps, less to him than to the insolent caste feeling of society, +which forced it on him as a measure of self-defense and of advancement. +He wanted money, loved place and selfish comfort, and his nature did not +balk at the means of getting them,--including living on a friend when he +did not need such help. To become physician to the Queen, he turned his +coat from Whig to Tory; but no one familiar with the politics of the +time will regard this as an unusual offense. It must also be remembered +that Akenside possessed a delicate constitution, keen senses, and +irritable nerves; and that he was a parvenu, lacking the power of +self-control even among strangers. These traits explain, though they do +not excuse, his bad temper to the unclean and disagreeable patients of +the hospital, and they mitigate the fact that his industry was paralyzed +by material prosperity, and his self-culture interfered with by conceit. +His early and sweeping success injured him as many a greater man has +been thus injured. + +Moreover, his temper was probably soured by secret bitternesses. His +health, his nerves, an entire absence of the sense of humor, and his +lack of repartee, made him shun like Pope and Horace Walpole the +bibulous and gluttonous element of eighteenth-century British society. +For its brutal horseplay and uncivil practical joking which passed for +wit, Akenside had no tolerance, yet he felt unwilling to go where he +would be outshone by inferior men. His strutty arrogance of manner, like +excessive prudery in a woman, may have been a fortification to a +garrison too weak to fight in the open field. And it must be admitted +that, as so often happens, Akenside's outward _ensemble_ was eminently +what the vulgar world terms "guyable." He was not a little of a fop. He +was plain-featured and yet assuming in manner. He hobbled in walking +from lameness of tell-tale origin,--a cleaver falling on his foot in +childhood, compelling him to wear an artificial heel--and he was +morbidly sensitive over it. His prim formality of manner, his sword and +stiff-curled wig, his small and sickly face trying to maintain an +expression impressively dignified, made him a ludicrous figure, which +his contemporaries never tired of ridiculing and caricaturing. +Henderson, the actor, said that "Akenside, when he walked the streets, +looked for all the world like one of his own Alexandrines set upright." +Smollett even used him as a model for the pedantic doctor in 'Peregrine +Pickle,' who gives a dinner in the fashion of the ancients, and dresses +each dish according to humorous literary recipes. + +But there were those who seem to have known an inner and superior +personality beneath the brusqueness, conceit, and policy, beyond the +nerves and fears; and they valued it greatly, at least on the +intellectual side. A wealthy and amiable young Londoner, Jeremiah Dyson, +remained a friend so enduring and admiring as to give the poet a house +in Bloomsbury Square, with £300 a year and a chariot, and personally to +extend his medical practice. We cannot suppose this to be a case of +patron and parasite. Other men of judgment showed like esteem. And in +congenial society, Akenside was his best and therefore truest self. He +was an easy and even brilliant talker, displaying learning and immense +memory, taste, and philosophic reflection; and as a volunteer critic he +has the unique distinction of a man who had what books he liked given +him by the publishers for the sake of his oral comments! + +The standard edition of Akenside's poems is that edited by Alexander +Dyce (London, 1835). Few of them require notice here. His early effort, +'The Virtuoso,' was merely an acknowledged and servile imitation of +Spenser. The claim made by the poet's biographers that he preceded +Thomson in reintroducing the Spenserian stanza is groundless. Pope +preceded him, and Thomson renewed its popularity by being the first to +use it in a poem of real merit, 'The Castle of Indolence.' Mr. Gosse +calls the 'Hymn to the Naiads' "beautiful,"--"of transcendent +merit,"--"perhaps the most elegant of his productions." The 'Epistle to +Curio,' however, must be held his best poem,--doubtless because it is +the only one which came from his heart; and even its merit is much more +in rhetorical energy than in art or beauty. As to its allusion and +object, the real and classic Curio of Roman social history was a protégé +of Cicero's, a rich young Senator, who began as a champion of liberty +and then sold himself to Caesar to pay his debts. In Akenside's poem, +Curio represents William Pulteney, Walpole's antagonist, the hope of +that younger generation who hated Walpole's system of parliamentary +corruption and official jobbing. This party had looked to Pulteney for +a clean and public-spirited administration. Their hero was carried to a +brief triumph on the wave of their enthusiasm. But Pulteney disappointed +them bitterly: he took a peerage, and sunk into utter and permanent +political damnation, with no choice but Walpole's methods and tools, no +policy save Walpole's to redeem the withdrawal of so much lofty promise, +and no aims but personal advancement. From Akenside's address to him, +the famous 'Epistle to Curio,' a citation is made below. Akenside's +fame, however, rests on the 'Pleasures of the Imagination.' He began it +at seventeen; though in the case of works begun in childhood, it is +safer to accept the date of finishing as the year of the real +composition. He published it six years later, in 1744, on the advice and +with the warm admiration of Pope, a man never wasteful of encomiums on +the poetry of his contemporaries. It raised its author to immediate +fame. It secures him a place among the accepted English classics still. +Yet neither its thought nor its style makes the omission to read it any +irreparable loss. It is cultivated rhetoric rather than true poetry. Its +chief merit and highest usefulness are that it suggested two far +superior poems, Campbell's 'Pleasures of Hope' and Rogers's 'Pleasures +of Memory.' It is the relationship to these that really keeps +Akenside's alive. + +In scope, the poem consists of two thousand lines of blank verse. It is +distributed in three books. The first defines the sources, methods, and +results of imagination; the second its distinction from philosophy and +its enchantment by the passions; the third sets forth the power of +imagination to give pleasure, and illustrates its mental operation. The +author remodeled the poem in 1757, but it is generally agreed that he +injured it. Macaulay says he spoiled it, and another critic delightfully +observes that he "stuffed it with intellectual horsehair." + +The year of Akenside's death (1770) gave birth to Wordsworth. The freer +and nobler natural school of poetry came to supplant the artificial one, +belonging to an epoch of wigs and false calves, and to open toward the +far greater one of the romanticism of Scott and Byron. + + +FROM THE EPISTLE TO CURIO + +[With this earlier and finer form of Akenside's address to the unstable +Pulteney (see biographical sketch above) must not be confused its later +embodiment among his odes; of which it is 'IX: to Curio.' Much of its +thought and diction were transferred to the Ode named; but the latter by +no means happily compares with the original 'Epistle.' Both versions, +however, are of the same year, 1744.] + + Thrice has the spring beheld thy faded fame, + And the fourth winter rises on thy shame, + Since I exulting grasped the votive shell. + In sounds of triumph all thy praise to tell; + Blest could my skill through ages make thee shine, + And proud to mix my memory with thine. + But now the cause that waked my song before, + With praise, with triumph, crowns the toil no more. + If to the glorious man whose faithful cares, + Nor quelled by malice, nor relaxed by years, + Had awed Ambition's wild audacious hate, + And dragged at length Corruption to her fate; + If every tongue its large applauses owed, + And well-earned laurels every muse bestowed; + If public Justice urged the high reward, + And Freedom smiled on the devoted bard: + Say then,--to him whose levity or lust + Laid all a people's generous hopes in dust, + Who taught Ambition firmer heights of power + And saved Corruption at her hopeless hour, + Does not each tongue its execrations owe? + Shall not each Muse a wreath of shame bestow? + And public Justice sanctify the award? + And Freedom's hand protect the impartial bard? + + There are who say they viewed without amaze + The sad reverse of all thy former praise; + That through the pageants of a patriot's name, + They pierced the foulness of thy secret aim; + Or deemed thy arm exalted but to throw + The public thunder on a private foe. + But I, whose soul consented to thy cause, + Who felt thy genius stamp its own applause, + Who saw the spirits of each glorious age + Move in thy bosom, and direct thy rage,-- + I scorned the ungenerous gloss of slavish minds, + The owl-eyed race, whom Virtue's lustre blinds. + Spite of the learned in the ways of vice, + And all who prove that each man has his price, + I still believed thy end was just and free; + And yet, even yet believe it--spite of thee. + Even though thy mouth impure has dared disclaim, + Urged by the wretched impotence of shame, + Whatever filial cares thy zeal had paid + To laws infirm, and liberty decayed; + Has begged Ambition to forgive the show; + Has told Corruption thou wert ne'er her foe; + Has boasted in thy country's awful ear, + Her gross delusion when she held thee dear; + How tame she followed thy tempestuous call, + And heard thy pompous tales, and trusted all-- + Rise from your sad abodes, ye curst of old + For laws subverted, and for cities sold! + Paint all the noblest trophies of your guilt, + The oaths you perjured, and the blood you spilt; + Yet must you one untempted vileness own, + One dreadful palm reserved for him alone: + With studied arts his country's praise to spurn, + To beg the infamy he did not earn, + To challenge hate when honor was his due, + And plead his crimes where all his virtue knew. + + * * * * * + + When they who, loud for liberty and laws, + In doubtful times had fought their country's cause, + When now of conquest and dominion sure, + They sought alone to hold their fruit secure; + When taught by these, Oppression hid the face, + To leave Corruption stronger in her place, + By silent spells to work the public fate, + And taint the vitals of the passive state, + Till healing Wisdom should avail no more, + And Freedom loath to tread the poisoned shore: + Then, like some guardian god that flies to save + The weary pilgrim from an instant grave, + Whom, sleeping and secure, the guileful snake + Steals near and nearer thro' the peaceful brake,-- + Then Curio rose to ward the public woe, + To wake the heedless and incite the slow, + Against Corruption Liberty to arm. + And quell the enchantress by a mightier charm. + + * * * * * + + Lo! the deciding hour at last appears; + The hour of every freeman's hopes and fears! + + * * * * * + + See Freedom mounting her eternal throne, + The sword submitted, and the laws her own! + See! public Power, chastised, beneath her stands, + With eyes intent, and uncorrupted hands! + See private life by wisest arts reclaimed! + See ardent youth to noblest manners framed! + See us acquire whate'er was sought by you, + If Curio, only Curio will be true. + + 'Twas then--O shame! O trust how ill repaid! + O Latium, oft by faithless sons betrayed!-- + 'Twas then--What frenzy on thy reason stole? + What spells unsinewed thy determined soul?-- + Is this the man in Freedom's cause approved? + The man so great, so honored, so beloved? + This patient slave by tinsel chains allured? + This wretched suitor for a boon abjured? + This Curio, hated and despised by all? + Who fell himself to work his country's fall? + + O lost, alike to action and repose! + Unknown, unpitied in the worst of woes! + With all that conscious, undissembled pride, + Sold to the insults of a foe defied! + With all that habit of familiar fame, + Doomed to exhaust the dregs of life in shame! + The sole sad refuge of thy baffled art + To act a stateman's dull, exploded part, + Renounce the praise no longer in thy power, + Display thy virtue, though without a dower, + Contemn the giddy crowd, the vulgar wind, + And shut thy eyes that others may be blind. + + * * * * * + + O long revered, and late resigned to shame! + If this uncourtly page thy notice claim + When the loud cares of business are withdrawn, + Nor well-drest beggars round thy footsteps fawn; + In that still, thoughtful, solitary hour, + When Truth exerts her unresisted power, + Breaks the false optics tinged with fortune's glare, + Unlocks the breast, and lays the passions bare: + Then turn thy eyes on that important scene, + And ask thyself--if all be well within. + Where is the heart-felt worth and weight of soul, + Which labor could not stop, nor fear control? + Where the known dignity, the stamp of awe, + Which, half abashed, the proud and venal saw? + Where the calm triumphs of an honest cause? + Where the delightful taste of just applause? + Where the strong reason, the commanding tongue, + On which the Senate fired or trembling hung! + All vanished, all are sold--and in their room, + Couched in thy bosom's deep, distracted gloom, + See the pale form of barbarous Grandeur dwell, + Like some grim idol in a sorcerer's cell! + To her in chains thy dignity was led; + At her polluted shrine thy honour bled; + With blasted weeds thy awful brow she crowned, + Thy powerful tongue with poisoned philters bound, + That baffled Reason straight indignant flew, + And fair Persuasion from her seat withdrew: + For now no longer Truth supports thy cause; + No longer Glory prompts thee to applause; + No longer Virtue breathing in thy breast, + With all her conscious majesty confest, + Still bright and brighter wakes the almighty flame, + To rouse the feeble, and the willful tame, + And where she sees the catching glimpses roll, + Spreads the strong blaze, and all involves the soul; + But cold restraints thy conscious fancy chill, + And formal passions mock thy struggling will; + Or, if thy Genius e'er forget his chain, + And reach impatient at a nobler strain, + Soon the sad bodings of contemptuous mirth + Shoot through thy breast, and stab the generous birth, + Till, blind with smart, from truth to frenzy tost, + And all the tenor of thy reason lost, + Perhaps thy anguish drains a real tear; + While some with pity, some with laughter hear. + + * * * * * + + Ye mighty foes of liberty and rest, + Give way, do homage to a mightier guest! + Ye daring spirits of the Roman race, + See Curio's toil your proudest claims efface!-- + Awed at the name, fierce Appius rising bends, + And hardy Cinna from his throne attends: + "He comes," they cry, "to whom the fates assigned + With surer arts to work what we designed, + From year to year the stubborn herd to sway, + Mouth all their wrongs, and all their rage obey; + Till owned their guide and trusted with their power, + He mocked their hopes in one decisive hour; + Then, tired and yielding, led them to the chain, + And quenched the spirit we provoked in vain." + But thou, Supreme, by whose eternal hands + Fair Liberty's heroic empire stands; + Whose thunders the rebellious deep control, + And quell the triumphs of the traitor's soul, + O turn this dreadful omen far away! + On Freedom's foes their own attempts repay; + Relume her sacred fire so near suppressed, + And fix her shrine in every Roman breast: + Though bold corruption boast around the land, + "Let virtue, if she can, my baits withstand!" + Though bolder now she urge the accursed claim, + Gay with her trophies raised on Curio's shame; + Yet some there are who scorn her impious mirth, + Who know what conscience and a heart are worth. + + + ASPIRATIONS AFTER THE INFINITE + + From (Pleasures of the Imagination) + + Who that, from Alpine heights, his laboring eye + Shoots round the wide horizon, to survey + Nilus or Ganges rolling his bright wave + Thro' mountains, plains, thro' empires black with shade, + And continents of sand, will turn his gaze + To mark the windings of a scanty rill + That murmurs at his feet? The high-born soul + Disdains to rest her heaven-aspiring wing + Beneath its native quarry. Tired of earth + And this diurnal scene, she springs aloft + Through fields of air; pursues the flying storm; + Rides on the volleyed lightning through the heavens; + Or, yoked with whirlwinds and the northern blast, + Sweeps the long tract of day. Then high she soars + The blue profound, and, hovering round the sun, + Beholds him pouring the redundant stream + Of light; beholds his unrelenting sway + Bend the reluctant planets to absolve + The fated rounds of Time. Thence, far effused, + She darts her swiftness up the long career + Of devious comets; through its burning signs + Exulting measures the perennial wheel + Of Nature, and looks back on all the stars, + Whose blended light, as with a milky zone, + Invests the orient. Now, amazed she views + The empyreal waste, where happy spirits hold + Beyond this concave heaven, their calm abode; + And fields of radiance, whose unfading light + Has traveled the profound six thousand years, + Nor yet arrived in sight of mortal things. + Even on the barriers of the world, untired + She meditates the eternal depth below; + Till half-recoiling, down the headlong steep + She plunges; soon o'erwhelmed and swallowed up + In that immense of being. There her hopes + Rest at the fated goal. For from the birth + Of mortal man, the sovereign Maker said, + That not in humble nor in brief delight, + Nor in the fading echoes of Renown, + Power's purple robes, nor Pleasure's flowery lap, + The soul should find enjoyment: but from these + Turning disdainful to an equal good, + Through all the ascent of things enlarge her view, + Till every bound at length should disappear, + And infinite perfection close the scene. + + + ON A SERMON AGAINST GLORY + + COME then, tell me, sage divine, + Is it an offense to own + That our bosoms e'er incline + Toward immortal Glory's throne? + For with me nor pomp nor pleasure, + Bourbon's might, Braganza's treasure, + So can Fancy's dream rejoice, + So conciliate Reason's choice, + As one approving word of her impartial voice. + + If to spurn at noble praise + Be the passport to thy heaven, + Follow thou those gloomy ways: + No such law to me was given, + Nor, I trust, shall I deplore me + Faring like my friends before me; + Nor an holier place desire + Than Timoleon's arms acquire, + And Tully's curule chair, and Milton's golden lyre. + + + + +PEDRO ANTONIO DE ALARCÓN + +(1833-1891) + +This novelist, poet, and politician was born at Guadix, in Spain, near +Granada, March 10th, 1833, and received his early training in the +seminary of his native city. His family destined him for the Church; but +he was averse to that profession, subsequently studied law and modern +languages at the University of Granada, and took pains to cultivate his +natural love for literature and poetry. In 1853 he established at Cadiz +the literary review Eco del Occidente (Echo of the West). Greatly +interested in politics, he joined a democratic club with headquarters at +Madrid. During the revolution of 1854 he published El Látigo (The Whip), +a pamphlet in which he satirized the government. The spirit of adventure +being always strong in him, he joined the African campaign under +O'Donnell in 1859. + +His next occupation was the editorship of the journals La Epoca and La +Politica. Condemned to a brief period of exile as one of the signers of +a protest of Unionist deputies, he passed this time in Paris. Shortly +after his return he became involved in the revolution of 1868, but +without incurring personal disaster. After Alfonso XII. came to the +throne in 1875, he was appointed Councilor of State. + +It was in the domain of letters, however, and more especially as a +novelist, that he won his most enduring laurels. In 1855 he produced 'EL +Final de Norma' (The End of Norma), which was his first romance of +importance. Four years later he began to publish that series of notable +novels which brought him fame, both at home and abroad. The list +includes 'EL Sombrero de Tres Picos' (The Three-Cornered Hat), a +charming _genre_ sketch famous for its pungent wit and humor, and its +clever portraiture of provincial life in Spain at the beginning of this +century; 'La Alpujarra'; 'EL Escándalo' (The Scandal), a story which at +once created a profound sensation because of its ultramontane cast and +opposition to prevalent scientific opinion; 'El Niño de la Bola' (The +Child of the Ball), thought by many to be his masterpiece; 'El Capitán +Veneno' (Captain Veneno); 'Novelas Cortas' (Short Stories), 3 vols.; and +'La Pródiga' (The Prodigal). Alarcón is also favorably known as poet, +dramatic critic, and an incisive and effective writer of general prose. + +His other publications comprise:--'Diario de un Testigo de la Guerra de +Africa' (Journal of a Witness of the African War), a work which is said +to have netted the publishers a profit of three million pesetas +($600,000); 'De Madrid à Nápoles' (from Madrid to Naples); 'Poesias +Serias y Humorísticas' (Serious and Humorous Poems); 'Judicios +Literários y Artísticos' (Literary and Artistic Critiques); 'Viages por +España' (Travels through Spain); 'El Hijo Pródigo' (The Prodigal Son), a +drama for children; and 'Ultimos Escritos' (Last Writings). Alarcón was +elected a member of the Spanish Academy December 15th, 1875. Many of his +novels have been translated into English and French. He died July +20th, 1891. + + +A WOMAN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT + +From 'The Three-Cornered Hat' + +The last and perhaps the most powerful reason which the quality of the +city--clergy as well as laymen, beginning with the bishop and the +corregidor--had for visiting the mill so often in the afternoon, was to +admire there at leisure one of the most beautiful, graceful, and +admirable works that ever left the hands of the Creator: called Seña +[Mrs.] Frasquita. Let us begin by assuring you that Seña Frasquita was +the lawful spouse of Uncle Luke, and an honest woman; of which fact all +the illustrious visitors of the mill were well aware. Indeed, none of +them ever seemed to gaze on her with sinful eyes or doubtful purpose. +They all admired her, indeed, and sometimes paid her compliments,--the +friars as well as the cavaliers, the prebendaries as well as the +magistrate,--as a prodigy of beauty, an honor to her Creator, and as a +coquettish and mischievous sprite, who innocently enlivened the most +melancholy of spirits. "She is a handsome creature," the most virtuous +prelate used to say. "She looks like an ancient Greek statue," remarked +a learned advocate, who was an Academician and corresponding member on +history. "She is the very image of Eve," broke forth the prior of the +Franciscans. "She is a fine woman," exclaimed the colonel of militia. +"She is a serpent, a witch, a siren, an imp," added the corregidor. "But +she is a good woman, an angel, a lovely creature, and as innocent as a +child four years old," all agreed in saying on leaving the mill, crammed +with grapes or nuts, on their way to their dull and methodical homes. + +This four-year-old child, that is to say, Frasquita, was nearly thirty +years old, and almost six feet high, strongly built in proportion, and +even a little stouter than exactly corresponded to her majestic figure. +She looked like a gigantic Niobe, though she never had any children; she +seemed like a female Hercules, or like a Roman matron, the sort of whom +there are still copies to be seen in the Rioni Trastevere. But the most +striking feature was her mobility, her agility, her animation, and the +grace of her rather large person. + +For resemblance to a statue, to which the Academician compared her, she +lacked statuesque repose. She bent her body like a reed, or spun around +like a weather-vane, or danced like a top. Her features possessed even +greater mobility, and in consequence were even less statuesque. They +were lighted up beautifully by five dimples: two on one cheek, one on +the other, another very small one near the left side of her roguish +lips, and the last--and a very big one--in the cleft of her rounded +chin. Add to these charms her sly or roguish glances, her pretty pouts, +and the various attitudes of her head, with which she emphasized her +talk, and you will have some idea of that face full of vivacity and +beauty, and always radiant with health and happiness. + +Neither Uncle Luke nor Seña Frasquita was Andalusian by birth: she came +from Navarre, and he from Murcia. He went to the city of ---- when he +was but fifteen years old, as half page, half servant of the bishop, the +predecessor of the present incumbent of that diocese. He was brought up +for the Church by his patron, who, perhaps on that account, so that he +might not lack competent maintenance, bequeathed him the mill in his +will. But Uncle Luke, who had received only the lesser orders when the +bishop died, cast off his ecclesiastical garb at once and enlisted as a +soldier; for he felt more anxious to see the world and to lead a life of +adventure than to say mass or grind corn. He went through the campaign +of the Western Provinces in 1793, as the orderly of the brave General +Ventura Caro; he was present at the siege of the Castle of Piñon, and +remained a long time in the Northern Provinces, when he finally quitted +the service. In Estella he became acquainted with Seña Frasquita, who +was then simply called Frasquita; made love to her, married her, and +carried her to Andalusia to take possession of the mill, where they were +to live so peaceful and happy during the rest of their pilgrimage +through this vale of tears. + +When Frasquita was taken from Navarre to that lonely place she had not +yet acquired any Andalusian ways, and was very different from the +countrywomen in that vicinity. She dressed with greater simplicity, +greater freedom, grace, and elegance than they did. She bathed herself +oftener; and allowed the sun and air to caress her bare arms and +uncovered neck. To a certain extent she wore the style of dress worn by +the gentlewomen of that period; like that of the women in Goya's +pictures, and somewhat of the fashion worn by Queen Maria Louisa: if not +exactly so scant, yet so short that it showed her small feet, and the +commencement of her superb limbs; her bodice was low, and round in the +neck, according to the style in Madrid, where she spent two months with +her Luke on their way from Navarre to Andalusia. She dressed her hair +high on the top of her head, displaying thus both the graceful curve of +her snowy neck and the shape of her pretty head. She wore earrings in +her small ears, and the taper fingers of her rough but clean hands were +covered with rings. Lastly, Frasquita's voice was as sweet as a flute, +and her laugh was so merry and so silvery it seemed like the ringing of +bells on Saturday of Glory or Easter Eve. + + +HOW THE ORPHAN MANUEL GAINED HIS SOBRIQUET + +From 'The Child of the Ball' + +The unfortunate boy seemed to have turned to ice from the cruel and +unexpected blows of fate; he contracted a death-like pallor, which he +never again lost. No one paid any attention to the unhappy child in the +first moments of his anguish, or noticed that he neither groaned, +sighed, nor wept. When at last they went to him they found him convulsed +and rigid, like a petrifaction of grief; although he walked about, heard +and saw, and covered his wounded and dying father with kisses. But he +shed not a single tear, either during the death agony of that beloved +being, when he kissed the cold face after it was dead, or when he saw +them carry the body away forever; nor when he left the house in which he +had been born, and found himself sheltered by charity in the house of a +stranger. Some praised his courage, others criticized his callousness. +Mothers pitied him profoundly, instinctively divining the cruel tragedy +that was being enacted in the orphan's heart for want of some tender and +compassionate being to make him weep by weeping with him. + +Nor did Manuel utter a single word from the moment he saw his beloved +father brought in dying. He made no answer to the affectionate questions +asked him by Don Trinidad after the latter had taken him home; and the +sound of his voice was never heard during the first three years which he +spent in the holy company of the priest. Everybody thought by this time +that he would remain dumb forever, when one day, in the church of which +his protector was the priest, the sacristan observed him standing before +a beautiful image of the "Child of the Ball," and heard him saying in +melancholy accents:-- + +"Child Jesus, why do you not speak either?" + +Manuel was saved. The drowning boy had raised his head above the +engulfing waters of his grief. His life was no longer in danger. So at +least it was believed in the parish. + +Toward strangers--from whom, whenever they came in contact with him, he +always received demonstrations of pity and kindness--the orphan +continued to maintain the same glacial reserve as before, rebuffing them +with the phrase, stereotyped on his disdainful lips, "Let me alone, +now;" having said which, in tones of moving entreaty, he would go on his +way, not without awakening superstitious feelings in the minds of the +persons whom he thus shunned. + +Still less did he lay aside, at this saving crisis, the profound sadness +and precocious austerity of his character, or the obstinate persistence +with which he clung to certain habits. These were limited, thus far, to +accompanying the priest to the church; gathering flowers or aromatic +herbs to adorn the image of the "Child of the Ball," before which he +would spend hour after hour, plunged in a species of ecstasy; and +climbing the neighboring mountain in search of those herbs and flowers, +when, owing to the severity of the heat or cold, they were not to be +found in the fields. + +This adoration, while in consonance with the religious principles +instilled into him from the cradle by his father, greatly exceeded what +is usual even in the most devout. It was a fraternal and submissive +love, like that which he had entertained for his father; it was a +confused mixture of familiarity, protection, and idolatry, very similar +to the feeling which the mothers of men of genius entertain for their +illustrious sons; it was the respectful and protecting tenderness which +the strong warrior bestows on the youthful prince; it was an +identification of himself with the image; it was pride; it was elation +as for a personal good. It seemed as if this image symbolized for him +his tragic fate, his noble origin, his early orphanhood, his poverty, +his cares, the injustice of men, his solitary state in the world, and +perhaps too some presentiment of his future sufferings. + +Probably nothing of all this was clear at the time to the mind of the +hapless boy, but something resembling it must have been the tumult of +confused thoughts that palpitated in the depths of that childlike, +unwavering, absolute, and exclusive devotion. For him there was neither +God nor the Virgin, neither saints nor angels; there was only the "Child +of the Ball," not with relation to any profound mystery, but in himself, +in his present form, with his artistic figure, his dress of gold tissue, +his crown of false stones, his blonde head, his charming countenance, +and the blue-painted globe which he held in his hand, and which was +surmounted by a little silver-gilt cross, in sign of the redemption of +the world. + +And this was the cause and reason why the acolytes of Santa María de la +Cabéza first, all the boys of the town afterward, and finally the more +respectable and sedate persons, bestowed on Manuel the extraordinary +name of "The Child of the Ball": we know not whether by way of applause +of such vehement idolatry, and to commit him, as it were, to the +protection of the Christ-Child himself; or as a sarcastic +antiphrasis,--seeing that this appellation is sometimes used in the +place as a term of comparison for the happiness of the very fortunate; +or as a prophecy of the valor for which the son of Venegas was to be one +day celebrated, and the terror he was to inspire,--since the most +hyperbolical expression that can be employed in that district, to extol +the bravery and power of any one, is to say that "she does not fear even +the 'Child of the Ball.'" + +Selections used by permission of Cassell Publishing Company + + + + +ALCAEUS + +(Sixth Century B.C.) + +Alcaeus, a contemporary of the more famous poet whom he addressed as +"violet-crowned, pure, sweetly-smiling Sappho," was a native of Mitylene +in Lesbos. His period of work fell probably between 610 and 580 B.C. At +this time his native town was disturbed by an unceasing contention for +power between the aristocracy and the people; and Alcaeus, through the +vehemence of his zeal and his ambition, was among the leaders of the +warring faction. By the accidents of birth and education he was an +aristocrat, and in politics he was what is now called a High Tory. With +his brothers, Cicis and Antimenidas, two influential young nobles as +arrogant and haughty as himself, he resented and opposed the slightest +concession to democracy. He was a stout soldier, but he threw away his +arms at Ligetum when he saw that his side was beaten, and afterward +wrote a poem on this performance, apparently not in the least mortified +by the recollection. Horace speaks of the matter, and laughingly +confesses his own like misadventure. + +[Illustration: Alcaeus] + +When the kindly Pittacus was chosen dictator, he was compelled to banish +the swashbuckling brothers for their abuse of him. But when Alcaeus +chanced to be taken prisoner, Pittacus set him free, remarking that +"forgiveness is better than revenge." The irreconcilable poet spent his +exile in Egypt, and there he may have seen the Greek oligarch who lent +his sword to Nebuchadnezzar, and whom he greeted in a poem, a surviving +fragment of which is thus paraphrased by John Addington Symonds:-- + + From the ends of the earth thou art come, + Back to thy home; + The ivory hilt of thy blade + With gold is embossed and inlaid; + Since for Babylon's host a great deed + Thou didst work in their need, + Slaying a warrior, an athlete of might, + Royal, whose height + Lacked of five cubits one span-- + A terrible man. + +Alcaeus is reputed to have been in love with Sappho, the glorious, but +only a line or two survives to confirm the tale. Most of his lyrics, +like those of his fellow-poets, seem to have been drinking songs, +combined, says Symonds, with reflections upon life, and appropriate +descriptions of the different seasons. "No time was amiss for drinking, +to his mind: the heat of summer, the cold of winter, the blazing +dog-star and the driving tempest, twilight with its cheerful gleam of +lamps, mid-day with its sunshine--all suggest reasons for indulging in +the cup. Not that we are justified in fancying Alcaeus a mere vulgar +toper: he retained Aeolian sumptuousness in his pleasures, and raised +the art of drinking to an aesthetic attitude." + +Alcaeus composed in the Aeolic dialect; for the reason, it is said, that +it was more familiar to his hearers. After his death his poems were +collected and divided into ten books. Bergk has included the +fragments--and one of his compositions has come down to us entire--his +'Poetae Lyrici Graeci.' + +His love of political strife and military glory led him to the +composition of a class of poems which the ancients called 'Stasiotica' +(Songs of Sedition). To this class belong his descriptions of the +furnishing of his palace, and many of the fragments preserved to us. +Besides those martial poems, he composed hymns to the gods, and love and +convivial songs. + +His verses are subjective and impassioned. They are outbursts of the +poet's own feeling, his own peculiar expression toward the world in +which he lived; and it is this quality that gave them their strength and +their celebrity. His metres were lively, and the care which he expended +upon his strophes has led to the naming of one metre the 'Alcaic.' +Horace testifies (Odes ii. 13, ii. 26, etc.), to the power of +his master. + +The first selection following is a fragment from his 'Stasiotica.' It is +a description of the splendor of his palace before "the work of +war began." + + + THE PALACE + + From roof to roof the spacious palace halls + Glitter with war's array; + With burnished metal clad, the lofty walls + Beam like the bright noonday. + There white-plumed helmets hang from many a nail, + Above, in threatening row; + Steel-garnished tunics and broad coats of mail + Spread o'er the space below. + Chalcidian blades enow, and belts are here, + Greaves and emblazoned shields; + Well-tried protectors from the hostile spear, + On other battlefields. + With these good helps our work of war's begun, + With these our victory must be won. + + Translation of Colonel Mure. + + + A BANQUET SONG + + The rain of Zeus descends, and from high heaven + A storm is driven: + And on the running water-brooks the cold + Lays icy hold; + Then up: beat down the winter; make the fire + Blaze high and higher; + Mix wine as sweet as honey of the bee + Abundantly; + Then drink with comfortable wool around + Your temples bound. + We must not yield our hearts to woe, or wear + With wasting care; + For grief will profit us no whit, my friend, + Nor nothing mend; + But this is our best medicine, with wine fraught + To cast out thought. + + Translation of J. A. Symonds. + + + AN INVITATION + + Why wait we for the torches' lights? + Now let us drink while day invites. + In mighty flagons hither bring + The deep-red blood of many a vine, + That we may largely quaff, and sing + The praises of the god of wine, + The son of Jove and Semele, + Who gave the jocund grape to be + A sweet oblivion to our woes. + Fill, fill the goblet--one and two: + Let every brimmer, as it flows, + In sportive chase, the last pursue. + + Translation of Sir William Jones. + + + THE STORM + + Now here, now there, the wild waves sweep, + Whilst we, betwixt them o'er the deep, + In shatter'd tempest-beaten bark, + With laboring ropes are onward driven, + The billows dashing o'er our dark + Upheavèd deck--in tatters riven + Our sails--whose yawning rents between + The raging sea and sky are seen. + + . . . . . + + Loose from their hold our anchors burst, + And then the third, the fatal wave + Comes rolling onward like the first, + And doubles all our toil to save. + + Translation of Sir William Jones. + + + THE POOR FISHERMAN + + The fisher Diotimus had, at sea + And shore, the same abode of poverty-- + His trusty boat;--and when his days were spent, + Therein self-rowed to ruthless Dis he went; + For that, which did through life his woes beguile, + Supplied the old man with a funeral pile. + + Translation of Sir William Jones. + + + THE STATE + + What constitutes a State? + Not high-raised battlement, or labored mound, + Thick wall or moated gate; + Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crown'd; + No:--Men, high-minded men, + With powers as far above dull brutes endued + In forest, brake or den, + As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude:-- + Men who their duties know, + But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain; + Prevent the long-aimed blow, + And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain. + + Translation of Sir William Jones. + + + POVERTY + + The worst of ills, and hardest to endure, + Past hope, past cure, + Is Penury, who, with her sister-mate + Disorder, soon brings down the loftiest state, + And makes it desolate. + This truth the sage of Sparta told, + Aristodemus old,-- + "Wealth makes the man." On him that's poor, + Proud worth looks down, and honor shuts the door. + + Translation of Sir William Jones. + + + + +BALTÁZAR DE ALCÁZAR + +(1530?-1606) + +Although little may be realized now of Alcázar's shadowy personality, +there is no doubt that in his own century he was widely read. Born of a +very respectable family in Seville, either in 1530 or 1531, he first +appears as entering the Spanish navy, and participating in several +battles on the war galleys of the Marquis of Santa Cruz. It is known +that for about twenty years he was alcalde or mayor at the Molares on +the outskirts of Utrera,--an important local functionary, a practical +man interested in public affairs. + +But, on the whole, his seems to have been a strongly artistic nature; +for he was a musician of repute, skillful too at painting, and above all +a poet. As master and model in metrical composition he chose Martial, +and in his epigrammatic turn he is akin to the great Latin poet. He was +fond of experimenting in Latin lyrical forms, and wrote many madrigals +and sonnets. They are full of vigorous thought and bright satire, of +playful malice and epicurean joy in life, and have always won the +admiration of his fellow-poets. As has been said, they show a fine +taste, quite in advance of the age. Cervantes, his greater contemporary, +acknowledged his power with cordial praise in the Canto de Caliope. + +The "witty Andalusian" did not write voluminously. Some of his poems +still remain in manuscript only. Of the rest, comprised in one small +volume, perhaps the best known are 'The Jovial Supper,' 'The Echo,' and +the 'Counsel to a Widow.' + + SLEEP + + Sleep is no servant of the will, + It has caprices of its own: + When most pursued,--'tis swiftly gone; + When courted least, it lingers still. + With its vagaries long perplext, + I turned and turned my restless sconce, + Till one bright night, I thought at once + I'd master it; so hear my text! + + When sleep will tarry, I begin + My long and my accustomed prayer; + And in a twinkling sleep is there, + Through my bed-curtains peeping in. + When sleep hangs heavy on my eyes, + I think of debts I fain would pay; + And then, as flies night's shade from day, + Sleep from my heavy eyelids flies. + + And thus controlled the winged one bends + Ev'n his fantastic will to me; + And, strange, yet true, both I and he + Are friends,--the very best of friends. + We are a happy wedded pair, + And I the lord and she the dame; + Our bed--our board--our hours the same, + And we're united everywhere. + + I'll tell you where I learnt to school + This wayward sleep:--a whispered word + From a church-going hag I heard, + And tried it--for I was no fool. + So from that very hour I knew + That having ready prayers to pray, + And having many debts to pay, + Will serve for sleep and waking too. + +From Longfellow's 'Poets of Europe': by permission of Houghton, Mifflin +and Company. + + + THE JOVIAL SUPPER + + In Jaen, where I reside, + Lives Don Lopez de Sosa; + And I will tell thee, Isabel, a thing + The most daring that thou hast heard of him. + This gentleman had + A Portuguese serving man . . . + However, if it appears well to you, Isabel, + Let us first take supper. + We have the table ready laid, + As we have to sup together; + The wine-cups at their stations + Are only wanting to begin the feast. + Let us commence with new, light wine, + And cast upon it benediction; + I consider it a matter of devotion + To sign with cross that which I drink. + + * * * * * + + Be it or not a modern invention, + By the living God I do not know; + But most exquisite was + The invention of the tavern. + Because, I arrive thirsty there, + I ask for new-made wine, + They mix it, give it to me, I drink, + I pay for it, and depart contented. + That, Isabel, is praise of itself, + It is not necessary to laud it. + I have only one fault to find with it, + That is--it is finished with too much haste. + + * * * * * + + But say, dost thou not adore and prize + The illustrious and rich black pudding? + How the rogue tickles! + It must contain spices. + How it is stuffed with pine nuts! + + * * * * * + + But listen to a subtle hint. + You did not put a lamp there? + How is it that I appear to see two? + But these are foolish questions, + Already know I what it must be: + It is by this black draught + That the number of lamps accumulates. + +[The several courses are ended, and the jovial diner resolves to finish +his story.] + + And now, Isabel, as we have supped + So well, and with so much enjoyment, + It appears to be but right + To return to the promised tale. + But thou must know, Sister Isabel, + That the Portuguese fell sick . . . + Eleven o'clock strikes, I go to sleep. + Wait for the morrow. + + + + +ALCIPHRON + +(Second Century A.D.) + +BY HARRY THURSTON PECK + +In the history of Greek prose fiction the possibilities of the +epistolary form were first developed by the Athenian teacher of +rhetoric, Alciphron, of whose life and personality nothing is known +except that he lived in the second century A.D.,--a contemporary of the +great satirical genius Lucian. Of his writings we now possess only a +collection of imaginary letters, one hundred and eighteen in number, +arranged in three books. Their value depends partly upon the curious and +interesting pictures given in them of the life of the post-Alexandrine +period, especially of the low life, and partly upon the fact that they +are the first successful attempts at character-drawing to be found in +the history of Greek prose fiction. They form a connecting link between +the novel of pure incident and adventure, and the more fully developed +novel which combines incident and adventure with the delineation of +character and the study of motive. The use of the epistolary form in +fictitious composition did not, to be sure, originate with Alciphron; +for we find earlier instances in the imaginary love-letters composed in +verse by the Roman poet, Ovid, under the names of famous women of early +legend, such as those of Oenone to Paris (which suggested a beautiful +poem of Tennyson's), Medea to Jason, and many others. In these one finds +keen insight into character, especially feminine character, together +with much that is exquisite in fancy and tender in expression. But it is +to Alciphron that we owe the adaptation of this form of composition to +prose fiction, and its employment in a far wider range of psychological +and social observation. + +The life whose details are given us by Alciphron is the life of +contemporary Athens in the persons of its easy-going population. The +writers whose letters we are supposed to read in reading Alciphron are +peasants, fishermen, parasites, men-about-town, and courtesans. The +language of the letters is neat, pointed, and appropriate to the person +who in each case is supposed to be the writer; and the details are +managed with considerable art. Alciphron effaces all impression of his +own personality, and is lost in the characters who for the time being +occupy his pages. One reads the letters as he would read a genuine +correspondence. The illusion is perfect, and we feel that we are for the +moment in the Athens of the third century before Christ; that we are +strolling in its streets, visiting its shops, its courts, and its +temples, and that we are getting a whiff of the Aegean, mingled with the +less savory odors of the markets and of the wine-shops. We stroll about +the city elbowing our way through the throng of boatmen, merchants, and +hucksters. Here a barber stands outside his shop and solicits custom; +there an old usurer with pimply face sits bending over his accounts in a +dingy little office; at the corner of the street a crowd encircles some +Cheap Jack who is showing off his juggling tricks at a small +three-legged table, making sea-shells vanish out of sight and then +taking them from his mouth. Drunken soldiers pass and repass, talking +boisterously of their bouts and brawls, of their drills and punishments, +and the latest news of their barracks, and forming a striking contrast +to the philosopher, who, in coarse robes, moves with supercilious look +and an affectation of deep thought, in silence amid the crowd that +jostles him. The scene is vivid, striking, realistic. + +Many of the letters are from women; and in these, especially, Alciphron +reveals the daily life of the Athenians. We see the demimonde at their +toilet, with their mirrors, their powders, their enamels and rouge-pots, +their brushes and pincers, and all the thousand and one accessories. +Acquaintances come in to make a morning call, and we hear their +chatter,--Thaïs and Megara and Bacchis, Hermione and Myrrha. They nibble +cakes, drink sweet wine, gossip about their respective lovers, hum the +latest songs, and enjoy themselves with perfect abandon. Again we see +them at their evening rendezvous, at the banquets where philosophers, +poets, sophists, painters, artists of every sort,--in fact, the whole +Bohemia of Athens,--gather round them. We get hints of all the stages of +the revel, from the sparkling wit and the jolly good-fellowship of the +early evening, to the sodden disgust that comes with daybreak when the +lamps are poisoning the fetid air and the remnants of the feast +are stale. + +We are not to look upon the letters of Alciphron as embodying a literary +unity. He did not attempt to write one single symmetrical epistolary +romance; but the individual letters are usually slight sketches of +character carelessly gathered together, and deriving their greatest +charm from their apparent spontaneity and artlessness. Many of them +are, to be sure, unpleasantly cynical, and depict the baser side of +human nature; others, in their realism, are essentially commonplace; but +some are very prettily expressed, and show a brighter side to the +picture of contemporary life. Those especially which are supposed to +pass between Menander, the famous comic poet, and his mistress Glycera, +form a pleasing contrast to the greed and cynicism of much that one +finds in the first book of the epistles; they are true love-letters, and +are untainted by the slightest suggestion of the mercenary spirit or the +veiled coarseness that makes so many of the others unpleasant reading. +One letter (i. 6) is interesting as containing the first allusion found +in literature to the familiar story of Phryne before the judges, which +is more fully told in Athenaeus. + +The imaginary letter was destined to play an important part in the +subsequent history of literature. Alciphron was copied by Aristaenetus, +who lived in the fifth century of our era, and whose letters have been +often imitated in modern times, and by Theophylactus, who lived in the +seventh century. In modern English fiction the epistolary form has been +most successfully employed by Richardson, Fanny Burney, and, in another +_genre_, by Wilkie Collins. + +The standard editions of Alciphron are those of Seiler (Leipzig, 1856) +and of Hercher (Paris, 1873), the latter containing the Greek text with +a parallel version in Latin. The letters have not yet been translated +into English. The reader may refer to the chapter on Alciphron in the +recently published work of Salverte, 'Le Roman dans la Grèce Ancienne' +(The Novel in Ancient Greece: Paris, 1893). The following selections are +translated by the present writer. + +H.T. Peck + + +FROM A MERCENARY GIRL + +PETALA TO SIMALION + +Well, if a girl could live on tears, what a wealthy girl I should be; +for you are generous enough with _them_, any-how! Unfortunately, +however, that isn't quite enough for me. I need money; I must have +jewels, clothes, servants, and all that sort of thing. Nobody has left +me a fortune, I should like you to know, or any mining stock; and so I +am obliged to depend on the little presents that gentlemen happen to +make me. Now that I've known you a year, how much better off am I for +it, I should like to ask? My head looks like a fright because I haven't +had anything to rig it out with, all that time; and as to clothes,--why, +the only dress I've got in the world is in rags that make me ashamed to +be seen with my friends: and yet you imagine that I can go on in this +way without having any other means of living! Oh, yes, of course, you +cry; but you'll stop presently. I'm really surprised at the number of +your tears; but really, unless somebody gives me something pretty soon I +shall die of starvation. Of course, you pretend you're just crazy for +me, and that you can't live without me. Well, then, isn't there any +family silver in your house? Hasn't your mother any jewelry that you can +get hold of? Hasn't your father any valuables? Other girls are luckier +than I am; for I have a mourner rather than a lover. He sends me crowns, +and he sends me garlands and roses, as if I were dead and buried before +my time, and he says that he cries all night. Now, if you can manage to +scrape up something for me, you can come here without having to cry your +eyes out; but if you can't, why, keep your tears to yourself, and don't +bother me! + +From the 'Epistolae,' i. 36. + + +THE PLEASURES OF ATHENS + +EUTHYDICUS TO EPIPHANIO + +By all the gods and demons, I beg you, dear mother, to leave your rocks +and fields in the country, and before you die, discover what beautiful +things there are in town. Just think what you are losing,--the Haloan +Festival and the Apaturian Festival, and the Great Festival of Bacchus, +and especially the Thesmophorian Festival, which is now going on. If you +would only hurry up, and get here to-morrow morning before it is +daylight, you would be able to take part in the affair with the other +Athenian women. Do come, and don't put it off, if you have any regard +for my happiness and my brothers'; for it's an awful thing to die +without having any knowledge of the city. That's the life of an ox; and +one that is altogether unreasonable. Please excuse me, mother, for +speaking so freely for your own good. After all, one ought to speak +plainly with everybody, and especially with those who are themselves +plain speakers. + +From the 'Epistolae,' iii. 39. + + +FROM AN ANXIOUS MOTHER + +PHYLLIS TO THRASONIDES + +If you only would put up with the country and be sensible, and do as the +rest of us do, my dear Thrasonides, you would offer ivy and laurel and +myrtle and flowers to the gods at the proper time; and to us, your +parents, you would give wheat and wine and a milk-pail full of the new +goat's-milk. But as things are, you despise the country and farming, and +are fond only of the helmet-plumes and the shield, just as if you were +an Acarnanian or a Malian soldier. Don't keep on in this way, my son; +but come back to us and take up this peaceful life of ours again (for +farming is perfectly safe and free from any danger, and doesn't require +bands of soldiers and strategy and squadrons), and be the stay of our +old age, preferring a safe life to a risky one. + +From the 'Epistolae,' iii. 16. + + +FROM A CURIOUS YOUTH + +PHILOCOMUS TO THESTYLUS + +Since I have never yet been to town, and really don't know at all what +the thing is that they call a city, I am awfully anxious to see this +strange sight,--men living all in one place,--and to learn about the +other points in which a city differs from the country. Consequently, if +you have any reason for going to town, do come and take me with you. As +a matter of fact, I am sure there are lots of things I ought to know, +now that my beard is beginning to sprout; and who is so able to show me +the city as yourself, who are all the time going back and forth to +the town? + +From the 'Epistolae' iii. 31. + + +FROM A PROFESSIONAL DINER-OUT + +CAPNOSPHRANTES TO ARISTOMACHUS + +I should like to ask my evil genius, who drew me by lot as his own +particular charge, why he is so malignant and so cruel as to keep me in +everlasting poverty; for if no one happens to invite me to dinner I have +to live on greens, and to eat acorns and to fill my stomach with water +from the hydrant. Now, as long as my body was able to put up with this +sort of thing, and my time of life was such as made it proper for me to +bear it, I could get along with them fairly well; but now that my hair +is growing gray, and the only outlook I have is in the direction of old +age, what on earth am I going to do? I shall really have to get a rope +and hang myself unless my luck changes. However, even if fortune remains +as it is, I shan't string myself up before I have at least one square +meal; for before very long, the wedding of Charitus and Leocritis, which +is going to be a famous affair, will come off, to which there isn't a +doubt that I shall be invited,--either to the wedding itself or to the +banquet afterward. It's lucky that weddings need the jokes of brisk +fellows like myself, and that without us they would be as dull as +gatherings of pigs rather than of human beings! + +From the 'Epistolae,' iii. 49. + + +UNLUCKY LUCK + +CHYTROLICTES TO PATELLOCHARON + +Perhaps you would like to know why I am complaining so, and how I got my +head broken, and why I'm going around with my clothes in tatters. The +fact is I swept the board at gambling: but I wish I hadn't; for what's +the sense in a feeble fellow like me running up against a lot of stout +young men? You see, after I scooped in all the money they put up, and +they hadn't a cent left, they all jumped on my neck, and some of them +punched me, and some of them stoned me, and some of them tore my clothes +off my back. All the same, I hung on to the money as hard as I could, +because I would rather die than give up anything of theirs I had got +hold of; and so I held out bravely for quite a while, not giving in when +they struck me, or even when they bent my fingers back. In fact, I was +like some Spartan who lets himself be whipped as a test of his +endurance: but unfortunately it wasn't at Sparta that I was doing this +thing, but at Athens, and with the toughest sort of an Athenian gambling +crowd; and so at last, when actually fainting, I had to let the ruffians +rob me. They went through my pockets, and after they had taken +everything they could find, they skipped. After all, I've come to the +conclusion that it's better to live without money than to die with a +pocket full of it. + +From the 'Epistolae,' iii. 54. + + + + +ALCMAN + +(Seventh Century B.C.) + +According to legend, this illustrious Grecian lyric poet was born in +Lydia, and taken to Sparta as a slave when very young, but emancipated +by his master on the discovery of his poetic genius. He flourished +probably between 670 and 630, during the peace following the Second +Messenian War. It was that remarkable period in which the Spartans were +gathering poets and musicians from the outer world of liberal +accomplishment to educate their children; for the Dorians thought it +beneath the dignity of a Dorian citizen to practice these things +themselves. + +His poetic remains indicate a social freedom at this period hardly in +keeping with the Spartan rigor alleged to have been practiced without +break from the ancient time of Lycurgus; perhaps this communal +asceticism was really a later growth, when the camp of militant +slave-holders saw their fibre weakening under the art and luxury they +had introduced. He boasts of his epicurean appetite; with evident +truthfulness, as a considerable number of his extant fragments are +descriptions of dishes. He would have echoed Sydney Smith's-- + + "Fate cannot harm me--I have dined to-day." + +In a poem descriptive of spring, he laments that the season affords but +a scanty stock of his favorite viands. + +The Alexandrian grammarians put Alcman at the head of the lyric canon; +perhaps partly because they thought him the most ancient, but he was +certainly much esteemed in classic times. _Aelian_ says his songs were +sung at the first performance of the gymnopaedia at Sparta in 665 B.C., +and often afterward. Much of his poetry was erotic; but he wrote also +hymns to the gods, and ethical and philosophic pieces. His 'Parthenia,' +which form a distinct division of his writings, were songs sung at +public festivals by, and in honor of, the performing chorus of virgins. +The subjects were either religious or erotic. His proverbial wisdom, and +the forms of verse which he often chose, are reputed to have been like +Pindar's. He said of himself that he sang like the birds,--that is, was +self-taught. + +He wrote in the broad Spartan dialect with a mixture of the Aeolic, and +in various metres. One form of hexameter which he invented was called +Alcmanic after him. His poems were comprehended in six books. The scanty +fragments which have survived are included in Bergk's 'Poetae Lyrici +Graeci' (1878). The longest was found in 1855 by M. Mariette, in a tomb +near the second pyramid. It is a papyrus fragment of three pages, +containing a part of his hymn to the Dioscuri, much mutilated and +difficult to decipher. + +His descriptive passages are believed to have been his best. The best +known and most admired of his fragments is his beautiful description of +night, which has been often imitated and paraphrased. + + NIGHT + + Over the drowsy earth still night prevails; + Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales, + The rugged cliffs and hollow glens; + The cattle on the hill. Deep in the sea, + The countless finny race and monster brood + Tranquil repose. Even the busy bee + Forgets her daily toil. The silent wood + No more with noisy hum of insect rings; + And all the feathered tribes, by gentle sleep subdued, + Roost in the glade, and hang their drooping wings. + + Translation by Colonel Mure. + + + + +LOUISA MAY ALCOTT + +(1832-1888) + +[Illustration: Louisa M. Alcott] + +Louisa May Alcott, daughter of Amos Bronson and Abigail (May) Alcott, +and the second of the four sisters whom she was afterward to make famous +in 'Little Women,' was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 29th, +1832, her father's thirty-third birthday. On his side, she was descended +from good Connecticut stock; and on her mother's, from the Mays and +Quincys of Massachusetts, and from Judge Samuel Sewall, who has left in +his diary as graphic a picture of the New England home-life of two +hundred years ago, as his granddaughter of the fifth generation did of +that of her own time. + +At the time of Louisa Alcott's birth her father had charge of a school +in Germantown; but within two years he moved to Boston with his family, +and put into practice methods of teaching so far in advance of his time +that they were unsuccessful. From 1840, the home of the Alcott family +was in Concord, Massachusetts, with the exception of a short time spent +in a community on a farm in a neighboring town, and the years from 1848 +to 1857 in Boston. At seventeen, Louisa's struggle with life began. She +wrote a play, contributed sensational stories to weekly papers, tried +teaching, sewing,--even going out to service,--and would have become an +actress but for an accident. What she wrote of her mother is as true of +herself, "She always did what came to her in the way of duty or charity, +and let pride, taste, and comfort suffer for love's sake." Her first +book, 'Flower Fables,' a collection of fairy tales which she had written +at sixteen for the children of Ralph Waldo Emerson, some other little +friends, and her younger sisters, was printed in 1855 and was well +received. From this time until 1863 she wrote many stories, but few that +she afterward thought worthy of being reprinted. Her best work from 1860 +to 1863 is in the Atlantic Monthly, indexed under her name; and the most +carefully finished of her few poems, 'Thoreau's Flute,' appeared in that +magazine in September, 1863. After six weeks' experience in the winter +of 1862-63 as a hospital nurse in Washington, she wrote for the +Commonwealth, a Boston weekly paper, a series of letters which soon +appeared in book form as 'Hospital Sketches,' Miss Alcott says of them, +"The 'Sketches' never made much money, but showed me 'my style.'" In +1864 she published a novel, 'Moods'; and in 1866, after a year abroad as +companion to an invalid, she became editor of Merry's Museum, a magazine +for children. + +Her 'Little Women,' founded on her own family life, was written in +1867-68, in answer to a request from the publishing house of Roberts +Brothers for a story for girls, and its success was so great that she +soon finished a second part. The two volumes were translated into +French, German, and Dutch, and became favorite books in England. While +editing Merry's Museum, she had written the first part of 'The +Old-Fashioned Girl' as a serial for the magazine. After the success of +'Little Women,' she carried the 'Old-Fashioned Girl' and her friends +forward several years, and ended the story with two happy marriages. In +1870 she went abroad a second time, and from her return the next year +until her death in Boston from overwork on March 6th, 1888, the day of +her father's funeral, she published twenty volumes, including two +novels: one anonymous, 'A Modern Mephistopheles,' in the 'No Name' +series; the other, 'Work,' largely a record of her own experience. She +rewrote 'Moods,' and changed the sad ending of the first version to a +more cheerful one; followed the fortunes of her 'Little Women' and their +children in 'Little Men' and 'Jo's Boys,' and published ten volumes of +short stories, many of them reprinted pieces. She wrote also 'Eight +Cousins,' its sequel 'Rose in Bloom,' 'Under the Lilacs,' and 'Jack +and Jill,' + +The charm of her books lies in their freshness, naturalness, and +sympathy with the feelings and pursuits of boys and girls. She says of +herself, "I was born with a boy's spirit under my bib and tucker," and +she never lost it. Her style is often careless, never elegant, for she +wrote hurriedly, and never revised or even read over her manuscript; yet +her books are full of humor and pathos, and preach the gospel of work +and simple, wholesome living. She has been a help and inspiration to +many young girls, who have learned from her Jo in 'Little Women,' or +Polly in the 'Old-Fashioned Girl,' or Christie in 'Work,' that a woman +can support herself and her family without losing caste or self-respect. +Her stories of the comradeship of New England boys and girls in school +or play have made her a popular author in countries where even brothers +and sisters see little of each other. The haste and lack of care in her +books are the result of writing under pressure for money to support the +family, to whom she gave the best years of her life. As a little girl +once said of her in a school essay, "I like all Miss Alcott's books; but +what I like best in them is the author herself." + +The reader is referred to 'Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and +Journals,' edited by Ednah D. Cheney, published in 1889. + + +THE NIGHT WARD + +From 'Hospital Sketches' + +Being fond of the night side of nature, I was soon promoted to the post +of night nurse, with every facility for indulging in my favorite pastime +of "owling." My colleague, a black-eyed widow, relieved me at dawn, we +two taking care of the ward between us, like regular nurses, turn and +turn about. I usually found my boys in the jolliest state of mind their +condition allowed; for it was a known fact that Nurse Periwinkle +objected to blue devils, and entertained a belief that he who laughed +most was surest of recovery. At the beginning of my reign, dumps and +dismals prevailed; the nurses looked anxious and tired, the men gloomy +or sad; and a general "Hark-from-the-tombs-a-doleful-sound" style of +conversation seemed to be the fashion: a state of things which caused +one coming from a merry, social New England town, to feel as if she had +got into an exhausted receiver; and the instinct of self-preservation, +to say nothing of a philanthropic desire to serve the race, caused a +speedy change in Ward No. 1. + +More flattering than the most gracefully turned compliment, more +grateful than the most admiring glance, was the sight of those rows of +faces, all strange to me a little while ago, now lighting up with smiles +of welcome as I came among them, enjoying that moment heartily, with a +womanly pride in their regard, a motherly affection for them all. The +evenings were spent in reading aloud, writing letters, waiting on and +amusing the men, going the rounds with Dr. P---- as he made his second +daily survey, dressing my dozen wounds afresh, giving last doses, and +making them cozy for the long hours to come, till the nine o'clock bell +rang, the gas was turned down, the day nurses went off duty, the night +watch came on, and my nocturnal adventures began. + +My ward was now divided into three rooms; and under favor of the matron, +I had managed to sort out the patients in such a way that I had what I +called my "duty room," my "pleasure room," and my "pathetic room," and +worked for each in a different way. One I visited armed with a +dressing-tray full of rollers, plasters, and pins; another, with books, +flowers, games, and gossip; a third, with teapots, lullabies, +consolation, and sometimes a shroud. + +Wherever the sickest or most helpless man chanced to be, there I held my +watch, often visiting the other rooms to see that the general watchman +of the ward did his duty by the fires and the wounds, the latter needing +constant wetting. Not only on this account did I meander, but also to +get fresher air than the close rooms afforded; for owing to the +stupidity of that mysterious "somebody" who does all the damage in the +world, the windows had been carefully nailed down above, and the lower +sashes could only be raised in the mildest weather, for the men lay just +below. I had suggested a summary smashing of a few panes here and there, +when frequent appeals to headquarters had proved unavailing and daily +orders to lazy attendants had come to nothing. No one seconded the +motion, however, and the nails were far beyond my reach; for though +belonging to the sisterhood of "ministering angels," I had no wings, and +might as well have asked for a suspension bridge as a pair of steps in +that charitable chaos. + +One of the harmless ghosts who bore me company during the haunted hours +was Dan, the watchman, whom I regarded with a certain awe; for though so +much together, I never fairly saw his face, and but for his legs should +never have recognized him, as we seldom met by day. These legs were +remarkable, as was his whole figure: for his body was short, rotund, and +done up in a big jacket and muffler; his beard hid the lower part of his +face, his hat-brim the upper, and all I ever discovered was a pair of +sleepy eyes and a very mild voice. But the legs!