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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:09 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:09 -0700 |
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diff --git a/12511-h/12511-h.htm b/12511-h/12511-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d285c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/12511-h/12511-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18146 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + + <title>Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 53, No. 332.</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + hr.full {width: 100%;} + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .newpage {display: none;} /* page numbers */ + .greek {cursor: help;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 2em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i1 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i3 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i5 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 6em} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12511 ***</div> + +<h1>BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE</h1> +<hr /> + +<h2>NO. CCCXXXII. JUNE, 1843. VOL. LIII.</h2> +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<ul> + <li><a href="#bw332s1">MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s2">THE VIGIL OF VENUS. TRANSLATION FROM THE LATIN</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s3">CHAPTERS OF TURKISH HISTORY. RISE OF THE KIUPRILI FAMILY—SIEGE OF CANDIA.—NO. IX.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s4">A PASSAGE IN THE LIFE OF A MAÎTRE-D'ARMES</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s5">AMMALÁT BEK. A TRUE TALE OF THE CAUCASUS, FROM THE RUSSIAN OF MARLÍNSKI.—CONCLUSION</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s6">MR BAILEY'S REPLY TO AN ARTICLE IN BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s7">THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. ILLUSTRATED BY MULREADY</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s8">THE ATTORNEY'S CLERK IN THE MONK'S HOOD.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s9">IGNACIO GUERRA AND EL SANGRADOR; A TALE OF CIVIL WAR</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s10">MEMORANDUMS OF A MONTH'S TOUR IN SICILY.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332s11">COMMERCIAL POLICY—RUSSIA.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332-footnotes">[FOOTNOTES]</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw332-index">INDEX TO VOL. LIII.</a></li> +</ul> +<hr class="full" /> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page693" id="page693" title="693"></a></span><a name="bw332s1" id="bw332s1"></a><h2>MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN.</h2> + +<h3>PART I.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Have I not in my time heard lions roar?</p> +<p>Have I not heard the sea, puft up with wind,</p> +<p>Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?</p> +<p>Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,</p> +<p>And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?</p> +<p>Have I not in the pitched battle heard</p> +<p>Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?"</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>SHAKSPEARE</p> +</div></div> +<br> + +<p>Why I give the world a sketch of +my career through it, is not among +the discoveries which I intend to +make. I have been a public man; +let those who know public life imagine +what interest may be felt in +reviewing the scenes and struggles of +which such a life is full. May there +not be a pleasure in conceiving once +again the shapes and circumstances of +things, as one sitting by his fireside +sees castles and cottages, men, women, +and children in the embers, and shapes +them the better for the silence and the +solitude round him? Let the reader +take what reason he will. I have seen +the world, and fought my way through +it; have stumbled, like greater men, +have risen, like lesser; have been flung +into the most rapid current of the most +hurried, wild, and vivid time that the +world has ever seen—I have <i>lived</i> +through the last fifty years. In all the +vigour of my life, I have mingled +in some of the greatest transactions, +and been mingled with some of the +greatest men, of my time. Like one +who has tumbled down Niagara, and +survived the fall, though I have reached +still water, the roar of the cataract +is yet in my ears; and I can even survey +it with a fuller gaze, and stronger +sense of its vastness and power, than, +when I was rolling down its precipice.</p> + +<p>I have been soldier, adventurer, +traveller, statesman. I have been lover, +husband, father—poor and opulent; +obscure and conspicuous. There +are few sensations of our nature, or +circumstances of our life, which I +have not undergone. Alternately +suffering to the verge of ruin, and +enjoying like an epicurean deity: I +have been steeped in poverty to the +lips; I have been surcharged with +wealth. I have sacrificed, and fearfully, +to the love of power; I have +been disgusted with its possession. +I figured in the great Babel until I +loved even its confusion of tongues; +I grew weary of it, until I hated the +voice of man.</p> + +<p>Every man is born for a special +purpose, and with a special passion. +The multitude, possessing both, exhibit +neither; they are flung, or choose +to be flung, into the pond, where they +float only to perish, like blind puppies. +But there are others who stem the +great tide, and are only the stronger +for the struggle. From my first +sense, the passion to be known and +felt, nay, at the expense of being +feared, was my impulse. It has been +<span class="newpage"><a name="page694" id="page694" title="694"></a></span> the impulse of all men who have ever +impressed the world. With great +talents it is all-commanding: the +thunderbolt in the hands of Jove. +Even with inferior faculties, and I +make no pretence of mine, it singularly +excites, urges, and animates. +When the prophet saw the leopard +<i>winged</i>, he saw a miracle; I claim for +my powers only those of the muscle +and sinew.</p> + +<p>Ambition was the original passion +of my nature. It rose before me, as the +sun ascends before the Indian, until +its fire drives him to the shade. I, +too, have been scorched, have shrunk, +and now I regret my shrinking. +But time deals alike with all. I can +now amuse myself only by images of +the past; and, in the darkness and solitude +of years, I take their Magic Lantern, +and replace life by the strange, +wild, and high-coloured extravagances, +the ghosts and genii of the phantasmagoria +of ambition.</p> + +<p>I was the seventh son of one of the +oldest families of England. If I had +been the seventh son of the seventh +son, I should, by all the laws of juggling, +have been a conjurer; but I was +a generation too early for fame. My +father was an earl, and as proud of +his titles as if he had won them at +Crecy or Poictiers, and not in the +campaigns of Westminster, consummated +on the backstairs of Whitehall. +He had served his country, as he +termed it, in a long succession of Parliaments; +and served her still more, as +his country neighbours termed it, by +accepting a peerage, which opened +the county to any other representative +among the sons of men. He was a +strong-built, stern-countenanced, and +haughty-tongued personage—by some +thought a man of sense; by others a +fool, with all his depth, arising from +his darkness. My own experience convinced +me, that no man made more of +a secret, or thought less of a job. +From my boyhood I own I feared +more than honoured him; and as for +love, if I had been more susceptible, +mine would have flown round the +globe before it could have fixed on +that iron visage. The little love that +I could afford for any human being, +was for another and a different order +of existence. Boys have a natural +fondness for the mother; and mine +was gentle, timid, and fond. She always +parted with me, on my going +to school, as if she had lost a limb, and +when I returned, received me as if she +had found a pinion in its place. She +perhaps spoiled me by indulgence, as +much as my lord and father spoiled +me by severity; but indulgence is the +pleasanter of the two, and I followed +the course of nature, and gave her +whatever heart I have. I still remember +her. She was remarkably indebted +to nature, at least for externals. She +had fine eyes—large, dark, and sentimental; +her dress, which would now +be preposterous, seemed to me, then, +the perfection of all taste, and was in +the highest fashion of her time. Her +beauty worked miracles; for now and +then I have observed even my father's +eye fixed on her, with something of +the admiration which we might conceive +in an Esquimaux for a fixed +star, or in an Italian highwayman for +some Parian statue which he had +stumbled on in his thickets. But the +admiration was soon absorbed in the +job in hand, and he turned away—to +scribble to the Minister. Of the +younger portion of the family I shall +say but little. Children are happiest +in the nursery, and there I leave +them. I had two sisters, sweet little +creatures, one with black eyes and +the other with blue. This is enough +for their description. My four brothers +were four rough, bold, well-looking +animals, all intended for ambassadors, +admirals, generals, and +secretaries of state—for my father had +too long tasted of the honey of official +life to think that there was any other +food for a gentleman in the world. +He had been suckled for too many +years at those breasts, which, like the +bosom of the great Egyptian goddess, +pour the stream of life through whole +generations of hangers-on, to believe +that any other fount of existence was +to be named but the civil list. I am +strongly inclined to surmise that he +would have preferred a pencil, purloined +from the Treasury, to all the +cedars of Lebanon.</p> + +<p>It may be presumed that I was +destined for public life—in other +words, to live on the public; and, to +prepare me for the performance of a +part, alternately menial and master—supple +as the slave, and superb as the +minister—I was sent to Eton. At this +great school of the aristocracy, would-be +and real—barons and dukes <i>in esse</i>, +and the herald's office alone, or bedlam, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page695" id="page695" title="695"></a></span> knows what <i>in posse</i>, I remained +for the customary number of years. +If whoever does me the honour to +read these pages, hates the history of +schooldays as much as I do their memory, +he will easily pardon my passing +by the topic altogether. If the +first purpose of all great public institutions +is to stand still; the great +schools of England, fifty years ago, +were righteous adherents to their contract; +they never moved. The world +might whirl round them as it would; +there remained the grey milestones, +only measuring the speed with which +every thing on the road passed them. +This, they say, has largely and fortunately +changed in later years. But the +change must proceed; the venerable +cripples must throw by their crutches, +and try the effect of flesh and blood. +Flogging and fagging, are the education +for a footman; they disgrace the +common sense, and offend the feelings +of a manly people. The pugilist must +be expelled, and the puppy must follow +him. The detestable grossness +of classical impurity, must be no longer +the price at which Latin "quantities" +are to be learned. The last lesson of +the "prodigal son," must not be the +first learned by the son of the gentleman +of England—to be fed on the +"husks" fit only for the swine.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>On my delighted release from this +supreme laboratory of statesmen, I +found the state of things considerably +altered at Mortimer Castle. I had left +it a stately but rather melancholy-looking +household; I found the mansion +glittering in all the novelty of French +furniture, gilding, and <i>or-molu</i>—crowded +with fashion, and all its menial +tribe, from the groom in the stables +to the gentleman's gentleman, who +slipped along the chambers in soft +silence, and seemed an embodying of +Etiquette, all in new equipments of all +kinds—the avenue trimmed, until it +resembled a theatrical wood; and the +grounds, once sober and silent enough +for a Jacques to escape from the sight +of human kind, and hold dialogues +with the deer; now levelled, opened, +shorn, and shaved, with the precision +of a retired citizen's elysium.</p> + +<p>The heads of the family were equally +changed; my mother, unhappily, +for the worse. Her fine eyes beamed +with joy as she threw herself upon +my neck, and murmured some of those +mingled blessings and raptures which +have a language of their own. But +when the first flush was past, I perceived +that the cheek was thin, the +eye was hollow and heavy, and the +tremulous motion of her slight hand, +as it lay in mine, alarmed me; in all +my ignorance of the frailty of the human +frame. But the grand change +was in the Earl. My father, whom I +had left rather degenerating into the +shape which three courses and a +bottle of claret a-day inflict on country +gentlemen "who live at home at +ease," was now braced and laced, +costumed in the newest fashion, and +overflowing with exuberant volatility. +He breathed of Bond Street. He +welcomed me with an ardour which +astonished, more than delighted, me; +Talked fragments of French, congratulated +me on my "<i>air distingué</i>," +advised me to put myself "<i>en grande +tenue</i>;" and, after enchanting me in +all kinds of strange ways, concluded +by making an attempt to kiss me on +both cheeks, like a true Frenchman. +My Eton recollections enabled me to +resist the paternal embrace; until the +wonder was simplified, by the discovery +that the family had but just returned +from a continental residence of +a couple of years—a matter of which +no letter or word had given me the +knowledge at my school. My next +discovery was, that an old uncle had +died, and left us money enough to +carry the county; and the last and +crowning one was, that my eldest +brother had just been returned for the +North Riding.</p> + +<p>This was such an accumulation of +good-luck as might have thrown any +elderly gentleman off the balance of +his gravity. It was like Philip's three +plates at the Greek horse-races, +crowned by the birth of Alexander. +If my lordly father had danced the +"Minuette de la Cour" over the +marble tesselation of his own hall, I +should now not have been surprised. +But, from my first sense, or insensibility, +I had felt no great delight in matters +which were to make my own condition +neither better nor worse; and +after a remarkably brief period, the +showy <i>déjeûnés</i> and dinners which +commemorated the triumphs of the +heir-apparent of our house, grew tiresome +to me beyond all count, and I +openly petitioned to be sent to college, +or to the world's end.</p> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page696" id="page696" title="696"></a></span> My petition was listened to with a +mixture of contempt for my want of +taste, and astonishment at my presumption. +But before the reply had +time to burst out from lips, at no +time too retentive, I was told, that at +the end of one week more I should +be suffered to take my way; that week +being devoted to a round of especial +entertainments in honour of my +brother's election; the whole to be +wound up by that most preposterous +of all delights, an amateur play.</p> + +<p>To keep a house in commotion, to +produce mysterious conversations, +conferences without number, and confidences +without end; and to swell +maidens' hearts and milliners' bills, +let me recommend an amateur play in +the country. The very mention of it +awoke every soul in the Castle; caps +and complexions were matched, and +costumes criticised, from morning +till night, among the ladies. The +"acting drama" was turned over leaf +by leaf by the gentlemen. The sound +of many a heavy tread of many a +heavy student, was heard in the chambers; +the gardens were haunted by +"the characters" getting their parts; +and the poet's burlesque of those who +"rave, recite, and madden round the +land," was realized to the life in the +histrionic labours of the votaries of +Thalia and Melpomene, who ranged +the groves of Mortimer Castle.</p> + +<p>Then we had all the charming difficulty +of fixing on the play. The +dullest and dreariest of our country +Rosciuses were uniformly for comedy; +but the fair sex have a leaning to the +tragic muse. We had one or two, +who would have had no objection to +be piquant in Lady Teazle, or petulant +in Lady Townley; but we had +half a dozen Desdemonas and Ophelias. +The soul of an O'Neil was in +every one of our party conscious of +a pair of good eyes, a tolerable shape, +and the captivation which, in some +way or other, most women in existence +contrive to discover in their own +share of the gifts of nature. At length +the votes carried it for Romeo and +Juliet. The eventful night came; +the <i>élite</i> of the county poured in, the +theatre was crowded; all was expectancy +before the curtain; all was terror, +nervousness, and awkwardness +behind. The orchestra performed its +flourish, and the curtain rose.</p> + +<p>To do the heads of the household +justice, they had done their duty as +managers. The theatre, though but +a temporary building, projecting from +the ball-room into one of the gardens, +was worthy of the very handsome +apartment which formed its vestibule. +The skill of a famous London architect +had been exerted on this fairy +erection, and Verona itself had, perhaps, +in its palmiest days, seldom exhibited +a display of more luxuriant +elegance. The audience, too, so totally +different from the mingled, ill-dressed, +and irregular assemblage that +fills a city theatre; blooming girls +and showy matrons, range above +range, feathered and flowered, glittering +with all the family jewels, and +all animated by the novelty of the +scene before them, formed an exhibition +which, for the night, inspired me +with the idea, that (strolling excepted) +the stage might not be a bad resource +for a man of talents, after all.</p> + +<p>But the play was—must I confess it? +though I myself figured as the Romeo—utterly +deplorable. The men +forgot their parts, and their casual +attempts to recover them made terrible +havoc of the harmony of Shakspeare. +The ladies lost their voices, +and carried on their loves, their sorrows, +and even their scoldings, in a +whisper. Our play perfectly deserved +the criticism of the old gentleman, +who, after a similar performance, +being asked which of the personages +he liked best, candidly replied, "the +prompter, for of him he had heard the +most and seen the least."</p> + +<p>However, every thing has an end; +and we had carried Juliet to the tomb +of all the Capulets, the chant was done, +and the mourners were gathered in +the green-room. I was standing, +book in hand, preparing for the last +agonies of a love very imperfectly +committed to memory, when I heard +a slight confusion in the court-yard, +and shortly after the rattle of a post-chaise. +The sound subsided, and I +was summoned to my post at the entrance +to the place where the lovely +Juliet lay entranced. The pasteboard +gate gave way to knocks enforced with +an energy which called down rapturous +applause; and in all the tortures +of a broken heart, rewarded by a profusion +of handkerchiefs applied to +bright eyes, and a strong scent of +hartshorn round the house, I summoned +my fair bride to my arms. +<span class="newpage"><a name="page697" id="page697" title="697"></a></span> There was no reply. I again invoked +her; still silent. Her trance was evidently +of the deepest order. I rose +from the ground, where I had been +"taking the measure of my unmade +grave," and approaching the bier, ventured +to drop a despairing hand upon +her pillow. To my utter surprise, it +was vacant. If I had been another +Shakspeare, the situation was a fine one +for a display of original genius. But +I was paralyzed. A sense of the general +embarrassment was my first impression, +and I was absolutely struck +dumb. But this was soon shaken off. +My next was a sense of the particular +burlesque of my situation; I burst out +into laughter, in which the whole +house joined; and throwing down my +mattock, rushed off the stage. My +theatrical dream was broken up for +ever.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>But weightier matters now absorbed +the universal interest. The disappearance +of the heroine from the +stage was speedily accounted for by +her flight in the carriage whose wheels +had disturbed my study. But where +fled, why, and with whom? We now +found other defalcations in our numbers; +the Chevalier Paul Charlatanski, +a gallant Polish exile, who contrived +to pass a very pleasant time on +the merit of his misfortunes, a man of +enormous mustaches and calamities, +was also missing. His valet, his valise, +every atom that ever appertained +to him, had vanished; the clearance +was complete. The confusion now +thickened. I never saw the master +of the mansion in such a rage before. +Pistols and post-chaises were in instant +requisition. He vowed that the +honour of his house was involved in +the transaction, and that nothing +should tempt him to slumber until he +had brought the fugitive fair one to +the arms of her noble family; my Juliet +being the ward of a duke, and +being also entitled to about twenty +thousand pounds a-year on her coming +of age.</p> + +<p>As for the unlucky, or rather the +lucky, Chevalier, nothing human ever +received a hotter shower of surmise +and sarcasm. That he was "an impostor, +a swindler, a spy," was the Earl's +conviction, declared in the most public +manner. The whole body of matrons +looked round on their blooming +innocents, as if they had been snatched +from the jaws of a legion of wolves +and thanked their own prudence +which had not trusted those men of +mustaches within their hall doors. +The blooming innocents responded in +filial gratitude, and, with whatever sincerity, +thanked their stars for their +fortunate escape.</p> + +<p>Still, the Earl's indignation was of +so <i>ultra</i> a quality; his revenge was +so fiery, and his tongue so fluent; +that I began to suspect he had other +motives than the insulted laws of hospitality. +I reached this discovery, too, +in time. The declining health of his +partner had made him speculate on +the chances of survivorship. He certainly +was no longer young, and he +had never been an Adonis. Yet his +glass did not altogether throw him into +the rank of the impracticable. A +coronet was a well-known charm, +which had often compensated for every +other; in short, he had quietly theorized +himself into the future husband +of the ducal ward; and felt on this +occasion as an Earl should, plundered, +before his face, of a clear twenty +thousand a-year.</p> + +<p>But he was not to suffer alone. On +further enquiry, it was ascertained +that the chevalier's valet had not gone +with him. This fellow, a Frenchman, +had taken wing in another direction, +and carried off his turtle-dove, +too; not one of the full-blown roses +of the servant's-hall, but a rosebud, +the daughter of one of the bulkiest +squires of the Riding; a man of +countless beeves and blunders; one of +our Yorkshire Nimrods, "a mighty +hunter," until club dinners and home-brewed +ale tied him to his arm-chair, and +gout made him a man of peace and +flannels, the best thriven weed in the +swamps of Yorkshire. The young +lady had been intended for my eldest +brother, as a convenient medium of +connexion between two estates, palpably +made for matrimony. Thus we +received two mortal blows in one +evening; never was family pilfered +more ignominiously; never was amateur +play more peevishly catastrophized.</p> + +<p>It must be owned, to the credit of +"private theatricals," that the play +had no slight share in the plot. The +easy intercourse produced by rehearsals, +the getting of tender speeches by +heart, the pretty personalities and allusions +growing out of those speeches, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page698" id="page698" title="698"></a></span> the ramblings through shades and +rose-twined parterres, the raptures +and romance, all tend prodigiously to +take off the alarm, or instruct the inexperience, +of the female heart. I +know no more certain cure for the +rigidity that is supposed to be a barrier. +At all events, the Chevalier +and his valet, probably both footmen, +alike had profited of their opportunity. +Our play had cost us two elopements; +two shots between wind and +water, which threatened to send the +ship down; two breakings of that +heart which men carry in their purse. +I laughed, and the world laughed also. +But I was then thoughtless, and the +world is malicious. My father and the +member, though they had "never +told their love," felt the blow "like +a worm in the bud," and from that +night I date the family decline.</p> + +<p>Of course, the two whiskered vagabonds +could not be suffered to +carry off their laurels without an attempt +to diminish them, and my father +and brother were too much in +earnest in their objects to lose time. +In half an hour, four post-horses to +each britchska whirled them off;—my +father, to take the northern road, +some hints of Gretna having transpired +in the slipshod secrecy of the +servants' hall—my brother, to pursue +on the Dover road, conjecturing, with +more sagacity than I had given him +credit for, that as the fox runs round +to his earth, the Frenchman always +speeds for Paris.</p> + +<p>The company soon dispersed, after +having stayed long enough to glean all +that they could of the family misfortune, +and fix appointments for every +day in the week to meet each other, +and make the most of the whole transaction. +But still a tolerable number +of the steadier hands remained, +who, to show their sympathy with +us, resolved not to separate until they +received tidings of his lordship's success. +I was voted to the head of the +table, more claret was ordered, the +wreck of the general supper was cleared +for one of a snugger kind; and we +drew our chairs together. Toast followed +toast, and all became communicative. +Family histories, not excepting +our own, were now discussed, with +a confidence new to my boyish conjectures. +Charlatanski's career abroad +and at home seemed to be as well +known as if he had been pilloried in +the county town; the infinite absurdity +of the noble duke who suffered +him to make his way under his roof, +and the palpable <i>penchant</i> of his ward, +next underwent discussion; until the +ignorance of my noble father on the +subject, gave, with me, the death-blow +to his penetration. The prettinesses +which had won the primrose heart of +my brother's intended spouse, I found +were equally notorious; the Earl's +project was as plain as if he had pronounced +it <i>viva voce</i>; and before we +parted for the night, which did not +occur until the sun was blazing +through the curtains of our banqueting +room, I had made up my mind, +once for all, that neither character +nor cunning can be concealed in this +world; that the craftiest impostor is +but a clumsier kind of clown; and +that the most dexterous disguise is but +a waste of time.</p> + +<p>I must hasten to the <i>dénouement</i>. +Our excellent friends indulged us +with their company, and bored us +with their society for a mortal week. +But, as Sterne says of the sentimental +traveller, scenes of sentiment are always +exhibiting themselves to an +appetite eager for knowing what the +world is doing; the knowledge was +contributed with a copiousness which +left nothing to learn, and but little to +desire. Our guests were of that class +which usually fills the houses of noblemen, +in the annihilation of life in town; +clubmen, to whom St James's Street +was the terraqueous globe; guardsmen, +on leave of absence for the shooting +season, and saturated with London; +several older exhibitors in the +fashionable circles, who as naturally +followed where young guardsmen and +wealthy squires were to be found, as +flies wing to the honey on which they +live; and two or three of the most +opulent and dullest baronets who ever +played whist and billiards, for the advantage +of losing guinea points to +gentlemen more accomplished in the +science of chances.</p> + +<p>At length, on the sixth day, when I +really began to feel anxious, an express +announced that his lordship +had arrived at a village, about fifty +miles off, on his way home, wounded, +and in great danger. I instantly +broke up the convivial party, and set +out to see him. To the imagination +of a boy, as I was then, nothing could +be more startling than the aspect of +<span class="newpage"><a name="page699" id="page699" title="699"></a></span> the habitation which now held the +haughty Earl of Mortimer. After +passing through a variety of dungeon-like +rooms, for the house had once +been a workhouse, or something of +the kind, I was ushered into the +chamber where the patient lay. The +village doctor, and one or two of the +wise people of the neighbourhood, +who thought it their duty to visit +a stranger, that stranger being a +man of rank, were standing by; and +the long faces of those persons, seconded +by the professional shake of +the doctor's head, told me, that they +at least had no hope. It was not so +with the sufferer himself, for he talked +as largely and loftily of what he +was to do within the next ten years, +as if he was to survive the century. +He still breathed rage and retribution +against the Chevalier, and actually +seemed to regard the lady's choice as +a particular infraction of personal +claims. He had pursued the fugitives +day and night, until the pursuit +threw him into a kind of fever. While +under this paroxysm he had met the +enamoured pair, but it was on their +way from that forge on the Border where +so many heavy chains have been manufactured. +Useless as challenging was +now, he challenged the husband. The +parties met, and my father received a +bullet in his body, while he had the +satisfaction of lodging one in his antagonist's +knee-pan. The Chevalier +was doomed to waltz no more. But +his bullet was fatal.</p> + +<p>As I looked round the wretched +chamber in which this bold, arrogant, +and busy spirit was evidently about +to breathe its last, Pope's lines on the +most splendid <i>roué</i> of his day involuntarily +and painfully shot across my +recollection:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung,</p> +<p>The walls of plaster, and the floor of dung;</p> +<p>The George and Garter dangling from the bed,</p> +<p>Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red,</p> +<p>Great Villiers lies; alas, how changed from him</p> +<p>The glass of fashion!"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>I say no more of those scenes; a +few days, only enough to collect the +branches of the family round the bed, +terminated every thing. Grief, they say, +cannot exist where there is no love, but +I was not inclined, just then, to draw +subtle distinctions. I was grieved; +and paid the last duties, without blame +to myself, or, I hope, irreverence in +the sight of others. The funeral was +stately, and all was over.</p> + +<p>Matters now took a new shape at +the castle. My brother returned, to +find himself its possessor. His journey +had been equally unproductive +with my unfortunate father's. By dint +of bribing the postilions, he had even +overpassed the fugitives on the Dover +road. But, as he stopped to dine in +Canterbury, where he had prepared a +posse of constables for their reception, +he had, unluckily, been accosted by an +old London acquaintance, who had +accidentally fixed his quarters there +for a day or two, "seeking whom he +might devour." The dinner was followed +by a carouse, the carouse by a +"quiet game," or games, which lasted +till the next day; and when my brother +rose, with the glow of a superb +sunset giving him the first intimation +that he was among the living, he made +the discovery that he was stripped of +the last shilling of five hundred pounds, +and that the Frenchman and his prize +had quietly changed horses at the +same hotel half a dozen hours before.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>The young forget quickly, but +they feel keenly. The event which +I had just witnessed threw a shade +over me, which, in the want of any +vigorous occupation, began to affect +my health. I abjured the sports of +the field, for which, indeed, I had +never felt much liking. I rambled +through the woods in a kind of dreamy +idleness of mind, which took but little +note of any thing, time included. As +mendicants sell tapes and matches +to escape the imputation of mendicancy, +I carried a pencil and portfolio, +and seemed to be sketching venerable +oaks and patches of the picturesque, +while my mind was wandering from +Line to Pole. But in this earth no one +can be singular with impunity. The +gentlemen were "convinced" that my +meditations were heavy with unpaid +college bills; and the ladies, from +high to low, from "Tilburina, mad +in white satin," to her "confidant, +mad in white linen," were all of opinion +that some one among their peerless +<span class="newpage"><a name="page700" id="page700" title="700"></a></span> selves had destroyed the "five +wits of young Mr Marston." I could +have fallen on them with a two-handed +sword; but as the massacre of the sex +was not then in my power, I had only +to escape.</p> + +<p>There were higher matters to move +me. Clouds were gathering on the +world; the times were fitful; the air +was thick with rumours from abroad; +the sleep of the Continent was breaking +up, and Europe lay in the anxious +and strange expectancy in which some +great city might see the signs of a +coming earthquake, without the power +of ascertaining at what moment, or +from what quarter, its foundations +were to be flung up in sight of the +sun.—We were then in the first stage +of the French Revolution!</p> + +<p>I resolved to linger and be libelled +no more; and being ushered, by appointment, +into the library—for the +new master was already all etiquette—I +promptly stated my wishes, and demanded +my portion, to try my fortune +in the world.</p> + +<p>Our conference, if it had but little +of the graces of diplomacy, had much +more than its usual decision. It was +abrupt and unhesitating. My demand +had evidently taken his "lordship" by +surprise. He started from the magisterial +chair, in which he was yet to +awe so many successions of rustic +functionaries, and with a flushed +cheek asked "Whether I was lunatic, +or supposed him to be so?"</p> + +<p>"Neither the one nor the other," +was my answer. "But, to waste life +here is out of the question. I demand +the means of entering a profession."</p> + +<p>"Are you aware, sir, that our interest +is lost since the last change of +ministers? that my estate is loaded +with encumbrances? that every profession +is overstocked? and what can +you do in the crowd?"</p> + +<p>"What others have done—what I +should do in a crowd in the streets—push +some aside, get before others; +if made way for, be civil; if resisted, +trample; it has been the history of +thousands, why not mine?"</p> + +<p>The doctrine was as new to this +son of indulgence, as if I had propounded +the philosopher's stone. But +his courage was exhausted by a controversy +perhaps longer than he had +ever ventured on before. He walked +to the glass, adjusted his raven ringlets, +and having refreshed his spirits +with the contemplation, enquired, with +a smile which made the nearest possible +approach to a sneer, whether I +had any thing more to say?</p> + +<p>I had more, and of the kind that +least suited his feelings. I demanded +"my property."</p> + +<p>The effect of those two words was +electrical. The apathy of the exquisite +was at an end, and in a voice of +the most indignant displeasure, he rapidly +demanded whether I expected +money to fall from the moon? whether +I was not aware of the expense +of keeping up the castle? whether I +supposed that my mother's jointure +and my sisters' portions could ever be +paid without dipping the rent-roll +deeper still? and, after various and bitter +expostulation, "What right had I +to suppose that I was worth the smallest +coin of the realm, except by his +bounty?"</p> + +<p>One query answered them all. +"My lord, is it not true that I am +entitled to five thousand pounds?"</p> + +<p>"Five thousand ——?" what word +was to fill up the interval I can only +guess. But the first lesson which a +man learns at the clubs is, to control +his temper when its display is not +likely to be attended with effect. He +saw that I stood his gaze with but few +symptoms of giving way, and he changed +his tactics with an adroitness that did +honour to his training. Approaching +me, he held out his hand. "Charles, +why should <i>we</i> quarrel about trifles? +I was really not acquainted with the +circumstance to which you allude, but +I shall look into it without delay. +Pray, can you tell me the when, the +where, the how?"