--very long, very thin, +very crooked and feeble, looking like gray sausages in their tight +coverings, and finished off with a pair of expansive green cloth shoes, +very like Chinese junks with the sails down. This figure, gliding +noiselessly about the dimly lighted rooms, was strongly suggestive of +the spirit of a beer-barrel mounted on corkscrews, haunting the old +hotel in search of its lost mates, emptied and staved in long ago. + +Another goblin who frequently appeared to me was the attendant of "the +pathetic room," who, being a faithful soul, was often up to tend two or +three men, weak and wandering as babies, after the fever had gone. The +amiable creature beguiled the watches of the night by brewing jorums of +a fearful beverage which he called coffee, and insisted on sharing with +me; coming in with a great bowl of something like mud soup, scalding +hot, guiltless of cream, rich in an all-pervading flavor of molasses, +scorch, and tin pot. + +Even my constitutionals in the chilly halls possessed a certain charm, +for the house was never still. Sentinels tramped round it all night +long, their muskets glittering in the wintry moonlight as they walked, +or stood before the doors straight and silent as figures of stone, +causing one to conjure up romantic visions of guarded forts, sudden +surprises, and daring deeds; for in these war times the humdrum life of +Yankeedom has vanished, and the most prosaic feel some thrill of that +excitement which stirs the Nation's heart, and makes its capital a camp +of hospitals. Wandering up and down these lower halls I often heard +cries from above, steps hurrying to and fro, saw surgeons passing up, or +men coming down carrying a stretcher, where lay a long white figure +whose face was shrouded, and whose fight was done. Sometimes I stopped +to watch the passers in the street, the moonlight shining on the spire +opposite, or the gleam of some vessel floating, like a white-winged +sea-gull, down the broad Potomac, whose fullest flow can never wash away +the red stain of the land. + + +AMY'S VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + +From 'Little Women' + +"That boy is a perfect Cyclops, isn't he?" said Amy one day, as Laurie +clattered by on horseback, with a flourish of his whip as he passed. + +"How dare you say so, when he's got both his eyes? and very handsome +ones they are, too," cried Jo, who resented any slighting remarks about +her friend. + +"I didn't say anything about his eyes; and I don't see why you need fire +up when I admire his riding." + +"Oh, my goodness! that little goose means a centaur, and she called him +a Cyclops," exclaimed Jo, with a burst of laughter. + +"You needn't be so rude; it's only a 'lapse of lingy,' as Mr. Davis +says," retorted Amy, finishing Jo with her Latin. "I just wish I had a +little of the money Laurie spends on that horse," she added, as if to +herself, yet hoping her sisters would hear. + +"Why?" asked Meg, kindly, for Jo had gone off in another laugh at Amy's +second blunder. + +"I need it so much: I'm dreadfully in debt, and it won't be my turn to +have the rag-money for a month." + +"In debt, Amy: what do you mean?" and Meg looked sober. + +"Why, I owe at least a dozen pickled limes; and I can't pay them, you +know, till I have money, for Marmee forbids my having anything charged +at the shop." + +"Tell me all about it. Are limes the fashion now? It used to be pricking +bits of rubber to make balls;" and Meg tried to keep her countenance, +Amy looked so grave and important. + +"Why, you see, the girls are always buying them, and unless you want to +be thought mean, you must do it too. It's nothing but limes now, for +every one is sucking them in their desks in school-time, and trading +them off for pencils, bead-rings, paper dolls, or something else, at +recess. If one girl likes another, she gives her a lime; if she's mad +with her, she eats one before her face, and don't offer even a suck. +They treat by turns; and I've had ever so many, but haven't returned +them, and I ought, for they are debts of honor, you know." + +"How much will pay them off, and restore your credit?" asked Meg, taking +out her purse. + +"A quarter would more than do it, and leave a few cents over for a treat +for you. Don't you like limes?" + +"Not much; you may have my share. Here's the money: make it last as +long as you can, for it isn't very plenty, you know." + +"Oh, thank you! it must be so nice to have pocket-money. I'll have a +grand feast, for I haven't tasted a lime this week. I felt delicate +about taking any, as I couldn't return them, and I'm actually +suffering for one." + +Next day Amy was rather late at school; but could not resist the +temptation of displaying, with pardonable pride, a moist brown-paper +parcel before she consigned it to the inmost recesses of her desk. +During the next few minutes the rumor that Amy March had got twenty-four +delicious limes (she ate one on the way), and was going to treat, +circulated through her "set" and the attentions of her friends became +quite overwhelming. Katy Brown invited her to her next party on the +spot; Mary Kingsley insisted on lending her her watch till recess; and +Jenny Snow, a satirical young lady who had basely twitted Amy upon her +limeless state, promptly buried the hatchet, and offered to furnish +answers to certain appalling sums. But Amy had not forgotten Miss Snow's +cutting remarks about "some persons whose noses were not too flat to +smell other people's limes, and stuck-up people who were not too proud +to ask for them"; and she instantly crushed "that Snow girl's" hopes by +the withering telegram, "You needn't be so polite all of a sudden, for +you won't get any." + +A distinguished personage happened to visit the school that morning, and +Amy's beautifully drawn maps received praise; which honor to her foe +rankled in the soul of Miss Snow, and caused Miss March to assume the +airs of a studious young peacock. But, alas, alas! pride goes before a +fall, and the revengeful Snow turned the tables with disastrous success. +No sooner had the guest paid the usual stale compliments, and bowed +himself out, than Jenny, under pretence of asking an important question, +informed Mr. Davis, the teacher, that Amy March had pickled limes in +her desk. + +Now, Mr. Davis had declared limes a contraband article, and solemnly +vowed to publicly ferule the first person who was found breaking the +law. This much-enduring man had succeeded in banishing gum after a long +and stormy war, had made a bonfire of the confiscated novels and +newspapers, had suppressed a private post-office, had forbidden +distortions of the face, nicknames, and caricatures, and done all that +one man could do to keep half a hundred rebellious girls in order. Boys +are trying enough to human patience, goodness knows! but girls are +infinitely more so, especially to nervous gentlemen with tyrannical +tempers, and no more talent for teaching than "Dr. Blimber." Mr. Davis +knew any quantity of Greek, Latin, algebra, and ologies of all sorts, so +he was called a fine teacher; and manners, morals, feelings, and +examples were not considered of any particular importance. It was a most +unfortunate moment for denouncing Amy, and Jenny knew it. Mr. Davis had +evidently taken his coffee too strong that morning; there was an east +wind, which always affected his neuralgia, and his pupils had not done +him the credit which he felt he deserved; therefore, to use the +expressive if not elegant language of a school-girl, "he was as nervous +as a witch, and as cross as a bear." The word "limes" was like fire to +powder: his yellow face flushed, and he rapped on his desk with an +energy which made Jenny skip to her seat with unusual rapidity. + +"Young ladies, attention, if you please!" + +At the stern order the buzz ceased, and fifty pairs of blue, black, +gray, and brown eyes were obediently fixed upon his awful countenance. + +"Miss March, come to the desk." + +Amy rose to comply with outward composure; but a secret fear oppressed +her, for the limes weighed upon her conscience. + +"Bring with you the limes you have in your desk," was the unexpected +command which arrested her before she got out of her seat. + +"Don't take all," whispered her neighbor, a young lady of great presence +of mind. + +Amy hastily shook out half a dozen, and laid the rest down before Mr. +Davis, feeling that any man possessing a human heart would relent when +that delicious perfume met his nose. Unfortunately, Mr. Davis +particularly detested the odor of the fashionable pickle, and disgust +added to his wrath. + +"Is that all?" + +"Not quite," stammered Amy. + +"Bring the rest, immediately." + +With a despairing glance at her set she obeyed. + +"You are sure there are no more?" + +"I never lie, sir." + +"So I see. Now take these disgusting things, two by two, and throw them +out of the window." + +There was a simultaneous sigh, which created quite a little gust as the +last hope fled, and the treat was ravished from their longing lips. +Scarlet with shame and anger, Amy went to and fro twelve mortal times; +and as each doomed couple, looking, oh, so plump and juicy! fell from +her reluctant hands, a shout from the street completed the anguish of +the girls, for it told them that their feast was being exulted over by +the little Irish children, who were their sworn foes. This--this was too +much; all flashed indignant or appealing glances at the inexorable +Davis, and one passionate lime-lover burst into tears. + +As Amy returned from her last trip, Mr. Davis gave a portentous "hem," +and said, in his most impressive manner:-- + +"Young ladies, you remember what I said to you a week ago. I am sorry +this has happened; but I never allow my rules to be infringed, and I +_never_ break my word. Miss March, hold out your hand." + +Amy started, and put both hands behind her, turning on him an imploring +look, which pleaded for her better than the words she could not utter. +She was rather a favorite with "old Davis," as of course he was called, +and it's my private belief that he _would_ have broken his word if the +indignation of one irrepressible young lady had not found vent in a +hiss. That hiss, faint as it was, irritated the irascible gentleman, and +sealed the culprit's fate. + +"Your hand, Miss March!" was the only answer her mute appeal received; +and, too proud to cry or beseech, Amy set her teeth, threw back her head +defiantly, and bore without flinching several tingling blows on her +little palm. They were neither many nor heavy, but that made no +difference to her. For the first time in her life she had been struck; +and the disgrace, in her eyes, was as deep as if he had knocked +her down. + +"You will now stand on the platform till recess," said Mr. Davis, +resolved to do the thing thoroughly, since he had begun. + +That was dreadful. It would have been bad enough to go to her seat and +see the pitying faces of her friends, or the satisfied ones of her few +enemies; but to face the whole school with that shame fresh upon her +seemed impossible, and for a second she felt as if she could only drop +down where she stood, and break her heart with crying. A bitter sense of +wrong, and the thought of Jenny Snow, helped her to bear it; and taking +the ignominious place, she fixed her eyes on the stove-funnel above +what now seemed a sea of faces, and stood there so motionless and white, +that the girls found it very hard to study, with that pathetic little +figure before them. + +During the fifteen minutes that followed, the proud and sensitive little +girl suffered a shame and pain which she never forgot. To others it +might seem a ludicrous or trivial affair, but to her it was a hard +experience; for during the twelve years of her life she had been +governed by love alone, and a blow of that sort had never touched her +before. The smart of her hand, and the ache of her heart, were forgotten +in the sting of the thought,--"I shall have to tell at home, and they +will be so disappointed in me!" + +The fifteen minutes seemed an hour; but they came to an end at last, and +the word "Recess!" had never seemed so welcome to her before. + +"You can go, Miss March," said Mr. Davis, looking, as he felt, +uncomfortable. + +He did not soon forget the reproachful look Amy gave him, as she went, +without a word to any one, straight into the ante-room, snatched her +things, and left the place "forever," as she passionately declared to +herself. She was in a sad state when she got home; and when the older +girls arrived, some time later, an indignation meeting was held at once. +Mrs. March did not say much, but looked disturbed, and comforted her +afflicted little daughter in her tenderest manner. Meg bathed the +insulted hand with glycerine, and tears; Beth felt that even her beloved +kittens would fail as a balm for griefs like this, and Jo wrathfully +proposed that Mr. Davis be arrested without delay; while Hannah shook +her fist at the "villain," and pounded potatoes for dinner as if she had +him under her pestle. + +No notice was taken of Amy's flight, except by her mates; but the +sharp-eyed demoiselles discovered that Mr. Davis was quite benignant in +the afternoon, and also unusually nervous. Just before school closed Jo +appeared, wearing a grim expression as she stalked up to the desk and +delivered a letter from her mother; then collected Amy's property and +departed, carefully scraping the mud from her boots on the door-mat, as +if she shook the dust of the place off her feet. + +"Yes, you can have a vacation from school, but I want you to study a +little every day with Beth," said Mrs. March that evening. "I don't +approve of corporal punishment, especially for girls. I dislike Mr. +Davis's manner of teaching, and don't think the girls you associate with +are doing you any good, so I shall ask your father's advice before I +send you anywhere else." + +"That's good! I wish all the girls would leave, and spoil his old +school. It's perfectly maddening to think of those lovely limes," sighed +Amy with the air of a martyr. + +"I am not sorry you lost them, for you broke the rules, and deserved +some punishment for disobedience," was the severe reply, which rather +disappointed the young lady, who expected nothing but sympathy. + +"Do you mean you are glad I was disgraced before the whole school?" +cried Amy. + +"I should not have chosen that way of mending a fault," replied her +mother; "but I'm not sure that it won't do you more good than a milder +method. You are getting to be altogether too conceited and important, my +dear, and it is about time you set about correcting it. You have a good +many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, +for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real +talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the +consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and +the great charm of all power is modesty." + +"So it is," cried Laurie, who was playing chess in a corner with Jo. "I +knew a girl once who had a really remarkable talent for music, and she +didn't know it; never guessed what sweet little things she composed when +she was alone, and wouldn't have believed it if any one had told her." + +"I wish I'd known that nice girl; maybe she would have helped me, I'm so +stupid," said Beth, who stood beside him listening eagerly. + +"You do know her, and she helps you better than any one else could," +answered Laurie, looking at her with such mischievous meaning in his +merry eyes, that Beth suddenly turned very red, and hid her face in the +sofa-cushion, quite overcome by such an unexpected discovery. + +Jo let Laurie win the game, to pay for that praise of her Beth, who +could not be prevailed upon to play for them after her compliment. So +Laurie did his best and sung delightfully, being in a particularly +lively humor, for to the Marches he seldom showed the moody side of his +character. When he was gone, Amy, who had been pensive all the evening, +said suddenly, as if busy over some new idea:-- + +"Is Laurie an accomplished boy?" + +"Yes; he has had an excellent education, and has much talent; he will +make a fine man, if not spoilt by petting," replied her mother. + +"And he isn't conceited, is he?" asked Amy. + +"Not in the least; that is why he is so charming, and we all like him so +much." + +"I see: it's nice to have accomplishments, and be elegant, but not to +show off, or get perked up," said Amy thoughtfully. + +"These things are always seen and felt in a person's manner and +conversation, if modestly used; but it is not necessary to display +them," said Mrs. March. + +"Any more than it's proper to wear all your bonnets, and gowns and +ribbons, at once, that folks may know you've got 'em," added Jo; and the +lecture ended in a laugh. + + + THOREAU'S FLUTE + + From the Atlantic Monthly, September, 1863 + + We, sighing, said, "Our Pan is dead; + His pipe hangs mute beside the river; + Around it wistful sunbeams quiver, + But Music's airy voice is fled. + Spring mourns as for untimely frost; + The bluebird chants a requiem; + The willow-blossom waits for him;-- + The Genius of the wood is lost." + + + Then from the flute, untouched by hands, + There came a low, harmonious breath: + "For such as he there is no death; + His life the eternal life commands; + Above man's aims his nature rose: + The wisdom of a just content + Made one small spot a continent, + And turned to poetry Life's prose. + + + "Haunting the hills, the stream, the wild, + Swallow and aster, lake and pine, + To him grew human or divine,-- + Fit mates for this large-hearted child. + Such homage Nature ne'er forgets, + And yearly on the coverlid + 'Neath which her darling lieth hid + Will write his name in violets. + + "To him no vain regrets belong, + Whose soul, that finer instrument, + Gave to the world no poor lament, + But wood-notes ever sweet and strong. + O lonely friend! he still will be + A potent presence, though unseen,-- + Steadfast, sagacious, and serene: + Seek not for him,--he is with thee." + + + A SONG FROM THE SUDS + + From 'Little Women' + + Queen of my tub, I merrily sing, + While the white foam rises high; + And sturdily wash, and rinse, and wring, + And fasten the clothes to dry; + Then out in the free fresh air they swing, + Under the sunny sky. + + I wish we could wash from our hearts and souls + The stains of the week away, + And let water and air by their magic make + Ourselves as pure as they; + Then on the earth there would be indeed + A glorious washing-day! + + Along the path of a useful life, + Will heart's-ease ever bloom; + The busy mind has no time to think + Of sorrow, or care, or gloom; + And anxious thoughts may be swept away, + As we busily wield a broom. + + I am glad a task to me is given, + To labor at day by day; + For it brings me health, and strength, and hope, + And I cheerfully learn to say,-- + "Head you may think, Heart you may feel, + But Hand you shall work alway!" + +Selections used by permission of Roberts Brothers, Publishers, and John +S.P. Alcott. + + + + +ALCUIN + +(735?-804) + +BY WILLIAM H. CARPENTER + +Alcuin, usually called Alcuin of York, came of a patrician family of +Northumberland. Neither the date nor the place of his birth is known +with definiteness, but he was born about 735 at or near York. As a child +he entered the cathedral school recently founded by Egbert, Archbishop +of York, and ultimately became its most eminent pupil. He was +subsequently assistant master to Aelbert, its head; and when Aelbert +succeeded to the archbishopric, on the death of Egbert in 766, Alcuin +became _scholasticus_ or master of the school. On the death of Aelbert +in 780, Alcuin was placed in charge of the cathedral library, the most +famous in Western Europe. In his longest poem, 'Versus de Eboracensi +Ecclesia' (Poem on the Saints of the Church at York), he has left an +important record of his connection with York. This poem, written before +he left England, is, like most of his verse, in dactylic hexameters. To +a certain extent it follows Virgil as a model, and is partly based on +the writings of Bede, partly on his own personal experience. It is not +only valuable for its historical bearings, but for its disclosure of the +manner and matter of instruction in the schools of the time, and the +contents of the great library. As master of the cathedral school, Alcuin +acquired name and fame at home and abroad, and was soon the most +celebrated teacher in Britain. Before 766, in company with Aelbert, he +made his first journey to Germany, and may have visited Rome. Earlier +than 780 he was again abroad, and at Pavia came under the notice of +Charlemagne, who was on his way back from Italy. In 781 Eanbald, the new +Archbishop of York, sent Alcuin to Rome to bring back the Archbishop's +pallium. At Parma he again met Charlemagne, who invited him to take up +his abode at the Frankish court. With the consent of his king and his +archbishop he resigned his position at York, and with a few pupils +departed for the court at Aachen, in 782. + +Alcuin's arrival in Germany was the beginning of a new intellectual +epoch among the Franks. Learning was at this time in a deplorable state. +The older monastic and cathedral schools had been broken up, and the +monasteries themselves often unworthily bestowed upon royal favorites. +There had been a palace school for rudimentary instruction, but it was +wholly inefficient and unimportant. + +During the years immediately following his arrival, Alcuin zealously +labored at his projects of educational reform. First reorganizing the +palace school, he afterward undertook a reform of the monasteries and +their system of instruction, and the establishment of new schools +throughout the kingdom of Charlemagne. At the court school the great +king himself, as well as Liutgard the queen, became his pupil. Gisela, +Abbess of Chelles, the sister of Charlemagne, came also to him for +instruction, as did the Princes Charles, Pepin, and Louis, and the +Princesses Rotrud and Gisela. On himself and the others, in accordance +with the fashion of the time, Alcuin bestowed fanciful names. He was +Flaccus or Albinus, Charlemagne was David, the queen was Ava, and Pepin +was Julius. The subjects of instruction in this school, the centre of +culture of the kingdom, were first of all, grammar; then arithmetic, +astronomy, rhetoric, and dialectic. The king himself studied poetry, +astronomy, arithmetic, the writings of the Fathers, and theology proper. +It was under the influence of Alcuin that Charlemagne issued in 787 the +capitulary that has been called "the first general charter of education +for the Middle Ages." It reproves the abbots for their illiteracy, and +exhorts them to the study of letters; and although its effect was less +than its purpose, it served, with subsequent decrees of the king, to +stimulate learning and literature throughout all Germany. + +Alcuin's system included, besides the palace school, and the monastic +and cathedral schools, which in some instances gave both elementary and +superior instruction, all the parish or village elementary schools, +whose head was the parish priest. + +In 790, seeing his plans well established, Alcuin returned to York +bearing letters of reconciliation to Offa, King of Mercia, between whom +and Charlemagne dissension had arisen. Having accomplished his errand, +he went back to the German court in 792. Here his first act was to take +a vigorous part in the furious controversy respecting the doctrine of +Adoptionism. Alcuin not only wrote against the heresy, but brought about +its condemnation by the Council of Frankfort, in 794. + +Two years later, at his own request, he was made Abbot of the +Benedictine monastery of St. Martin, at Tours. Not contented with +reforming the lax monastic life, he resolved to make Tours a seat of +learning. Under his management, it presently became the most renowned +school in the kingdom. Especially in the copying of manuscripts did the +brethren excel. Alcuin kept up a vast correspondence with Britain as +well as with different parts of the Frankish kingdom; and of the two +hundred and thirty letters preserved, the greater part belonged to this +time. In 799, at Aachen, he held a public disputation on Adoptionism +with Felix, Bishop of Urgel, who was wholly vanquished. When the king, +in 800, was preparing for that visit to the Papal court which was to end +with his coronation as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he invited +Alcuin to accompany him. But the old man, wearied with many burdens, +could not make the journey. By the beginning of 804 he had become much +enfeebled. It was his desire, often expressed, to die on the day of +Pentecost. His wish was fulfilled, for he died at dawn on the 19th of +May. He was buried in the Cloister Church of St. Martin, near the +monastery. + +Alcuin's literary activity was exerted in various directions. Two-thirds +of all that he wrote was theological in character. These works are +exegetical, like the 'Commentary on the Gospel of St. John'; dogmatic, +like the 'Writings against Felix of Urgel and Elipandus of Toledo,' his +best work of this class; or liturgical and moral, like the 'Lives of the +Saints,' The other third is made up of the epistles, already mentioned; +of poems on a great variety of subjects, the principal one being the +'Poem on the Saints of the Church at York'; and of those didactic works +which form his principal claim to attention at the present day. His +educational treatises are the following: 'On Grammar,' 'On Orthography,' +'On Rhetoric and the Virtues,' 'On Dialectics,' 'Disputation between the +Royal and Most Noble Youth Pepin, and Albinus the Scholastic,' and 'On +the Calculation of Easter,' The most important of all these writings is +his 'Grammar,' which consists of two parts: the first a dialogue between +a teacher and his pupils on philosophy and studies in general; the other +a dialogue between a teacher, a young Frank, and a young Saxon, on +grammar. These latter, in Alcuin's language, have "but lately rushed +upon the thorny thickets of grammatical density" Grammar begins with the +consideration of the letters, the vowels and consonants, the former of +which "are, as it were, the souls, and the consonants the bodies of +words." Grammar itself is defined to be "the science of written sounds, +the guardian of correct speaking and writing. It is founded on nature, +reason, authority, and custom." He enumerates no less than twenty-six +parts of grammar, which he then defines. Many of his definitions and +particularly his etymologies, are remarkable. He tells us that feet in +poetry are so called "because the metres walk on them"; _littera_ is +derived from _legitera_, "since the _littera_ serve to prepare the way +for readers" (_legere, iter_). In his 'Orthography,' a pendant to the +'Grammar,' _coelebs_, a bachelor, is "one who is on his way _ad coelum_" +(to heaven). Alcuin's 'Grammar' is based principally on Donatus. In +this, as in all his works, he compiles and adapts, but is only rarely +original. 'On Rhetoric and the Virtues' is a dialogue between +Charlemagne and Albinus (Alcuin). The 'Disputation between Pepin and +Albinus,' the beginning of which is here given, shows both the manner +and the subject-matter of his instruction. Alcuin, with all the +limitations which his environment imposed upon him, stamped himself +indelibly upon his day and generation, and left behind him, in his +scholars, an enduring influence. Men like Rabanus, the famous Bishop of +Mayence, gloried in having been his pupils, and down to the wars and +devastations of the tenth century his influence upon education was +paramount throughout all Western Europe. There is an excellent account +of Alcuin in Professor West's 'Alcuin' ('Great Educators' Series), +published in 1893. + +Wm. H. Carpenter. + + + ON THE SAINTS OF THE CHURCH AT YORK + + There the Eboric scholars felt the rule + Of Master Aelbert, teaching in the school. + Their thirsty hearts to gladden well he knew + With doctrine's stream and learning's heavenly dew. + + To some he made the grammar understood, + And poured on others rhetoric's copious flood. + The rules of jurisprudence these rehearse, + While those recite in high Eonian verse, + Or play Castalia's flutes in cadence sweet + And mount Parnassus on swift lyric feet. + + Anon the master turns their gaze on high + To view the travailing sun and moon, the sky + In order turning with its planets seven, + And starry hosts that keep the law of heaven. + + The storms at sea, the earthquake's shock, the race + Of men and beasts and flying fowl they trace; + Or to the laws of numbers bend their mind, + And search till Easter's annual day they find. + + Then, last and best, he opened up to view + The depths of Holy Scripture, Old and New. + Was any youth in studies well approved, + Then him the master cherished, taught, and loved; + And thus the double knowledge he conferred + Of liberal studies and the Holy Word. + +From West's 'Alcuin, and the Rise of the Christian Schools': by +permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. + + + DISPUTATION BETWEEN PEPIN, THE MOST NOBLE AND ROYAL + YOUTH, AND ALBINUS THE SCHOLASTIC + + _Pepin_--What is writing? + + _Albinus_--The treasury of history. + + _Pepin_--What is language? + + _Albinus_--The herald of the soul. + + _Pepin_--What generates language? + + _Albinus_--The tongue. + + _Pepin_--What is the tongue? + + _Albinus_--A whip of the air. + + _Pepin_--What is the air? + + _Albinus_--A maintainer of life. + + _Pepin_--What is life? + + _Albinus_--The joy of the happy; the torment of the suffering; +a waiting for death. + + _Pepin_--What is death? + + _Albinus_--An inevitable ending; a journey into uncertainty; a +source of tears for the living; the probation of wills; a waylayer +of men. + + _Pepin_--What is man? + + _Albinus_--A booty of death; a passing traveler; a stranger on +earth. + + _Pepin_--What is man like? + + _Albinus_--The fruit of a tree. + + _Pepin_--What are the heavens? + + _Albinus_--A rolling ball; an immeasurable vault. + + _Pepin_--What is light? + + _Albinus_--The sight of all things. + + _Pepin_--What is day? + + _Albinus_--The admonisher to labor. + + _Pepin_--What is the sun? + + _Albinus_--The glory and splendor of the heavens; the attractive +in nature; the measure of hours; the adornment of day. + + _Pepin_--What is the moon? + + _Albinus_--The eye of night; the dispenser of dew; the presager +of storms. + + _Pepin_--What are the stars? + + _Albinus_--A picture on the vault of heaven; the steersmen of +ships; the ornament of night. + + _Pepin_--What is rain? + + _Albinus_--The fertilizer of the earth; the producer of crops. + + _Pepin_--What is fog? + + _Albinus_--Night in day; the annoyance of eyes. + + _Pepin_--What is wind? + + _Albinus_--The mover of air; the agitation of water; the dryer +of the earth. + + _Pepin_--What is the earth? + + _Albinus_--The mother of growth; the nourisher of the living; +the storehouse of life; the effacer of all. + + _Pepin_--What is the sea? + + _Albinus_--The path of adventure; the bounds of the earth; +the division of lands; the harbor of rivers; the source of rains; +a refuge in danger; a pleasure in enjoyment. + + _Pepin_--What are rivers? + + _Albinus_--A ceaseless motion; a refreshment to the sun; the +waters of the earth. + + _Pepin_--What is water? + + _Albinus_--The supporter of life; the cleanser of filth. + + _Pepin_--What is fire? + + _Albinus_--An excessive heat; the nurse of growing things; the +ripener of crops. + + _Pepin_--What is cold? + + _Albinus_--The trembling of our members. + + _Pepin_--What is frost? + + _Albinus_--An assailer of plants; the destruction of leaves; a +fetter to the earth; a bridger of streams. + + _Pepin_--What is snow? + + _Albinus_--Dry water. + + _Pepin_--What is winter? + + _Albinus_--An exile of summer. + + _Pepin_--What is spring? + + _Albinus_--A painter of the earth. + + _Pepin_--What is summer? + + _Albinus_--That which brings to the earth a new garment, and +ripens the fruit. + + _Pepin_--What is autumn? + + _Albinus_--The barn of the year. + + + +A LETTER FROM ALCUIN TO CHARLEMAGNE + +(Written in the year 796) + +I, your Flaccus, in accordance with your entreaty and your gracious +kindness, am busied under the shelter of St. Martin's, in bestowing upon +many of my pupils the honey of the Holy Scriptures. I am eager that +others should drink deep of the old wine of ancient learning; I shall +presently begin to nourish still others with the fruits of grammatical +ingenuity; and some of them I am eager to enlighten with a knowledge of +the order of the stars, that seem painted, as it were, on the dome of +some mighty palace. I have become all things to all men (1 Cor. i. 22) +so that I may train up many to the profession of God's Holy Church and +to the glory of your imperial realm, lest the grace of Almighty God in +me should be fruitless (1 Cor. xv. 10) and your munificent bounty of no +avail. But your servant lacks the rarer books of scholastic learning, +which in my own country I used to have (thanks to the generous and most +devoted care of my teacher and to my own humble endeavors), and I +mention it to your Majesty so that, perchance, it may please you who are +eagerly concerned about the whole body of learning, to have me dispatch +some of our young men to procure for us certain necessary works, and +bring with them to France the flowers of England; so that a graceful +garden may not exist in York alone, but so that at Tours as well there +may be found the blossoming of Paradise with its abundant fruits; that +the south wind, when it comes, may cause the gardens along the River +Loire to burst into bloom, and their perfumed airs to stream forth, and +finally, that which follows in the Canticle, whence I have drawn this +simile, may be brought to pass... (Canticle v. 1, 2). Or even this +exhortation of the prophet Isaiah, which urges us to acquire +wisdom:--"A11 ye who thirst, come to the waters; and you who have not +money, hasten, buy and eat: come, without money and without price, and +buy wine and milk" (Isaiah iv. 1.) + +And this is a thing which your gracious zeal will not overlook: how upon +every page of the Holy Scriptures we are urged to the acquisition of +wisdom; how nothing is more honorable for insuring a happy life, nothing +more pleasing in the observance, nothing more efficient against sin, +nothing more praiseworthy in any lofty station, than that men live +according to the teachings of the philosophers. Moreover, nothing is +more essential to the government of the people, nothing better for the +guidance of life into the paths of honorable character, than the grace +which wisdom gives, and the glory of training and the power of learning. +Therefore it is that in its praise, Solomon, the wisest of all men, +exclaims, "Better is wisdom than all precious things, and more to be +desired" (Prov. viii. 11 _seq_). To secure this with every possible +effort and to get possession of it by daily endeavor, do you, my lord +King, exhort the young men who are in your Majesty's palace, that they +strive for this in the flower of their youth, so that they may be deemed +worthy to live through an old age of honor, and that by its means they +may be able to attain to everlasting happiness. I, myself, according to +my disposition, shall not be slothful in sowing the seeds of wisdom +among your servants in this land, being mindful of the injunction, "Sow +thy seed in the morning, and at eventide let not thy hand cease; since +thou knowest not what will spring up, whether these or those, and if +both together, still better is it" (Eccles. xi. 6). In the morning of my +life and in the fruitful period of my studies I sowed seed in Britain, +and now that my blood has grown cool in the evening of life, I still +cease not; but sow the seed in France, desiring that both may spring up +by the grace of God. And now that my body has grown weak, I find +consolation in the saying of St. Jerome, who declares in his letter to +Nepotianus, "Almost all the powers of the body are altered in old men, +and wisdom alone will increase while the rest decay." And a little +further he says, "The old age of those who have adorned their youth with +noble accomplishments and have meditated on the law of the Lord both day +and night becomes more and more deeply accomplished with its years, more +polished from experience, more wise by the lapse of time; and it reaps +the sweetest fruit of ancient learning." In this letter in praise of +wisdom, one who wishes can read many things of the scientific pursuits +of the ancients, and can understand how eager were these ancients to +abound in the grace of wisdom. I have noted that your zeal, which is +pleasing to God and praiseworthy, is always advancing toward this wisdom +and takes pleasure in it, and that you are adorning the magnificence of +your worldly rule with still greater intellectual splendor. In this may +our Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself the supreme type of divine wisdom, +guard you and exalt you, and cause you to attain to the glory of His own +blessed and everlasting vision. + + + + +HENRY M. ALDEN + +(1836-) + +Henry Mills Alden, since 1864 the editor of Harper's Magazine, was born +in Mount Tabor, Vermont, November 11th, 1836, the eighth in descent from +Captain John Alden, the Pilgrim. He graduated at Williams College, and +studied theology at Andover Seminary, but was never ordained a minister, +having almost immediately turned his attention to literature. His first +work that attracted attention was an essay on the Eleusinian Mysteries, +published in the Atlantic Monthly. The scholarship and subtle method +revealed in this and similar works led to his engagement to deliver a +course of twelve Lowell Institute lectures at Boston, in 1863 and 1864, +and he took for his subject 'The Structure of Paganism.' Before this he +had removed to New York, had engaged in general editorial work, and +formed his lasting connection with the house of Harper and Brothers. + +As an editor Mr. Alden is the most practical of men, but he is in +reality a poet, and in another age he might have been a mystic. He has +the secret of preserving his life to himself, while paying the keenest +attention to his daily duties. In his office he is immersed in affairs +which require the exercise of vigilant common-sense, and knowledge of +life and literature. At his home he is a serene and optimistic +philosopher, contemplating the forces that make for our civilization, +and musing over the deep problems of man's occupation of this earth. In +1893 appeared anonymously a volume entitled 'God in His World,' which +attracted instantly wide attention in this country and in England for +its subtlety of thought, its boldness of treatment, its winning +sweetness of temper, and its exquisite style. It was by Mr. Alden, and +in 1895 it was followed by 'A Study of Death,' continuing the great +theme of the first,--the unity of creation, the certainty that there is +in no sense a war between the Creator and his creation. In this view the +Universe is not divided into the Natural and the Supernatural: all is +Natural. But we can speak here only of their literary quality. The +author is seen to be a poet in his conceptions, but in form his writing +is entirely within the limits of prose; yet it is a prose most +harmonious, most melodious, and it exhibits the capacity of our English +tongue in the hand of a master. The thought is sometimes so subtle as to +elude the careless reader, but the charm of the melody never fails to +entrance. The study of life and civilization is profound, but the grace +of treatment seems to relieve the problems of half their difficulty. + +His wife did not live to read the exquisite dedication given below. + + +From 'A Study of Death,' copyright 1895, by Harper and Brothers + +A DEDICATION + +TO MY BELOVED WIFE + +My earliest written expression of intimate thought or cherished fancy +was for your eyes only; it was my first approach to your maidenly heart, +a mystical wooing, which neglected no resource, near or remote, for the +enhancement of its charm, and so involved all other mystery in its own. + +In you, childhood has been inviolate, never losing its power of leading +me by an unspoken invocation to a green field, ever kept fresh by a +living fountain, where the Shepherd tends his flock. Now, through a body +racked with pain, and sadly broken, still shines this unbroken +childhood, teaching me Love's deepest mystery. + +It is fitting, then, that I should dedicate to you this book touching +that mystery. It has been written in the shadow, but illumined by the +brightness of an angel's face seen in the darkness, so that it has +seemed easy and natural for me to find at the thorn's heart a secret and +everlasting sweetness far surpassing that of the rose itself, which +ceases in its own perfection. + +Whether that angel we have seen shall, for my need and comfort, and for +your own longing, hold back his greatest gift, and leave you mine in the +earthly ways we know and love, or shall hasten to make the heavenly +surprise, the issue in either event will be a home-coming; if _here_, +yet already the deeper secret will have been in part disclosed; and if +_beyond_, that secret, fully known, will not betray the fondest hope of +loving hearts. Love never denied Death, and Death will not deny Love. + + +From 'A Study of Death,' copyright 1895, by Harper and Brothers + +THE DOVE AND THE SERPENT + +The Dove flies, and the Serpent creeps. Yet is the Dove fond, while the +Serpent is the emblem of wisdom. Both were in Eden: the cooing, +fluttering, wingèd spirit, loving to descend, companion-like, brooding, +following; and the creeping thing which had glided into the sunshine of +Paradise from the cold bosoms of those nurses of an older world--Pain, +and Darkness, and Death--himself forgetting these in the warmth and +green life of the Garden. And our first parents knew naught of these as +yet unutterable mysteries, any more than they knew that their roses +bloomed over a tomb: so that when all animate creatures came to Adam to +be named, the meaning of this living allegory which passed before him +was in great part hidden, and he saw no sharp line dividing the +firmament below from the firmament above; rather he leaned toward the +ground, as one does in a garden, seeing how quickly it was fashioned +into the climbing trees, into the clean flowers, and into his own +shapely frame. It was upon the ground he lay when that deep sleep fell +upon him from which he woke to find his mate, lithe as the serpent, yet +with the fluttering heart of the dove. + +As the Dove, though winged for flight, ever descended, so the Serpent, +though unable wholly to leave the ground, tried ever to lift himself +therefrom, as if to escape some ancient bond. The cool nights revived +and nourished his memories of an older time, wherein lay his subtile +wisdom, but day by day his aspiring crest grew brighter. The life of +Eden became for him oblivion, the light of the sun obscuring and +confounding his reminiscence, even as for Adam and Eve this life was +Illusion, the visible disguising the invisible, and pleasure +veiling pain. + +In Adam the culture of the ground maintained humility. He was held, +moreover, in lowly content by the charm of the woman, who was to him +like the earth grown human; and since she was the daughter of Sleep, her +love seemed to him restful as the night. Her raven locks were like the +mantle of darkness, and her voice had the laughter of streams that +lapsed into unseen depths. + +But Eve had something of the Serpent's unrest, as if she too had come +from the Under-world, which she would fain forget, seeking liberation, +urged by desire as deep as the abyss she had left behind her, and +nourished from roots unfathomably hidden--the roots of the Tree of Life. +She thus came to have conversation with the Serpent. + +In the lengthening days of Eden's one Summer these two were more and +more completely enfolded in the Illusion of Light. It was under this +spell that, dwelling upon the enticement of fruit good to look at, and +pleasant to the taste, the Serpent denied Death, and thought of Good as +separate from Evil. "Ye shall not surely die, but shall be as the gods, +knowing good and evil." So far, in his aspiring day-dream, had the +Serpent fared from his old familiar haunts--so far from his +old-world wisdom! + +A surer omen would have come to Eve had she listened to the plaintive +notes of the bewildered Dove that in his downward flutterings had begun +to divine what the Serpent had come to forget, and to confess what he +had come to deny. + +For already was beginning to be felt "the season's difference," and the +grave mystery, without which Paradise itself could not have been, was +about to be unveiled,--the background of the picture becoming its +foreground. The fond hands plucking the rose had found the thorn. Evil +was known as something by itself, apart from Good, and Eden was left +behind, as one steps out of infancy. + +From that hour have the eyes of the children of men been turned from the +accursed earth, looking into the blue above, straining their vision for +a glimpse of white-robed angels. + +Yet it was the Serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness; and when He +who "became sin for us" was being bruised in the heel by the old enemy, +the Dove descended upon Him at His baptism. He united the wisdom of the +Serpent with the harmlessness of the Dove. Thus in Him were bound +together and reconciled the elements which in human thought had been put +asunder. In Him, Evil is overcome of Good, as, in Him, Death is +swallowed up of Life; and with His eyes we see that the robes of angels +are white, because they have been washed in blood. + + +From 'A Study of Death,' copyright 1895, by Harper and Brothers + +DEATH AND SLEEP + +The Angel of Death is the invisible Angel of Life. While the organism is +alive as a human embodiment, death is present, having the same human +distinction as the life, from which it is inseparable, being, indeed, +the better half of living,--its winged half, its rest and inspiration, +its secret spring of elasticity, and quickness. Life came upon the wings +of Death, and so departs. + +If we think of life apart from death our thought is partial, as if we +would give flight to the arrow without bending the bow. No living +movement either begins or is completed save through death. If the +shuttle return not there is no web; and the texture of life is woven +through this tropic movement. + +It is a commonly accepted scientific truth that the continuance of life +in any living thing depends upon death. But there are two ways of +expressing this truth: one, regarding merely the outward fact, as when +we say that animal or vegetable tissue is renewed through decay; the +other, regarding the action and reaction proper to life itself, whereby +it forever springs freshly from its source. The latter form of +expression is mystical, in the true meaning of that term. We close our +eyes to the outward appearance, in order that we may directly confront a +mystery which is already past before there is any visible indication +thereof. Though the imagination engaged in this mystical apprehension +borrows its symbols or analogues from observation and experience, yet +these symbols are spiritually regarded by looking at life on its living +side, and abstracted as far as possible from outward embodiment. We +especially affect physiological analogues because, being derived from +our experience, we may the more readily have the inward regard of them; +and by passing from one physiological analogue to another, and from all +these to those furnished by the processes of nature outside of our +bodies, we come to an apprehension of the action and reaction proper to +life itself as an idea independent of all its physical representations. + +Thus we trace the rhythmic beating of the pulse to the systole and +diastole of the heart, and we note a similar alternation in the +contraction and relaxation of all our muscles. Breathing is alternately +inspiration and expiration. Sensation itself is by beats, and falls into +rhythm. There is no uninterrupted strain of either action or +sensibility; a current or a contact is renewed, having been broken. In +psychical operation there is the same alternate lapse and resurgence. +Memory rises from the grave of oblivion. No holding can be maintained +save through alternate release. Pulsation establishes circulation, and +vital motions proceed through cycles, each one of which, however minute, +has its tropic of Cancer and of Capricorn. Then there are the larger +physiological cycles, like that wherein sleep is the alternation of +waking. Passing from the field of our direct experience to that of +observation, we note similar alternations, as of day and night, summer +and winter, flood and ebb tide; and science discloses them at every +turn, especially in its recent consideration of the subtle forces of +Nature, leading us back of all visible motions to the pulsations of +the ether.... + +In considering the action and reaction proper to life itself, we here +dismiss from view all measured cycles, whose beginning and end are +appreciably separate; our regard is confined to living moments, so fleet +that their beginning and ending meet as in one point, which is seen to +be at once the point of departure and of return. Thus we may speak of a +man's life as included between his birth and his death, and with +reference to this physiological term, think of him as living, and then +as dead; but we may also consider him while living as yet every moment +dying, and in this view death is clearly seen to be the inseparable +companion of life,--the way of return, and so of continuance. This +pulsation, forever a vanishing and a resurgence, so incalculably swift +as to escape observation, is proper to life as life, does not begin with +what we call birth nor end with what we call death (considering birth +and death as terms applicable to an individual existence); it is forever +beginning and forever ending. Thus to all manifest existence we apply +the term Nature (_natura_), which means "forever being born"; and on its +vanishing side it is _moritura_, or "forever dying." Resurrection is +thus a natural and perpetual miracle. The idea of life as transcending +any individual embodiment is as germane to science as it is to faith. + +Death, thus seen as essential, is lifted above its temporary and visible +accidents. It is no longer associated with corruption, but rather with +the sweet and wholesome freshness of life, being the way of its renewal. +Sweeter than the honey which Samson found in the lion's carcass is this +everlasting sweetness of Death; and it is a mystery deeper than the +strong man's riddle. + +So is Death pure and clean, as is the dew that comes with the cool night +when the sun has set; clean and white as the snowflakes that betoken the +absolution which Winter gives, shriving the earth of all her Summer +wantonness and excess, when only the trees that yield balsam and +aromatic fragrance remain green, breaking the box of precious ointment +for burial. + +In this view also is restored the kinship of Death with Sleep. + +The state of the infant seems to be one of chronic mysticism, since +during the greater part of its days its eyes are closed to the outer +world. Its larger familiarity is still with the invisible, and it seems +as if the Mothers of Darkness were still withholding it as their +nursling, accomplishing for it some mighty work in their proper realm, +some such fiery baptism of infants as is frequently instanced in Greek +mythology, tempering them for earthly trials. The infant must needs +sleep while this work is being done for it; it has been sleeping since +the work began, from the foundation of the world, and the old habit +still clings about it and is not easily laid aside.... + +That which we have been considering as the death that is in every moment +is a reaction proper to life itself, waking or sleeping, whereby it is +renewed, sharing at once Time and Eternity--time as outward form, and +eternity as its essential quality. Sleep is a special relaxation, +relieving a special strain. As daily we build with effort and design an +elaborate superstructure above the living foundation, so must this +edifice nightly be laid in ruins. Sleep is thus a disembarrassment, the +unloading of a burden wherewith we have weighted ourselves. Here again +we are brought into a kind of repentance, and receive absolution. Sleep +is forgiveness. + + +From 'A Study of Death,' copyright 1895, by Harper and Brothers + +THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL + + +I + +Standing at the gate of Birth, it would seem as if it were the vital +destination of all things to fly from their source, as if it were the +dominant desire of life to enter into limitations. We might mentally +represent to ourselves an essence simple and indivisible that denies +itself in diversified manifold existence. To us, this side the veil, +nay, immeshed in innumerable veils that hide from us the Father's face, +this insistence appears to have the stress of urgency, as if the effort +of all being, its unceasing travail, were like the beating of the +infinite ocean upon the shores of Time; and as if, within the continent +of Time, all existence were forever knocking at new gates, seeking, +through some as yet untried path of progression, greater complexity, a +deeper involvement. All the children seem to be beseeching the Father to +divide unto them His living, none willingly abiding in that Father's +house. But in reality their will is His will--they fly, and they are +driven, like fledglings from the mother-nest. + + +II + +The story of a solar system, or of any synthesis in time, repeats the +parable of the Prodigal Son, in its essential features. It is a +cosmic parable. + +The planet is a wanderer (_planes_), and the individual planetary +destiny can be accomplished only through flight from its source. After +all its prodigality it shall sicken and return. + +Attributing to the Earth, thus apparently separated from the Sun, some +macrocosmic sentience, what must have been her wondering dream, finding +herself at once thrust away and securely held, poised between her flight +and her bond, and so swinging into a regular orbit about the Sun, while +at the same time, in her rotation, turning to him and away from +him--into the light, and into the darkness, forever denying and +confessing her lord! Her emotion must have been one of delight, however +mingled with a feeling of timorous awe, since her desire could not have +been other than one with her destination. Despite the distance and the +growing coolness she could feel the kinship still; her pulse, though +modulated, was still in rhythm with that of the solar heart, and in her +bosom were hidden consubstantial fires. But it was the sense of +otherness, of her own distinct individuation, that was mainly being +nourished, this sense, moreover, being proper to her destiny; therefore, +the signs of her likeness to the Sun were more and more being buried +from her view; her fires were veiled by a hardening crust, and her +opaqueness stood out against his light. She had no regret for all she +was surrendering, thinking only of her gain, of being clothed upon with +a garment showing ever some new fold of surprising beauty and wonder. If +she had remained in the Father's house--like the elder brother in the +Parable--then would all that He had have been hers, in nebulous +simplicity. But now, holding her revels apart, she seems to sing her own +song, and to dream her own beautiful dream, wandering, with a motion +wholly her own, among the gardens of cosmic order and loveliness. She +glories in her many veils, which, though they hide from her both her +source and her very self, are the media through which the invisible +light is broken into multiform illusions that enrich her dream. She +beholds the Sun as a far-off, insphered being existing for her, her +ministrant bridegroom; and when her face is turned away from him into +the night, she beholds innumerable suns, a myriad of archangels, all +witnesses of some infinitely remote and central flame--the Spirit of all +life. Yet, in the midst of these visible images, she is absorbed in her +individual dream, wherein she appears to herself to be the mother of all +living. It is proper to her destiny that she should be thus enwrapped in +her own distinct action and passion, and refer to herself the +appearances of a universe. While all that is not she is what she really +is,--necessary, that is, to her full definition,--she, on the other +hand, from herself interprets all else. This is the inevitable +terrestrial idealism, peculiar to every individuation in time--the +individual thus balancing the universe. + + +III + +In reality, the Earth has never left the Sun; apart from him she has no +life, any more than has the branch severed from the vine. More truly it +may be said that the Sun has never left the Earth. + +No prodigal can really leave the Father's house, any more than he can +leave himself; coming to himself, he feels the Father's arms about +him--they have always been there--he is newly appareled, and wears the +signet ring of native prestige; he hears the sound of familiar music and +dancing, and it may be that the young and beautiful forms mingling with +him in this festival are the riotous youths and maidens of his +far-country revels, also come to themselves and home, of whom also the +Father saith: These were dead and are alive again, they were lost and +are found. The starvation and sense of exile had been parts of a +troubled dream--a dream which had also had its ecstasy, but had come +into a consuming fever, with delirious imaginings of fresh fountains, of +shapes drawn from the memory of childhood, and of the cool touch of +kindred hands upon the brow. So near is exile to home, misery to divine +commiseration--so near are pain and death, desolation and divestiture, +to "a new creature," and to the kinship involved in all creation and +re-creation. + +Distance in the cosmic order is a standing-apart, which is only another +expression of the expansion and abundance of creative life; but at every +remove its reflex is nearness, a bond of attraction, insphering and +curving, making orb and orbit. While in space this attraction is +diminished--being inversely as the square of the distance--and so there +is maintained and emphasized the appearance of suspension and isolation, +yet in time it gains preponderance, contracting sphere and orbit, aging +planets and suns, and accumulating destruction, which at the point of +annihilation becomes a new creation. This Grand Cycle, which is but a +pulsation or breath of the Eternal life, illustrates a truth which is +repeated in its least and most minutely divided moment--that birth lies +next to death, as water crystallizes at the freezing-point, and the +plant blossoms at points most remote from the source of nutrition. + + + + +THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH + +(1836-) + +A poet in verse often becomes a poet in prose also, in composing novels; +although the novelist may not, and in general does not, possess the +faculty of writing poems. The poet-novelist is apt to put into his prose +a good deal of the same charm and the same picturesque choice of phrase +and image that characterize his verse; while it does not follow that the +novelist who at times writes verse--like George Eliot, for +example--succeeds in giving a distinctly poetic quality to prose, or +even wishes to do so. Among authors who have displayed peculiar power +and won fame in the dual capacity of poet and of prose romancer or +novelist, Sir Walter Scott and Victor Hugo no doubt stand pre-eminent; +and in American literature, Edgar Allan Poe and Oliver Wendell Holmes +very strikingly combine these two functions. Another American author who +has gained a distinguished position both as a poet and as a writer of +prose fiction and essays is Thomas Bailey Aldrich. + +[Illustration: THOMAS B. ALDRICH] + +It is upon his work in the form of verse, perhaps, that Aldrich's chief +renown is based; but some of his short stories in especial have +contributed much to his popularity, no less than to his repute as a +delicate and polished artificer in words. A New Englander, he has +infused into some of his poems the true atmosphere of New England, and +has given the same light and color of home to his prose, while imparting +to his productions in both kinds a delightful tinge of the foreign and +remote. In addition to his capacities as a poet and a romancer, he is a +wit and humorist of sparkling quality. In reading his books one seems +also to inhale the perfumes of Arabia and the farther East, blended with +the salt sea-breeze and the pine-scented air of his native State, New +Hampshire. + +He was born in the old seaside town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, +November 11th, 1836; but moved to New York City in 1854, at the age of +seventeen. There he remained until 1866; beginning his work quite early; +forming his literary character by reading and observation, by the +writing of poems, and by practice and experience of writing prose +sketches and articles for journals and periodicals. During this period +he entered into associations with the poets Stedman, Stoddard, and +Bayard Taylor, and was more or less in touch with the group that +included Walt Whitman, Fitz-James O'Brien, and William Winter. Removing +to Boston in January, 1866, he became the editor of Every Saturday, and +remained in that post until 1874, when he resigned. In 1875 he made a +long tour in Europe, plucking the first fruits of foreign travel, which +were succeeded by many rich and dainty gatherings from the same source +in later years. In the intervals of these wanderings he lived in Boston +and Cambridge; occupying for a time James Russell Lowell's historic +house of Elmwood, in the semi-rural university city; and then +established a pretty country house at Ponkapog, a few miles west of +Boston. This last suggested the title for a charming book of travel +papers, 'From Ponkapog to Pesth.' In 1881 he was appointed editor of the +Atlantic Monthly, and continued to direct that famous magazine for nine +years, frequently making short trips to Europe, extending his tours as +far as the heart of Russia, and gathering fresh materials, for essay or +song. Much of his time since giving up the Atlantic editorship has been +passed in voyaging, and in 1894-5 he made a journey around the world. + +From the beginning he struck with quiet certainty the vein that was his +by nature in poetry; and this has broadened almost continually, yielding +richer results, which have been worked out with an increasing refinement +of skill. His predilection is for the picturesque; for romance combined +with simplicity, purity, and tenderness of feeling, touched by fancy and +by occasional lights of humor so reserved and dainty that they never +disturb the pictorial harmony. The capacity for unaffected utterance of +feeling on matters common to humanity reached a climax in the poem of +'Baby Bell,' which by its sympathetic and delicate description of a +child's advent and death gave the author a claim to the affection^ of a +wide circle; and this remained for a long time probably the best known +among his poems. 'Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book' is another of the +earlier favorites. 