</p> + +<p>"Your questions may be easily answered. +The <i>when</i> was at the death +of our uncle, the <i>where</i> was in his +will, and the <i>how</i>—in any way your +lordship pleases." The truce was +now made; he begged of me, "as I +valued <i>his</i> feelings," to drop the formality +of his title, to regard him simply +as a brother, and to rely on his wish +to forward every object that might +gratify my inclination.</p> + +<p>Our conference broke up. He galloped +to a neighbouring horse-race. I +went to take a solitary ramble through +the Park.</p> + +<p>The hour and the scene were what +the poet pronounces "fit to cure all +sadness but despair." Noble old +trees, the "roof star-proof" overhead, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page701" id="page701" title="701"></a></span> the cool velvet grass under the +feet—glimpses of sunlight striking +through the trunks—the freshened air +coming in gusts across the lake, like +new life, bathing my burning forehead +and feverish hands—the whole unrivalled +sweetness of the English landscape +softened and subdued me. +Those effects are so common, that I +can claim no credit for their operation +on my mind; and, before I had +gone far, I was on the point of returning, +if not to recant, at least to palliate +the harshness of my appeal to +fraternal justice.</p> + +<p>But, by this time I had reached a +rising ground which commanded a +large extent of the surrounding country. +The evening was one of those +magnificent closes of the year, which, +like a final scene in a theatre, seems +intended to comprehend all the beauties +and brilliancies of the past. The +western sky was a blaze of all colours, +and all pouring over the succession +of forest, cultured field, and +mountain top, which make the English +view, if not the most sublime, the +most touching of the earth!</p> + +<p>But as I stood on the hill, gazing +round to enjoy every shape and shade +at leisure, my eye turned on the +Castle. It spoiled all my serenity at +once. I felt that it was a spot from +which I was excluded by nature; that +it belonged to others so wholly, that +scarcely by any conceivable chance +could it ever be mine; and that I could +remain within its walls no longer, but +with a sense of uselessness and shame.</p> + +<p>If I could have taken staff in hand +and pack on shoulder, I would have +started at that moment on a pilgrimage +that might have circled the globe. +But the most fiery resolution must +submit to circumstances. One night +more, at least, I must sleep under the +paternal roof, and I was hastening +home, brooding over bitter thoughts, +when I suddenly rushed against some +one whom I nearly overthrew.—"Bless +me, Mr Marston, is it you?"—told +me that I had run down my old +tutor, Mr Vincent, the parson of the +parish. He had been returning from +visiting some of his flock, and in the +exercise of the vocation which he had +just been fulfilling, he saw that something +went ill with me, and taking my +arm, forced me to go home with him, +for such comfort as he could give.</p> + +<p>Parsons, above all men, are the +better for wives and families; for, +without them, they are wonderfully +apt to grow saturnine or stupid. Of +course there are exceptions. Vincent +had a wife not much younger than +himself, to whom he always spoke +with the courtiership of a <i>preux chevalier</i>. +A portrait of her in her bridal +dress, showed that she had been a +pretty brunette in her youth; and her +husband still evidently gave her credit +for all that she had been. They +had, as is generally the fate of the +clergy, a superfluity of daughters, +four or five I think, creatures as +thoughtless and innocent as their own +poultry, or their own pet-sheep. But +all round their little vicarage was so +pure, so quiet, and so neat—there was +such an aspect of order and even of +elegance, however inexpensive, that +its contrast with the glaring and restless +tumult of the "great house" was +irresistible. I never had so full a +practical understanding of the world's +"pomps and vanities," as while looking +at the trimmings and trelisses of +the parson's dwelling.</p> + +<p>I acknowledge myself a worldling, +but I suppose that all is not lead or +iron within me, from my sense of +scenes like this. In my wildest hour, +the sight of fields and gardens has +been a kind of febrifuge to me—has +conveyed a feeling of tranquillity to +my mind; as if it drank the silence +and the freshness, as the flowers drink +the dew. I have often thus experienced +a sudden soothing, which checked +the hot current of my follies or frenzies, +and made me think that there +were better things than the baubles of +cabinets. But it did not last long.</p> + +<p>I mention this evening, because it +decided my future life; or at least +the boldest, and perhaps the best portion +of it. We had an hour or two of +the little variations of placid amusement +which belong to all parsonages +in romances, but which here were +reality; easy conversation on the +events of the county; a little political +talking with the vicar; a few details +of persons and fashions at the +castle, to which the ladies listened as +Desdemona might have listened to +Othello's history—for the Castle was +so seldom visited by them, that it had +almost the air of a Castle of Otranto, +and they evidently thought that its +frowning towers and gilded halls belonged +to another race, if not to another +<span class="newpage"><a name="page702" id="page702" title="702"></a></span> region of existence; we had, too, +some of the last new songs, (at least +half a century old, but which were not +the less touching,) and a duet of Geminiani, +performed by the two elder +proficients on a spinet which might +have been among the "chamber music" +of the Virgin Queen; all slight +matters to speak of, and yet which +contributed to the quietude of a mind +longing for rest—sights of innocence +and sounds of peace, which, like the +poet's music—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Might take the prison'd soul</p> +<p>And wrap it in Elysium."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The moon shining in through panes +covered with honeysuckle and fragrance +of all kinds, at length warned +me that I was intruding on a household +primitive in their hours, as in every +thing else, and I rose to take my leave. +But I could not be altogether parted +with yet. It seems that they had found +me a most amusing guest; while, +to my own conception, I had been singularly +spiritless; but the little anecdotes +which were trite to me had been +novelties to them. Fashion has a +charm even for philosophers; and the +freaks and follies of the high-toned +sons and daughters of fashion—who +wore down my gentle mother's frame, +drained my showy father's rental, and +made even myself loathe the sight of +loaded barouches coming to discharge +their cargoes of beaux and belles on +us for weeks together—were nectar +and ambrosia to my sportive and rosy-cheeked +audience. The five girls put +on their bonnets, and looking like a +group of Titania and her nymphs, +as they bounded along in the moonlight, +escorted us to the boundary of +the vicar's territory.</p> + +<p>We were about to separate, with all +the pretty formalities of village leave-taking; +when their father, in the +act of shaking hands with me, fixed +his eye on mine, and insisted on seeing +me home. Whether the thought occurred +to him that I had still something +on my mind, which was not to +be trusted within sight of a brook that +formed the boundary to the Castle +grounds, I know not, but I complied; +the girls were sent homewards, and I +heard their gay voices mingling, at a +distance, and not unsuitably, with the +songs of the nightingale.</p> + +<p>I took his arm, and we walked on +for a while in silence. At length, +slackening his pace, and speaking in +a tone whose earnestness struck me, +"Charles," said he, "has any thing +peculiarly painful lately happened to +you?—if so, speak out. I know your +nature to be above disguise; and with +whom can you repose your vexations, +if such there be, more safely than +with your old tutor?"</p> + +<p>I was taken unawares; and not having +yet formed a distinct conception +of my own grievances, promptly denied +that I had any.</p> + +<p>"It may be so," said my friend; +"and yet once or twice this evening I +saw your cheek alternately flush and +grow pale, with a suddenness that +alarmed me for your health. In one +of your pleasantest stories, while you +were acting the narrative with a liveliness +evidently unconscious, and giving +me and mine a treat which we +have not had for a long time, I observed +your voice falter, as if some +spasm of soul had shot across you; +and I unquestionably saw, that rare +sight in the eyes of man, a tear."</p> + +<p>I denied this instance of weakness +stoutly; but the old man's importunities +prevailed, and, by degrees, I told +him, or rather his good-natured cross-examination +moulded for me, a statement +of my anxieties at home.</p> + +<p>The Vicar, with all his simplicity of +manner, was a man of powerful and +practical understanding. He had been +an eminent scholar at his university, +and was in a fair way for all its distinctions, +when he thought proper to fall +desperately in love. This, of course, +demolished his prospects at once. I +never heard his subsequent history in +detail; but he had left England, and +undergone a long period of disheartening +and distress. Whether he had not, +in those times of desolation, taken service +in the Austrian army, and even +shared some of its Turkish campaigns, +was a question which I heard once or +twice started at the Castle; and a +slight contraction of the arm, and a +rather significant scar which crossed +his bold forehead, had been set down +to the account of the Osmanli cimeter.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Vincent had never told the story of +either, but a rumour reached his college +of his having been seen in the Austrian +uniform on the Transylvanian +frontier, during the campaigns of the +Prince of Coburg and Laudohn against +the Turks. It was singular enough, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page703" id="page703" title="703"></a></span> that on this very evening, in arguing +against some of my whims touching +destinies and omens, he illustrated the +facility of imposture on such points +by an incident from one of those campaigns.</p> + +<p>"A friend of mine," said he, "a +captain in the Lichtenstein hussars, +happened to be on the outpost service +of the army. As the enemy were in +great force, and commanded by the +Vizier in person, an action was daily +expected, and the pickets and videttes +were ordered to be peculiarly on the +alert. But, on a sudden, every night +produced some casualty. They either +lost videttes, or their patrol was surprised, +or their baggage plundered—in +short, they began to be the talk of +the army. The regiment had been +always one of the most distinguished +in the service, and all those misfortunes +were wholly unaccountable. +At length a stronger picket than +usual was ordered for the night—not +a man of them was to be found in +the morning. As no firing had been +heard, the natural conjecture was, +that they must all have deserted. As +this was a still more disgraceful result +than actual defeat, the colonel +called his officers together, to give +what information they could. The +camp, as usual, swarmed with Bohemians, +fortune-tellers, and gipsies, a +race who carry intelligence on both +sides; and whose performances fully +accounted for the knowledge which the +enemy evidently had of our outposts. +The first order was, to clear the quarters +of the regiment of those encumbrances, +and the next to direct the videttes +to fire without challenging. At +midnight a shot was heard; all turned +out, and on reaching the spot where +the alarm had been given, the vidette +was found lying on the ground and +senseless, though without a wound. +On his recovery, he said that he had +seen a ghost; but that having fired at +it, according to orders, it looked so +horribly grim at him, that he fell from +his horse and saw no more. The Austrians +are brave, but they are remarkably +afraid of supernatural visitants, and +a ghost would be a much more formidable +thing to them than a discharge of +grape-shot.</p> + +<p>"The captain in question was an +Englishman, and as John Bull is supposed, +among foreigners, to carry an +unusual portion of brains about him, +the colonel took him into his special +council in the emergency. Having +settled their measures, the captain prepared +to take charge of the pickets +for the night, making no secret of his +dispositions. At dark, the videttes and +sentries were posted as usual, and the +officer took his post in the old field +redoubt, which had been the headquarters +of the pickets for the last +fortnight.</p> + +<p>"All went on quietly until about midnight; +the men off duty fast asleep in +their cloaks, and the captain reading +an English novel. He, too, had grown +weary of the night, and was thinking +of stretching himself on the floor of his +hut, when he saw, and not without +some perturbation, a tall spectral +figure, in armour, enter the works, stride +over the sleeping men without exciting +the smallest movement amongst +them, and advance towards him. He +drew his breath hard, and attempted +to call out, but his voice was choked, +and he began to think himself under +the dominion of nightmare. The +figure came nearer still, looking more +menacing, and drew its sword. My +friend, with an effort which he afterwards +acknowledged to be desperate, +put his hand to his side to draw his +own. What was his alarm when he +found that it had vanished? At this +moment his poodle, which, against all +precautions, had followed him, began +barking fiercely, and rushing alternately +towards him and a corner of the +redoubt. Though his sabre was gone, +a brace of English pistols lay on the +table beside him, and he fired one of +them in the direction. The shot was +followed by a groan and the disappearance +of the spectre. The men started +to their feet, and all rushed out in pursuit. +The captain's first step struck +upon a dead body, evidently that of +the spy who had fallen by his fire. The +pursuit was now joined in by the whole +regiment, who had been posted in the +rear unseen, to take advantage of circumstances. +They pushed on, swept +all before them, and bore down patrol +and picket until they reached the enemy's +camp. The question then was, +what to do next? whether to make the +best of their way back, or try their +chance onward? The Englishman's +voice was for taking fortune at the +flow; and the accidental burning of a +tent or two by the fugitives showed +him the Turks already in confusion. +<span class="newpage"><a name="page704" id="page704" title="704"></a></span> The trampling of battalions in the rear +told him at the same time that he had +powerful help at hand, and he dashed +among the lines at once. The hussars, +determined to retrieve their reputation, +did wonders—the enemy +were completely surprised. No troops +but those in the highest state of discipline +are good for any thing when attacked +at night. The gallantry of the +Turk by day, deserts him in the dark; +and a night surprise, if well followed +up, is sure to end in a victory. From +the random firing and shouting on +every side, it was clear that they were +totally taken unawares; and the rapid +and general advance of the Austrian +brigades, showed that Laudohn was in +the mind to make a handsome imperial +bulletin. Day dawned on a rout as +entire as ever was witnessed in a barbarian +campaign. The enemy were +flying in all directions like a horde of +Tartars, and camp, cannon, baggage, +standards, every thing was left at the +mercy of the pursuers."</p> + +<p>"But the captain, the Englishman, +what became of him?" I asked, slightly +glancing at the countenance of the +narrator.</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well off indeed! Foreign +Governments are showy to the soldier, +and Joseph the Second, though +an economist in civil matters, was +liberal to his successful officers. The +captain received a pension; a couple +of orders; was made a colonel on the +first opportunity; and, besides, had his +share of the plunder—no slight addition +to his finances, for the military +chest had been taken in the baggage +of the Seraskier."</p> + +<p>"And by this time," said I, with +an unenquiring air, "he is doubtless +a field-marshal?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the kind," replied my +reverend friend, "for his victory cured +him of soldiership. He was wounded +in the engagement, and if he had been +ever fool enough to think of fame, +the solitary hours of his invalidism put +an end to the folly. Other and dearer +thoughts recurred to his mind. He +had now obtained something approaching +to a competence, if rightly managed; +he asked permission to retire, +returned to England, married +the woman he loved; and never for a +moment regretted that he was listening +to larks and linnets instead of +trumpets and cannon, and settling +the concerns of rustics instead of +manœuvring squadrons and battalions."</p> + +<p>"But what was the ghost, after +all?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the mere trick of a juggler! +a figure projected on the wall by some +ingenious contrivance of glasses. The +instrument was found on the body of +the performer, who turned out to be +the colonel's valet—of course in the +enemy's pay, and who furnished them +with daily intelligence of all our proceedings. +As for the loss of the sabre, +which actually startled the ghost-seer +most, he found it next morning hanging +up in the hut, where he himself +had placed it, and forgotten that he +had done so."</p> + +<p>"And the captain, or rather the +colonel, brought with him to England, +a cimeter-cut on his arm, and +another on his forehead?" I asked, +fixing my eyes on him. A crimson +flush passed over his countenance, he +bit his lip and turned away. I feared +that I had offended irreparably. But +his natural kindliness of heart prevailed, +he turned to me gently, laughed, +and pressing my hand in his, said, +"You have my secret. It has escaped +me for the first time these thirty +years. Keep it like a man of honour."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>I have always held that the life of +man's mind, where man <i>has</i> a mind—which +is not always the case—is a +thing of fits and starts. I even doubt +whether any one who will take the +trouble to recollect, will not be able +to put his finger on the precise periods +at which new views of every thing +suddenly opened before him, and he +emerged at once, if not into new +powers, at least into a new use of +them. The frame may grow like a +tree; the faculties may grow as imperceptibly +as the frame; but the mind +acquires that knowledge of life which +forms its exercise, its use, and perhaps +its essence, by bounds and flights. +This moonlight walk with my old +and honoured Mentor, was the beginning +of my mental adolescence. My +manhood was still to come, and with a +more severe instructor.</p> + +<p>As we were passing slowly through +the plantations which encircled the +Castle with all the noble and profuse +shelter and ornament which our ancestors +loved, a distant sound of music +came on the wind. I then remembered, +for the first time, that my brother +<span class="newpage"><a name="page705" id="page705" title="705"></a></span> had, on that evening, given a ball to +the county, and a sudden sense of the +difference of our lots in life, came painfully +over me;—the course of secure +wealth and English enjoyment, contrasted +with the dependence and wandering +which must form the existence +of myself, and so many thousands of +younger brothers.</p> + +<p>I was awakened from my reverie by +the voice of my companion. His face +was upturned to the cloudless sky, +and he was murmuring the fine passage +in the Merchant of Venice.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Look, how the floor of heaven</p> +<p>Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;</p> +<p>There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,</p> +<p>But in his motion like an angel sings,</p> +<p>Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins:</p> +<p>Such harmony is in immortal souls."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>"Do you know, Charles," said he, +"what changed the whole current of +my life? what, in fact, brought me +back to England?" and there was a +slight pause. "What made me a +Christian? It was such a night as this. +As you now know the chief part of my +story, I need have no further concealment +on the subject. I had recovered +from my wounds, and was preparing +to set out for Vienna, when one night +a tempest blew down our tents, and +left us to trust to the open air for the +hours till morning. Tempests in +the south are violent, but they are +generally brief, and this gale cleared +the sky of every cloud. As I lay on +the ground, and gazed on the unusual +splendour of the stars, the thought +occurred to me, Why should doubts +of a future state ever come into the +mind of man? Why should he hesitate +about its reality? Was it not +there, before his eyes? Were not the +very regions of future existence already +within the reach of one of his +senses? Why might they not yet be +within the reach of all? Of course I +do not give you all the vague thoughts +which passed through my mind; but +the permanence, power, and astonishing +multitude of those bright worlds, +impressed themselves on me with a +new force. I had known all those +matters before, but on this night I felt +them. My next thoughts were of the +power, the wisdom, and the majesty +of the mighty Being by whom all this +had been formed, moved, and sustained +through thousands of years. I need +not follow the history of my conversion—for +a conversion it was. When +I looked round me on the sleeping +troops, I saw nothing but clods of the +valley—gallant beings, but as insensible +to their high inheritance as the +chargers they rode. My heart moved +me towards them; and perhaps, in +some instances, I succeeded in giving +them my own ideas. But Austria defies, +at least, all human change. I was not +a fanatic, and I had no wish to strive +with impossibilities. I sent in my +resignation; abandoned the 'pride, +pomp, and circumstance' of the most +tempting of all human pursuits, and +returned to England to be, what you +see me now."</p> + +<p>With this man I could have no +reserves, and I freely asked his advice +on the plunge which I was about to +make into that fathomless tide of good +and ill, the world. I mentioned the +Church as the profession which my +mother had suggested, but for which +I did not conceive either my temper +or my habits suitable.</p> + +<p>"You are right, then, in abandoning +the idea altogether," was the answer; +"and yet I know no profession more +capable of fulfilling all the objects of +a vigorous mind. I am not now talking +of mitres; they can fall to but +few. I speak of the prospects which +it opens to all; the power of exerting +the largest influence for the highest +purposes; the possession of fame +without its emptiness, and the indulgence +of knowledge without its +vanity; energy turned to the most +practical and lofty uses of man; and +the full feast of an ambition superior +to the tinsel of the world, and alike +pure in its motives, and immeasurable +in its rewards."</p> + +<p>"And, yet," said I, naming one or +two of our clerical slumberers, "the +profession seems not to be a very disturbing +one."</p> + +<p>"Those men, was the answer, would +have been slumberers at the bar, in +senates, or in the field. I may be prejudiced +in favour of the choice which I +made so long since, and which I have +never found reason to repent. But I +have not the slightest wish to prejudice +any one in its favour. There is +no profession which more requires a +peculiar mind; contentment, with +whatever consciousness of being overlooked; +patience, with whatever hopelessness +of success; labour, for its own +<span class="newpage"><a name="page706" id="page706" title="706"></a></span> sake; and learning, with few to share, +few to admire, and fewer still to understand."</p> + +<p>"If my father had lived," said I, +"it was his intention to have tried my +chance in diplomacy."</p> + +<p>"Probably enough; for he had figured +in that line himself. I remember him +secretary of embassy at Vienna. Perhaps +you will scarcely believe, that I, +too, have had my experience on the +subject? Accident once made me an +attaché to our envoy at Naples. The +life is an easy one. Idleness was +never more perfectly reduced to a system, +than among the half dozen functionaries +to whom the interests of the +British empire were entrusted in the +capital of the Lazzaroni. As the +Frenchman said of the Academy, 'We +had nothing to do, and we did it.'"</p> + +<p>"Italy," said I, "is the land of pleasure, +and the Lazzaroni are its philosophers, +but one cannot sleep like them +in the face of day, and all day long. +Let what will come, I have no desire +to be a weed on the shore."</p> + +<p>"No; we had our occupations; for +we had the attendance on the court days—a +business of as much formality, as +if the fate of mankind depended on +it. Then we had the attendance on +the opera at night, a matter nearly as +tiresome. The post from England +reached Naples but once a-week, and +scarcely once a month conveyed any +intelligence that was worth the postage. +But, if politics were out of the +question, we had negotiation in abundance; +for we carried on the whole diplomacy +of the opera-house in London, +engaged <i>primo tenores</i>, and settled +the rival claims of <i>prima donnas</i>; +gave our critical opinions on the +merits of dancers worthy of appearing +before the British <i>cognoscenti</i>; and +dispatched poets, ballet-masters, and +scene-painters, to our managers, with +an activity worthy of the purest patriotism. +What think you of the bar?"</p> + +<p>"I have no head for its study; and +no heart for its employment."</p> + +<p>"It leads more rapidly to rank than +any other profession under the sun; +profit beyond counting, and a peerage. +Those are no bad things."</p> + +<p>"Both capital, if one could be secure +of them. But they take too much +time for me. I never was born to sit +on the woolsack. No; if I were to +follow my own inclination, I should +be a soldier."</p> + +<p>I have already said that I have +been, throughout life, a kind of believer +in omens. I have seen such a +multitude of things decided by some +curious coincidence, some passing occurrence, +some of those odd trifles for +which it is impossible to account, but +which occur at the instant when the +mind is wavering on the balance; +that I feel no wonder at the old superstitions +of guessing our destiny from +the shooting of a star, or the flight of +birds. While we were rambling onward, +discussing the merits and demerits +of the profession of arms, we +heard the winding of the mail-guard's +horn. I sprang the fence, and waited +in the road to enquire the last news +from the metropolis. It was momentous—the +Revolution had effectually +broken out. Paris was in an uproar. +The king's guards had taken up arms +for the people. The Bastile was +stormed!</p> + +<p>If I had hesitated before, this news +decided me; not that I pretend to have +even dreamed of the tremendous +changes which were to be produced in +the world by that convulsion. But it +struck me as the beginning of a time, +when the lazy quietude of years was +about to be broken up, and room made +for all who were inclined to exert themselves. +Before we had reached the +level lawns and trim parterres which +showed us the lights of the family +festivity, I had settled all the difficulties +which might impede the career of +less fortunate individuals; time and +chance were managed with the adroitness +of a projector; and if Bellona had +been one of the Nine Muses, my +speculations could not have been more +poetical. Somewhat to my surprise, +they received no check from my venerable +tutor; quite the contrary. The +singular sympathy with which he listened +to my most daring and dashing +conceptions, would have betrayed his +early history if I had still the knowledge +to acquire. His very looks, as +he listened to my rodomontades, recurred +to me, when I read, many +years after, Scott's fine description of +his soldier-monk in the Lay of the +Last Minstrel:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Again on the knight look'd the churchman old,</p> +<p class="i1">And again he sigh'd heavily,</p> +<p>For he had himself been a warrior bold,</p> +<p class="i1">And fought in Spain and Italy.</p> +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page707" id="page707" title="707"></a></span> And he thought on the days that were long gone by,</p> +<p>When his limbs were strong, and his courage was high."</p> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>The news from France produced +a sensation throughout England +totally indescribable at the present +day. Every tongue and every heart +was full of it. It offered something +for every mind of the million +to seize on. Like a waterspout, such +as I have seen sweeping over the +bosom of the Atlantic, half-descending +from the skies, and half-ascending +from the deep; every second man +whom one met gave it credit for a +different origin, some looking at the +upper portion and some at the lower; +while, in the mean time, the huge +phenomenon was blackening, gathering, +and rushing onward, threatening +to turn all above into darkness and all +below into storm. It made the grand +subject of parliamentary eloquence, +and parliament was never more eloquent; +it filled the speeches of the +factious, it was hailed by the shouts +of the multitude, and it disturbed the +fireside with fear and hope, with wishing +and wonder. It must be acknowledged +that a vast quantity of this +excitement was absolute folly; but, at +the same time, there was a sincerity +in the folly which redeemed it from ridicule. +Nothing could be more evident +than that this French patriotism was +as theatrical, in the countless majority +of instances, as the loves and sorrows +of its stage. Yet, however the +speeches might be got by heart, or +the frippery and actors hired, the +<i>drame</i> was powerfully performed; +and all Europe sat by, giving it the +tribute of its tears and its terrors. +Even we of England, with all our +more sober recollections that the +heroes were ragamuffins, and the heroism +imaginary, gave ourselves up +to the illusion. I shall not say that +I was wiser than the rest of mankind. +I liked excitement, wherever +it was to be found. The barriers +to distinction were still too firmly +closed against the youngest son of an +embarrassed family, not to suggest +many a wish for whatever chance +might burst the gate, or blow up the +rampart; and my first effort in political +life was a harangue to the rabble +of the next borough, conceived in the +most Gallic style. Yet this act of +absurdity had the effect of forwarding +my views more rapidly than if I had +become an aristocratic Demosthenes. +My speech was so much applauded +by the mob, that they began to put +its theories in practice, though with +rather more vigour than I had dreamed +of. There were riots, and even +some attempts at the seizure of arms; +and the noble duke, our neighbour, +had received a threatening letter, +which sent him at full gallop to the +Home Secretary. A note, by no +means too gentle in its tone, was instantly +despatched to my noble brother, +enquiring why he did not contrive +to keep the minor branches of +his family in better order, and threatening +him with the withdrawal of +the county patronage. My demand +of a commission in the Guards was +no longer answered by the head +of our house with astonishment +at the loftiness of my expectations, +and statements of the utter emptiness +of the family exchequer. The result +of his brief correspondence with +Downing Street was a letter, notifying +that his majesty was pleased to +accept my services in the Coldstream.</p> + +<p>I was enraptured, and my brother +was enraptured, for we had both gained +our objects. I had got rid of him +and ennui. He had got rid of me, and +the displeasure of the grand dispensers +of place and pension. No time was +lost in forwarding me to make my bow +at the Horse Guards; and my noble +brother lost as little time in making +me put my hand to a paper, in which, +for prompt payment, I relinquished +one half of my legacy. But what +cared I for money? I had obtained a +profession in which money was contemptible, +the only purse the military +chest, and the only prize, like Nelson's, +a peerage or Westminster Abbey. +The ferment did not cool within +the week, and within that period I had +taken leave of half the county, been +wished laurels and aiguillettes by a +hundred or a thousand of the fairest +of our country belles; and been wished +a thousand miles off by the wise +matrons, to whom the sight of a +"younger son without house or land" +is a nuisance, a kite among their +family pigeons.</p> + +<p>At that moment, however, all their +dovecots were secure. I should not +have spent a sigh on the Venus de Medicis +had she sprung from her pedestal +<span class="newpage"><a name="page708" id="page708" title="708"></a></span> to enchant me. The world was +open before me; and trite and trifling +objects were no more to occupy my +time. I felt like one who, after wandering +all day through the depths of +an American forest, suddenly reaches +its border, and sees before him the +boundless prairie, with its boundlessness +still more striking, from the +absence of any distinct object on +which the eye could rest. What were +horses, dogs, and country dinners, to +the world of London and of life which +now came in full, and, I will own it, extravagant +vision before me? The ideas +which I conceived of men and things, +of my own fortunes, and the fortunate +exercise of my own powers, were of +an order which, in my calmer days, +have often made me smile; yet what +is the whole early life of man but a +predisposition to fever? and I was +then throbbing on the fiery verge of +the disease.</p> + +<p>I shall say but little of my first sensations +on reaching London. My +eyes and ears were in full activity. +But the impression upon all who enter +this mightiest of capitals for the first +time, is nearly the same. Its perpetual +multitude, its incessant movement, +its variety of occupations, sights +and sounds, the echo of the whole +vast and sleepless machinery of national +existence, have been a thousand +times the subject of description, and +always of wonder. Yet, I must acknowledge, +that its first sight repelled +me. I had lived in field and +forest, my society had been among +my fellows in rank; I had lived in +magnificent halls, and been surrounded +by bowing attendants; and now, +with my mind full of the calm magnificence +of English noble life, I felt +myself flung into the midst of a numberless, +miscellaneous, noisy rabble, +all rushing on regardless of every +thing but themselves, pouring through +endless lines of dingy houses; and I +nothing, an atom in the confusion, a +grain of dust on the great chariot +wheel of society, a lonely and obscure +struggler in the mighty current of +human life, which rolled along the +sullen channels of the most cheerless, +however it might be the largest, of +capitals.</p> + +<p>For the first week, I was absolutely +unable to collect my thoughts. +All that I learned was, to make my +way through the principal thoroughfares, +and know the names of her +chief buildings. In later days, I +took a more practical view of matters, +and regarded them only as places in +which the business of the hour was to +be done. But in my first view, something +of the romance and revival of +my forest walks clung to me. I remember +that, when I first saw the +Horse Guards, to which, of course, +one of my earliest visits was paid, I +found no slight difficulty in thinking +of it as only a remarkably clownish +mass of brick and stone, crowded +with clerks. To me it was the very +palace of war; the spot from which +the thunderbolts of England were +launched; the centre and the stronghold +of that irresistible influence with +which England sways and moulds +mankind. The India House was another +of my reveries. I could not +think of it as but a huge pile in a vulgar +outlet of the city, as a place of porters +and messengers loitering in gloomy +corridors, of busy clerks for ever scribbling +in nooks unvisited by the sun, +or even of portly directors, congregating +in halls encrusted with the +cobwebs of centuries. To my eyes it +was invested with the mystery and +dignity of Orientalism. I thought of +the powers by which rajahs were raised +and overthrown, of the mandates which +spread war and restored peace over +regions wide as Europe, and a thousand +times more brilliant. I had +rambling visions of armies of elephants, +superb cavalry, and chieftains +covered with gold and diamonds. As +I traversed the dusky halls, I thought +of the will which pronounced the fate +of kingdoms, the fallen glories of +Aurengzebe, the broken sceptre of +the Mahratta, and the crushed tiara +of Mysore. Round me was the moving +power of an empire, the noblest +that the East has ever seen, and +which, in the act of assuming additional +greatness, by a contradiction to +all the laws of extended conquest, was +hourly assuming additional stability.