'Spring in New England' has since come to hold high +rank both for its vivid and graceful description of the season, for its +tender fervor of patriotism, and for its sentiment of reconciliation +between North and South. The lines on 'Piscataqua River' remain one of +the best illustrations of boyhood memories, and have something of +Whittier's homely truth. In his longer narrative pieces, 'Judith' and +'Wyndham Towers,' cast in the mold of blank-verse idyls, Mr. Aldrich +does not seem so much himself as in many of his briefer flights. An +instinctive dramatic tendency finds outlet in 'Pauline Paulovna' and +'Mercedes'--the latter of which, a two-act piece in prose, has found +representation in the theatre; yet in these, also, he is less eminently +successful than in his lyrics and society verse. + +No American poet has wrought his stanzas with greater faithfulness to an +exacting standard of craftsmanship than Mr. Aldrich, or has known better +when to leave a line loosely cast, and when to reinforce it with +correction or with a syllable that might seem, to an ear less true, +redundant. This gives to his most carefully chiseled productions an air +of spontaneous ease, and has made him eminent as a sonneteer. His sonnet +on 'Sleep' is one of the finest in the language. The conciseness and +concentrated aptness of his expression also--together with a faculty of +bringing into conjunction subtly contrasted thoughts, images, or +feelings--has issued happily in short, concentrated pieces like 'An +Untimely Thought,' 'Destiny,' and 'Identity,' and in a number of pointed +and effective quatrains. Without overmastering purpose outside of art +itself, his is the poetry of luxury rather than of deep passion or +conviction; yet, with the freshness of bud and tint in springtime, it +still always relates itself effectively to human experience. The +author's specially American quality, also, though not dominant, comes +out clearly in 'Unguarded Gates,' and with a differing tone in the +plaintive Indian legend of 'Miantowona.' + +If we perceive in his verse a kinship with the dainty ideals of +Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Musset, this does not obscure his +originality or his individual charm; and the same thing may be said with +regard to his prose. The first of his short fictions that made a decided +mark was 'Marjorie Daw.' The fame which it gained, in its separate +field, was as swift and widespread as that of Hawthorne's 'The Gentle +Boy' or Bret Harte's 'Luck of Roaring Camp.' It is a bright and +half-pathetic little parody on human life and affection; or perhaps we +should call it a parable symbolizing the power which imagination wields +over real life, even in supposedly unimaginative people. The covert +smile which it involves, at the importance of human emotions, may be +traced to a certain extent in some of Mr. Aldrich's longer and more +serious works of fiction: his three novels, 'Prudence Palfrey,' 'The +Queen of Sheba,' and 'The Stillwater Tragedy.' 'The Story of a Bad Boy,' +frankly but quietly humorous in its record of the pranks and +vicissitudes of a healthy average lad (with the scene of the story +localized at old Portsmouth, under the name of Rivermouth), a less +ambitious work, still holds a secure place in the affections of many +mature as well as younger readers. Besides these books, Mr. Aldrich has +published a collection of short descriptive, reminiscent, and +half-historic papers on Portsmouth,--'An Old Town by the Sea'; with a +second volume of short stories entitled 'Two Bites at a Cherry.' The +character-drawing in his fiction is clear-cut and effective, often +sympathetic, and nearly always suffused with an agreeable coloring of +humor. There are notes of pathos, too, in some of his tales; and it is +the blending of these qualities, through the medium of a lucid and +delightful style, that defines his pleasing quality in prose. + + +[The following selections are copyrighted, and are reprinted by +permission of the author, and Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers.] + + + DESTINY + + Three roses, wan as moonlight, and weighed down + Each with its loveliness as with a crown, + Drooped in a florist's window in a town. + + The first a lover bought. It lay at rest, + Like flower on flower, that night, on Beauty's breast. + + The second rose, as virginal and fair, + Shrunk in the tangles of a harlot's hair. + + The third, a widow, with new grief made wild, + Shut in the icy palm of her dead child. + + + IDENTITY + + Somewhere--in desolate wind-swept space-- + In Twilight-land--in No-man's land-- + Two hurrying Shapes met face to face, + And bade each other stand. + + "And who are you?" cried one, agape, + Shuddering in the gloaming light. + "I know not," said the second Shape, + "I only died last night!" + + + PRESCIENCE + + The new moon hung in the sky, the sun was low in the west, + And my betrothed and I in the churchyard paused to rest-- + Happy maiden and lover, dreaming the old dream over: + The light winds wandered by, and robins chirped from the nest. + + And lo! in the meadow sweet was the grave of a little child, + With a crumbling stone at the feet and the ivy running wild-- + Tangled ivy and clover folding it over and over: + Close to my sweetheart's feet was the little mound up-piled. + + Stricken with nameless fears, she shrank and clung to me, + And her eyes were filled with tears for a sorrow I did not see: + Lightly the winds were blowing, softly her tears were flowing-- + Tears for the unknown years and a sorrow that was to be! + + + ALEC YEATON'S SON + + GLOUCESTER, AUGUST, 1720 + +/* + The wind it wailed, the wind it moaned, + And the white caps flecked the sea; + "An' I would to God," the skipper groaned, + "I had not my boy with me!" + + Snug in the stern-sheets, little John + Laughed as the scud swept by; + But the skipper's sunburnt cheek grew wan + As he watched the wicked sky. + + "Would he were at his mother's side!" + And the skipper's eyes were dim. + "Good Lord in heaven, if ill betide, + What would become of him! + + "For me--my muscles are as steel, + For me let hap what may; + I might make shift upon the keel + Until the break o' day. + + "But he, he is so weak and small, + So young, scarce learned to stand-- + O pitying Father of us all, + I trust him in thy hand! + + "For thou who markest from on high + A sparrow's fall--each one!-- + Surely, O Lord, thou'lt have an eye + On Alec Yeaton's son!" + + Then, helm hard-port; right straight he sailed + Towards the headland light: + The wind it moaned, the wind it wailed, + And black, black fell the night. + + Then burst a storm to make one quail, + Though housed from winds and waves-- + They who could tell about that gale + Must rise from watery graves! + + Sudden it came, as sudden went; + Ere half the night was sped, + The winds were hushed, the waves were spent, + And the stars shone overhead. + + Now, as the morning mist grew thin, + The folk on Gloucester shore + Saw a little figure floating in + Secure, on a broken oar! + + Up rose the cry, "A wreck! a wreck! + Pull mates, and waste no breath!"-- + They knew it, though 'twas but a speck + Upon the edge of death! + + Long did they marvel in the town + At God his strange decree, + That let the stalwart skipper drown + And the little child go free! + + + MEMORY + + My mind lets go a thousand things, + Like dates of wars and deaths of kings, + And yet recalls the very hour-- + 'Twas noon by yonder village tower. + And on the last blue noon in May-- + The wind came briskly up this way, + Crisping the brook beside the road; + Then, pausing here, set down its load + Of pine-scents, and shook listlessly + Two petals from that wild-rose tree. + + + TENNYSON (1890) + + I + + Shakespeare and Milton--what third blazoned name + Shall lips of after ages link to these? + His who, beside the wild encircling seas, + Was England's voice, her voice with one acclaim, + For threescore years; whose word of praise was fame, + Whose scorn gave pause to man's iniquities. + + II + + What strain was his in that Crimean war? + A bugle-call in battle; a low breath, + Plaintive and sweet, above the fields of death! + So year by year the music rolled afar, + From Euxine wastes to flowery Kandahar, + Bearing the laurel or the cypress wreath. + + III + + Others shall have their little space of time, + Their proper niche and bust, then fade away + Into the darkness, poets of a day; + But thou, O builder of enduring rhyme, + Thou shalt not pass! Thy fame in every clime + On earth shall live where Saxon speech has sway. + + IV + + Waft me this verse across the winter sea, + Through light and dark, through mist and blinding sleet, + O winter winds, and lay it at his feet; + Though the poor gift betray my poverty, + At his feet lay it; it may chance that he + Will find no gift, where reverence is, unmeet. + + +[Illustration: _POETRY_. +Photogravure from a painting by C. Schweninger.] + + + SWEETHEART, SIGH NO MORE + + It was with doubt and trembling + I whispered in her ear. + Go, take her answer, bird-on-bough, + That all the world may hear-- + _Sweetheart, sigh no more_! + + Sing it, sing it, tawny throat, + Upon the wayside tree, + How fair she is, how true she is, + How dear she is to me-- + _Sweetheart, sigh no more_! + + Sing it, sing it, and through the summer long + The winds among the clover-tops, + And brooks, for all their silvery stops, + Shall envy you the song-- + _Sweetheart, sigh no more!_ + + + BROKEN MUSIC + + "A note + All out of tune in this world's instrument." + + AMY LEVY. + + I know not in what fashion she was made, + Nor what her voice was, when she used to speak, + Nor if the silken lashes threw a shade + On wan or rosy cheek. + + I picture her with sorrowful vague eyes, + Illumed with such strange gleams of inner light + As linger in the drift of London skies + Ere twilight turns to night. + + I know not; I conjecture. 'Twas a girl + That with her own most gentle desperate hand + From out God's mystic setting plucked life's pearl-- + 'Tis hard to understand. + + So precious life is! Even to the old + The hours are as a miser's coins, and she-- + Within her hands lay youth's unminted gold + And all felicity. + + The winged impetuous spirit, the white flame + That was her soul once, whither has it flown? + Above her brow gray lichens blot her name + Upon the carven stone. + + This is her Book of Verses--wren-like notes, + Shy franknesses, blind gropings, haunting fears; + At times across the chords abruptly floats + A mist of passionate tears. + + A fragile lyre too tensely keyed and strung, + A broken music, weirdly incomplete: + Here a proud mind, self-baffled and self-stung, + Lies coiled in dark defeat. + + + ELMWOOD + + _In Memory of James Russell Lowell_ + + Here, in the twilight, at the well-known gate + I linger, with no heart to enter more. + Among the elm-tops the autumnal air + Murmurs, and spectral in the fading light + A solitary heron wings its way + Southward--save this no sound or touch of life. + Dark is the window where the scholar's lamp + Was used to catch a pallor from the dawn. + + Yet I must needs a little linger here. + Each shrub and tree is eloquent of him, + For tongueless things and silence have their speech. + This is the path familiar to his foot + From infancy to manhood and old age; + For in a chamber of that ancient house + His eyes first opened on the mystery + Of life, and all the splendor of the world. + Here, as a child, in loving, curious way, + He watched the bluebird's coming; learned the date + Of hyacinth and goldenrod, and made + Friends of those little redmen of the elms, + And slyly added to their winter store + Of hazel-nuts: no harmless thing that breathed, + Footed or winged, but knew him for a friend. + The gilded butterfly was not afraid + To trust its gold to that so gentle hand, + The bluebird fled not from the pendent spray. + Ah, happy childhood, ringed with fortunate stars! + What dreams were his in this enchanted sphere, + What intuitions of high destiny! + The honey-bees of Hybla touched his lips + In that old New-World garden, unawares. + + So in her arms did Mother Nature fold + Her poet, whispering what of wild and sweet + Into his ear--the state-affairs of birds, + The lore of dawn and sunset, what the wind + Said in the tree-tops--fine, unfathomed things + Henceforth to turn to music in his brain: + A various music, now like notes of flutes, + And now like blasts of trumpets blown in wars. + Later he paced this leafy academe + A student, drinking from Greek chalices + The ripened vintage of the antique world. + And here to him came love, and love's dear loss; + Here honors came, the deep applause of men + Touched to the heart by some swift-wingèd word + That from his own full heart took eager flight-- + Some strain of piercing sweetness or rebuke, + For underneath his gentle nature flamed + A noble scorn for all ignoble deed, + Himself a bondman till all men were free. + + Thus passed his manhood; then to other lands + He strayed, a stainless figure among courts + Beside the Manzanares and the Thames. + Whence, after too long exile, he returned + With fresher laurel, but sedater step + And eye more serious, fain to breathe the air + Where through the Cambridge marshes the blue Charles + Uncoils its length and stretches to the sea: + Stream dear to him, at every curve a shrine + For pilgrim Memory. Again he watched + His loved syringa whitening by the door, + And knew the catbird's welcome; in his walks + Smiled on his tawny kinsmen of the elms + Stealing his nuts; and in the ruined year + Sat at his widowed hearthside with bent brows + Leonine, frosty with the breath of time, + And listened to the crooning of the wind + In the wide Elmwood chimneys, as of old. + And then--and then.... + + The after-glow has faded from the elms, + And in the denser darkness of the boughs + From time to time the firefly's tiny lamp + Sparkles. How often in still summer dusks + He paused to note that transient phantom spark + Flash on the air--a light that outlasts him! + + The night grows chill, as if it felt a breath + Blown from that frozen city where he lies. + All things turn strange. The leaf that rustles here + Has more than autumn's mournfulness. The place + Is heavy with his absence. Like fixed eyes + Whence the dear light of sense and thought has fled, + The vacant windows stare across the lawn. + The wise sweet spirit that informed it all + Is otherwhere. The house itself is dead. + + O autumn wind among the sombre pines, + Breathe you his dirge, but be it sweet and low. + With deep refrains and murmurs of the sea, + Like to his verse--the art is yours alone. + His once--you taught him. Now no voice but yours! + Tender and low, O wind among the pines. + I would, were mine a lyre of richer strings, + In soft Sicilian accents wrap his name. + + + SEA LONGINGS + + The first world-sound that fell upon my ear + Was that of the great winds along the coast + Crushing the deep-sea beryl on the rocks-- + The distant breakers' sullen cannonade. + Against the spires and gables of the town + The white fog drifted, catching here and there + At overleaning cornice or peaked roof, + And hung--weird gonfalons. The garden walks + Were choked with leaves, and on their ragged biers + Lay dead the sweets of summer--damask rose, + Clove-pink, old-fashioned, loved New England flowers + Only keen salt-sea odors filled the air. + Sea-sounds, sea-odors--these were all my world. + Hence is it that life languishes with me + Inland; the valleys stifle me with gloom + And pent-up prospect; in their narrow bound + Imagination flutters futile wings. + Vainly I seek the sloping pearl-white sand + And the mirage's phantom citadels + Miraculous, a moment seen, then gone. + Among the mountains I am ill at ease, + Missing the stretched horizon's level line + And the illimitable restless blue. + The crag-torn sky is not the sky I love, + But one unbroken sapphire spanning all; + And nobler than the branches of a pine + Aslant upon a precipice's edge + Are the strained spars of some great battle-ship + Plowing across the sunset. No bird's lilt + So takes me as the whistling of the gale + Among the shrouds. My cradle-song was this, + Strange inarticulate sorrows of the sea, + Blithe rhythms upgathered from the Sirens' caves. + Perchance of earthly voices the last voice + That shall an instant my freed spirit stay + On this world's verge, will be some message blown + Over the dim salt lands that fringe the coast + At dusk, or when the trancèd midnight droops + With weight of stars, or haply just as dawn, + Illumining the sullen purple wave, + Turns the gray pools and willow-stems to gold. + + + A SHADOW OF THE NIGHT + + Close on the edge of a midsummer dawn + In troubled dreams I went from land to land, + Each seven-colored like the rainbow's arc, + Regions where never fancy's foot had trod + Till then; yet all the strangeness seemed not strange, + At which I wondered, reasoning in my dream + With twofold sense, well knowing that I slept. + At last I came to this our cloud-hung earth, + And somewhere by the seashore was a grave, + A woman's grave, new-made, and heaped with flowers; + And near it stood an ancient holy man + That fain would comfort me, who sorrowed not + For this unknown dead woman at my feet. + But I, because his sacred office held + My reverence, listened; and 'twas thus he spake:-- + "When next thou comest thou shalt find her still + In all the rare perfection that she was. + Thou shalt have gentle greeting of thy love! + Her eyelids will have turned to violets, + Her bosom to white lilies, and her breath + To roses. What is lovely never dies, + But passes into other loveliness, + Star-dust, or sea-foam, flower, or wingèd air. + If this befalls our poor unworthy flesh, + Think thee what destiny awaits the soul! + What glorious vesture it shall wear at last!" + While yet he spoke, seashore and grave and priest + Vanished, and faintly from a neighboring spire + Fell five slow solemn strokes upon my ear. + Then I awoke with a keen pain at heart, + A sense of swift unutterable loss, + And through the darkness reached my hand to touch + Her cheek, soft-pillowed on one restful palm-- + To be quite sure! + + + OUTWARD BOUND + + I leave behind me the elm-shadowed square + And carven portals of the silent street, + And wander on with listless, vagrant feet + Through seaward-leading alleys, till the air + Smells of the sea, and straightway then the care + Slips from my heart, and life once more is sweet. + At the lane's ending lie the white-winged fleet. + O restless Fancy, whither wouldst thou fare? + Here are brave pinions that shall take thee far-- + Gaunt hulks of Norway; ships of red Ceylon; + Slim-masted lovers of the blue Azores! + 'Tis but an instant hence to Zanzibar, + Or to the regions of the Midnight Sun: + Ionian isles are thine, and all the fairy shores! + + + REMINISCENCE + + Though I am native to this frozen zone + That half the twelvemonth torpid lies, or dead; + Though the cold azure arching overhead + And the Atlantic's never-ending moan + Are mine by heritage, I must have known + Life otherwhere in epochs long since fled; + For in my veins some Orient blood is red, + And through my thought are lotus blossoms blown. + I do remember ... it was just at dusk, + Near a walled garden at the river's turn, + (A thousand summers seem but yesterday!) + A Nubian girl, more sweet than Khoorja musk, + Came to the water-tank to fill her urn, + And with the urn she bore my heart away! + + +PÈRE ANTOINE'S DATE-PALM + +Near the Levée, and not far from the old French Cathedral in the Place +d'Armes, at New Orleans, stands a fine date-palm, thirty feet in height, +spreading its broad leaves in the alien air as hardily as if its sinuous +roots were sucking strength from their native earth. + +Sir Charles Lyell, in his 'Second Visit to the United States,' mentions +this exotic:--"The tree is seventy or eighty years old; for Père +Antoine, a Roman Catholic priest, who died about twenty years ago, told +Mr. Bringier that he planted it himself, when he was young. In his will +he provided that they who succeeded to this lot of ground should forfeit +it if they cut down the palm." + +Wishing to learn something of Père Antoine's history, Sir Charles Lyell +made inquiries among the ancient Creole inhabitants of the faubourg. +That the old priest, in his last days, became very much emaciated, that +he walked about the streets like a mummy, that he gradually dried up, +and finally blew away, was the meagre and unsatisfactory result of the +tourist's investigations. This is all that is generally told of +Père Antoine. + +In the summer of 1861, while New Orleans was yet occupied by the +Confederate forces, I met at Alexandria, in Virginia, a lady from +Louisiana--Miss Blondeau by name--who gave me the substance of the +following legend touching Père Antoine and his wonderful date-palm. If +it should appear tame to the reader, it will be because I am not habited +in a black ribbed-silk dress, with a strip of point-lace around my +throat, like Miss Blondeau; it will be because I lack her eyes and lips +and Southern music to tell it with. + +When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he loved as +he loved his life. Émile Jardin returned his passion, and the two, on +account of their friendship, became the marvel of the city where they +dwelt. One was never seen without the other; for they studied, walked, +ate, and slept together. + +Thus began Miss Blondeau, with the air of Fiammetta telling her +prettiest story to the Florentines in the garden of Boccaccio. + +Antoine and Émile were preparing to enter the Church; indeed, they had +taken the preliminary steps, when a circumstance occurred which changed +the color of their lives. A foreign lady, from some nameless island in +the Pacific, had a few months before moved into their neighborhood. The +lady died suddenly, leaving a girl of sixteen or seventeen, entirely +friendless and unprovided for. The young men had been kind to the woman +during her illness, and at her death--melting with pity at the forlorn +situation of Anglice, the daughter--swore between themselves to love and +watch over her as if she were their sister. + +Now Anglice had a wild, strange beauty that made other women seem tame +beside her; and in the course of time the young men found themselves +regarding their ward not so much like brothers as at first. In brief, +they found themselves in love with her. + +They struggled with their hopeless passion month after month, neither +betraying his secret to the other; for the austere orders which they +were about to assume precluded the idea of love and marriage. Until then +they had dwelt in the calm air of religious meditations, unmoved except +by that pious fervor which in other ages taught men to brave the +tortures of the rack and to smile amid the flames. But a blonde girl, +with great eyes and a voice like the soft notes of a vesper hymn, had +come in between them and their ascetic dreams of heaven. The ties that +had bound the young men together snapped silently one by one. At last +each read in the pale face of the other the story of his own despair. + +And she? If Anglice shared their trouble, her face told no story. It was +like the face of a saint on a cathedral window. Once, however, as she +came suddenly upon the two men and overheard words that seemed to burn +like fire on the lip of the speaker, her eyes grew luminous for an +instant. Then she passed on, her face as immobile as before in its +setting of wavy gold hair. + + "Entre or et roux Dieu fit ses longs cheveux." + +One night Émile and Anglice were missing. They had flown--but whither, +nobody knew, and nobody save Antoine cared. It was a heavy blow to +Antoine--for he had himself half resolved to confess his love to Anglice +and urge her to fly with him. + +A strip of paper slipped from a volume on Antoine's _priedieu_, and +fluttered to his feet. + +"_Do not be angry_," said the bit of paper, piteously; _"forgive us, for +we love_." ("Pardonnez-nous, car nous aimons.") + +Three years went by wearily enough. Antoine had entered the Church, and +was already looked upon as a rising man; but his face was pale and his +heart leaden, for there was no sweetness in life for him. + +Four years had elapsed, when a letter, covered with outlandish +postmarks, was brought to the young priest--a letter from Anglice. She +was dying;--would he forgive her? Émile, the year previous, had fallen a +victim to the fever that raged on the island; and their child, Anglice, +was likely to follow him. In pitiful terms she begged Antoine to take +charge of the child until she was old enough to enter the convent of the +Sacré-Coeur. The epistle was finished hastily by another hand, informing +Antoine of Madame Jardin's death; it also told him that Anglice had been +placed on board a vessel shortly to leave the island for some +Western port. + +The letter, delayed by storm and shipwreck, was hardly read and wept +over when little Anglice arrived. + +On beholding her, Antoine uttered a cry of joy and surprise--she was so +like the woman he had worshiped. + +The passion that had been crowded down in his heart broke out and +lavished its richness on this child, who was to him not only the Anglice +of years ago, but his friend Émile Jardin also. + +Anglice possessed the wild, strange beauty of her mother--the bending, +willowy form, the rich tint of skin, the large tropical eyes, that had +almost made Antoine's sacred robes a mockery to him. + +For a month or two Anglice was wildly unhappy in her new home. She +talked continually of the bright country where she was born, the fruits +and flowers and blue skies, the tall, fan-like trees, and the streams +that went murmuring through them to the sea. Antoine could not +pacify her. + +By and by she ceased to weep, and went about the cottage in a weary, +disconsolate way that cut Antoine to the heart. A long-tailed paroquet, +which she had brought with her in the ship, walked solemnly behind her +from room to room, mutely pining, it seemed, for those heavy orient airs +that used to ruffle its brilliant plumage. + +Before the year ended, he noticed that the ruddy tinge had faded from +her cheek, that her eyes had grown languid, and her slight figure more +willowy than ever. + +A physician was consulted. He could discover nothing wrong with the +child, except this fading and drooping. He failed to account for that. +It was some vague disease of the mind, he said, beyond his skill. + +So Anglice faded day after day. She seldom left the room now. At last +Antoine could not shut out the fact that the child was passing away. He +had learned to love her so! + +"Dear heart," he said once, "What is't ails thee?" + +"Nothing, mon père," for so she called him. + +The winter passed, the balmy spring had come with its magnolia blooms +and orange blossoms, and Anglice seemed to revive. In her small bamboo +chair, on the porch, she swayed to and fro in the fragrant breeze, with +a peculiar undulating motion, like a graceful tree. + +At times something seemed to weigh upon her mind. Antoine observed it, +and waited. Finally she spoke. + +"Near our house," said little Anglice--"near our house, on the island, +the palm-trees are waving under the blue sky. Oh, how beautiful! I seem +to lie beneath them all day long. I am very, very happy. I yearned for +them so much that I grew ill--don't you think it was so, mon père? + +"Hélas, yes!" exclaimed Antoine, suddenly. "Let us hasten to those +pleasant islands where the palms are waving." + +Anglice smiled. "I am going there, mon père." + +A week from that evening the wax candles burned at her feet and +forehead, lighting her on the journey. + +All was over. Now was Antoine's heart empty. Death, like another Émile, +had stolen his new Anglice. He had nothing to do but to lay the blighted +flower away. + +Père Antoine made a shallow grave in his garden, and heaped the fresh +brown mold over his idol. + +In the tranquil spring evenings, the priest was seen sitting by the +mound, his finger closed in the unread breviary. + +The summer broke on that sunny land; and in the cool morning twilight, +and after nightfall, Antoine lingered by the grave. He could never be +with it enough. + +One morning he observed a delicate stem, with two curiously shaped +emerald leaves, springing up from the centre of the mound. At first he +merely noticed it casually; but presently the plant grew so tall, and +was so strangely unlike anything he had ever seen before, that he +examined it with care. + +How straight and graceful and exquisite it was! When it swung to and +fro with the summer wind, in the twilight, it seemed to Antoine as if +little Anglice were standing there in the garden. + +The days stole by, and Antoine tended the fragile shoot, wondering what +manner of blossom it would unfold, white, or scarlet, or golden. One +Sunday, a stranger, with a bronzed, weather-beaten face like a sailor's, +leaned over the garden rail, and said to him, "What a fine young +date-palm you have there, sir!" + +"Mon Dieu!" cried Père Antoine starting, "and is it a palm?" + +"Yes, indeed," returned the man. "I didn't reckon the tree would +flourish in this latitude." + +"Ah, mon Dieu!" was all the priest could say aloud; but he murmured to +himself, "Bon Dieu, vous m'avez donné cela!" + +If Père Antoine loved the tree before, he worshiped it now. He watered +it, and nurtured it, and could have clasped it in his arms. Here were +Émile and Anglice and the child, all in one! + +The years glided away, and the date-palm and the priest grew +together--only one became vigorous and the other feeble. Père Antoine +had long passed the meridian of life. The tree was in its youth. It no +longer stood in an isolated garden; for pretentious brick and stucco +houses had clustered about Antoine's cottage. They looked down scowling +on the humble thatched roof. The city was edging up, trying to crowd him +off his land. But he clung to it like lichen and refused to sell. + +Speculators piled gold on his doorsteps, and he laughed at them. +Sometimes he was hungry, and cold, and thinly clad; but he laughed +none the less. + +"Get thee behind me, Satan!" said the old priest's smile. + +Père Antoine was very old now, scarcely able to walk; but he could sit +under the pliant, caressing leaves of his palm, loving it like an Arab; +and there he sat till the grimmest of speculators came to him. But even +in death Père Antoine was faithful to his trust: the owner of that land +loses it if he harm the date-tree. + +And there it stands in the narrow, dingy street, a beautiful, dreamy +stranger, an exquisite foreign lady whose grace is a joy to the eye, the +incense of whose breath makes the air enamored. May the hand wither that +touches her ungently! + +"_Because it grew from the heart of little Anglice_," said Miss Blondeau +tenderly. + + +MISS MEHETABEL'S SON + +I + +THE OLD TAVERN AT BAYLEY'S FOUR-CORNERS + +You will not find Greenton, or Bayley's Four-Corners as it is more +usually designated, on any map of New England that I know of. It is not +a town; it is not even a village: it is merely an absurd hotel. The +almost indescribable place called Greenton is at the intersection of +four roads, in the heart of New Hampshire, twenty miles from the nearest +settlement of note, and ten miles from any railway station. A good +location for a hotel, you will say. Precisely; but there has always been +a hotel there, and for the last dozen years it has been pretty well +patronized--by one boarder. Not to trifle with an intelligent public, I +will state at once that, in the early part of this century, Greenton was +a point at which the mail-coach on the Great Northern Route stopped to +change horses and allow the passengers to dine. People in the county, +wishing to take the early mail Portsmouth-ward, put up over night at the +old tavern, famous for its irreproachable larder and soft feather-beds. +The tavern at that time was kept by Jonathan Bayley, who rivaled his +wallet in growing corpulent, and in due time passed away. At his death +the establishment, which included a farm, fell into the hands of a +son-in-law. Now, though Bayley left his son-in-law a hotel--which sounds +handsome--he left him no guests; for at about the period of the old +man's death the old stage-coach died also. Apoplexy carried off one, and +steam the other. Thus, by a sudden swerve in the tide of progress, the +tavern at the Corners found itself high and dry, like a wreck on a +sand-bank. Shortly after this event, or maybe contemporaneously, there +was some attempt to build a town at Greenton; but it apparently failed, +if eleven cellars choked up with _débris_ and overgrown with burdocks +are any indication of failure. The farm, however, was a good farm, as +things go in New Hampshire, and Tobias Sewell, the son-in-law, could +afford to snap his fingers at the traveling public if they came near +enough--which they never did. + +The hotel remains to-day pretty much the same as when Jonathan Bayley +handed in his accounts in 1840, except that Sewell has from time to +time sold the furniture of some of the upper chambers to bridal couples +in the neighborhood. The bar is still open, and the parlor door says +PARLOUR in tall black letters. Now and then a passing drover looks in at +that lonely bar-room, where a high-shouldered bottle of Santa Cruz rum +ogles with a peculiarly knowing air a shriveled lemon on a shelf; now +and then a farmer rides across country to talk crops and stock and take +a friendly glass with Tobias; and now and then a circus caravan with +speckled ponies, or a menagerie with a soggy elephant, halts under the +swinging sign, on which there is a dim mail-coach with four phantomish +horses driven by a portly gentleman whose head has been washed off by +the rain. Other customers there are none, except that one regular +boarder whom I have mentioned. + +If misery makes a man acquainted with strange bed-fellows, it is equally +certain that the profession of surveyor and civil engineer often takes +one into undreamed-of localities. I had never heard of Greenton until my +duties sent me there, and kept me there two weeks in the dreariest +season of the year. I do not think I would, of my own volition, have +selected Greenton for a fortnight's sojourn at any time; but now the +business is over, I shall never regret the circumstances that made me +the guest of Tobias Sewell, and brought me into intimate relations with +Miss Mehetabel's Son. + +It was a black October night in the year of grace 1872, that discovered +me standing in front of the old tavern at the Corners. Though the ten +miles' ride from K---- had been depressing, especially the last five +miles, on account of the cold autumnal rain that had set in, I felt a +pang of regret on hearing the rickety open wagon turn round in the road +and roll off in the darkness. There were no lights visible anywhere, and +only for the big, shapeless mass of something in front of me, which the +driver had said was the hotel, I should have fancied that I had been set +down by the roadside. I was wet to the skin and in no amiable humor; and +not being able to find bell-pull or knocker, or even a door, I belabored +the side of the house with my heavy walking-stick. In a minute or two I +saw a light flickering somewhere aloft, then I heard the sound of a +window opening, followed by an exclamation of disgust as a blast of wind +extinguished the candle which had given me an instantaneous picture _en +silhouette_ of a man leaning out of a casement. + +"I say, what do you want, down there?" inquired an unprepossessing +voice. + +"I want to come in; I want a supper, and a bed, and numberless things." + +"This isn't no time of night to go rousing honest folks out of their +sleep. Who are you, anyway?" + +The question, superficially considered, was a very simple one, and I, of +all people in the world, ought to have been able to answer it off-hand; +but it staggered me. Strangely enough, there came drifting across my +memory the lettering on the back of a metaphysical work which I had seen +years before on a shelf in the Astor Library. Owing to an +unpremeditatedly funny collocation of title and author, the lettering +read as follows:--"Who am I? Jones." Evidently it had puzzled Jones to +know who he was, or he wouldn't have written a book about it, and come +to so lame and impotent a conclusion. It certainly puzzled me at that +instant to define my identity. "Thirty years ago," I reflected, "I was +nothing; fifty years hence I shall be nothing again, humanly speaking. +In the mean time, who am I, sure enough?" It had never before occurred +to me what an indefinite article I was. I wish it had not occurred to me +then. Standing there in the rain and darkness, I wrestled vainly with +the problem, and was constrained to fall back upon a Yankee expedient. + +"Isn't this a hotel?" I asked finally. + +"Well, it is a sort of hotel," said the voice, doubtfully. My hesitation +and prevarication had apparently not inspired my interlocutor with +confidence in me. + +"Then let me in. I have just driven over from K---- in this infernal +rain. I am wet through and through." + +"But what do you want here, at the Corners? What's your business? People +don't come here, leastways in the middle of the night." + +"It isn't in the middle of the night," I returned, incensed. "I come on +business connected with the new road. I'm the superintendent of +the works." + +"Oh!" + +"And if you don't open the door at once, I'll raise the whole +neighborhood--and then go to the other hotel." + +When I said that, I supposed Greenton was a village with a population of +at least three or four thousand, and was wondering vaguely at the +absence of lights and other signs of human habitation. Surely, I +thought, all the people cannot be abed and asleep at half past ten +o'clock: perhaps I am in the business section of the town, among +the shops. + +"You jest wait," said the voice above. + +This request was not devoid of a certain accent of menace, and I braced +myself for a sortie on the part of the besieged, if he had any such +hostile intent. Presently a door opened at the very place where I least +expected a door, at the farther end of the building, in fact, and a man +in his shirt-sleeves, shielding a candle with his left hand, appeared on +the threshold. I passed quickly into the house, with Mr. Tobias Sewell +(for this was Mr. Sewell) at my heels, and found myself in a long, +low-studded bar-room. + +There were two chairs drawn up before the hearth, on which a huge +hemlock back-log was still smoldering, and on the unpainted deal counter +contiguous stood two cloudy glasses with bits of lemon-peel in the +bottom, hinting at recent libations. Against the discolored wall over +the bar hung a yellowed hand-bill, in a warped frame, announcing that +"the Next Annual N.H. Agricultural Fair" would take place on the 10th of +September, 1841. There was no other furniture or decoration in this +dismal apartment, except the cobwebs which festooned the ceiling, +hanging down here and there like stalactites. + +Mr. Sewell set the candlestick on the mantel-shelf, and threw some +pine-knots on the fire, which immediately broke into a blaze, and showed +him to be a lank, narrow-chested man, past sixty, with sparse, +steel-gray hair, and small, deep-set eyes, perfectly round, like a +fish's, and of no particular color. His chief personal characteristics +seemed to be too much feet and not enough teeth. His sharply cut, but +rather simple face, as he turned it towards me, wore a look of +interrogation. I replied to his mute inquiry by taking out my +pocket-book and handing him my business-card, which he held up to the +candle and perused with great deliberation. + +"You're a civil engineer, are you?" he said, displaying his gums, which +gave his countenance an expression of almost infantile innocence. He +made no further audible remark, but mumbled between his thin lips +something which an imaginative person might have construed into, "If +you're a civil engineer, I'll be blessed if I wouldn't like to see an +uncivil one!" + +Mr. Sewell's growl, however, was worse than his bite,--owing to his lack +of teeth, probably--for he very good-naturedly set himself to work +preparing supper for me. After a slice of cold ham, and a warm punch, to +which my chilled condition gave a grateful flavor, I went to bed in a +distant chamber in a most amiable mood, feeling satisfied that Jones was +a donkey to bother himself about his identity. + +When I awoke, the sun was several hours high. My bed faced a window, and +by raising myself on one elbow I could look out on what I expected would +be the main street. To my astonishment I beheld a lonely country road +winding up a sterile hill and disappearing over the ridge. In a +cornfield at the right of the road was a small private graveyard, +inclosed by a crumbling stone wall with a red gate. The only thing +suggestive of life was this little corner lot occupied by death. I got +out of bed and went to the other window. There I had an uninterrupted +view of twelve miles of open landscape, with Mount Agamenticus in the +purple distance. Not a house or a spire in sight. "Well," I exclaimed, +"Greenton doesn't appear to be a very closely packed metropolis!" That +rival hotel with which I had threatened Mr. Sewell overnight was not a +deadly weapon, looking at it by daylight. "By Jove!" I reflected, "maybe +I'm in the wrong place." But there, tacked against a panel of the +bedroom door, was a faded time-table dated Greenton, August 1st, 1839. + +I smiled all the time I was dressing, and went smiling downstairs, where +I found Mr. Sewell, assisted by one of the fair sex in the first bloom +of her eightieth year, serving breakfast for me on a small table--in +the bar-room! + +"I overslept myself this morning," I remarked apologetically, "and I see +that I am putting you to some trouble. In future, if you will have me +called, I will take my meals at the usual _table d'hôte._" + +"At the what?" said Mr. Sewell. + +"I mean with the other boarders." + +Mr. Sewell paused in the act of lifting a chop from the fire, and, +resting the point of his fork against the woodwork of the mantel-piece, +grinned from ear to ear. + +"Bless you! there isn't any other boarders. There hasn't been anybody +put up here sence--let me see--sence father-in-law died, and that was in +the fall of '40. To be sure, there's Silas; _he's_ a regular boarder; +but I don't count him." + +Mr. Sewell then explained how the tavern had lost its custom when the +old stage line was broken up by the railroad. The introduction of steam +was, in Mr. Sewell's estimation, a fatal error. "Jest killed local +business. Carried it off, I'm darned if I know where. The whole country +has been sort o' retrograding ever sence steam was invented." + +"You spoke of having one boarder," I said. + +"Silas? Yes; he come here the summer 'Tilda died--she that was 'Tilda +Bayley--and he's here yet, going on thirteen year. He couldn't live any +longer with the old man. Between you and I, old Clem Jaffrey, Silas's +father, was a hard nut. Yes," said Mr. Sewell, crooking his elbow in +inimitable pantomime, "altogether too often. Found dead in the road +hugging a three-gallon demijohn. _Habeas corpus_ in the barn," added Mr. +Sewell, intending, I presume, to intimate that a _post-mortem_ +examination had been deemed necessary. "Silas," he resumed, in that +respectful tone which one should always adopt when speaking of capital, +"is a man of considerable property; lives on his interest, and keeps a +hoss and shay. He's a great scholar, too, Silas: takes all the +pe-ri-odicals and the Police Gazette regular." + +Mr. Sewell was turning over a third chop, when the door opened and a +stoutish, middle-aged little gentleman, clad in deep black, stepped +into the room. + +"Silas Jaffrey," said Mr. Sewell, with a comprehensive sweep of his arm, +picking up me and the new-comer on one fork, so to speak. "Be +acquainted!" + +Mr. Jaffrey advanced briskly, and gave me his hand with unlooked-for +cordiality. He was a dapper little man, with a head as round and nearly +as bald as an orange, and not unlike an orange in complexion, either; he +had twinkling gray eyes and a pronounced Roman nose, the numerous +freckles upon which were deepened by his funereal dress-coat and +trousers. He reminded me of Alfred de Musset's blackbird, which, with +its yellow beak and sombre plumage, looked like an undertaker eating +an omelet. + +"Silas will take care of you," said Mr. Sewell, taking down his hat from +a peg behind the door. "I've got the cattle to look after. Tell him if +you want anything." + +While I ate my breakfast, Mr. Jaffrey hopped up and down the narrow +bar-room and chirped away as blithely as a bird on a cherry-bough, +occasionally ruffling with his fingers a slight fringe of auburn hair +which stood up pertly round his head and seemed to possess a luminous +quality of its own. + +"Don't I find it a little slow up here at the Corners? Not at all, my +dear sir. I am in the thick of life up here. So many interesting things +going on all over the world--inventions, discoveries, spirits, railroad +disasters, mysterious homicides. Poets, murderers, musicians, statesmen, +distinguished travelers, prodigies of all kinds turning up everywhere. +Very few events or persons escape me. I take six daily city papers, +thirteen weekly journals, all the monthly magazines, and two +quarterlies. I could not get along with less. I couldn't if you asked +me. I never feel lonely. How can I, being on intimate terms, as it were, +with thousands and thousands of people? There's that young woman out +West. What an entertaining creature _she_ is!--now in Missouri, now in +Indiana, and now in Minnesota, always on the go, and all the time +shedding needles from various parts of her body as if she really enjoyed +it! Then there's that versatile patriarch who walks hundreds of miles +and saws thousands of feet of wood, before breakfast, and shows no signs +of giving out. Then there's that remarkable, one may say that historical +colored woman who knew Benjamin Franklin, and fought at the battle of +Bunk--no, it is the old negro man who fought at Bunker Hill, a mere +infant, of course, at that period. Really, now, it is quite curious to +observe how that venerable female slave--formerly an African +princess--is repeatedly dying in her hundred and eleventh year, and +coming to life again punctually every six months in the small-type +paragraphs. Are you aware, sir, that within the last twelve years no +fewer than two hundred and eighty-seven of General Washington's colored +coachmen have died?" + +For the soul of me I could not tell whether this quaint little gentleman +was chaffing me or not. I laid down my knife and fork, and stared +at him. + +"Then there are the mathematicians!" he cried vivaciously, without +waiting for a reply. "I take great interest in them. Hear this!" and Mr. +Jaffrey drew a newspaper from a pocket in the tail of his coat, and read +as follows:--"_It has been estimated that if all the candles +manufactured by this eminent firm_ (_Stearine & Co._)_ were placed end +to end, they would reach 2 and 7-8 times around the globe_. Of course," +continued Mr. Jaffrey, folding up the journal reflectively, "abstruse +calculations of this kind are not, perhaps, of vital importance, but +they indicate the intellectual activity of the age. Seriously, now," he +said, halting in front of the table, "what with books and papers and +drives about the country, I do not find the days too long, though I +seldom see any one, except when I go over to K---- for my mail. +Existence may be very full to a man who stands a little aside from the +tumult and watches it with philosophic eye. Possibly he may see more of +the battle than those who are in the midst of the action. Once I was +struggling with the crowd, as eager and undaunted as the best; perhaps I +should have been struggling still. Indeed, I know my life would have +been very different now if I had married Mehetabel--if I had married +Mehetabel." + +His vivacity was gone, a sudden cloud had come over his bright face, his +figure seemed to have collapsed, the light seemed to have faded out of +his hair. With a shuffling step, the very antithesis of his brisk, +elastic tread, he turned to the door and passed into the road. + +"Well," I said to myself, "if Greenton had forty thousand inhabitants, +it couldn't turn out a more astonishing old party than that!" + + +II + +THE CASE OF SILAS JAFFREY + +A man with a passion for _bric-a-brac_ is always stumbling over antique +bronzes, intaglios, mosaics, and daggers of the time of Benvenuto +Cellini; the bibliophile finds creamy vellum folios and rare Alduses and +Elzevirs waiting for him at unsuspected bookstalls; the numismatist has +but to stretch forth his palm to have priceless coins drop into it. My +own weakness is odd people, and I am constantly encountering them. It +was plain that I had unearthed a couple of very queer specimens at +Bayley's Four-Corners. I saw that a fortnight afforded me too brief an +opportunity to develop the richness of both, and I resolved to devote my +spare time to Mr. Jaffrey alone, instinctively recognizing in him an +unfamiliar species. My professional work in the vicinity of Greenton +left my evenings and occasionally an afternoon unoccupied; these +intervals I purposed to employ in studying and classifying my +fellow-boarder. It was necessary, as a preliminary step, to learn +something of his previous history, and to this end I addressed myself to +Mr. Sewell that same night, + +"I do not want to seem inquisitive," I said to the landlord, as he was +fastening up the bar, which, by the way, was the _salle à manger_ and +general sitting-room--"I do not want to seem inquisitive, but your +friend Mr. Jaffrey dropped a remark this morning at breakfast +which--which was not altogether clear to me." + +"About Mehetabel?" asked Mr. Sewell, uneasily. + +"Yes." + +"Well, I wish he wouldn't!" + +"He was friendly enough in the course of conversation to hint to me that +he had not married the young woman, and seemed to regret it." + +"No, he didn't marry Mehetabel." + +"May I inquire _why_ he didn't marry Mehetabel?" + +"Never asked her. Might have married the girl forty times. Old Elkins's +daughter, over at K----. She'd have had him quick enough. Seven years, +off and on, he kept company with Mehetabel, and then she died." + +"And he never asked her?" + +"He shilly-shallied. Perhaps he didn't think of it. When she was dead +and gone, then Silas was struck all of a heap--and that's all about it." + +Obviously Mr. Sewell did not intend to tell me anything more, and +obviously there was more to tell. The topic was plainly disagreeable to +him for some reason or other, and that unknown reason of course piqued +my curiosity. + +As I was absent from dinner and supper that day, I did not meet Mr. +Jaffrey again until the following morning at breakfast. He had recovered +his bird-like manner, and was full of a mysterious assassination that +had just taken place in New York, all the thrilling details of which +were at his fingers' ends. It was at once comical and sad to see this +harmless old gentleman, with his naïve, benevolent countenance, and his +thin hair flaming up in a semicircle, like the footlights at a theatre, +reveling in the intricacies of the unmentionable deed. + +"You come up to my room to-night," he cried, with horrid glee, "and I'll +give you my theory of the murder. I'll make it as clear as day to you +that it was the detective himself who fired the three pistol-shots." + +It was not so much the desire to have this point elucidated as to make a +closer study of Mr. Jaffrey that led me to accept his invitation. Mr. +Jaffrey's bedroom was in an L of the building, and was in no way +noticeable except for the numerous files of newspapers neatly arranged +against the blank spaces of the walls, and a huge pile of old magazines +which stood in one corner, reaching nearly up to the ceiling, and +threatening to topple over each instant, like the Leaning Tower at Pisa. +There were green paper shades at the windows, some faded chintz valances +about the bed, and two or three easy-chairs covered with chintz. On a +black-walnut shelf between the windows lay a choice collection of +meerschaum and brier-wood pipes. + +Filling one of the chocolate-colored bowls for me and another for +himself, Mr. Jaffrey began prattling; but not about the murder, which +appeared to have flown out of his mind. In fact, I do not remember that +the topic was even touched upon, either then or afterwards. + +"Cozy nest this," said Mr. Jaffrey, glancing complacently over the +apartment. "What is more cheerful, now, in the fall of the year, than an +open wood-fire? Do you hear those little chirps and twitters coming out +of that piece of apple-wood? Those are the ghosts of the robins and +bluebirds that sang upon the bough when it was in blossom last spring. +In summer whole flocks of them come fluttering about the fruit-trees +under the window: so I have singing birds all the year round. I take it +very easy here, I can tell you, summer and winter. Not much society. +Tobias is not, perhaps, what one would term a great intellectual force, +but he means well. He's a realist--believes in coming down to what he +calls (the hardpan); but his heart is in the right place, and he's very +kind to me. The wisest thing I ever did in my life was to sell out my +grain business over at K----, thirteen years ago, and settle down at the +Corners. When a man has made a competency, what does he want more? +Besides, at that time an event occurred which destroyed any ambition I +may have had. Mehetabel died." + +"The lady you were engaged to?" + +"No, not precisely engaged. I think it was quite understood between us, +though nothing had been said on the subject. Typhoid," added Mr. +Jaffrey, in a low voice. + +For several minutes he smoked in silence, a vague, troubled look playing +over his countenance. Presently this passed away, and he fixed his gray +eyes speculatively upon my face. + +"If I had married Mehetabel," said Mr. Jaffrey, slowly, and then he +hesitated. I blew a ring of smoke into the air, and, resting my pipe on +my knee, dropped into an attitude of attention. "If I had married +Mehetabel, you know, we should have had--ahem!--a family." + +"Very likely," I assented, vastly amused at this unexpected turn. + +"A Boy!" exclaimed Mr. Jaffrey, explosively. + +"By all means, certainly, a son." + +"Great trouble about naming the boy. Mehetabel's family want him named +Elkanah Elkins, after her grandfather; I want him named Andrew Jackson. +We compromise by christening him Elkanah Elkins Andrew Jackson Jaffrey. +Rather a long name for such a short little fellow," said Mr. +Jaffrey, musingly. + +"Andy isn't a bad nickname," I suggested. + +"Not at all. We call him Andy, in the family. Somewhat fractious at +first--colic and things. I suppose it is right, or it wouldn't be so; +but the usefulness of measles, mumps, croup, whooping-cough, scarlatina, +and fits is not clear to the parental eye. I wish Andy would be a model +infant, and dodge the whole lot." + +This suppositions child, born within the last few minutes, was plainly +assuming the proportions of a reality to Mr. Jaffrey. I began to feel a +little uncomfortable. I am, as I have said, a civil engineer, and it is +not strictly in my line to assist at the births of infants, imaginary or +otherwise. I pulled away vigorously at the pipe, and said nothing. + +"What large blue eyes he has," resumed Mr. Jaffrey, after a pause; "just +like Hetty's; and the fair hair, too, like hers. How oddly certain +distinctive features are handed down in families! Sometimes a mouth, +sometimes a turn of the eye-brow. Wicked little boys over at K---- have +now and then derisively advised me to follow my nose. It would be an +interesting thing to do. I should find my nose flying about the world, +turning up unexpectedly here and there, dodging this branch of the +family and reappearing in that, now jumping over one great-grandchild to +fasten itself upon another, and never losing its individuality. Look at +Andy. There's Elkanah Elkins's chin to the life. Andy's chin is probably +older than the Pyramids. Poor little thing," he cried, with sudden +indescribable tenderness, "to lose his mother so early!" And Mr. +Jaffrey's head sunk upon his breast, and his shoulders slanted forward, +as if he were actually bending over the cradle of the child. The whole +gesture and attitude was so natural that it startled me. The pipe +slipped from my fingers and fell to the floor. + +"Hush!" whispered Mr. Jaffrey, with a deprecating motion of his hand. +"Andy's asleep!" + +He rose softly from the chair, and walking across the room on tiptoe, +drew down the shade at the window through which the moonlight was +streaming. Then he returned to his seat, and remained gazing with +half-closed eyes into the dropping embers. + +I refilled my pipe and smoked in profound silence, wondering what would +come next. But nothing came next. Mr. Jaffrey had fallen into so brown a +study that, a quarter of an hour afterwards, when I wished him +good-night and withdrew, I do not think he noticed my departure. + +I am not what is called a man of imagination; it is my habit to exclude +most things not capable of mathematical demonstration: but I am not +without a certain psychological insight, and I think I understood Mr. +Jaffrey's case. I could easily understand how a man with an unhealthy, +sensitive nature, overwhelmed by sudden calamity, might take refuge in +some forlorn place like this old tavern, and dream his life away. To +such a man--brooding forever on what might have been, and dwelling +wholly in the realm of his fancies--the actual world might indeed become +as a dream, and nothing seem real but his illusions. I dare say that +thirteen years of Bayley's Four-Corners would have its effect upon me; +though instead of conjuring up golden-haired children of the Madonna, I +should probably see gnomes and kobolds, and goblins engaged in hoisting +false signals and misplacing switches for midnight express trains. + +"No doubt," I said to myself that night, as I lay in bed, thinking over +the matter, "this once possible but now impossible child is a great +comfort to the old gentleman,--a greater comfort, perhaps, than a real +son would be. Maybe Andy will vanish with the shades and mists of night, +he's such an unsubstantial infant; but if he doesn't, and Mr. Jaffrey +finds pleasure in talking to me about his son, I shall humor the old +fellow. It wouldn't be a Christian act to knock over his +harmless fancy." + +I was very impatient to see if Mr. Jaffrey's illusion would stand the +test of daylight. It did. Elkanah Elkins Andrew Jackson Jaffrey was, so +to speak, alive and kicking the next morning. On taking his seat at the +breakfast-table, Mr. Jaffrey whispered to me that Andy had had a +comfortable night. + +"Silas!" said Mr. Sewell, sharply, "what are you whispering about?" + +Mr. Sewell was in an ill humor; perhaps he was jealous because I had +passed the evening in Mr. Jaffrey's room; but surely Mr. Sewell could +not expect his boarders to go to bed at eight o'clock every night, as he +did. From time to time during the meal Mr. Sewell regarded me unkindly +out of the corner of his eye, and in helping me to the parsnips he +poniarded them with quite a suggestive air. All this, however, did not +prevent me from repairing to the door of Mr. Jaffrey's snuggery when +night came. + +"Well, Mr. Jaffrey, how's Andy this evening?" + +"Got a tooth!" cried Mr. Jaffrey, vivaciously. + +"No!" + +"Yes, he has! Just through. Give the nurse a silver dollar. Standing +reward for first tooth." + +It was on the tip of my tongue to express surprise that an infant a day +old should cut a tooth, when I suddenly recollected that Richard III. +was born with teeth. Feeling myself to be on unfamiliar ground, I +suppressed my criticism. It was well I did so, for in the next breath I +was advised that half a year had elapsed since the previous evening. + +"Andy's had a hard six months of it," said Mr. Jaffrey, with the +well-known narrative air of fathers. "We've brought him up by hand. His +grandfather, by the way, was brought up by the bottle--" and brought +down by it, too, I added mentally, recalling Mr. Sewell's account of the +old gentleman's tragic end. + +Mr. Jaffrey then went on to give me a history of Andy's first six +months, omitting no detail however insignificant or irrelevant. This +history I would in turn inflict upon the reader, if I were only certain +that he is one of those dreadful parents who, under the aegis of +friendship, bore you at a street-corner with that remarkable thing which +Freddy said the other day, and insist on singing to you, at an evening +party, the Iliad of Tommy's woes. + +But to inflict this _enfantillage_ upon the unmarried reader would be +an act of wanton cruelty. So I pass over that part of Andy's biography, +and for the same reason make no record of the next four or five +interviews I had with Mr. Jaffrey. It will be sufficient to state that +Andy glided from extreme infancy to early youth with astonishing +celerity--at the rate of one year per night, if I remember correctly; +and--must I confess it?--before the week came to an end, this invisible +hobgoblin of a boy was only little less of a reality to me than to +Mr. Jaffrey. + +At first I had lent myself to the old dreamer's whim with a keen +perception of the humor of the thing; but by and by I found that I was +talking and thinking of Miss Mehetabel's son as though he were a +veritable personage. Mr. Jaffrey spoke of the child with such an air of +conviction!--as if Andy were playing among his toys in the next room, or +making mud-pies down in the yard. In these conversations, it should be +observed, the child was never supposed to be present, except on that +single occasion when Mr. Jaffrey leaned over the cradle. After one of +our _séances_ I would lie awake until the small hours, thinking of the +boy, and then fall asleep only to have indigestible dreams about him. +Through the day, and sometimes in the midst of complicated calculations, +I would catch myself wondering what Andy was up to now! There was no +shaking him off; he became an inseparable nightmare to me; and I felt +that if I remained much longer at Bayley's Four-Corners I should turn +into just such another bald-headed, mild-eyed visionary as +Silas Jaffrey. + +Then the tavern was a grewsome old shell any way, full of unaccountable +noises after dark--rustlings of garments along unfrequented passages, +and stealthy footfalls in unoccupied chambers overhead. I never knew of +an old house without these mysterious noises. Next to my bedroom was a +musty, dismantled apartment, in one corner of which, leaning against the +wainscot, was a crippled mangle, with its iron crank tilted in the air +like the elbow of the late Mr. Clem Jaffrey. Sometimes, + + "In the dead vast and middle of the night," + +I used to hear sounds as if some one were turning that rusty crank on +the sly. This occurred only on particularly cold nights, and I +conceived the uncomfortable idea that it was the thin family ghosts, +from the neglected graveyard in the cornfield, keeping themselves warm +by running each other through the mangle. There was a haunted air about +the whole place that made it easy for me to believe in the existence of +a phantasm like Miss Mehetabel's son, who, after all, was less unearthly +than Mr. Jaffrey himself, and seemed more properly an inhabitant of this +globe than the toothless ogre who kept the inn, not to mention the +silent Witch of Endor that cooked our meals for us over the +bar-room fire. + +In spite of the scowls and winks bestowed upon me by Mr. Sewell, who let +slip no opportunity to testify his disapprobation of the intimacy, Mr. +Jaffrey and I spent all our evenings together--those long autumnal +evenings, through the length of which he talked about the boy, laying +out his path in life and hedging the path with roses. He should be sent +to the High School at Portsmouth, and then to college; he should be +educated like a gentleman, Andy. + +"When the old man dies," remarked Mr. Jaffrey one night, rubbing his +hands gleefully, as if it were a great joke, "Andy will find that the +old man has left him a pretty plum." + +"What do you think of having Andy enter West Point, when he's old +enough?" said Mr. Jaffrey on another occasion. "He needn't necessarily +go into the army when he graduates; he can become a civil engineer." + +This was a stroke of flattery so delicate and indirect that I could +accept it without immodesty. + +There had lately sprung up on the corner of Mr. Jaffrey's bureau a small +tin house, Gothic in architecture and pink in color, with a slit in the +roof, and the word BANK painted on one façade. Several times in the +course of an evening Mr. Jaffrey would rise from his chair without +interrupting the conversation, and gravely drop a nickel into the +scuttle of the bank. It was pleasant to observe the solemnity of his +countenance as he approached the edifice, and the air of triumph with +which he resumed his seat by the fireplace. One night I missed the tin +bank. It had disappeared, deposits and all, like a real bank. Evidently +there had been a defalcation on rather a large scale. I strongly +suspected that Mr. Sewell was at the bottom of it, but my suspicion was +not shared by Mr. Jaffrey, who, remarking my glance at the bureau, +became suddenly depressed. + +"I'm afraid," he said, "that I have failed to instill into Andrew those +principles of integrity which--which--" and the old gentleman quite +broke down. + +Andy was now eight or nine years old, and for some time past, if the +truth must be told, had given Mr. Jaffrey no inconsiderable trouble; +what with his impishness and his illnesses, the boy led the pair of us a +lively dance. I shall not soon forget the anxiety of Mr. Jaffrey the +night Andy had the scarlet-fever--an anxiety which so infected me that I +actually returned to the tavern the following afternoon earlier than +usual, dreading to hear that the little spectre was dead, and greatly +relieved on meeting Mr. Jaffrey at the door-step with his face wreathed +in smiles. When I spoke to him of Andy, I was made aware that I was +inquiring into a case of scarlet-fever that had occurred the +year before! + +It was at this time, towards the end of my second week at Greenton, that +I noticed what was probably not a new trait--Mr. Jaffrey's curious +sensitiveness to atmospherical changes. He was as sensitive as a +barometer. The approach of a storm sent his mercury down instantly. When +the weather was fair he was hopeful and sunny, and Andy's prospects were +brilliant. When the weather was overcast and threatening he grew +restless and despondent, and was afraid that the boy was not going to +turn out well. + +On the Saturday previous to my departure, which had been fixed for +Monday, it rained heavily all the afternoon, and that night Mr. Jaffrey +was in an unusually excitable and unhappy frame of mind. His mercury was +very low indeed. + +"That boy is going to the dogs just as fast as he can go," said Mr. +Jaffrey, with a woeful face. "I can't do anything with him." + +"He'll come out all right, Mr. Jaffrey. Boys will be boys. I would not +give a snap for a lad without animal spirits." + +"But animal spirits," said Mr. Jaffrey sententiously, "shouldn't saw off +the legs of the piano in Tobias's best parlor. I don't know what Tobias +will say when he finds it out." + +"What! has Andy sawed off the legs of the old spinet?" I returned, +laughing. + +"Worse than that." + +"Played upon it, then!" + +"No, sir. He has lied to me!" + +"I can't believe that of Andy." + +"Lied to me, sir," repeated Mr. Jaffrey, severely. "He pledged me his +word of honor that he would give over his climbing. The way that boy +climbs sends a chill down my spine. This morning, notwithstanding his +solemn promise, he shinned up the lightning-rod attached to the +extension, and sat astride the ridge-pole. I saw him, and he denied it! +When a boy you have caressed and indulged and lavished pocket-money on +lies to you and _will_ climb, then there's nothing more to be said. He's +a lost child." + +"You take too dark a view of it, Mr. Jaffrey. Training and education are +bound to tell in the end, and he has been well brought up." + +"But I didn't bring him up on a lightning-rod, did I? If he is ever +going to know how to behave, he ought to know now. To-morrow he will be +eleven years old." + +The reflection came to me that if Andy had not been brought up by the +rod, he had certainly been brought up by the lightning. He was eleven +years old in two weeks! + +I essayed, with that perspicacious wisdom which seems to be the peculiar +property of bachelors and elderly maiden ladies, to tranquillize Mr. +Jaffrey's mind, and to give him some practical hints on the +management of youth. + +"Spank him," I suggested at last. + +"I will!" said the old gentleman. + +"And you'd better do it at once!" I added, as it flashed upon me that in +six months Andy would be a hundred and forty-three years old!--an age at +which parental discipline would have to be relaxed. + +The next morning, Sunday, the rain came down as if determined to drive +the quicksilver entirely out of my poor friend. Mr. Jaffrey sat bolt +upright at the breakfast-table, looking as woe-begone as a bust of +Dante, and retired to his chamber the moment the meal was finished. As +the day advanced, the wind veered round to the northeast, and settled +itself down to work. It was not pleasant to think, and I tried not to +think, what Mr. Jaffrey's condition would be if the weather did not mend +its manners by noon; but so far from clearing off at noon, the storm +increased in violence, and as night set in, the wind whistled in a +spiteful falsetto key, and the rain lashed the old tavern as if it were +a balky horse that refused to move on. The windows rattled in the +worm-eaten frames, and the doors of remote rooms, where nobody ever +went, slammed to in the maddest way. Now and then the tornado, sweeping +down the side of Mount Agamenticus, bowled across the open country, and +struck the ancient hostelry point-blank. + +Mr. Jaffrey did not appear at supper. I knew that he was expecting me to +come to his room as usual, and I turned over in my mind a dozen plans to +evade seeing him that night. The landlord sat at the opposite side of +the chimney-place, with his eye upon me. I fancy he was aware of the +effect of this storm on his other boarder; for at intervals, as the wind +hurled itself against the exposed gable, threatening to burst in the +windows, Mr. Sewell tipped me an atrocious wink, and displayed his gums +in a way he had not done since the morning after my arrival at Greenton. +I wondered if he suspected anything about Andy. There had been odd times +during the past week when I felt convinced that the existence of Miss +Mehetabel's son was no secret to Mr. Sewell. + +In deference to the gale, the landlord sat up half an hour later than +was his custom. At half-past eight he went to bed, remarking that he +thought the old pile would stand till morning. + +He had been absent only a few minutes when I heard a rustling at the +door. I looked up, and beheld Mr. Jaffrey standing on the threshold, +with his dress in disorder, his scant hair flying, and the wildest +expression on his face. + +"He's gone!" cried Mr. Jaffrey. + +"Who? Sewell? Yes, he just went to bed." + +"No, not Tobias--the boy!" + +"What, run away?" + +"No--he is dead! He has fallen from a step-ladder in the red chamber and +broken his neck!" + +Mr. Jaffrey threw up his hands with a gesture of despair, and +disappeared. I followed him through the hall, saw him go into his own +apartment, and heard the bolt of the door drawn to. Then I returned to +the bar-room, and sat for an hour or two in the ruddy glow of the fire, +brooding over the strange experience of the last fortnight. + +On my way to bed I paused at Mr. Jaffrey's door, and in a lull of the +storm, the measured respiration within told me that the old gentleman +was sleeping peacefully. + +Slumber was coy with me that night. I lay listening to the soughing of +the wind, and thinking of Mr. Jaffrey's illusion. It had amused me at +first with its grotesqueness; but now the poor little phantom was dead, +I was conscious that there had been something pathetic in it all along. +Shortly after midnight the wind sunk down, coming and going fainter and +fainter, floating around the eaves of the tavern with an undulating, +murmurous sound, as if it were turning itself into soft wings to bear +away the spirit of a little child. + +Perhaps nothing that happened during my stay at Bayley's Four-Corners +took me so completely by surprise as Mr. Jaffrey's radiant countenance +the next morning. The morning itself was not fresher or sunnier. His +round face literally shone with geniality and happiness. His eyes +twinkled like diamonds, and the magnetic light of his hair was turned on +full. He came into my room while I was packing my valise. He chirped, +and prattled, and caroled, and was sorry I was going away--but never a +word about Andy. However, the boy had probably been dead several +years then! + +The open wagon that was to carry me to the station stood at the door; +Mr. Sewell was placing my case of instruments under the seat, and Mr. +Jaffrey had gone up to his room to get me a certain newspaper containing +an account of a remarkable shipwreck on the Auckland Islands. I took the +opportunity to thank Mr. Sewell for his courtesies to me, and to express +my regret at leaving him and Mr. Jaffrey. + +"I have become very much attached to Mr. Jaffrey," I said; "he is a most +interesting person; but that hypothetical boy of his, that son of Miss +Mehetabel's--" + +"Yes, I know!" interrupted Mr. Sewell, testily. "Fell off a step-ladder +and broke his dratted neck. Eleven year old, wasn't he? Always does, +jest at that point. Next week Silas will begin the whole thing over +again, if he can get anybody to listen to him." + +"I see. Our amiable friend is a little queer on that subject." + +Mr. Sewell glanced cautiously over his shoulder, and tapping himself +significantly on the forehead, said in a low voice,-- + +"Room To Let--Unfurnished!" + +The foregoing selections are copyrighted, and are reprinted by +permission of the author, and Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers. + + + + +ALEARDO ALEARDI + +(1812-1878) + +The Italian patriot and poet, Aleardo Aleardi, was born in the village +of San Giorgio, near Verona, on November 4th, 1812. He passed his +boyhood on his father's farm, amid the grand scenery of the valley of +the Adige, which deeply impressed itself on his youthful imagination and +left its traces in all his verse. He went to school at Verona, where for +his dullness he was nick-named the "mole," and afterwards he passed on +to the University of Padua to study law, apparently to please his +father, for in the charming autobiography prefixed to his collected +poems he quotes his father as saying:--"My son, be not enamored of this +coquette, Poesy; for with all her airs of a great lady, she will play +thee some trick of a faithless grisette. Choose a good companion, as one +might say, for instance the law: and thou wilt found a family; wilt +partake of God's bounties; wilt be content in life, and die quietly and +happily." In addition to satisfying his father, the young poet also +wrote at Padua his first political poems. And this brought him into +slight conflict with the authorities. He practiced law for a short time +at Verona, and wrote his first long poem, 'Arnaldo,' published in 1842, +which was very favorably received. When six years later the new Venetian +republic came into being, Aleardi was sent to represent its interests at +Paris. The speedy overthrow of the new State brought the young +ambassador home again, and for the next ten years he worked for Italian +unity and freedom. He was twice imprisoned, at Mantua in 1852, and again +in 1859 at Verona, where he died April 17th, 1878. + +Like most of the Italian poets of this century, Aleardi found his chief +inspiration in the exciting events that marked the struggle of Italy for +independence, and his best work antedated the peace of Villafranca. His +first serious effort was 'Le Prime Storie' (The Primal Histories), +written in 1845. In this he traces the story of the human race from the +creation through the Scriptural, classical, and feudal periods down to +the present century, and closes with foreshadowings of a peaceful and +happy future. It is picturesque, full of lofty imagery and brilliant +descriptive passages. + +'Una Ora della mia Giovinezza' (An Hour of My Youth: 1858) recounts many +of his youthful trials and disappointments as a patriot. Like the +'Primal Histories,' this poem is largely contemplative and +philosophical, and shines by the same splendid diction and luxurious +imagery; but it is less wide-reaching in its interests and more +specific in its appeal to his own countrymen. And from this time onward +the patriotic qualities in Aleardi's poetry predominate, and his themes +become more and more exclusively Italian. The 'Monte Circello' sings the +glories and events of the Italian land and history, and successfully +presents many facts of science in poetic form, while the singer +passionately laments the present condition of Italy. In 'Le Citta +Italiane Marinore e Commercianti' (The Marine and Commercial Cities of +Italy) the story of the rise, flourishing, and fall of Venice, Florence, +Pisa, and Genoa is recounted. His other noteworthy poems are 'Rafaello e +la Fornarina,' 'Le Tre Fiume' (The Three Rivers), 'Le Tre Fanciulle' +(The Three Maidens: 1858), 'I Sette Soldati' (The Seven Soldiers: 1859), +and 'Canto Politico' (Political Songs: 1862). + +A slender volume of five hundred pages contains all that Aleardi has +written. Yet he is one of the chief minor Italian poets of this century, +because of his loftiness of purpose and felicity of expression, his +tenderness of feeling, and his deep sympathies with his +struggling country. + +"He has," observes Howells in his 'Modern Italian Poets,' "in greater +degree than any other Italian poet of this, or perhaps of any age, those +merits which our English taste of this time demands,--quickness of +feeling and brilliancy of expression. He lacks simplicity of idea, and +his style is an opal which takes all lights and hues, rather than the +crystal which lets the daylight colorlessly through. He is distinguished +no less by the themes he selects than by the expression he gives them. +In his poetry there is passion, but his subjects are usually those to +which love is accessory rather than essential; and he cares better to +sing of universal and national destinies as they concern individuals, +than the raptures and anguishes of youthful individuals as they concern +mankind." He was original in his way; his attitude toward both the +classic and the romantic schools is shown in the following passage from +his autobiography, which at the same time brings out his patriotism. +He says:-- + + "It seemed to me strange, on the one hand, that people who, + in their serious moments and in the recesses of their hearts, + invoked Christ, should in the recesses of their minds, in the + deep excitement of poetry, persist in invoking Apollo and + Pallas Minerva. It seemed to me strange, on the other hand, + that people born in Italy, with this sun, with these nights, + with so many glories, so many griefs, so many hopes at home, + should have the mania of singing the mists of Scandinavia, + and the Sabbaths of witches, and should go mad for a gloomy + and dead feudalism, which had come from the North, the + highway of our misfortunes. It seemed to me, moreover, that + every Art of Poetry was marvelously useless, and that certain + rules were mummies embalmed by the hand of pedants. In fine, + it seemed to me that there were two kinds of Art: the one, + serene with an Olympic serenity, the Art of all ages that + belongs to no country; the other, more impassioned, that has + its roots in one's native soil.... The first that of Homer, + of Phidias, of Virgil, of Tasso; the other that of the + Prophets, of Dante, of Shakespeare, of Byron. And I have + tried to cling to this last, because I was pleased to see how + these great men take the clay of their own land and their own + time, and model from it a living statue, which resembles + their contemporaries." + +In another interesting passage he explains that his old drawing-master +had in vain pleaded with the father to make his son a painter, and he +continues:-- + + "Not being allowed to use the pencil, I have used the pen. + And precisely on this account my pen resembles too much a + pencil; precisely on this account I am often too much of a + naturalist, and am too fond of losing myself in minute + details. I am as one who in walking goes leisurely along, and + stops every minute to observe the dash of light that breaks + through the trees of the woods, the insect that alights on + his hand, the leaf that falls on his head, a cloud, a wave, a + streak of smoke; in fine, the thousand accidents that make + creation so rich, so various, so poetical, and beyond which + we evermore catch glimpses of that grand mysterious + something, eternal, immense, benignant, and never inhuman nor + cruel, as some would have us believe, which is called God." + +The selections are from Howells's 'Modern Italian Poets,' copyright +1887, by Harper and Brothers. + + + COWARDS + +/* + In the deep circle of Siddim hast thou seen, + Under the shining skies of Palestine, + The sinister glitter of the Lake of Asphalt? + Those coasts, strewn thick with ashes of damnation, + Forever foe to every living thing, + Where rings the cry of the lost wandering bird + That on the shore of the perfidious sea + Athirsting dies,--that watery sepulchre + Of the five cities of iniquity, + Where even the tempest, when its clouds hang low, + Passes in silence, and the lightning dies,-- + If thou hast seen them, bitterly hath been + Thy heart wrung with the misery and despair + Of that dread vision! + Yet there is on earth + A woe more desperate and miserable,-- + A spectacle wherein the wrath of God + Avenges Him more terribly. It is + A vain, weak people of faint-heart old men, + That, for three hundred years of dull repose, + Has lain perpetual dreamer, folded in + The ragged purple of its ancestors, + Stretching its limbs wide in its country's sun, + To warm them; drinking the soft airs of autumn + Forgetful, on the fields where its forefathers + Like lions fought! From overflowing hands, + Strew we with hellebore and poppies thick + The way. + + From 'The Primal Histories.' + + + THE HARVESTERS + + What time in summer, sad with so much light, + The sun beats ceaselessly upon the fields; + The harvesters, as famine urges them, + Draw hitherward in thousands, and they wear + The look of those that dolorously go + In exile, and already their brown eyes + Are heavy with the poison of the air. + Here never note of amorous bird consoles + Their drooping hearts; here never the gay songs + Of their Abruzzi sound to gladden these + Pathetic hands. But taciturn they toil, + Reaping the harvests for their unknowrn lords; + And when the weary labor is performed, + Taciturn they retire; and not till then + Their bagpipes crown the joys of the return, + Swelling the heart with their familiar strain. + Alas! not all return, for there is one + That dying in the furrow sits, and seeks + With his last look some faithful kinsman out, + To give his life's wage, that he carry it + Unto his trembling mother, with the last + Words of her son that comes no more. And dying, + Deserted and alone, far off he hears + His comrades going, with their pipes in time, + Joyfully measuring their homeward steps. + And when in after years an orphan comes + To reap the harvest here, and feels his blade + Go quivering through the swaths of falling grain, + He weeps and thinks--haply these heavy stalks + Ripened on his unburied father's bones. + + From 'Monte Circello.' + + + THE DEATH OF THE YEAR + + Ere yet upon the unhappy Arctic lands, + In dying autumn, Erebus descends + With the night's thousand hours, along the verge + Of the horizon, like a fugitive, + Through the long days wanders the weary sun; + And when at last under the wave is quenched + The last gleam of its golden countenance, + Interminable twilight land and sea + Discolors, and the north wind covers deep + All things in snow, as in their sepulchres + The dead are buried. In the distances + The shock of warring Cyclades of ice + Makes music as of wild and strange lament; + And up in heaven now tardily are lit + The solitary polar star and seven + Lamps of the bear. And now the warlike race + Of swans gather their hosts upon the breast + Of some far gulf, and, bidding their farewell + To the white cliffs and slender junipers, + And sea-weed bridal-beds, intone the song + Of parting, and a sad metallic clang + Send through the mists. Upon their southward way + They greet the beryl-tinted icebergs; greet + Flamy volcanoes and the seething founts + Of geysers, and the melancholy yellow + Of the Icelandic fields; and, wearying + Their lily wings amid the boreal lights, + Journey away unto the joyous shores + Of morning. + + From 'An Hour of My Youth.' + + + + +JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT + +(1717-1783) + +[Illustration: D'ALEMBERT] + +Jean Le Rond D'Alembert, one of the most noted of the "Encyclopedists," +a mathematician of the first order, and an eminent man of letters, was +born at Paris in 1717. The unacknowleged son of the Chevalier Destouches +and of Mme. de Tencin, he had been exposed on the steps of the chapel +St. Jean-le-Rond, near Notre-Dame. He was named after the place where he +was found; the surname of D'Alembert being added by himself in later +years. He was given into the care of the wife of a glazier, who brought +him up tenderly and whom he never ceased to venerate as his true mother. +His anonymous father, however, partly supported him by an annual income +of twelve hundred francs. He was educated at the college Mazarin, and +surprised his Jansenist teachers by his brilliance and precocity. They +believed him to be a second Pascal; and, doubtless to complete the +analogy, drew his attention away from his theological studies to +geometry. But they calculated without their host; for the young student +suddenly found out his genius, and mathematics and the exact sciences +henceforth became his absorbing interests. He studied successively law +and medicine, but finding no satisfaction in either of these +professions, with the true instincts of the scholar he chose poverty +with liberty to pursue the studies he loved. He astonished the +scientific world by his first published works, 'Memoir on the Integral +Calculus' (1739) and 'On the Refraction of Solid Bodies' (1741); and +while not yet twenty-four years old, the brilliant young mathematician +was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences. In 1754 he entered +the Académie Française, and eighteen years later became its perpetual +secretary. + +D'Alembert wrote many and important works on physics and mathematics. +One of these, 'Memoir on the General Cause of Winds,' carried away a +prize from the Academy of Sciences of Berlin, in 1746, and its +dedication to Frederick II. of Prussia won him the friendship of that +monarch. But his claims to a place in French literature, leaving aside +his eulogies on members of the French Academy deceased between 1700 and +1772, are based chiefly on his writings in connection with the +'Encyclopédie.' Associated with Diderot in this vast enterprise, he was +at first, because of his eminent position in the scientific world, its +director and official head. He contributed a large number of scientific +and philosophic articles, and took entire charge of the revising of the +mathematical division. His most noteworthy contribution, however, is the +'Preliminary Discourse' prefixed as a general introduction and +explanation of the work. In this he traced with wonderful clearness and +logical precision the successive steps of the human mind in its search +after knowledge, and basing his conclusion on the historical evolution +of the race, he sketched in broad outlines the development of the +sciences and arts. In 1758 he withdrew from the active direction of the +'Encyclopédie,' that he might free himself from the annoyance of +governmental interference, to which the work was constantly subjected +because of the skeptical tendencies it evinced. But he continued to +contribute mathematical articles, with a few on other topics. One of +these, on 'Geneva,' involved him in his celebrated dispute with Rousseau +and other radicals in regard to Calvinism and the suppression of +theatrical performances in the stronghold of Swiss orthodoxy. + +His fame was spreading over Europe. Frederick the Great of Prussia +repeatedly offered him the presidency of the Academy of Sciences of +Berlin. But he refused, as he also declined the magnificent offer of +Catherine of Russia to become tutor to her son, at a yearly salary of a +hundred thousand francs. Pope Benedict XIV. honored him by recommending +him to the membership of the Institute of Bologne; and the high esteem +in which he was held in England is shown by the legacy of £200 left him +by David Hume. + +All these honors and distinctions did not affect the simplicity of his +life, for during thirty years he continued to reside in the poor and +incommodious quarters of his foster-mother, whom he partly supported out +of his small income. Ill health at last drove him to seek better +accommodations. He had formed a romantic attachment for Mademoiselle de +l'Espinasse, and lived with her in the same house for years unscandaled. +Her death in 1776 plunged him into profound grief. He died nine years +later, on the 9th of October, 1783. + +His manner was plain and at times almost rude; he had great independence +of character, but also much simplicity and benevolence. With the other +French deists, D'Alembert has been attacked for his religious opinions, +but with injustice. He was prudent in the public expression of them, as +the time necessitated; but he makes the freest statement of them in his +correspondence with Voltaire. His literary and philosopic works were +edited by Bassange (Paris, 1891). Condorcet, in his 'Eulogy,' gives the +best account of his life and writings. + + +MONTESQUIEU + +From the Eulogy published in the 'Encyclopédie' + +The interest which good citizens are pleased to take in the +'Encyclopédie,' and the great number of men of letters who consecrate +their labors to it, authorize us to regard this work as the most proper +monument to preserve the grateful sentiments of our country, and that +respect which is due to the memory of those celebrated men who have done +it honor. Persuaded, however, that M. de Montesquieu had a title to +expect other panegyrics, and that the public grief deserved to be +described by more eloquent pens, we should have paid his great memory +the homage of silence, had not gratitude compelled us to speak. A +benefactor to mankind by his writings, he was not less a benefactor to +this work, and at least we may place a few lines at the base of his +statue, as it were. + +Charles de Secondat, baron of La Brède and of Montesquieu, late +life-President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, member of the French +Academy of Sciences, of the Royal Academy and Belles-Lettres of Prussia, +and of the Royal Society of London, was born at the castle of La Brède, +near Bordeaux, the 18th of January, 1689, of a noble family of Guyenne. +His great-great-grandfather, John de Secondat, steward of the household +to Henry the Second, King of Navarre, and afterward to Jane, daughter of +that king, who married Antony of Bourbon, purchased the estate of +Montesquieu for the sum of ten thousand livres, which this princess gave +him by an authentic deed, as a reward for his probity and services. + +Henry the Third, King of Navarre, afterward Henry the Fourth, King of +France, erected the lands of Montesquieu into a barony, in favor of +Jacob de Secondat, son of John, first a gentleman in ordinary of the +bedchamber to this prince, and afterward colonel of the regiment of +Chatillon. John Gaston de Secondat, his second son, having married a +daughter of the first president of the Parliament of Bordeaux, purchased +the office of perpetual president in this society. He had several +children, one of whom entered the service, distinguished himself, and +quitted it very early in life. This was the father of Charles de +Secondat, author of the 'Spirit of Laws.' These particulars may seem +superfluous in the eulogy of a philosopher who stands so little in need +of ancestors; but at least we may adorn their memory with that lustre +which his name reflects upon it. + +The early promise of his genius was fulfilled in Charles de Secondat. He +discovered very soon what he desired to be, and his father cultivated +this rising genius, the object of his hope and of his tenderness. At the +age of twenty, young Montesquieu had already prepared materials for the +'Spirit of Laws,' by a well-digested extract from the immense body of +the civil law; as Newton had laid in early youth the foundation of his +immortal works. The study of jurisprudence, however, though less dry to +M. de Montesquieu than to most who attempt it, because he studied it as +a philosopher, did not content him. He inquired deeply into the subjects +which pertain to religion, and considered them with that wisdom, +decency, and equity, which characterize his work. + +A brother of his father, perpetual president of the Parliament of +Bordeaux, an able judge and virtuous citizen, the oracle of his own +society and of his province, having lost an only son, left his fortune +and his office to M. de Montesquieu. + +Some years after, in 1722, during the king's minority, his society +employed him to present remonstrances upon occasion of a new impost. +Placed between the throne and the people, like a respectful subject and +courageous magistrate he brought the cry of the wretched to the ears of +the sovereign--a cry which, being heard, obtained justice. +Unfortunately, this success was momentary. Scarce was the popular voice +silenced before the suppressed tax was replaced by another; but the good +citizen had done his duty. + +He was received the 3d of April, 1716, into the new academy of Bordeaux. +A taste for music and entertainment had at first assembled its members. +M. de Montesquieu believed that the talents of his friends might be +better employed in physical subjects. He was persuaded that nature, +worthy of being beheld everywhere, could find everywhere eyes worthy to +behold her; while it was impossible to gather together, at a distance +from the metropolis, distinguished writers on works of taste. He looked +upon our provincial societies for belles-lettres as a shadow of +literature which obscures the reality. The Duke de la Force, by a prize +which he founded at Bordeaux, seconded these rational views. It was +decided that a good physical experiment would be better than a weak +discourse or a bad poem; and Bordeaux got an Academy of Sciences. + +M. de Montesquieu, careless of reputation, wrote little. It was not +till 1721, that is to say, at thirty-two years of age, that he published +the 'Persian Letters.' The description of Oriental manners, real or +supposed, is the least important thing in these letters. It serves +merely as a pretense for a delicate satire upon our own customs and for +the concealment of a serious intention. In this moving picture, Usbec +chiefly exposes, with as much ease as energy, whatever among us most +struck his penetrating eyes: our way of treating the silliest things +seriously, and of laughing at the most important; our way of talking +which is at once so blustering and so frivolous; our impatience even in +the midst of pleasure itself; our prejudices and our actions that +perpetually contradict our understandings; our great love of glory and +respect for the idol of court favor, our little real pride; our +courtiers so mean and vain; our exterior politeness to, and our real +contempt of strangers; our fantastical tastes, than which there is +nothing lower but the eagerness of all Europe to adopt them; our +barbarous disdain for the two most respectable occupations of a +citizen--commerce and magistracy; our literary disputes, so keen and so +useless; our rage for writing before we think, and for judging before we +understand. To this picture he opposes, in the apologue of the +Troglodytes, the description of a virtuous people, become wise by +misfortunes--a piece worthy of the portico. In another place, he +represents philosophy, long silenced, suddenly reappearing, regaining +rapidly the time which she had lost; penetrating even among the Russians +at the voice of a genius which invites her; while among other people of +Europe, superstition, like a thick atmosphere, prevents the +all-surrounding light from reaching them. Finally, by his review of +ancient and modern government, he presents us with the bud of those +bright ideas since fully developed in his great work. + +These different subjects, no longer novel, as when the 'Persian Letters' +first appeared, will forever remain original--a merit the more real that +it proceeds alone from the genius of the writer; for Usbec acquired, +during his abode in France, so perfect a knowledge of our morals, and so +strong a tincture of our manners, that his style makes us forget his +country. This small solecism was perhaps not unintentional. While +exposing our follies and vices, he meant, no doubt, to do justice to our +merits. Avoiding the insipidity of a direct panegyric, he has more +delicately praised us by assuming our own air in professed satire. + +Notwithstanding the success of his work, M. de Montesquieu did not +acknowledge it. Perhaps he wished to escape criticism. Perhaps he wished +to avoid a contrast of the frivolity of the 'Persian Letters' with the +gravity of his office; a sort of reproach which critics never fail to +make, because it requires no sort of effort. But his secret was +discovered, and the public suggested his name for the Academy. The event +justified M. de Montesquieu's silence. Usbec expresses himself freely, +not concerning the fundamentals of Christianity, but about matters which +people affect to confound with Christianity itself: about the spirit of +persecution which has animated so many Christians; about the temporal +usurpation of ecclesiastical power; about the excessive multiplication +of monasteries, which deprive the State of subjects without giving +worshipers to God; about some opinions which would fain be established +as principles; about our religious disputes, always violent and often +fatal. If he appears anywhere to touch upon questions more vital to +Christianity itself, his reflections are in fact favorable to +revelation, because he shows how little human reason, left to +itself, knows. + +Among the genuine letters of M. de Montesquieu the foreign printer had +inserted some by another hand. Before the author was condemned, these +should have been thrown out. Regardless of these considerations, hatred +masquerading as zeal, and zeal without understanding, rose and united +themselves against the 'Persian Letters.' Informers, a species of men +dangerous and base, alarmed the piety of the ministry. M. de +Montesquieu, urged by his friends, supported by the public voice, having +offered himself for the vacant place of M. de Sacy in the French +Academy, the minister wrote "The Forty" that his Majesty would never +accept the election of the author of the "Persian Letters" that he had +not, indeed, read the book, but that persons in whom he placed +confidence had informed him of its poisonous tendency. M. de Montesquieu +saw what a blow such an accusation might prove to his person, his +family, and his tranquillity. He neither sought literary honors nor +affected to disdain them when they came in his way, nor did he regard +the lack of them as a misfortune: but a perpetual exclusion, and the +motives of that exclusion, appeared to him to be an injury. He saw the +minister, and explained that though he did not acknowledge the 'Persian +Letters,' he would not disown a work for which he had no reason to +blush; and that he ought to be judged upon its contents, and not upon +mere hearsay. At last the minister read the book, loved the author, and +learned wisdom as to his advisers. The French Academy obtained one of +its greatest ornaments, and France had the happiness to keep a subject +whom superstition or calumny had nearly deprived her of; for M. de +Montesquieu had declared to the government that, after the affront they +proposed, he would go among foreigners in quest of that safety, that +repose, and perhaps those rewards which he might reasonably have +expected in his own country. The nation would really have deplored his +loss, while yet the disgrace of it must have fallen upon her. + +M. de Montesquieu was received the 24th of January, 1728. His oration is +one of the best ever pronounced here. Among many admirable passages +which shine out in its pages is the deep-thinking writer's +characterization of Cardinal Richelieu, "who taught France the secret of +its strength, and Spain that of its weakness; who freed Germany from her +chains and gave her new ones." + +The new Academician was the worthier of this title, that he had +renounced all other employments to give himself entirely up to his +genius and his taste. However important was his place, he perceived that +a different work must employ his talents; that the citizen is +accountable to his country and to mankind for all the good he may do; +and that he could be more useful by his writings than by settling +obscure legal disputes. He was no longer a magistrate, but only a man +of letters. + +But that his works should serve other nations, it was necessary that he +should travel, his aim being to examine the natural and moral world, to +study the laws and constitution of every country; to visit scholars, +writers, artists, and everywhere to seek for those rare men whose +conversation sometimes supplies the place of years of observation. M. de +Montesquieu might have said, like Democritus, "I have forgot nothing to +instruct myself; I have quitted my country and traveled over the +universe, the better to know truth; I have seen all the illustrious +personages of my time." But there was this difference between the French +Democritus and him of Abdera, that the first traveled to instruct men, +and the second to laugh at them. + +He went first to Vienna, where he often saw the celebrated Prince +Eugene. This hero, so fatal to France (to which he might have been so +useful), after having checked the advance of Louis XIV. and humbled the +Ottoman pride, lived without pomp, loving and cultivating letters in a +court where they are little honored, and showing his masters how to +protect them. + +Leaving Vienna, the traveler visited Hungary, an opulent and fertile +country, inhabited by a haughty and generous nation, the scourge of its +tyrants and the support of its sovereigns. As few persons know this +country well, he has written with care this part of his travels. + +From Germany he went to Italy. At Venice he met the famous Mr. Law, of +whose former grandeur nothing remained but projects fortunately destined +to die away unorganized, and a diamond which he pawned to play at games +of hazard. One day the conversation turned on the famous system which +Law had invented; the source of so many calamities, so many colossal +fortunes, and so remarkable a corruption in our morals. As the +Parliament of Paris had made some resistance to the Scotch minister on +this occasion, M. de Montesquieu asked him why he had never tried to +overcome this resistance by a method almost always infallible in +England, by the grand mover of human actions--in a word, by money. +"These are not," answered Law, "geniuses so ardent and so generous as my +countrymen; but they are much more incorruptible." It is certainly true +that a society which is free for a limited time ought to resist +corruption more than one which is always free: the first, when it sells +its liberty, loses it; the second, so to speak, only lends it, and +exercises it even when it is thus parting with it. Thus the +circumstances and nature of government give rise to the vices and +virtues of nations. + +Another person, no less famous, whom M. de Montesquieu saw still oftener +at Venice, was Count de Bonneval. This man, so well known for his +adventures, which were not yet at an end, delighted to converse with so +good a judge and so excellent a hearer, often related to him the +military actions in which he had been engaged, and the remarkable +circumstances of his life, and drew the characters of generals and +ministers whom he had known. + +He went from Venice to Rome. In this ancient capital of the world he +studied the works of Raphael, of Titian, and of Michael Angelo. +Accustomed to study nature, he knew her when she was translated, as a +faithful portrait appeals to all who are familiar with the original. + +After having traveled over Italy, M. de Montesquieu came to Switzerland +and studied those vast countries which are watered by the Rhine. There +was the less for him to see in Germany that Frederick did not yet reign. +In the United Provinces he beheld an admirable monument of what human +industry animated by a love of liberty can do. In England he stayed +three years. Welcomed by the greatest men, he had nothing to regret save +that he had not made his journey sooner. Newton and Locke were dead. But +he had often the honor of paying his respects to their patroness, the +celebrated Queen of England, who cultivated philosophy upon a throne, +and who properly esteemed and valued M. de Montesquieu. Nor was he less +well received by the nation. At London he formed intimate friendships +with the great thinkers. With them he studied the nature of the +government, attaining profound knowledge of it. + +As he had set out neither as an enthusiast nor a cynic, he brought back +neither a disdain for foreigners nor a contempt for his own country. It +was the result of his observations that Germany was made to travel in, +Italy to sojourn in, England to think in, and France to live in. + +After returning to his own country, M. de Montesquieu retired for two +years to his estate of La Brède, enjoying that solitude which a life in +the tumult and hurry of the world but makes the more agreeable. He lived +with himself, after having so long lived with others; and finished his +work 'On the Cause of the Grandeur and Decline of the Romans,' which +appeared in 1734. + +Empires, like men, must increase, decay, and be extinguished. But this +necessary revolution may have hidden causes which the veil of time +conceals from us. + +Nothing in this respect more resembles modern history than ancient +history. That of the Romans must, however, be excepted. It presents us +with a rational policy, a connected system of aggrandizement, which will +not permit us to attribute the great fortune of this people to obscure +and inferior sources. The causes of the Roman grandeur may then be found +in history, and it is the business of the philosopher to discover them. +Besides, there are no systems in this study, as in that of physics, +which are easily overthrown, because one new and unforeseen experiment +can upset them in an instant. On the contrary, when we carefully collect +the facts, if we do not always gather together all the desired +materials, we may at least hope one day to obtain more. A great +historian combines in the most perfect manner these defective materials. +His merit is like that of an architect, who, from a few remains, traces +the plan of an ancient edifice; supplying, by genius and happy +conjectures, what was wanting in fact. + +It is from this point of view that we ought to consider the work of M. +de Montesquieu. He finds the causes of the grandeur of the Romans in +that love of liberty, of labor, and of country, which was instilled into +them during their infancy; in those intestine divisions which gave an +activity to their genius, and which ceased immediately upon the +appearance of an enemy; in that constancy after misfortunes, which never +despaired of the republic; in that principle they adhered to of never +making peace but after victories; in the honor of a triumph, which was a +subject of emulation among the generals; in that protection which they +granted to those peoples who rebelled against their kings; in the +excellent policy of permitting the conquered to preserve their religion +and customs; and the equally excellent determination never to have two +enemies upon their hands at once, but to bear everything from the one +till they had destroyed the other. He finds the causes of their +declension in the aggrandizement of the State itself: in those distant +wars, which, obliging the citizens to be too long absent, made them +insensibly lose their republican spirit; in the too easily granted +privilege of being citizens of Rome, which made the Roman people at last +become a sort of many-headed monster; in the corruption introduced by +the luxury of Asia; in the proscriptions of Sylla, which debased the +genius of the nation, and prepared it for slavery; in the necessity of +having a master while their liberty was become burdensome to them; in +the necessity of changing their maxims when they changed their +government; in that series of monsters who reigned, almost without +interruption, from Tiberius to Nerva, and from Commodus to Constantine; +lastly, in the translation and division of the empire, which perished +first in the West by the power of barbarians, and after having +languished in the East, under weak or cruel emperors, insensibly died +away, like those rivers which disappear in the sands. + +In a very small volume M. de Montesquieu explained and unfolded his +picture. Avoiding detail, and seizing only essentials, he has included +in a very small space a vast number of objects distinctly perceived, and +rapidly presented, without fatiguing the reader. While he points out +much, he leaves us still more to reflect upon; and he might have +entitled his book, 'A Roman History for the Use of Statesmen and +Philosophers.' + +Whatever reputation M. de Montesquieu had thus far acquired, he had but +cleared the way for a far grander undertaking--for that which ought to +immortalize his name, and commend it to the admiration of future ages. +He had meditated for twenty years upon its execution; or, to speak more +exactly, his whole life had been a perpetual meditation upon it. He had +made himself in some sort a stranger in his own country, the better to +understand it. He had studied profoundly the different peoples of +Europe. The famous island, which so glories in her laws, and which makes +so bad a use of them, proved to him what Crete had been to Lycurgus--a +school where he learned much without approving everything. Thus he +attained by degrees to the noblest title a wise man can deserve, that of +legislator of nations. + +If he was animated by the importance of his subject, he was at the same +time terrified by its extent. He abandoned it, and returned to it again +and again. More than once, as he himself owns, he felt his paternal +hands fail him. At last, encouraged by his friends, he resolved to +publish the 'Spirit of Laws.' + +In this important work M. de Montesquieu, without insisting, like his +predecessors, upon metaphysical discussions, without confining himself, +like them, to consider certain people in certain particular relations or +circumstances, takes a view of the actual inhabitants of the world in +all their conceivable relations to each other. Most other writers in +this way are either simple moralists, or simple lawyers, or even +sometimes simple theologists. As for him, a citizen of all nations, he +cares less what duty requires of us than what means may constrain us to +do it; about the metaphysical perfection of laws, than about what man is +capable of; about laws which have been made, than about those which +ought to have been made; about the laws of a particular people, than +about those of all peoples. Thus, when comparing himself to those who +have run before him in this noble and grand career, he might say, with +Correggio, when he had seen the works of his rivals, "And I, too, am +a Painter." + +Filled with his subject, the author of the 'Spirit of Laws' comprehends +so many materials, and treats them with such brevity and depth, that +assiduous reading alone discloses its merit. This study will make that +pretended want of method, of which some readers have accused M. de +Montesquieu, disappear. Real want of order should be distinguished from +what is apparent only. Real disorder confuses the analogy and connection +of ideas; or sets up conclusions as principles, so that the reader, +after innumerable windings, finds himself at the point whence he set +out. Apparent disorder is when the author, putting his ideas in their +true place, leaves it to the readers to supply intermediate ones. M. de +Montesquieu's book is designed for men who think, for men capable of +supplying voluntary and reasonable omissions. + +The order perceivable in the grand divisions of the 'Spirit of Laws' +pervades the smaller details also. By his method of arrangement we +easily perceive the influence of the different parts upon each other; +as, in a system of human knowledge well understood, we may perceive the +mutual relation of sciences and arts. There must always remain something +arbitrary in every comprehensive scheme, and all that can be required of +an author is, that he follow strictly his own system. + +For an allowable obscurity the same defense exists. What may be obscure +to the ignorant is not so for those whom the author had in mind. +Besides, voluntary obscurity is not properly obscurity. Obliged to +present truths of great importance, the direct avowal of which might +have shocked without doing good, M. de Montesquieu has had the prudence +to conceal them from those whom they might have hurt without hiding them +from the wise. + +He has especially profited from the two most thoughtful historians, +Tacitus and Plutarch; but, though a philosopher familiar with these +authors might have dispensed with many others, he neglected nothing that +could be of use. The reading necessary for the 'Spirit of Laws' is +immense; and the author's ingenuity is the more wonderful because he was +almost blind, and obliged to depend on other men's eyes. This prodigious +reading contributes not only to the utility, but to the agreeableness of +the work. Without sacrificing dignity, M. de Montesquieu entertains the +reader by unfamiliar facts, or by delicate allusions, or by those strong +and brilliant touches which paint, by one stroke, nations and men. + +In a word, M. de Montesquieu stands for the study of laws, as Descartes +stood for that of philosophy. He often instructs us, and is sometimes +mistaken; and even when he mistakes, he instructs those who know how to +read him. The last edition of his works demonstrates, by its many +corrections and additions, that when he has made a slip, he has been +able to rise again. + +But what is within the reach of all the world is the spirit of the +'Spirit of Laws,' which ought to endear the author to all nations, to +cover far greater faults than are his. The love of the public good, a +desire to see men happy, reveals itself everywhere; and had it no other +merit, it would be worthy, on this account alone, to be read by nations +and kings. Already we may perceive that the fruits of this work are +ripe. Though M. de Montesquieu scarcely survived the publication of the +'Spirit of Laws,' he had the satisfaction to foresee its effects among +us; the natural love of Frenchmen for their country turned toward its +true object; that taste for commerce, for agriculture, and for useful +arts, which insensibly spreads itself in our nation; that general +knowledge of the principles of government, which renders people more +attached to that which they ought to love. Even the men who have +indecently attacked this work perhaps owe more to it than they imagine. +Ingratitude, besides, is their least fault. It is not without regret and +mortification that we expose them; but this history is of too much +consequence to M. de Montesquieu and to philosophy to be passed over in +silence. May that reproach, which at last covers his enemies, +profit them! + +The 'Spirit of Laws' was at once eagerly sought after on account of the +reputation of its author; but though M. de Montesquieu had written for +thinkers, he had the vulgar for his judge. The brilliant passages +scattered up and down the work, admitted only because they illustrated +the subject, made the ignorant believe that it was written for them. +Looking for an entertaining book, they found a useful one, whose scheme +and details they could not comprehend without attention. The 'Spirit of +Laws' was treated with a deal of cheap wit; even the title of it was +made a subject of pleasantry. In a word, one of the finest literary +monuments which our nation ever produced was received almost with +scurrility. It was requisite that competent judges should have time to +read it, that they might correct the errors of the fickle multitude. +That small public which teaches, dictated to that large public which +listens to hear, how it ought to think and speak; and the suffrages of +men of abilities formed only one voice over all Europe. + +The open and secret enemies of letters and philosophy now united their +darts against this work. Hence that multitude of pamphlets discharged +against the author, weapons which we shall not draw from oblivion. If +those authors were not forgotten, it might be believed that the 'Spirit +of Laws' was written amid a nation of barbarians. + +M. de Montesquieu despised the obscure criticisms of the curious. He +ranked them with those weekly newspapers whose encomiums have no +authority, and their darts no effect; which indolent readers run over +without believing, and in which sovereigns are insulted without knowing +it. But he was not equally indifferent about those principles of +irreligion which they accused him of having propagated. By ignoring such +reproaches he would have seemed to deserve them, and the importance of +the object made him shut his eyes to the meanness of his adversaries. +The ultra-zealous, afraid of that light which letters diffuse, not to +the prejudice of religion, but to their own disadvantage, took different +ways of attacking him; some, by a trick as puerile as cowardly, wrote +fictitious letters to themselves; others, attacking him anonymously, had +afterwards fallen by the ears among themselves. M. de Montesquieu +contented himself with making an example of the most extravagant. This +was the author of an anonymous periodical paper, who accused M. de +Montesquieu of Spinozism and deism (two imputations which are +incompatible); of having followed the system of Pope (of which there is +not a word in his works); of having quoted Plutarch, who is not a +Christian author; of not having spoken of original sin and of grace. In +a word, he pretended that the 'Spirit of Laws' was a production of the +constitution _Unigenitus_; a preposterous idea. Those who understand M. +de Montesquieu and Clement XI. may judge, by this accusation, of +the rest. + +This enemy procured the philosopher an addition of glory as a man of +letters: the 'Defense of the Spirit of Laws' appeared. This work, for +its moderation, truth, delicacy of ridicule, is a model. M. de +Montesquieu might easily have made his adversary odious; he did +better--he made him ridiculous. We owe the aggressor eternal thanks for +having procured us this masterpiece. For here, without intending it, the +author has drawn a picture of himself; those who knew him think they +hear him; and posterity, when reading his 'Defense,' will decide that +his conversation equaled his writings--an encomium which few great men +have deserved. + +Another circumstance gave him the advantage. The critic loudly accused +the clergy of France, and especially the faculty of theology, of +indifference to the cause of God, because they did not proscribe the +'Spirit of Laws.' The faculty resolved to examine the 'Spirit of Laws.' +Though several years have passed, it has not yet pronounced a decision. +It knows the grounds of reason and of faith; it knows that the work of a +man of letters ought not to be examined like that of a theologian; that +a bad interpretation does not condemn a proposition, and that it may +injure the weak to see an ill-timed suspicion of heresy thrown upon +geniuses of the first rank. In spite of this unjust accusation, M. de +Montesquieu was always esteemed, visited, and well received by the +greatest and most respectable dignitaries of the Church. Would he have +preserved this esteem among men of worth, if they had regarded him as a +dangerous writer? + +M. de Montesquieu's death was not unworthy of his life. Suffering +greatly, far from a family that was dear to him, surrounded by a few +friends and a great crowd of spectators, he preserved to the last his +calmness and serenity of soul. After performing with decency every duty, +full of confidence in the Eternal Being, he died with the tranquillity +of a man of worth, who had ever consecrated his talents to virtue and +humanity. France and Europe lost him February 10th, 1755, aged +sixty-six. + +All the newspapers published this event as a misfortune. We may apply to +M. de Montesquieu what was formerly said of an illustrious Roman: that +nobody, when told of his death, showed any joy or forgot him when he was +no more. Foreigners were eager to demonstrate their regrets: my Lord +Chesterfield, whom it is enough to name, wrote an article to his +honor--an article worthy of both. It is the portrait of Anaxagoras drawn +by Pericles. The Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres of +Prussia, though it is not its custom to pronounce a eulogy on foreign +members, paid him an honor which only the illustrious John Bernoulli had +hitherto received. M. de Maupertuis, though ill, performed himself this +last duty to his friend, and would not permit so sacred an office to +fall to the share of any other. To these honorable suffrages were added +those praises given him, in presence of one of us, by that very monarch +to whom this celebrated Academy owes its lustre; a prince who feels the +losses which Philosophy sustains, and at the same time comforts her. + +The 17th of February the French Academy, according to custom, performed +a solemn service for him, at which all the learned men of this body +assisted. They ought to have placed the 'Spirit of Laws' upon his +coffin, as heretofore they exposed, opposite to that of Raphael, his +Transfiguration. This simple and affecting decoration would have been a +fit funeral oration. + +M. de Montesquieu had, in company, an unvarying sweetness and gayety of +temper. His conversation was spirited, agreeable, and instructive, +because he had known so many great men. It was, like his style, concise, +full of wit and sallies, without gall, and without satire. Nobody told a +story more brilliantly, more readily, more gracefully, or with less +affectation. + +His frequent absence of mind only made him the more amusing. He always +roused himself to reanimate the conversation. The fire of his genius, +his prodigality of ideas, gave rise to flashes of speech; but he never +interrupted an interesting conversation; and he was attentive without +affectation and without constraint. His conversation not only resembled +his character and his genius, but had the method which he observed in +his study. Though capable of long-continued meditation, he never +exhausted his strength; he always left off application before he felt +the least symptom of fatigue. + +He was sensible to glory, but wished only to deserve it, and never tried +to augment his own fame by underhand practices. + +Worthy of all distinctions, he asked none, and he was not surprised that +he was forgot; but he has protected at court men of letters who were +persecuted, celebrated, and unfortunate, and has obtained favors +for them. + +Though he lived with the great, their company was not necessary to his +happiness. He retired whenever he could to the country; there again with +joy to welcome his philosophy, his books, and his repose. After having +studied man in the commerce of the world, and in the history of nations, +he studied him also among those simple people whom nature alone has +instructed. From them he could learn something; he endeavored, like +Socrates, to find out their genius; he appeared as happy thus as in the +most brilliant assemblies, especially when he made up their differences, +and comforted them by his beneficence. + +Nothing does greater honor to his memory than the economy with which he +lived, and which has been blamed as excessive in a proud and avaricious +age. He would