</p> + +<p>And yet, and yet, are not those the +true views, after all? Are the effects +to be forgotten in the instruments, or +is it not the result which forms the +character of the whole? Are we to +think of the dagger which strikes the +master of a throne, as only the steel in +the hand of an assassin, or as the summoner +to civil war and the subversion +of thrones? Is the pen which pours +<span class="newpage"><a name="page709" id="page709" title="709"></a></span> political frenzy through the hearts of +living millions, or sheds the splendours +of poetry over millions still to come, +to be valued only as the feather of a +bird? Or is the press itself to be +remembered only as a dexterous combination +of springs and screws; or to be +bowed down to as the steward of all +the hidden treasures of mind—as the +breaker of intellectual chains, the +avenger of injured rights, the moral +Hercules that goes forth turning the +wilderness to fertility, and smiting the +monsters of the world?</p> + +<p>But among the wonders of the +time, there was one which struck me +with prodigious force, which has remained +on my recollection to this +hour, and which still survives with +undiminished vividness. It was the +acting of Siddons.</p> + +<p>The stage is now almost undone. +The absurd liberalism of the day has +given every corner of London a +theatre, and has degraded the character +of the stage in all. By scattering +the ability which still exists, it has +stripped the great theatres of the very +means of representing dramatic excellence; +while, by adopting popular contrivances +to obtain temporary success, +they have driven away dramatic +genius in contempt or in despair. Our +stage is now condemned to be fed like +a felon from the dungeons, and, like the +felon, to feel a stigma in every morsel +which it puts between its lips. It +must stoop to French frivolity, or +German extravagance, and be glad to +exist upon either. Yet, why should +not higher names come to its aid? +Why should not the State relieve the +difficulties of a great institution, which +might be made to repay its assistance +a thousand-fold? Is there nothing +that could be withdrawn from the +waste of our civil lists, or the pomp +of public establishments, to reunite, +to purify, and even to exalt the stage? +The people <i>will</i> have theatres. Good +or evil, noble or degraded, the stage +will be demanded by the people. Is +it a thing indifferent to our rulers, to +supply them with this powerful and +universal excitement in its highest +degree of moral influence, or in its +lowest degree of impurity; to bring +before them, with all the attractions +of the drama, the memory of heroes +and sages, patriots and martyrs, or +leave them to rake for the indulgence +of eye and ear in the very kennels of +crime?</p> + +<p>"They order those things better +in France."</p> + +<p>Unquestionably. The care of Government +there protects the national +taste, and prevents the theatres from +looking for subsistence to the history +of the highway. The vices which +now haunt theatres are no more necessary +to their nature, than to the +senate or the palace. Why should +not the State interpose to prevent +the sale of poison on the stage, +as in the streets? Why should +it not offer prizes and honours for +great tragedies and comedies, as soon +as it would for a voyage to the Arctic +or Antarctic? But is dramatic genius +dead in England? What, in England! +where nothing dies—where every faculty +of the heart and understanding is +in the most perpetual activity—where +the noblest impulses are perpetually +pushing forward to the noblest ends—where +human nature moves in all +its vigour, from hour to hour, without +disguise—where the whole anatomy +of the moral frame is visible, and all +its weakness, and all its wonders, +are the daily spectacle of all mankind!</p> + +<p>In giving these opinions of the powers +of the stage, need I guard them +by saying, that I contemplate a higher +spirit than the drama even of Shakspeare +has ever displayed—one +which, to the vigour of his characters, +and the splendours of his poetry, +should add a moral of which his time +was scarcely conscious? My idea +would approach more nearly the +objects of the great Greek dramas, in +which the first sympathies of the people +were appealed to by the most +powerful recollections of historic virtue; +their national victories over the +Persian, the lofty conceptions of their +Olympus, the glories of their national +power, and the prospects of their +imperishable renown. I contemplate +nothing of the weakness, locality, or +license, of our old drama. I think +only of a rich and lofty combination +of characters above the level of our +time, thoughts belonging to that elevation, +feelings more generous, vivid, +and majestic, and exploits uniting the +soaring spirit of old romance with the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page710" id="page710" title="710"></a></span> sustained strength of modern energy; +Greece in her brightest days of intellectual +lustre, Rome in her most heroic +days of patriotism, and England +in those days which are yet to come, +and which shall fill up her inheritance +of glory.</p> + +<p>Siddons was then witching the +world—witching, in its more solemn +sense; for though her smile was exquisite, +she might have sat for the +picture of a Sybil or a Pythoness. +The stage had never seen her equal, +and will probably never see another +so completely formed to command all +its influences. Yet her beauty, her +acting, even her movement, were characteristic, +and their character was +noble melancholy. I never saw so +mournful a countenance combined +with so much beauty. Her voice, +though grand, was melancholy—her +step, though superb, was melancholy; +her very smile was melancholy; +and yet there was so much of living +intellect in her expression, such vast +variety of passion in her look and +gesture; she so deeply awoke the +feelings, or so awfully impressed the +mind; thus it was impossible to escape +the spell, while she moved upon the +stage.</p> + +<p>In this language there is not the +slightest exaggeration. I have seen +a whole audience burst into tears at +a single tone of her voice. Her +natural conception was so fine, that +the merest commonplace often received +a living spirit from her lips. I +have seen a single glance from her +powerful eye hush an audience—I +have seen her acting sometimes even +startle and bewilder the actors beside +her. There is perhaps a genius for +every art, and hers was the genius of +the stage—a faculty of instant +communication between the speaker and +the hearer, some unaccountable +sympathy, the power to create which belongs +to but one in millions, and which, +where it exists, lifts its possessor to +the height of the Art at once, and constitutes +perfection.</p> + +<p>It may be presumed that I saw this +extraordinary being whenever it was +possible. But her <i>chef-d'œuvre</i>, in +my eyes, was the "wife of Macbeth." +The character seemed made for her, +by something of that instinct which +in olden times combined the poet and +the prophet in one. It had the ardour +and boldness mingled with the +solemnity and mystery that belonged +to the character of her beauty.</p> + +<p>Her entrance was hurried, as if she +had but just glanced over the letter, +and had been eager to escape from the +crowd of attendants to reperuse it +alone. She then read on, in a strong +calm voice, until she came to the passage +which proved the preternatural +character of the prediction. "They +have more in them than mortal knowledge. +When I burnt with desire to +question them further, they made +themselves into air and—<i>vanished</i>." +As she was about to pronounce the +last word, she paused, drew a short +breath, her whole frame was disturbed, +she threw her fine eyes upwards, and +exclaimed "<i>Vanished</i>!" with a wild +force, which showed that the whole +spirit of the temptation had shrunk +into her soul. The "Hail, king that +shall be!" was the winding-up of the +spell. It was pronounced with the +grandeur of one already by anticipation +a Queen.</p> + +<p>Her solitary summons to her distant +lord followed, like an invocation—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i5">"Hie thee hither,</p> +<p>That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;</p> +<p>And chastise with the valour of my tongue</p> +<p>All that impedes thee from the golden round."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The murder scene was the next +triumph: her acting was that of a +triumphant fiend. I must follow these +recollections no further; but the most +admirable piece of dumb show that +perhaps ever was conceived, was her +"Banquet scene." That scene, from +the terrible business on the stage—the +entrance of Banquo's ghost, the horrors +of Macbeth, stricken in the moment of +his royal exultation, and the astonishment +and alarm of the courtiers—is +one of the most thrilling and tumultuous. +Yet Siddons, sitting at the extremity +of the royal hall, not having a +syllable to utter, and simply occupied +with courtesies to her guests, made +her silence so expressive, that she +more than divided the interest with the +powerful action going on in front. +And when at last, indignant at Macbeth's +terrors, stung by conscience, +and alarmed at the result of an up-breaking +of the banquet with such +rumours in their lips, she rushed towards +her unhappy husband, and burst +<span class="newpage"><a name="page711" id="page711" title="711"></a></span> out with the words, still though but +whispered, yet intensely poured into +his passive ear—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">"Are you a <i>man</i>?</p> +<p>This is the very painting of your fear!</p> +<p>This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,</p> +<p>Led you to Duncan!—</p> +<p>Why do you make such faces? When all's done,</p> +<p><i>You look but on a stool</i>!"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In those accents all else was forgotten.</p> + +<p>But her sleep-walking scene! When +shall we see its "second or its similar?" +Nothing so solemn, nothing so +awful, was ever seen upon the stage. +Yet it had one fault—it was too awful. +She more resembled a majestic shade +rising from the tomb than a living woman, +however disturbed by wild fear +and lofty passion. It is a remarkable +instance of the genius of Shakspeare, +that he here found the means of giving +a human interest to a being whom he +had almost exalted to the "bad eminence" +of a magnificent fiend. In +this famous soliloquy, the thoughts +which once filled and fired her have +totally vanished. Ambition has died; +remorse lives in its place. The diadem +has disappeared; she thinks only +of the blood that stains her for ever. +She is the queen no more, but an exhausted +and unhappy woman, worn +down by the stings of conscience, and +with her frame dying by the disease +of her soul.</p> + +<p>But Siddons wanted the agitation, +the drooping, the timidity. She looked +a living statue. She spoke with +the solemn tone of a voice from a +shrine. She stood more the sepulchral +avenger of regicide than the +sufferer from its convictions. Her +grand voice, her fixed and marble +countenance, and her silent step, gave +the impression of a supernatural +being, the genius of an ancient oracle—a +tremendous Nemesis.</p> + +<p>I have seen all the great tragedians +of my day, but I have never seen an +equal to the sublime of this extraordinary +actress. I have seen beauty, +youth, touching sensibility, and powerful +conception; but I never saw so +complete an union of them all—and +that union was the sublime. Shakspeare +must have had some such form +before his mind's eye, while he was +creating the wife of Macbeth. Some +magnificent and regal countenance, +some movement of native majesty, +some imaginary Siddons. He could +not have gone beyond the true. She +was a living Melpomene.</p> + +<p>The business of the War-Office was +not transacted in those days with the +dispatch subsequently introduced by +the honest Duke of York. After a +delay of weeks I found myself still +ungazetted, grew sad, angry, impatient; +and after some consideration on +the various modes of getting rid of +<i>ennui</i>, which were to be found in enlisting +the service of that Great +Company which extended its wings +from Bombay to Bengal, as Sheridan +said, impudently enough, like the vulture +covering his prey; or in taking +the chance of fortune, in the shape of +cabin-boy on board one of the thousand +ships that were daily floating +down the Thames, making their way +to the extremities of the earth; or in +finishing my feverish speculations in +a cold bath at the bottom of the +Thames itself; I did what I felt a +severer exertion than any of them—I +wrote a full and true statement of my +vexations to my lordly brother.</p> + +<p>His answer was lordly enough. +He had been "so much occupied with +the numberless duties devolving upon +him as landlord, magistrate, lord-lieutenant, +and fifty other things, that +he absolutely had not been able to +find a moment to think of me;" and +what was rather more perplexing to +my immediate sensibilities, "he had +not been able to send me a shilling. +However, he did all that he could, +and gave me a note to a particular +friend," Mr Elisha Mordecai of Moorfields.</p> + +<p>There is nothing which quickens a +man's movements like a depletion of +the purse; and instead of lounging at +my hotel until the morning paper +brought me the scandals and pleasantries +of the day before fresh for +my breakfast-table, I threw myself +out of bed at an hour which I should +not have ventured to mention to any +man with whom I walked arm-in-arm +during the day, and made my way in +a hackney coach, to avoid the possibility +of being recognised, to the +dwelling of my new patron, or rather +my guide and guardian angel.</p> + +<p>I make no attempt to describe the +navigation through which I reached +him; it was winding, dark, and dirty +beyond all description, and gave the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page712" id="page712" title="712"></a></span> idea of the passages of a dungeon +rather than any thing else that I could +name. And in a hovel worthy to finish +such a voyage of discovery, I discovered +Mr Elisha Mordecai, the man +of untold opulence. For a while, on +being ushered into the office, where +he sat pen in hand, I was utterly +unable to ascertain any thing of him +beyond a gaunt thin figure, who sat +crouching behind a pile of papers, +and beneath a small window covered +with the dirt of ages. He gave me +the impression in his dungeon of one +of those toads which are found from +time to time in blocks of coal, and +have lain there unbreathing and unmoving +since the deluge. However, +he was a man of business, and so was +I for the moment. I handed him my +brother's note; and like a ray of +sunshine on the torpid snake, it put +him into immediate motion. He now +took off his spectacles, as if to indulge +himself with a view of me by the +naked eye; and after a scrutinizing +look, which, in another place and person, +I should probably have resented +as impertinent, but which here seemed +part of his profession, he rose from +his seat and ushered me into another +apartment. This room was probably +his place of reception for criminals of +a more exalted order; for it was lined +with foreign prints, had one or two +tolerable Dutch pictures, and a bookcase. +Out of his bookcase he took +down a folio, examined it, compared +the writing of my credentials with the +signatures of a book which, as Cromwell's +son said of his trunk, contained +the lives and fortunes, or at least that +on which depended the lives and fortunes, +of half the noble <i>roués</i> of England, +their "promises to pay," bonds, +mortgages, and post-obits, and then +performed the operation on myself. +My L.2500 in prospect was mulcted +of a fifth for the trouble of realizing +it; of another fifth for prompt payment, +and of another for expediting +the affair of my commission. "Another +such victory would have ruined +me."</p> + +<p>However, I bore the torture well. +In truth, I had so little regard for any +object but the grand one of wearing +a sword and epaulette, that if Mordecai +had demanded the whole sum in +fifths, I should have scarcely winced. +But my philosophy stood me in good +part, for it won a grim smile from the +torturer, and even a little of his confidence.</p> + +<p>"This," said he, running his finger +down a list which looked endless, "I +call my peerage book." Turning to +another of equal dimensions, "there +lies my House of Commons. Not quite +as many words wasted in it as in the +Honourable House, but rather to the +purpose."</p> + +<p>Mordecai grew facetious; the feeling +that he had made a handsome morning's +work of it put him into spirits, +and he let me into some of the secrets +of high life, with the air of a looker-on +who sees the whole game, and +intends to pocket the stakes of the +fools on both sides. "Money, Mr +Marston," said my hook-nosed and +keen-eyed enlightener, "is the true +business of man. It is philosophy, +science, and patriotism in one; or, +at least, without it the whole three +are of but little service. Your philosopher +dies in a garret, your man of +science hawks telescopes, and your +patriot starves in the streets, or gets +himself hanged in honour of the +'Rights of Man.' I have known all +these things, for I was born a German, +and bred among the illustrissimi +of a German university. But I determined +not to live a beggar, or at +least not to die one. I left Gottingen +behind on a May morning, and +trudged, fought, and begged, 'borrowed' +my way to London. What +I am now, you see."</p> + +<p>Probably, the glance which I involuntarily +gave round the room, did +not exhibit much admiration.</p> + +<p>"Ha," said he with a half smile, +which, on his gigantic and sullen features, +looked like a smile on one of +the sculptures of a mausoleum, "you +are young—you judge by appearances. +Let me give you one piece of advice: +If the Italian said, 'distrust words, +they are fit only to disguise thoughts,' +take a Londoner's warning, and distrust +your eyes—they are only fit to +pretend to see." He paused a moment, +and turned over some memorandums. +"I find," said he, "by +these papers, that I shall have occasion +to leave town in the beginning of +next week. You shall then see how +I live. If I am to be found in this +den, it is not for want of a liking for +light and air. I am a German. I +have seen plains and mountains in my +time. If I had been a fool, there I +<span class="newpage"><a name="page713" id="page713" title="713"></a></span> should have remained a bear-shooter; +if I were a fool here, I should act like +others of the breed, and be a fox-hunter. +But I had other game in +view, and now I could sell half the +estates in England, call half the 'Honourable +House' to my levee, brush +down an old loan, buy up a new one, +and shake the credit of every thing +but the Bank of England."</p> + +<p>This was bold speaking, and at another +time I should have laughed at +it; but the times were bold, the language +of the streets was bold, the +country was bold, and I, too, was bold. +There was something singular in the +man; even the hovel round him had a +look which added to his influence. I +listened to the Jew as one might listen +to a revealer of those secrets which +find an echo in every bosom, when +they are once discovered, and on +which still deeper secrets seem to depend. +My acquiescence, not the less +effective for its being expressed more +in looks than words, warmed even the +stern spirit of the Israelite towards +me, and he actually went the length +of ordering some refreshments to be +put on the table. We eat and drank +together; a new source of cordiality. +Our conversation continued long. I +shall have more to say of him, and +must now proceed to other things; +but it ended in my acceptance of his +invitation to his villa at Brighton, +which he termed "a small thing, +simply for a week's change of air," +and where he promised to give me +some curious explanations of his +theory—that money was the master of +all things, men, manners, and opinions.</p> + +<p>On one of the finest mornings of +autumn, I was on the box of the +Royal Sussex Stage.</p> + +<p>I had full leisure to admire the +country, for our progress occupied +nearly the whole day. We now +laugh at our slow-moving forefathers, +but is not the time coming when our +thirty miles an hour will be laughed +at as much as their five? when our +passage from Calais to Dover will be +made by the turn of a winch, and +Paris will be within the penny-post +delivery? when the balloon will +carry our letters and ourselves; until +that still more rapid period, when we +shall ride on cannon-shot, and make +but a stage from London to Pekin?</p> + +<p>On the roof of the coach I found a +strong-featured and closely wrapped-up +man, who, by degrees, performed +the part of my cicerone. His knowledge +of the localities was perfect; +"every bush and bosky dell," every +creek and winding, as the shore came +in sight, was so familiar to him, that +I should have set him down at once +for a smuggler, but for a superiority +of tone in his language, and still more +from the evident deference to him by +the coachman, in those days a leading +authority with all the passengers. +His occupation is now nearly o'er. +Fire and water have swept him away. +His broad back, his broad grin, and +his broad buttons, are now but recollections.</p> + +<p>My new acquaintance exhibited as +perfect a knowledge of the country +residents as of its map, and nothing +could be more unhesitating than his +opinions of them all, from the prince +and his set, as he termed them, to +Mordecai himself. Of my Jew friend, +he said, with a laugh, "There is not +a better friend to the King's Bench +in all England. If you have any +thing to lose, he will strip you on the +spot. If you have nothing, you may +escape, unless he can make something +by having you hanged." I begged +of him to spare my new friend. +"Why," said he, "he is one of my +oldest friends, and one of the cleverest +fellows alive. I speak tenderly of +him, from admiration of his talents. +I have a liking for the perfection of a +rogue. He is a superb fellow. You +will find his 'Hermitage,' as he calls +it, a pond of gold fish. But all this +you will soon learn for yourself." +The coach now stopped on a rising +ground, which showed the little fishing +village beneath us, basking in the +glow of sunset. My cicerone got down, +and bade me farewell. On enquiring +his name from my fellow-travellers, a +group of Sussex farmers, I found a +general disinclination to touch on the +subject. Even the coachman, the +established source of information on +all topics, exhibited no wish to discuss +the stranger; his official loquacity +was almost dumb. "He merely believed +that he was something in the +navy, or in the army, or in something +or other; but he was often in those +parts, and generally travelled to London +by the Royal Sussex Stage."</p> + +<p>No country in Europe has changed +its appearance more than the greater +<span class="newpage"><a name="page714" id="page714" title="714"></a></span> part of England during the last fifty +years. Sussex was then as wild as +the wildest heath of Yorkshire. The +population, too, looked as wild as the +landscape. This was once the very +land of the bold smuggler; the haunt +of the dashing defier of the customhouse +officer, who in those days generally +knew his antagonist too well to +interfere with his days or nights, the +run between every port of the west +of France and the coasts of the Channel, +being, in fact, as familiar to both +as the lounger in Bond Street to the +beau of the day.</p> + +<p>We passed groups of men, who, +when they had not the sailor's dress, +had the sailor's look; some trudging +along the road-side, evidently not in +idleness; others mounted on the short +rough horse of the country, and all +knowing and known by our coachman.</p> + +<p>On our passing one group, leaning +with their backs against one of the +low walls which seemed the only enclosure +of this rugged region, I, half-laughingly, +hinted to one of my neighbours, +a giant of a rough-headed farmer, +that "perhaps a meeting with +such a party, at a late hour, might +be inconvenient, especially if the traveller +had a full purse." The fellow +turned on me a countenance of ridicule. +"What?" said he, "do you +take them for robbers? Heaven bless +you, my lad, they could buy the stage, +horses, passengers, and all. I'll warrant +you, they will have news from +over there," and he pointed towards +France, "before it gets into the newspapers, +long enough. They are the +richest fellows in the county."</p> + +<p>"Are they smugglers?" I asked, +with sufficient want of tact.</p> + +<p>"Why, no," was the answer, with +a leer. "We have nothing of that +breed among us; we are all honest +men. But what if a man has an acquaintance +abroad, and gets a commission +to sell a cargo of tea or +brandy, or perhaps a present from a +friend—what shall hinder him from +going to bring it? I'm sure, not I."</p> + +<p>It was evidently not the "etiquette" +on the roof of the Royal Sussex to +think much on the subject, and before +my curiosity could reach the +length of actual imprudence, the +coachman pulled up, and informed +me that I had reached the nearest +turn to "the Hermitage." My valise +was lowered down, a peasant was +found to carry it, and I plunged into +the depth of a lane as primitive as if +it had been a path in Siberia.</p> + +<p>It was brief, however, and in a few +minutes I was within sight of the +villa. Here I at once discovered that +Mordecai was a man of taste; perhaps +the very roughness of the Sussex +jungle, through which I had just +come, had been suffered to remain for +the sake of contrast. A small lodge, +covered with late blooming roses, let +me into a narrow avenue of all kinds +of odorous shrubs; the evening sun +was still strong enough to show me +glimpses of the grounds on either +side, and they had all the dressed +smoothness of a parterre. The scene +was so different from all that I had +been wearied of during the day, that +I felt it with double enjoyment; and +the utter solitude and silence, after +the rough voices of my companions +in the journey, were so soothing, that +I involuntarily paused before I approached +the house, to refresh not +more my senses than my mind. As +I stood leaning against a tree, and +baring my hot brain and bosom to +the breeze, that rose with delicious +coolness, I heard music. It was a +sweet voice, accompanied at intervals +by some skilful touches of a harp; +and, from the solemnity of the measure, +I supposed it to be a hymn. +Who was the minstrel? Mordecai +had never mentioned to me either +wife or daughter. Well, at all events, +the song was sweet. The minstrel +was a woman, and the Jew's household +promised me more amusement +than I could have expected from the +man of Moorfields. The song ceased, +the spell was broken, and I moved +on, fully convinced that I had entered +on a scene where I might expect at +least novelty; and the expectation +was then enough to have led me to +the cannon's mouth or the antipodes.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page715" id="page715" title="715"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s2" id="bw332s2"></a><h2>THE VIGIL OF VENUS.</h2> + +<h3>TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN.</h3> + +<p>This old poem, which commemorates the festivities with which ancient +Rome hailed the returning brightness of spring, may, perhaps, awaken in our +readers some melancholy reflections on the bygone delights of the same season +in our own country. To the Romans, it would seem, this period of the year +never ceased to bring rejoicing holidays. There is good reason to suppose +that this poem was written in the declining times of the empire; if so, it seems +that, amidst the public misfortunes that followed one another during that age, +the people were not woe-worn and distressed; that they were able to forget, +in social pleasures, the gradual decay of their ancient glory. Rome "smiled +in death." England is still great and powerful, but she is no longer Merry +England.</p> + +<p>Most people have heard of the Floralia, and have learned to deduce the +frolics of Maid Marian and her comrades from the Roman observances on that +festive occasion. But few are aware of the close similarity which this poem +shows to have existed between the customs of the Romans and those of our +fathers. In the denunciations of the latter by the acrid Puritans of the 17th +century, we might almost imagine that the tirade was expressly levelled +against the vigils described in the <i>Pervigilium Veneris</i>. If the poem had ever +fallen into the hands of those worthies, it would have afforded them an additional +handle for invective against the foul ethnic superstitions which the +May-games were denounced as representing. Hear Master Stubbes, in his +<i>Anatomie of Abuses</i>, published in 1585:—</p> + +<div class="blkquot"><p>"Against May, Whitsonday, or other time, all the yung men and maides, +old men and wives, run gadding over the night to the woods, groves, hils, and +mountains, where they spend all the night in pleasant pastimes, and in the +morning they return, bringing with them birch and branches of trees, to deck +their assemblies withall; and no meruaile, for there is a great Lord present +amongst them as superintendent and Lord of their sports, namely, Sathan +prince of hel. But the chiefest jewel they bring from thence is their May-pole, +(say rather their stinking poole,) which they bring home with great +veneration."</p></div> + +<p>Who does not remember Lysander's appointment with Hermia:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">——"in that wood, a league without the town,</p> +<p>Where I did meet thee once with Helena,</p> +<p>To do observance to a morn of May,</p> +<p>There will I stay for thee."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>These passages point us to the time when man and nature met to rejoice +together on May-day: to the time before the days of the workhouse and factory; +when the length and breadth of the land rung to the joyaunce and glee +of the holiday-rejoicing nation, and the gay sounds careered on fresh breezes +even where now the dense atmosphere of Manchester or Ashton glooms over +the dens of torture in which withered and debauched children are forced to +their labour, and the foul haunts under the shelter of which desperate men +hatch plots of rapine and slaughter.</p> + +<p>The poem shows that the Romans, like the English of those days, celebrated +the season by betaking themselves to the woods throughout the night, where +they kept a vigil in honour of Venus, to whose guardianship the month of +April was assigned, as being the universal generating and producing power, and +more especially to be adored as such by the Romans, from having been, through +her son Æneas, the author of their race. The poem seems to have been composed +with a view to its being sung by a choir of maidens in their nocturnal +rambles beneath the soft light of an Italian moon. The delicious balm of that +voluptuous climate breathes through every line of it, and vividly presents to +the reader's imagination the scene of the festivity; but whether we can claim +these celebrations for our own May-day, is a doubtful point; for Wernsdorf, who +has included the Pervigilium Veneris in his edition of <i>Poetæ Latini Minores</i>, +vol. iii., maintains that it is to be referred to the Veneralia, or feast of Venus, +on the 1st of April. The Kalendar of Constantius marks the 3d day of April +<span class="newpage"><a name="page716" id="page716" title="716"></a></span> as Natalis Quirini. If, then, the morrow spoken of in the poem is to be taken +to mean this birthday of Romulus, we must suppose the vigil of three nights +to have begun on the night of the last day of March. But perhaps our +readers will agree with us, that there are quite as good grounds for attributing +this vigil to the Floralia, which commenced on the 27th of April, and ended +on the first of May. For although the rites of the Floralia were in honour of +Flora, yet we may easily conceive the principle by which the worship of +Venus, the spirit of beauty, and love, and production, would come to be intermingled +with the homage paid to the flower-goddess. And then the three +nights would denote the nights of the Floralia already past, if we suppose the +hymn to have been sung on the night before the 1st of May. This seems +more natural, as coinciding with the known length of the festival, than Wernsdorf's +hypothesis, which makes the vigil commence before the month of +Venus had opened. As regards the time of year, too, May is far more suited +than April, even in Italy, for outwatching the Bear on woodland lawns.</p> + +<p>The question regarding the author of the Pervigilium Veneris is still a <i>lis +sub judice</i>. Aldus, Erasmus, and Meursius, attributed it to Catullus; but subsequent +editors have, with much more probability, contended that its age is +considerably later. We may notice a scholastic and philosophical spirit about +it, which is ill-suited to the Bard of Verona. Lipsius claimed it for the Augustan +age, in consequence of the mention of Cæsar which is introduced. +But we think we may safely assume, that the observance of this vigil grew +into custom after the time of Ovid, otherwise it is difficult to account for the +total absence of all allusion, in his Fasti, to a subject so perfectly adapted to +his verse. But we will not enter any further into a discussion which Salmasius +and Scaliger could not settle, but shall at once present our readers with +the following translation of the Pervigilium Veneris:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i1">He that never loved before,</p> +<p class="i2">Let him love to-morrow!</p> +<p class="i1">He that hath loved o'er and o'er,</p> +<p class="i2">Let him love to-morrow!</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Spring, young Spring, with song and mirth,</p> +<p>Spring is on the newborn earth.</p> +<p>Spring is here, the time of love—</p> +<p>The merry birds pair in the grove,</p> +<p>And the green trees hang their tresses,</p> +<p>Loosen'd by the rain's caresses.</p> +<p>To-morrow sees the dawn of May,</p> +<p>When Venus will her sceptre sway,</p> +<p>Glorious, in her justice-hall:</p> +<p>There where woodland shadows fall,</p> +<p>On bowers of myrtle intertwined,</p> +<p>Many a band of love she'll bind.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>To-morrow is the day when first</p> +<p>From the foam-world of Ocean burst,</p> +<p>Like one of his own waves, the bright</p> +<p>Dione, queen of love and light,</p> +<p>Amid the sea-gods' azure train,</p> +<p>'Mid the strange horses of the main.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>She it is that lends the Hours</p> +<p>Their crimson glow, their jewel-flowers:</p> +<p>At her command the buds are seen,</p> +<p>Where the west-wind's breath hath been,</p> +<p>To swell within their dwellings green.</p> +<p>She abroad those dewdrops flings,</p> +<p>Dew that night's cool softness brings;</p> +<p>How the bright tears hang declining,</p> +<p>And glisten with a tremulous shining,</p> +<p>Almost of weight to drop away,</p> +<p>And yet too light to leave the spray.</p> +<p>Hence the tender plants are bold</p> +<p>Their blushing petals to unfold:</p> +<p>'Tis that dew, which through the air</p> +<p>Falls from heaven when night is fair,</p> +<p>That unbinds the moist green vest</p> +<p>From the floweret's maiden breast.</p> +<p>'Tis Venus' will, when morning glows,</p> +<p>'Twill be the bridal of each rose.</p> +<p>Then the bride-flower shall reveal,</p> +<p>What her veil cloth now conceal,</p> +<p>The blush divinest, which of yore</p> +<p>She caught from Venus' trickling gore,</p> +<p>With Love's kisses mix'd, I trow,</p> +<p>With blaze of fire, and rubies' glow,</p> +<p>And with many a crimson ray</p> +<p>Stolen from the birth of day.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>All the nymphs the Queen of Love</p> +<p>Summons to the myrtle-grove;</p> +<p>And see ye, how her wanton boy</p> +<p>Comes with them to share our joy?</p> +<p>Yet, if Love be arm'd, they say,</p> +<p>Love can scarce keep holiday:</p> +<p>Love without his bow is straying!</p> +<p>Come, ye nymphs, Love goes a Maying.</p> +<p>His torch, his shafts, are laid aside—</p> +<p>From them no harm shall you betide.</p> +<p>Yet, I rede ye, nymphs, beware,</p> +<p>For your foe is passing fair;</p> +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page717" id="page717" title="717"></a></span> Love is mighty, ye'll confess,</p> +<p>Mighty e'en in nakedness;</p> +<p>And most panoplied for fight</p> +<p>When his charms are bared to sight.