not encroach on the provision for his family, even by his +generosity to the unfortunate, or by those expenses which his travels, +the weakness of his sight, and the printing of his works made necessary. +He transmitted to his children, without diminution or augmentation, the +estate which he received from his ancestors, adding nothing to it but +the glory of his name and the example of his life. He had married, in +1715, dame Jane de Lartigue, daughter of Peter de Lartigue, +lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of Molevrier, and had by her two +daughters and one son. + +Those who love truth and their country will not be displeased to find +some of his maxims here. He thought: That every part of the State ought +to be equally subject to the laws, but that the privileges of every part +of the State ought to be respected when they do not oppose the natural +right which obliges every citizen equally to contribute to the public +good; that ancient possession was in this kind the first of titles, and +the most inviolable of rights, which it was always unjust and sometimes +dangerous to shake; that magistrates, in all circumstances, and +notwithstanding their own advantage, ought to be magistrates without +partiality and without passion, like the laws which absolve and punish +without love or hatred. He said upon occasion of those ecclesiastical +disputes which so much employed the Greek emperors and Christians, that +theological disputes, when they are not confined to the schools, +infallibly dishonor a nation in the eyes of its neighbors: in fact, the +contempt in which wise men hold those quarrels does not vindicate the +character of their country; because, sages making everywhere the least +noise, and being the smallest number, it is never from them that the +nation is judged. + +We look upon that special interest which M. de Montesquieu took in the +(Encyclopedic) as one of the most honorable rewards of our labor. +Perhaps the opposition which the work has met with, reminding him of his +own experience, interested him the more in our favor. Perhaps he was +sensible, without perceiving it, of that justice which we dared to do +him in the first volume of the 'Encyclopedic,' when nobody as yet had +ventured to say a word in his defense. He prepared for us an article +upon 'Taste,' which has been found unfinished among his papers. We shall +give it to the public in that condition, and treat it with the same +respect that antiquity formerly showed to the last words of Seneca. +Death prevented his giving us any further marks of his approval; and +joining our own griefs with those of all Europe, we might write on +his tomb:-- + + "_Finis vita ejus nobis luctuosus, patriae tristis, extraneis + etiam ignotisque non sine cura fuit_." + + + + +VITTORIO ALFIERI + +(1749-1803) + +BY L. OSCAR KUHNS + +Italian literature during the eighteenth century, although it could +boast of no names in any way comparable with those of Dante, Petrarch, +Ariosto, and Tasso, showed still a vast improvement on the degradation +of the preceding century. Among the most famous writers of the +times--Goldoni, Parini, Metastasio--none is so great or so famous as +Vittorio Alfieri, the founder of Italian tragedy. The story of his life +and of his literary activity, as told by himself in his memoirs, is one +of extreme interest. Born at Asti, on January 17th, 1749, of a wealthy +and noble family, he grew up to manhood singularly deficient in +knowledge and culture, and without the slightest interest in literature. +He was "uneducated," to use his own phrase, in the Academy of Turin. It +was only after a long tour in Italy, France, Holland, and England, that, +recognizing his own ignorance, he went to Florence to begin +serious work. + +At the age of twenty-seven a sudden revelation of his dramatic power +came to him, and with passionate energy he spent the rest of his life in +laborious study and in efforts to make himself worthy of a place among +the poets of his native land. Practically he had to learn everything; +for he himself tells us that he had "an almost total ignorance of the +rules of dramatic composition, and an unskillfulness almost total in the +divine and most necessary art of writing well and handling his own +language." + +His private life was eventful, chiefly through his many sentimental +attachments, its deepest experience being his profound love and +friendship for the Countess of Albany,--Louise Stolberg, mistress and +afterward wife of the "Young Pretender," who passed under the title of +Count of Albany, and from whom she was finally divorced. The production +of Alfieri's tragedies began with the sketch called 'Cleopatra,' in +1775, and lasted till 1789, when a complete edition, by Didot, appeared +in Paris. His only important prose work is his 'Auto-biography' begun in +1790 and ended in the year of his death, 1803. Although he wrote several +comedies and a number of sonnets and satires,--which do not often rise +above mediocrity,--it is as a tragic poet that he is known to fame. +Before him--though Goldoni had successfully imitated Molière in comedy, +and Metastasio had become enormously popular as the poet of love and the +opera--no tragedies had been written in Italy which deserved to be +compared with the great dramas of France, Spain, and England. Indeed, it +had been said that tragedy was not adapted to the Italian tongue or +character. It remained for Alfieri to prove the falsity of this theory. + +Always sensitive to the charge of plagiarism, Alfieri declared that +whether his tragedies were good or bad, they were at least his own. This +is true to a certain extent. And yet he was influenced more than he was +willing to acknowledge by the French dramatists of the seventeenth +century. In common with Corneille and Racine, he observed strictly the +three unities of time, place, and action. But the courtliness of +language, the grace and poetry of the French dramas, and especially the +tender love of Racine, are altogether lacking with him. + +Alfieri had a certain definite theory of tragedy which he followed with +unswerving fidelity. He aimed at the simplicity and directness of the +Greek drama. He sought to give one clear, definite action, which should +advance in a straight line from beginning to end, without deviation, and +carry along the characters--who are, for the most part, helplessly +entangled in the toils of a relentless fate--to an inevitable +destruction. For this reason the well-known _confidantes_ of the French +stage were discarded, no secondary action or episodes were admitted, and +the whole play was shortened to a little more than two-thirds of the +average French classic drama. Whatever originality Alfieri possessed did +not show itself in the choice of subjects, which are nearly all well +known and had often been used before. From Racine he took 'Polynice,' +'Merope' had been treated by Maffei and Voltaire, and Shakespeare had +immortalized the story of Brutus. The situations and events are often +conventional; the passions are those familiar to the stage,--jealousy, +revenge, hatred, and unhappy love. And yet Alfieri has treated these +subjects in a way which differs from all others, and which stamps them, +in a certain sense, as his own. With him all is sombre and melancholy; +the scene is utterly unrelieved by humor, by the flowers of poetry, or +by that deep-hearted sympathy--the pity of it all--which softens the +tragic effect of Shakespeare's plays. + +Alfieri seemed to be attracted toward the most horrible phases of human +life, and the most terrible events of history and tradition. The +passions he describes are those of unnatural love, of jealousy between +father and son, of fratricidal hatred, or those in which a sense of duty +and love for liberty triumphs over the ties of filial and parental love. +In treating the story of the second Brutus, it was not enough for his +purpose to have Caesar murdered by his friend; but, availing himself of +an unproven tradition, he makes Brutus the son of Caesar, and thus a +parricide. + +[Illustration: V. ALFIERI] + +It is interesting to notice his vocabulary; to see how constantly +he uses such words as "atrocious," "horror," "terrible," "incest," +"rivers," "streams," "lakes," and "seas" of blood. The exclamation, +"Oh, rage" occurs on almost every page. Death, murder, suicide, is +the outcome of every tragedy. + +The actors are few,--in many plays only four,--and each represents +a certain passion. They never change, but remain true to +their characters from beginning to end. The villains are monsters +of cruelty and vice, and the innocent and virtuous are invariably +their victims, and succumb at last. + +Alfieri's purpose in producing these plays was not to amuse an +idle public, but to promulgate throughout his native land--then +under Spanish domination--the great and lofty principle of liberty +which inspired his whole life. A deep, uncompromising hatred of +kings is seen in every drama, where invariably a tyrant figures as +the villain. There is a constant declamation against tyranny and +slavery. Liberty is portrayed as something dearer than life itself. +The struggle for freedom forms the subjects of five of his +plays,--'Virginia,' 'The Conspiracy of the Pazzi,' 'Timoleon,' the +'First Brutus,' and the 'Second Brutus.' One of these is dedicated to +George Washington--'Liberator dell' America.' The warmth of +feeling with which, in the 'Conspiracy of the Pazzi,' the degradation +and slavery of Florence under the Medici is depicted, betrays +clearly Alfieri's sense of the political state of Italy in his own day. +And the poet undoubtedly has gained the gratitude of his countrymen +for his voicing of that love for liberty which has always existed +in their hearts. + +Just as Alfieri sought to condense the action of his plays, so he +strove for brevity and condensation in language. His method of +composing was peculiar. He first sketched his play in prose, then +worked it over in poetry, often spending years in the process of +rewriting and polishing. In his indomitable energy, his persistence +in labor, and his determination to acquire a fitting style, he reminds +us of Balzac. His brevity of language--which shows itself most +strikingly in the omission of articles, and in the number of broken +exclamations--gives his pages a certain sententiousness, almost like +proverbs. He purposely renounced all attempts at the graces and +flowers of poetry. + +It is hard for the lover of Shakespearean tragedy to be just to +the merits of Alfieri. There is a uniformity, or even a monotony, +in these nineteen plays, whose characters are more or less alike, +whose method of procedure is the same, whose sentiments are +analogous, and in which an activity devoid of incident hurries the +reader to an inevitable conclusion, foreseen from the first act. + +And yet the student cannot fail to detect great tragic power, +sombre and often unnatural, but never producing that sense of the +ridiculous which sometimes mars the effect of Victor Hugo's dramas. +The plots are never obscure, the language is never trivial, and the +play ends with a climax which leaves a profound impression. + +The very nature of Alfieri's tragedies makes it difficult to represent +him without giving a complete play. The following extracts, +however, illustrate admirably the horror and power of his climaxes. + +L. Oscar Kuhnes + + +AGAMEMNON + +[During the absence of Agamemnon at the siege of Troy, Aegisthus, son of +Thyestes and the relentless enemy of the House of Atreus, wins the love +of Clytemnestra, and with devilish ingenuity persuades her that the only +way to save her life and his is to slay her husband.] + + + ACT IV--SCENE I + + AEGISTHUS--CLYTEMNESTRA + + Aegisthus--To be a banished man, ... to fly, ... to die: + ... These are the only means that I have left. + Thou, far from me, deprived of every hope + Of seeing me again, wilt from thy heart + Have quickly chased my image: great Atrides + Will wake a far superior passion there; + Thou, in his presence, many happy days + Wilt thou enjoy--These auspices may Heaven + Confirm--I cannot now evince to thee + A surer proof of love than by my flight; ... + A dreadful, hard, irrevocable proof. + + _Clytemnestra_--If there be need of death, we both will die!-- + But is there nothing left to try ere this? + + _Aegis_.--Another plan, perchance, e'en now remains; ... But + little worthy ... + + _Cly_.--And it is-- + + _Aegis._--Too cruel. + + _Cly_.--But certain? + + _Aegis_. Certain, ah, too much so! + + _Cly_.--How Canst thou hide it from me? + + _Aegis_.--How canst thou Of me demand it? + + _Cly._--What then may it be? ... + I know not ... Speak: I am too far advanced; + I cannot now retract: perchance already + I am suspected by Atrides; maybe + He has the right already to despise me: + Hence do I feel constrained, e'en now, to hate him; + I cannot longer in his presence live; + I neither will, nor dare.--Do thou, Aegisthus, + Teach me a means, whatever it may be, + A means by which I may withdraw myself + From him forever. + + _Aegis._--Thou withdraw thyself + From him? I have already said to thee + That now 'tis utterly impossible. + + _Cly._--What other step remains for me to take? ... + + _Aegis._--None. + + _Cly._--Now I understand thee.--What a flash. + Oh, what a deadly, instantaneous flash + Of criminal conviction rushes through + My obtuse mind! What throbbing turbulence + In ev'ry vein I feel!--I understand thee: + The cruel remedy ... the only one ... + Is Agamemnon's life-blood. + + _Aegis._--I am silent ... + + _Cly._--Yet, by thy silence, thou dost ask that blood. + + _Aegis._--Nay, rather I forbid it.--To our love + And to thy life (of mine I do not speak) + His living is the only obstacle; + But yet, thou knowest that his life is sacred: + To love, respect, defend it, thou art bound; + And I to tremble at it.--Let us cease: + The hour advances now; my long discourse + Might give occasion to suspicious thoughts.-- + At length receive ... Aegisthus's last farewell. + + _Cly._--Ah! hear me ... Agamemnon to our love ... + And to thy life? ... Ah, yes; there are, besides him, + No other obstacles: too certainly + His life is death to us! + + _Aegis._--Ah! do not heed + My words: they spring from too much love. + + _Cly._--And love + Revealed to me their meaning. + + _Aegis._--Hast thou not + Thy mind o'erwhelmed with horror? + + _Cly_.--Horror? ... yes; ... + But then to part from thee! ... + + _Aegis_.--Wouldst have the courage? ... + + _Cly_.--So vast my love, it puts an end to fear. + + _Aegis_.--But the king lives surrounded by his friends: + What sword would find a passage to his heart? + + _Cly_.--What sword? + + _Aegis_.--Here open violence were vain. + + _Cly_.--Yet, ... treachery! ... + + _Aegis_.--'Tis true, he merits not + To be betrayed, Atrides: he who loves + His wife so well; he who, enchained from Troy, + In semblance of a slave in fetters, brought + Cassandra, whom he loves, to whom he is + Himself a slave ... + + _Cly_.--What do I hear! + + _Aegis_.--Meanwhile + Expect that when of thee his love is wearied, + He will divide with her his throne and bed; + Expect that, to thy many other wrongs, + Shame will be added: and do thou alone + Not be exasperated at a deed + That rouses every Argive. + + _Cly_.--What said'st thou? ... + Cassandra chosen as my rival? ... + + _Aegis_.--So Atrides wills. + + _Cly_.--Then let Atrides perish. + + _Aegis_.--How? By what hand? + + _Cly_.--By mine, this very night, + Within that bed which he expects to share + With this abhorred slave. + + _Aegis_.--O Heavens! but think ... + + _Cly_.--I am resolved ... + + _Aegis_.--Shouldst thou repent? ... + + _Cly_.--I do + That I so long delayed. + + _Aegis_.--And yet ... + + _Cly_.--I'll do it; + I, e'en if thou wilt not. Shall I let thee, + Who only dost deserve my love, be dragged + To cruel death? And shall I let him live + Who cares not for my love? I swear to thee, + To-morrow thou shalt be the king in Argos. + Nor shall my hand, nor shall my bosom tremble ... + But who approaches? + + _Aegis._--'Tis Electra ... + + _Cly._--Heavens! + Let us avoid her. Do thou trust in me. + + SCENE II + + ELECTRA + + _Electra_--Aegisthus flies from me, and he does well; + But I behold that likewise from my sight + My mother seeks to fly. Infatuated + And wretched mother! She could not resist + The guilty eagerness for the last time + To see Aegisthus.--They have here, at length, + Conferred together ... But Aegisthus seems + Too much elated, and too confident, + For one condemned to exile ... She appeared + Like one disturbed in thought, but more possessed + With anger and resentment than with grief ... + O Heavens! who knows to what that miscreant base, + With his infernal arts, may have impelled her! + To what extremities have wrought her up!... + Now, now, indeed, I tremble: what misdeeds, + How black in kind, how manifold in number, + Do I behold! ... Yet, if I speak, I kill + My mother: ... If I'm silent--? ... + + ACT V--SCENE II + + AEGISTHUS--CLYTEMNESTRA + + _Aegis._--Hast thou performed the deed? + + _Cly_.--Aegisthus ... + + _Aegis._--What do I behold? O woman, + What dost thou here, dissolved in useless tears? + Tears are unprofitable, late, and vain; + And they may cost us dear. + + _Cly._--Thou here? ... but how? ... + Wretch that I am! what have I promised thee? + What impious counsel? ... + + _Aegis_.--Was not thine the counsel? + Love gave it thee, and fear recants it.--Now, + Since thou'rt repentant, I am satisfied; + Soothed by reflecting that thou art not guilty, + I shall at least expire. To thee I said + How difficult the enterprise would be; + But thou, depending more than it became thee + On that which is not in thee, virile courage, + Daredst thyself thy own unwarlike hand + For such a blow select. May Heaven permit + That the mere project of a deed like this + May not be fatal to thee! I by stealth, + Protected by the darkness, hither came, + And unobserved, I hope. I was constrained + To bring the news myself, that now my life + Is irrecoverably forfeited + To the king's vengeance... + + _Cly._--What is this I hear? + Whence didst thou learn it? + + _Aegis._--More than he would wish + Atrides hath discovered of our love; + And I already from him have received + A strict command not to depart from Argos. + And further, I am summoned to his presence + Soon as to-morrow dawns: thou seest well + That such a conference to me is death. + But fear not; for I will all means employ + To bear myself the undivided blame. + + _Cly_.--What do I hear? Atrides knows it all? + + _Aegis_.--He knows too much: I have but one choice left: + It will be best for me to 'scape by death, + By self-inflicted death, this dangerous inquest. + I save my honor thus; and free myself + From an opprobrious end. I hither came + To give thee my last warning: and to take + My last farewell... Oh, live; and may thy fame + Live with thee, unimpeached! All thoughts of pity + For me now lay aside; if I'm allowed + By my own hand, for thy sake, to expire, + I am supremely blest. + + _Cly_.--Alas!... Aegisthus... + What a tumultuous passion rages now + Within my bosom, when I hear thee speak!... + And is it true?... Thy death... + + _Aegis._--Is more than certain.... + + _Cly_.--And I'm thy murderer!... + + _Aegis_.--I seek thy safety. + + _Cly_.--What wicked fury from Avernus' shore, + Aegisthus, guides thy steps? Oh, I had died + Of grief, if I had never seen thee more; + But guiltless I had died: spite of myself, + Now, by thy presence, I already am + Again impelled to this tremendous crime... + An anguish, an unutterable anguish, + Invades my bones, invades my every fibre... + And can it be that this alone can save thee?... + But who revealed our love? + + _Aegis._--To speak of thee, + Who but Electra to her father dare? + Who to the monarch breathe thy name but she? + Thy impious daughter in thy bosom thrusts + The fatal sword; and ere she takes thy life, + Would rob thee of thy honor. + + _Cly_.--And ought I + This to believe?... Alas!... + + _Aegis_.--Believe it, then, + On the authority of this my sword, + If thou believ'st it not on mine. At least + I'll die in time... + + _Cly_.--O Heavens! what wouldst thou do? + Sheathe, I command thee, sheathe that fatal sword.--Oh, + night of horrors!... hear me... Perhaps Atrides + Has not resolved... + + _Aegis._--What boots this hesitation?... + Atrides injured, and Atrides king, + Meditates nothing in his haughty mind + But blood and vengeance. Certain is my death, + Thine is uncertain: but reflect, O queen, + To what thou'rt destined, if he spare thy life. + And were I seen to enter here alone, + And at so late an hour... Alas, what fears + Harrow my bosom when I think of thee! + Soon will the dawn of day deliver thee + From racking doubt; that dawn I ne'er shall see: + I am resolved to die:...--Farewell... forever! + + _Cly_.--Stay, stay... Thou shalt not die. + + _Aegis_.--By no man's hand + Assuredly, except my own:--or thine, + If so thou wilt. Ah, perpetrate the deed; + Kill me; and drag me, palpitating yet, + Before thy judge austere: my blood will be + A proud acquittance for thee. + + _Cly._--Madd'ning thought!... + Wretch that I am!... Shall I be thy assassin?... + + _Aegis._--Shame on thy hand, that cannot either kill + Who most adores thee, or who most detests thee! + Mine then must serve.... + + _Cly._--Ah!... no.... + + _Aegis._--Dost thou desire + Me, or Atrides, dead? + + _Cly._--Ah! what a choice!... + + _Aegis._--Thou art compelled to choose. + + _Cly._--I death inflict ... + + _Aegis._--Or death receive; when thou hast witnessed mine. + + _Cly._--Ah, then the crime is too inevitable! + + _Aegis._--The time now presses. + + _Cly._--But ... the courage ... strength? ... + + _Aegis._--Strength, courage, all, will love impart to thee. + + _Cly._--Must I then with this trembling hand of mine + Plunge ... in my husband's heart ... the sword? ... + + _Aegis_.--The blows + Thou wilt redouble with a steady hand + In the hard heart of him who slew thy daughter. + + _Cly._--Far from my hand I hurled the sword in anguish. + + _Aegis_.--Behold a steel, and of another temper: + The clotted blood-drops of Thyestes's sons + Still stiffen on its frame: do not delay + To furbish it once more in the vile blood + Of Atreus; go, be quick: there now remain + But a few moments; go. If awkwardly + The blow thou aimest, or if thou shouldst be + Again repentant, lady, ere 'tis struck, + Do not thou any more tow'rd these apartments + Thy footsteps turn: by my own hands destroyed, + Here wouldst thou find me in a sea of blood + Immersed. Now go, and tremble not; be bold. + Enter and save us by his death.-- + + + SCENE III + + AEGISTHUS + + _Aegis_. Come forth, + Thyestes, from profound Avernus; come, + Now is the time; within this palace now + Display thy dreadful shade. A copious banquet + Of blood is now prepared for thee, enjoy it; + Already o'er the heart of thy foe's son + Hangs the suspended sword; now, now, he feels it: + An impious consort grasps it; it was fitting + That she, not I, did this: so much more sweet + To thee will be the vengeance, as the crime + Is more atrocious.... An attentive ear + Lend to the dire catastrophe with me; + Doubt not she will accomplish it: disdain, + Love, terror, to the necessary crime + Compel the impious woman.-- + + AGAMEMNON (within) + + _Aga_.--Treason! Ah! ... + My wife?.. O Heavens!.. I die... O traitorous deed! + + _Aegis._--Die, thou--yes, die! And thou redouble, woman. + The blows redouble; all the weapon hide + Within his heart; shed, to the latest drop, + The blood of that fell miscreant: in our blood + He would have bathed his hands. + + + SCENE IV + + CLYTEMNESTRA--AESGISTHUS + + _Cly._--What have I done? + Where am I?... + + _Aegis_.--Thou hast slain the tyrant: now + At length thou'rt worthy of me. + + _Cly._--See, with blood + The dagger drips;... my hands, my face, my garments, + All, all are blood... Oh, for a deed like this, + What vengeance will be wreaked!... I see already + Already to my breast that very steel + I see hurled back, and by what hand! I freeze, + I faint, I shudder, I dissolve with horror. + My strength, my utterance, fail me. Where am I? + What have I done?... Alas!... + + _Aegis._--Tremendous cries + Resound on every side throughout the palace: + 'Tis time to show the Argives what I am, + And reap the harvest of my long endurance. + + + SCENE V + + ELECTRA--AEGISTHUS + + _Elec._--It still remains for thee to murder me, + Thou impious, vile assassin of my father ... + But what do I behold? O Heavens! ... my mother? ... + Flagitious woman, dost thou grasp the sword? + Didst thou commit the murder? + + _Aegis._--Hold thy peace. + Stop not my path thus; quickly I return; + Tremble: for now that I am king of Argos, + Far more important is it that I kill + Orestes than Electra. + + + SCENE VI + + CLYTEMNESTRA--ELECTRA + + _Cly._--Heavens! ... Orestes? ... + Aegisthus, now I know thee.... + + _Elec._--Give it me: + Give me that steel. + + _Cly._--Aegisthus! ... Stop! ... Wilt thou + Murder my son? Thou first shalt murder me. + + + SCENE VII + + ELECTRA + + _Elec._--O night! ... O father! ... Ah, it was your deed, + Ye gods, this thought of mine to place Orestes + In safety first.--Thou wilt not find him, traitor.-- + Ah live, Orestes, live: and I will keep + This impious steel for thy adult right hand. + The day, I hope, will come, when I in Argos + Shall see thee the avenger of thy father. + + Translation of Edgar Alfred Bowring, Bohn's Library. + + + + +ALFONSO THE WISE + +(1221-1284) + +"Alfonso," records the Jesuit historian, Mariana, "was a man of great +sense, but more fit to be a scholar than a king; for whilst he studied +the heavens and the stars, he lost the earth and his kingdom." Certainly +it is for his services to letters, and not for political or military +successes, that the meditative son of the valorous Ferdinand the Saint +and the beautiful Beatrice of Swabia will be remembered. The father +conquered Seville, and displaced the enterprising and infidel Moors with +orthodox and indolent Christians. The son could not keep what his sire +had grasped. Born in 1226, the fortunate young prince, at the age of +twenty-five, was proclaimed king of the newly conquered and united +Castile and Leon. He was very young: he was everywhere admired and +honored for skill in war, for learning, and for piety; he was everywhere +loved for his heritage of a great name and his kindly and +gracious manners. + +In the first year of his reign, however, he began debasing the +coinage,--a favorite device of needy monarchs in his day,--and his +people never forgave the injury. He coveted, naturally enough, the +throne of the Empire, for which he was long a favorite candidate; and +for twenty years he wasted time, money, and purpose, heart and hope, in +pursuit of the vain bauble. His kingdom fell into confusion, his eldest +son died, his second son Sancho rebelled against him and finally deposed +him. Courageous and determined to the last, defying the league of Church +and State against him, he appealed to the king of Morocco for men and +money to reinstate his fortunes. + +In Ticknor's 'History of Spanish Literature' may be found his touching +letter to De Guzman at the Moorish court. He is, like Lear, poor and +discrowned, but not like him, weak. His prelates have stirred up strife, +his nobles have betrayed him. If Heaven wills, he is ready to pay +generously for help. If not, says the royal philosopher, still, +generosity and loyalty exalt the soul that cherishes them. + + "Therefore, my cousin, Alonzo Perez de Guzman, so treat with + your master and my friend [the king of Morocco] that he may + lend me, on my richest crown and on the jewels in it, as much + as shall seem good to him: and if you should be able to + obtain his help for me, do not deprive me of it, which I + think you will not do; rather I hold that all the good + offices which my master may do me, by your hand they will + come, and may the hand of God be with you. + + "Given in my only loyal city of Seville, the thirtieth year + of my reign and the first of my misfortunes. + + "THE KING." + +In his "only loyal city" the broken man remained, until the Pope +excommunicated Sancho, and till neighboring towns began to capitulate. +But he had been wounded past healing. There was no medicine for a mind +diseased, no charm to raze out the written troubles of the brain. "He +fell ill in Seville, so that he drew nigh unto death.... And when the +sickness had run its course, he said before them all: that he pardoned +the Infante Don Sancho, his heir, all that out of malice he had done +against him, and to his subjects the wrong they had wrought towards him, +ordering that letters confirming the same should be written--sealed with +his golden seal, so that all his subjects should be certain that he had +put away his quarrel with them, and desired that no blame whatever +should rest upon them. And when he had said this, he received the body +of God with great devotion, and in a little while gave up his soul +to God." + +This was in 1284, when he was fifty-eight years old. At this age, had a +private lot been his,--that of a statesman, jurist, man of science, +annalist, philosopher, troubadour, mathematician, historian, poet,--he +would but have entered his golden prime, rich in promise, fruitful in +performance. Yet Alfonso, uniting in himself all these vocations, seemed +at his death to have left behind him a wide waste of opportunities, a +dreary dearth of accomplishment. Looking back, however, it is seen that +the balance swings even. While his kingdom was slipping away, he was +conquering a wider domain. He was creating Spanish Law, protecting the +followers of learning, cherishing the universities, restricting +privilege, breaking up time-honored abuses. He prohibited the use of +Latin in public acts. He adopted the native tongue in all his own works, +and thus gave to Spanish an honorable eminence, while French and German +struggled long for a learning from scholars, and English was to wait a +hundred years for the advent of Dan Chaucer. + +Greatest achievement of all, he codified the common law of Spain in 'Las +Siete Partidas' (The Seven Parts). Still accepted as a legal authority +in the kingdom, the work is much more valuable as a compendium of +general knowledge than as an exposition of law. The studious king with +astonishing catholicity examined alike both Christian and Arabic +traditions, customs, and codes, paying a scholarly respect to the +greatness of a hostile language and literature. This meditative monarch +recognized that public office is a public trust, and wrote:-- + + "Vicars of God are the kings, each one in his kingdom, placed + over the people to maintain them in justice and in truth. + They have been called the heart and soul of the people. For + as the soul lies in the heart of men, and by it the body + lives and is maintained, so in the king lies justice, which + is the life and maintenance of the people of his lordship.... + + "And let the king guard the thoughts of his heart in three + manners: firstly let him not desire nor greatly care to have + superfluous and worthless honors. Superfluous and worthless + honors the king _ought_ not to desire. For that which is + beyond necessity cannot last, and being lost, and come short + of, turns to dishonor. Moreover, the wise men have said that + it is no less a virtue for a man to keep that which he has + than to gain that which he has not; because keeping comes of + judgment, but gain of good fortune. And the king who keeps + his honor in such a manner that every day and by all means it + is increased, lacking nothing, and does not lose that which + he has for that which he desires to have,--he is held for a + man of right judgment, who loves his own people, and desires + to lead them to all good. And God will keep him in this world + from the dishonoring of men, and in the next from the + dishonor of the wicked in hell." + +Besides the 'Siete Partidas,' the royal philosopher was the author, or +compiler, of a 'Book of Hunting'; a treatise on Chess; a system of law, +the 'Fuero Castellano' (Spanish Code),--an attempt to check the +monstrous irregularities of municipal privilege; 'La Gran Conquista +d'Ultramar (The Great Conquest Beyond the Sea), an account of the wars +of the Crusades, which is the earliest known specimen of Castilian +prose; and several smaller works, now collected under the general title +of 'Opuscules Legales' (Minor Legal Writings). It was long supposed that +he wrote the 'Tesoro' (Thesaurus), a curious medley of ignorance and +superstition, much of it silly, and all of it curiously inconsistent +with the acknowledged character of the enlightened King. Modern +scholarship, however, discards this petty treatise from the list of his +productions. + +His 'Tablas Alfonsinas' (Alfonsine Tables), to which Chaucer refers in +the 'Frankeleine's Tale,' though curiously mystical, yet were really +scientific, and rank among the most famous of mediaeval books. Alfonso +had the courage and the wisdom to recall to Toledo the heirs and +successors of the great Arabian philosophers and the learned Rabbis, who +had been banished by religious fanaticism, and there to establish a +permanent council--a mediaeval Academy of Sciences--which devoted itself +to the study of the heavens and the making of astronomical calculations. +"This was the first time," says the Spanish historian, "that in +barbarous times the Republic of Letters was invited to contemplate a +great school of learning,--men occupied through many years in rectifying +the old planetary observations, in disputing about the most abstruse +details of this science, in constructing new instruments, and observing, +by means of them, the courses of the stars, their declensions, their +ascensions, eclipses, longitudes, and latitudes." It was the vision of +Roger Bacon fulfilled. + +At his own expense, for years together, the King entertained in his +palace at Burgos, that their knowledge might enrich the nation, not only +certain free-thinking followers of Averroës and Avicebron, but infidel +disciples of the Koran, and learned Rabbis who denied the true faith. +That creed must not interfere with deed, was an astonishing mental +attitude for the thirteenth century, and invited a general suspicion of +the King's orthodoxy. His religious sense was really strong, however, +and appears most impressively in the 'Cantigas à la Vergen Maria' (Songs +to the Virgin), which were sung over his grave by priests and acolytes +for hundreds of years. They are sometimes melancholy and sometimes +joyous, always simple and genuine, and, written in Galician, reflect the +trustful piety and happiness of his youth in remote hill provinces where +the thought of empire had not penetrated. It was his keen intelligence +that expressed itself in the saying popularly attributed to him, "Had I +been present at the creation, I might have offered some useful +suggestions." It was his reverent spirit that made mention in his will +of the sacred songs as the testimony to his faith. So lived and died +Alfonso the Tenth, the father of Spanish literature, and the reviver of +Spanish learning. + + +"WHAT MEANETH A TYRANT, AND HOW HE USETH HIS POWER +IN A KINGDOM WHEN HE HATH OBTAINED IT" + +"A tyrant," says this law, "doth signify a cruel lord, who, by force or +by craft, or by treachery, hath obtained power over any realm or +country; and such men be of such nature, that when once they have grown +strong in the land, they love rather to work their own profit, though it +be in harm of the land, than the common profit of all, for they always +live in an ill fear of losing it. And that they may be able to fulfill +this their purpose unincumbered, the wise of old have said that they use +their power against the people in three manners. The first is, that they +strive that those under their mastery be ever ignorant and timorous, +because, when they be such, they may not be bold to rise against them, +nor to resist their wills; and the second is, that they be not kindly +and united among themselves, in such wise that they trust not one +another, for while they live in disagreement, they shall not dare to +make any discourse against their lord, for fear faith and secrecy should +not be kept among themselves; and the third way is, that they strive to +make them poor, and to put them upon great undertakings, which they +never can finish, whereby they may have so much harm that it may never +come into their hearts to devise anything against their ruler. And above +all this, have tyrants ever striven to make spoil of the strong and to +destroy the wise; and have forbidden fellowship and assemblies of men in +their land, and striven always to know what men said or did; and do +trust their counsel and the guard of their person rather to foreigners, +who will serve at their will, than to them of the land, who serve from +oppression. And moreover, we say that though any man may have gained +mastery of a kingdom by any of the lawful means whereof we have spoken +in the laws going before this, yet, if he use his power ill, in the ways +whereof we speak in this law, him may the people still call tyrant; for +he turneth his mastery which was rightful into wrongful, as Aristotle +hath said in the book which treateth of the rule and government of +kingdoms." + +From 'Las Siete Partidas,' quoted in Ticknor's 'Spanish Literature.' + + +ON THE TURKS, AND WHY THEY ARE SO CALLED + +The ancient histories which describe the early inhabitants of the East +and their various languages show the origin of each tribe or nation, or +whence they came, and for what reason they waged war, and how they were +enabled to conquer the former lords of the land. Now in these histories +it is told that the Turks, and also the allied race called Turcomans, +were all of one land originally, and that these names were taken from +two rivers which flow through the territory whence these people came, +which lies in the direction of the rising of the sun, a little toward +the north; and that one of these rivers bore the name of Turco, and the +other Mani: and finally that for this reason the two tribes which dwelt +on the banks of these two rivers came to be commonly known as Turcomanos +or Turcomans. On the other hand, there are those who assert that because +a portion of the Turks lived among the Comanos (Comans) they +accordingly, in course of time, received the name of Turcomanos; but the +majority adhere to the reason already given. However this may be, the +Turks and the Turcomans belong both to the same family, and follow no +other life than that of wandering over the country, driving their herds +from one good pasture to another, and taking with them their wives and +their children and all their property, including money as well +as flocks. + +The Turks did not dwell then in houses, but in tents made of skins, as +do in these days the Comanos and Tartars; and when they had to move +from one place to another, they divided themselves into companies +according to their different dialects, and chose a _cabdillo_ (judge), +who settled their disputes, and rendered justice to those who deserved +it. And this nomadic race cultivated no fields, nor vineyards, nor +orchards, nor arable lands of any kind; neither did they buy or sell for +money: but traded their flocks among one another, and also their milk +and cheese, and pitched their tents in the places where they found the +best pasturage; and when the grass was exhausted, they sought fresh +herbage elsewhere. And whenever they reached the border of a strange +land, they sent before them special envoys, the most worthy and +honorable of their men, to the kings or lords of such countries, to ask +of them the privilege of pasturage on their lands for a space; for which +they were willing to pay such rent or tax as might be agreed upon. After +this manner they lived among each nation in whose territory they +happened to be. + +From 'La Gran Conquista de Ultramar,' Chapter xiii. + + + TO THE MONTH OF MARY + + From the 'Cantigas' + + Welcome, O May, yet once again we greet thee! + So alway praise we her, the Holy Mother, + Who prays to God that he shall aid us ever + Against our foes, and to us ever listen. + Welcome, O May! loyally art thou welcome! + So alway praise we her, the Mother of kindness, + Mother who alway on us taketh pity, + Mother who guardeth us from woes unnumbered. + Welcome, O May! welcome, O month well favored! + So let us ever pray and offer praises + To her who ceases not for us, for sinners, + To pray to God that we from woes be guarded. + Welcome, O May! O joyous month and stainless! + So will we ever pray to her who gaineth + Grace from her Son for us, and gives each morning + Force that by us the Moors from Spain are driven. + Welcome, O May, of bread and wine the giver! + Pray then to her, for in her arms, an infant + She bore the Lord! she points us on our journey, + The journey that to her will bear us quickly! + + + + +ALFRED THE GREAT + +(849-901) + + +In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford may be seen an antique jewel, +consisting of an enameled figure in red, blue, and green, enshrined in a +golden frame, and bearing the legend "Alfred mec heht gewyrcean" (Alfred +ordered me made). This was discovered in 1693 in Newton Park, near +Athelney, and through it one is enabled to touch the far-away life of a +thousand years ago. But greater and more imperishable than this archaic +gem is the gift that the noble King left to the English nation--a gift +that affects the entire race of English-speaking people. For it was +Alfred who laid the foundations for a national literature. + +Alfred, the younger son of Ethelwulf, king of the West Saxons, and +Osberga, daughter of his cup-bearer, was born in the palace at Wantage +in the year 849. He grew up at his father's court, a migratory one, that +moved from Kent to Devonshire and from Wales to the Isle of Wight +whenever events, raids, or the Witan (Parliament) demanded. At an early +age Alfred was sent to pay homage to the Pope in Rome, taking such gifts +as rich vessels of gold and silver, silks, and hangings, which show that +Saxons lacked nothing in treasure. In 855 Ethelwulf visited Rome with +his young son, bearing more costly presents, as well as munificent sums +for the shrine of St. Peter's; and returning by way of France, they +stopped at the court of Charles the Bold. Once again in his home, young +Alfred applied himself to his education. He became a marvel of courage +at the chase, proficient in the use of arms, excelled in athletic +sports, was zealous in his religious duties, and athirst for knowledge. +His accomplishments were many; and when the guests assembled in the +great hall to make the walls ring with their laughter over cups of mead +and ale, he could take his turn with the harpers and minstrels to +improvise one of those sturdy bold ballads that stir the blood to-day +with their stately rhythms and noble themes. + +Ethelwulf died in 858, and eight years later only two sons, Ethelred and +Alfred, were left to cope with the Danish invaders. They won victory +after victory, upon which the old chroniclers love to dwell, pausing to +describe wild frays among the chalk-hills and dense forests, which +afforded convenient places to hide men and to bury spoils. + +Ethelred died in 871, and the throne descended to Alfred. His kingdom +was in a terrible condition, for Wessex, Kent, Mercia, Sussex, and +Surrey lay at the mercy of the marauding enemy. "The land," says an old +writer, "was as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a +desolate wilderness." London was in ruins; the Danish standard, with its +black Raven, fluttered everywhere; and the forests were filled with +outposts and spies of the "pagan army." There was nothing for the King +to do but gather his men and dash into the fray to "let the hard steel +ring upon the high helmet." Time after time the Danes are overthrown, +but, like the heads of the fabled Hydra, they grow and flourish after +each attack. They have one advantage: they know how to command the sea, +and numerous as the waves that their vessels ride so proudly and well, +the invaders arrive and quickly land to plunder and slay. + +Alfred, although but twenty-five, sees the need for a navy, and in 875 +gathers a small fleet to meet the ships of the enemy, wins one prize, +and puts the rest to flight. The chroniclers now relate that he fell +into disaster and became a fugitive in Selwood Forest, while Guthrum and +his host were left free to ravage. From this period date the legends of +the King's visit in disguise to the hut of the neat-herd, and his +burning the bread he was set to watch; his penetrating into the camp of +the Danes and entertaining Guthrum by his minstrelsy while discovering +his plans and force; the vision of St. Cuthbert; and the fable of his +calling five hundred men by the winding of his horn. + +Not long after he was enabled to emerge from the trials of exile in +Athelney; and according to Asser, "In the seventh week after Easter, he +rode to Egbert's Stone in the eastern part of Selwood or the Great Wood, +called in the old British language Coit-mawr. Here he was met by all the +neighboring folk of Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, who had not +for fear of the Pagans fled beyond the sea; and when they saw the king +alive after such great tribulation, they received him, as he deserved, +with joy and acclamations and all encamped there for the night." Soon +afterward he made a treaty with the Danes, and became king of the whole +of England south of the Thames. + +It was now Alfred's work to reorganize his kingdom, to strengthen the +coast defenses, to rebuild London, to arrange for a standing army, and +to make wise laws for the preservation of order and peace; and when all +this was accomplished, he turned his attention to the establishment of +monasteries and colleges. "In the mean-time," says old Asser, "the King, +during the frequent wars and other trammels of this present life, the +invasions of the Pagans, and his own daily infirmities of body, +continued to carry on the government, and to exercise hunting in all its +branches; to teach his workers in gold and artificers of all kinds, his +falconers, hawkers, and dog-keepers, to build houses majestic and good, +beyond all the precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical +inventions, to recite the Saxon books, and more especially to learn by +heart the Saxon poems, and to make others learn them also; for he alone +never desisted from studying, most diligently, to the best of his +ability; he attended the mass and other daily services of religion: he +was frequent in psalm-singing and prayer, at the proper hours, both of +the night and of the day. He also went to the churches, as we have +already said, in the night-time, to pray, secretly and unknown to his +courtiers; he bestowed alms and largesses both on his own people and on +foreigners of all countries; he was affable and pleasant to all, and +curious to investigate things unknown." + +As regards Alfred's personal contribution to literature, it may be said +that over and above all disputed matters and certain lost works, they +represent a most valuable and voluminous assortment due directly to his +own royal and scholarly pen. History, secular and churchly, laws and +didactic literature, were his field; and though it would seem that his +actual period of composition did not much exceed ten years, yet he +accomplished a vast deal for any man, especially any busy sovereign +and soldier. + +An ancient writer, Ethelwerd, says that he translated many books from +Latin into Saxon, and William of Malmesbury goes so far as to say that +he translated into Anglo-Saxon almost all the literature of Rome. +Undoubtedly the general condition of education was deplorable, and +Alfred felt this deeply. "Formerly," he writes, "men came hither from +foreign lands to seek instruction, and now when we desire it, we can +only obtain it from abroad." Like Charlemagne he drew to his court +famous scholars, and set many of them to work writing chronicles and +translating important Latin books into Anglo-Saxon. Among these was the +'Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory,' to which he wrote the Preface; but with +his own hand he translated the 'Consolations of Philosophy,' by +Boethius, two manuscripts of which still exist. In this he frequently +stops to introduce observations and comments of his own. Of greater +value was his translation of the 'History of the World,' by Orosius, +which he abridged, and to which he added new chapters giving the record +of coasting voyages in the north of Europe. This is preserved in the +Cotton MSS. in the British Museum. His fourth translation was the +'Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation,' by Bede. To this last +may be added the 'Blossom Gatherings from St. Augustine,' and many minor +compositions in prose and verse, translations from the Latin fables and +poems, and his own note-book, in which he jots, with what may be termed +a journalistic instinct, scenes that he had witnessed, such as Aldhelm +standing on the bridge instructing the people on Sunday afternoons; bits +of philosophy; and such reflections as the following, which remind one +of Marcus Aurelius:--"Desirest thou power? But thou shalt never obtain +it without sorrows--sorrows from strange folk, and yet keener sorrows +from thine own kindred." and "Hardship and sorrow! Not a king but would +wish to be without these if he could. But I know that he cannot." +Alfred's value to literature is this: he placed by the side of +Anglo-Saxon poetry,--consisting of two great poems, Caedmon's great song +of the 'Creation' and Cynewulf's 'Nativity and Life of Christ,' and the +unwritten ballads passed from lip to lip,--four immense translations +from Latin into Anglo-Saxon prose, which raised English from a mere +spoken dialect to a true language. From his reign date also the famous +Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Anglo-Saxon Gospels; and a few scholars +are tempted to class the magnificent 'Beowulf' among the works of this +period. At any rate, the great literary movement that he inaugurated +lasted until the Norman Conquest. + +In 893 the Danes once more disturbed King Alfred, but he foiled them at +all points, and they left in 897 to harry England no more for several +generations. In 901 he died, having reigned for thirty years in the +honor and affection of his subjects. Freeman in his 'Norman Conquest' +says that "no other man on record has ever so thoroughly united all the +virtues both of the ruler and of the private man." Bishop Asser, his +contemporary, has left a half-mythical eulogy, and William of +Malmesbury, Roger of Wendover, Matthew of Westminster, and John Brompton +talk of him fully and freely. Sir John Spellman published a quaint +biography in Oxford in 1678, followed by Powell's in 1634, and +Bicknell's in 1777. The modern lives are by Giles, Pauli, and Hughes. + + +KING ALFRED ON KING-CRAFT + +Comment in his Translation of Boethius's 'Consolations of Philosophy' + +The mind then answered and thus said: O Reason, indeed thou knowest that +covetousness and the greatness of this earthly power never well pleased +me, nor did I altogether very much yearn after this earthly authority. +But nevertheless I was desirous of materials for the work which I was +commanded to perform; that was, that I might honorably and fitly guide +and exercise the power which was committed to me. Moreover, thou knowest +that no man can show any skill nor exercise or control any power, +without tools and materials. There are of every craft the materials +without which man cannot exercise the craft. These, then, are a king's +materials and his tools to reign with: that he have his land well +peopled; he must have prayer-men, and soldiers, and workmen. Thou +knowest that without these tools no king can show his craft. This is +also his materials which he must have besides the tools: provisions for +the three classes. This is, then, their provision: land to inhabit, and +gifts and weapons, and meat, and ale, and clothes, and whatsoever is +necessary for the three classes. He cannot without these preserve the +tools, nor without the tools accomplish any of those things which he is +commanded to perform. Therefore, I was desirous of materials wherewith +to exercise the power, that my talents and power should not be forgotten +and concealed. For every craft and every power soon becomes old, and is +passed over in silence, if it be without wisdom: for no man can +accomplish any craft without wisdom. Because whatsoever is done through +folly, no one can ever reckon for craft. This is now especially to be +said: that I wished to live honorably whilst I lived, and after my life, +to leave to the men who were after me, my memory in good works. + + +ALFRED'S PREFACE TO THE VERSION OF POPE GREGORY'S 'PASTORAL CARE' + +King Alfred bids greet Bishop Waerferth with his words lovingly and with +friendship; and I let it be known to thee that it has very often come +into my mind, what wise men there formerly were throughout England, both +of sacred and secular orders; and what happy times there were then +throughout England; and how the kings who had power of the nation in +those days obeyed God and his ministers; and they preserved peace, +morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their +territory abroad; and how they prospered both with war and with wisdom; +and also the sacred orders, how zealous they were, both in teaching and +learning, and in all the services they owed to God; and how foreigners +came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, and how we should +now have to get them from abroad if we would have them. So general was +its decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber +who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter +from Latin into English; and I believe there were not many beyond the +Humber. There were so few that I cannot remember a single one south of +the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to God Almighty that we +have any teachers among us now. And therefore I command thee to do as I +believe thou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as +often as thou canst, that thou mayst apply the wisdom which God has +given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would come +upon us on account of this world if we neither loved it (wisdom) +ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love the name +only of Christian, and very few of the virtues. + +When I considered all this I remembered also how I saw, before it had +been all ravaged and burnt, how the churches throughout the whole of +England stood filled with treasures and books, and there was also a +great multitude of God's servants; but they had very little knowledge of +the books, for they could not understand anything of them, because they +were not written in their own language. As if they had said, "Our +forefathers, who formerly held these places, loved wisdom, and through +it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it to us. In this we can still +see their tracks, but we cannot follow them, and therefore we have lost +both the wealth and the wisdom, because we would not incline our hearts +after their example." + +When I remembered all this, I wondered extremely that the good and wise +men, who were formerly all over England, and had perfectly learnt all +the books, did not wish to translate them into their own language. But +again, I soon answered myself and said, "They did not think that men +would ever be so careless, and that learning would so decay; therefore +they abstained from translating, and they trusted that the wisdom in +this land might increase with our knowledge of languages." + +Then I remember how the law was first known in Hebrew, and again, when +the Greeks had learnt it, they translated the whole of it into their own +language, and all other books besides. And again, the Romans, when they +had learnt it, they translated the whole of it through learned +interpreters into their own language. And also all other Christian +nations translated a part of them into their own language. Therefore it +seems better to me, if ye think so, for us also to translate some books +which are most needful for all men to know, into the language which we +can all understand, and for you to do as we very easily can if we have +tranquillity enough; that is, that all the youth now in England of free +men, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set +to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until +that they are well able to read English writing: and let those be +afterward taught more in the Latin language who are to continue learning +and be promoted to a higher rank. When I remember how the knowledge of +Latin had formerly decayed throughout England, and yet many could read +English writing, I began among other various and manifold troubles of +this kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in +Latin 'Pastoralis,' and in English 'Shepherd's Book,' sometimes word by +word and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learnt it from +Plegmund, my archbishop, and Asser, my bishop, and Grimbold, my +mass-priest, and John, my mass-priest. And when I had learnt it as I +could best understand it, and as I could most clearly interpret it, I +translated it into English; and I will send a copy to every bishopric in +my kingdom; and on each there is a clasp worth fifty mancus. And I +command, in God's name, that no man take the clasp from the book or the +book from the minister: it is uncertain how long there may be such +learned bishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly everywhere; +therefore, I wish them always to remain in their place, unless the +bishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent out anywhere, or any +one make a copy from them. + + +BLOSSOM GATHERINGS FROM ST. AUGUSTINE + +In every tree I saw something there which I needed at home, therefore I +advise every one who is able and has many wains, that he trade to the +same wood where I cut the stud shafts, and there fetch more for himself +and load his wain with fair rods, that he may wind many a neat wall and +set many a comely house and build many a fair town of them; and thereby +may dwell merrily and softly, so as I now yet have not done. But He who +taught me, to whom the wood was agreeable, He may make me to dwell more +softly in this temporary cottage, the while that I am in this world, and +also in the everlasting home which He has promised us through St. +Augustine, and St. Gregory, and St. Jerome, and through other holy +fathers; as I believe also that for the merits of all these He will make +the way more convenient than it was before, and especially the carrying +and the building: but every man wishes after he has built a cottage on +his lord's lease by his help, that he may sometimes rest him therein +and hunt, and fowl, and fish, and use it every way under the lease both +on water and on land, until the time that he earn book-land and +everlasting heritage through his lord's mercy. So do enlighten the eyes +of my mind so that I may search out the right way to the everlasting +home and the everlasting glory, and the everlasting rest which is +promised us through those holy fathers. May it be so! ... + +It is no wonder though men swink in timber working, and in the wealthy +Giver who wields both these temporary cottages and eternal homes. May He +who shaped both and wields both, grant me that I may be meet for each, +both here to be profitable and thither to come. + + + WHERE TO FIND TRUE JOY + + From 'Boethius' + + Oh! It is a fault of weight, + Let him think it out who will, + And a danger passing great + Which can thus allure to ill + Careworn men from the rightway, + Swiftly ever led astray. + + Will ye seek within the wood + Red gold on the green trees tall? + None, I wot, is wise that could, + For it grows not there at all: + Neither in wine-gardens green + Seek they gems of glittering sheen. + + Would ye on some hill-top set, + When ye list to catch a trout, + Or a carp, your fishing-net? + Men, methinks, have long found out + That it would be foolish fare, + For they know they are not there. + + In the salt sea can ye find, + When ye list to start an hunt, + With your hounds, the hart or hind? + It will sooner be your wont + In the woods to look, I wot, + Than in seas where they are not. + + Is it wonderful to know + That for crystals red or white + One must to the sea-beach go, + Or for other colors bright, + Seeking by the river's side + Or the shore at ebb of tide? + + Likewise, men are well aware + Where to look for river-fish; + And all other worldly ware + Where to seek them when they wish; + Wisely careful men will know + Year by year to find them so. + + But of all things 'tis most sad + That they foolish are so blind, + So besotted and so mad, + That they cannot surely find + Where the ever-good is nigh + And true pleasures hidden lie. + + Therefore, never is their strife + After those true joys to spur; + In this lean and little life + They, half-witted, deeply err + Seeking here their bliss to gain, + That is God Himself in vain. + + Ah! I know not in my thought + How enough to blame their sin, + None so clearly as I ought + Can I show their fault within; + For, more bad and vain are they + And more sad than I can say. + + All their hope is to acquire + Worship goods and worldly weal; + When they have their mind's desire, + Then such witless Joy they feel, + That in folly they believe + Those True Joys they then receive. + +Works of Alfred the Great, Jubilee Edition (Oxford and Cambridge, 1852). + + + A SORROWFUL FYTTE + + From 'Boethius' + + Lo! I sting cheerily + In my bright days, + But now all wearily + Chaunt I my lays; + Sorrowing tearfully, + Saddest of men, + Can I sing cheerfully, + As I could then? + + Many a verity + In those glad times + Of my prosperity + Taught I in rhymes; + Now from forgetfulness + Wanders my tongue, + Wasting in fretfulness, + Metres unsung. + + Worldliness brought me here + Foolishly blind, + Riches have wrought me here + Sadness of mind; + When I rely on them, + Lo! they depart,-- + Bitterly, fie on them! + Rend they my heart. + Why did your songs to me, + World-loving men, + Say joy belongs to me + Ever as then? + Why did ye lyingly + Think such a thing, + Seeing how flyingly + Wealth may take wing? + +Works of Alfred the Great, Jubilee Edition (Oxford and Cambridge, 1852). + + + + +CHARLES GRANT ALLEN + +(1848-) + +The Irish-Canadian naturalist, Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen, who +turns his industrious hand with equal facility to scientific writing, to +essays, short stories, botanical treatises, biography, and novels, is +known to literature as Grant Allen, as "Arbuthnot Wilson," and as +"Cecil Power." + +His work may be divided into two classes: fiction and popular essays. +The first shows the author to be familiar with varied scenes and types, +and exhibits much feeling for dramatic situations. His list of novels is +long, and includes among others, 'Strange Stories,' 'Babylon,' 'This +Mortal Coil,' 'The Tents of Shem,' 'The Great Taboo,' 'Recalled to +Life,' 'The Woman Who Did,' and 'The British Barbarians.' In many of +these books he has woven his plots around a psychological theme; a proof +that science interests him more than invention. His essays are written +for unscientific readers, and carefully avoid all technicalities and +tedious discussions. Most persons, he says, "would much rather learn why +birds have feathers than why they have a keeled sternum, and they think +the origin of bright flowers far more attractive than the origin of +monocotyledonous seeds or esogenous stems." + +Grant Allen was born in Kingston, Canada, February 24th, 1848. After +graduation at Merton College, Oxford, he occupied for four years the +chair of logic and philosophy at Queen's College, Spanish Town, Jamaica, +which he resigned to settle in England, where he now resides. Early in +his career he became an enthusiastic follower of Darwin and Herbert +Spencer, and published the attractive books entitled 'Science in +Arcady,' 'Vignettes from Nature,' 'The Evolutionist at Large,' and +'Colin Clout's Calendar.' In his preface to 'Vignettes from Nature,' he +says that the "essays are written from an easy-going, half-scientific +half-aesthetic standpoint." In this spirit he rambles in the woods, in +the meadows, at the seaside, or upon the heather-carpeted moor, finding +in such expeditions material and suggestions for his lightly moving +essays, which expound the problems of Nature according to the theories +of his acknowledged masters. A fallow deer grazing in a forest, a +wayside berry, a guelder rose, a sportive butterfly, a bed of nettles, a +falling leaf, a mountain tarn, the hole of a hedgehog, a darting +humming-bird, a ripening plum, a clover-blossom, a spray of sweet-briar, +a handful of wild thyme, or a blaze of scarlet geranium before a cottage +door, furnish him with a text for the discussion of "those biological +and cosmical doctrines which have revolutionized the thought of the +nineteenth century," as he says in substance. + +Somewhat more scientific are 'Psychological Aesthetics,' 'The Color +Sense,' 'The Color of Flowers,' and 'Flowers and their Pedigrees'; and +still deeper is 'Force and Energy' (1888), a theory of dynamics in which +he expresses original views. In 'Psychological Aesthetics' (1877), he +first seeks to explain "such simple pleasures in bright color, sweet +sound, or rude pictorial imitation as delight the child and the savage, +proceeding from these elementary principles to the more and more complex +gratifications of natural scenery, painting, and poetry." In 'The Color +Sense' he defines all that we do not owe to the color sense, for example +the rainbow, the sunset, the sky, the green or purple sea, the rocks, +the foliage of trees and shrubs, hues of autumn, effects of iridescent +light, or tints of minerals and precious stones; and all that we do owe, +namely, "the beautiful flowers of the meadow and the garden-roses, +lilies, cowslips, and daisies; the exquisite pink of the apple, the +peach, the mango, and the cherry, with all the diverse artistic wealth +of oranges, strawberries, plums, melons, brambleberries, and +pomegranates; the yellow, blue, and melting green of tropical +butterflies; the magnificent plumage of the toucan, the macaw, the +cardinal-bird, the lory, and the honey-sucker; the red breast of our +homely robin; the silver or ruddy fur of the ermine, the wolverene, the +fox, the squirrel, and the chinchilla; the rosy cheeks and pink lips of +the English maiden; the whole catalogue of dyes, paints, and pigments; +and last of all, the colors of art in every age and nation, from the red +cloth of the South Seas, the lively frescoes of the Egyptian and the +subdued tones of Hellenic painters, to the stained windows of Poictiers +and the Madonna of the Sistine Chapel." Besides these books, Mr. Allen +has written for the series called 'English Worthies' a sympathetic 'Life +of Charles Darwin' (1885). + + +THE COLORATION OF FLOWERS + +From 'The Colors of Flowers' + +The different hues assumed by petals are all thus, as it were, laid up +beforehand in the tissues of the plant, ready to be brought out at a +moment's notice. And all flowers, as we know, easily sport a little in +color. But the question is, Do their changes tend to follow any regular +and definite order? Is there any reason to believe that the modification +runs from any one color toward any other? Apparently there is. The +general conclusion to be set forth in this work is the statement of such +a tendency. All flowers, it would seem, were in their earliest form +yellow; then some of them became white; after that, a few of them grew +to be red or purple; and finally, a comparatively small number acquired +various shades of lilac, mauve, violet, or blue. So that if this +principle be true, such a flower as the harebell will represent one of +the most highly developed lines of descent; and its ancestors will have +passed successively through all the intermediate stages. Let us see what +grounds can be given for such a belief. + +Some hints of a progressive law in the direction of a color-change from +yellow to blue are sometimes afforded to us even by the successive +stages of a single flower. For example, one of our common little English +forget-me-nots, _Myosotis versicolor_, is pale yellow when it first +opens; but as it grows older, it becomes faintly pinkish, and ends by +being blue, like the others of its race. Now, this sort of color-change +is by no means uncommon; and in almost all known cases it is always in +the same direction, from yellow or white, through pink, orange, or red, +to purple or blue. For example, one of the wall-flowers, _Cheiranthus +chamoeleo_, has at first a whitish flower, then a citron-yellow, and +finally emerges into red or violet. The petals of _Stytidium +fructicosum_ are pale yellow to begin with, and afterward become light +rose-colored. An evening primrose, _Oenothera tetraptera_, has white +flowers in its first stage, and red ones at a later period of +development. _Cobea scandens_ goes from white to violet; _Hibiscus +mutabilis_ from white through flesh-colored to red. The common Virginia +stock of our gardens _(Malcolmia)_ often opens of a pale yellowish +green, then becomes faintly pink; afterward deepens into bright red; and +fades away at the last into mauve or blue. Fritz Müller's _Lantana_ is +yellow on its first day, orange on its second, and purple on the third. +The whole family of _Boraginaceae_ begin by being pink and end with +being blue. The garden convolvulus opens a blushing white and passes +into full purple. In all these and many other cases the general +direction of the changes is the same. They are usually set down as due +to varying degrees of oxidation in the pigmentary matter. If this be so, +there is a good reason why bees should be specially fond of blue, and +why blue flowers should be specially adapted for fertilization by their +aid. For Mr. A.R. Wallace has shown that color is most apt to appear or +to vary in those parts of plants or animals which have undergone the +highest amount of modification. The markings of the peacock and the +argus pheasant come out upon their immensely developed secondary +tail-feathers or wing-plumes; the metallic hues of sun-birds, or +humming-birds, show themselves upon their highly specialized crests, +gorgets, or lappets. It is the same with the hackles of fowls, the head +ornaments of fruit-pigeons, and the bills of toucans. The most exquisite +colors in the insect world are those which are developed on the greatly +expanded and delicately feathered wings of butterflies; and the +eye-spots which adorn a few species are usually found on their very +highly modified swallow-tail appendages. So too with flowers: those +which have undergone most modification have their colors most profoundly +altered. In this way, we may put it down as a general rule (to be tested +hereafter) that the least developed flowers are usually yellow or white; +those which have undergone a little more modification are usually pink +or red; and those which have been most highly specialized of any are +usually purple, lilac, or blue. Absolute deep ultramarine probably marks +the highest level of all. + +On the other hand, Mr. Wallace's principle also explains why the bees +and butterflies should prefer these specialized colors to all others, +and should therefore select those flowers which display them by +preference over any less developed types; for bees and butterflies are +the most highly adapted of all insects to honey-seeking and +flower-feeding. They have themselves on their side undergone the largest +amount of specialization for that particular function. And if the more +specialized and modified flowers, which gradually fitted their forms and +the position of their honey-glands to the forms of the bees or +butterflies, showed a natural tendency to pass from yellow through pink +and red to purple and blue, it would follow that the insects which were +being evolved side by side with them, and which were aiding at the same +time in their evolution, would grow to recognize these developed colors +as the visible symbols of those flowers from which they could obtain the +largest amount of honey with the least possible trouble. Thus it would +finally result that the ordinary unspecialized flowers, which depended +upon small insect riff-raff, would be mostly left yellow or white; those +which appealed to rather higher insects would become pink or red; and +those which laid themselves out for bees or butterflies, the aristocrats +of the arthropodous world, would grow for the most part to be purple +or blue. + +Now, this is very much what we actually find to be the case in nature. +The simplest and earliest flowers are those with regular, symmetrical +open cups, like the _Ranunculus_ genus, the _Potentillas_, and the +_Alsine_ or chickweeds, which can be visited by any insects whatsoever; +and these are in large part yellow or white. A little higher are flowers +like the Campions or _Sileneoe_, and the stocks (_Matthiola_), with more +or less closed cups, whose honey can only be reached by more specialized +insects; and these are oftener pink or reddish. More profoundly modified +are those irregular one-sided flowers, like the violets, peas, and +orchids, which have assumed special shapes to accommodate bees and other +specific honey-seekers; and these are often purple and not unfrequently +blue. Highly specialized in another way are the flowers like harebells +(_Campanulaceoe_), scabious (_Dipsaceoe_), and heaths (_Ericaceoe_), +whose petals have all coalesced into a tubular corolla; and these might +almost be said to be usually purple or blue. And finally, highest of all +are the flowers like labiates (rosemary, _Salvia_, etc.) and speedwells +(_Veronica_), whose tubular corolla has been turned to one side, thus +combining the united petals with the irregular shape; and these are +almost invariably purple or blue. + + +AMONG THE HEATHER + +From 'The Evolutionist at Large' + +I suppose even that apocryphal person, the general reader, would be +insulted at being told at this hour of the day that all bright-colored +flowers are fertilized by the visits of insects, whose attentions they +are specially designed to solicit. Everybody has heard over and over +again that roses, orchids, and columbines have acquired their honey to +allure the friendly bee, their gaudy petals to advertise the honey, and +their divers shapes to insure the proper fertilization by the correct +type of insect. But everybody does not know how specifically certain +blossoms have laid themselves out for a particular species of fly, +beetle, or tiny moth. Here on the higher downs, for instance, most +flowers are exceptionally large and brilliant; while all Alpine climbers +must have noticed that the most gorgeous masses of bloom in Switzerland +occur just below the snow-line. The reason is, that such blossoms must +be fertilized by butterflies alone. Bees, their great rivals in +honey-sucking, frequent only the lower meadows and slopes, where flowers +are many and small: they seldom venture far from the hive or the nest +among the high peaks and chilly nooks where we find those great patches +of blue gentian or purple anemone, which hang like monstrous breadths of +tapestry upon the mountain sides. This heather here, now fully opening +in the warmer sun of the southern counties--it is still but in the bud +among the Scotch hills, I doubt not--specially lays itself out for the +humble-bee, and its masses form almost his highest pasture-grounds; but +the butterflies--insect vagrants that they are--have no fixed home, and +they therefore stray far above the level at which bee-blossoms +altogether cease to grow. Now, the butterfly differs greatly from the +bee in his mode of honey-hunting: he does not bustle about in a +business-like manner from one buttercup or dead-nettle to its nearest +fellow; but he flits joyously, like a sauntering straggler that he is, +from a great patch of color here to another great patch at a distance, +whose gleam happens to strike his roving eye by its size and brilliancy. +Hence, as that indefatigable observer, Dr. Hermann Müller, has noticed, +all Alpine or hill-top flowers have very large and conspicuous blossoms, +generally grouped together in big clusters so as to catch a passing +glance of the butterfly's eye. As soon as the insect spies such a +cluster, the color seems to act as a stimulant to his broad wings, just +as the candle-light does to those of his cousin the moth. Off he sails +at once, as if by automatic action, towards the distant patch, and there +both robs the plant of its honey, and at the same time carries to it on +his legs and head fertilizing pollen from the last of its congeners +which he favored with a call. For of course both bees and butterflies +stick on the whole to a single species at a time; or else the flowers +would only get uselessly hybridized, instead of being impregnated with +pollen from other plants of their own kind. For this purpose it is that +most plants lay themselves out to secure the attention of only two or +three varieties among their insect allies, while they make their +nectaries either too deep or too shallow for the convenience of all +other kinds. + +Insects, however, differ much from one another in their aesthetic +tastes, and flowers are adapted accordingly to the varying fancies of +the different kinds. Here, for example, is a spray of common white +galium, which attracts and is fertilized by small flies, who generally +frequent white blossoms. But here again, not far off, I find a +luxuriant mass of the yellow species, known by the quaint name of +"lady's-bedstraw,"--a legacy from the old legend which represents it as +having formed Our Lady's bed in the manger at Bethlehem. Now why has +this kind of galium yellow flowers, while its near kinsman yonder has +them snowy white? The reason is that lady's-bedstraw is fertilized by +small beetles; and beetles are known to be one among the most +color-loving races of insects. You may often find one of their number, +the lovely bronze and golden-mailed rose-chafer, buried deeply in the +very centre of a red garden rose, and reeling about when touched as if +drunk with pollen and honey. Almost all the flowers which beetles +frequent are consequently brightly decked in scarlet or yellow. On the +other hand, the whole family of the umbellates, those tall plants with +level bunches of tiny blossoms, like the fool's-parsley, have all but +universally white petals; and Müller, the most statistical of +naturalists, took the trouble to count the number of insects which paid +them a visit. He found that only fourteen per cent. were bees, while the +remainder consisted mainly of miscellaneous small flies and other +arthropodous riff-raff, whereas, in the brilliant class of composites, +including the asters, sunflowers, daisies, dandelions, and thistles, +nearly seventy-five per cent. of the visitors were steady, industrious +bees. Certain dingy blossoms which lay themselves out to attract wasps, +are obviously adapted, as Müller quaintly remarks, "to a less +aesthetically cultivated circle of visitors." But the most brilliant +among all insect-fertilized flowers are those which specially affect the +society of butterflies; and they are only surpassed in this respect +throughout all nature by the still larger and more magnificent tropical +species which owe their fertilization to humming-birds and +brush-tongued lories. + +Is it not a curious, yet a comprehensible circumstance, that the tastes +which thus show themselves in the development, by natural selection, of +lovely flowers, should also show themselves in the marked preference for +beautiful mates? Poised on yonder sprig of harebell stands a little +purple-winged butterfly, one of the most exquisite among our British +kinds. That little butterfly owes its own rich and delicately shaded +tints to the long selective action of a million generations among its +ancestors. So we find throughout that the most beautifully colored birds +and insects are always those which have had most to do with the +production of bright-colored fruits and flowers. The butterflies and +rose-beetles are the most gorgeous among insects; the humming-birds and +parrots are the most gorgeous among birds. Nay, more, exactly like +effects have been produced in two hemispheres on different tribes by the +same causes. The plain brown swifts of the North have developed among +tropical West Indian and South American orchids the metallic gorgets and +crimson crests of the humming-bird; while a totally unlike group of +Asiatic birds have developed among the rich flora of India and the Malay +Archipelago the exactly similar plumage of the exquisite sun-birds. Just +as bees depend upon flowers, and flowers upon bees, so the color-sense +of animals has created the bright petals of blossoms; and the bright +petals have reacted upon the tastes of the animals themselves, and +through their tastes upon their own appearance. + + +THE HERON'S HAUNT + +From 'Vignettes from Nature' + +Most of the fields on the country-side are now laid up for hay, or down +in the tall haulming corn; and so I am driven from my accustomed +botanizing grounds on the open, and compelled to take refuge in the wild +bosky moor-land back of Hole Common. Here, on the edge of the copse, the +river widens to a considerable pool, and coming upon it softly through +the wood from behind--the boggy, moss-covered ground masking and +muffling my foot-fall--I have surprised a great, graceful ash-and-white +heron, standing all unconscious on the shallow bottom, in the very act +of angling for minnows. The heron is a somewhat rare bird among the more +cultivated parts of England; but just hereabouts we get a sight of one +not infrequently, for they still breed in a few tall ash-trees at +Chilcombe Park, where the lords of the manor in mediaeval times long +preserved a regular heronry to provide sport for their hawking. There is +no English bird, not even the swan, so perfectly and absolutely graceful +as the heron. I am leaning now breathless and noiseless against the +gate, taking a good look at him, as he stands half-knee deep on the oozy +bottom, with his long neck arched over the water, and his keen purple +eye fixed eagerly upon the fish below. Though I am still twenty yards +from where he poises lightly on his stilted legs, I can see distinctly +his long pendent snow-white breast-feathers, his crest of waving black +plumes, falling loosely backward over the ash-gray neck, and even the +bright red skin of his bare legs just below the feathered thighs. I dare +hardly move nearer to get a closer view of his beautiful plumage; and +still I will try. I push very quietly through the gate, but not quite +quietly enough for the heron. One moment he raises his curved neck and +poises his head a little on one side to listen for the direction of the +rustling; then he catches a glimpse of me as I try to draw back silently +behind a clump of flags and nettles; and in a moment his long legs give +him a good spring from the bottom, his big wings spread with a sudden +flap sky-wards, and almost before I can note what is happening he is off +and away to leeward, making a bee-line for the high trees that fringe +the artificial water in Chilcombe Hollow. + +All these wading birds the herons, the cranes, the bitterns, the snipes, +and the plovers are almost necessarily, by the very nature of their +typical conformation, beautiful and graceful in form. Their tall, +slender legs, which they require for wading, their comparatively light +and well-poised bodies, their long, curved, quickly-darting necks and +sharp beaks, which they need in order to secure their rapid-swimming +prey, all these things make the waders, almost in spite of themselves, +handsome and shapely birds. Their feet, it is true, are generally rather +large and sprawling, with long, wide-spread toes, so as to distribute +their weight on the snow-shoe principle, and prevent them from sinking +in the deep soft mud on which they tread; but then we seldom see the +feet, because the birds, when we catch a close view of them at all, are +almost always either on stilts in the water, or flying with their legs +tucked behind them, after their pretty rudder-like fashion. I have often +wondered whether it is this general beauty of form in the waders which +has turned their aesthetic tastes, apparently, into such a sculpturesque +line. Certainly, it is very noteworthy that whenever among this +particular order of birds we get clear evidence of ornamental devices, +such as Mr. Darwin sets down to long-exerted selective preferences in +the choice of mates, the ornaments are almost always those of form +rather than those of color. + +The waders, I sometimes fancy, only care for beauty of shape, not for +beauty of tint. As I stood looking at the heron here just now, the same +old idea seemed to force itself more clearly than ever upon my mind. The +decorative adjuncts--the curving tufted crest on the head, the pendent +silvery gorget on the neck, the long ornamental quills of the +pinions--all look exactly as if they were deliberately intended to +emphasize and heighten the natural gracefulness of the heron's form. May +it not be, I ask myself, that these birds, seeing one another's +statuesque shape from generation to generation, have that shape +hereditarily implanted upon the nervous system of the species, in +connection with all their ideas of mating and of love, just as the human +form is hereditarily associated with all our deepest emotions, so that +Miranda falling in love at first sight with Ferdinand is not a mere +poetical fiction, but the true illustration of a psychological fact? And +as on each of our minds and brains the picture of the beautiful human +figure is, as it were, antecedently engraved, may not the ancestral type +be similarly engraved on the minds and brains of the wading birds? If +so, would it not be natural to conclude that these birds, having thus a +very graceful form as their generic standard of taste, a graceful form +with little richness of coloring, would naturally choose as the +loveliest among their mates, not those which showed any tendency to more +bright-hued plumage (which indeed might be fatal to their safety, by +betraying them to their enemies, the falcons and eagles), but those +which most fully embodied and carried furthest the ideal specific +gracefulness of the wading type? ... Forestine flower-feeders and +fruit-eaters, especially in the tropics, are almost always brightly +colored. Their chromatic taste seems to get quickened in their daily +search for food among the beautiful blossoms and brilliant fruits of +southern woodlands. Thus the humming-birds, the sun-birds, and the +brush-tongued lories, three very dissimilar groups of birds as far as +descent is concerned, all alike feed upon the honey and the insects +which they extract from the large tubular bells of tropical flowers; and +all alike are noticeable for their intense metallic lustre or pure tones +of color. Again, the parrots, the toucans, the birds of paradise, and +many other of the more beautiful exotic species, are fruit-eaters, and +reflect their inherited taste in their own gaudy plumage. But the waders +have no such special reasons for acquiring a love for bright hues. Hence +their aesthetic feeling seems rather to have taken a turn toward the +further development of their own graceful forms. Even the plainest +wading birds have a certain natural elegance of shape which supplies a +primitive basis for aesthetic selection to work on. + + + + +JAMES LANE ALLEN + +(1850-) + +The literary work of James Lane Allen was begun with maturer powers and +wider culture than most writers exhibit in their first publications. His +mastery of English was acquired with difficulty, and his knowledge of +Latin he obtained through years of instruction as well as of study. The +wholesome open-air atmosphere which pervades his stories, their pastoral +character and love of nature, come from the tastes bequeathed to him by +three generations of paternal ancestors, easy-going gentlemen farmers of +the blue-grass region of Kentucky. On a farm near Lexington, in this +beautiful country of stately homes, fine herds, and great flocks, the +author was born, and there he spent his childhood and youth. + +About 1885 he came to New York to devote himself to literature; for +though he had contributed poems, essays, and criticisms to leading +periodicals, his first important work was a series of articles +descriptive of the "Blue-Grass Region," published in Harper's Magazine. +The field was new, the work was fresh, and the author's ability was at +once recognized. Inevitably he chose Kentucky for the scene of his +stories, knowing and loving, as he did, her characteristics and her +history. While preparing his articles on 'The Blue-Grass Region,' he had +studied the Trappist Monastery and the Convent of Loretto, as well as +the records of the Catholic Church in Kentucky; and his first stories, +'The White Cowl' and 'Sister Dolorosa,' which appeared in the Century +Magazine, were the first fruits of this labor. A controversy arose as to +the fairness of these portraitures; but however opinions may differ as +to his characterization, there can be no question of the truthfulness of +the exposition of the mediaeval spirit of those retreats. + +This tendency to use a historic background marks most of Mr. Allen's +stories. In 'The Choir Invisible,' a tale of the last century, pioneer +Kentucky once more exists. The old clergyman of 'Flute and Violin' lived +and died in Lexington, and had been long forgotten when his story +"touched the vanishing halo of a hard and saintly life." The old negro +preacher, with texts embroidered on his coat-tails, was another figure +of reality, unnoticed until he became one of the 'Two Gentlemen of +Kentucky.' In Lexington lived and died "King Solomon," who had almost +faded from memory when his historian found the record of the poor +vagabond's heroism during the plague, and made it memorable in a story +that touches the heart and fills the eyes. 'A Kentucky Cardinal,' with +'Aftermath,' its second part, is full of history and of historic +personages. 'Summer in Arcady: A Tale of Nature,' the latest of Mr. +Allen's stories, is no less based on local history and no less full of +local color than his other tales, notwithstanding its general +unlikeness. + +This book sounds a deeper note than the earlier tales, although the +truth which Mr. Allen sees is not mere fidelity to local types, but the +essential truth of human nature. His realism has always a poetic aspect. +Quiet, reserved, out of the common, his books deal with moods rather +than with actions; their problems are spiritual rather than physical; +their thought tends toward the higher and more difficult way of life. + + +A COURTSHIP +From 'Summer in Arcady' + +The sunlight grew pale the following morning; a shadow crept rapidly +over the blue; bolts darted about the skies like maddened redbirds; the +thunder, ploughing its way down the dome as along zigzag cracks in the +stony street, filled the caverns of the horizon with reverberations that +shook the earth; and the rain was whirled across the landscape in long, +white, wavering sheets. Then all day quiet and silence throughout Nature +except for the drops, tapping high and low the twinkling leaves; except +for the new melody of woodland and meadow brooks, late silvery and with +a voice only for their pebbles and moss and mint, but now yellow and +brawling and leaping-back into the grassy channels that were their +old-time beds; except for the indoor music of dripping eaves and rushing +gutters and overflowing rain-barrels. And when at last in the gold of +the cool west the sun broke from the edge of the gray, over what a +green, soaked, fragrant world he reared the arch of Nature's peace! + +[Illustration: A COURTSHIP. +Photogravure from Painting by H. Vogka.] + +Not a little blade of corn in the fields but holds in an emerald vase +its treasures of white gems. The hemp-stalks bend so low under the +weight of their plumes, that were a vesper sparrow to alight on one for +his evening hymn, it would go with him to the ground. The leaning barley +and rye and wheat flash in the last rays their jeweled beards. Under the +old apple-trees, golden-brown mushrooms are already pushing upward +through the leaf-loam, rank with many an autumn's dropping. About the +yards the peonies fall with faces earthward. In the stable-lots the +larded porkers, with bristles as clean as frost, and flesh of pinky +whiteness, are hunting with nervous nostrils for the lush purslain. The +fowls are driving their bills up and down their wet breasts. And the +farmers who have been shelling corn for the mill come out of their +barns, with their coats over their shoulders, on the way to supper, look +about for the plough-horses, and glance at the western sky, from which +the last drops are falling. + +But soon only a more passionate heat shoots from the sun into the +planet. The plumes of the hemp are so dry again, that by the pollen +shaken from their tops you can trace the young rabbits making their way +out to the dusty paths. The shadows of white clouds sail over purple +stretches of blue-grass, hiding the sun from the steady eye of the +turkey, whose brood is spread out before her like a fan on the earth. At +early morning the neighing of the stallions is heard around the horizon; +at noon the bull makes the deep, hot pastures echo with his majestic +summons; out in the blazing meadows the butterflies strike the afternoon +air with more impatient wings; under the moon all night the play of +ducks and drakes goes on along the margins of the ponds. Young people +are running away and marrying; middle-aged farmers surprise their wives +by looking in on them at their butter-making in the sweet dairies; and +Nature is lashing everything--grass, fruit, insects, cattle, human +creatures--more fiercely onward to the fulfillment of her ends. She is +the great heartless haymaker, wasting not a ray of sunshine on a clod, +but caring naught for the light that beats upon a throne, and holding +man and woman, with their longing for immortality, and their capacities +for joy and pain, as of no more account than a couple of fertilizing +nasturtiums. + +The storm kept Daphne at home. On the next day the earth was yellow with +sunlight, but there were puddles along the path, and a branch rushing +swollen across the green valley in the fields. On the third, her mother +took the children to town to be fitted with hats and shoes, and Daphne +also, to be freshened up with various moderate adornments, in view of a +protracted meeting soon to begin. On the fourth, some ladies dropped in +to spend the day, bearing in mind the episode at the dinner, and having +grown curious to watch events accordingly. On the fifth, her father +carried out the idea of cutting down some cedar-trees in the front yard +for fence posts; and whenever he was working about the house, he kept +her near to wait on him in unnecessary ways. On the sixth, he rode away +with two hands and an empty wagon-bed for some work on the farm; her +mother drove off to another dinner--dinners never cease in Kentucky, and +the wife of an elder is not free to decline invitations; and at last she +was left alone in the front porch, her face turned with burning +eagerness toward the fields. In a little while she had slipped away. + +All these days Hilary had been eager to see her. He was carrying a good +many girls in his mind that summer; none in his heart; but his plans +concerning these latter were for the time forgotten. He hung about that +part of his farm from which he could have descried her in the distance. +Each forenoon and afternoon, at the usual hour of her going to her +uncle's, he rode over and watched for her. Other people passed to and +fro,--children and servants,--but not Daphne; and repeated +disappointments fanned his desire to see her. + +When she came into sight at last, he was soon walking beside her, +leading his horse by the reins. + +"I have been waiting to see you, Daphne," he said, with a smile, but +general air of seriousness. "I have been waiting a long time for a +chance to talk to you." + +"And I have wanted to see you," said Daphne, her face turned away and +her voice hardly to be heard. "I have been waiting for a chance to +talk to you." + +The change in her was so great, so unexpected, it contained an appeal to +him so touching, that he glanced quickly at her. Then he stopped short +and looked searchingly around the meadow. + +The thorn-tree is often the only one that can survive on these pasture +lands. Its spikes, even when it is no higher than the grass, keep off +the mouths of grazing stock. As it grows higher, birds see it standing +solitary in the distance and fly to it, as a resting-place in passing. +Some autumn day a seed of the wild grape is thus dropped near its root; +and in time the thorn-tree and the grape-vine come to thrive together. + +As Hilary now looked for some shade to which they could retreat from the +blinding, burning sunlight, he saw one of these standing off at a +distance of a few hundred yards. He slipped the bridle-reins through the +head-stall, and giving his mare a soft slap on the shoulder, turned her +loose to graze. + +"Come over here and sit down out of the sun," he said, starting off in +his authoritative way. "I want to talk to you." + +Daphne followed in his wake, through the deep grass. + +When they reached the tree, they sat down under the rayless boughs. Some +sheep lying there ran round to the other side and stood watching them, +with a frightened look in their clear, peaceful eyes. + +"What's the matter?" he said, fanning his face, and tugging with his +forefinger to loosen his shirt collar from his moist neck. He had the +manner of a powerful comrade who means to succor a weaker one. + +"Nothing," said Daphne, like a true woman. + +"Yes, but there is," he insisted. "I got you into trouble. I didn't +think of that when I asked you to dance." + +"You had nothing to do with it," retorted Daphne, with a flash. "I +danced for spite." + +He threw back his head with a peal of laughter. All at once this was +broken off. He sat up, with his eyes fixed on the lower edge of +the meadow. + +"Here comes your father," he said gravely. + +Daphne turned. Her father was riding slowly through the bars. A +wagon-bed loaded with rails crept slowly after him. + +In an instant the things that had cost her so much toil and so many +tears to arrange,--her explanations, her justifications, and her +parting,--all the reserve and the coldness that she had laid up in her +heart, as one fills high a little ice-house with fear of far-off summer +heat,--all were quite gone, melted away. And everything that he had +planned to tell her was forgotten also at the sight of that stern figure +on horseback bearing unconsciously down upon them. + +"If I had only kept my mouth shut about his old fences," he said to +himself. "Confound my bull!" and he looked anxiously at Daphne, who sat +with her eyes riveted on her father. The next moment she had turned, and +they were laughing in each other's faces. + +"What shall I do?" she cried, leaning over and burying her face in her +hands, and lifting it again, scarlet with excitement. + +"Don't do anything," he said calmly. + +"But Hilary, if he sees us, we are lost." + +"If he sees us, we are found." + +"But he mustn't see me here!" she cried, with something like real +terror. "I believe I'll lie down in the grass. Maybe he'll think I am a +friend of yours." + +"My friends all sit up in the grass," said Hilary. + +But Daphne had already hidden. + +Many a time, when a little girl, she had amused herself by screaming +like a hawk at the young guineas, and seeing them cuddle invisible under +small tufts and weeds. Out in the stable lot, where the grass was grazed +so close that the geese could barely nip it, she would sometimes get one +of the negro men to scare the little pigs, for the delight of seeing +them squat as though hidden, when they were no more hidden than if they +had spread themselves out upon so many dinner dishes. All of us reveal +traces of this primitive instinct upon occasion. Daphne was doing her +best to hide now. + +When Hilary realized it he moved in front of her, screening her as well +as possible. + +"Hadn't you better lie down, too?" she asked. + +"No," he replied quickly. + +"But if he sees you, he might take a notion to ride over this way!" + +"Then he'll have to ride." + +"But, Hilary, suppose he were to find me lying down here behind you, +hiding?" + +"Then he'll have to find you." + +"You get me into trouble, and then you won't help me out!" exclaimed +Daphne with considerable heat. + +"It might not make matters any better for me to hide," he answered +quietly. "But if he comes over here and tries to get us into trouble, +I'll see then what I can do." + +Daphne lay silent for a moment, thinking. Then she nestled more closely +down, and said with gay, unconscious archness: "I'm not hiding because +I'm afraid of him. I'm doing it just because I want to." + +She did not know that the fresh happiness flushing her at that moment +came from the fact of having Hilary between herself and her father as a +protector; that she was drinking in the delight a woman feels in getting +playfully behind the man she loves in the face of danger: but her action +bound her to him and brought her more under his influence. + +His words showed that he also felt his position,--the position of the +male who stalks forth from the herd and stands the silent challenger. He +was young, and vain of his manhood in the usual innocent way that led +him to carry the chip on his shoulder for the world to knock off; and +he placed himself before Daphne with the understanding that if they were +discovered, there would be trouble. Her father was a violent man, and +the circumstances were not such that any Kentucky father would overlook +them. But with his inward seriousness, his face wore its usual look of +reckless unconcern. + +"Is he coming this way?" asked Daphne, after an interval of impatient +waiting. + +"Straight ahead. Are you hid?" + +"I can't see whether I'm hid or not. Where is he now?" + +"Right on us." + +"Does he see you?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you think he sees me?" + +"I'm sure of it." + +"Then I might as well get up," said Daphne, with the courage of despair, +and up she got. Her father was riding along the path in front of them, +but not looking. She was down again like a partridge. + +"How could you fool me, Hilary? Suppose he _had_ been looking!" + +"I wonder what he thinks I'm doing, sitting over here in the grass like +a stump," said Hilary. "If he takes me for one, he must think I've got +an awful lot of roots." + +"Tell me when it's time to get up." + +"I will." + +He turned softly toward her. She was lying on her side, with her burning +cheek in one hand. The other hand rested high on the curve of her hip. +Her braids had fallen forward, and lay in a heavy loop about her lovely +shoulders. Her eyes were closed, her scarlet lips parted in a smile. The +edges of her snow-white petticoats showed beneath her blue dress, and +beyond these one of her feet and ankles. Nothing more fragrant with +innocence ever lay on the grass. + +"Is it time to get up now?" + +"Not yet," and he sat bending over her. + +"Now?" + +"Not yet," he repeated more softly. + +"Now, then?" + +"Not for a long time." + +His voice thrilled her, and she glanced up at him. His laughing eyes +were glowing down upon her under his heavy mat of hair. She sat up and +looked toward the wagon crawling away in the distance; her father was no +longer in sight. + +One of the ewes, dissatisfied with a back view, stamped her forefoot +impatiently, and ran round in front, and out into the sun. Her lambs +followed, and the three, ranging themselves abreast, stared at Daphne, +with a look of helpless inquiry. + +"Sh-pp-pp!" she cried, throwing up her hands at them, irritated. "Go +away!" + +They turned and ran; the others followed; and the whole number, falling +into line, took a path meekly homeward. They left a greater sense of +privacy under the tree. Several yards off was a small stock-pond. Around +the edge of this the water stood hot and green in the tracks of the +cattle and the sheep, and about these pools the yellow butterflies were +thick, alighting daintily on the promontories of the mud, or rising two +by two through the dazzling atmosphere in columns of enamored flight. + +Daphne leaned over to the blue grass where it swayed unbroken in the +breeze, and drew out of their sockets several stalks of it, bearing on +their tops the purplish seed-vessels. With them she began to braid a +ring about one of her fingers in the old simple fashion of the country. + +As they talked, he lay propped on his elbow, watching her fingers, the +soft slow movements of which little by little wove a spell over his +eyes. And once again the power of her beauty began to draw him beyond +control. He felt a desire to seize her hands, to crush them in his. His +eyes passed upward along her tapering wrists, the skin of which was like +mother-of-pearl; upward along the arm to the shoulder--to her neck--to +her deeply crimsoned cheeks--to the purity of her brow--to the purity of +her eyes, the downcast lashes of which hid them like conscious fringes. + +An awkward silence began to fall between them. Daphne felt that the time +had come for her to speak. But, powerless to begin, she feigned to busy +herself all the more devotedly with braiding the deep-green circlet. +Suddenly he drew himself through the grass to her side. + +"Let _me_!" + +"No!" she cried, lifting her arm above his reach and looking at him with +a gay threat. "You don't know how." + +"I do know how," he said, with his white teeth on his red underlip, and +his eyes sparkling; and reaching upward, he laid his hand in the hollow +of her elbow and pulled her arm down. + +"No! No!" she cried again, putting her hands behind her back. "You will +spoil it!" + +"I will not spoil it," he said, moving so close to her that his breath +was on her face, and reaching round to unclasp her hands. + +"No! No! No!" she cried, bending away from him. "I don't want any ring!" +and she tore it from her finger and threw it out on the grass. Then she +got up, and, brushing the grass-seed off her lap, put on her hat. + +He sat cross-legged on the grass before her. He had put on his hat, and +the brim hid his eyes. + +"And you are not going to stay and talk to me?" he said in a tone of +reproachfulness, without looking up. + +She was excited and weak and trembling, and so she put out her hand and +took hold of a strong loop of the grape-vine hanging from a branch of +the thorn, and laid her cheek against her hand and looked away from him. + +"I thought you were better than the others," he continued, with the +bitter wisdom of twenty years. "But you women are all alike. When a man +gets into trouble, you desert him. You hurry him on to the devil. I have +been turned out of the church, and now you are down on me. Oh, well! But +you know how much I have always liked you, Daphne." + +It was not the first time he had acted this character. It had been a +favorite role. But Daphne had never seen the like. She was overwhelmed +with happiness that he cared so much for her; and to have him reproach +her for indifference, and see him suffering with the idea that she had +turned against him--that instantly changed the whole situation. He had +not heard then what had taken place at the dinner. Under the +circumstances, feeling certain that the secret of her love had not been +discovered, she grew emboldened to risk a little more. + +So she turned toward him smiling, and swayed gently as she clung to the +vine. + +"Yes; I have my orders not even to speak to you! Never again!" she said, +with the air of tantalizing. + +"Then stay with me a while now," he said, and lifted slowly to her his +appealing face. She sat down, and screened herself with a little +feminine transparency. + +"I can't stay long: it's going to rain!" + +He cast a wicked glance at the sky from under his hat; there were a few +clouds on the horizon. + +"And so you are never going to speak to me again?" he said mournfully. + +"Never!" How delicious her laughter was. + +"I'll put a ring on your finger to remember me by." + +He lay over in the grass and pulled several stalks. Then he lifted his +eyes beseechingly to hers. + +"Will you let me?" + +Daphne hid her hands. He drew himself to her side and took one of them +forcibly from her lap. + +With a slow, caressing movement he began to braid the grass ring around +her finger--in and out, around and around, his fingers laced with her +fingers, his palm lying close upon her palm, his blood tingling through +the skin upon her blood. He made the braiding go wrong, and took it off +and began over again. Two or three times she drew a deep breath, and +stole a bewildered look at his face, which was so close to hers that his +hair brushed it--so close that she heard the quiver of his own breath. +Then all at once he folded his hands about hers with a quick, fierce +tenderness, and looked up at her. She turned her face aside and tried to +draw her hand away. His clasp tightened. She snatched it away, and got +up with a nervous laugh. + +"Look at the butterflies! Aren't they pretty?" + +He sprang up and tried to seize her hand again. + +"You shan't go home yet!" he said, in an undertone. + +"Shan't I?" she said, backing away from him. "Who's going to keep me?" + +"_I am_," he said, laughing excitedly and following her closely. + +"My father's coming!" she cried out as a warning. + +He turned and looked: there was no one in sight. + +"He _is_ coming--sooner or later!" she called. + +She had retreated several yards off into the sunlight of the meadow. + +The remembrance of the risk that he was causing her to run checked him. +He went over to her. + +"When can I see you again--soon?" + +He had never spoken so seriously to her before. He had never before been +so serious. But within the last hour Nature had been doing her work, and +its effect was immediate. His sincerity instantly conquered her. Her +eyes fell. + +"No one has any right to keep us from seeing each other!" he insisted. +"We must settle that for ourselves." + +Daphne made no reply. + +"But we can't meet here any more--with people passing backward and +forward!" he continued rapidly and decisively. "What has happened to-day +mustn't happen again." + +"No!" she replied, in a voice barely to be heard. "It must never happen +again. We can't meet here." + +They were walking side by side now toward the meadow-path. As they +reached it he paused. + +"Come to the back of the pasture--to-morrow!--at four o'clock!" he said, +tentatively, recklessly. + +Daphne did not answer as she moved away from him along the path +homeward. + +"Will you come?" he called out to her. + +She turned and shook her head. Whatever her own new plans may have +become, she was once more happy and laughing. + +"Come, Daphne!" + +She walked several paces further and turned and shook her head again. + +"Come!" he pleaded. + +She laughed at him. + +He wheeled round to his mare grazing near. As he put his foot into the +stirrup, he looked again: she was standing in the same place, +laughing still. + +"_You_ go," she cried, waving him good-by. "There'll not be a soul to +disturb you! To-morrow--at four o'clock!" + +"Will you be there?" he said. + +"Will you?" she answered. + +"I'll be there to-morrow," he said, "and every other day till you come." + +By permission of the Macmillan Company, Publishers. + + +OLD KING SOLOMON'S CORONATION + +From 'Flute and Violin, and Other Kentucky Tales and Romances' Copyright +1891, by Harper and Brothers. + +He stood on the topmost of the court-house steps, and for a moment +looked down on the crowd with the usual air of official severity. + +"Gentlemen," he then cried out sharply, "by an ordah of the cou't I now +offah this man at public sale to the highes' biddah. He is able-bodied +but lazy, without visible property or means of suppoht, an' of dissolute +habits. He is therefoh adjudged guilty of high misdemeanahs, an' is to +be sole into labah foh a twelvemonth. How much, then, am I offahed foh +the vagrant? How much am I offahed foh ole King Sol'mon?" + +Nothing was offered for old King Solomon. The spectators formed +themselves into a ring around the big vagrant, and settled down to enjoy +the performance. + +"Staht 'im, somebody." + +Somebody started a laugh, which rippled around the circle. + +The sheriff looked on with an expression of unrelaxed severity, but +catching the eye of an acquaintance on the outskirts, he exchanged a +lightning wink of secret appreciation. Then he lifted off his tight +beaver hat, wiped out of his eyes a little shower of perspiration which +rolled suddenly down from above, and warmed a degree to his theme. + +"Come, gentlemen," he said more suasively, "it's too hot to stan' heah +all day. Make me an offah! You all know ole King Sol'mon; don't wait to +be interduced. How much, then, to staht 'im? Say fifty dollahs! +Twenty-five! Fifteen! Ten! Why, gentlemen! Not _ten_ dollahs? Remembah, +this is the Blue-Grass Region of Kentucky--the land of Boone an' Kenton, +the home of Henry Clay!" he added, in an oratorical _crescendo_. + +"He ain't wuth his victuals," said an oily little tavern-keeper, folding +his arms restfully over his own stomach and cocking up one piggish eye +into his neighbor's face. "He ain't wuth his 'taters." + +"Buy 'im foh 'is rags!" cried a young law student, with a Blackstone +under his arm, to the town rag picker opposite, who was unconsciously +ogling the vagrant's apparel. + +"I _might_ buy 'im foh 'is _scalp_," drawled a farmer, who had taken +part in all kinds of scalp contests, and was now known to be busily +engaged in collecting crow scalps for a match soon to come off between +two rival counties. + +"I think I'll buy 'im foh a hat sign," said a manufacturer of ten-dollar +Castor and Rhorum hats. This sally drew merry attention to the vagrant's +hat, and the merchant felt rewarded. + +"You'd bettah say the town ought to buy 'im an' put 'im up on top of the +cou't-house as a scarecrow foh the cholera," said some one else. + +"What news of the cholera did the stage coach bring this mohning?" +quickly inquired his neighbor in his ear; and the two immediately fell +into low, grave talk, forgot the auction, and turned away. + +"Stop, gentlemen, stop!" cried the sheriff, who had watched the rising +tide of good humor, and now saw his chance to float in on it with +spreading sails. "You're runnin' the price in the wrong direction--down, +not up. The law requires that he be sole to the highes' biddah, not the +lowes'. As loyal citizens, uphole the constitution of the commonwealth +of Kentucky an' make me an offah; the man is really a great bargain. In +the first place, he would cos' his ownah little or nothin', because, as +you see, he keeps himself in cigahs an' clo'es; then, his main article +of diet is whisky--a supply of which he always has on ban'. He don't +even need a bed, foh you know he sleeps jus' as well on any doohstep; +noh a chair, foh he prefers to sit roun' on the curbstones. Remembah, +too, gentlemen, that ole King Sol'mon is a Virginian--from the same +neighbohhood as Mr. Clay. Remembah that he is well educated, that he is +an _awful_ Whig, an' that he has smoked mo' of the stumps of Mr. Clay's +cigahs than any other man in existence. If you don't b'lieve _me,_ +gentlemen, yondah goes Mr. Clay now; call _him_ ovah an' ask 'im foh +yo'se'ves." + +He paused, and pointed with his right forefinger towards Main Street, +along which the spectators, with a sudden craning of necks, beheld the +familiar figure of the passing statesman. + +"But you don't need _any_body to tell these fac's, gentlemen," he +continued. "You merely need to be reminded that ole King Sol'mon is no +ohdinary man. Mo'ovah he has a kine heaht; he nevah spoke a rough wohd +to anybody in this worl', an' he is as proud as Tecumseh of his good +name an' charactah. An', gentlemen," he added, bridling with an air of +mock gallantry and laying a hand on his heart, "if anythin' fu'thah is +required in the way of a puffect encomium, we all know that there isn't +anothah man among us who cuts as wide a swath among the ladies. The'foh, +if you have any appreciation of virtue, any magnanimity of heaht; if you +set a propah valuation upon the descendants of Virginia, that mothah of +Presidents; if you believe in the pure laws of Kentucky as the pioneer +bride of the Union; if you love America an' love the worl'--make me a +gen'rous, high-toned offah foh ole King Sol'mon!" + +He ended his peroration amid a shout of laughter and applause, and +feeling satisfied that it was a good time for returning to a more +practical treatment of his subject, proceeded in a sincere tone:-- + +"He can easily earn from one to two dollahs a day, an' from three to six +hundred a yeah. There's not anothah white man in town capable of doin' +as much work. There's not a niggah ban' in the hemp factories with such +muscles an' such a chest. _Look_ at 'em! An', if you don't b'lieve me, +step fo'ward and _feel_ 'em. How much, then, is bid foh 'im?" + +"One dollah!" said the owner of a hemp factory, who had walked forward +and felt the vagrant's arm, laughing, but coloring up also as the eyes +of all were quickly turned upon him. In those days it was not an +unheard-of thing for the muscles of a human being to be thus examined +when being sold into servitude to a new master. + +"Thank you!" cried the sheriff, cheerily. "One precinc' heard from! One +dollah! I am offahed one dollah foh ole King Sol'mon. One dollah foh the +king! Make it a half. One dollah an' a half. Make it a half. One +dol-dol-dol-dollah!" + +Two medical students, returning from lectures at the old Medical Hall, +now joined the group, and the sheriff explained: + +"One dollah is bid foh the vagrant ole King Sol'mon, who is to be sole +into labah foh a twelvemonth. Is there any othah bid? Are you all done? +One dollah, once--" + +"Dollah and a half," said one of the students, and remarked half +jestingly under his breath to his companion, "I'll buy him on the chance +of his dying. We'll dissect him." + +"Would you own his body if he _should_ die?" + +"If he dies while bound to me, I'll arrange _that_." + +"One dollah an' a half," resumed the sheriff, and falling into the tone +of a facile auctioneer he rattled on:-- + +"One dollah an' a half foh ole Sol'mon--sol, sol, sol,--do, re, mi, fa, +sol,--do, re, mi, fa, sol! Why, gentlemen, you can set the king +to music!" + +All this time the vagrant had stood in the centre of that close ring of +jeering and humorous bystanders--a baffling text from which to have +preached a sermon on the infirmities of our imperfect humanity. Some +years before, perhaps as a master-stroke of derision, there had been +given to him that title which could but heighten the contrast of his +personality and estate with every suggestion of the ancient sacred +magnificence; and never had the mockery seemed so fine as at this +moment, when he was led forth into the streets to receive the lowest +sentence of the law upon his poverty and dissolute idleness. He was +apparently in the very prime of life--a striking figure, for nature at +least had truly done some royal work on him. Over six feet in height, +erect, with limbs well shaped and sinewy, with chest and neck full of +the lines of great power, a large head thickly covered with long, +reddish hair, eyes blue, face beardless, complexion fair but discolored +by low passions and excesses--such was old King Solomon. He wore a +stiff, high, black Castor hat of the period, with the crown smashed in +and the torn rim hanging down over one ear; a black cloth coat in the +old style, ragged and buttonless; a white cotton shirt, with the broad +collar crumpled wide open at the neck and down his sunburnt bosom; blue +jean pantaloons, patched at the seat and the knees; and ragged cotton +socks that fell down over the tops of his dusty shoes, which were open +at the heels. + +In one corner of his sensual mouth rested the stump of a cigar. Once +during the proceedings he had produced another, lighted it, and +continued quietly smoking. If he took to himself any shame as the +central figure of this ignoble performance, no one knew it. There was +something almost royal in his unconcern. The humor, the badinage, the +open contempt, of which he was the public target, fell thick and fast +upon him, but as harmlessly as would balls of pith upon a coat of mail. +In truth, there was that in his great, lazy, gentle, good-humored bulk +and bearing which made the gibes seem all but despicable. He shuffled +from one foot to the other as though he found it a trial to stand up so +long, but all the while looking the spectators full in the eyes without +the least impatience. He suffered the man of the factory to walk round +him and push and pinch his muscles as calmly as though he had been the +show bull at a country fair. Once only, when the sheriff had pointed +across the street at the figure of Mr. Clay, he had looked quickly in +that direction with a kindling light in his eye and a passing flush on +his face. For the rest, he seemed like a man who has drained his cup of +human life and has nothing left him but to fill again and drink without +the least surprise or eagerness. + +The bidding between the man of the factory and the student had gone +slowly on. The price had reached ten dollars. The heat was intense, the +sheriff tired. Then something occurred to revivify the scene. Across the +market place and toward the steps of the court-house there suddenly +came trundling along in breathless haste a huge old negress, carrying on +one arm a large shallow basket containing apple-crab lanterns and fresh +gingerbread. With a series of half-articulate grunts and snorts she +approached the edge of the crowd and tried to force her way through. She +coaxed, she begged, she elbowed and pushed and scolded, now laughing, +and now with the passion of tears in her thick, excited voice. All at +once, catching sight of the sheriff, she lifted one ponderous brown arm, +naked to the elbow, and waved her hand to him above the heads of +those in front. + +"Hole on marster! hole on!" she cried in a tone of humorous entreaty. +"Don' knock 'im off till I come! Gim _me_ a bid at 'im!" + +The sheriff paused and smiled. The crowd made way tumultuously, with +broad laughter and comment. + +"Stan' aside theah an' let Aun' Charlotte in!" + +"_Now_ you'll see biddin'!" + +"Get out of the way foh Aun' Charlotte!" + +"Up, my free niggah! Hurrah foh Kentucky." + +A moment more and she stood inside the ring of spectators, her basket on +the pavement at her feet, her hands plumped akimbo into her fathomless +sides, her head up, and her soft, motherly eyes turned eagerly upon the +sheriff. Of the crowd she seemed unconscious, and on the vagrant before +her she had not cast a single glance. + +She was dressed with perfect neatness. A red and yellow Madras kerchief +was bound about her head in a high coil, and another over the bosom of +her stiffly starched and smoothly ironed blue cottonade dress. Rivulets +of perspiration ran down over her nose, her temples, and around her +ears, and disappeared mysteriously in the creases of her brown neck. A +single drop accidentally hung glistening like a diamond on the circlet +of one of her large brass earrings. + +The sheriff looked at her a moment, smiling but a little disconcerted. +The spectacle was unprecedented. + +"What do you want heah, Aun' Charlotte?" he asked kindly. "You can't +sell yo' pies an' gingerbread heah." + +"I don' _wan_' sell no pies en gingerbread," she replied, +contemptuously. "I wan' bid on _him_," and she nodded sidewise at the +vagrant. "White folks allers sellin' niggahs to wuk fuh _dem_; I gwine +to buy a white man to wuk fuh _me_. En he gwine t' git a mighty hard +mistiss, you heah _me_!" + +The eyes of the sheriff twinkled with delight. + +"Ten dollahs is offahed foh ole King Sol'mon. Is theah any othah bid. +Are you all done?" + +"Leben," she said. + +Two young ragamuffins crawled among the legs of the crowd up to her +basket and filched pies and cake beneath her very nose. + +"Twelve!" cried the student, laughing. + +"Thirteen!" she laughed, too, but her eyes flashed. + +"_You are bidding against a niggah_" whispered the student's companion +in his ear. + +"So I am; let's be off," answered the other, with a hot flush on his +proud face. + +Thus the sale was ended, and the crowd variously dispersed. In a distant +corner of the courtyard the ragged urchins were devouring their +unexpected booty. The old negress drew a red handkerchief out of her +bosom, untied a knot in a corner of it, and counted out the money to the +sheriff. Only she and the vagrant were now left on the spot. + +"You have bought me. What do you want me to do?" he asked quietly. + +"Lohd, honey!" she answered, in a low tone of affectionate chiding, "I +don' wan' you to do _no thin_'! I wuzn' gwine t' 'low dem white folks to +buy you. Dey'd wuk you till you dropped dead. You go 'long en do ez +you please." + +She gave a cunning chuckle of triumph in thus setting at naught the ends +of justice, and in a voice rich and musical with affection, she said, as +she gave him a little push: + +"You bettah be gittin' out o' dis blazin' sun. G' on home! I be 'long +by-en-by." + +He turned and moved slowly away in the direction of Water Street, where +she lived; and she, taking up her basket, shuffled across the market +place toward Cheapside, muttering to herself the while: + +"I come mighty nigh gittin' dar too late, foolin' long wid dese pies. +Sellin' _him_ 'ca'se he don' wuk! Umph! if all de men in dis town dat +don' wuk wuz to be tuk up en sole, d' wouldn' be 'nough money in de town +to buy em! Don' I see 'em settin' 'roun' dese taverns f'om mohnin' +till night?" + +Nature soon smiles upon her own ravages and strews our graves with +flowers, not as memories, but for other flowers when the spring returns. + +It was one cool, brilliant morning late in that autumn. The air blew +fresh and invigorating, as though on the earth there were no corruption, +no death. Far southward had flown the plague. A spectator in the open +court square might have seen many signs of life returning to the town. +Students hurried along, talking eagerly. Merchants met for the first +time and spoke of the winter trade. An old negress, gayly and neatly +dressed, came into the market place, and sitting down on a sidewalk +displayed her yellow and red apples and fragrant gingerbread. She hummed +to herself an old cradle-song, and in her soft, motherly black eyes +shone a mild, happy radiance. A group of young ragamuffins eyed her +longingly from a distance. Court was to open for the first time since +the spring. The hour was early, and one by one the lawyers passed slowly +in. On the steps of the court-house three men were standing: Thomas +Brown, the sheriff; old Peter Leuba, who had just walked over from his +music store on Main Street; and little M. Giron, the French +confectioner. Each wore mourning on his hat, and their voices were low +and grave. + +"Gentlemen," the sheriff was saying, "it was on this very spot the day +befoah the cholera broke out that I sole 'im as a vagrant. An' I did the +meanes' thing a man can evah do. I hel' 'im up to public ridicule foh +his weakness an' made spoht of 'is infirmities. I laughed at 'is povahty +an' 'is ole clo'es. I delivahed on 'im as complete an oration of +sarcastic detraction as I could prepare on the spot, out of my own +meanness an' with the vulgah sympathies of the crowd. Gentlemen, if I +only had that crowd heah now, an' ole King Sol'mon standin' in the midst +of it, that I might ask 'im to accept a humble public apology, offahed +from the heaht of one who feels himself unworthy to shake 'is han'! But +gentlemen, that crowd will nevah reassemble. Neahly ev'ry man of them is +dead, an' ole King Sol'mon buried them." + +"He buried my friend Adolphe Xaupi," said François Giron, touching his +eyes with his handkerchief. + +"There is a case of my best Jamaica rum for him whenever he comes for +it," said old Leuba, clearing his throat. + +"But, gentlemen, while we are speakin' of ole King Sol'mon we ought not +to forget who it is that has suppohted 'im. Yondah she sits on the +sidewalk, sellin' 'er apples an' gingerbread." + +The three men looked in the direction indicated. + +"Heah comes ole King Sol'mon now," exclaimed the sheriff. + +Across the open square the vagrant was seen walking slowly along with +his habitual air of quiet, unobtrusive preoccupation. A minute more and +he had come over and passed into the court-house by a side door. + +"Is Mr. Clay to be in court to-day?" + +"He is expected, I think." + +"Then let's go in: there will be a crowd." + +"I don't know: so many are dead." + +They turned and entered and found seats as quietly as possible; for a +strange and sorrowful hush brooded over the court-room. Until the bar +assembled, it had not been realized how many were gone. The silence was +that of a common overwhelming disaster. No one spoke with his neighbor; +no one observed the vagrant as he entered and made his way to a seat on +one of the meanest benches, a little apart from the others. He had not +sat there since the day of his indictment for vagrancy. The judge took +his seat, and making a great effort to control himself, passed his eyes +slowly over the court-room. All at once he caught sight of old King +Solomon sitting against the wall in an obscure corner; and before any +one could know what he was doing, he had hurried down and walked up to +the vagrant and grasped his hand. He tried to speak, but could not. Old +King Solomon had buried his wife and daughter,--buried them one clouded +midnight, with no one present but himself. + +Then the oldest member of the bar started up and followed the example; +and then the other members, rising by a common impulse, filed slowly +back and one by one wrung that hard and powerful hand. After them came +the other persons in the court-room. The vagrant, the gravedigger, had +risen and stood against the wall, at first with a white face and a dazed +expression, not knowing what it meant; afterwards, when he understood +it, his head dropped suddenly forward and his tears fell thick and hot +upon the hands that he could not see. And his were not the only tears. +Not a man in the long file but paid his tribute of emotion as he stepped +forward to honor that image of sadly eclipsed but still effulgent +humanity. It was not grief, it was not gratitude, nor any sense of +making reparation for the past. It was the softening influence of an +act of heroism, which makes every man feel himself a brother hand in +hand with every other;--such power has a single act of moral greatness +to reverse the relations of men, lifting up one, and bringing all others +to do him homage. + +It was the coronation scene in the life of 'Ole' King Solomon of +Kentucky. + + + + +WILLIAM ALLINGHAM + +(1828-1889) + +Each form of verse has, in addition to its laws of structure, a subtle +quality as difficult to define as the perfume of a flower. The poem, 'An +Evening,' given below, may be classified both as a song and as a lyric; +yet it needs no music other than its own rhythms, and the full close to +each verse which falls upon the ear like a soft and final chord ending a +musical composition. A light touch and a feeling for shades of meaning +are required to execute such dainty verse. In 'St. Margaret's Eve,' and +in many other ballads, Allingham expresses the broader, more dramatic +sweep of the ballad, and reveals his Celtic ancestry. + +The lovable Irishman, William Allingham, worked hard to enter the +brotherhood of poets. When he was only fourteen his father took him from +school to become clerk in the town bank of which he himself was manager. +"The books which he had to keep for the next seven years were not those +on which his heart was set," says Mr. George Birkbeck Hill. But this +fortune is almost an inevitable part, and probably not the worst part, +of the training for a literary vocation; and he justified his ambitions +by pluckily studying alone till he had mastered Greek, Latin, French, +and German. + +Mr. Hill, in his 'Letters of D.G. Rossetti' (Atlantic Monthly, May, +1896), thus quotes Allingham's own delightful description of his early +home at Ballyshannon, County Donegal:-- + + "The little old town where I was born has a voice of its own, + low, solemn, persistent, humming through the air day and + night, summer and winter. Whenever I think of that town I + seem to hear the voice. The river which makes it rolls over + rocky ledges into the tide. Before spreads a great ocean in + sunshine or storm; behind stretches a many-islanded lake. On + the south runs a wavy line of blue mountains; and on the + north, over green rocky hills rise peaks of a more distant + range. The trees hide in glens or cluster near the river; + gray rocks and bowlders lie scattered about the windy + pastures. The sky arches wide over all, giving room to + multitudes of stars by night, and long processions of clouds + blown from the sea; but also, in the childish memory where + these pictures live, to deeps of celestial blue in the + endless days of summer. An odd, out-of-the-way little town, + ours, on the extreme western edge of Europe; our next + neighbors, sunset way, being citizens of the great new + republic, which indeed, to our imagination, seemed little if + at all farther off than England in the opposite direction." + +Of the cottage in which he spent most of his childhood and youth he +writes:-- + + "Opposite the hall door a good-sized walnut-tree leaned its + wrinkled stem towards the house, and brushed some of the + second-story panes with its broad, fragrant leaves. To sit at + that little upper window when it was open to a summer + twilight, and the great tree rustled gently, and sent one + leafy spray so far that it even touched my face, was an + enchantment beyond all telling. Killarney, Switzerland, + Venice, could not, in later life, come near it. On three + sides the cottage looked on flowers and branches, which I + count as one of the fortunate chances of my childhood; the + sense of natural beauty thus receiving its due share of + nourishment, and of a kind suitable to those early years." + +At last a position in the Customs presented itself:-- + + "In the spring of 1846 I gladly took leave forever of + discount ledgers and current accounts, and went to Belfast + for two months' instruction in the duties of Principal Coast + Officer of Customs; a tolerably well-sounding title, but + which carried with it a salary of but £80 a year. I trudged + daily about the docks and timber-yards, learning to measure + logs, piles of planks, and, more troublesome, ships for + tonnage; indoors, part of the time practiced customs + book-keeping, and talked to the clerks about literature and + poetry in a way that excited some astonishment, but on the + whole, as I found at parting, a certain degree of curiosity + and respect. I preached Tennyson to them. My spare time was + mostly spent in reading and haunting booksellers' shops + where, I venture to say, I laid out a good deal more than + most people, in proportion to my income, and managed to get + glimpses of many books which I could not afford or did not + care to buy. I enjoyed my new position, on the whole, without + analysis, as a great improvement on the bank; and for the + rest, my inner mind was brimful of love and poetry, and + usually all external things appeared trivial save in their + relation to it." + +Of Allingham's early song-writing, his friend Arthur Hughes says:-- + + "Rossetti, and I think Allingham himself, told me, in the + early days of our acquaintance, how in remote Ballyshannon, + where he was a clerk in the Customs, in evening walks he + would hear the Irish girls at their cottage doors singing old + ballads, which he would pick up. If they were broken or + incomplete, he would add to them or finish them; if they were + improper he would refine them. He could not get them sung + till he got the Dublin Catnach of that day to print them, on + long strips of blue paper, like old songs, and if about the + sea, with the old rough woodcut of a ship on the top. He + either gave them away or they were sold in the neighborhood. + Then, in his evening walks, he had at last the pleasure of + hearing some of his own ballads sung at the cottage doors by + the blooming lasses, who were quite unaware that it was the + author who was passing by." + +In 1850 Allingham published a small volume of lyrics whose freshness and +delicacy seemed to announce a new singer, and four years later his 'Day +and Night Songs' strengthened this impression. Stationed as revenue +officer in various parts of England, he wrote much verse, and published +also the 'The Rambles of Patricius Walker,' a collection of essays upon +his walks through England; 'Lawrence Bloomfield in Ireland,' the tale of +a young landlord's efforts to improve the condition of his tenantry; an +anthology, 'Nightingale Valley' (1862), and an excellent collection of +English ballads, 'The Ballad Book' (1865). + +In 1870 he gladly embraced an opportunity to leave the Customs for the +position of assistant editor of Fraser's Magazine under Froude, whom he +afterward succeeded as editor. He was now a member of a brilliant +literary circle, knew Tennyson, Ruskin, and Carlyle, and was admitted +into the warm friendship of the Pre-Raphaelites. But in no way does he +reflect the Pre-Raphaelite spirit by which he was surrounded; nor does +he write his lyrics in the metres and rhythms of mediaeval France. He is +as oblivious of rondeaux, ballades, and roundels, as he is of fair +damosels with cygnet necks and full pomegranate lips. He is a child of +nature, whose verse is free from all artificial inspiration or +expression, and seems to flow easily, clearly, and tenderly from his +pen. Some of it errs in being too fanciful. In the Flower-Songs, indeed, +he sometimes becomes trivial in his comparison of each English poet to a +special flower; but his poetry is usually sincere with an undercurrent +of pathos, as in 'The Ruined Chapel,' 'The Winter Pear,' and the 'Song.' +For lightness of touch and aerial grace, 'The Bubble' will bear +comparison with any verse of its own _genre_. 