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dian, a petition we,</p> +<p>By Venus sent, prefer to thee:</p> +<p>Virgin envoys, it is meet,</p> +<p>Should the Virgin huntress greet:</p> +<p>Quit the grove, nor it profane</p> +<p>With the blood of quarry slain.</p> +<p>She would ask thee, might she dare</p> +<p>Hope a maiden's thought to share—</p> +<p>She would bid thee join us now,</p> +<p>Might cold maids our sport allow.</p> +<p>Now three nights thou may'st have seen,</p> +<p>Wandering through thine alleys green,</p> +<p>Troops of joyous friends, with flowers</p> +<p>Crown'd, amidst their myrtle bowers.</p> +<p>Ceres and Bacchus us attend,</p> +<p>And great Apollo is our friend;</p> +<p>All night we must our Vigil keep—</p> +<p>Night by song redeem'd from sleep.</p> +<p>Let Venus in the woods bear sway,</p> +<p>Dian, quit the grove, we pray.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Of Hybla's flowers, so Venus will'd,</p> +<p>Venus' judgment-seat we build.</p> +<p>She is judge supreme; the Graces,</p> +<p>As assessors, take their places.</p> +<p>Hybla, render all thy store</p> +<p>All the season sheds thee o'er,</p> +<p>Till a hill of bloom be found</p> +<p>Wide as Enna's flowery ground.</p> +<p>Attendant nymphs shall here be seen,</p> +<p>Those who delight in forest green,</p> +<p>Those who on mountain-top abide,</p> +<p>And those whom sparkling fountains hide.</p> +<p>All these the Queen of joy and sport</p> +<p>Summons to attend her court,</p> +<p>And bids them all of Love beware,</p> +<p>Although the guise of peace he wear.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fresh be your coronals of flowers,</p> +<p>And green your overarching bowers,</p> +<p>To-morrow brings us the return</p> +<p>Of Ether's primal marriage-morn.</p> +<p>In amorous showers of rain he came</p> +<p>T' embrace his bride's mysterious frame,</p> +<p>To generate the blooming year,</p> +<p>And all the produce Earth does bear.</p> +<p>Venus still through vein and soul</p> +<p>Bids the genial current roll;</p> +<p>Still she guides its secret course</p> +<p>With interpenetrating force,</p> +<p>And breathes through heaven, and earth, and sea,</p> +<p>A reproductive energy.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>She old Troy's extinguish'd glory</p> +<p>Revived in Latium's later story,</p> +<p>When, by her auspices, her son</p> +<p>Laurentia's royal damsel won.</p> +<p>She vestal Rhea's spotless charms</p> +<p>Surrender'd to the War-god's arms;</p> +<p>She for Romulus that day</p> +<p>The Sabine daughters bore away;</p> +<p>Thence sprung the Rhamnes' lofty name,</p> +<p>Thence the old Quirites came;</p> +<p>And thence the stock of high renown,</p> +<p>The blood of Romulus, handed down</p> +<p>Through many an age of glory pass'd,</p> +<p>To blaze in Cæsar's at last.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>All rural nature feels the glow</p> +<p>Of quickening passion through it flow.</p> +<p>Love, in rural scenes of yore,</p> +<p>They say, his goddess-mother bore;</p> +<p>Received on Earth's sustaining breast,</p> +<p>Th' ambrosial infant sunk to rest;</p> +<p>And him the wild-flowers, o'er his head</p> +<p>Bending, with sweetest kisses fed.</p> +<p class="i4">He that never, &c.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>On yellow broom out yonder, see,</p> +<p>The mighty bulls lie peacefully.</p> +<p>Each animal of field or grove</p> +<p>Owns faithfully the bond of love.</p> +<p>The flocks of ewes, beneath the shade,</p> +<p>Around their gallant rams are laid;</p> +<p>And Venus bids the birds awake</p> +<p>To pour their song through plain and brake.</p> +<p>Hark! the noisy pools reply</p> +<p>To the swan's hoarse harmony;</p> +<p>And Philomel is vocal now,</p> +<p>Perch'd upon a poplar-bough.</p> +<p>Thou scarce would'st think that dying fall</p> +<p>Could ought but love's sweet griefs recall;</p> +<p>Thou scarce would'st gather from her song</p> +<p>The tale of brother's barbarous wrong.</p> +<p>She sings, but I must silent be:—</p> +<p>When will the spring-tide come for me?</p> +<p>When, like the swallow, spring's own bird,</p> +<p>Shall my faint twittering notes be heard?</p> +<p>Alas! the muse, while silent I</p> +<p>Remain'd, hath gone and pass'd me by,</p> +<p>Nor Phœbus listens to my cry.</p> +<p>And thus forgotten, I await,</p> +<p>By silence lost, Amyclæ's fate.</p> +</div></div> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page718" id="page718" title="718"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s3" id="bw332s3"></a><h2>CHAPTERS OF TURKISH HISTORY. RISE OF THE KIUPRILI FAMILY—SIEGE OF CANDIA.</h2> + +<h3>NO. IX.</h3> + +<p>The restraint which the ferocious +energy of Sultan Mourad-Ghazi, during +the latter years of his reign, had +succeeded in imposing on the turbulence +of the Janissaries,<a name="footnotetag1" id="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> vanished at +his death; and for many years subsequently, +the domestic annals of the +Ottoman capital are filled with the +details of the intrigues of women and +eunuchs within the palace, and the +sanguinary feuds and excesses of the +soldiery without. The Sultan Ibrahim, +the only surviving brother and successor +of Mourad, was in his twenty-fifth +year at the time of his accession; but +he had been closely immured in the +seraglio from the moment of his birth; +and the dulness of his temperament +(to which he probably owed his escape +from the bowstring, by which the lives +of his three brothers had been terminated +by order of Mourad) had never +been improved by cultivation. Destitute +alike of capacity and inclination +for the toils of government, he remained +constantly immersed in the +pleasures of the harem; while his +mother, the Sultana-Walidah Kiosem, +(surnamed <i>Mah-peiker</i>, or the <i>Moon-face</i>,) +who had been the favourite of +the harem under Ahmed I., and was +a woman of extraordinary beauty and +masculine understanding, kept the +administration of the state almost +wholly in her own hands. The talents +of this princess, aided by the ministers +of her selection, for some time prevented +the incompetency of the sultan +from publicly manifesting itself; +but Ibrahim at last shook off the control +of his mother, and speedily excited +the indignant murmurs of the +troops and the people by the publicity +with which he abandoned himself to +the most degrading sensuality. The +sanctity of the harem and of the bath +had hitherto been held inviolate by +even the most despotic of the Ottoman +sovereigns; but this sacred barrier +was broken through by the unbridled +passions of Ibrahim, who at +length ventured to seize in the public +baths the daughter of the mufti, and, +after detaining her for some days in +the palace, sent her back with ignominy +to her father. This unheard-of +outrage at once kindled the smouldering +discontent into a flame; the Moslem +population rose in instant and +universal revolt; and a scene ensued +almost without parallel in history—the +deposition of an absolute sovereign +by form of law. The grand-vizir +Ahmed, and other panders to the +vices of the sultan, were seized and +put to death on the place of public +execution; while an immense crowd +of soldiers, citizens, and janissaries, +assembling before the palace of the +mufti early on the morning of August +8, 1648, received from him a <i>fetwa</i>, +or decree, to the effect that the sultan +(designated as "Ibrahim Abdul-Rahman +Effendi") had, by his habitual +immorality and disregard of law, +forfeited all claim to be considered as +a true believer, and was therefore incapable +of reigning over the Faithful. +The execution of this sentence was +entrusted to the Aga of the Janissaries, +the Silihdar or grand sword-bearer, +and the Kadhi-asker or chief +judge of Anatolia, who, repairing to +the seraglio, attended by a multitude +of military officers and the <i>ulemah</i>, +proceeded without ceremony to announce +to Ibrahim that his rule was +at an end. His furious remonstrances +were drowned by the rude voice of +the Kadhi Abdul-Aziz Effendi,<a name="footnotetag2" id="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> who +boldly reproached him with his vices. +"Thou hast gone astray," said he, +"from the paths in which thy glorious +ancestors walked, and hast trampled +under foot both law and religion, and +thou art no longer the padishah of +the Moslems!" He was at last conducted +to the same apartment whence +he had been taken to ascend the throne, +and where, ten days later, his existence +was terminated by the bowstring; +while the Sultana-Walidah, (whose +<span class="newpage"><a name="page719" id="page719" title="719"></a></span> acquiescence in this extraordinary revolution +had been previously secured,) +led into the <i>salamlik</i> (hall of audience) +her eldest grandson Mohammed,<a name="footnotetag3" id="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> an +infant scarcely seven years old, who +was forthwith seated on the imperial +sofa, and received the homage of the +dignitaries of the realm.</p> + +<p>Sultan Mohammed IV., afterwards +surnamed <i>Avadji</i>, or the Hunter, who +was destined to fill the throne of the +Ottoman Empire during one of the +most eventful periods of its history, +possessed qualifications which, if his +education had not been interrupted by +his early accession to supreme power, +might have entitled him to a high +place among the monarchs of his line. +Unlike most of the imperial family, +he was of a spare sinewy form, and +lofty stature; and his features are +said by Evliya to have been remarkably +handsome, though his forehead +was disfigured by a deep scar which +he had received in his infancy, by +being thrown by his father, in an +access of brutal passion, into a cistern +in the gardens of the seraglio; and a +contemporary Venetian chronicler says +that his dark complexion and vivid +restless eye gave him rather the aspect +of a <i>Zigano</i>, or gipsy, than an +Osmanli. In the first years of his +reign, his grandmother, the Walidah +Kiosem, acted as regent; but the rule +of a woman and a child was little able +to curb the turbulent soldiery of the +capital; and the old feuds between +the spahis and janissaries, which had +been dormant since the death of Abaza, +broke out afresh with redoubled +violence. The war in Crete, which +had been commenced under Ibrahim, +languished for want of troops and +supplies; while the rival military factions +fought, sword in hand, in front +of the imperial palace, and filled Constantinople +with pillage and massacre. +The janissaries, who were supported +by Kiosem, for some time maintained +the ascendency; but this ambitious +princess was at length cut off by an +intrigue, in the interior of the harem, +fomented by the mother of Mohammed, +who suspected her of a design +to prolong her own sway by the removal +of the sultan, in favour of a still +younger son of Ibrahim. Seized in +the midst of the night of September +3, 1651, by the eunuchs whom her +rival had gained, Kiosem was strangled +(according to a report preserved +by Evliya) with the braids of her own +long hair; and the sultan was exhibited +at daybreak by the grand-vizir +Siawush-Pasha to the people, who +thronged round the palace on the +rumour of this domestic tragedy, to +assure them of the personal safety of +their youthful sovereign.</p> + +<p>The supreme power was now lodged +in the hands of the young Sultana +Walidah, and her confidant the Kislar-Aga; +but their inexperience was little +qualified to encounter the task which +had wellnigh baffled the energies of +Kiosem; and the expedient of frequently +changing the grand-vizir, in +obedience to the requisition of which +ever party was for the time in the ascendant, +prevented the measures of +government from acquiring even a +shadow of consistence or stability. +Twelve vizirs, within eight years from +the deposition of Ibrahim, had successively +held the reins of power for +short periods; and not less than six +had been raised to, and deposed from, +that precarious dignity, within the +last ten months, while the audacity of +the troops, and the helplessness of the +executive, had reached an unparalleled +climax. In a memorable insurrection, +arising from the depreciation of +the coinage, which marked the spring +of 1656, the revolters, not contented +with their usual license of plunder and +bloodshed, forced their way into the +palace, and exacted from the young +sultan the surrender of two of his favourite +domestics, who were instantly +slaughtered before his eyes; while +various obnoxious public functionaries +were dragged to the At-meidan, and +summarily hanged on the branches of +a large plane-tree;<a name="footnotetag4" id="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> and for several +<span class="newpage"><a name="page720" id="page720" title="720"></a></span> weeks this proscription was continued, +till the cry of "Take him to the +plane-tree!" became a watchword of +as well-known and fearful import, as +that of "A la lanterne!" in later +times. In this emergency, when the +fabric of government seemed on the +verge of dissolution, an ancient Anatolian +pasha, Mohammed-Kiuprili, who +had lately repaired to the capital, was +named by her confidential advisers to +the Sultana-Walidah as a man whose +eminent discernment and sagacity, not +less than his fearless intrepidity, rendered +him especially fitted for the task +of stilling the troubled waters. In +opposition to these views it was contended, +that the poverty of the proposed +premier would prevent his securing +the adherence of the troops +by the largesses which they had been +accustomed to receive, and the project +was apparently abandoned; but +the incapacity and unpopularity of +the grand-vizir, Mohammed-Pasha, +(surnamed <i>Egri</i>, or the Crooked,) +soon made it obvious that a fresh +change alone could prevent another +convulsion. On the 15th September +1656, therefore, in a fortunate<a name="footnotetag5" id="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> hour +for the distracted empire, Kiuprili was +summoned to the presence of the sultan, +who had now, nominally at least, +assumed the direction of affairs, and received +from his hands the seals of office.</p> + +<p>Such were the circumstances of the +elevation of this most celebrated of +Ottoman ministers, whose name stands +pre-eminent, not only from his own +abilities and good fortune, but as the +founder of the only family which ever +continued to enjoy, during several +generations, the highest honours of +the empire. He was the son of an +Arnaut<a name="footnotetag6" id="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> soldier, who had settled in +Anatolia, on receiving a <i>timar</i> or +fief in the district of Amasia, near +the town of Kiupri, ('the bridge:') +from which (since distinguished from +other places of the same name as <i>Vizir</i>-Kiupri) +his descendants derived +the surname under which they are generally +mentioned in history. He +commenced his career as a page in the +imperial seraglio; which he left for a +post in the household of Khosroo, afterwards +grand-vizir, who was then +aga of janissaries. Passing through +various gradations of rank, he held +several governments in Syria, and was +raised to the grade of pasha of three +tails: till, at an advanced age, he obtained +permission to exchange these +honours for the post of <i>sandjak</i> of his +native district, to which he accordingly +withdrew. But his retirement +was disturbed, in 1648, by the insurrection +of Varvar-Ali, pasha of Siwas, +who, rather than surrender a beautiful +daughter, the affianced bride of his +neighbour Ipshir, pasha of Tokat, to +the panders of the imperial harem, had +raised the standard of revolt, and had +been joined by the pasha of Erzroom, +Gourdji-Mohammed, (to whose suite +the annalist Evliya was then attached,) +and by many of the Turkman +clans of Anatolia. The Sultana-Walidah +herself, who was then at +variance with her degenerate son, secretly +encouraged the insurgents, who +endeavoured to gain over Kiuprili to +their party; but as they failed in all +their efforts to shake his loyalty, Varvar +suddenly marched against him, +routed the troops which he had collected, +and made him prisoner, with +two beglerbegs whom he had summoned +to his aid. "I saw these three +pashas" (says Evliya, who had come +to the rebel camp on a mission from +Gourdji-Mohammed) "stripped of +their robes and turbans, and fastened +by chains round their necks to stakes +in front of the tent of Varvar-Ali, +while the seghbans, and even the surridjis" +(irregular horse) "brandished +their sabres before their faces, threatening +them with instant death. Thus +we see the changes of fortune, that +those who were the drivers become +in their turn the driven," (like cattle.)</p> + +<p>Evliya, who seems to feel a malicious +pleasure in relating this mishap of +<span class="newpage"><a name="page721" id="page721" title="721"></a></span> the future grand-vizir, confesses to having +himself received a horse and a slave +out of his spoils; but even before his +departure from the camp, the rebellion +was crushed, and Kiuprili released, +by the base treachery of Ipshir-Pasha,<a name="footnotetag7" id="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> +for whose sake alone Varvar-Ali +had taken up arms. Won by the +emissaries of the Porte, by the promise +of the rich pashalic of Aleppo, he suddenly +assailed the troops of his father-in-law, +and seizing his person, cut off +his head, and sent it with those of his +principal followers to Constantinople—an +act of perfidious ingratitude, which, +even among the frequent breaches of +faith staining the Ottoman annals, has +earned for its perpetrator the sobriquet +of <i>Khain</i>, or the traitor, <i>par excellence</i>. +After this unlucky adventure, +we hear no more of Kiuprili in +his Anatolian sandjak, till, in the +spring of 1656, we find him accompanying +Egri-Mohammed on his way +to the Porte to assume the vizirat: +from which, in less than four months, +he was removed to make way for his +quondam <i>protégé</i>, in whose elevation +he had thus been an involuntary instrument.</p> + +<p>Mohamned Kiuprili was at this period +nearly eighty years of age, and +so wholly illiterate that he could neither +read nor write; yet such was the +general estimation of his wisdom and +abilities, that the young sultan, on +entrusting to him the ensigns of office, +voluntarily pledged himself to leave +entirely at his discretion the regulation +of the foreign and domestic relations +of the empire, as well as the disposal +of all offices of state—thus virtually +delegating to him the functions +of sovereignty. The measures of +Kiuprili soon showed that these extraordinary +powers would not be suffered +to remain dormant. The impatience +of the troops at the strict discipline +which he enforced, erelong +announced the approach of a fresh +tumult; and the ringleaders, in the +confidence of long-continued impunity, +openly boasted that "the plane-tree +would soon bear another crop"—when +on the night of Jan. 5, 1657, the grand-vizir, +accompanied by the aga of the +janissaries, and fortified by a fetwa +from the mufti, legalizing whatever +he might do, made the round of the +barracks with his guards, and seized +several hundreds of all ranks in the +various corps, whose bodies, found +floating the next day in the Bosphorus, +revealed their fate to their dismayed +accomplices. The Greek patriarch, +on suspicion of having endeavoured +to engage the Vaivode of Wallachia +in a plot for a general rising of +the Christians, was summoned to the +Porte, and forthwith bowstrung in the +presence of Kiuprili; and in the +course of a few weeks, not fewer than +4000 of those who had been implicated +in the previous disorders perished +under the hands of the executioner: +"for as in medicine," remarks a Turkish +historian, "it is necessary to employ +remedies which are analogous to +the disease, so by bloodshed alone +could the state be purified from these +lawless shedders of blood!"</p> + +<p>These terrible severities broke the +spirit of insubordination in the capital; +and the irregularity of their pay, which +had been one of the chief grievances +of the janissaries, was remedied by the +good order which Kiuprili had from +the first introduced in the finances. +"He proportioned the expenditure of +the empire," says Evliya, "to its revenues, +which he also greatly enlarged, +so that he gained the name of <i>Sahib-Kharj</i>," +(master of finance.) The Venetians, +who had availed themselves of +the anarchy reigning at Constantinople +to occupy Tenedos and Lemnos, +so as to blockade the Dardanelles, +were dislodged by the activity of the +vizir, who directed the sieges in +person, bestowing honours and rewards +on the soldiers most distinguished +for their bravery; and though +the Turkish fleet was defeated (July +17, 1657) at the entrance of the +straits, the Venetians sustained an +irreparable loss in their valiant admiral +Mocenigo, who was blown up +with his ship by a well-aimed shot +from one of the batteries on shore. +But though the janissaries were thus +<span class="newpage"><a name="page722" id="page722" title="722"></a></span> reduced to order and obedience, the +flame of disaffection was still smouldering +among the spahis of Asia Minor, +and broke out, in the course of +the ensuing year, into a formidable +and widely-organized rebellion. Not +fewer than forty pashas and sandjaks +followed the banner of the insurgent +leader Abaza-Hassan, pasha of Aleppo, +who advanced towards the Bosphorus +at the head of 70,000 men, +assuming the state of a monarch, and +demanding the heads of Kiuprili and +his principal adherents as the price of +his submission. Morteza-Pasha, governor +of Diarbekr, who attempted to oppose +him in the field, was routed with +the loss of nearly his whole army; +and though the emissaries who attempted +to seduce the troops in Constantinople +from their allegiance were +detected and put to death by the vigilance +of Kiuprili, the revolt spread +throughout Anatolia and Syria, and +the sultan was preparing to take the +field in person, when treachery succeeded +in accomplishing what force +had failed to effect. It has been an +uniform maxim of the Ottoman domestic +policy, which singularly contrasts +with their scrupulous observance of +the treaties entered into with foreign +powers, that no faith is to be kept +with <i>fermanlis</i>, or traitors to the Padishah; +and in the assured belief, confirmed +by hostages and solemn oaths, +that the sultan was willing to accede +to his demands, Abaza-Hassan suffered +himself to be drawn from his +headquarters at Aintab, with thirty +of his officers, to a conference with +Morteza at Aleppo: but, in the midst +of the banquet which followed this +interview, Abaza and his comrades +found themselves in the grasp of the +executioners—while their followers, +dispersed through the town, were +slaughtered without mercy on the signal +of a gun fired from the castle; +and the army, panic-stricken at the +fate of its leaders, quickly melted away. +But no sooner was the semblance of +tranquillity restored, than the Kaimakam +Ismail Pasha, an unscrupulous +agent of the merciless decrees of the +vizir, was sent into Asia under the +new title of Moufetish, or inquisitor; +and an unsparing proscription almost +utterly exterminated all the remaining +partizans of Abaza-Hassan, without +distinction of rank; while the +suppression of numerous <i>timars</i> or +fiefs, and the removal of the occupants +of others from their ancient abodes to +remote districts, so effectually loosened +the bands which had hitherto united +the spahis, like the janissaries, into a +compact fraternity, that this once powerful +body was divided and broken; +and they no longer occupy, as a separate +faction, their former conspicuous +place in the troubled scene of Ottoman +history.</p> + +<p>The termination of this great revolt +freed Kiuprili from the apprehension +of military sedition, and left +him in the enjoyment of more absolute +and undivided authority than had +ever been possessed by any of his +predecessors in office. The sultan, +from whose mind the impression of the +bloody scenes witnessed in his youth +had never been effaced, rarely visited +Constantinople; devoting himself to +the pleasures of the chase in the forests +and hills of Roumelia, and repairing +only at intervals to the ancient palace +of his ancestors at Adrianople, whither +his harem and household had +been transferred from the capital. The +uncontrolled administration of the state +was left in the hands of the vizir, but +his implacable severity towards all who +failed in implicit devotion to his will, +continued unabated. "He was unacquainted" +(says his contemporary, +Rycaut) "with mercy, and never +pardoned any who were either guilty +of a fault, or suspected for it;" and +neither rank nor services afforded protection +to those who had incurred his +jealousy or resentment. Among the +numerous victims of his suspicious +cruelty, the fate of Delhi-Hussein-Pasha +was long remembered in Constantinople. +Originally a <i>battadji</i> or +lictor in the seraglio, he had attracted +the notice of Sultan Mourad-Ghazi by +his strength and address in bending a +bow sent as a challenge by the Shah of +Persia, and which had baffled the +efforts of all the <i>pelhwans</i> or champions +of the Ottoman court. His first +advancement to the post of equerry +was only a prelude to the attainment +of higher honours, and he became successively +governor of Buda and of +Egypt, capitan-pasha and serasker in +Candia. His exploits in the latter +capacity had endeared him to the +troops, while his noble figure and +frank bearing made him equally the +idol of the citizens, but his unbounded +popularity led Kiuprili to foresee a +<span class="newpage"><a name="page723" id="page723" title="723"></a></span> future rival in this favourite hero, and +the fate of Delhi-Hussein was sealed. +In an interview with the vizir, he was +graciously received, and invested with +a robe of honour; but as he quitted +the Porte he was arrested and carried +to the Seven Towers, where, two days +after, (in spite of the intercession of +the Sultana-Walidah, and the refusal +of the mufti to ratify the unjust doom,) +he was bowstrung in his cell, as the +murmurs of the troops prevented the +vizir from risking a public execution.</p> + +<p>But though thus inexorable to all +whose popularity or pretensions might +interfere with his own supremacy, and +haughty even beyond all former precedent +in his intercourse with the representatives +of the Christian powers,<a name="footnotetag8" id="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> +Kiuprili deserved, by the merits of his +domestic administration, the high place +which has been assigned to him by the +unanimous voice of the Ottoman historians. +The exact regularity which +he enforced both in the payment and +disbursement of the revenue, relieved +the people from the irregular imposts +to which they had been subject, in +order to make up the deficiencies arising +from the interception, by the +pashas, of the tributes of distant provinces, +and the peculation which had +long reigned unchecked at the seat of +government—while the sums thus +rendered disposable were laid out +chiefly in improving the internal communications, +and strengthening the +defences, of the empire. The Dardanelles, +hitherto guarded only by +Mohammed II.'s two castles of Europe +and Asia, was made almost impregnable +by the construction of the +formidable line of sea defences still +existing; the necessity for which had +been demonstrated by the recent attack +of the Venetians; and fortified posts +were established along the line of the +Dnieper and Dniester, to keep in +cheek the predatory Cossacks between +these rivers, who were at this time engaged +in a furious civil contest with the +king of Poland, the ally of the Porte. +The Hungarian fortresses were also +repaired, and vast warlike preparations +made along the Danube, as the +peace which for fifty years had subsisted +with the empire appeared on +the verge of inevitable rupture. The +succession to the principality of Transylvania, +the suzerainté of which had +long been a point of dispute between +the Porte and Austria, was now contested +between Kemény and Michael +Abaffi—the latter being the nominee +of the sultan, while Kemény was supported +by the emperor, to whom the +late Prince Racoczy had transferred +his allegiance a short time before his +death in battle against the Turks, in +1660. The Imperialists and Turks +had more than once encountered each +other as auxiliaries of the rival candidates, +and Kiuprili was on the point +of repairing in person to the scene of +action, when he died at Adrianople of +dropsy, (Oct. 31, 1661,) in the eighty-sixth +year of his age, and was buried +in a splendid mausoleum, which he +had erected for himself, near the Tauk-bazar +(poultry market) at Constantinople—the +vault of which, during his +life, he had daily filled with corn, +which was then distributed to the poor +to purchase their prayers! "Thus," +says a Turkish annalist, "died Kiuprili-Mohammed, +who was most zealous +and active in the cause of the +faith! Enjoying absolute power, and +being anxious to purify the Ottoman +empire, he slew in Anatolia 400,000<a name="footnotetag9" id="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> +rebels, including seventeen vizirs or +pashas of three tails, forty-one of two +tails, seventy sandjak-beys, three +mallahs, and a Moghrabiu sheikh. +May God be merciful to him!"</p> + +<p>The genius of the Ottoman institutions +is so directly opposed to any +thing like the perpetuation of offices +in a family, which might tend to endanger +the despotism of the throne by +the creation of an hereditary aristocracy, +that even in the inferior ranks, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page724" id="page724" title="724"></a></span> an instance had hitherto scarcely been +known of a son succeeding his father. +The immediate appointment, therefore, +of Fazil-Ahmed, the eldest son +of the deceased minister, to the vizirat, +was so complete a departure from all +established usages, as at once demonstrated +to the expectant courtiers that +the influence of the crafty old vizir +had survived him, and that "the star +of the house of Kiuprili" (in the words +of a Turkish writer) "had only set in +the west to rise again with fresh splendour +in the east." Ahmed-Kiuprili +was now thirty-two years of age, and +joined to an intellect not less naturally +vigorous than that of his father, those +advantages of education in which the +latter had been deficient. At an early +age he had been placed under the historian, +Abdul-Aziz Effendi, as a student +of divinity and law, in the <i>medressah</i> +or college attached to the +mosque of Sultan Mohammed the +Conqueror, and had attained, in due +course, the rank of <i>muderris</i> or fellow +therein; but the elevation of his father +to the vizirat transferred him from the +cloister to the camp, and he held the +governments successively of Erzroom +and Damascus—in the latter of which +he distinguished himself by his moderation +and firmness in reducing to +order the refractory chiefs of the +Druses, of the two great rival houses +of Shahab and Maan-Oghlu. Recalled, +at length, to Constantinople to +assume the office of kaimakam, he had +scarcely entered on his new duties +when he was summoned to Adrianople, +to attend the deathbed of his +father, and to succeed him in the uncontrolled +administration of the empire.</p> + +<p>The numerous executions which +marked the accession of the new vizir, +(in accordance, as was believed, with +the dying injunctions of his father,) +struck with terror the functionaries of +government, who anticipated a continuance +of the iron rule under which +they had so long trembled; but the +disposition of Ahmed-Kiuprili was not +naturally sanguinary, and few measures +of unnecessary severity characterized +his subsequent sway. The +war in Hungary, meanwhile, had assumed +a serious aspect; for though +Kemény had perished in battle, the +Imperialists still continued to oppose +the claims of Abaffi to the crown of +Transylvania; and their armies, guided +by the valour and experience of Montecuculi, +a general formed in the +Thirty Years' War, were making rapid +progress in the reduction of the principality. +War was now openly declared +between the two empires; and +Kiuprili, assuming the command in +person, opened the campaign of 1663, +in Hungary, with 100,000 men—a +force before which Montecuculi had no +alternative but to retreat, as the rapidity +with which the Turks had taken +the field, had completely outstripped +the dilatory preparations of the Aulic +Council<a name="footnotetag10" id="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a>. The exploits of the Ottomans, +however, were confined to the +capture of Ujvar, or Neuhausel, after +a siege maintained on both sides with +such extraordinary vigour, as to have +given rise to a Hungarian proverb—"As +fixed as a Turk before Neuhausel,"—after +which both armies withdrew +into winter-quarters. The campaign +of 1664 opened also to the +advantage of the Ottomans; but in +attempting the passage of the Raab, +(Aug. 1,) at the fords near St Gothard, +the sudden swelling of the stream +cut off the communication between +one division of their army and the +other; and being attacked at this juncture +by Montecuculi, they sustained +the most signal overthrow which the +Osmanlis had ever yet received from +a Christian power—17,000 of their +best troops were slain or drowned, and +the vizir, hastily drawing on the remains +of his forces, sent proposals of +peace to the Austrian headquarters. +Yet such was the indefinite awe with +which the prowess and resources of +the Ottomans were at that time regarded, +that the Imperialists made no +further use of their victory than to +conclude a truce for twenty years, the +conditions of which, in effect, ceded +all the points for which the war had +been undertaken. Abaffi was recognised +<span class="newpage"><a name="page725" id="page725" title="725"></a></span> as Prince of Transylvania, and +as a tributary of the Porte—the two +important fortresses of Great-Waradin +and Neuhausel, which the Turks +had taken during the war, were left +in their hands, and a breathing-time +was thus afforded to the two empires +for the mortal struggle which was to +be decided, nineteen years later, under +the walls of Vienna.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the ill success of +his arms, the vizir was received by the +sultan, on his return with the army in +the ensuing spring to Adrianople, +with such extraordinary distinction, +that those who had hoped to profit by +his expected fall, could explain such +continued favour only by the supposition +that sorcery had been practised +on the mind of the monarch by the +mother of the all-powerful minister. +Solicitous to retrieve his military reputation +in the eyes of the soldiery, +Kiuprili now determined to assume +in person the conduct of the long-continued +war in Crete, and to bring +the struggle to a close by the capture +of Candia, the siege of which had +already reached near twice the duration +of that of Troy. To supply the +deficiencies of the Turkish marine, +which had been almost ruined by the +repeated naval victories of the Venetians, +an overture was made to the +English ambassador, Lord Winchilsea, +for permission to hire the services +of a number of British vessels; but this +strange request being evaded, the expedition +was postponed for a year, +while every nerve was strained in the +building and equipment of galleys; and +at length, in the autumn of 1666, the +fleet set sail from Monembasia in the +Morea, under the command of the +Capitan-pasha Mustafa, surnamed +<i>Kaplan</i>, or the Tiger, the brother-in-law +of Kiuprili, and anchored off +Canea in the beginning of November. +But before we proceed to narrate the +closing scenes of the Cretan war, we +must retrace our steps, to give some +account of its origin and progress.</p> + +<p>The dominions of the Venetian Signory +in the Levant, which had at one +time comprehended, besides the scattered +isles of the Cyclades, the three +subject <i>kingdoms</i> (as they were proudly +called) of Candia,<a name="footnotetag11" id="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a> Cyprus, and the +Morea, were confined, in the middle +of the seventeenth century, to the +first-named island—the last relics of +the Morea having been wrested from +the republic by the arms of Soliman +the Magnificent in 1540, and Cyprus +having been subdued by the lieutenants +of his son Selim, a few months +before the destruction of the Turkish +fleet at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.