'Robin Redbreast' has many +delightful lines; and in 'The Fairies' one is taken into the realm of +Celtic folklore, which is Allingham's inheritance, where the Brownies, +the Pixies, and the Leprechauns trip over the dew-spangled meadows, or +dance on the yellow sands, and then vanish away in fantastic mists. +Quite different is 'Lovely Mary Donnelly,' which is a sample of the +popular songs that made him a favorite in his own country. + +After his death at Hampstead in 1889, his body was cremated according to +his wish, when these lines of his own were read:-- + + "Body to purifying flame, + Soul to the Great Deep whence it came, + Leaving a song on earth below, + An urn of ashes white as snow." + + + THE RUINED CHAPEL + + By the shore, a plot of ground + Clips a ruined chapel round, + Buttressed with a grassy mound; + Where Day and Night and Day go by + And bring no touch of human sound. + + Washing of the lonely seas, + Shaking of the guardian trees, + Piping of the salted breeze; + Day and Night and Day go by + To the endless tune of these. + + Or when, as winds and waters keep + A hush more dead than any sleep, + Still morns to stiller evenings creep, + And Day and Night and Day go by; + Here the silence is most deep. + + The empty ruins, lapsed again + Into Nature's wide domain, + Sow themselves with seed and grain + As Day and Night and Day go by; + And hoard June's sun and April's rain. + + Here fresh funeral tears were shed; + Now the graves are also dead; + And suckers from the ash-tree spread, + While Day and Night and Day go by; + And stars move calmly overhead. + + From 'Day and Night Songs.' + + + THE WINTER PEAR + + Is always Age severe? + Is never Youth austere? + Spring-fruits are sour to eat; + Autumn's the mellow time. + Nay, very late in the year, + Short day and frosty rime, + Thought, like a winter pear, + Stone-cold in summer's prime, + May turn from harsh to sweet. + + From 'Ballads and Songs.' + + + SONG + + O spirit of the Summer-time! + Bring back the roses to the dells; + The swallow from her distant clime, + The honey-bee from drowsy cells. + + Bring back the friendship of the sun; + The gilded evenings calm and late, + When weary children homeward run, + And peeping stars bid lovers wait. + + Bring back the singing; and the scent + Of meadow-lands at dewy prime; + Oh, bring again my heart's content, + Thou Spirit of the Summer-time! + + From 'Day and Night Songs.' + + + THE BUBBLE + + See the pretty planet! + Floating sphere! + Faintest breeze will fan it + Far or near; + + World as light as feather; + Moonshine rays, + Rainbow tints together, + As it plays. + + Drooping, sinking, failing, + Nigh to earth, + Mounting, whirling, sailing, + Full of mirth; + + Life there, welling, flowing, + Waving round; + Pictures coming, going, + Without sound. + + Quick now, be this airy + Globe repelled! + Never can the fairy + Star be held. + + Touched--it in a twinkle + Disappears! + Leaving but a sprinkle, + As of tears. + + From 'Ballads and Songs.' + + + ST. MARGARET'S EVE + + I built my castle upon the seaside, + The waves roll so gayly O, + Half on the land and half in the tide, + Love me true! + + Within was silk, without was stone, + The waves roll so gayly O, + It lacks a queen, and that alone, + Love me true! + + The gray old harper sang to me, + The waves roll so gayly O, + "Beware of the Damsel of the Sea!" + Love me true! + + Saint Margaret's Eve it did befall, + The waves roll so gayly O, + The tide came creeping up the wall, + Love me true! + + I opened my gate; who there should stand-- + The waves roll so gayly O, + But a fair lady, with a cup in her hand, + Love me true! + + The cup was gold, and full of wine, + The waves roll so gayly O, + "Drink," said the lady, "and I will be thine," + Love me true! + + "Enter my castle, lady fair," + The waves roll so gayly O, + "You shall be queen of all that's there," + Love me true! + + A gray old harper sang to me, + The waves roll so gayly O, + "Beware of the Damsel of the Sea!" + Love me true! + + In hall he harpeth many a year, + The waves roll so gayly O, + And we will sit his song to hear, + Love me true! + + "I love thee deep, I love thee true," + The waves roll so gayly O, + "But ah! I know not how to woo," + Love me true! + + Down dashed the cup, with a sudden shock, + The waves roll so gayly O, + The wine like blood ran over the rock, + Love me true! + + She said no word, but shrieked aloud, + The waves roll so gayly O, + And vanished away from where she stood, + Love me true! + + I locked and barred my castle door, + The waves roll so gayly O, + Three summer days I grieved sore, + Love me true! + + For myself a day, a night, + The waves roll so gayly O, + And two to moan that lady bright, + Love me true! + + From 'Ballads and Songs.' + + + THE FAIRIES + + (A CHILD'S SONG) + + Up the airy mountain, + Down the rushy glen, + We daren't go a hunting + For fear of little men: + Wee folk, good folk, + Trooping all together; + Green jacket, red cap, + And white owl's feather. + + Down along the rocky shore + Some have made their home; + They live on crispy pancakes + Of yellow-tide foam. + Some in the reeds + Of the black mountain-lake, + With frogs for their watch-dogs, + All night awake. + + High on the hill-top + The old King sits; + He is now so old and gray + He's nigh lost his wits. + With a bridge of white mist + Columbkill he crosses, + On his stately journeys + From Sliveleague to Rosses; + Or going up with music + On cold starry nights, + To sup with the Queen + Of the gay northern lights. + + They stole little Bridget + For seven years long; + When she came down again + Her friends were all gone. + They took her lightly back, + Between the night and morrow, + They thought that she was fast asleep, + But she was dead with sorrow. + They have kept her ever since + Deep within the lakes, + On a bed of flag leaves + Watching till she wakes. + + By the craggy hillside, + Through the mosses bare, + They have planted thorn-trees + For pleasure here and there. + Is any man so daring + As dig them up in spite, + He shall feel their sharpest thorns + In his bed at night. + + Up the airy mountain, + Down the rushy glen, + We daren't go a hunting + For fear of little men: + Wee folk, good folk, + Trooping all together; + Green jacket, red cap, + And white owl's feather. + + From 'Ballads and Songs.' + + + ROBIN REDBREAST + + (A CHILD'S SONG) + + Good-by, good-by, to Summer! + For Summer's nearly done; + The garden smiling faintly, + Cool breezes in the sun; + Our Thrushes now are silent, + Our Swallows flown away-- + But Robin's here, in coat of brown, + With ruddy breast-knot gay. + Robin, Robin Redbreast, + Oh, Robin, dear! + Robin singing sweetly + In the falling of the year. + + Bright yellow, red, and orange, + The leaves come down in hosts; + The trees are Indian Princes, + But soon they'll turn to Ghosts; + The scanty pears and apples + Hang russet on the bough, + It's Autumn, Autumn, Autumn late, + 'Twill soon be winter now. + Robin, Robin Redbreast, + Oh, Robin, dear! + And welaway! my Robin, + For pinching times are near. + + The fireside for the Cricket, + The wheatstack for the Mouse, + When trembling night-winds whistle + And moan all round the house. + The frosty ways like iron, + The branches plumed with snow-- + Alas! in Winter, dead and dark, + Where can poor Robin go? + Robin, Robin Redbreast, + Oh, Robin, dear! + And a crumb of bread for Robin, + His little heart to cheer. + + From 'Ballads and Songs.' + + + AN EVENING + + Sunset's mounded cloud; + A diamond evening-star; + Sad blue hills afar: + Love in his shroud. + + Scarcely a tear to shed; + Hardly a word to say; + The end of a summer's day; + Sweet Love is dead. + + From 'Day and Night Songs.' + + + DAFFODIL + + Gold tassel upon March's bugle-horn, + Whose blithe reveille blows from hill to hill + And every valley rings--O Daffodil! + What promise for the season newly born? + Shall wave on wave of flow'rs, full tide of corn, + O'erflow the world, then fruited Autumn fill + Hedgerow and garth? Shall tempest, blight, or chill + Turn all felicity to scathe and scorn? + + Tantarrara! the joyous Book of Spring + Lies open, writ in blossoms; not a bird + Of evil augury is seen or heard: + Come now, like Pan's old crew, we'll dance and sing, + Or Oberon's: for hill and valley ring + To March's bugle-horn,--Earth's blood is stirred. + + From 'Flower Pieces.' + + + LOVELY MARY DONNELLY + + (To an Irish Tune) + + O lovely Mary Donnelly, it's you I love the best! + If fifty girls were round you, I'd hardly see the rest. + Be what it may the time of day, the place be where it will, + Sweet looks of Mary Donnelly, they bloom before me still. + + Her eyes like mountain water that's flowing on a rock, + How clear they are, how dark they are! and they give me many a shock. + Red rowans warm in sunshine and wetted with a shower, + Could ne'er express the charming lip that has me in its power. + + Her nose is straight and handsome, her eyebrows lifted up; + Her chin is very neat and pert, and smooth like a china cup; + Her hair's the brag of Ireland, so weighty and so fine, + It's rolling down upon her neck and gathered in a twine. + + The dance o' last Whit Monday night exceeded all before; + No pretty girl for miles about was missing from the floor; + But Mary kept the belt of love, and oh, but she was gay! + She danced a jig, she sung a song, that took my heart away. + + When she stood up for dancing, her steps were so complete, + The music nearly killed itself to listen to her feet; + The fiddler moaned his blindness, he heard her so much praised, + But blessed himself he wasn't deaf, when once her voice she raised. + + And evermore I'm whistling or lilting what you sung, + Your smile is always in my heart, your name beside my tongue; + But you've as many sweethearts as you'd count on both your hands, + And for myself there's not a thumb or little finger stands. + + Oh, you're the flower o' womankind in country or in town; + The higher I exalt you, the lower I'm cast down. + If some great lord should come this way, and see your beauty bright, + And you to be his lady, I'd own it was but right. + + Oh, might we live together in a lofty palace hall, + Where joyful music rises, and where scarlet curtains fall! + Oh, might we live together in a cottage mean and small, + With sods of grass the only roof, and mud the only wall! + + O lovely Mary Donnelly, your beauty's my distress: + It's far too beauteous to be mine, but I'll never wish it less. + The proudest place would fit your face, and I am poor and low; + But blessings be about you, dear, wherever you may go! + + From 'Ballads and Songs.' + + + + +KARL JONAS LUDVIG ALMQUIST + +(1793-1866) + +Almquist, one of the most versatile writers of Sweden, was a man of +strange contrasts, a genius as uncertain as a will-o'-the-wisp. His +contemporary, the famous poet and critic Atterbom, writes:-- + + "What did the great poets of past times possess which upheld + them under even the bitterest worldly circumstances? Two + things: one a strong and conscientious will, the other a + single--not double, much less manifold--determination for + their work, oneness. They were not self-seekers; they sought, + they worshiped something better than themselves. The aim + which stood dimly before their inmost souls was not the + enjoyment of flattered vanity; it was a high, heroic symbol + of love of honor and love of country, of heavenly wisdom. For + this they thought it worth while to fight, for this they even + thought it worth while to suffer, without finding the + suffering in itself strange, or calling earth to witness + thereof.... The writer of 'Törnrosens Bok' [The Book of the + Rose] is one of these few; he does therefore already reign + over a number of youthful hearts, and out of them will rise + his time of honor, a time when many of the celebrities of the + present moment will have faded away." + +Almquist was born in Stockholm in 1793. When still a very young man he +obtained a good official position, but gave it up in 1823 to lead a +colony of friends into the forests of Värmland, where they intended to +return to a primitive life close to the heart of nature. He called this +colony a "Man's-home Association," and ordained that in the primeval +forest the members should live in turf-covered huts, wear homespun, eat +porridge with a wooden spoon, and enact the ancient freeholder. The +experiment was not successful, he tired of the manual work, and +returning to Stockholm, became master of the new Elementary School, and +began to write text-books and educational works. His publication of a +number of epics, dramas, lyrics, and romances made him suddenly famous. +Viewed as a whole, this collection is generally called 'The Book of the +Rose,' but at times 'En Irrande Hind' (A Stray Deer). Of this, the two +dramas, 'Signora Luna' and 'Ramido Marinesco,' contain some of the +pearls of Swedish literature. Uneven in the plan and execution, they are +yet masterly in dialogue, and their dramatic and tragic force is great. +Almquist's imagination showed itself as individual as it is fantastic. +Coming from a man hitherto known as the writer of text-books and the +advocate of popular social ideas, the volumes aroused extraordinary +interest. The author revealed himself as akin to Novalis and Victor +Hugo, with a power of language like that of Atterbom, and a richness of +color resembling Tegnèr's. Atterbom himself wrote of 'Törnrosens Bok' +that it was a work whose "faults were exceedingly easy to overlook and +whose beauties exceedingly difficult to match." + +After this appeared in rapid succession, and written with equal ease, +lyrical, dramatic, educational, poetical, aesthetical, philosophical, +moral, and religious treatises, as well as lectures and studies in +history and law; for Almquist now gave all his time to literary labors. +His novels showed socialistic sympathies, and he put forth newspaper +articles and pamphlets on Socialism which aroused considerable +opposition. Moreover, he delighted in contradictions. One day he wrote +as an avowed Christian, extolling virtue, piety, and Christian +knowledge; the next, he abrogated religion as entirely unnecessary: and +his own explanation of this variability was merely--"I paint so because +it pleases me to paint so, and life is not otherwise." + +In 1851 was heard the startling rumor that he was accused of forgery and +charged with murder. He fled from Sweden and disappeared from the +knowledge of men. Going to America, he earned under a fictitious name a +scanty living, and became, it is said, the private secretary of Abraham +Lincoln. In 1866 he found himself again under the ban of the law, his +papers were destroyed, and he escaped with difficulty to Bremen, +where he died. + +One of his latest works was his excellent modern novel, 'Det Går An' +(It's All Right), a forerunner of the "problem novel" of the day. It is +an attack upon conventional marriage, and pictures the helplessness of a +woman in the hands of a depraved man. Its extreme views called out +violent criticism. + +He was a romanticist through and through, with a strong leaning toward +the French school. Among the best of his tales are 'Araminta May,' +'Skällnora Quarn' (Skällnora's Mill), and 'Grimstahamns Nybygge' +(Grimstahamn's Settlement). His idyl 'Kapellet' (The Chapel) is +wonderfully true to nature, and his novel 'Palatset' (The Palace) is +rich in humor and true poesy. His literary fame will probably rest on +his romances, which are the best of their kind in Swedish literature. + + +CHARACTERISTICS OF CATTLE + +Any one with a taste for physiognomy should carefully observe the +features of the ox and the cow; their demeanor and the expression of +their eyes. They are figures which bear an extraordinary stamp of +respectability. They look neither joyful nor melancholy. They are seldom +evilly disposed, but never sportive. They are full of gravity, and +always seem to be going about their business. They are not merely of +great economic service, but their whole persons carry the look of it. +They are the very models of earthly carefulness. + +Nothing is ever to be seen more dignified, more official-looking, than +the whole behavior of the ox; his way of carrying his head, and looking +around him. If anybody thinks I mean these words for a sarcasm, he is +mistaken: no slur on official life, or on what the world calls a man's +vocation, is intended. I hold them all in as much respect as could be +asked. And though I have an eye for contours, no feeling of ridicule is +connected in my mind with any of these. On the contrary, I regard the ox +and the cow with the warmest feelings of esteem. I admire in them a +naïve and striking picture of one who minds his own business; who +submits to the claims of duty, not using the word in its highest sense; +who in the world's estimate is dignified, steady, conventional, and +middle-aged,--that is to say, neither youthful nor stricken in years. + +Look at that ox which stands before you, chewing his cud and gazing +around him with such unspeakable thoughtfulness--but which you will +find, when you look more closely into his eyes, is thinking about +nothing at all. Look at that discreet, excellent Dutch cow, which, +gifted with an inexhaustible udder, stands quietly and allows herself to +be milked as a matter of course, while she gazes into space with a most +sensible expression. Whatever she does, she does with the same +imperturbable calmness, and as when a person leaves an important trust +to his own time and to posterity. If the worth of this creature is thus +great on the one side, yet on the other it must be confessed that she +possesses not a single trait of grace, not a particle of vivacity, and +none of that quick characteristic retreating from an object which +indicates an internal buoyancy, an elastic temperament, such as we see +in a bird or fish.... There is something very agreeable in the varied +lowing of cattle when heard in the distant country, and when replied to +by a large herd, especially toward evening and amid echoes. On the other +hand, nothing is more unpleasant than to hear all at once, and just +beside one, the bellowing of a bull, who thus authoritatively announces +himself, as if nobody else had any right to utter a syllable in +his presence. + + +A NEW UNDINE + +From 'The Book of the Rose' + +Miss Rudensköld and her companion sat in one of the pews in the cheerful +and beautiful church of Normalm, which is all that is left of the once +famous cloister of St. Clara, and still bears the saint's name. The +sermon was finished, and the strong full tones of the organ, called out +by the skillful hands of an excellent organist, hovered like the voices +of unseen angel choirs in the high vaults of the church, floated down to +the listeners, and sank deep into their hearts. + +Azouras did not speak a single word; neither did she sing, for she did +not know a whole hymn through. Nor did Miss Rudensköld sing, because it +was not her custom to sing in church. During the organ solo, however, +Miss Rudensköld ventured to make some remarks about Dr. Asplund's sermon +which was so beautiful, and about the notices afterward which were so +tiresome. But when her neighbor did not answer, but sat looking ahead +with large, almost motionless eyes, as people stare without looking at +anything in particular, she changed her subject. + +At one of the organ tones which finished a cadence, Azouras started, and +blinked quickly with her eyelids, and a light sigh showed that she came +back to herself and her friend, from her vague contemplative state of +mind. Something indescribable, very sad, shone in her eyes, and made +them almost black; and with a childlike look at Miss Rudensköld she +asked, "Tell me what that large painting over there represents." + +"The altar-piece? Don't you know? The altar-piece in Clara is one of the +most beautiful we possess." + +"What is going on there?" asked Azouras. + +Miss Rudensköld gave her a side glance; she did not know that her +neighbor in the pew was a girl without baptism, without Christianity, +without the slightest knowledge of holy religion, a heathen--and knew +less than a heathen, for such a one has his teachings, although they are +not Christian. Miss Rudensköld thought the girl's question came of a +momentary forgetfulness, and answered, to remind her:-- + +"Well, you see, it is one of the usual subjects, but unusually well +painted, that is all. High up among the other figures in the painting +you will see the half-reclining figure of one that is dead--see what an +expression the painter has put into the face!--That is the Saviour." + +"The Saviour?" + +"Yes, God's son, you know; or God Himself." + +"And he is dead?" repeated Azouras to herself with wondering eyes. "Yes, +I believe that; it must be so: it is godlike to die!" + +Miss Rudensköld looked at her neighbor with wide-opened eyes. "You must +not misunderstand this subject," she said. "It is human to live and want +to live; you can see that, too, in the altar-piece, for all the persons +who are human beings, like ourselves, are alive." + +"Let us go out! I feel oppressed by fear--no, I will tarry here until my +fear passes away. Go, dearest, I will send you word." + +Miss Rudensköld took leave of her; went out of the church and over the +churchyard to the Eastern Gate, which faces Oden's lane.... + +The girl meanwhile stayed inside; came to a corner in the organ stairs; +saw people go out little by little; remained unobserved, and finally +heard the sexton and the church-keeper go away. When the last door was +closed, Azouras stepped out of her hiding-place. Shut out from the +entire world, severed from all human beings, she found herself the only +occupant of the large, light building, into which the sun lavishly +poured his gold. + +Although she was entirely ignorant of our holy church customs and the +meaning of the things she saw around her, she had nevertheless, +sometimes in the past, when her mother was in better health, been +present at the church service as a pastime, and so remembered one thing +and another. The persons with whom she lived, in the halls and corridors +of the opera, hardly ever went to God's house; and generally speaking, +church-going was not practiced much during this time. No wonder, then, +that a child who was not a member of any religious body, and who had +never received an enlightening word from any minister, should neglect +what the initiated themselves did not attend to assiduously. + +She walked up the aisle, and never had the sad, strange feeling of utter +loneliness taken hold of her as it did now; it was coupled with the +apprehension of a great, overhanging danger. Her heart beat wildly; she +longed unspeakably--but for what? for her wild free forest out there, +where she ran around quick as a deer? or for what? + +She walked up toward the choir and approached the altar railing. "Here +at least--I remember that once--but that was long ago, and it stands +like a shadow before my memory--I saw many people kneel here: it must +have been of some use to them? Suppose I did likewise?" + +Nevertheless she thought it would be improper for her to kneel down on +the decorated cushions around the chancel. She folded her hands and +knelt outside of the choir on the bare stone floor. But what more was +she to do or say now? Of what use was it all? Where was she to turn? + +She knew nothing. She looked down into her own thoughts as into an +immense, silent dwelling. Feelings of sorrow and a sense of transiency +moved in slow swells, like shining, breaking waves, through her +consciousness. "Oh--something to lean on--a help--where? where? where?" + +She looked quietly about her; she saw nobody. She was sure to meet the +most awful danger when the door was opened, if help did not come first. + +She turned her eyes back toward the organ, and in her thoughts she +besought grace of the straight, long, shining pipes. But all their +mouths were silent now. + +She looked up to the pulpit; nobody was standing there. In the pews +nobody. She had sent everybody away from here and from herself. + +She turned her head again toward the choir. She remembered that when she +had seen so many gathered here, two ministers in vestments had moved +about inside of the railing and had offered the kneeling worshipers +something. No doubt to help them! But now--there was nobody inside +there. To be sure she was kneeling here with folded hands and praying +eyes; but there was nobody, nobody, nobody who offered her the least +little thing. She wept. + +She looked out of the great church windows to the clear noonday sky; +her eyes beheld the delicate azure light which spread itself over +everything far, far away, but on nothing could her eyes rest. There were +no stars to be seen now, and the sun itself was hidden by the window +post, although its mild golden light flooded the world. + +She looked away again, and her eyes sank to the ground. Her knees were +resting on a tombstone, and she saw many of the same kind about her. She +read the names engraven on the stones; they were all Swedish, correct +and well-known. "Oh," she said to herself with a sigh, "I have not a +name like others! My names have been many, borrowed,--and oh, often +changed. I did not get one to be my very own! If only I had one like +other people! Nobody has written me down in a book as I have heard it +said others are written down. Nobody asks about me. I have nothing to do +with anybody! Poor Azouras," she whispered low to herself. She +wept much. + +There was no one else who said "poor Azouras Tintomara!" but it was as +if an inner, higher, invisible being felt sorry for the outer, bodily, +visible being, both one and the same person in her. She wept bitterly +over herself. + +"God is dead," she thought, and looked up at the large altar-piece +again. "But I am a human being; I must live." And she wept more +heartily, more bitterly.... + +The afternoon passed, and the hour for vespers struck. The bells in the +tower began to lift their solemn voices, and keys rattled in the lock. +Then the heathen girl sprang up, and, much like a thin vanishing mist, +disappeared from the altar. She hid in her corner again. It seemed to +her that she had been forward, and had taken liberties in the choir of +the church to which she had no right; and that in the congregation +coming in now, she saw persons who had a right to everything. + +Nevertheless, when the harmonious tones of the organ began to mix with +the fragrant summer air in the church, Azouras stood radiant, and she +felt quickly how the weight lifted from her breast. Was it because of +the tears she had shed? Or did an unknown helper at this moment scatter +the fear in her heart? + +She felt no more that it would be dangerous to leave the church; she +stole away, before vespers were over, came out into the churchyard and +turned off to the northern gate. + + + GOD'S WAR + + His mighty weapon drawing, + God smites the world he loves; + Thus, worthy of him growing, + She his reflection proves. + God's war like lightning striking, + The heart's deep core lays bare, + Which fair grows to his liking + Who is supremely fair. + + Escapes no weakness shame, + No hid, ignoble feeling; + But when his thunder pealing + Enkindles life's deep flame, + And water clear upwelleth, + Flowing unto its goal, + God's grand cross standing, telleth + His truth unto the soul. + Sing, God's war, earth that shakes! + Sing, sing the peace he makes! + + + + +JOHANNA AMBROSIUS + +(1854-) + +Before the year 1895 the name of the German peasant, Johanna Ambrosius, +was hardly known, even within her own country. Now her melodious verse +has made her one of the most popular writers in Germany. Her genius +found its way from the humble farm in Eastern Prussia, where she worked +in the field beside her husband, to the very heart of the great literary +circles. She was born in Lengwethen, a parish village in Eastern +Prussia, on the 3d of August, 1854. She received only the commonest +education, and every day was filled with the coarsest toil. But her mind +and soul were uplifted by the gift of poetry, to which she gave voice in +her rare moments of leisure. A delicate, middle-aged woman, whose +simplicity is undisturbed by the lavish praises of literary men, she +leads the most unpretending of lives. Her work became known by the +merest chance. She sent a poem to a German weekly, where it attracted +the attention of a Viennese gentleman, Dr. Schrattenthal, who collected +her verses and sent the little volume into the world with a preface by +himself. This work has already gone through twenty-six editions. The +short sketch cited, written some years ago, is the only prose of hers +that has been published. + +The distinguishing characteristics of the poetry of this singularly +gifted woman are the deep, almost painfully intense earnestness +pervading its every line, the fine sense of harmony and rhythmic +felicity attending the comparatively few attempts she has thus far made, +and her tender touch when dwelling upon themes of the heart and home. +One cannot predict what her success will be when she attempts more +ambitious flights, but thus far she seems to have probed the aesthetic +heart of Germany to its centre. + + +A PEASANT'S THOUGHTS + +The first snow, in large and thick flakes, fell gently and silently on +the barren branches of the ancient pear-tree, standing like a sentinel +at my house door. The first snow of the year speaks both of joy and +sadness. It is so comfortable to sit in a warm room and watch the +falling flakes, eternally pure and lovely. There are neither flowers nor +birds about, to make you see and hear the beautiful great world. Now the +busy peasant has time to read the stories in his calendar. And I, too, +stopped my spinning-wheel, the holy Christ-child's gift on my thirteenth +birthday, to fold my hands and to look through the calendar of +my thoughts. + +I did not hear a knock at the door, but a little man came in with a +cordial "Good morning, little sister!" I knew him well enough, though we +were not acquaintances. Half familiar, half strange, this little +time-worn figure looked. His queer face seemed stamped out of rubber, +the upper part sad, the lower full of laughing wrinkles. But his address +surprised me, for we were not in the least related. I shook his horny +hand, responding, "Hearty thanks, little brother." "I call this good +luck," began little brother: "a room freshly scoured, apples roasting in +the chimney, half a cold duck in the cupboard; and you all alone with +cat and clock. It is easier talking when there are two, for the third is +always in the way." + +The old man amused me immensely. I sat down on the bench beside him and +asked after his wife and family. "Thanks, thanks," he nodded, "all well +and happy except our nestling Ille. She leaves home to-morrow, to eat +her bread as a dress-maker in B--."--"And the other children, where are +they?" "Flown away, long ago! Do you suppose, little sister, that I +want to keep all fifteen at home like so many cabbages in a single bed?" +Fifteen children! Almost triumphantly, little brother watched me. I +owned almost as many brothers and sisters myself, and fifteen children +were no marvel to me. So I asked if he were a grandfather too. + +"Of course," he answered gravely. "But I am going to tell you how I came +by fifteen children. You know how we peasant folk give house and land to +the eldest son, and only a few coppers to the youngest children. A bad +custom, that leads to quarrels, and ends sometimes in murder. Fathers +and mothers can't bring themselves to part with the property, and so +they live with the eldest son, who doles out food and shelter, and gets +the farm in the end. So, in time, a family has some rich members and +more paupers. Now, we'd better sell the land and let the children share +alike; but then that way breaks estates too. I was a younger child, and +I received four hundred thalers;--a large sum forty years ago. I didn't +know anything but field work. The saying that 'The peasant must be kept +stupid or he will not obey' was still printed in all the books. So I had +to look about for a family where a son was needed. One day, with my four +hundred thalers in my pocket, I went to a farm where there was an +unmarried daughter. When you go a-courting among us, you pretend to mean +to buy a horse. That's the fashion. With us, a lie doesn't wear French +rouge. The parents of Marianne (that was her name) made me welcome. +Brown Bess was brought from the stable, and her neck, legs, and teeth +examined. I showed my willingness to buy her, which meant as much as to +say, 'Your daughter pleases me.' As proud as you please, I walked +through the buildings. Everything in plenty, all right, not a nail +wanting on the harrow, nor a cord missing from the harness. How I +strutted! I saw myself master, and I was tickled to death to be as rich +as my brother. + +"But I reckoned without my host. On tiptoe I stole into the kitchen, +where my sweetheart was frying ham and eggs. I thought I might snatch a +kiss. Above the noise of the sizzling frying-pan and the crackling wood, +I plainly heard the voice of my--well, let us say it--bride, weeping and +complaining to an old house servant: 'It's a shame and a sin to enter +matrimony with a lie. I can't wed this Michael: not because he is ugly; +that doesn't matter in a man, but he comes too late! My heart belongs +to poor Joseph, the woodcutter, and I'd sooner be turned out of doors +than to make a false promise. Money blinds my mother's eyes!' Don't be +surprised, little sister, that I remember these words so well. A son +doesn't forget his father's blessing, nor a prisoner his sentence. This +was my sentence to poverty and single-blessedness. I sent word to +Marianne that she should be happy--and so she was. + +"But now to my own story. I worked six years as farm hand for my rich +brother, and then love overtook me. The little housemaid caught me in +the net of her golden locks. What a fuss it made in our family! A +peasant's pride is as stiff as that of your 'Vous' and 'Zus.' My girl +had only a pair of willing hands and a good heart to give to an ugly, +pock-marked being like me. My mother (God grant her peace!) caused her +many a tear, and when I brought home my Lotte she wouldn't keep the +peace until at last she found out that happiness depends on kindness +more than on money. On the patch of land that I bought, my wife and I +lived as happily as people live when there's love in the house and a bit +of bread to spare. We worked hard and spent little. A long, scoured +table, a wooden bench or so, a chest or two of coarse linen, and a few +pots and pans--that was our furniture. The walls had never tasted +whitewash, but Lotte kept them scoured. She went to church barefoot, and +put on her shoes at the door. Good things such as coffee and plums, that +the poorest hut has now-a-days, we never saw. We didn't save much, for +crops sold cheap. But I didn't speculate, nor squeeze money from the +sweat of the poor. In time five pretty little chatterboxes arrived, all +flaxen-haired girls with blue eyes, or brown. I was satisfied with +girls, but the mother hankered after a boy. That's a poor father that +prefers a son to a daughter. A man ought to take boys and girls alike, +just as God sends them. I was glad enough to work for my girls, and I +didn't worry about their future, nor build castles in the air for them +to live in. After fifteen years the boy arrived, but he took himself +quickly out of the world and coaxed his mother away with him." + +Little brother was silent, and bowed his snow-white head. My heart felt +as if the dead wife flitted through the room and gently touched the old +fellow's thin locks. I saw him kneeling at her death-bed, heard the +little girls sobbing, and waited in silence till he drew himself up, +sighing deeply:-- + +"My Lotte died; she left me alone. What didn't I promise the dear Lord +in those black hours! My life, my savings, yea, all my children if He +would but leave her to me. In vain. 'My thoughts are not thy thoughts, +saith the Lord, and My ways are not thy ways.' It was night in my soul. +I cried over my children, and I only half did my work. At night I +tumbled into bed tearless and prayerless. Oh, sad time! God vainly +knocked at my heart's door until the children fell ill. Oh, what would +become of me if these flowers were gathered? What wealth these rosy +mouths meant to me, how gladly would they smile away my sorrow! I had +set myself up above the Lord. But by my children's bedside I prayed for +grace. They all recovered. I took my motherless brood to God's temple to +thank Him there. Church-going won't bring salvation, but staying away +from church makes a man stupid and coarse. + +"But I am forgetting, little sister. I started to tell you about my +fifteen children. You see I made up my mind that I had to find a mother +for the chicks. I wouldn't chain a young thing to my bonds, even if she +understood housekeeping. I held to the saying, 'Equal wealth, equal +birth, equal years make a good match.' When an old widower courts a +young girl he looks at her faults with a hundred eyes when he measures +her with his first wife. But a home without a wife is like spring +without blossoms. So, thinking this way, I chose a widow with ten +children." + +Twirling his thumbs, little brother smiled gayly as he looked at me. +"Five and ten make fifteen, I thought, and when fifteen prayers rise to +heaven, the Lord must hear. My two eldest stepsons entered military +service. We wouldn't spend all our money on the boys and then console +our poor girls with a husband. I put three sons to trades. But my girls +were my pride. They learned every kind of work. When they could cook, +wash, and spin, we sent them into good households to learn more. Two +married young. Some of the rest are seamstresses and housekeepers. One +is a secretary, and our golden-haired Miez is lady's-maid to the +Countess H----. Both these girls are betrothed. Miez is the brightest, +and she managed to learn, even at the village school. So much is written +about education nowadays," (little brother drew himself up proudly as he +added, "I take a newspaper,") "but the real education is to keep +children at work and make them unselfish. They must love their work. +Work and pray, these were my rules, and thank Heaven! all my children +are good and industrious. + +"Just think, last summer my dear girls sent me a suit of fine city +clothes and money to go a journey, begging their old father to make them +a visit. Oh, how pretty they looked when they showed me round the city +in spite of my homespun, for I couldn't bring myself to wear the fine +clothes, after all. The best dressed one was our little lady's-maid, who +had a gold watch in her belt. So I said: 'Listen, child, that is not fit +for you.' But she only laughed. 'Indeed it is, little father. If my +gracious lady makes me a present, I'm not likely to be mistaken for her +on that account.'--'And girls, are you contented to be in +service?'--'Certainly, father: unless there are both masters and +servants the world would go out of its grooves. My good Countess makes +service so light, that we love and serve her. Yes, little father,' added +Miez, 'my gracious mistress chose Gustav for me, and is going to pay for +the wedding and start us in housekeeping--God bless her!' Now see what +good such a woman does. If people would but learn that it takes wits to +command as well as to obey, they would get along well enough in these +new times of equality. Thank heaven! we country folk shan't be ruined by +idleness. When I saw my thatched roof again, among the fir-trees, I felt +as solemn as if I were going to prayers. The blue smoke looked like +incense. I folded my hands, I thanked God." + +Little brother arose, his eyes bright with tears. He cast a wistful look +toward the apples in the chimney: "My old wife, little sister?"-- +"Certainly, take them all, little brother, you are heartily +welcome to them."--"We are like children, my wife and I, we carry +tidbits to each other, now that our birds have all flown away."--"That +is right, old boy, and God keep thee!" I said. From the threshold the +words echoed back, "God keep thee!" + +Translation of Miss H. Geist. + + + STRUGGLE AND PEACE + + A quarter-century warfare woke + No sabre clash nor powder smoke, + No triumph song nor battle cry; + Their shields no templared knights stood by. + + Though fought were many battles hot, + Of any fight the world knew not + How great the perils often grew-- + God only knew. + + Within my deepest soul-depths torn, + In hands and feet wounds bleeding borne, + Trodden beneath the chargers' tread, + How I endured, felt, suffered, bled, + How wept and groaned I in my woe, + When scoffed the malice-breathing foe, + How pierced his scorn my spirit through, + God only knew. + + The evening nears; cool zephyrs blow; + The struggle wild doth weaker grow; + The air with scarce a sigh is filled + From the pale mouth; the blood is stilled. + Quieted now my bitter pain; + A faint star lights the heavenly plain; + Peace cometh after want and woe-- + My God doth know. + + + DO THOU LOVE, TOO! + + The waves they whisper + In Luna's glance, + Entrancing music + For the nixies' dance. + They beckon, smiling, + And wavewise woo, + While softly plashing:-- + "Do thou love, too!" + + In blossoming lindens + Doves fondly rear + Their tender fledglings + From year to year. + With never a pausing, + They bill and coo, + And twitter gently:-- + "Do thou love, too!" + + + INVITATION + + How long wilt stand outside and cower? + Come straight within, beloved guest. + The winds are fierce this wintry hour: + Come, stay awhile with me and rest. + You wander begging shelter vainly + A weary time from door to door; + I see what you have suffered plainly: + Come, rest with me and stray no more! + + And nestle by me, trusting-hearted; + Lay in my loving hands your head: + Then back shall come your peace departed, + Through the world's baseness long since fled; + And deep from out your heart upspringing, + Love's downy wings will soar to view, + The darling smiles like magic bringing + Around your gloomy lips anew. + + Come, rest: myself will here detain you, + So long as pulse of mine shall beat; + Nor shall my heart grow cold and pain you, + Till carried to your last retreat. + You gaze at me in doubting fashion, + Before the offered rapture dumb; + Tears and still tears your sole expression: + Bedew my bosom with them--come! + + + + +EDMONDO DE AMICIS + +(1846-) + +In 1869, 'Vita Militare' (Military Life), a collection of short stories, +was perhaps the most popular Italian volume of the year. Read alike in +court and cottage, it was everywhere discussed and enthusiastically +praised. Its prime quality was that quivering sympathy which insures +some success to any imaginative work, however crudely written. But these +sketches of all the grim and amusing phases of Italian soldier life are +drawn with an exquisite precision. The reader feels the breathless +discouragement of the tired soldiers when new dusty vistas are revealed +by a sudden turn in the road ('A Midsummer March'); understands the +strong silent love between officer and orderly, suppressed by military +etiquette ('The Orderly'); smiles with the soldiers at the pretty +runaway boy, idol of the regiment ('The Son of the Regiment'); pities +the humiliations of the conscript novice ('The Conscript'); thrills with +the proud sorrow of the old man whose son's colonel tells the story of +his heroic death ('Dead on the Field of Battle'). "When I had finished +reading it," said an Italian workman, "I would gladly have pressed the +hand of the first soldier whom I happened to meet." The author was only +twenty-three, and has since given the world many delightful volumes, but +nothing finer. + +These sketches were founded upon personal knowledge, for De Amicis began +life as a soldier. After his early education at Coni and Turin, he +entered the military school at Modena, from which he was sent out as +sub-lieutenant in the third regiment of the line. He saw active service +in various expeditions against Sicilian brigands; and in the war with +Austria he fought at the battle of Custozza. + +His literary power seems to have been early manifest; for in 1867 he +became manager of a newspaper, L'Italia Militare, at Florence; and in +1871, yielding to his friends' persuasions, he settled down to +authorship at Turin. His second book was the 'Ricordi,' memorials +dedicated to the youth of Italy, of national events which had come +within his experience. Half a dozen later stories published together +were also very popular, especially 'Gli Amici di Collegio' (College +Friends), 'Fortezza,' and 'La Casa Paterna' (The Paternal Home). He has +written some graceful verse as well. + +[Illustration: EDMONDO DE AMICIS] + +But De Amicis soon craved the stimulus of novel environments, of +differing personalities; and he set out upon the travels which he has so +delightfully recounted. This ardent Italian longed for the repose of "a +gray sky," a critic tells us. He went first to Holland, and experienced +a joyous satisfaction in the careful art of that trim little land. +Later, a visit to North Africa in the suite of the Italian ambassador +prompted a brilliant volume, "Morocco," "which glitters and flashes like +a Damascus blade." Among his other well-known books, descriptive of +other trips, are 'Holland and Its People,' 'Spain,' 'London,' 'Paris,' +and 'Constantinople,' which, translated into many languages, have been +widely read. + +That unfortunate though not uncommon traveler who finds _ennui_ +everywhere must envy De Amicis his inexhaustible enthusiasm, his power +of epicurean enjoyment in the color and glory of every land. His is a +curiously optimistic nature. Always perceiving the beautiful and +picturesque in art and nature, he treats other aspects hopefully, and +ignores them when he may. He catches what is characteristic in every +nation as inevitably as he catches the physiognomy of a land with its +skies and its waters, its flowers and its atmosphere. His is a realism +transfigured by poetic imagination, which divines essential things and +places them in high relief. + +Very early in life De Amicis announced his love and admiration of +Manzoni, of whom he called himself a disciple. But his is a very +different mind. This Italian, born at Onéglia of Genoese parents, has +inherited the emotional nature of his country. He sees everything with +feeling, penetrating below the surface with sympathetic insight. Italy +gives him his sensuous zest in life. But from France, through his love +of her vigor and grace, his cordial admiration of her literature, he has +gained a refining and strengthening influence. She has taught him that +direct diction, that choice simplicity, which forsakes the stilted +Italian of literary tradition for a style far simpler, stronger, and +more natural. + + +All selections used by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons. + +THE LIGHT + +From 'Constantinople' + +And first of all, the light! One of my dearest delights at +Constantinople was to see the sun rise and set, standing upon the bridge +of the Sultana Validé. At dawn, in autumn, the Golden Horn is almost +always covered by a light fog, behind which the city is seen vaguely, +like those gauze curtains that descend upon the stage to conceal the +preparations for a scenic spectacle. Scutari is quite hidden; nothing is +to be seen but the dark uncertain outline of her hills. The bridge and +the shores are deserted, Constantinople sleeps; the solitude and silence +render the spectacle more solemn. The sky begins to grow golden behind +the hills of Scutari. Upon that luminous strip are drawn, one by one, +black and clear, the tops of the cypress trees in the vast cemetery, +like an army of giants ranged upon the heights; and from one cape of the +Golden Horn to the other there shines a tremulous light, faint as the +first murmur of the awakening city. Then behind the cypresses of the +Asiatic shore comes forth an eye of fire, and suddenly the white tops of +the four minarets of Saint Sophia are tinted with deep rose. In a few +minutes, from hill to hill, from mosque to mosque, down to the end of +the Golden Horn, all the minarets, one after the other, turn rose color; +all the domes, one by one, are silvered, the flush descends from terrace +to terrace, the tremulous light spreads, the great veil melts, and all +Stamboul appears, rosy and resplendent upon her heights, blue and violet +along the shores, fresh and young, as if just risen from the waters. + +As the sun rises, the delicacy of the first tints vanishes in an immense +illumination, and everything remains bathed in white light until toward +evening. Then the divine spectacle begins again. The air is so limpid +that from Galata one can see clearly every distant tree, as far as +Kadi-Kioi. The whole of the immense profile of Stamboul stands out +against the sky with such a clearness of line and rigor of color, that +every minaret, obelisk, and cypress-tree can be counted, one by one, +from Seraglio Point to the cemetery of Eyub. The Golden Horn and the +Bosphorus assume a wonderful ultramarine color; the heavens, the color +of amethyst in the East, are afire behind Stamboul, tinting the horizon +with infinite lights of rose and carbuncle, that make one think of the +first day of the creation; Stamboul darkens, Galata becomes golden, and +Scutari, struck by the last rays of the setting sun, with every pane of +glass giving back the glow, looks like a city on fire. + +And this is the moment to contemplate Constantinople. There is one rapid +succession of the softest tints, pallid gold, rose and lilac, which +quiver and float over the sides of the hills and the water, every moment +giving and taking away the prize of beauty from each part of the city, +and revealing a thousand modest graces of the landscape that have not +dared to show themselves in the full light. Great melancholy suburbs are +lost in the shadow of the valleys; little purple cities smile upon the +heights; villages faint as if about to die; others die at once like +extinguished flames; others, that seemed already dead, revive, and glow, +and quiver yet a moment longer under the last ray of the sun. Then there +is nothing left but two resplendent points upon the Asiatic shore,--the +summit of Mount Bulgurlu, and the extremity of the cape that guards the +entrance to the Propontis; they are at first two golden crowns, then two +purple caps, then two rubies; then all Constantinople is in shadow, and +ten thousand voices from ten thousand minarets announce the close of +the day. + + +RESEMBLANCES + +From 'Constantinople' + +In the first days, fresh as I was from the perusal of Oriental +literature, I saw everywhere the famous personages of history and +legend, and the figures that recalled them resembled sometimes so +faithfully those that were fixed in my imagination, that I was +constrained to stop and look at them. How many times have I seized my +friend by the arm, and pointing to a person passing by, have exclaimed: +"It is he, _cospetto!_ do you not recognize him?" In the square of the +Sultana Validé, I frequently saw the gigantic Turk who threw down +millstones from the walls of Nicaea on the heads of the soldiers of +Baglione; I saw in front of a mosque Umm Djemil, that old fury that +sowed brambles and nettles before Mahomet's house; I met in the book +bazaar, with a volume under his arm, Djemaleddin, the learned man of +Broussa, who knew the whole of the Arab dictionary by heart; I passed +quite close to the side of Ayesha, the favorite wife of the Prophet, and +she fixed upon my face her eyes, brilliant and humid, like the +reflection of stars in a well; I have recognized, in the At-Meidan, the +famous beauty of that poor Greek woman killed by a cannon ball at the +base of the serpentine column; I have been face to face, in the Fanar, +with Kara-Abderrahman, the handsome young Turk of the time of Orkhan; I +have seen Coswa, the she-camel of the Prophet; I have encountered +Kara-bulut, Selim's black steed; I have met the poor poet Fignahi, +condemned to go about Stamboul tied to an ass for having pierced with an +insolent distich the Grand Vizier of Ibrahim; I have been in the same +café with Soliman the Big, the monstrous admiral, whom four robust +slaves hardly succeeded in lifting from the divan; Ali, the Grand +Vizier, who could not find in all Arabia a horse that could carry him; +Mahmoud Pasha, the ferocious Hercules that strangled the son of Soliman; +and the stupid Ahmed Second, who continually repeated "Koso! Koso!" +(Very well, very well) crouching before the door of the copyists' +bazaar, in the square of Bajazet. All the personages of the 'Thousand +and One Nights,' the Aladdins, the Zobeides, the Sindbads, the Gulnares, +the old Jewish merchants, possessors of enchanted carpets and wonderful +lamps, passed before me like a procession of phantoms. + + +BIRDS + +From 'Constantinople' + +Constantinople has one grace and gayety peculiar to itself, that comes +from an infinite number of birds of every kind, for which the Turks +nourish a warm sentiment and regard. Mosques, groves, old walls, +gardens, palaces, all resound with song, the whistling and twittering of +birds; everywhere wings are fluttering, and life and harmony abound. The +sparrows enter the houses boldly, and eat out of women's and children's +hands; swallows nest over the café doors, and under the arches of the +bazaars; pigeons in innumerable swarms, maintained by legacies from +sultans and private individuals, form garlands of black and white along +the cornices of the cupolas and around the terraces of the minarets; +sea-gulls dart and play over the water; thousands of turtle-doves coo +amorously among the cypresses in the cemeteries; crows croak about the +Castle of the Seven Towers halcyons come and go in long files between +the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora; and storks sit upon the cupolas of +the mausoleums. For the Turk, each one of these birds has a gentle +meaning, or a benignant virtue: turtle-doves are favorable to lovers, +swallows keep away fire from the roofs where they build their nests, +storks make yearly pilgrimages to Mecca, halcyons carry the souls of the +faithful to Paradise. Thus he protects and feeds them, through a +sentiment of gratitude and piety; and they enliven the house, the sea, +and the sepulchre. Every quarter of Stamboul is full of the noise of +them, bringing to the city a sense of the pleasures of country life, and +continually refreshing the soul with a reminder of nature. + + +CORDOVA + +From 'Spain' + +For a long distance the country offers no new aspect to the feverish +curiosity of the tourist. At Vilches there is a vast plain, and beyond +there the open country of Tolosa, where Alphonso VIII., King of Castile, +gained the celebrated victory "de las Navas" over the Mussulman army. +The sky was very clear, and in the distance one could see the mountains +of the Sierra de Segura. Suddenly, there comes over one a sensation +which seems to respond to a suppressed exclamation of surprise: the +first aloes with their thick leaves, the unexpected heralds of tropical +vegetation, rise on both sides of the road. Beyond, the fields studded +with flowers begin to appear. The first are studded, those which follow +almost covered, then come vast stretches of ground entirely clothed with +poppies, daisies, lilies, wild mushrooms, and ranunculuses, so that the +country (as it presents itself to view) looks like a succession of +immense purple, gold, and snowy-hued carpets. In the distance, among the +trees, are innumerable blue, white, and yellow streaks, as far as the +eye can reach; and nearer, on the banks of the ditches, the elevations +of ground, the slopes, and even on the edge of the road are flowers in +beds, clumps, and clusters, one above the other, grouped in the form of +great bouquets, and trembling on their stalks, which one can almost +touch with his hand. Then there are fields white with great blades of +grain, flanked by plantations of roses, orange groves, immense olive +groves, and hillsides varied by a thousand shades of green, surmounted +by ancient Moorish towers, scattered with many-colored houses; and +between the one and the other are white and slender bridges that cross +rivulets hidden by the trees. + +On the horizon appear the snowy caps of the Sierra Nevada; under that +white streak lie the undulating blue ones of the nearer mountains. The +country becomes more varied and flourishing; Arjonilla lies in a grove +of olives, whose boundary one cannot see; Pedro Abad, in the midst of a +plain, covered with vineyards and fruit-trees; Ventas di Alcolea, on the +last hills of the Sierra Nevada, peopled with villas and gardens. We are +approaching Cordova, the train flies along, we see little stations half +hidden by trees and flowers, the wind carries the rose leaves into the +carriages, great butterflies fly near the windows, a delicious perfume +permeates the air, the travelers sing; we pass through an enchanted +garden, the aloes, oranges, palms, and villas grow more frequent; and at +last we hear a cry--"Here is Cordova!" + +How many lovely pictures and grand recollections the sound of that name +awakens in one's mind! Cordova,--the ancient pearl of the East, as the +Arabian poets call it,--the city of cities; Cordova of the thirty +suburbs and three thousand mosques, which inclosed within her walls the +greatest temple of Islam! Her fame extended throughout the East, and +obscured the glory of ancient Damascus. The faithful came from the most +remote regions of Asia to banks of the Guadalquivir to prostrate +themselves in the marvelous Mihrab of her mosque, in the light of the +thousand bronze lamps cast from the bells of the cathedrals of Spain. +Hither flocked artists, savants, poets from every part of the Mahometan +world to her flourishing schools, immense libraries, and the magnificent +courts of her caliphs. Riches and beauty flowed in, attracted by the +fame of her splendor. From here they scattered, eager for knowledge, +along the coasts of Africa, through the schools of Tunis, Cairo, Bagdad, +Cufa, and even to India and China, in order to gather inspiration and +records; and the poetry sung on the slopes of the Sierra Morena flew +from lyre to lyre, as far as the valleys of the Caucasus, to excite the +ardor for pilgrimages. The beautiful, powerful, and wise Cordova, +crowned with three thousand villages, proudly raised her white minarets +in the midst of orange groves, and spread around the valley a voluptuous +atmosphere of joy and glory. + +I leave the train, cross a garden, look around me. I am alone. The +travelers who were with me disappear here and there; I still hear the +noise of a carriage which is rolling off; then all is quiet. It is +midday, the sky is very clear, and the air suffocating. I see two white +houses; it is the opening of a street; I enter and go on. The street is +narrow, the houses as small as the little villas on the slopes of +artificial gardens, almost all one story in height, with windows a few +feet from the ground, the roofs so low that one could almost touch them +with a stick, and the walls very white. The street turns; I look, see no +one, and hear neither step nor voice. I say to myself:--"This must be an +abandoned street!" and try another one, in which the houses are white, +the windows closed, and there is nothing but silence and solitude around +me. "Why, where am I?" I ask myself. I go on; the street, which is so +narrow that a carriage could not pass, begins to wind; on the right and +left I see other deserted streets, white houses, and closed windows. My +step resounds as if in a corridor. The whiteness of the walls is so +vivid that even the reflection is trying, and I am obliged to walk with +my eyes half closed, for it really seems as if I were making my way +through the snow. I reach a small square; everything is closed, and no +one is to be seen. At this point a vague feeling of melancholy seizes +me, such as I have never experienced before; a mixture of pleasure and +sadness, similar to that which comes to children when, after a long run, +they reach a lonely rural spot and rejoice in their discovery, but with +a certain trepidation lest they should be too far from home. Above many +roofs rise the palm-trees of inner gardens. Oh, fantastic legends of +Odalisk and Caliph! On I go from street to street, and square to square; +I begin to meet some people, but they pass and disappear like phantoms. +All the streets resemble each other; the houses have only three or four +windows; and not a spot, scrawl, or crack is to be seen on the walls, +which are as smooth and white as a sheet of paper. From time to time I +hear a whisper behind a blind, and see, almost at the same moment, a +dark head, with a flower in the hair, appear and disappear. I look in at +a door.... + +A _patio!_ How shall I describe a _patio?_ It is not a court, nor a +garden, nor a room; but it is all three things combined. Between the +patio and the street there is a vestibule. On the four sides of the +patio rise slender columns, which support, up to a level with the first +floor, a species of gallery inclosed in glass; above the gallery is +stretched a canvas, which shades the court. The vestibule is paved with +marble, the door flanked by columns, surmounted by bas-reliefs, and +closed by a slender iron gate of graceful design. At the end of the +patio there is a fountain; and all around are scattered chairs, +work-tables, pictures, and vases of flowers. I run to another door: +there is another patio, with its walls covered with ivy, and a number of +niches holding little statues, busts, and urns. I look in at a third +door: here is another patio, with its walls worked in mosaics, a palm in +the centre, and a mass of flowers all around. I stop at a fourth door: +after the patio there is another vestibule, after this a second patio, +in which one sees other statues, columns, and fountains. All these rooms +and gardens are so neat and clean that one could pass his hand over the +walls and on the ground without leaving a trace; and they are fresh, +odorous, and lighted by an uncertain light, which increases their beauty +and mysterious appearance. + +On I go at random from street to street. As I walk, my curiosity +increases and I quicken my pace. It seems impossible that a whole city +can be like this; I am afraid of stumbling across some house or coming +into some street that will remind me of other cities, and disturb my +beautiful dream. But no, the dream lasts; for everything is small, +lovely, and mysterious. At every hundred steps I reach a deserted +square, in which I stop and hold my breath; from time to time there +appears a cross-road, and not a living soul is to be seen; everything is +white, the windows closed, and silence reigns on all sides. At each door +there is a new spectacle; there are arches, columns, flowers, jets of +water, and palms; a marvelous variety of design, tints, light, and +perfume; here the odor of roses, there of oranges, farther on of pinks; +and with this perfume a whiff of fresh air, and with the air a subdued +sound of women's voices, the rustling of leaves, and the singing of +birds. It is a sweet and varied harmony, that without disturbing the +silence of the streets, soothes the ear like the echo of distant music. +Ah! it is not a dream! Madrid, Italy, Europe, are indeed far away! Here +one lives another life, and breathes the air of a different world,--for +I am in the East. + + +THE LAND OF PLUCK + +From 'Holland and Its People' + +Whoever looks for the first time at a large map of Holland wonders that +a country so constituted can continue to exist. At the first glance it +is difficult to see whether land or water predominates, or whether +Holland belongs most to the continent or to the sea. Those broken and +compressed coasts; those deep bays; those great rivers that, losing the +aspect of rivers, seem bringing new seas to the sea; that sea which, +changing itself into rivers, penetrates the land and breaks it into +archipelagoes; the lakes, the vast morasses, the canals crossing and +recrossing each other, all combine to give the idea of a country that +may at any moment disintegrate and disappear. Seals and beavers would +seem to be its rightful inhabitants; but since there are men bold enough +to live in it, they surely cannot ever sleep in peace. + +[Illustration: A DUTCH GIRL. Photogravure from Painting by [*illegible +name]] + +What sort of a country Holland is, has been told by many in few words. +Napoleon said it was an alluvion of French rivers,--the Rhine, the +Scheldt, and the Meuse,--and with this pretext he added it to the +Empire. One writer has defined it as a sort of transition between land +and sea. Another, as an immense crust of earth floating on the water. +Others, an annex of the old continent, the China of Europe, the end +of the earth and the beginning of the ocean, a measureless raft of mud +and sand; and Philip II. called it the country nearest to hell. + +But they all agreed upon one point, and all expressed it in the same +words:--Holland is a conquest made by man over the sea; it is an +artificial country: the Hollanders made it; it exists because the +Hollanders preserve it; it will vanish whenever the Hollanders shall +abandon it. + +To comprehend this truth, we must imagine Holland as it was when first +inhabited by the first German tribes that wandered away in search of +a country. + +It was almost uninhabitable. There were vast tempestuous lakes, like +seas, touching one another; morass beside morass; one tract after +another covered with brushwood; immense forests of pines, oaks, and +alders, traversed by herds of wild horses, and so thick were these +forests that tradition says one could travel leagues passing from tree +to tree without ever putting foot to the ground. The deep bays and gulfs +carried into the heart of the country the fury of the northern tempests. +Some provinces disappeared once every year under the waters of the sea, +and were nothing but muddy tracts, neither land nor water, where it was +impossible either to walk or to sail. The large rivers, without +sufficient inclination to descend to the sea, wandered here and there +uncertain of their way, and slept in monstrous pools and ponds among the +sands of the coasts. It was a sinister place, swept by furious winds, +beaten by obstinate rains, veiled in a perpetual fog, where nothing was +heard but the roar of the sea and the voices of wild beasts and birds of +the ocean. The first people who had the courage to plant their tents +there, had to raise with their own hands dikes of earth to keep out the +rivers and the sea, and lived within them like shipwrecked men upon +desolate islands, venturing forth at the subsidence of the waters in +quest of food in the shape of fish and game, and gathering the eggs of +marine birds upon the sand. + +Caesar, passing by, was the first to name this people. The other Latin +historians speak with compassion and respect of these intrepid +barbarians who lived upon a "floating land," exposed to the intemperance +of a cruel sky and the fury of the mysterious northern sea; and the +imagination pictures the Roman soldiers, who, from the heights of the +uttermost citadels of the empire, beaten by the waves, contemplated with +wonder and pity those wandering tribes upon their desolate land, like a +race accursed of heaven. + +Now, if we remember that such a region has become one of the most +fertile, wealthiest, and best regulated of the countries of the world, +we shall understand the justice of the saying that Holland is a conquest +made by man. But, it must be added, the conquest goes on forever. + +To explain this fact--to show how the existence of Holland, in spite of +the great defensive works constructed by the inhabitants, demands an +incessant and most perilous struggle--it will be enough to touch here +and there upon a few of the principal vicissitudes of her physical +history, from the time when her inhabitants had already reduced her to a +habitable country. + +Tradition speaks of a great inundation in Friesland in the sixth +century. From that time every gulf, every island, and it may be said +every city, in Holland has its catastrophe to record. In thirteen +centuries, it is recorded that one great inundation, beside smaller +ones, has occurred every seven years; and the country being all plain, +these inundations were veritable floods. Towards the end of the +thirteenth century, the sea destroyed a part of a fertile peninsula near +the mouth of the Ems, and swallowed up more than thirty villages. In the +course of the same century, a series of inundations opened an immense +chasm in northern Holland, and formed the Zuyder Zee, causing the death +of more than eighty thousand persons. In 1421 a tempest swelled the +Meuse, so that in one night the waters overwhelmed seventy-two villages +and one hundred thousand inhabitants. In 1532 the sea burst the dikes of +Zealand, destroying hundreds of villages, and covering forever a large +tract of country. In 1570 a storm caused another inundation in Zealand +and in the province of Utrecht; Amsterdam was invaded by the waters, and +in Friesland twenty thousand people were drowned. Other great +inundations took place in the seventeenth century; two terrible ones at +the beginning and the end of the eighteenth; one in 1825 that desolated +North Holland, Friesland, Over-Yssel, and Gueldres; and another great +one of the Rhine, in 1855, which invaded Gueldres and the province of +Utrecht, and covered a great part of North Brabant. Beside these great +catastrophes, there happened in different centuries innumerable smaller +ones, which would have been famous in any other country, but which in +Holland are scarcely remembered: like the rising of the lake of +Haarlem, itself the result of an inundation of the sea; flourishing +cities of the gulf of Zuyder Zee vanished under the waters; the islands +of Zealand covered again and again by the sea, and again emerging; +villages of the coast, from Helder to the mouths of the Meuse, from time +to time inundated and destroyed; and in all these inundations immense +loss of life of men and animals. It is plain that miracles of courage, +constancy, and industry must have been accomplished by the Hollanders, +first in creating and afterwards in preserving such a country. The enemy +from which they had to wrest it was triple: the sea, the lakes, the +rivers. They drained the lakes, drove back the sea, and imprisoned +the rivers. + +To drain the lakes the Hollanders pressed the air into their service. +The lakes, the marshes, were surrounded by dikes, the dikes by canals; +and an army of windmills, putting in motion force-pumps, turned the +water into the canals, which carried it off to the rivers and the sea. +Thus vast tracts of land buried under the water saw the sun, and were +transformed, as if by magic, into fertile fields, covered with villages, +and intersected by canals and roads. In the seventeenth century, in less +than forty years, twenty-six lakes were drained. At the beginning of the +present century, in North Holland alone, more than six thousand hectares +(or fifteen thousand acres) were thus redeemed from the waters; in South +Holland, before 1844, twenty-nine thousand hectares; in the whole of +Holland, from 1500 to 1858, three hundred and fifty-five thousand +hectares. Substituting steam-mills for windmills, in thirty-nine months +was completed the great undertaking of the draining of the lake of +Haarlem, which measured forty-four kilometres in circumference, and +forever threatened with its tempests the cities of Haarlem, Amsterdam, +and Leyden. And they are now meditating the prodigious work of drying up +the Zuyder Zee, which embraces an area of more than seven hundred square +kilometres. + +The rivers, another eternal enemy, cost no less of labor and sacrifice. +Some, like the Rhine, which lost itself in the sands before reaching the +sea, had to be channeled and defended at their mouths, against the +tides, by formidable cataracts; others, like the Meuse, bordered by +dikes as powerful as those that were raised against the ocean; others, +turned from their course; the wandering waters gathered together; the +course of the affluents regulated; the waters divided with rigorous +measure in order to retain that enormous mass of liquid in equilibrium, +where the slightest inequality might cost a province; and in this way +all the rivers that formerly spread their devastating floods about the +country were disciplined into channels and constrained to do service. + +But the most tremendous struggle was the battle with the ocean. Holland +is in great part lower than the level of the sea; consequently, +everywhere that the coast is not defended by sand banks it has to be +protected by dikes. If these interminable bulwarks of earth, granite, +and wood were not there to attest the indomitable courage and +perseverance of the Hollanders, it would not be believed that the hand +of man could, even in many centuries, have accomplished such a work. In +Zealand alone the dikes extend to a distance of more than four hundred +kilometres. The western coast of the island of Walcheren is defended by +a dike, in which it is computed that the expense of construction added +to that of preservation, if it were put out at interest, would amount to +a sum equal in value to that which the dike itself would be worth were +it made of massive copper. Around the city of Helder, at the northern +extremity of North Holland, extends a dike ten kilometres long, +constructed of masses of Norwegian granite, which descends more than +sixty metres into the sea. The whole province of Friesland, for the +length of eighty-eight kilometres, is defended by three rows of piles +sustained by masses of Norwegian and German granite. Amsterdam, all the +cities of the Zuyder Zee, and all the islands,--fragments of vanished +lands,--which are strung like beads between Friesland and North Holland, +are protected by dikes. From the mouths of the Ems to those of the +Scheldt, Holland is an impenetrable fortress, of whose immense bastions +the mills are the towers, the cataracts are the gates, the islands the +advanced forts; and like a true fortress, it shows to its enemy, the +sea, only the tops of its bell-towers and the roofs of its houses, as if +in defiance and derision. + +Holland is a fortress, and her people live as in a fortress, on a war +footing with the sea. An army of engineers, directed by the Minister of +the Interior, spread over the country, and, ordered like an army, +continually spy the enemy, watch over the internal waters, foresee the +bursting of the dikes, order and direct the defensive works. The +expenses of the war are divided,--one part to the State, one part to the +provinces; every proprietor pays, beside the general imposts, a special +impost for the dikes, in proportion to the extent of his lands and +their proximity to the water. An accidental rupture, an inadvertence, +may cause a flood; the peril is unceasing; the sentinels are at their +posts upon the bulwarks; at the first assault of the sea, they shout the +war-cry, and Holland sends men, material, and money. And even when there +is no great battle, a quiet, silent struggle is forever going on. The +innumerable mills, even in the drained districts, continue to work +unresting, to absorb and turn into the canals the water that falls in +rain and that which filters in from the sea. Every day the cataracts of +the bays and rivers close their gigantic gates against the high tide +trying to rush into the heart of the land. The work of strengthening +dikes, fortifying sand-banks with plantations, throwing out new dikes +where the banks are low, straight as great lances, vibrating in the +bosom of the sea and breaking the first impetus of the wave, is forever +going on. And the sea eternally knocks at the river-gates, beats upon +the ramparts, growls on every side her ceaseless menace, lifting her +curious waves as if to see the land she counts as hers, piling up banks +of sand before the gates to kill the commerce of the cities, forever +gnawing, scratching, digging at the coast; and failing to overthrow the +ramparts upon which she foams and fumes in angry effort, she casts at +their feet ships full of the dead, that they may announce to the +rebellious country her fury and her strength. + +In the midst of this great and terrible struggle Holland is transformed: +Holland is the land of transformations. A geographical map of that +country as it existed eight centuries ago is not recognizable. +Transforming the sea, men also are transformed. The sea, at some points, +drives back the land; it takes portions from the continent, leaves them +and takes them again; joins islands to the mainland with ropes of sand, +as in the case of Zealand; breaks off bits from the mainland and makes +new islands, as in Wieringen; retires from certain coasts and makes land +cities out of what were cities of the sea, as Leuvarde; converts vast +tracts of plain into archipelagoes of a hundred islets, as Biisbosch; +separates a city from the land, as Dordrecht; forms new gulfs two +leagues broad, like the gulf of Dollart; divides two provinces with a +new sea, like North Holland and Friesland. The effect of the inundations +is to cause the level of the sea to rise in some places and to sink in +others; sterile lands are fertilized by the slime of the rivers, fertile +lands are changed into deserts of sand. With the transformations of the +waters alternate the transformations of labor. Islands are united to +continents, like the island of Ameland; entire provinces are reduced to +islands, as North Holland will be by the new canal of Amsterdam, which +is to separate it from South Holland; lakes as large as provinces +disappear altogether, like the lake of Beemster; by the extraction of +peat, land is converted into lakes, and these lakes are again +transformed into meadows. And thus the country changes its aspect +according to the violence of nature or the needs of men. And while one +goes over it with the latest map in hand, one may be sure that the map +will be useless in a few years, because even now there are new gulfs in +process of formation, tracts of land just ready to be detached from the +mainland, and great canals being cut that will carry life to uninhabited +districts. + +But Holland has done more than defend herself against the waters; she +has made herself mistress of them, and has used them for her own +defense. Should a foreign army invade her territory, she has but to open +her dikes and unchain the sea and the rivers, as she did against the +Romans, against the Spaniards, against the army of Louis XIV., and +defend the land cities with her fleet. Water was the source of her +poverty, she has made it the source of wealth. Over the whole country +extends an immense network of canals, which serves both for the +irrigation of the land and as a means of communication. The cities, by +means of canals, communicate with the sea; canals run from town to town, +and from them to villages, which are themselves bound together by these +watery ways, and are connected even to the houses scattered over the +country; smaller canals surround the fields and orchards, pastures and +kitchen-gardens, serving at once as boundary wall, hedge, and road-way; +every house is a little port. Ships, boats, rafts, move about in all +directions, as in other places carts and carriages. The canals are the +arteries of Holland, and the water her life-blood. But even setting +aside the canals, the draining of the lakes, and the defensive works, on +every side are seen the traces of marvelous undertakings. The soil, +which in other countries is a gift of nature, is in Holland a work of +men's hands. Holland draws the greater part of her wealth from commerce; +but before commerce comes the cultivation of the soil; and the soil had +to be created. There were sand-banks interspersed with layers of peat, +broad downs swept by the winds, great tracts of barren land apparently +condemned to an eternal sterility. The first elements of manufacture, +iron and coal, were wanting; there was no wood, because the forests had +already been destroyed by tempests when agriculture began; there was no +stone, there were no metals. Nature, says a Dutch poet, had refused all +her gifts to Holland; the Hollanders had to do everything in spite of +nature. They began by fertilizing the sand. In some places they formed a +productive soil with earth brought from a distance, as a garden is made; +they spread the siliceous dust of the downs over the too watery meadows; +they mixed with the sandy earth the remains of peat taken from the +bottoms; they extracted clay to lend fertility to the surface of their +lands; they labored to break up the downs with the plow: and thus in a +thousand ways, and continually fighting off the menacing waters, they +succeeded in bringing Holland to a state of cultivation not inferior to +that of more favored regions. That Holland, that sandy, marshy country +which the ancients considered all but uninhabitable, now sends out +yearly from her confines agricultural products to the value of a hundred +millions of francs, possesses about one million three hundred thousand +head of cattle, and in proportion to the extent of her territory may be +accounted one of the most populous of European States. + +It may be easily understood how the physical peculiarities of their +country must influence the Dutch people; and their genius is in perfect +harmony with the character of Holland. It is sufficient to contemplate +the monuments of their great struggle with the sea in order to +understand that their distinctive characteristics must be firmness and +patience, accompanied by a calm and constant courage. That glorious +battle, and the consciousness of owing everything to their own strength, +must have infused and fortified in them a high sense of dignity and an +indomitable spirit of liberty and independence. The necessity of a +constant struggle, of a continuous labor, and of perpetual sacrifices in +defense of their existence, forever taking them back to a sense of +reality, must have made them a highly practical and economical people; +good sense should be their most salient quality, economy one of their +chief virtues; they must be excellent in all useful arts, sparing of +diversion, simple even in their greatness; succeeding in what they +undertake by dint of tenacity and a thoughtful and orderly activity; +more wise than heroic; more conservative than creative; giving no great +architects to the edifice of modern thought, but the ablest of workmen, +a legion of patient and laborious artisans. And by virtue of these +qualities of prudence, phlegmatic activity, and the spirit of +conservatism, they are ever advancing, though by slow degrees; they +acquire gradually, but never lose what they have gained; holding +stubbornly to their ancient customs; preserving almost intact, and +despite the neighborhood of three great nations, their own originality; +preserving it through every form of government, through foreign +invasions, through political and religious wars, and in spite of the +immense concourse of strangers from every country that are always coming +among them; and remaining, in short, of all the northern races, that one +which, though ever advancing in the path of civilization, has kept its +antique stamp most clearly. + +It is enough also to remember its form in order to comprehend that this +country of three millions and a half of inhabitants, although bound in +so compact a political union, although recognizable among all the other +northern peoples by certain traits peculiar to the population of all its +provinces, must present a great variety. And so it is in fact. Between +Zealand and Holland proper, between Holland and Friesland, between +Friesland and Gueldres, between Groningen and Brabant, in spite of +vicinity and so many common tics, there is no less difference than +between the more distant provinces of Italy and France; difference of +language, costume, and character; difference of race and of religion. +The communal regime has impressed an indelible mark upon this people, +because in no other country does it so conform to the nature of things. +The country is divided into various groups of interests organized in the +same manner as the hydraulic system. Whence, association and mutual help +against the common enemy, the sea; but liberty for local institutions +and forces. Monarchy has not extinguished the ancient municipal spirit, +and this it is that renders impossible a complete fusion of the State, +in all the great States that have made the attempt. The great rivers and +gulfs are at the same time commercial roads serving as national bonds +between the different provinces, and barriers which defend old +traditions and old customs in each. + + +THE DUTCH MASTERS + +From 'Holland and Its People' + +The Dutch school of painting has one quality which renders it +particularly attractive to us Italians; it is above all others the most +different from our own, the very antithesis or the opposite pole of art. +The Dutch and Italian schools are the most original, or, as has been +said, the only two to which the title rigorously belongs; the others +being only daughters or younger sisters, more or less resembling them. + +Thus even in painting Holland offers that which is most sought after in +travel and in books of travel: the new. + +Dutch painting was born with the liberty and independence of Holland. As +long as the northern and southern provinces of the Low Countries +remained under the Spanish rule and in the Catholic faith, Dutch +painters painted like Belgian painters; they studied in Belgium, +Germany, and Italy; Heemskerk imitated Michael Angelo, Bloemart followed +Correggio, and "Il Moro" copied Titian, not to indicate others: and they +were one and all pedantic imitators, who added to the exaggerations of +the Italian style a certain German coarsenesss, the result of which was +a bastard style of painting, still inferior to the first, childish, +stiff in design, crude in color, and completely wanting in chiaroscuro, +but at least not a servile imitation, and becoming, as it were, a faint +prelude of the true Dutch art that was to be. + +With the war of independence, liberty, reform, and painting also were +renewed. With religious traditions fell artistic traditions; the nude +nymphs, Madonnas, saints, allegory, mythology, the ideal--all the old +edifice fell to pieces. Holland, animated by a new life, felt the need +of manifesting and expanding it in a new way; the small country, become +all at once glorious and formidable, felt the desire for illustration; +the faculties which had been excited and strengthened in the grand +undertaking of creating a nation, now that the work was completed, +overflowed and ran into new channels. The conditions of the country were +favorable to the revival of art. The supreme dangers were conjured away; +there was security, prosperity, a splendid future; the heroes had done +their duty, and the artists were permitted to come to the front; +Holland, after many sacrifices, and much suffering, issued victoriously +from the struggle, lifted her face among her people and smiled. And that +smile is art. + +What that art would necessarily be, might have been guessed even had no +monument of it remained. A pacific, laborious, practical people, +continually beaten down, to quote a great German poet, to prosaic +realities by the occupations of a vulgar burgher life; cultivating its +reason at the expense of its imagination; living, consequently, more in +clear ideas than in beautiful images; taking refuge from abstractions; +never darting its thoughts beyond that nature with which it is in +perpetual battle; seeing only that which is, enjoying only that which it +can possess, making its happiness consist in the tranquil ease and +honest sensuality of a life without violent passions or exorbitant +desires;--such a people must have tranquillity also in their art, they +must love an art that pleases without startling the mind, which +addresses the senses rather than the spirit; an art full of repose, +precision, and delicacy, though material like their lives: in one word, +a realistic art, in which they can see themselves as they are and as +they are content to be. + +The artists began by tracing that which they saw before their eyes--the +house. The long winters, the persistent rains, the dampness, the +variableness of the climate, obliged the Hollander to stay within doors +the greater part of the year. He loved his little house, his shell, much +better than we love our abodes, for the reason that he had more need of +it, and stayed more within it; he provided it with all sorts of +conveniences, caressed it, made much of it; he liked to look out from +his well-stopped windows at the falling snow and the drenching rain, and +to hug himself with the thought, "Rage, tempest, I am warm and safe!" +Snug in his shell, his faithful housewife beside him, his children about +him, he passed the long autumn and winter evenings in eating much, +drinking much, smoking much, and taking his well-earned ease after the +cares of the day were over. The Dutch painters represented these houses +and this life in little pictures proportionate to the size of the walls +on which they were to hang; the bedchambers that make one feel a desire +to sleep, the kitchens, the tables set out, the fresh and smiling faces +of the house-mothers, the men at their ease around the fire; and with +that conscientious realism which never forsakes them, they depict the +dozing cat, the yawning dog, the clucking hen, the broom, the +vegetables, the scattered pots and pans, the chicken ready for the spit. +Thus they represent life in all its scenes, and in every grade of the +social scale--the dance, the _conversazione_, the orgie, the feast, the +game; and thus did Terburg, Metzu, Netscher, Dow, Mieris, Steen, +Brouwer, and Van Ostade become famous. + +After depicting the house, they turned their attention to the country. +The stern climate allowed but a brief time for the admiration of nature, +but for this very reason Dutch artists admired her all the more; they +saluted the spring with a livelier joy, and permitted that fugitive +smile of heaven to stamp itself more deeply on their fancy. The country +was not beautiful, but it was twice dear because it had been torn from +the sea and from the foreign oppressor. The Dutch artist painted it +lovingly; he represented it simply, ingenuously, with a sense of +intimacy which at that time was not to be found in Italian or Belgian +landscape. The flat, monotonous country had, to the Dutch painter's +eyes, a marvelous variety. He caught all the mutations of the sky, and +knew the value of the water, with its reflections, its grace and +freshness, and its power of illuminating everything. Having no +mountains, he took the dikes for background; with no forests, he +imparted to a single group of trees all the mystery of a forest; and he +animated the whole with beautiful animals and white sails. + +The subjects of their pictures are poor enough,--a windmill, a canal, a +gray sky; but how they make one think! A few Dutch painters, not content +with nature in their own country, came to Italy in search of hills, +luminous skies, and famous ruins; and another band of select artists is +the result,--Both, Swanevelt, Pynacker, Breenberg, Van Laer, Asselyn. +But the palm remains with the landscapists of Holland; with Wynants the +painter of morning, with Van der Neer the painter of night, with +Ruysdael the painter of melancholy, with Hobbema the illustrator of +windmills, cabins, and kitchen gardens, and with others who have +restricted themselves to the expression of the enchantment of nature as +she is in Holland. + +Simultaneously with landscape art was born another kind of painting, +especially peculiar to Holland,--animal painting. Animals are the riches +of the country; that magnificent race of cattle which has no rival in +Europe for fecundity and beauty. The Hollanders, who owe so much to +them, treat them, one may say, as part of the population; they wash +them, comb them, dress them, and love them dearly. They are to be seen +everywhere; they are reflected in all the canals, and dot with points of +black and white the immense fields that stretch on every side, giving +an air of peace and comfort to every place, and exciting in the +spectator's heart a sentiment of Arcadian gentleness and patriarchal +serenity. The Dutch artists studied these animals in all their +varieties, in all their habits, and divined, as one may say, their inner +life and sentiments, animating the tranquil beauty of the landscape with +their forms. Rubens, Luyders, Paul de Vos, and other Belgian painters, +had drawn animals with admirable mastery; but all these are surpassed by +the Dutch artists Van der Velde, Berghem, Karel du Jardin, and by the +prince of animal painters, Paul Potter, whose famous "Bull," in the +gallery of the Hague, deserves to be placed in the Vatican beside the +"Transfiguration" by Raphael. + +In yet another field are the Dutch painters great,--the sea. The sea, +their enemy, their power, and their glory, forever threatening their +country, and entering in a hundred ways into their lives and fortunes; +that turbulent North Sea, full of sinister color, with a light of +infinite melancholy upon it, beating forever upon a desolate coast, must +subjugate the imagination of the artist. He passes, indeed, long hours +on the shore, contemplating its tremendous beauty, ventures upon its +waves to study the effects of tempests, buys a vessel and sails with his +wife and family, observing and making notes, follows the fleet into +battle and takes part in the fight; and in this way are made marine +painters like William Van der Velde the elder and William the younger, +like Backhuysen, Dubbels, and Stork. + +Another kind of painting was to arise in Holland, as the expression of +the character of the people and of republican manners. A people which +without greatness had done so many great things, as Michelet says, must +have its heroic painters, if we call them so, destined to illustrate men +and events. But this school of painting,--precisely because the people +were without greatness, or to express it better, without the form of +greatness,--modest, inclined to consider all equal before the country, +because all had done their duty, abhorring adulation, and the +glorification in one only of the virtues and the triumph of many,--this +school has to illustrate not a few men who have excelled, and a few +extraordinary facts, but all classes of citizenship gathered among the +most ordinary and pacific of burgher life. From this come the great +pictures which represent five, ten, thirty persons together, +arquebusiers, mayors, officers, professors, magistrates, administrators; +seated or standing around a table, feasting and conversing; of life +size, most faithful likenesses; grave, open faces, expressing that +secure serenity of conscience by which may be divined rather than seen +the nobleness of a life consecrated to one's country, the character of +that strong, laborious epoch, the masculine virtues of that excellent +generation; all this set off by the fine costume of the time, so +admirably combining grace and dignity,--those gorgets, those doublets, +those black mantles, those silken scarves and ribbons, those arms and +banners. In this field stand pre-eminent Van der Helst, Hals, Govaert, +Flink, and Bol. + +Descending from the consideration of the various kinds of painting, to +the special manner by means of which the artist excelled in treatment, +one leads all the rest as the distinctive feature of Dutch +painting--the light. + +The light in Holland, by reason of the particular conditions of its +manifestation, could not fail to give rise to a special manner of +painting. A pale light, waving with marvelous mobility through an +atmosphere impregnated with vapor, a nebulous veil continually and +abruptly torn, a perpetual struggle between light and shadow,--such was +the spectacle which attracted the eye of the artist. He began to observe +and to reproduce all this agitation of the heavens, this struggle which +animates with varied and fantastic life the solitude of nature in +Holland; and in representing it, the struggle passed into his soul, and +instead of representing he created. Then he caused the two elements to +contend under his hand; he accumulated darkness that he might split and +seam it with all manner of luminous effects and sudden gleams of light; +sunbeams darted through the rifts, sunset reflections and the yellow +rays of lamp-light were blended with delicate manipulation into +mysterious shadows, and their dim depths were peopled with half-seen +forms; and thus he created all sorts of contrasts, enigmas, play and +effect of strange and unexpected chiaroscuro. In this field, among many, +stand conspicuous Gerard Dow, the author of the famous four-candle +picture, and the great magician and sovereign illuminator Rembrandt. + +Another marked feature of Dutch painting was to be color. Besides the +generally accepted reasons that in a country where there are no +mountainous horizons, no varied prospects, no great _coup d'oeil_,--no +forms, in short, that lend themselves to design,--the artist's eye must +inevitably be attracted by color; and that this might be peculiarly the +case in Holland, where the uncertain light, the fog-veiled atmosphere, +confuse and blend the outlines of all objects, so that the eye, unable +to fix itself upon the form, flies to color as the principal attribute +that nature presents to it,--besides these reasons, there is the fact +that in a country so flat, so uniform, and so gray as Holland, there is +the same need of color as in southern lands there is need of shade. The +Dutch artists did but follow the imperious taste of their countrymen, +who painted their houses in vivid colors, as well as their ships, and in +some places the trunks of their trees and the palings and fences of +their fields and gardens; whose dress was of the gayest, richest hues; +who loved tulips and hyacinths even to madness. And thus the Dutch +painters were potent colorists, and Rembrandt was their chief. + +Realism, natural to the calmness and slowness of the Dutch character, +was to give to their art yet another distinctive feature,--finish, +which was carried to the very extreme of possibility. It is truly said +that the leading quality of the people may be found in their pictures; +viz., patience. Everything is represented with the minuteness of a +daguerreotype; every vein in the wood of a piece of furniture, every +fibre in a leaf, the threads of cloth, the stitches in a patch, every +hair upon an animal's coat, every wrinkle in a man's face; everything +finished with microscopic precision, as if done with a fairy pencil, or +at the expense of the painter's eyes and reason. In reality a defect +rather than an excellence, since the office of painting is to represent +not what _is_, but what the eye sees, and the eye does not see +everything; but a defect carried to such a pitch of perfection that one +admires, and does not find fault. In this respect the most famous +prodigies of patience were Dow, Mieris, Potter, and Van der Heist, but +more or less all the Dutch painters. + +But realism, which gives to Dutch art so original a stamp and such +admirable qualities, is yet the root of its most serious defects. The +artists, desirous only of representing material truths, gave to their +figures no expression save that of their physical sentiments. Grief, +love, enthusiasm, and the thousand delicate shades of feeling that have +no name, or take a different one with the different causes that give +rise to them, they express rarely, or not at all. For them the heart +does not beat, the eyes do not weep, the lips do not quiver. One whole +side of the human soul, the noblest and highest, is wanting in their +pictures. More: in their faithful reproduction of everything, even the +ugly, and especially the ugly, they end by exaggerating even that, +making defects into deformities and portraits into caricatures; they +calumniate the national type; they give a burlesque and graceless aspect +to the human countenance. In order to have the proper background for +such figures, they are constrained to choose trivial subjects: hence the +great number of pictures representing beer-shops, and drinkers with +grotesque, stupid faces, in absurd attitudes; ugly women and ridiculous +old men; scenes in which one can almost hear the brutal laughter and the +obscene words. Looking at these pictures, one would naturally conclude +that Holland was inhabited by the ugliest and most ill-mannered people +on the earth. We will not speak of greater and worse license. Steen, +Potter, and Brouwer, the great Rembrandt himself, have all painted +incidents that are scarcely to be mentioned to civilized ears, and +certainly should not be looked at. But even setting aside these +excesses, in the picture galleries of Holland there is to be found +nothing that elevates the mind, or moves it to high and gentle thoughts. +You admire, you enjoy, you laugh, you stand pensive for a moment before +some canvas; but coming out, you feel that something is lacking to your +pleasure, you experience a desire to look upon a handsome countenance, +to read inspired verses, and sometimes you catch yourself murmuring, +half unconsciously, "O Raphael!" + +Finally, there are still two important excellences to be recorded of +this school of painting: its variety, and its importance as the +expression--the mirror, so to speak--of the country. If we except +Rembrandt with his group of followers and imitators, almost all the +other artists differ very much from one another; no other school +presents so great a number of original masters. The realism of the Dutch +painters is born of their common love of nature: but each one has shown +in his work a kind of love peculiarly his own; each one has rendered a +different impression which he has received from nature; and all, +starting from the same point, which was the worship of material truth, +have arrived at separate and distinct goals. Their realism, then, +inciting them to disdain nothing as food for the pencil, has so acted +that Dutch art succeeds in representing Holland more completely than has +ever been accomplished by any other school in any other country. It has +been truly said that should every other visible witness of the existence +of Holland in the seventeenth century--her period of greatness--vanish +from the earth, and the pictures remain, in them would be found +preserved entire the city, the country, the ports, the ships, the +markets, the shops, the costumes, the arms, the linen, the stuffs, the +merchandise, the kitchen utensils, the food, the pleasures, the habits, +the religious belief and superstitions, the qualities and effects of the +people; and all this, which is great praise for literature, is no less +praise for her sister art. + + + + +HENRI FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL + +(1821-1881) + +BY RICHARD BURTON + +The French have long been writers of what they call 'Pensées,'--those +detached thoughts or meditations which, for depth, illumination, and +beauty, have a power of life, and come under the term "literature." +Their language lends itself to the expression of subjective ideas with +lucidity, brilliance, charm. The French quality of mind allows that +expression to be at once dignified and happily urbane. Sometimes these +sayings take the form of the cynical epigrams of a La Rochefoucauld; are +expanded into sententious aphorisms by a La Bruyère; or reveal more +earnest and athletic souls, who pierce below the social surface froth to +do battle with the demons of the intellect. To this class belong men +like the seventeenth-century Pascal and the nineteenth-century Amiel. + +The career of Henri Frédéric Amiel illustrates the dubiety of too hasty +judgment of a man's place or power in the world. A Genevese by birth, of +good parentage, early orphaned, well educated, much traveled, he was +deemed, on his return in the springtime of his manhood to his native +town as professor in the Academy of Geneva, to be a youth of great +promise, destined to become distinguished. But the years slipped by, and +his literary performance, consisting of desultory essays and several +slight volumes of verse, was not enough to justify the prophecy. His +life more and more became that of a bachelor recluse and valetudinarian. +When he died, in 1881, at sixty years of age, after much suffering +heroically borne, as pathetic entries in the last leaves of his Diary +remain to show, there was a feeling that here was "one more faithful +failure." But the quiet, brooding teacher in the Swiss city which has at +one time or another immured so many rare minds, had for years been +jotting down his reflections in a private journal. It constitutes the +story of his inner life, never told in his published writings. When a +volume of the 'Journal Intime' appeared the year after his taking off, +the world recognized in it not only an intellect of clarity and +keenness, and a heart sensitive to the widest spiritual problems, but +the revelation of a typical modern mood. The result was that Amiel, +being dead, yet spoke to his generation, and his fame was quick and +genuine. The apparent disadvantage point of Geneva proved, after all, +the fittest abiding-place for the poet-philosopher. A second volume of +extracts, two years later, found him in an assured place as a writer of +'Pensées.' + +The 'Journal' of Amiel is symptomatic of his time,--perhaps one reason +why it met with so sympathetic a response. It mirrors the intellectual +doubtings, the spiritual yearnings and despairs of a strenuous and pure +soul in a rationalistic atmosphere. In the day of scientific test and of +skepticism, of the readjustment of conventions and the overthrow of +sacrosanct traditions, one whose life is that of thought rather than of +action finds much to perplex, to weary, and to sadden. So it was with +the Swiss professor. He was always in the sanctum sanctorum of his +spirit, striving to attain the truth; with Hamlet-like irresolution he +poised in mind before the antinomies of the universe, alert to see +around a subject, having the modern thinker's inability to be partisan. +This way of thought is obviously unhealthy, or at least has in it +something of the morbid. It implies the undue introspection which is +well-nigh the disease of this century. There is in it the failure to +lose one's life in objective incident and action, that one may find it +again in regained balance of mind and bodily health. Amiel had the +defect of his quality; but he is clearly to be separated from those +shallow or exaggerated specimens of subjectivity illustrated by +present-day women diarists, like Bashkirtseff and Kovalevsky. The Swiss +poet-thinker had a vigor of thought and a broad culture; his aim was +high, his desire pure, and his meditations were often touched with +imaginative beauty. Again and again he flashes light into the darkest +penetralia of the human soul. At times, too, there is in him a mystic +fervor worthy of St. Augustine. If his dominant tone is melancholy, he +is not to be called a pessimist. He believed in the Good at the central +core of things. Hence is he a fascinating personality, a stimulative +force. And these outpourings of an acute intellect, and a nature +sensitive to the Ideal, are conveyed in a diction full of literary +feeling and flavor. Subtlety, depth, tenderness, poetry, succeed each +other; nor are the crisp, compressed sayings, the happy _mots_ of the +epigrammatist, entirely lacking. And pervading all is an impression of +character. + +Like Pascal, Amiel was a thinker interested above all in the soul of +man. He was a psychologist, seeking to know the secret of the Whence, +the Why, and the Whither. Like Joubert, whose journal resembled his own +in its posthumous publication, his reflections will live by their +weight, their quality, their beauty of form. Nor are these earlier +writers of "Pensées" likely to have a more permanent place among the +seed-sowers of thought. Amiel himself declared that "the pensée-writer +is to the philosopher what the dilettante is to the artist. He plays +with thought, and makes it produce a crowd of pretty things of detail; +but he is more anxious about truths than truth, and what is essential in +thought, its sequence, its unity, escapes him.... In a word, the +pensée-writer deals with what is superficial and fragmentary." While +these words show the fine critical sense of the man, they do an +injustice to his own work. Fragmentary it is, but neither superficial +nor petty. One recognizes in reading his wonderfully suggestive pages +that here is a rare personality, indeed,--albeit "sicklied o'er with the +pale cast of thought." + +In 1889 an admirable English translation of Amiel by Mrs. Humphry Ward, +the novelist, appeared in London. The introductory essay by Mrs. Ward is +the best study of him in our language. The appended selections are taken +from the Ward translation. + +Richard Burton + + +EXTRACTS FROM AMIEL'S JOURNAL + +October 1st, 1849.--Yesterday, Sunday, I read through and made extracts +from the Gospel of St. John. It confirmed me in my belief that about +Jesus we must believe no one but Himself, and that what we have to do is +to discover the true image of the Founder behind all the prismatic +refractions through which it comes to us, and which alter it more or +less. A ray of heavenly light traversing human life, the message of +Christ has been broken into a thousand rainbow colors, and carried in a +thousand directions. It is the historical task of Christianity to assume +with every succeeding age a fresh metamorphosis, and to be forever +spiritualizing more and more her understanding of the Christ and of +salvation. + +I am astounded at the incredible amount of Judaism and formalism which +still exists nineteen centuries after the Redeemer's proclamation, "It +is the letter which killeth"--after his protest against a dead +symbolism. The new religion is so profound that it is not understood +even now, and would seem a blasphemy to the greater number of +Christians. The person of Christ is the centre of it. Redemption, +eternal life, divinity, humanity, propitiation, incarnation, judgment, +Satan, heaven and hell,--all these beliefs have been so materialized and +coarsened that with a strange irony they present to us the spectacle of +things having a profound meaning and yet carnally interpreted. Christian +boldness and Christian liberty must be reconquered; it is the Church +which is heretical, the Church whose sight is troubled and her heart +timid. Whether we will or no, there is an esoteric doctrine--there is a +relative revelation; each man enters into God so much as God enters into +him; or, as Angelus, I think, said, "The eye by which I see God is the +same eye by which He sees me." + +Duty has the virtue of making us feel the reality of a positive world +while at the same time detaching us from it. + +February 20th, 1851.--I have almost finished these two volumes of +[Joubert's] 'Pensées' and the greater part of the 'Correspondance.' This +last has especially charmed me; it is remarkable for grace, delicacy, +atticism, and precision. The chapters on metaphysics and philosophy are +the most insignificant. All that has to do with large views, with the +whole of things, is very little at Joubert's command: he has no +philosophy of history, no speculative intuition. He is the thinker of +detail, and his proper field is psychology and matters of taste. In this +sphere of the subtleties and delicacies of imagination and feeling, +within the circle of personal affections and preoccupations, of social +and educational interests, he abounds in ingenuity and sagacity, in fine +criticisms, in exquisite touches. It is like a bee going from flower to +flower, a teasing, plundering, wayward zephyr, an aeolian harp, a ray of +furtive light stealing through the leaves. Taken as a whole, there is +something impalpable and immaterial about him, which I will not venture +to call effeminate, but which is scarcely manly. He wants bone and body: +timid, dreamy, and clairvoyant, he hovers far above reality. He is +rather a soul, a breath, than a man. It is the mind of a woman in the +character of a child, so that we feel for him less admiration than +tenderness and gratitude. + +November 10th, 1852.--How much have we not to learn from the Greeks, +those immortal ancestors of ours! And how much better they solved their +problem than we have solved ours! Their ideal man is not ours; but they +understood infinitely better than we, how to reverence, cultivate, and +ennoble the man whom they knew. In a thousand respects we are still +barbarians beside them, as Béranger said to me with a sigh in 1843: +barbarians in education, in eloquence, in public life, in poetry, in +matters of art, etc. We must have millions of men in order to produce a +few elect spirits: a thousand was enough in Greece. If the measure of a +civilization is to be the number of perfected men that it produces, we +are still far from this model people. The slaves are no longer below us, +but they are among us. Barbarism is no longer at our frontiers: it lives +side by side with us. We carry within us much greater things than they, +but we ourselves are smaller. It is a strange result. Objective +civilization produced great men while making no conscious effort toward +such a result; subjective civilization produces a miserable and +imperfect race, contrary to its mission and its earnest desire. The +world grows more majestic, but man diminishes. Why is this? + +We have too much barbarian blood in our veins, and we lack measure, +harmony, and grace. Christianity, in breaking man up into outer and +inner, the world into earth and heaven, hell and paradise, has +decomposed the human unity, in order, it is true, to reconstruct it more +profoundly and more truly. But Christianity has not yet digested this +powerful leaven. She has not yet conquered the true humanity; she is +still living under the antinomy of sin and grace, of here below and +there above. She has not penetrated into the whole heart of Jesus. She +is still in the _narthex_ of penitence; she is not reconciled, and even +the churches still wear the livery of service, and have none of the joy +of the daughters of God, baptized of the Holy Spirit. + +Then, again, there is our excessive division of labor; our bad and +foolish education which does not develop the whole man; and the problem +of poverty. We have abolished slavery, but without having solved the +question of labor. In law, there are no more slaves--in fact, there are +many. And while the majority of men are not free, the free man, in the +true sense of the term, can neither be conceived nor realized. Here are +enough causes for our inferiority. + +November 12th, 1852.--St. Martin's summer is still lingering, and the +days all begin in mist. I ran for a quarter of an hour round the garden +to get some warmth and suppleness. Nothing could be lovelier than the +last rosebuds, or the delicate gaufred edges of the strawberry leaves +embroidered with hoar-frost, while above them Arachne's delicate webs +hung swaying in the green branches of the pines,--little ball-rooms for +the fairies, carpeted with powdered pearls, and kept in place by a +thousand dewy strands, hanging from above like the chains of a lamp, and +supporting them from below like the anchors of a vessel. These little +airy edifices had all the fantastic lightness of the elf-world, and all +the vaporous freshness of dawn. They recalled to me the poetry of the +North, wafting to me a breath from Caledonia or Iceland or Sweden, +Frithjof and the Edda, Ossian and the Hebrides. All that world of cold +and mist, of genius and of reverie, where warmth comes not from the sun +but from the heart, where man is more noticeable than nature,--that +chaste and vigorous world, in which will plays a greater part than +sensation, and thought has more power than instinct,--in short, the +whole romantic cycle of German and Northern poetry, awoke little by +little in my memory and laid claim upon my sympathy. It is a poetry of +bracing quality, and acts upon one like a moral tonic. Strange charm of +imagination! A twig of pine-wood and a few spider-webs are enough to +make countries, epochs, and nations live again before her. + +January 6th, 1853.--Self-government with tenderness,--here you have the +condition of all authority over children. The child must discover in us +no passion, no weakness of which he can make use; he must feel himself +powerless to deceive or to trouble us; then he will recognize in us his +natural superiors, and he will attach a special value to our kindness, +because he will respect it. The child who can rouse in us anger, or +impatience, or excitement, feels himself stronger than we, and a child +respects strength only. The mother should consider herself as her +child's sun, a changeless and ever radiant world, whither the small +restless creature, quick at tears and laughter, light, fickle, +passionate, full of storms, may come for fresh stores of light, warmth, +and electricity, of calm and of courage. The mother represents goodness, +providence, law; that is to say, the divinity, under that form of it +which is accessible to childhood. If she is herself passionate, she will +inculcate in her child a capricious and despotic God, or even several +discordant gods. The religion of a child depends on what its mother and +its father are, and not on what they say. The inner and unconscious +ideal which guides their life is precisely what touches the child; +their words, their remonstrances, their punishments, their bursts of +feeling even, are for him merely thunder and comedy; what they +worship--this it is which his instinct divines and reflects. + +The child sees what we are, behind what we wish to be. Hence his +reputation as a physiognomist. He extends his power as far as he can +with each of us; he is the most subtle of diplomatists. Unconsciously he +passes under the influence of each person about him, and reflects it +while transforming it after his his own nature. He is a magnifying +mirror. This is why the first principle of education is, Train yourself; +and the first rule to follow, if you wish to possess yourself of a +child's will, is, Master your own. + +December 17th, 1856.--This evening was the second quartet concert. It +stirred me much more than the first; the music chosen was loftier and +stronger. It was the quartette in D minor of Mozart, and the quartette +in C major of Beethoven, separated by a Spohr concerto. + +The work of Mozart, penetrated as it is with mind and thought, +represents a solved problem, a balance struck between aspiration and +executive capacity, the sovereignty of a grace which is always mistress +of itself, marvelous harmony and perfect unity. His quartette describes +a day in one of those Attic souls who prefigure on earth the serenity +of Elysium. + +In Beethoven's, on the other hand, a spirit of tragic irony paints for +you the mad tumult of existence, as it dances forever above the +threatening abyss of the infinite. No more unity, no more satisfaction, +no more serenity! We are spectators of the eternal duel between the two +great forces, that of the abyss which absorbs all finite things, and +that of life which defends and asserts itself, expands, and enjoys. + +The soul of Beethoven was a tormented soul. The passion and the awe of +the infinite seemed to toss it to and fro from heaven to hell. Hence its +vastness. Which is the greater, Mozart or Beethoven? Idle question! The +one is more perfect, the other more colossal. The first gives you the +peace of perfect art, beauty at first sight. The second gives you +sublimity, terror, pity, a beauty of second impression. The one gives +that for which the other rouses a desire. Mozart has the classic purity +of light and the blue ocean. Beethoven the romantic grandeur +which belongs + +(Continued in Volume II) + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12369 *** |