<a name="footnotetag12" id="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a> +The sovereignty of Candia had been +acquired by purchase from the Marquis +of Montferrat, to whom it was assigned +on the partition of the Greek empire, +after the conquest of Constantinople, +in 1204, by the Latins of the fourth +crusade: but the four centuries and a +half of Venetian rule present little +more than an unvarying succession of +revolts, oppression, and bloodshed. +In pursuance of their usual system of +colonial administration, which strangely +contrasted with their domestic policy, +they had introduced into the island +a sort of modified feudal system, +in order to rivet their ascendancy over +this remote possession, by the interposition +of a class of resident proprietors, +whose interest it would be to +maintain the dominion of the parent +state: but the <i>cavaliers</i>, as the Venetian +tenants of Cretan fiefs were termed, +proved at times even more refractory +than the candidates themselves, +and made the island for many years a +source of endless difficulties to the +Signory. In 1363, complaining of +their exclusion from the high dignities +of the republic, the <i>cavaliers</i> openly +threw off their allegiance, elected a +doge from among themselves, and +raised the banner of St Titus of Retimo +in opposition to the standard of +St Mark. As they were supported +both by the native Candiotes and the +Greeks of Constantinople, it was not +<span class="newpage"><a name="page726" id="page726" title="726"></a></span> till after a harassing warfare of two +years that they were reduced, and +their fortresses razed, by the Provveditori +sent from Venice; a second effort +at independence, a few years later, +was not more successful. The Greek +inhabitants were throughout subjected +to a degree of merciless tyranny, in +comparison of which the worst severities +of Turkish rule must have appeared +lenient. The Sphakiote tribes +in particular, who were strong both +from their arms and martial temperament, +and from their habitations +among the lofty ridges of the <i>Aspro-Bouna</i>, +or White Mountains, in the +south of the island, acknowledged at +all times but an imperfect allegiance +to their Venetian lords: and the acts +of fiendish barbarity by which their +frequent revolts were chastised, can +scarcely find a parallel even in the +worst horrors of the French Revolution. +Unborn infants torn from the +womb in pursuance of a judicial sentence +solemnly pronounced—the head +of the father exacted as the ransom +for the life of the son—such were the +methods by which the Provveditori of +the Most Serene and Christian Republic +enforced its authority, and +which are related, not only without +reprehension, but with manifest complacency +and approval, by the chroniclers +of the state.<a name="footnotetag13" id="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a></p> + +<p>Though the coasts had often been +ravaged in former wars by the Turkish +fleet, particularly under Barbarossa +in 1538, no attempt appears ever +to have been made to effect the conquest +of the island by the reduction of +the fortified cities of the coast, in which +the main strength of the Venetians +lay: and since the treaty of 1573, +Venice had remained more than seventy +years at peace with the Porte. In +1645, however, a fresh rupture arose +from the capture of a richly-laden +Turkish vessel by the Maltese cruisers,<a name="footnotetag14" id="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a> +who were allowed, contrary to +the existing conventions between the +Porte and the Republic, to sell the +horses which were on board their +prize in one of the remote havens of +Crete, beyond the surveillance of the +Venetian authorities. Slight as was +the ground of offence, it produced an +instantaneous ferment at Constantinople: +the janissaries, calling to mind +similar omens said to have preceded +the conquest of Rhodes and of Cyprus, +exclaimed that the land whose +soil had once been trodden by Moslem +horse hoofs, was the predestined inheritance +of the Faithful: and the flame +was fanned by the capitan-pasha Yusuf, +a Dalmatian renegade, who, independent +of the hatred which from +early associations he bore Venice, +dreaded being sent on a bootless expedition +against the impregnable defences +of Malta—an enterprise which, +since the memorable failure in the +last years of Soliman, had never been +attempted by the Osmanlis. Preparations +for war, meanwhile, were carried +on with unexampled activity, +though the destination of the armament +was kept profoundly secret; till, +on April 30, 1545, the most formidable +expedition which had ever been +equipped in the Turkish ports, set +sail from the Bosphorus. Eight +thousand janissaries, 14,000 spahis, +and upwards of 50,000 <i>timariots</i> or +feudal militia, were embarked on board +the fleet, which consisted of eighty +galleys, and more than 300 transports, +besides the auxiliary squadrons +of the Barbary regencies, which joined +the armada, May 7, at the general +rendezvous at Scio.</p> + +<p>From Scio the united fleet sailed to +Navarino—a course purposely adopted +to spread the belief that Malta was the +point of attack; but no sooner were +they again at sea, than the capitan-pasha, +summoning the principal officers +<span class="newpage"><a name="page727" id="page727" title="727"></a></span> on board his galley, read the +<i>khatt sheeref</i> of the sultan, announcing +that he had taken up arms for the +conquest of Candia. War had, in the +mean time, been formally declared +against the Republic at Constantinople, +and the Venetian envoy, Soranzo, +imprisoned in the Seven Towers: but +he had previously contrived to communicate +to the Signory his suspicions +of the impending storm; and supplies +and reinforcements had been hastily +dispatched from Venice to Andrea +Cornaro, the <i>inquisitore</i>, or governor +of Crete, in the event of its bursting +in that quarter. Little serious apprehension +seems, however, to have been +entertained; and great was the consternation +of the Candiote population, +when, on the morning of June 24, the +vast armament of the Ottomans was +seen rounding Cape Spada, and disembarking +the troops near Canea, on +the same spot where, according to +tradition, the standards of Islam had +first been displayed, 820 years before, +by the Saracens of Spain.</p> + +<p>The strong ramparts of Canea opposed +but an ineffectual resistance to +the numbers and resolution of the Ottomans, +who pressed the siege with all +the ardour arising from the confidence +of success; and after fifty days +of open trenches, and the failure of +two assaults, the second fortress of the +island capitulated, August 17. The +churches and the cathedral of St Nicholas +were converted into mosques: +and Delhi-Hussein (whose subsequent +tragical fate has been already +commemorated) was sent out to take +the government of this new conquest. +The brave Yusuf, returning to Constantinople +at the end of the year, was +at first received with the highest honours +by Ibrahim, but soon after put to +death in one of his fits of senseless +cruelty; but the Ottomans in Crete, +under the gallant leadership of Delhi-Hussein, +who now became <i>serdar</i> or +commander-in-chief, overran and occupied +the inland districts almost +without opposition from the Greek +inhabitants, in whose eyes any alternative +was preferable to the bloody +tyranny under which they had so long +groaned:<a name="footnotetag15" id="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a> while the Venitian garrisons, +shut up in the fortified towns +along the northern shore, depended +for supplies on the Christian fleet, +which the Turks did not venture to +bring to action. The campaign of +1646 was marked by the capture of +the important city of Retimo, which +surrendered Nov. 15, after a murderous +siege of thirty-nine days, in which +both the governor Cornaro and the +provveditor Molino were slain: but +though the Turks received reinforcements +to the amount of 30,000 men, +including 10,000 janissaries, in the +course of the following year, it was +not till May 1648 that the trenches +were at length opened before Candia, +the capital of the island, and the only +fortress of importance still in the +hands of the Venetians.</p> + +<p>The leaguer of Candia was pushed +during several months by the Turks, +animated by the courage and example +of their general, with the same fanatic +zeal which they had displayed before +Canea and Retimo; but the besieged, +whose tenure of Crete depended +on this last stronghold, held out +with equal pertinacity: and their efforts +were aided by the presence of a +large body of Maltese auxiliaries, as +well as by the succours which the +naval superiority of the Venetians +enabled them continually to introduce +by sea. In one sortie, a detachment +of the garrison penetrated even to the +tent of the serdar, who owed his safety +to his personal prowess; while the +outworks of the town were ruined by +the constant explosion of mines, and +the Ottoman standards were planted +on the bastion of Martinengo, and on +several of the redoubts which covered +the interior defences. But in spite of +their repeated assaults, the besiegers +failed to make any impression on the +body of the place; and the serdar was +compelled to withdraw his diminished +army into winter-quarters. The anarchy +at Constantinople which followed +the deposition of Ibrahim, combined +with the blockade of the Dardanelles +by the Venetians, prevented any reinforcements +from reaching the seat of +war—yet the siege was renewed in +<span class="newpage"><a name="page728" id="page728" title="728"></a></span> the ensuing summer, and carried on +with such vigour, that the garrison, +weakened by the loss of half its numbers, +including the valiant governor, +Colloredo, was reduced to the last extremity; +when the arrival of the Maltese +squadron, under Balbiani, baulked +the Turks of their expected prize; +and the janissaries, breaking out into +furious mutiny, compelled Delhi-Hussein +once more to abandon the hopeless +enterprise. All the remainder of +the island, however, had now peaceably +submitted to the Ottoman rule, +and had been organized into sandjaks +and districts; so that the garrison of +Candia were rather the occupants of +a solitary post in a hostile country, +than defenders of the soil against the +invasion; and the Turkish commanders, +ill supplied from Constantinople, +during the troubled minority of +Mohammed, with siege equipage and +munitions of war, contented themselves +with blockading the town by +the erection of redoubts, and guarding +the open country with their cavalry. +While the war thus languished in +Crete, the events of the maritime contest +continued to justify the proverbial +saying of the Turks, that "Allah had +given the land to the true believers; +but the sea to the infidels!" Not only +was the blockade of the Dardanelles +so strictly kept up, that it was only in +winter, when the Venetian fleet was +unable to remain on its station, that +the Turks could convey reinforcements +to their brethren who were +waging the <i>holy war</i> in Crete, but +repeated and disastrous defeats were +sustained by the Ottoman navy, whenever +it attempted to dispute the sovereignty +of the sea with the Lion of +St Mark. In July 1651, a formidable +armament with supplies and troops +for Crete was almost entirely destroyed +off Naxos by Mocenigo: and on July +6, 1656, the same commander inflicted +on the Turkish fleet, off the mouth of +the Straits, the most decisive overthrow +which it had sustained since the +fatal day of Lepanto. Seventy sail of +ships and galleys were sunk or taken; +the Capitan-pasha escaped into the +Bosphorus with only fourteen vessels; +and the inhabitants of Constantinople, +in the first access of consternation, +expected the apparition of the Christian +ensigns in the Golden Horn; but +the victors contented themselves with +the occupation of Tenedos and Lemnos, +which they held till dislodged in +the following year by Kiuprili.</p> + +<p>The serdar, Delhi-Hussein, who had +for eleven years gallantly upheld the +renown of the Ottoman arms in Crete, +withstanding with equal firmness the +efforts of the enemy, and the mutinous +spirit of his own soldiers, had been recalled +early in 1656 to assume the +vizirat; a fleeting glimpse of honour, +which, though cancelled even before +he reached Constantinople in favour +of the Kaimakam Mustapha, subsequently +(as already related) cost him +his life from the jealousy of Mohammed +Kiuprili. His successors possessed +neither his energy nor his military +skill; and the Venetians, taking +courage from the change of commanders, +sallied from Candia, and +even ventured, though without success, +to attempt the recovery of Canea. +Negotiations for peace, meanwhile, +had been kept on foot almost from the +first; but as the Ottoman pride absolutely +refused to listen to any propositions +which did not include the total +and unconditional surrender of Candia, +no pacification could be effected; and +the war continued to linger till +Ahmed-Kiuprili, secured on the side +of Hungary by the peace with Austria, +collected all the forces of the empire, +to crush this last fragment of +Venetian dominion in the Levant.</p> + +<p>The advanced season of the year +when the vizir disembarked in Candia, +and the disorganized state of the forces +which he found there, prevented the +immediate commencement of offensive +operations; but in the course of the +winter, the arrival of the contingents +of Egypt and Africa, as well as of a +squadron with fresh troops from Constantinople, +raised his army to between +40,000 and 50,000 effective +men; and on the 20th of May 1667, +the trenches were once more opened +in form on the western side of the +city, while 300 pieces of cannon, +thundering from the Ottoman lines, +covered the approaches of the pioneers.<a name="footnotetag16" id="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a> +Of the seven<a name="footnotetag17" id="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a> great bastions +which formed the principal defences +<span class="newpage"><a name="page729" id="page729" title="729"></a></span> on the land side, those of Panigra, +Bethlehem, and Martinengo, were the +chief points of attack; the vizir himself +taking post opposite the first, +while the Beglerbeg of Anatolia and +the Pasha of Egypt were stationed +against the Bethlehem and the Martinengo. +The assault, as on former +occasions, was conducted chiefly by +the slow process of sap and mine; but +the superior skill of the Christian engineers, +enabled them frequently to +explore and countermine the works of +the enemy; and the mining parties +were thus surprised and blown into +the air, while murderous combats took +place under ground, from the accidental +rencounters of the soldiers employed +in these subterranean galleries. +The garrison, which had at first numbered +about 12,000, under the command +of the Marchese di Villa, a +Piedmontese officer of approved skill +and courage, received, at the end of +June, a reinforcement of 1000 veteran +troops, brought by the Venetian Captain-General +Morosini, who arrived +with the fleet at the Isle of Standia, +off the entrance of the port; and a +concourse of volunteers, from all parts +of Europe, hastened to share in the +defence of this last bulwark of Christendom +in the Grecian seas; while +the Maltese, Papal, and Neapolitan +galleys cruised in the offing, to intercept +the supplies brought by sea to +the Ottoman camp. The Turks, +meanwhile, with their usual stubborn +perseverance, continued to push their +sap under the ravelin of Mocenigo, +and the Panigra bastion which it covered; +and though their progress was +retarded, and their works often ruined, +by the sallies of the defenders, the +foundations were at length shaken, +and the ramparts rent and shattered, +by the explosion of innumerable +mines; and the janissaries, fired with +fanatic zeal, and stimulated by promises +of reward, rushed again and +again to the attack under the eye of +the vizir. "Many and various," says +Rycaut, in his quaint narrative, "were +the valiant assaults and sallies, the +traverses extraordinary, the rencounters +bloody, the resistance vigorous, +not known or recorded in any siege +before;" and the struggle continued +with unabated fury on both sides, till +the approach of winter; while, after +each unsuccessful assault, the Venetians, +emulating the ferocity of their +enemies, displayed the heads of the +slain and prisoners (for no quarter was +given or taken) in barbarous triumph +from the wall. At length, after a +desperate conflict on November 16, +the janissaries effected a lodgement in +the Mocenigo bastion and the Panigra; +and the Ottoman banners, for the first +time, were displayed from the summit +of the works. But this valiant +forlorn hope, in the moment of triumph, +was hurled into the air by the +explosion of a previously-prepared +mine; and Kiuprili, dismayed at this +last failure, drew off his troops into +their lines, where they lay inactive, +till the inundation of the camp by the +winter rains compelled them to withdraw +to a greater distance.</p> + +<p>Great was the rejoicing throughout +Europe at the tidings that the pride +of the Ottoman battle had once more +been driven back discomfited, for the +best and bravest of nearly every nation +in Christendom were now to be +found in the ranks of the defenders:<a name="footnotetag18" id="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a> +and great, on the other hand, was the +perplexity of the divan, and the chagrin +of the Turkish population, at the +apparently endless duration of an enterprise, +a speedy and glorious termination +of which had been expected +from the presence of the vizir. The +sultan even dispatched a confidential +agent to the seat of war, to examine +personally into the state of affairs; +and finding from his report that the +army was reduced, by the sword and the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page730" id="page730" title="730"></a></span> ravages of disease, to half its original effective +strength, he issued peremptory +firmans to the pashas of the empire to +hasten the equipment of their contingents; +and even announced his intention +of repairing in person to Crete, +to share the perils and glories of the +<i>holy war</i>. Kiuprili, meanwhile, was +indefatigable in his exertions to reorganize +his army, and restore his +artillery to efficiency, even casting +new guns to fit the Venetian bullets, +30,000 of which are said to have been +picked up in the Turkish lines during +the preceding campaign! A strict +blockade was kept up on the city, +while the Venetian cruisers, and the +Papal galleys under Rospigliosi, the +nephew of Pope Clement IX., were +equally vigilant in preventing supplies +from reaching the besiegers by sea; +and various maritime encounters took +place, generally to the advantage of +the flag of St Mark. The unworthy +jealousy<a name="footnotetag19" id="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19"><sup>19</sup></a> entertained by Morosini of +Di Villa, led, however, early in the +spring of 1668, to the withdrawal of +that gallant soldier from his command, +in which he was succeeded by the +Marquis Montbrun St André, a French +volunteer, inferior neither in valour +nor diligence to his predecessor.</p> + +<p>It was not till the beginning of June +that the vizir recommenced active +operations against Candia; but the +plan of attack was now changed. In +order to command the narrow entrance +of the harbour,<a name="footnotetag20" id="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20"><sup>20</sup></a> and so cut +off the constant reinforcements which +reached the besieged by sea, the principal +batteries were directed against +the bastion of Sabionera, (called by +the Turks the <i>Kizil-Tabîyah,</i> or Red +Fort,) at the seaward extremity of +the works on one side, and against +that of St Andrew on the other; but +the events of the siege during this +year present nothing to distinguish +them from the endless succession of +mines, sorties, assaults, and countermines, +which had marked the campaign +of last year. The Venetian +commanders at length, seeing the +Turks preparing to pass the winter in +their trenches, and sensible that (concentrated +as the forces of the two contending +powers were now for the attack +and defence of a single fortress) they +must eventually be overwhelmed by +the ponderous strength of the Ottoman +empire, once more made overtures +for peace, offering an annual +tribute for Candia, and the cession of +the rest of the island to the Porte; +but the vizir sternly rejected the proffered +compromise; and his reply to +the envoy, Molino—"The Sultan is +not a merchant, nor does he need +money—he has but one word, and that +is—Candia,"—showed that the long +dispute could only be decided by the +sword. Elated by the hope of speedy +triumph, the Turks now ran their +approaches so close to the bastion of +St Andrew, which was held by the +Maltese knights and militia, that the +muzzles of the muskets almost touched +each other; and the vizir wrote to the +Sultan, that they had only three yards +more of ground to win, when, at this +critical moment, the spirits of the besieged +were revived by the arrival, +early in December, of the Duc de la +Feuillade and the Count de St Pol, +with a gallant band of 600 volunteers, +many of them of the best families of +France. But the boiling valour of +these fiery youths was equally difficult +to restrain or direct; and, after losing +two-thirds of their number in desperate, +but irregular, sallies against the +Turkish lines, the survivors of this +piece of knight-errantry re-embarked +for Christendom in January, leaving +the heads of their fallen comrades +ranged on pikes before the tent of +Kiuprili. A stancher reinforcement +was received in the spring of 1669, by +the arrival of 3000 Lunenburghers, +whose commander, Count Waldeck, +fell a few days after, in repulsing an +assault on the breach of St Andrew, +as did also the former governor, Di +Villa, whose thirst for glory had +brought him back, as general of the +Papal auxiliaries, to the scene of +peril.</p> + +<p>These repeated reinforcements, joined +to the knowledge that the Pope was +exerting himself to unite all the princes +<span class="newpage"><a name="page731" id="page731" title="731"></a></span> of Christendom in a league for the relief +of their hardly-beset brethren, +still encouraged the heroic defenders +of Candia, though the Turks had by +this time carried their mines at several +points within the bastions and exterior +defences, and compelled the garrison +to shelter themselves behind an inner +rampart, constructed during the winter +in anticipation of this extremity:—"So +that, in effect," says Rycaut, +"this most impregnable fort of the +world was forced and taken by the +spade and shovel, and by a crew of +unarmed labourers, who understood +nothing more than the plough and +harrow." The promised succours, +however, were now at hand. On the +22d of June, a French fleet appeared +off the port, having on board 7000 of +the flower of the French troops and +nobility, who were commanded by the +Dukes de Noailles and Beaufort, and +comprised in their ranks several +princes of the sovereign houses of +Lorrain and Bouillon, the Marshals +Colbert and De la Motte-Fenelon, the +Count of St Pol, and many other +names of the noblest and bravest in +France, who had crowded to embark +as volunteers in this new and glorious +crusade. These gallant auxiliaries +landed amidst the acclamations of the +Venetians; and, on the night of the +27th, a general sortie was made, in +order to raise the siege by driving +the Turks from their trenches. The +janissaries were driven from their +works by the impetuous onset of the +assailants; but, in the tumult of the +fight, a large powder-magazine, between +the Sabionera and Fort St Demetrius, +which had been occupied by +the French, was accidentally blown up. +The Duke de Beaufort, and many +others, perished in the explosion, or +were buried under the ruins; and the +survivors, panic-stricken at the catastrophe, +were driven within the walls +with terrible slaughter by the Turks, +who rallied and returned to the +charge. The usual hideous trophies +of Ottoman triumph—the heads of the +slain, were laid at the feet of the vizir; +but the body of the Duc de Beaufort, +though anxiously sought for at the +prayer of his comrades, who offered, +through a flag of truce, to redeem it +at its weight in gold, could never be +discovered.</p> + +<p>This dreadful blow not only threw +a fatal gloom over the ardour of the +French, but gave rise to an altercation +between Morosini and De Noailles, +each of whom threw on the other +the blame of the failure; till, after a +month thus unprofitably spent, the +French commander re-embarked his +troops, and sailed for Toulon, August +31, leaving the town to its fate. The +Maltese and Papal galleys departed in +his company;—"for thus did these +accursed swine of Nazarenes" (says +the Turkish historiographer, Rashid) +"withdraw from the doom of hell, +which awaited them at the hands of +the Faithful." The condition of the +remaining defenders, thus deserted by +their allies, and separated from the +Turks only by breastworks hastily +thrown up in the interior of the town, +was now utterly hopeless, as not more +than 3600 men remained fit for duty, +while the loss in slain and disabled +averaged more than a hundred a-day. +In these desperate circumstances, a +council of war was summoned by Morosini, +to consider whether it might +not even yet be practicable to avoid +the ignominy of a surrender, by evacuating +the town, and escaping, with +the inhabitants, by sea. Their deliberations +were hastened by a furious +assault from the Turks, who were impatient +to seize their prey; and, +though the enemy were repulsed for +the time by the remains of the Lunenburghers, +two officers were eventually +dispatched to the vizir's headquarters, +to announce the submission +of the garrison, and arrange the terms +of capitulation. They were courteously +received by Kiuprili, who +appointed an officer of his own household, +with Panayoti,<a name="footnotetag21" id="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21"><sup>21</sup></a> the dragoman +of the Porte, to confer with them; +and the articles were settled without +much difficulty. Peace was concluded +between the Porte and the Republic. +Candia and the whole of Crete was +ceded to the Sultan, with the exception +of the harbours of Grabusa, Suda, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page732" id="page732" title="732"></a></span> and Spinalonga, which the Venetians +were allowed to retain for purposes +of commerce; the garrison and +inhabitants of Candia were to embark +with their arms, baggage, and a certain +proportion of artillery, and the +Ottomans were not to enter the town +till the embarkation was completed. +These conditions were scrupulously +observed by the victors; till the 27th +of September, the evacuation being +effected, the standard of the cross was +at length lowered from the walls; and +the vizir, standing on the breach of +the St Andrew's bastion, (thence called +by the Turks the <i>Fort of Surrender</i>,) +in the midst of a crowd of pashas +and generals, received the keys of the +city in a silver basin. A body of +Turkish troops immediately entered +by the breaches, and mounted guard on +the principal posts; but it was not till +the 4th of October that the vizir made +his triumphant entry at the head of his +army, (now reduced to about 15,000 +regular troops, and 11,000 pioneers +and irregulars,) and proceeded, bearing +in his hand the sacred standard of +the Prophet, to the cathedral, which +was purified from the dead bodies interred +within its walls, and re-consecrated +as a mosque. All the other +churches underwent the same transformation, +with the exception of two +which Panayoti purchased for the use +of the Greeks; for so completely was +the town deserted, that there remained +only, in the words of an anonymous +eyewitness, "two Greeks, three +Jews, and eight other strangers, whom +the vizir would also have suffered to +depart; but they chose rather to +change their religion than their quarters."</p> + +<p>Thus ended this famous siege, the +longest, and one of the most memorable, +recorded in history. During its +continuance, the Venetians and their +allies lost 30,000 men, and the Turks +more than 100,000; fifty-six assaults +were made on the town above ground, +and the same number through the +mines; and nearly an equal number +of sorties was made by the garrison. +460 mines were sprung by the Turks, +and no less than 1172 by the Venetians; +and the quantity of missiles +hurled into the town exceeded all calculation. +The fortifications were, +however, speedily repaired by the care +of Kiuprili, who remained in the island +nine months after the surrender, employed +in the final organization of this +new province, which was divided into +the three pashaliks of Canea, Retimo, +and Candia—the last being the residence +of the beglerbeg, or supreme +pasha. The arrangements being at +length completed, he quitted Candia +for Constantinople, whither the capitan-pasha +had preceded him with the +fleet; and, on the 3d of July 1670, he +replaced in the hands of the Sultan, +in his hunting-camp near Rodosto, +the <i>sandjak-sheeref</i>, which had been +committed to his charge for the war +against the infidels. "In this manner," +says Rycaut, writing not in a +spirit of prophecy, three years only +before the battle of Vienna, "expired +the action of the year, fortunate in its +success to the Turks; for though they +gained but thirty acres of land, with +expense inestimable of blood and treasure, +yet the glory and fame which +attended it, being the consummation +of twenty-five years' war, and the +theatre where the whole world were +spectators, was of greater value to the +Turks than any other consideration, +and may with time prove a place of +advantage to the further increase of +their western empire, unless God Almighty, +by his mercy and providence, +give a stop to the progress of this +grand oppressor."</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page733" id="page733" title="733"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s4" id="bw332s4"></a><h2>A PASSAGE IN THE LIFE OF A MAÎTRE-D'ARMES</h2> + +<p>The excitement produced in St +Petersburg on the occasion of a rash +conspiracy which had broken out on +the inauguration of the Emperor Nicholas, +had ample time to die away +before the sentence pronounced upon +the conspirators became known. Six +months elapsed, months of terrible suspense +and anxiety to the friends of the +unfortunate prisoners. At length, on +the 14th of July, the decision of the +high court of justice appeared in the +<i>St Petersburg Gazette</i>. Six-and-thirty +of the accused were condemned +to death, the others to the mines and +to exile. My friend and patron, Count +Alexis W——, was included in the former +list; but an act of clemency on +the part of the Emperor tempered the +severity of justice, and only five of +the condemned were left for execution, +while the remaining thirty-one +had their sentence commuted +to banishment. My friend's name +was, God be thanked! among the +latter.</p> + +<p>On reading this announcement, I +rushed into the street, and ran, without +once stopping, until I reached the +house of his beloved Louise. Of her, +for the present, it will be sufficient to +say, that she was a young, lovely, and +intelligent Frenchwoman, whose sister +I had known in Paris, and to whose +patronage, from her position as a first-rate +<i>modiste</i> in St Petersburg, I was +much indebted. Between this truly +amiable woman and the Count had +for some years existed an attachment, +not hallowed, indeed, by the church, +but so long and deeply-rooted in the +hearts of both, and so dignified by +their mutual constancy and worth, as +to have won the sympathies even of +the Count's mother and sisters. To +return, however, to Louise, whom I +found with a copy of the <i>Gazette</i> in +her hand, and bathed in tears, but +they were tears of joy—</p> + +<p>"He is saved!" cried she, on seeing +me enter; "thank God and the +Emperor!"</p> + +<p>The first moment of joy over, +Louise's thoughts turned to the mother +and sisters of her lover. She +calculated that the <i>Gazette</i> would only +leave St Petersburg by the post of +that night, and that by sending off an +express immediately the news might +reach Moscow twelve hours sooner. +She asked me if I knew a trusty messenger, +who could start without delay +to bear the glad tidings to the +Count's family. I had a Russian servant, +an intelligent active fellow, and +I offered his services, which she accepted +with delight. The only difficulty +was the passport, and through +the kindness of the ex-chief of police, +Monsieur de Gorgoli, it was procured +in half an hour. At the expiration of +that time the courier set off, with a +thousand rubles in his pocket for travelling +expenses.</p> + +<p>He arrived at Moscow fourteen +hours before the post; fourteen hours +of mortal anxiety saved to the Count's +mother and sisters.</p> + +<p>The letter he brought back, was one +of those that seem written with a +feather plucked from an angel's wing. +The old Countess called Louise her +daughter, and the young girls named +her their sister. They entreated that, +when the day was known on which +the prisoners were to set off for their +banishment, a courier might be despatched +to Moscow with the news. I +accordingly told my servant to hold +himself in readiness to start, to his no +small satisfaction; for the Count's mother +had given him a thousand rubles +for his first trip, and he trusted the +second might be equally well rewarded.</p> + +<p>There had not been an execution in +St Petersburg for sixty years, and the +curiosity and excitement caused by +the anticipation of this one, were proportionably +great. The day was not +fixed beforehand, and the inhabitants +of the capital got up each morning, +expecting to hear that the bloody tragedy +had been enacted. I had requested +a young Frenchman attached +to Marshal Marmont's special mission, +and who was on that account likely +to have early information, to let me +know when it was to take place; and +on the evening of the 23d of July, he +sent me word that the marshal and his +suite had been invited to repair by +four o'clock the following morning +to the hotel of the French embassy, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page734" id="page734" title="734"></a></span> the windows of which commanded the +place of execution.</p> + +<p>I hastened to communicate this intelligence +to Louise. All her fears +returned. Was it certain that Alexis +was pardoned? Might not the commutation +of punishment announced in +the <i>Gazette</i> be a ruse to conceal the +truth from the people? These, and +a thousand other doubts, arose in her +mind; but I at last succeeded in tranquillizing +her, and returned home to +take some repose till the hour of the +execution. Before doing so, however, +my servant was sent off to Moscow, +to inform the Countess W—— that +the following day her son would +leave St Petersburg for his place of +exile.</p> + +<p>At half-past three, I left my house +and hastened in the direction of the +citadel. A grey tinge in the east announced +the approach of day, and a +thin white fog hung like a veil over +the Neva. As I passed the corner of +the French embassy, Marmont and +his suite entered the house, and a +minute afterwards they appeared upon +the balcony.</p> + +<p>A few persons were standing upon +the quay, not in expectation, or because +they were informed of what was +going to take place, but because the +bridge of the Trinity was occupied by +troops, and they were thereby prevented +from proceeding whither their +affairs called them. They seemed uneasy, +and uncertain whether it might +not be dangerous to remain there.</p> + +<p>Some minutes before four, a large +fire was lighted on the platform of the +fortress. My attention being drawn +to that point, I perceived, by the now +increasing daylight, a wooden scaffolding, +on which were erected five black +and ominous looking gibbets.</p> + +<p>Four o'clock struck, and the prisoners +whose punishment had been commuted +to banishment appeared upon +the platform, and ranged themselves +round the scaffold. They were all in +full uniform, wearing their epaulettes, +and the stars and ribands of their different +orders. Their swords were +carried by soldiers. I tried to distinguish +the Count, but the distance, and +still imperfect light, rendered the attempt +fruitless.</p> + +<p>The five who were to suffer death +now ascended the scaffold, dressed in +coarse linen frocks, and with a sort of +white hood over their heads. They +doubtless arrived from separate dungeons, +for, as they met, they were +allowed to embrace one another. Immediately +afterwards, a man went up +to them and said something, which +was followed by a cheer from the soldiers +and others attending the execution. +It was afterwards reported, I +know not with what truth, that this +man was sent to offer them their lives +if they chose to beg them; but that +they replied to the offer by cries of +Russia and Liberty!—cries that were +rendered inaudible by the hurras of +the guards and attendants.</p> + +<p>The executioners stepped forward, +passed the halters round the necks of +the condemned, and pulled the hoods +over their eyes. A neighbouring +clock struck the first quarter after four, +and simultaneously with the sound, a +trap-door gave way under the feet of +the culprits. There was a great cry +and much confusion, and a number of +soldiers jumped upon the scaffold.</p> + +<p>Two of the ropes had snapped, and +the unhappy men round whose necks +they had been fastened, had fallen +through the scaffolding to the platform; +one of them had broken his +thigh, and the other his arm. Ladders +were brought, and the sufferers +carried up to the scaffold and laid +upon their backs, for they were unable +to stand. In a few minutes new +halters were ready, and with the help +of the executioners, the victims managed +to drag themselves under the +gibbets. Their last words were, Russia +and Liberty! This time the ropes +did their duty.</p> + +<p>It was said, that when the Emperor +was afterwards informed of this incident, +he was much vexed at its not +having been immediately reported to +him; but nobody had dared take upon +himself the responsibility of suspending +the execution.</p> + +<p>It was now the turn of the exiles. +Their sentence was read, declaring +them to have forfeited every thing, +rank, possessions, orders, family, all +that bound them to the world, and the +executioners then tore off their epaulettes +and decorations, which they +threw into the fire. Then taking the +prisoners' swords from the soldiers +who held them, they seized them by +the hilt and point, and broke them +over their owners' heads, exclaiming, +as each snapped in two, "This is the +sword of a traitor!" This ceremony +<span class="newpage"><a name="page735" id="page735" title="735"></a></span> over, they were stripped of their uniforms, +which were replaced by coarse +grey smock-frocks, and they were then +led back to prison. The evening of +the same day they set out for Siberia.</p> + +<p>I returned to Louise, whom I found +on her knees, praying and weeping. +She looked at me as I entered the +room as though afraid to interrogate +me; but I relieved her anxiety by informing +her that all had passed as announced +in the <i>Gazette</i>. She raised +her eyes to heaven with an expression +of pious gratitude.</p> + +<p>After a pause, "How far is it from +here to Tobolsk?" she enquired.</p> + +<p>"About eight hundred leagues."</p> + +<p>"It is not so far as I thought," was +her observation. I looked at her for +a moment in silence. I began to suspect +her intentions.</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask the question?" +enquired I.</p> + +<p>"Can you not guess?"</p> + +<p>"But, Louise, it is impossible, at +least at this moment."</p> + +<p>"Do not be uneasy, my friend. I +know my duty to my child, and my +affection for its father shall not make +me forget it. I will wait."</p> + +<p>It was not without a motive that +the Count's mother and sisters had +been anxious to obtain the earliest +possible intelligence of his departure +from St Petersburg. The road from +that capital to Tobolsk ran through +Iroslaw, a town about sixty leagues +from Moscow, and they entertained +hopes of being able to see their son +and brother as he passed. Their passports +were ready, and arrangements +made; and as soon as they received +from my servant the news of the departure +of the prisoners, they got into +a <i>kubiltka</i>, and without saying a word +to any body of their intentions, set out +for Iroslaw.</p> + +<p>Travelling is rapid in Russia; in +less than twenty-four hours they +reached their destination, and learned +with delight that the prisoners had +not yet passed. As their stay at Iroslaw +might have excited suspicion, they +left that town, and took up their quarters +in a small village on the road, at +a solitary cottage, near which the +carriages containing the exiles were +to change horses. In all such cases +in Russia, the persons in charge of +criminals are forbidden to stop or to +change horses in towns, or even in +villages.</p> + +<p>After waiting two days, a servant +whom the Countess had stationed +upon the road to watch for the convoy, +hastened to her with the news +that the first division of the prisoners +had just arrived in five carriages, and +that the corporal in charge had sent +men to fetch horses from the village. +The ladies got into their carriage, and +set off at full gallop for the cottage at +which the convoy had halted. They +stopped upon the high-road opposite +the hut, and gazed eagerly through +the half-open door of its only room. +It was crowded with prisoners; but +Alexis was not amongst them.</p> + +<p>In a quarter of an hour horses were +brought; the prisoners re-entered the +carriage, which immediately set +off.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the second division +of the convoy arrived; but the +Count was not with it. The third, +fourth, and fifth passed, each being +obliged to wait longer than the preceeding +one for horses, those at the +post-house and in the immediate neighbourhood +having all been taken.</p> + +<p>It was some time after nightfall +when the sixth and last division was +heard approaching. The poor women +clasped their trembling hands +together. The much wished-for moment +had arrived, yet their greatest +difficulty was to come. It was more +than uncertain whether they would +be permitted to embrace their son and +brother.</p> + +<p>The convoy stopped, Alexis got +out of the third carriage. In spite +of the darkness and of his ignoble +garb, the Countess and her daughters +recognized him. One of the latter +was about to call out his name; but +her mother placed her hand on her +mouth in time to prevent the imprudence, +and the Count entered the +cottage.</p> + +<p>The corporal commanding the escort +began enquiring about horses, +and on learning that they were scarce, +he sent off his soldiers with orders to +seize all they could find in the name +of the Emperor. The men departed, +and he remained alone with the prisoners. +There was no danger of an +attempt at escape. In the heart of +the Czar's immense dominions, whither +could a fugitive betake himself +<span class="newpage"><a name="page736" id="page736" title="736"></a></span> without a certainty of being overtaken, +or of dying from hunger before +he reached the frontier?</p> + +<p>Corporal Ivan remained then walking +up and down in front of the cottage, +alternately whistling and floging +his leathern overalls with his riding +whip, and occasionally stopping +to gaze at the Countess's travelling +carriage, which was standing without +horses in the road. Presently the +door of the vehicle opened, three +ladies alighted and advanced towards +the corporal. Two of them remained +a little behind, the third approached +him with clasped hands.</p> + +<p>"My friend," said the Countess, +"my son is amongst the prisoners +you are escorting; let me see him +but for a moment, and name your +own reward."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible, madam," replied +the corporal respectfully. "My orders +are strict to allow no one to communicate +with the prisoners, and the +knout is the least I may expect if I +transgress them."</p> + +<p>"But who will know that you have +transgressed them?" cried the Countess, +her voice trembling with eagerness +and suspense. Her daughters +stepped forward, and joined their +hands, as in supplication to the soldier.</p> + +<p>"It is quite impossible, madam," +repeated the man.</p> + +<p>"My mother!" cried Alexis, pushing +open the cottage door. He had +heard her voice, and in an instant was +clasped in her arms.</p> + +<p>The corporal made a movement as +though to seize his prisoner; but at +the same moment the two young girls +fell at his feet, and embracing his +knees, pointed to the touching spectacle +before them.</p> + +<p>Corporal Ivan was a good fellow in +the main. He uttered something between +a sigh and a growl, and the +sisters saw that their prayer was +granted.</p> + +<p>"Mamma," said one of them in a +low tone, "he will allow us to embrace +our brother." The Countess +extricated herself from her son's arms, +and held out a heavy purse to the corporal.</p> + +<p>"You risk a punishment for our +sakes, my friend, and it is fair you +should be recompensed for it."</p> + +<p>Ivan looked hard at the purse for a +moment, then shaking his head and +putting his hands behind his back, +"No, your ladyship," said he, "I am +committing a breach of duty, but it +is not for gold. Here is the best excuse +I can give my judges, and if they +don't accept it, God will;" and he +pointed to the two weeping girls. +The Countess seized the soldier's +rough hand and pressed it to her lips.</p> + +<p>"The horses cannot be here yet;" +continued Ivan, "get into your carriage +and pull down the blinds. By +that means nobody will see you, and +I may perhaps avoid making acquaintance +with the knout."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, corporal," said Alexis; +"but at least take this purse.</p> + +<p>"Take it yourself, lieutenant," said +Ivan in a low voice, from habit giving +the Count a title to which he had no +longer a right. "You will find the +use of it at the end of your journey."</p> + +<p>"But on arriving they will search +me."</p> + +<p>"You can give it to me before the +search, and I will return it to you. +But I hear the gallop of a horse; +quick into the carriage!" The corporal +pushed Alexis into the carriage; +the ladies followed, and he shut the +door upon them.</p> + +<p>An hour elapsed, an hour of mingled +joy and sorrow. At the expiration +of that time, the door opened, +and Ivan appeared. "You must +separate," said he, "the horses are +arriving."</p> + +<p>"A few moments longer!" cried +the ladies, with tearful voices.</p> + +<p>"Not a second, or I am ruined. +Go on to the next relay; it is dark, +no one will see you, and I sha'n't be +punished more for twice than once."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you will not be punished at +all," cried the ladies; "surely God +will reward you."</p> + +<p>"Hum," said the corporal doubtingly, +and half pulling his prisoner +out of the carriage.</p> + +<p>At the next relay, things went +equally well. A third interview was +rendered impossible by the approach +of day. The sad word <i>farewell</i> was +pronounced, and the weeping women +took the road to Moscow, having +previously arranged a plan of correspondence, +and carrying with them a +few affectionate lines that Alexis had +scrawled in pencil for Louise.</p> + +<p>The Countess had ordered my +servant to wait at Moscow till she +returned, and on her arrival there +<span class="newpage"><a name="page737" id="page737" title="737"></a></span> immediately dispatched him to St Petersburg. +He brought Louise the +Count's note, and a letter from his +mother, inviting her to go to Moscow, +for that she was impatient to embrace +her as her daughter.</p> + +<p>Louise kissed her lover's note. She +shook her head on reading the Countess's +letter, and smiled one of those +sad smiles that were peculiar to her. +"I shall not go to Moscow," said she, +"my place is elsewhere."</p> + +<p>As I had suspected, Louise had resolved +to join Count W—— at Tobolsk; +but she could not set out till +after her confinement, which was to +take place in a couple of months. +Meantime she busied herself with +preparations. By turning every thing +she possessed into money, she got +together a sum of thirty thousand +rubles. At her request, I applied to +my kind friend, Monsieur de Gorgoli, +to obtain from the Emperor permission +for her to rejoin her lover. Her +intentions had got wind in St Petersburg, +and every body spoke with admiration +of the devoted attachment of +the young Frenchwoman. Many +thought, however, that her courage +would fail her when the moment +of departure arrived; but I knew her +better, and felt assured of the contrary.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of September, +she became the mother of a boy. +I wished her to write to the mother of +Alexis to announce this event; but +she refused. The Countess heard of +it, however, and wrote to Louise, to +say that she was expecting her with +her child.</p> + +<p>Her recovery was slow, the various +emotions she had undergone during +her pregnancy having weakened her +health. She would have left St Petersburg +long before she was strong +enough to do so; but the permission to +join Count W—— was to come through +me, and I refused to apply for it till +her medical attendant gave her leave +to travel.</p> + +<p>One morning the door of my apartment +opened and Louise entered, her +face radiant with joy. "He will +escape!" cried she.</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"He—Alexis."</p> + +<p>"How! Escape? It is impossible."</p> + +<p>"Read that," she said and handed +me a letter in the Count's hand-writing. +It was as follows:—"Dearest +Louise—Place all confidence in the +bearer of this letter. He is more +than my friend—he is my saviour.</p> + +<p>"I fell ill upon the road, and was +obliged to stop at Perm. The physicians +declared I was not able to +continue my journey, and it was decided +I should pass the winter in the +prison of that town. As good fortune +would have it, the jailer's brother is +an old servant of my family and willing +to aid my escape. He and his +brother fly with me; but I must have +means of indemnifying them for what +they give up on my account, and for +the risk they run. Give the bearer +all the money and jewels you possess. +As soon as I am in safety I will write +to you to come and join me. Adieu. +W——."</p> + +<p>"Well," said I after reading the +letter twice over, "what have you +done?"</p> + +<p>"Can you ask the question?"</p> + +<p>"What!" cried I. "You have +given ...?"</p> + +<p>"Every ruble I had," interrupted +she.</p> + +<p>"And if this letter were not from +the Count? If it were a forgery?"</p> + +<p>She changed colour, and snatched +the paper from my hand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" said she. "I know his +hand-writing. I cannot be mistaken." +But, on reading the letter again, I +observed that she grew still paler.</p> + +<p>"I do not think," I observed, "that +Alexis would have addressed such a +demand to you."</p> + +<p>"And why not? Who loves him +better than I do?"</p> + +<p>"Understand me rightly. For an +act of friendship or devotion he would +have applied to <i>you</i>, but for money to +his mother. I tell you again, either +I do not know Count W——'s character, +or this letter is not written by +him."</p> + +<p>"But what will become of me? I +have given every thing I possessed."</p> + +<p>"How did the Count usually sign +his letters?"</p> + +<p>"Alexis always."</p> + +<p>"You see this one is signed W——. +It is evidently a forgery and we must +immediately inform the police."</p> + +<p>"And if we are mistaken? If it is +not a forgery, by doing so I shall +prevent his escape. Oh, no! Better +lose the money. I can manage without. +All that I am anxious to know +is, whether he is at Perm."</p> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page738" id="page738" title="738"></a></span> It occurred to me, that I might +easily ascertain this latter point +through a lieutenant of gendarmerie +to whom I gave lessons; and begging +Louise to wait my return, I hastened +to his quarters. I told him I had particular +reasons for wishing to know +whether my friend W—— had reached +Tobolsk, and asked him if it were +possible to ascertain. He immediately +sent an orderly for the non-commissioned +officer who had commanded +the Count's division. Ten +minutes afterwards, Corporal Ivan +entered the room; and, although I +was not then aware of the service he +had rendered the Countess and her +daughters, I was immediately prepossessed +in his favour, by his frank +open countenance and soldierly bearing.</p> + +<p>"You commanded the sixth division +of the prisoners lately sent to +Siberia?" enquired I.</p> + +<p>"I did so, your excellency."</p> + +<p>"Count W—— was in your division?"</p> + +<p>The corporal hesitated, and did not +seem much to like the question.</p> + +<p>"Fear nothing," said I, "you are +speaking to a friend, who would sacrifice +his own life for him. Tell me +the truth, I beseech you. Was Count +W—— ill on the road?"</p> + +<p>"Not the least."</p> + +<p>"Did he stop at Perm?"</p> + +<p>"Not even to change horses. I +left him at Koslowo, a pretty little +village on the Irtich, twenty leagues +from Tobolsk."</p> + +<p>"You are sure of what you say?"</p> + +<p>"Quite sure. I had a receipt from +the authorities, which I delivered over +to his excellency the grand-master of +police."</p> + +<p>I now hastened to Monsieur de +Gorgoli, and related all that had passed. +When I had finished—</p> + +<p>"Is this young girl decided to go +penniless, as she now is, to join her +lover in Siberia?"</p> + +<p>"Quite decided, your excellency; +and I am persuaded nothing will alter +her resolution."</p> + +<p>"Then go, and tell her from me, +that she shall have the permission."</p> + +<p>I hurried back to Louise, and informed +her of the result of my two +interviews. She appeared indifferent +to the loss of her little fortune, but +overjoyed to learn that she would be +allowed to join her lover. Her only +anxiety now was to obtain the requisite +permission as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>Before leaving her, I placed at her +disposal what money I had, which, +unfortunately, was only two or three +thousand rubles; for I had, a short +time previously, remitted to France +all that I had laid by during my residence +at St Petersburg.</p> + +<p>The same evening I was at Louise's +house, when one of the Emperor's +aides-de-camp was announced. He +brought her a letter of audience for +the following day. Monsieur de Gorgoli +had kept his word.</p> + +<p>Early the following morning I +called upon Louise, to accompany her +to the palace. I found her waiting +for me, dressed in deep mourning, and +without a single ornament; but her +pale, melancholy style of beauty, was +rather improved than impaired by the +simplicity and sombre colour of her +attire.</p> + +<p>At the palace gate we separated, +and I awaited her return in the carriage. +On presenting her letter of +audience, an officer on duty conducted +her to the Emperor's private cabinet, +and desiring her to wait there, left the +room. She remained alone for about +ten minutes, during which time, she +afterwards told me, she was more than +once near fainting away. At last a +step was heard in the adjoining apartment; +a door opened, and the Emperor +appeared. On seeing him, she, +by a spontaneous movement, fell upon +her knees, and, unable to find words, +clasped her hands together in mute +supplication.</p> + +<p>"Rise!" said the Emperor kindly, +advancing towards her. "I have +been already spoken to on the subject +of your application. You wish +for permission to join an exile?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sire, if such a favour may +be granted."</p> + +<p>"You are neither his sister nor his +wife, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"I am his—friend, sire," replied +poor Louise, a tinge of pink over-spreading +her pale cheek. "He must +sadly need a friend."</p> + +<p>"You know that he is banished for +life to a country where there are +scarcely four months of spring, and +the rest of the year is one dreary +winter?"</p> + +<p>"I know it, sire."</p> + +<p>"Do you know, also, that he has +neither rank, fortune, nor title to +<span class="newpage"><a name="page739" id="page739" title="739"></a></span> share with you—that he is poorer than +the poorest mendicant in St Petersburg?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sire."</p> + +<p>"You have doubtless some fortune, +some resources of your own?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, sire, I have nothing! Yesterday +I had thirty thousand rubles, +produced by the sale of all I possessed, +but even that little fortune was stolen +from me."</p> + +<p>"I know it. By a forged letter. +It was more than a theft, it was a +sacrilege; and, should its perpetrator +be detected, he shall be punished as +though he had broken open the poor-box +in a church. But there are means +of repairing your loss?"</p> + +<p>"How, sire?"</p> + +<p>"Inform his family of the circumstance. +They are rich, and will assist +you."</p> + +<p>"I thank your Majesty; but I desire +no assistance save that of God."</p> + +<p>"But without funds how can you +travel? Have you no friends who +would help you?"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, sire, but I am too +proud to borrow what I could never +repay. By selling what little property +I have left, I shall raise two or +three hundred rubles."</p> + +<p>"Scarcely sufficient for a quarter +of the journey. Do you know the +distance from here to Tobolsk, my +poor girl?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sire—about eight hundred +French leagues."</p> + +<p>"And how will you get over the +five or six hundred leagues you will +still have to travel when your last +ruble is spent?"</p> + +<p>"There are towns on the road, +sire. When I reach a town I will +work till I have enough to continue +my journey to the next."</p> + +<p>"That may do as far as Perm," +replied the Emperor; "but after that +you have the Ural mountains, and you +are at the end of Europe. After that +nothing but a few scattered villages; +no inns upon the road; large rivers +without bridges or ferries, and which +must be traversed by dangerous fords, +whence men and horses are frequently +swept away."</p> + +<p>"Sire, when I reach the rivers +they will be frozen; for I am told that +in those regions the winter begins +earlier than at St Petersburg."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried the Emperor, astonished, +"do you think of setting out +now—of performing such a journey in +winter?"</p> + +<p>"It is during the winter that <i>his</i> +solitude must be most intolerable."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible. You must be +mad to think of it."</p> + +<p>"Impossible if your Majesty so +wills it. No one can disobey your +Majesty."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> shall not prevent it; but surely +your own reason, and the immense +difficulties of such an undertaking, +will."</p> + +<p>"Sire! I will set out to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"But if you perish on the road?"</p> + +<p>"If I perish, sire, he will have lost +nothing, for I am neither his mother, +his daughter, nor sister, but only his +mistress—that is, a woman to whom +society gives no rights, and who must +consider herself fortunate if the world +looks upon her with no harsher feeling +than indifference. But if I <i>am</i> able to +join him, I shall be <i>every thing</i> to him—mother, +sister, family, and friends. +We shall be two to suffer instead of +one, and that fearful exile will lose +half its terrors. You see, sire, I <i>must</i> +rejoin him, and that as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"You are right," said the Emperor, +looking fixedly at her, "and I no +longer oppose your departure."</p> + +<p>He rang; an aide-de-camp appeared.</p> + +<p>"Is Corporal Ivan in attendance?"</p> + +<p>"He waits your Majesty's orders."</p> + +<p>"Let him come in."</p> + +<p>The aide-de-camp bowed, and disappeared. +Two minutes afterwards the +door reopened, and Corporal Ivan +stepped into the room, then halted, +upright and motionless, one hand on +the seam of his overalls, the other to +the front of his schako.</p> + +<p>"Draw near," said the Emperor, in +a stern voice.</p> + +<p>The corporal made four paces to +the front, and relapsed into his former +position.</p> + +<p>"Nearer!"</p> + +<p>Four more paces, and Ivan was +close to the Emperor's writing-table.</p> + +<p>"You are Corporal Ivan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sire."</p> + +<p>"You commanded the escort of the +sixth division?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sire."</p> + +<p>"You had orders to allow the prisoners +to communicate with no one?"</p> + +<p>This time the corporal's tongue +seemed embarrassed by something, +and his affirmative was uttered in a +<span class="newpage"><a name="page740" id="page740" title="740"></a></span> less steady tone than the preceding +ones.</p> + +<p>"Count Alexis W—— was one of +the prisoners in your division, and in +spite of your orders you allowed him +to have two interviews with his mother +and sisters. You knew the +punishment you exposed yourself to +by so doing?"</p> + +<p>Ivan grew very pale, and was forced +to support himself against the table.</p> + +<p>"Pardon, sire!" gasped he.</p> + +<p>Louise seemed about to speak, but a +motion of the Emperor's hand warned +her to remain quiet. After a moment's +silence—</p> + +<p>"You are pardoned," said the Emperor.</p> + +<p>The soldier drew a deep breath. +Louise uttered an exclamation of joy.</p> + +<p>"Where did you leave Count +W——?"</p> + +<p>"At Koslowo, your Majesty."</p> + +<p>"You will set off again, and escort +this lady thither."</p> + +<p>"Oh, sire!" exclaimed Louise, who +began to understand the Emperor's +feigned severity,</p> + +<p>"You will obey her in all respects, +consistently with her safety, for which +you answer to me with your head; and +if, on your return, you bring me a +letter from her, saying that she is +satisfied with your conduct, you shall +be made sergeant."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, father," said Ivan, forgetting +for a moment his military +stiffness, and falling upon his knees. +The Emperor gave him his hand to +kiss, as he was in the habit of doing +to the lowest of his subjects. Louise +was going to throw herself at his feet +and kiss his other hand, but the Emperor +stopped her.</p> + +<p>"You are indeed a true and admirable +woman," said he. "I have done +all I can for you. May God bless +and protect you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sire!" exclaimed Louise, "how +can I show my gratitude!"</p> + +<p>"When you pray for your child," +said the Emperor, "pray also for +mine." And waving his hand kindly +to her, he left the room.</p> + +<p>When Louise returned home she +found a small packet that had been +sent from the Empress during her +absence. It contained thirty thousand +rubles.</p> + +<p>It had been arranged that I should +accompany Louise as far as Moscow, +a city that I was desirous of visiting, +and thence she would pursue her +journey under Ivan's escort. The +day after her interview with the Emperor, +we started in a carriage that +Ivan brought, and the combined +strength and elegance of which surprised +me, until I observed on a corner +of the pannel the mark of the imperial +stables. It was an excellent +travelling berline, lined throughout +with fur. Ivan was provided with an +order, by virtue of which post-horses +would be furnished us the whole of the +journey, at the Emperor's expense. +Louise got into the carriage with her +child in her arms; I seated myself +beside her, Ivan jumped on the box, +and in a few minutes we were rattling +along the Moscow road.</p> + +<p>Louise was received with open arms +by the Countess W—— and her +daughters. The nature of her connexion +with Alexis was lost sight of +and forgotten in the devotion and disinterestedness +of her attachment. A +room was prepared for her in the +Countess's house; and, however anxious +the Count's mother and sisters +were that he should have society and +consolation in his exile, they nevertheless +entreated her to pass the winter +at Moscow, rather than run the +risk of so long a journey during the +bad season that was approaching. +But Louise was inflexible. Two days +were all she would consent to remain. +She was forced, however, to leave her +child in charge of its grandmother, +for it would have been madness to +have done otherwise.</p> + +<p>I had been offered an apartment in +the Countess's house, but preferred +taking up my quarters at an hotel, in +order to have liberty to spend my +time in visiting whatever was remarkable +at Moscow. On the evening of +the second day I went to call upon +the Countess. The ladies were making +another effort to persuade Louise +to defer her perilous journey till a +more favourable season. But no arguments, +no entreaties, could move +her: she was determined to set off +the following morning. I was invited +to breakfast, and to witness her +departure.</p> + +<p>I had been for some days turning +over in my mind a project that I now +resolved to put in execution. I got +up early the next morning and bought +a fur coat and cap, thick furred boots, +a carbine, and a brace of pistols, all +<span class="newpage"><a name="page741" id="page741" title="741"></a></span> of which I gave to Ivan, and desired +him to place them in the carriage. I then +hastened to the Countess W——'s.</p> + +<p>Breakfast over, the carriage drove +up to the door. Louise was alternately +clasped in the arms of the +Countess and her daughters. My +turn came, and she held out her hand. +I made a motion to assist her into the +carriage. "Well," said she, astonished, +"don't you bid me farewell?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to set off."</p> + +<p>"So am I."</p> + +<p>"You!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. You recollect the +Persian fable—the pebble that was +not the rose, but had caught some of +its fragrance by living near it."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I have caught some of your +devotedness, and I shall go with you +to Tobolsk. I will deliver you safe +and sound to the Count, and then +come back again."</p> + +<p>Louise looked me earnestly in the +face. "I have no right," said she, +"to prevent your doing a good action—come."</p> + +<p>The Countess and her daughters +were in tears. "My child! my +child!" cried Louise, who had remained +firm up to this moment, but +burst into a passion of weeping as she +clasped her infant for the last time in +her arms.</p> + +<p>"Adieu! Adieu!" The whip +cracked; the wheels rattled over the +pavement. We were off to Siberia. +On we went, day and night. Pokrow, +Vladimir, Nijni-Novogorod, Casan. +"<i>Pascare! Pascare!</i>" Quicker! +Quicker! was Ivan's cry to each new +postilion. The snow had not yet +begun to fall, and he was anxious, if +possible, to cross the Ural mountains +before it set in. The immense plains +between Moscow and Perm were traversed +with tremendous rapidity. On +reaching the latter place, Louise was +so much exhausted that I told Ivan +we must halt one night. He hesitated +a moment, then looking at the sky, +which was dark and lowering, "It +will be as well," said he; "we must +soon have snow, and it is better it +should fall before than during our +journey." The next morning his prediction +was verified. There were two +feet of snow in the streets of Perm.</p> + +<p>Ivan now wished to remain till the +cold increased, so that the snow might +become hard, and the rivers frozen. +But all his arguments could only induce +Louise to wait two days. On +the third morning we set off, leaving +our carriage, and packed into a sort +of small vehicle without springs, called +a <i>télègue</i>.</p> + +<p>On reaching the foot of the Ural +mountains, the cold had so much increased +that it became advisable to +substitute a sledge for our wheels. +We stopped at a miserable village, +composed of a score of hovels, in order +to effect this exchange, and entered a +wretched hut, which did duty both as +posting-house and as the only inn in +the place. Eight or nine men, carriers +by trade, were crowded round a +large fire, lighted in the centre of the +room, and the smoke of which found +a vent through a hole in the roof. +They paid no attention to our entrance; +but when I had taken off my +cloak, my uniform at once obtained +for us the best place at the hearth. +The landlord of this wretched hostelry +met my enquires about supper with a +stare of astonishment, and offered me +a huge loaf of hard black bread as the +whole contents of his larder. Ivan, +however, presently appeared, having +managed to forage out a couple of +fowls, which, in an inconceivably +short space of time, were plucked, and +one of them simmering in an iron pot +over the fire, while the other hung +suspended by a string in front of the +blaze. Supper over, we wrapped ourselves +in our furs, and lay down upon +the floor, beds in such a place being +of course out of the question.</p> + +<p>Before daybreak, I awoke, and +found Ivan and the carriers already +afoot, and in consultation as to the +practicability of continuing our journey. +The question was at last decided +in favour of the march; the +waggoners hastened to harness their +horses, and I went to inspect our carriage, +which the village blacksmith +had taken off its wheels and mounted +upon a sledge. Ivan meantime was +foraging for provisions, and shortly +returned with a ham, some tolerable +bread, and half a dozen bottles of a +sort of reddish brandy, made, I believe, +out of the bark of the birch-tree.</p> + +<p>At length all was ready, and off we +set, our sledge going first, followed +by the carriers' waggons. Our new +companions, according to a custom +<span class="newpage"><a name="page742" id="page742" title="742"></a></span> existing among them, had chosen one +of their number as a chief, whose experience +and judgment were to direct +the movements of the party, and +whose orders were to be obeyed in all +things. Their choice had fallen on a +man named George, whose age I +should have guessed to be fifty, but +who, I learned with astonishment, +was upwards of seventy years old. +He was a powerful and muscular +man, with black piercing eyes, overhung +by thick shaggy eyebrows, +which, as well as his long beard, were +of an iron grey. His dress consisted +of a woollen shirt and trousers, a fur +cap, and a sheepskin with the wool +turned inside. To the leathern belt +round his waist were suspended two +or three horse-shoes, a metal fork and +spoon, a long-bladed knife, a small +hatchet, and a sort of wallet, in which +he carried pipe, tobacco, flint, steel, +nails, money, and a variety of other +things useful or necessary in his mode +of life. The garb and equipment of +the other carriers were, with some +small differences, the same.</p> + +<p>The first day's journey passed without +incident. Our march was slow +and even dangerous, all trace of the +road being obliterated, and we were +obliged to feel our way, as it were, by +sending men forward with long pikes +to sound the depth of snow before us. +At nightfall, however, we found ourselves +in safety on a sort of platform +surmounted by a few pine-trees. Here +we established our bivouac. Branches +were cut, and a sort of hut built; and, +with the aid of enormous fires, the +night passed in greater comfort than +might have been expected on a mountain-side, +and with snow many feet +deep around us.</p> + +<p>At daybreak we were again in +movement. Our difficulties increased +as we ascended the mountain: the +snow lay in prodigious masses, and +more than once we were delayed by +having to rescue one or other of our +advanced guard from some hole or +ravine into which he had fallen. No +serious accident, however, occurred, +and we had at length the satisfaction +of finding ourselves descending. We +had passed the highest point of the +road.</p> + +<p>We had been going downhill for +some three hours, the way zig-zaging +among rocks and precipices, when +suddenly we were startled by a loud +cracking, followed by a noise that resembled +a clap of thunder repeated by +many echoes. At the same moment +a sort of whirlwind swept by us, and +the air was darkened by a cloud of +snow-dust. "An avalanche!" cried +George, stopping his waggon. Every +body halted. In another instant the +noise ceased, the air became clear, +and the avalanche continued its downward +course, breaking, as it passed, a +couple of gigantic pines that grew +upon a rock, some five hundred feet +below us. The carriers gave a hurra +of joy at their escape, nor was it +without reason. Had we been only +half a verst further on our road, our +journey had been at an end.</p> + +<p>The avalanche had not passed, however, +without doing us some harm, +for, on reaching the part of the road +over which it had swept, we found it +blocked up by a wall of snow thirty +feet thick and of great height. There +were several hours' work for all of us +to clear it away; but unfortunately it +was already nightfall, and we were +obliged to make up our minds to remain +where we were till morning.</p> + +<p>No wood was to be had either for +hut or fire. The want of the latter +was most unfortunate; for independently +of the cold rendering it very +necessary, it was our chief protection +against the wolves. Doing the best +we could under such unfavourable +circumstances, we drew up the carts +in the form of a half circle, of which +the two extremities rested against the +wall of snow it our rear, and within +the sort of fortification thus formed +we placed the horses and our sledge. +Our arrangements were scarcely completed +when it became perfectly dark.</p> + +<p>In the absence of fire Louise's supper +and mine consisted of dry bread. +The carriers, however, made a hearty +meal on the flesh of a bear they had +killed that morning, and which they +seemed to consider as good raw as cooked.</p> + +<p>I was regretting the want of any +description of light in case of an attack +from the wolves, when Louise +suddenly recollected that Ivan had put +the lanterns belonging to the travelling +carriage into our <i>télègue</i> when +we changed horses. On searching I +found them under the seat, each furnished +with a thick wax taper.</p> + +<p>This was, indeed, a treasure. We +could not hope to scare away the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page743" id="page743" title="743"></a></span> wolves by the light of our two candles; +but it would enable us to see them +coming, and to give them a proper +reception. We tied the lanterns to the +top of two poles fixed firmly in the +snow, and saw with pleasure that they +cast their clear pale light nearly fifty +yards around our encampment.</p> + +<p>We were ten men in all. Two +stood sentry on the carts, while the +remainder set to work to pierce +through the obstacle left by the avalanche. +The snow had already become +slightly frozen, so that they were +able to cut a passage through it. I +joined the working party as being a +warmer occupation than standing sentry. +For three or four hours we toiled +incessantly, and the birch-tree brandy, +with which I had provided myself, and +which we had carefully economized, +was now found most useful in giving +strength and courage to the labourers.</p> + +<p>It was about eleven o'clock at night +when a long howl was heard, which +sounded so close and startling that +with one accord we suspended our +work. At the same moment old +George, who was on sentry, called to +us. We ran to the waggons and +jumped upon them. A dozen enormous +wolves were prowling about the +outside edge of the bright circle thrown +by our lanterns. Fear of the light +kept them off; but each moment they +were growing bolder, and it was easy +to see that they would not be long +without attacking us.</p> + +<p>I looked to the priming of my carbine +and pistols. Ivan was similarly +armed; but the carriers had only their +pikes, hatchets, and knives. With +these weapons, however, they boldly +awaited the attack.</p> + +<p>Half an hour passed in this state of +suspense, the wolves occasionally advancing +a pace or two into the circle +of light, but always retreating again. +At length one of them approached so +near that I asked George if it would +not be advisable to reward his temerity +with a bullet.</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the answer, "if you are +certain of hitting him."</p> + +<p>"Why must I be certain?"</p> + +<p>"Because if you kill him his companions +will amuse themselves with +eating him; to be sure," added he to +himself, "if once they taste blood they +will be mad for more."</p> + +<p>"The mark is so good," said I, "I +can hardly miss him."</p> + +<p>"Fire, then, in God's name!" returned +George; "all this must have +an end one way or the other."</p> + +<p>Before the words were out of his +mouth I fired, and the wolf writhed +in agony on the snow. In an instant +half a dozen wolves darted forward, +and, seizing their comrade, carried +him off into the darkness.</p> + +<p>The howlings now increased, and +it was evident more wolves were arriving. +At length there was a moment's +silence.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear the horses," said +George, "how they neigh, and paw? +It is a signal for us to be prepared."</p> + +<p>"I thought the wolves were gone," +replied I; "they have left off howling.</p> + +<p>"No, they have finished their repast, +and are preparing for an attack. +Here they come."</p> + +<p>And that moment eight or ten +wolves, that in the imperfect flickering +light looked as big as jackasses, +rushed forward, and instead of endeavouring +to pass under the waggons, +bounded boldly upon them. By some +chance, however, none of them attacked +the waggon on which I was +posted.</p> + +<p>The cart on my right, defended by +George, was escaladed by three +wolves, one of which was immediately +disabled by a thrust of the vigorous +old man's pike. A ball from my carbine +settled another, and seeing +George's hatchet raised over the head +of the third I knew he wanted no further +aid, and looked to see what was +going on to my left. Two wolves had +attacked the waggon which was defended +by one of George's sons, who +received the first of his foes with a +lance thrust. But apparently no vital +part was touched, and the wolf had +broken the pike with his teeth; so that +for a moment the man opposed to him +had nothing but the pole wherewith to +defend himself. The second wolf was +scrambling along the cart, and on the +point of attacking him, when I sprang +from one waggon to another, and fired +one of my pistols into the animal's ear. +He fell dead beside his companion, who +was rolling in the snow, and making +violent efforts to tear the broken lance +from his wound.</p> + +<p>Meantime Ivan was hard at work, +and I heard a carbine or two pistol +shots, which told me that our adversaries +were as warmly received on the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page744" id="page744" title="744"></a></span> left as on the right of the line. An instant +later four wolves again crossed the +circle of light, but this time in full retreat; +and at the same moment, to our +no small astonishment, three others, +that we had thought dead or mortally +wounded, raised themselves up and +followed their companions, leaving +large tracks of blood behind them. +Three carcasses remained upon the +field of battle.</p> + +<p>"Load again, and quickly," cried +George. "I know their ways; they +will be back directly." And the old +man pointed with his finger into the +darkness. I listened, and heard distant +howlings replying to the nearer +ones. What we had as yet had was +a mere skirmish. The general engagement +was to come.</p> + +<p>"Look behind you!" cried a voice. +I turned and saw two fiery eyes gleaming +on the top of the snow wall in our +rear. Before I could draw a trigger +the wolf gave a leap, and falling upon +one of the horses struck his fangs into +its throat. Three men left their waggons.</p> + +<p>"There is but one wolf," cried +George, "and one man is enough. +Let the others remain at their posts."</p> + +<p>Two of the men resumed their +places. The third crept upon his +hands and knees among the horses +who, in their terror, were kicking and +plunging violently, and throwing themselves +against the carts by which they +were surrounded. The next instant +I saw the gleam of a knife blade, and +the wolf let go the horse, which +reared up on its hind-legs, the blood +streaming from its throat. A dark +mass was rolling and struggling on +the ground. It was the man and the +wolf.</p> + +<p>At the end of a few seconds the +man stood up. "David," said he to +one of his comrades, "come and help +me to carry away this carrion. The +horses wont be quiet while it lies +here."</p> + +<p>They dragged the wolf towards +George's waggon, and then raising it +up from the ground, the old man took +it by the hind-legs, as though it had +been a hare, and threw it outside the +line of carts.</p> + +<p>"Well, Nicholas," said George to +the successful combatant, "don't you +take your place again."</p> + +<p>"No," replied the other; "I have +enough as it is."</p> + +<p>"Are you wounded?" cried Louise, +opening the door of the <i>télègue</i>.</p> + +<p>"I believe I have killed my last +wolf," answered the poor fellow in a +faint voice.</p> + +<p>I gave George my carbine, and hastened +to the wounded man. A part +of his jaw was torn away, and the +blood flowed abundantly from a large +wound in his neck. I for a moment +feared that the carotid artery was +opened, and scarcely knowing whether +I did right or wrong, I seized a handful +of snow and applied it to the +wound. The sufferer uttered a cry +and fainted away.</p> + +<p>"O God!" cried Louise, "have mercy upon him!"</p> + +<p>"To your posts," shouted George +in a stentorian voice; "the wolves +are upon us."</p> + +<p>I left the wounded man in Louise's +care, and jumped upon the cart.</p> + +<p>I can give no details of the combat +that followed. I had too much occupation +myself to attend to what my +companions were doing. We were +attacked by at least twenty wolves at +once. After discharging my two pistols, +I armed myself with an axe that +George gave me. The fight lasted +nearly a quarter of an hour, and certainly +the scene was one of the most +terrible it is possible to imagine. At +length, and just as I was splitting the +skull of a wolf that hung on to one of +the wheels of my waggon, a shout of +victory resounded along our line, and +again our enemies fled, but this time +it was for good.</p> + +<p>Three of our men were wounded, +besides Nicholas, who was still alive, +but in a desperate state. We were +obliged to shoot the horse that had +been torn by the wolf.</p> + +<p>By daybreak, a passage was opened +through the wall of snow, and we resumed +our journey. The evening of +the same day we reached a small village, +where we found an inn, that, +under any other circumstances, would +have been pronounced abominable, +but which appeared a palace after three +such days as we had passed. The following +morning we parted from our +friends the carriers, leaving George +five hundred rubles to divide among +them.</p> + +<p>All now went well. Thanks to the +imperial order with which we were +provided, the best horses were always +for us, and, when necessary, escorts of +<span class="newpage"><a name="page745" id="page745" title="745"></a></span> ten or twelve men galloped on either +side of our sledge. The country was +flat and the pace good, and exactly a +week after leaving the Ural mountains +we entered Tobolsk.</p> + +<p>We were dreadfully fatigued, but +yet Louise would only remain long +enough to take a bath; and at two in +the morning we set out for the little +town of Koslowo, which had been selected +as the abode of twenty of the +exiles, among whom was Alexis. On +arriving, we hastened to the officer +commanding there, and showing him +the Emperor's order, which produced +its usual effect, enquired after the +Count. He was well, was the answer, +and still at Koslowo.</p> + +<p>It had been agreed between Louise +and myself that I should go and see +him first, and inform him of her arrival. +I asked the governor for a pass, +which he gave me without hesitation, +and a Cossack conducted me to a part +of the town composed of some twenty +houses enclosed within high palisades, +and guarded by sentries. We stopped +before a door, and my guide knocked. +"Come in!" said a voice which I recognized +as that of Alexis.</p> + +<p>When I opened the door, he was +lying on his bed, dressed, and with a +book on the floor near him. I stopped +upon the threshold. He stared at +me without speaking, and seemed +hardly to believe his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "have you forgotten +me?"</p> + +<p>At the sound of my voice, he +sprang from his bed and threw his +arms round me. But the next instant +he started back. "Good heavens!" +exclaimed he, "you are exiled, and I +am probably the cause."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," I replied, "I come +here as an amateur." He smiled bitterly.</p> + +<p>"As an amateur! Into the heart +of Siberia! Explain your meaning. +But first—Louise—what of her?"</p> + +<p>"I have just now left her."</p> + +<p>"Just now? A month ago, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Five minutes ago."</p> + +<p>"Good God! what do you mean?" +cried Alexis, growing very pale.</p> + +<p>"That Louise has accompanied me, +and is now here."</p> + +<p>"Oh woman! woman! Thy heart +is ever the same," murmured Alexis, +while tear after tear rolled down his +cheek. He was then silent for a time, +but his lips moved, and I doubt not in +thanksgiving to God for such happiness.</p> + +<p>"Where is she?" he at length exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"At the governor's house."</p> + +<p>He rushed towards the door. "I +am mad," said he, pausing, "I forget +that I cannot leave my cage without +permission. My dearest friend, bring +her here, I beseech you! Or stay, this +man will go." He spoke in Russian +to the Cossack, who went out.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, and before I +could answer a tithe of the numerous +questions Alexis asked me, the man +returned, but alone.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said the Count, changing +countenance.</p> + +<p>"The governor says you must be +aware that the prisoners are not allowed +to receive visits from women."</p> + +<p>The Count struck his forehead with +his clenched hand, and fell back upon +a chair. His features were almost +convulsed by the violence of his emotions. +At last he turned to the Cossack.</p> + +<p>"Beg the sergeant to come here." +The soldier left the room.</p> + +<p>"Can any thing be more horrible?" +cried Alexis. "She has come nine +hundred leagues to see me; she is +not a hundred yards from me, and we +are forbidden to meet!"</p> + +<p>"There must surely be some blunder," +said I; "an order misunderstood, +or something of the kind."</p> + +<p>Alexis shook his head doubtingly. +There was a wild look of despair in +his large dark eyes that alarmed me. +At this moment, the sergeant who +had charge of the prisoners entered.</p> + +<p>"Sir," cried the Count with vehemence, +"the woman I love has left +St Petersburg to join me, and after a +thousand dangers and hardships has +arrived here. I am now told that I +shall not be allowed to see her. It is +doubtless a mistake?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," replied the sergeant +coolly. "You know very well that +the prisoners are not permitted to see +women."</p> + +<p>"But Prince Troubetskoy has that +permission. Is it because he is a +prince?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, it is because the princess +is his wife."</p> + +<p>"And if Louise were my wife, +should I be allowed to see her?"</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Ha!" ejaculated the Count, as +<span class="newpage"><a name="page746" id="page746" title="746"></a></span> though a weight were removed from +off his heart. "I should like to speak +with the priest," said he to the sergeant, +after a moment's pause.</p> + +<p>"He shall be sent for immediately," +was the reply.</p> + +<p>"And now my friend," said Alexis, +turning to me, and taking my hands +in his, "you have been Louise's +guardian and defender, will you for +once act as her father?"</p> + +<p>The following morning at ten o'clock, +Louise, accompanied by the governor +and myself, and Alexis by Prince +Troubetskoy and the other exiles, entered +the little church of Koslowa by +two different doors. Their first meeting +was at the altar, and the first word +they exchanged was the <i>yes</i> that united +them for ever.</p> + +<p>The Emperor by a private letter to +the governor, of which Ivan was the +bearer, had ordered that the Count +should only be allowed to see Louise +as his wife. It has been seen how +willingly my friend obeyed, I should +rather say anticipated, the Emperor's +commands. And rich was his reward +for thus promptly acknowledging the +just claims of this devoted and very +admirable woman. She was one of +"nature's own nobility"—refined and +graceful, intelligent and high-minded—and +would have graced higher rank +than that to which she was raised by +the gratitude of Count Alexis W——.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<a name="bw332s5" id="bw332s5"></a><h2>AMMALÁT BEK.</h2> + +<h3>A TRUE TALE OF THE CAUCASUS. FROM THE RUSSIAN OF MARLÍNSKI.</h3> + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<p>"Will you hold your tongue, little +serpent?" said an old Tartar woman +to her grandson, who, having awakened +before daylight, was crying for +want of something better to do. "Be +quiet, or I will kick you into the +street."</p> + +<p>This old woman was Ammalát's +nurse: the hut in which she lived stood +close to the tents of the Begs, and had +been given to her by her foster-son, Ammalát. +It was composed of two clean +whitewashed rooms, the floor of both +was strewed with coarse mats, (ghasil;) +in niches close to each other, for +the room was without windows, stood +boxes bound with iron, and on them +were arranged a feather-bed, blankets, +and all the utensils. On the cornices, +at half the height of the wall, were +ranged porcelain cups for pillau, having +tin covers in the form of helmets, +and little plates hanging side by side +on wires: the holes with which they +were pierced showing that they served +not for use, but for ornament. The +face of the old woman was covered +with wrinkles, and expressed a sort of +malicious sorrow: the usual consequence +of the lonely pleasureless life +of a Mussulman woman. As a worthy +representative of persons of her +age and country, she never for a moment +ceased scolding her grandson +from under her blanket, and to grumble +to herself. "Kess," (be quiet,) +she cried at length, yet more angrily, +"or I will give you to the ghaóuls, +(devils!) Do you hear how they are +scratching at the roof, and knocking +at the door for you?"</p> + +<p>It was a stormy night; a thick rain +pattering on the flat roof which served +as a ceiling, and the roaring of the +wind in the chimney, answered to her +hoarse voice. The boy became quiet, +and straining his eyes, hearkened in a +fright. It really seemed as if some +one was knocking at the door. The +old woman became frightened in her +turn: her inseparable companion, +a dirty dog, lifted up his head from sleep, +and began to bark in a most pitiful +voice. But meanwhile the knocking +at the door became louder, and an unknown +voice cried sternly from without, +"Atch kapini, akhirin akhirici!" +(open the door for the end of ends.) +The old woman turned pale. "Allah +bismallah!" she exclaimed, now +addressing heaven, then threatening +the dog, and then quieting the crying +child. "Sh, accursed beast! Hold +your tongue, I say, kharamzáda, (good-for-nothing +son of shame!) Who is +there? What honest man will enter, +when it is neither day nor dawn, into +the house of a poor old woman? If +<span class="newpage"><a name="page747" id="page747" title="747"></a></span> you are Shaitán, go to neighbour +Kitchkína. It has been long time to +show her the road to hell! If you +are a tchaóuth, (tax-gatherer,) who, +to say the truth, is rather worse than +Shaitán, then go about your business. +My son-in-law is not at home; he +serves as nóuker at Ammalát Bek's; +and the Bek has long ago freed me +from taxes; and as for treating idle +travellers, don't expect from me even +an egg, much less a duck. Is it in +vain, then, that I suckled Ammalát?"</p> + +<p>"Will you open, you devil's distaff?" +impatiently exclaimed the +voice, "or I will not leave you a plank +of this door for your coffin."</p> + +<p>The feeble doors shook on their +hinges.</p> + +<p>"Enter, pray enter," said the old +woman, undoing the iron hasp with a +trembling hand. The door flew open, +and there entered a man of a middling +stature, and of a handsome but melancholy +countenance. He was clad in +the Circassian dress: the water trickled +down his bóurka and bashlík.<a name="footnotetag22" id="footnotetag22"></a><a href="#footnote22"><sup>22</sup></a> +Without any apologies, he threw it on +the feather-bed, and began to untie +the lopasti of his bashlík which half +covered his face—Fatma, having in the +mean time lighted a candle, stood before +him with fear and trembling. +The long-whiskered dog, with his tail +between his legs, pressed himself into +a corner, and the child, in a fright, +climbed into the fire-place—which, +used only for ornaments, was never +heated.</p> + +<p>"Well, Fatma, you are grown +proud," said the unknown; "you do +not recognize old friends."</p> + +<p>Fatma gazed at the new-comer's +features, and her heart grew light +within her. She recognized Sultan +Akhmet Khan, who had ridden in one +night from Kiafir Kounik to Bouináki.</p> + +<p>"May the sand fill my eyes that +did not recognize their old master!" +she replied, respectfully crossing her +arms on her breast. "To say truth, +they are blinded by tears, for her +country—for Avár! Forgive an old +woman, Khan!"</p> + +<p>"What old age is yours, Fatma? +I remember you a little girl, when I +myself could hardly reach the young +crows from their nests."</p> + +<p>"A strange land makes every one +old, Khan. In my native mountains +I should still have been fresh as an +apple, and here am I like a snowball +fallen from the hill into the valley. +Pray come hither, Khan, here it is +more comfortable. What shall I entertain +my precious guest with? Is +there nothing the Khan's soul can wish +for?"</p> + +<p>"The Khan's soul wishes that you +should entertain him with your goodwill."</p> + +<p>"I am at your will; speak, command!"</p> + +<p>"Listen to me, Fatma! I have +no time to waste in words. This is +why I am come here: render me a +service with your tongue, and you +shall have wherewithal to comfort +your old teeth. I will make you a +present of ten sheep; I will dress you +in silk from top to toe."</p> + +<p>"Ten sheep and a gown!—a silk +gown! O gracious Aga! O kind +Khan! I have not seen such a lord +here since the accursed Tartars carried +me away, and made me marry a +hateful ... I am ready to do every +thing, Khan, that you wish. Cut my +ears off even, if you will!"</p> + +<p>"What would be the good of that? +They must be kept sharp. This is +the business. Ammalát will come to +you to-day with the Colonel. The +Shamkhál of Tárki will arrive also. +This Colonel has attached your young +Bek to him by witchcraft; and having +taught him to eat swine's flesh, wants +to make a Christian of him: from +which Mahomet preserve him!"</p> + +<p>The old woman spat around her, +and lifted her eyes to heaven.</p> + +<p>"To save Ammalát, we must make +him quarrel with the Colonel. For +this purpose you must go to him, +throw yourself at his feet, and fall a-weeping +as if at a funeral. As to tears, +you will have no need to go and borrow +them of your neighbours. Swear +like a shopkeeper of Derbénd; remember +that each oath of yours will +bring you a dozen sheep; and at last +tell him that you have heard a conversation +between the Colonel and the +Shamkhál: that the Shamkhál complained +of his sending back his daughter: +that he hates him out of fear that +he should take possession of the crown +<span class="newpage"><a name="page748" id="page748" title="748"></a></span> of his Shamkhalát: that he implored +the Colonel to allow him to kill him +in an ambuscade, or to poison him in +his food; but that the other consented +only to send him to Siberia, beyond +the end of the world. In one word, +invent and describe every thing cleverly. +You were formerly famous +for your tales. Do not eat dirt now. +And, above all, insist that the Colonel, +who is going on a furlough, will take +him with him to Georgieffsk, to separate +him from his kinsmen and faithful +nóukers; and from thence will dispatch +him in chains to the devil."</p> + +<p>Sultan Akhmet added to this all the +particulars necessary to give the story +the most probable form; and once or +twice instructed the old woman how +to introduce them more skilfully.</p> + +<p>"Well, recollect every thing accurately, +Fatma," said he, putting on his +bóurka; "forget not, likewise, with +whom you have to do."</p> + +<p>"Vallah, billah! let me have ashes +instead of salt; may a beggar's +tchóurek close my eyes; may" ...</p> + +<p>"Do not feed the Shaitáns with +your oaths; but serve me with your +words. I know that Ammalát trusts +you completely; and if, for his good, +you will arrange this—he will come +over to me, and bring you with him. +You shall live, singing, under my +wing. But I repeat, if, by chance or +on purpose, you betray me, or injure +me by your gossiping, I will make of +your old flesh a kibab for the Shaitáns!"</p> + +<p>"Be easy, Khan! They have nothing +to do either for me or with me. +I will keep the secret like the grave, +and I will <i>put my sarótchka</i><a name="footnotetag23" id="footnotetag23"></a><a href="#footnote23"><sup>23</sup></a> on Ammalát."</p> + +<p>"Well, be it so, old woman. Here +is a golden seal for your lips. Take +pains!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Bathóusta, ghez-óusta</i>!"<a name="footnotetag24" id="footnotetag24"></a><a href="#footnote24"><sup>24</sup></a> exclaimed +the old woman, seizing the ducat +with greediness, and kissing the +Khan's hand for his present. The +Sultan Akhmet Khan looked contemptuously +at the base creature, +whilst he quitted the sákla.</p> + +<p>"Reptile!" he grumbled to himself, +"for a sheep, for a piece of cloth +of gold, thou wouldst be ready to sell +thy daughter's body, thy son's soul, +and thy foster-son's happiness!"</p> + +<p>He did not reflect upon what name +he deserved himself, entangling his +friend in deceit, and hiring such vile +creatures for low slander and for villanous +intentions.</p> +<br> + +<p><i>Fragment of a Letter from Colonel Verkhóffsky to his Betrothed</i>.</p> + +<p>Camp near the Village of Kiafir Koumík, +August.</p> + +<p>... Ammalát loves, and how +he loves! Never, not even in the +hottest fire of my youth, did my love +rise to such a frenzy. I burned, like +a censer lighted by a sunbeam; he +flames, like a ship set on fire by lightning +on the stormy sea. With you, +my Maria, I have read more than +once Shakspeare's Othello; and only +the frantic Othello can give an idea +of the tropical passion of Ammalát. +He loves to speak long and often of +his Seltanetta, and I love to hear his +volcanic eloquence. At times it is a +turbid cataract thrown out by a profound +abyss—at times a fiery fountain +of the naphtha of Bakou. What stars +his eyes scatter at that moment—what +light plays on his cheeks—how handsome +he is! There is nothing ideal in +him: but then the earthly is grand, is +captivating. I myself, carried away +and deeply moved, receive on my +breast the youth fainting from rapture: +he breathes long, with slow +sighs, and then casting down his +eyes, lowering his head as if ashamed +to look at the light—not only on me—presses +my hand, and walks away +with an uncertain step; and after that +one cannot extract a word from him +for the rest of the day.</p> + +<p>Since the time of his return from +Khounzákh, he is become still more +melancholy than before; particularly +the last few days. He hides the +grandest, the noblest feeling which +brings man near to divinity, as carefully +as if it were a shameful weakness +or a dreadful crime. He imploringly +asked me to let him go once +more to Khounzákh, to sigh at the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page749" id="page749" title="749"></a></span> feet of his fair one; and I refused +him—refused him for his own good. +I wrote long ago about my favourite +to Alexéi Petróvitch, and he desired +me to bring him with me to the waters, +where he will be himself. He +wishes to give him some message to +Sultan Akhmet Khan, which will +bring undoubted advantage to him +and to Ammalát. Oh, how happy I +shall be in his happiness! To me, to +me, he will owe the bliss of his life—not +only empty life. I will force him +on his knees before you, and will make +him say—"Adore her as a deity!" +If my heart were not filled with love +to Maria, thou wouldst not take possession +of Seltanetta. Yesterday I +received an express from the commander-in-chief—a +noble-minded man! +He gives wings to happy news. All +is arranged; my darling, I go to meet +you at the waters. I shall only lead +the regiment to Derbénd—and then +to the saddle! I shall know neither +fatigue by day nor drowsiness by +night, till I repose myself in your +embrace. Oh, who will give me +wings to fly to you! Who will give +me strength to bear my—<i>our</i>—bliss! +... I, in delicious agitation, pressed +my bosom, that my heart might not +burst forth. For a long time I could +not sleep: imagination painted our +meeting in a thousand forms, and in +the intervals appeared the most trivial +but delightful cares, about wedding +trifles, dresses, presents. You will be +clad in my favourite colour, green. +... Is it not true, my soul? My +fancies kept me from sleeping, like a +strong perfume of roses; but the +sweeter, the more brilliant was my +sleep. I saw you by the light of +dawn, and every time different, every +time more lovely than before. My +dreams were twined together like a +wreath of flowers; but no! there was +no connexion between them. They +were wonderful phantoms, falling like +colours from the kaleidoscope, and as +impossible to retain. Notwithstanding +all this, I awoke sorrowful this +morning; my awakening took from +my childish soul its favourite toy.... +I went into Ammalát's tent; +he was still asleep. His face was pale +and angry—let him be angry with me! +I taste beforehand the gratitude of the +ardent youth. I, like fate, am preparing +his happiness in secret....</p> + +<p>To-day I bid adieu to these mountains +for long—I hope for ever. I +am very glad to quit Asia, the cradle +of mankind, in which the understanding +has remained till now in its +swaddling-clothes. Astonishing is the +immobility of Asiatic life, in the course +of so many centuries. Against Asia +all attempts of improvement and civilization +have broken like waves; it +seems not to belong to time, but to +place. The Indian Brahmin, the Chinese +Mandarin, the Persian Bek, the +mountain Ouzdén, are unchanged—the +same as they were two thousand +years ago. A sad truth! They represent, +in themselves, a monotonous +though varied, a lively though soulless +nature. The sword and the lash +of the conqueror have left on them, as +on the water, no trace. Books, and +the examples of missionaries, have +produced on them no influence. Sometimes, +however, they have made an +exchange of vices; but never have +they learned the thoughts or the virtues +of others. I quit the land of +fruit to transport myself to the land of +labour—that great inventor of every +thing useful, that suggester of every +thing great, that awakener of the soul +of man, which has fallen asleep here, +and sleeps in weakness on the bosom +of the seducer—nature.</p> + +<p>And truly, how seducing is nature +here! Having ridden up the high +mountain to the left of Kiafir Koumík, +I gazed with delight on the gradually +lighted summit of the Caucasus. I +looked, and could not look enough at +them. What a wondrous beauty decks +them as with a crown! Another thin +veil, woven of light and shadow, lay +on the lower hill, but the distant snows +basked in the sky; and the sky, like a +caressing mother, bending over them +its immeasurable bosom, fed them with +the milk of the clouds, carefully enfolding +them with its swathe of mist, +and refreshing them with its gently-breathing +wind. Oh, with what a flight +would my soul soar there, where a +holy cold has stretched itself like a +boundary between the earthly and the +heavenly! My heart prays and thirsts +to breathe the air of the inhabitants of +the sky. I feel a wish to wander over +the snows, on which man has never +printed the seal of his blood-stained +footsteps—which have never been +darkened by the eagle's shadow—which +the thunder has never reached—which +the war spirits have never +<span class="newpage"><a name="page750" id="page750" title="750"></a></span> polluted; and on the ever-young summits +where time, the continuation of +eternity, has left no trace.</p> + +<p>Time! A strange thought has come +into my head. How many fractional +names has the weak sense of man invented +for the description of an infinitely +small particle of time out of the +infinitely large circle of eternity! +Years, months, days, hours, minutes! +God has nothing of all this: he has +not even evening nor morrow. With +him all this has united itself into one +eternal <i>now</i>!... Shall we ever +behold this ocean in which we have +hitherto been drowning? But I ask, +to what end will all this serve man? +Can it be for the satisfaction of an idle +curiosity? No! the knowledge of +truth, <i>i.e.</i> the All-knowing Goodness, +does the soul of the reflecting man +thirst after. It wishes to draw a full +cup from the fountain of light which +falls on it from time to time in a fine +dew!</p> + +<p>And I shall imbibe it. The secret +fear of death melts like snow before +the beam of such a hope. I shall +draw from it. My real love for my +fellow-creatures is a security for it. +The leaden ways of error will fall +asunder before a few tears of repentance, +and I shall lay down my heart +as an expiating sacrifice before the +judgment-seat which will have no terrors +for me!</p> + +<p>It is wonderful, my beloved—hardly +do I look at the mountains, the sea, +the sky, ... but a solemn but inexpressibly +sweet feeling o'er-burthens +and expands my heart. Thoughts of +you mingle with it; and, as in dreams, +your form flits before me. Is this a +foretaste of earthly bliss, which I have +only known by name, or a foreboding +of ... etern ...? O dearest, +best, angelic soul, one look of yours +and I am cured of dreaming! How +happy am I that I can now say with +assurance—<i>au revoir</i>!</p> + +<br> + +<p>CHAPTER XI.</p> +<br> + +<p>The poison of calumny burnt into +the soul of Ammalát. By the instructions +of the Khan, his nurse Fatma +related, with every appearance of disinterested +affection, the story which +had been arranged beforehand, on +the same evening that he came with +Verkhóffsky to Bouináki, where they +were met by the Shamkhál in obedience +to the Colonel's request. The +envenomed shaft struck deep; now +doubt would have been welcomed by +Ammalát, but conviction, it seemed, +cast over all his former ties of friendship +and blood, a bright but funereal +light. In a frenzy of passion, he +burned to drown his revenge in the +blood of both; but respect for the +rites of hospitality quenched his thirst +for vengeance. He deferred his intention +for a time—but could he forget +it? Every moment of delay fell, +like a drop of melted copper, on his +heart. Memory, conviction, jealousy, +love, tore his heart by turns; and this +state of feeling was to him so new, so +strange, so dreadful, that he fell into +a species of delirium, the more dreadful +that he was obliged to conceal his +internal sensations from his former +friend. Thus passed twenty-four +hours; the detachment pitched their +tents near the village Bougdén, the +gate of which, built in a ravine, and +which is closed at the will of the inhabitants +of Bougdén, serves as a passage +to Akóush. The following was +written by Ammalát, to divert the +agony of his soul while preparing +itself for the commission of a black +crime.... ——</p> + +<p>MIDNIGHT.</p> + +<p>... Why, O Sultan Akhmet! +have you cast lightning into my +breast? A brother's friendship, a +brother's treachery, and a brother's +murder!... What dreadful extremes! +And between them there is +but a step, but a twinkling of the eye. +I cannot sleep, I can think of nothing +else. I am chained to this thought, +like a criminal to his stake. A bloody +sea swells, surges, and roars around +me, and above gleams, instead of stars, +the lightning-flash. My soul is like a +naked peak, where only birds of prey +and evil spirits assemble, to share +their plunder, or to prepare misfortune. +Verkhóffsky, Verkhóffsky! what +have I done to you? Why would +you tear from heaven the star of my +liberty? Is it because I loved you so +tenderly? And why do you approach +me stealthily and thief-like? why do +you slander—why do you betray me, +by hypocrisy? You should say plainly, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page751" id="page751" title="751"></a></span> "I wish your life," and I would +give it freely, without a murmur; +would have laid it down a sacrifice +like the son of Ibrahim, (Abraham!) +I would have forgiven you, if you had +but attempted my life, but to sell my +freedom, to steal my Seltanetta from +me, by burying me alive! Villain—and +you still live!</p> + +<p>But sometimes like a dove, whose +wings have been scorched in the +smoke of a fire, appears thy form to +me, Seltanetta. How is it, then, that +I am no longer gay when I dream of +you, as of old?...</p> + +<p>They would part us, my love—they +would give you to another, to marry +me on the grave-stone. But I will go +to you—I will go to you over a bloody +carpet—I will fulfil a bloody promise, +in order to possess you. Invite not +only your maiden friends to your marriage +feast—invite also the vultures +and the ravens, they shall all be regaled +abundantly. I will pay a rich +dower. On the pillow of my bride I +will lay a heart which once I reckoned +more precious than the throne-cushion<a name="footnotetag25" id="footnotetag25"></a><a href="#footnote25"><sup>25</sup></a> +of the Persian Padishah. +Wonderful destiny!... Innocent +girl!... You will be the cause of +an unheard of deed. Kindest of beings, +for you friends will tear each +other like ferocious beasts—for you +and through you—and is it really for +you alone—with ferocity—with ferocity +only! Verkhóffsky said, that to +kill an enemy by stealth, is base and +cowardly. But if I cannot do it +otherwise? But can he be believed?... +Hypocrite! He wished to +entangle me beforehand; not my +hands alone, but even my conscience. +It was in vain.</p> + +<p>... I have loaded my rifle. +What a fine round barrel—what admirable +ornaments! The rifle I received +from my father—my father got +it from my grandfather. I have heard +of many celebrated shots made with +it—and not one, not one was fired by +stealth.... Always in battle—always +before the whole army, it sent +death; but wrong, but treachery, but +you, Seltanetta!... My hand +will not tremble to level a shot at him, +whose name it is afraid even to write. +One loading, one fire, and all is +over!...</p> + +<p>One loading! How light, but how +heavy will be each grain of powder in +the scales of Allah! How far—how +immeasurably will this load bear a +man's soul? Accursed thou, the inventor +of the grey dust, which delivers +a hero into the hand of the vilest +craven, which kills from afar the foe, +who, with a glance, could have disarmed +the hand raised against him! +So, this shot will tear asunder all my +former ties, but it will clear a road to +new ones. In the cool Caucasus—on +the bosom of Seltanetta, will my faded +heart be refreshed. Like a swallow +will I build myself a nest in a +stranger land—like a swallow, the +spring shall be my country. I will +cast from me old sorrows, as the bird +sheds its feathers.... But the +reproaches of conscience, can they +fade?... The meanest Lézghin, +when he sees in battle the man with +whom he has shared bread and salt, +turns aside his horse, and fires his gun +in the air. It is true he deceives me; +but have I been the less happy? Oh, +if with these tears I could weep away +my grief—drown with them the thirst +for vengeance—buy with them Seltenetta! +Why comes on the dawn of +day so slowly? Let it come! I will +look, without blushing, at the sun—without +turning pale, into the eyes of +Verkhóffsky. My heart is like iron—it +is locked against mercy; treachery +calls for treachery ... I am +resolved ... Quick, quick!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Thus incoherently, thus wildly +wrote Ammalát, in order to cheat +time and to divert his soul. Thus he +tried to cheat himself, rousing himself +to revenge, whilst the real cause of +his bloody intentions, viz. the desire +of possessing Seltanetta, broke through +every word.</p> + +<p>In order to embolden himself for +his crime, he drank deeply of wine, +and maddened, threw himself, with his +gun, into the Colonel's tent; but perceiving +sentinels at the door, he +changed his intention. The natural +feeling of self-preservation did not +abandon him, even in his madness. +Ammalát put off till the morning the +consummation of the murder; but he +could neither sleep nor distract his +thoughts ... and re-entering his +<span class="newpage"><a name="page752" id="page752" title="752"></a></span> tent, he seized Saphir Ali by the +throat, who was lying fast asleep, +and shaking him roughly: "Get up, +sleepy rascal!"; he cried to him, "it +is already dawn."</p> + +<p>Saphir Ali raised his head in a discontented +mood, and yawning, answered: +"I see only the dawn of wine +on your cheek—good-night, Ammalát!"</p> + +<p>"Up, I tell you! The dead must +quit their graves to meet the new-comer +whom I have promised to send +to keep them company!"</p> + +<p>"Why, brother, am I dead?... +Even the <i>forty Imaums</i><a name="footnotetag26" id="footnotetag26"></a><a href="#footnote26"><sup>26</sup></a> may get up +from the burial-ground of Derbénd—but +I will sleep."</p> + +<p>"But you love to drink, Giaour, +and you must drink with me."</p> + +<p>"That is quite another affair. Pour +fuller, <i>Allah verdi</i>!<a name="footnotetag27" id="footnotetag27"></a><a href="#footnote27"><sup>27</sup></a> I am always ready +to drink and to make love."</p> + +<p>"And to kill an enemy!... +Come, some more! A health to the +devil!—who changes friends into mortal +enemies."</p> + +<p>"So be it! Here goes, then, to the +devil's health! The poor fellow wants +health. We will drive him into a +consumption out of spite, because he +cannot make us quarrel!"</p> + +<p>"True, true, he is always ready for +mischief. If he had seen Verkhóffsky +and me, he would have thrown +down his cards. But you, too, will +not, I hope, part from me?"</p> + +<p>"Ammalát, I have not only quaffed +wine from the same bottle with +thee, but I have drained milk from the +same breast. I am thine, even if you +take it into your head to build yourself, +like a vulture, a nest on the rock +of Khounzákh.... However, my +advice would be"——</p> + +<p>"No advice, Saphir Ali—no remonstrances.... +It is now too +late!"</p> + +<p>"They would be drowned like flies +in wine. But it is now time to +sleep."</p> + +<p>"Sleep, say you! Sleep, to me! +No, I have bidden farewell to sleep. +It is time for me to awaken. Have +you examined the gun, Saphir Ali—is +the flint good? Has not the powder +on the shelf become damp with blood?"</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you, Ammalát? +What leaden secret weighs +upon your heart? Your face is terrible—your +speech is yet more frightful."</p> + +<p>"And my deeds shall be yet more +dreadful. Is it not true, Saphir Ali, +my Seltanetta—is she not beautiful? +Observe! <i>my</i> Seltanetta. Is it possible +that these are the wedding songs, +Saphir Ali? Yes, yes, yes! I understand. +'Tis the jackals demanding +their prey. Spirits and wild beasts, +be patient awhile—I will content you! +Ho, wine—more wine! more blood!... +I tell you!"</p> + +<p>Ammalát fell on his bed in a drunken +insensibility. Foam oozed out of +his mouth: convulsive movements +shook his whole body. He uttered +unintelligible words, mingled with +groans. Saphir Ali carefully undressed +him, laid him in the bed, enveloped +him in the coverings, and sat +up the rest of the night watching +over his foster-brother, in vain seeking +in his head the explanation of the, +to him, enigmatical speech and conduct +of Ammalát.</p> + +<br> + +<p>CHAPTER XII.</p> +<br> + +<p>In the morning, before the departure +of the detachment, the captain +on duty came to Colonel Verkhóffsky +to present his report, and to receive +the orders for the day. After the customary +exchange of words, he said, +with an alarmed countenance: "Colonel, +I have to communicate a most +important thing: our yesterday's signal-man, +a soldier of my company, +Hamitóff, heard the conversation of +Ammalát Bek with his nurse in Bouináki. +He is a Tartar of Kazán, and +understands pretty well the dialect of +this country. As far as he could hear +and understand, the nurse assured the +Bek that you, with the Shamkhál, +are preparing to send him off to the +galleys. Ammalát flew into a passion; +said, that he knew all this from +<span class="newpage"><a name="page753" id="page753" title="753"></a></span> the Khan, and swore to kill you with +his own hand. Not trusting his ears, +however, the soldier determined to +tell you nothing, but to watch all his +steps. Yesterday evening, he says, +Ammalát spoke with a horseman arrived +from afar. On taking leave, +he said: 'Tell the Khan, that to-morrow, +by sunrise, all will be over. +Let him be ready: I shall soon see him.'"</p> + +<p>"And is this all, Captain?" demanded +Verkhóffsky.</p> + +<p>"I have nothing else to say; but +I am much alarmed. I have passed +my life among the Tartars, Colonel, +and I am convinced that it is madness +to trust the best of them. A +born brother is not safe, while resting +in the arms of a brother."</p> + +<p>"This is envy, Captain. Cain has +left it as an eternal heirloom to all +men, and particularly to the neighbours +of Ararat. Besides, there is +no difference between Ammalát and +myself. I have done nothing for him +but good. I intend nothing but kindness. +Be easy, Captain: I believe +the zeal of the signal-man, but I distrust +his knowledge of the Tartar language. +Some similarity of words +has led him into error, and when +once suspicion was awakened in his +mind, every thing seemed an additional +proof. Really, I am not so important +a person that Khans and +Beks should lay plots for my life. I +know Ammalát well. He is passionate, +but he has a good heart, and +could not conceal a bad intention two +hours together."</p> + +<p>"Take care you be not mistaken, +Colonel. Ammalát is, after all, an +Asiatic; and that name is always a +proof. Here words hide thoughts—the +face, the soul. Look at one of +them—he seems innocence itself; +have any thing to do with him, he is +an abyss of meanness, treachery and +ferocity."</p> + +<p>"You have a full right to think so, +my dear Captain, from experience: +Sultan Akhmet Khan gave you a +memorable proof in Ammalát's house, +at Bouináki. But for me, I have no +reason to suspect any mischief in Ammalát; +and besides, what would he +gain by murdering me? On me depends +all his hope, all his happiness. +He is wild, perhaps, but not a madman. +Besides, you see the sun is +high; and I am alive and well. I am +grateful, Captain, for the interest you +have taken in me; but I entreat you, +do not suspect Ammalát: and, knowing +how much I prize an old friendship, +be assured that I shall as highly +value a new one. Order them to beat +the march."</p> + +<p>The captain departed, gloomily +shaking his head. The drums rattled, +and the detachment, in marching order, +moved on from its night-quarters. +The morning was fresh and +bright; the road lay through the +green ramparts of the mountains of +the Caucasus, crowned here and there +with forests and underwood. The detachment, +like a stream of steel, flowed +now down the hills, and now crept +up the declivities. The mist still +rested on the valleys, and Verkhóffsky, +riding to the elevated points, looked +round frequently to feast his eyes +with the ever-changing landscape. +Descending the mountain, the detachment +seemed to be swallowed up in +the steaming river, like the army of +Pharaoh, and anon, with a dull sound, +the bayonets glittered again from the +misty waves. Then appeared heads, +shoulders; the men seemed to grow +up, and then leaping up the rocks, +were lost anew in the fog.</p> + +<p>Ammalát, pale and stern, rode next +to the sharpshooters. It appeared +that he wished to deafen his conscience +in the noise of the drums. +The colonel called him to his side, +and said kindly: "You must be scolded, +Ammalát; you have begun to +follow too closely the precepts of +Hafiz: recollect that wine is a good +servant but a bad master: but a headache +and the bile expressed in your +face, will surely do you more good +than a lecture. You have passed a +stormy night, Ammalát."</p> + +<p>"A stormy, a torturing night, Colonel! +God grant that such a night +be the last! I dreamed dreadful +things."</p> + +<p>"Aha, my friend! You see what it +is to transgress Mahomet's commandments. +The conscience of the true +believer torments you like a shadow."</p> + +<p>"It is well for him whose conscience +quarrels only with wine."</p> + +<p>"That depends on what sort of +conscience it is. And fortunately it +is as much subject to prejudice as reason +itself. Every country, every nation, +has its own conscience; and the +voice of immortal, unchangeable truth +<span class="newpage"><a name="page754" id="page754" title="754"></a></span> is silent before a would-be truth. +Thus it is, thus it ever was. What +yesterday we counted a mortal sin, +to-morrow we adore. What on this +bank is just and meritorious, on the +other side of a brook leads to the +halter."</p> + +<p>"I think, however, that treachery +was never, and in no place, considered +a virtue."</p> + +<p>"I will not say even that. We live +at a time when success alone determines +whether the means employed +were good or bad; where the most +conscientious persons have invented +for themselves a very convenient rule—that +the end sanctifies the means."</p> + +<p>Ammalát, lost in his reflections, +repeated these words, because he approved +of them. The poison of selfishness +began anew to work within +him; and the words of Verkhóffsky, +which he looked on as treacherous, +poured like oil on flame. "Hypocrite!" +said he to himself; "your +hour is at hand!"</p> + +<p>And meanwhile Verkhóffsky, like +a victim suspecting nothing, rode side +by side with his executioner. At +about eight versts from Kieként the +Caspian Sea discovered itself to them +from a hill; and the thoughts of +Verkhóffsky soared above it like a +swan. "Mirror of eternity!" said +he, sinking into a reverie, "why does +not your aspect gladden me to-day? +As of old, the sun plays on you; and +your bosom breathes, as sublimely as +of old, eternal life; but that life is +not of this world. You seem to me +to-day a mournful waste; not a boat, +not a sail, not a sign of man's existence. +All is desolate!</p> + +<p>"Yes, Ammalát," he added; "I +am tired of your ever-angry, lonely +sea—of your country peopled with +diseases, and with men who are +worse than all maladies in the world. +I am weary of the war itself, of +invisible enemies, of the service +shared with unfriendly comrades. +It is not enough that they impeded +me in my proceedings—they spoiled +what I ordered to be done—they +found fault with what I intended, and +misrepresented what I had effected. +I have served my sovereign with truth +and fidelity, my country and this +region with disinterestedness; I have +renounced, a voluntary exile, all the +conveniences of life, all the charms +of society; have condemned my intellect +to torpidity, being deprived of +books; have buried my heart in solitude; +have abandoned my beloved; +and what is my reward? When will +that moment arrive, when I throw +myself into the arms of my bride; +when I, wearied with service, shall +repose myself under my native cottage-roof, +on the green shore of the +Dniéper; when a peaceful villager, +and a tender father, surrounded by +my relations and my good peasants, +I shall fear only the hail of heaven +for my harvests; fight only with +wild-beasts? My heart yearns for that +hour. My leave of absence is in my +pocket, my dismission is promised me.... +Oh, that I could fly to my +bride!... And in five days I shall +for certain be in Geórgieffsk. Yet it +seems as if the sands of Libya, a sea +of ice——as if the eternity of the +grave itself, separated us!"</p> + +<p>Verkhóffsky was silent. Tears ran +down his cheeks; his horse, feeling +the slackened rein, quickened his pace—and +thus the pair alone, advanced +to some distance from the detachment.... +It seemed as if destiny +itself surrendered the colonel into +the hands of the assassin.</p> + +<p>But pity penetrated the heart of +Ammalát, maddened as he was, and +burning with wine—like a sunbeam +falling in a robber's cave. He beheld +the sorrow, the tears of the man whom +he had so long considered as his friend, +and hesitated. "No!" he thought, +"to such a degree as that it is impossible +to dissimulate...."</p> + +<p>At this moment Verkhóffsky started +from his reverie, lifted up his head, +and spoke to Ammalát. "Prepare +yourself: you are to go with me!"</p> + +<p>Unlucky words! Every thing good, +every thing noble, which had arisen +anew in Ammalát's breast, was crushed +in a moment by them. The thought +of treachery—of exile—rushed like +a torrent through his whole being +"With you!" he replied, with a +malicious smile—"with you, and into +Russia?—undoubtedly: if you go +yourself!" and in a passion of rage +he urged his horse into a gallop, in +order to have time to prepare his +arms; suddenly turned back to meet +him; flew by him, and began to ride +rapidly in a circle around him. At +each stride of his horse, the flame of +rage burned more fiercely within him: +it seemed as if the wind, as it whistled +<span class="newpage"><a name="page755" id="page755" title="755"></a></span> past him, kept whispering "Kill, +kill! he is your enemy. Remember +Seltanetta!" He brought his rifle +forward from his shoulder, cocked it, +and encouraging himself with a cry, +he galloped with blood-thirsty decision +to his doomed victim. Verkhóffsky, +meanwhile, not cherishing the +least suspicion, looked quietly at Ammalát +as he galloped round, thinking +that he was preparing, after the Asiatic +manner, for the djigítering (equestrian +exercises.)</p> + +<p>"Fire at your mark, Ammalát +Bek!" he exclaimed to the murderer +who was rushing towards him.</p> + +<p>"What mark can be better than +the breast of a foe?" answered Ammalát +Bek, riding up, and at ten paces' +distance pulling the trigger!... +the gun went off: and slowly, without +a groan, the colonel sank out of +his saddle. His affrighted horse, +with expanded nostrils and streaming +mane, smelt at his rider, in whose +hands the reins that had so lately +guided him began to stiffen: and the +steed of Ammalát stopped abruptly +before the corpse, setting his legs +straight before him. Ammalát leaped +from his horse, and, resting his arms +on his yet smoking gun, looked for +several moments steadfastly in the +face of the murdered man; as if +endeavouring to prove to himself that +he feared not that fixed gaze, those +fast-dimming eyes—that fast-freezing +blood. It would be difficult to +understand—'twere impossible to express +the thoughts which rolled like +a whirlwind through his breast. +Saphir Ali rode up at full gallop; +and fell on his knees by the colonel—he +laid his ear to the dying man's +mouth—he breathed not—he felt his +heart—it beat not! "He is dead!" +cried Saphir Ali in a tone of despair. +"Dead! quite dead!"</p> + +<p>"So much the better ... My +happiness is complete!..." exclaimed +Ammalát, as if awakening +from a dream.</p> + +<p>"Happiness for you—for you, fratricide! +If you meet happiness, the +world will take to Shaitán +instead of Allah."</p> + +<p>"Saphir Ali, remember that you +are not my judge!" said Ammalát +fiercely, as he put his foot into the +stirrup: "follow me!"</p> + +<p>"May remorse alone accompany +you, like your shadow! From this +hour I am not your companion."</p> + +<p>Pierced to the very bottom of his +heart by this reproach from a man to +whom he had been from infancy +bound by the closest ties, Ammalát +uttered not a word, but pointing to +his astounded nóukers in the ravine, +and perceiving the pursuit begun, +dashed into the mountains like an +arrow.</p> + +<p>The alarm soon spread through the +advanced guard of the detachment: +the officers, who were in front, and +the Don Kazáks, flew to the shot, +but they came too late. They could +neither prevent the crime nor seize +the flying assassin. In five minutes +the bloody corpse of the treacherously +murdered colonel was surrounded +by a crowd of officers and soldiers. +Doubt, pity, indignation were written +on all their faces. The grenadiers, +leaning on their bayonets, shed +tears, and sobbed aloud: unflattering +drops poured above the brave and +much-loved chief.</p> + +<br> + +<p>CHAPTER XIII.</p> +<br> + +<p>For three days and nights did Ammalát +wander about the mountains of +Daghestán. As a Mussulman, even +in the villages subject to the Russian +dominion, he was safe from all pursuit +among people for whom robbery +and murder are virtues. But could +he escape from the consciousness of +his own crime? Neither his heart nor +his reason could find an excuse for his +bloody deed; and the image of Verkhóffsky +falling from his horse, presented +itself unceasingly before his +eyes, though closed. This recollection +infuriated him yet more, yet +more tortured him. The Asiatic, +once turned aside from the right road, +travels rapidly over the career of +villany. The Khan's command, not +to appear before him but with the +head of Verkhóffsky, rang in his ears. +Without daring to communicate such +an intention to his nóukers, and still +less relying on their bravery, he resolved +upon travelling to Derbénd +alone. A darksome and gloomy night +had already expanded it ebon wings +over the mountains of Caucasus which +<span class="newpage"><a name="page756" id="page756" title="756"></a></span> skirt the sea, when Ammalát passed +the ravine which lay behind the fortress +of Narín-Káli, which served as +a citadel to Derbénd. He mounted +to the ruined turret, which once formed +the limit to the Caucasian war +that had extended through the mountains, +and tied his horse at the foot of +that hill from which Yermóloff had +thundered on Derbénd when but a +lieutenant of artillery. Knowing +where the Russian officers were buried, +he came out upon the upper +burial-ground. But how to find the +new-made grave of Verkhóffsky in +the darkness of the night? Not +a star glimmered in the sky: the +clouds lay stretched on the hills, +the mountain-wind, like a night-bird, +lashed the forest with its wing: +an involuntary shudder crept over +Ammalát, in the midst of the region +of the dead, whose repose he +dared to interrupt. He listens: the +sea murmurs hoarsely against the +rocks, tumbling back from them into +the deep with a sullen sound. The +prolonged "slóushai" of the sentinels +floated round the walls of the town, +and when it was silent there rose the +yell of the jackals; and at last all +again was still—every sound mingling +and losing itself in the rushing of the +wind. How often had he not sat +awake on such nights with Verkhóffsky—and +where is he now! And who +plunged him into the grave! And +the murderer was now come to behead +the corpse of his former friend—to +do sacrilege to his remains—like a +grave-robber to plunder the tomb—to +dispute with the jackal his prey!</p> + +<p>"Human feeling!" cried Ammalát, +as he wiped the cold sweat from +his forehead, "why visitest thou a +heart which has torn itself from humanity? +Away, away! Is it for me +to fear to take off the head of a dead +man, whom I have robbed of life! +For him 'twill be no loss—to me a +treasure. Dust is insensible!"</p> + +<p>Ammalát struck a light with a +trembling hand, blew up into a flame +some dry bourián, (a dry grass of +South Russia,) and went with it to +search for the new-made grave. The +loosened earth, and a large cross, +pointed out the last habitation of the +colonel. He tore up the cross, and +began to dig up the mound with it; +he broke through the arch of brickwork, +which had not yet become hardened, +and finally tore the lead from +the coffin. The bourián, flaring up, +threw an uncertain bloody-bluish tinge +on all around. Leaning over the +dead, the murderer, paler than the +corpse itself, gazed unmovingly on his +work; he forgot why he had come—he +turned away his head from the reek +of rottenness—his gorge rose within +him when he saw the bloody-headed +worms that crawled from under the +clothes. Interrupted in their loathsome +work, they, scared by the light, +crept into a mass, and hid themselves +beneath each other. At length, steeling +himself to the deed, he brandished +his dagger, and each time his erring +hand missed its aim. Nor revenge, +nor ambition, nor love—in a word, +not one of those passions which had +urged him to the frenzied crime, now +encouraged him to the nameless horror. +Turning away his head, in a +sort of insensibility he began to hew +at the neck of Verkhóffsky—at the +fifth blow the head parted from the +trunk. Shuddering with disgust, he +threw it into a bag which he had prepared, +and hastened from the grave. +Hitherto he had remained master of +himself; but when, with his dreadful +treasure, he was scrambling up, when +the stones crumbling noisily under his +feet, and he, covered with sand, fell +backwards on Verkhóffsky's corpse, +then presence of mind left the sacrilegious. +It seemed as if a flame had +seized him, and spirits of hell, dancing +and grinning, had surrounded him. +With a heavy groan he tore himself +away, crawled half senseless out of +the suffocating grave, and hurried off, +dreading to look back. Leaping on +his horse, he urged it on, over rocks +and ravines, and each bush that caught +his dress seemed to him the hand of a +corpse; the cracking of every branch, +the shriek of every jackal, sounded +like the cry of his twice-murdered +friend.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>Wherever Ammalát passed, he encountered +armed bands of Akoushlínetzes +and Avarétzes, Tchetchenétzes +just arrived, and robbers of the +Tartar villages subject to Russia. +They were all hurrying to the trysting-place +near the border-limits; while +the Beks, Ouzdéns, and petty princes, +were assembling at Khourzákh, for a +council with Akhmet Khan, under the +leading, and by the invitation of whom, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page757" id="page757" title="757"></a></span> they were preparing to fall upon +Tárki. The present was the most +favourable moment for their purpose: +there was abundance of corn in the +ambárs, (magazines,) hay in the stacks, +and the Russians, having taken hostages, +had established themselves in +full security in winter-quarters. The +news of Verkhóffsky's murder had +flown over all the hills, and powerfully +encouraged the mountaineers. Merrily +they poured together from all +sides; every where were heard their +songs of future battles and plunder; +and he for whom they were going to +fight rode through them like a runaway +and a culprit, hiding from the +light of the sun, and not daring to +look any one in the face. Every +thing that happened, every thing that +he saw, now seemed like a suffocating +dream—he dared not doubt, he dared +not believe it. On the evening of the +third day he reached Khounzákh.</p> + +<p>Trembling with impatience, he +leaped from his horse, worn out with +fatigue, and took from his saddle-straps +the fatal bag. The front +chambers were filled with warriors; +cavaliers in armour were walking +up and down, or lay on the carpets +along the walls, conversing in whispers; +but their eyebrows were knit +and cast down—their stern faces +proved that bad news had reached +Khounzákh. Nóukers ran hurriedly +backwards and forwards, and none +questioned, none accompanied Ammalát, +none paid any attention to him. +At the door of the Khan's bed-chamber +sate Zoúrkhai-Khan-Djingká, the +natural son of Sultan Akhmet, weeping +bitterly. "What means this?" +uneasily demanded Ammalát. "You, +from whom even in childhood tears +could not be drawn—you weep?"</p> + +<p>Zoúrkhai silently pointed to the +door, and Ammalát, perplexed, crossed +the threshold. A heart-rending +spectacle was presented before the +new-comer's eyes. In the middle of +the room, on a bed, lay the Khan, +disfigured by a fierce illness; death +invisible, but inevitable, hovered over +him, and his fading glance met it with +dread. His breast heaved high, and +then sank heavily; his breath rattled +in his throat, the veins of his hands +swelled, and then shrank again. In +him was taking place the last struggle +of life with annihilation; the +mainspring of existence had already +burst, but the wheels still moved with +an uneven motion, catching and entangling +in each other. The spark of +memory hardly glimmered in him, +but fitfully flashed like falling stars +through the darkness of night, which +thickened over his soul, and reflected +themselves in his dying face. His +wife and daughter were sobbing on +their knees by his bed-side; his eldest +son, Noútsal, in silent despair leaned +at his feet, resting his head on his +clenched fists. Several women and +nóukers wept silently at a distance.</p> + +<p>All this, however, neither astounded +Ammalát nor recalled him to himself, +occupied as he was with one idea: +he approached the Khan with a firm +step, and said to him aloud—"Hail, +Khan! I have brought you a present +which will restore a dead man to +life. Prepare the bridal. Here is +my purchase-money for Seltanetta; +here is the head of Verkhóffsky!" +With these words he threw it at the +Khan's feet.</p> + +<p>The well-known voice aroused Sultan +Akhmet from his last sleep: he +raised his head with difficulty to look +at the present, and a shudder ran like +a wave over his body when he beheld +the lifeless head. "May he eat his +own heart who treats a dying man +with such dreadful food!" he murmured, +scarce intelligibly. "I must +make my peace with my enemies, and +not——Ah, I burn, I burn! Give me +water, water! Why have you made +me drink scalding naphtha? Ammalát, +I curse you!" This effort exhausted +the last drops of life in the +Khan; he fell a senseless corpse on +the pillow. The Khansha had looked +with horror on the bloody and untimely +present of Ammalát; but when +she saw that this had hastened her +husband's death, all her grief broke +out in a torrent of anger. "Messenger +of hell!" she exclaimed, her eyes +flashing, "rejoice; these are your +exploits; but for you, my husband +would never have thought of raising +Avár against the Russians, and would +have now been sitting in health and +quiet at home; but for you, visiting +the Ouzdens, he fell from a rock and +was disabled; and you, blood-drinker!—instead +of consoling the sick with +mild words, instead of making his +peace with Allah by prayers and alms—bring, +as if to a cannibal, a dead +man's head; and whose head? Thy +<span class="newpage"><a name="page758" id="page758" title="758"></a></span> benefactor's, thy protector's, thy +friend's!"</p> + +<p>"Such was the Khan's will," in +his turn replied Ammalát.</p> + +<p>"Do not slander the dead; defile not +his memory with superfluous blood!" +screamed the Khansha: "not content +with having treacherously murdered +a man, you come with his head to +woo my daughter at the deathbed of +her father, and you hoped to receive +a recompense from man, when you +deserved the vengeance of God. Godless, +soulless being! No! by the +graves of my ancestors, by the swords +of my sons, I swear you shall never +be my son-in-law, my acquaintance, +my guest! Away from my house, +traitor! I have sons, and you may +murder while embracing them. I +have a daughter, whom you may bewitch +and poison with your serpent +looks. Go, wander in the ravines of +the mountains; teach the tigers to +tear each other; and dispute with the +wolves for carcasses. Go, and know +that my door opens not to a fratricide!"</p> + +<p>Ammalát stood like one struck by +lightning: all that his conscience had +indistinctly whispered to him had been +spoken out to him at once, and so +unexpectedly, so cruelly. He knew +not where to turn his eyes: there lay +the head of Verkhóffsky with its accusing +blood—there was the threatening +face of the Khan, printed with +the seal of a death of torture—there +he met the stern glance of the Khansha.... +The tearful eyes of +Seltanetta alone appeared like stars of +joy through a rainy cloud. To her he +resolved to approach, saying timidly, +"Seltanetta, for you have I committed +that for which I lose you. Destiny +wills it: be it so! One thing tell +me—is it possible that you, too, have +ceased to love me—that you, too, hate +me?"</p> + +<p>The well-remembered voice of the +beloved pierced her heart: Seltanetta +raised her eyes glistening with tears—eyes +full of woe; but on seeing +Ammalát's dreadful face, spotted with +blood, she covered them again with +her hand. She pointed with her finger +at her father's corpse, at the head of +Verkhóffsky, and said, with firmness, +"Farewell, Ammalát! I pity thee; +but I cannot be thine!" With these +words she fell senseless on her father's +body.</p> + +<p>All his native pride, all his blood, +rushed to Ammalát's heart; his soul +fired with fury. "Is it thus I am +received?" casting a scornful glance +at both the women; "is it thus that +promises are fulfilled here? I am +glad that my eyes are opened. I was +too simple when I prized the light +love of a fickle girl—too patient when +I hearkened to the ravings of an old +woman. I see, that with Sultan +Akhmet Khan have died the honour +and hospitality of his house!"</p> + +<p>He left the room with a haughty +step. He proudly gazed in the face +of the Ouzdens, grasping the hilt of +his dagger as if challenging them to +combat. All, however, made way +for him, but seemingly rather to +avoid him than from respect. No one +saluted him, either by word or sign. +He went forth into the court-yard, +called his nóukers together, silently +mounted into the saddle, and slowly +rode through the empty streets of +Khounzákh.</p> + +<p>From the road he looked back for +the last time upon the Khan's house, +which was blackening in the darkness, +while the grated door shone with +lights. His heart was full of blood; +his offended pride fixed in its iron talons, +while the useless crime, and the +love henceforth despised and hopeless, +poured venom on the wounds. Grief, +anger, and remorse mingled in the +glance which he threw on the harem +where he first saw, and where he lost, +all earthly joy. "And you, and you, +Seltanetta!" he could utter no more. +A mountain of lead lay on his breast; +his conscience already felt that dreadful +hand which was stretched forth +against it. The past terrified him; +the future made him tremble. Where +will he rest that head on which a +price is set? What earth will give +repose to the bones of a traitor? Nor +love, nor friendship, nor happiness, +will ever again be his care; but a life +of misery, a wanderer's bread....</p> + +<p>Ammalát wished to weep, his eyes +burned ... and, like the rich man +tormented in the fire, his heart prayed +for one drop, one tear, to quench his +intolerable thirst.... He tried to +weep, and could not. Providence +has denied this consolation to the +guilty.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<p>And where did the murderer of +Verkhóffsky hide himself? Whither +<span class="newpage"><a name="page759" id="page759" title="759"></a></span> did he drag his wretched existence? +No one knew. In Daghestán it was +reported that he wandered among the +Tchetchenétzes and Koi-Sou-Boulinétzes, +having lost his beauty, his +health, and even his bravery. But +who could say this with certainty? +Little by little the rumours about +Ammalát died away, though his villanous +treachery is still fresh in the +memory of Russians and Mussulmans +who dwell in Daghestán. Even now +his name is never pronounced without +a reproach.</p> + +<br> + +<p>CHAPTER XIV.</p> +<br> + +<p>Anápa, that manufactory of arms +for the robbers of the mountains, that +bazar where are sold the tears, the +blood, the sweat of Christian slaves, +that torch of rebellion to the Caucasus—Anápa, +I say, was, in 1808, invested +by the Russian armies, on the +sea and on the mountain side. The +gun-boats, the bomb-vessels, and all +the ships that could approach the +shore, were thundering against the +fortifications. The land army had +passed the river which falls into the +Black Sea, under the northern wall +of Anápa, and was posted in swampy +ground around the whole city. Then +they constructed wooden trenches, +hewing down, for that purpose, the +surrounding forest. Every night new +works arose nearer and nearer to the +walls of the town. The interior of +the houses flamed from the effects of +the shells; the outer walls fell under +the cannon-balls. But the Turkish +garrison, reinforced by the mountaineers, +fought desperately, made fierce +sorties, and replied to all proposals for +surrender by the shots of their artillery. +Meanwhile the besiegers were +incessantly harassed by the Kabardinétz +skirmishers, and the foot-archers +of Abazékhs, Shamsóukhs, Natoukháitzes, +and other wild mountaineers +of the shores of the Black Sea, +assembled, like the jackals, in hope of +plunder and blood. Against them it +was necessary to erect redans; and +this double work, performed under +the fire of cannon from the fortress +and from the forest, on irregular and +boggy ground, delayed long the capture +of the town.</p> + +<p>At length, on the eve of the taking +of Anápa, the Russians opened a +breaching-battery in a ravine on the +south-east side of the town: its effect +was tremendous. At the fifth volley +the battlements and parapets were +overthrown, the guns laid bare and +beaten down. The balls, striking +against the stone facing, flashed like +lightning; and then, in a black cloud +of dust, flew up fragments of shattered +stone. The wall crumbled and +fell to pieces; but the fortress, by the +thickness of its walls, resisted long the +shattering force of the iron; and the +precipitous steepness of the ruins offered +no opportunity for storming. +For the heated guns, and for the +weary artillerymen, worn out by incessant +firing, repose was absolutely +necessary. By degrees the firing +from the batteries by land and sea +began to slacken; thick clouds of +smoke, floating from the shore, expanded +over the waves, sometimes +concealing, sometimes discovering, +the flotilla. From time to time a ball +of smoke flew up from the guns of +the fortress, and after the rolling +of the cannon-thunder, far echoing +among the hills, a ball would whistle +by at random. And now all was +silent—all was still both in the interior +of Anápa and in the trenches. +Not one turban was seen between the +battlements, not one carabineer's bayonet +in the intrenchment. Only the +Turkish banners on the towers, and +the Russian ensign on board the ships, +waved proudly in the air, now undimmed +by a single stream of smoke—only +the harmonious voices of the +muezzins resounded from afar, calling +the Mussulmans to their mid-day +prayer. At this moment, from the +breach opposite the battery on the +plain, descended, or rather rolled +down, supported by ropes, a horseman +on a white horse, who immediately +leaped over the half-filled ditch, dashed +to the left between the batteries, +flew over the intrenchments, over the +soldiers dozing behind them, who +neither expected nor guessed any +thing like this, and, followed by their +hasty shouts, plunged into the woods. +None of the cavalry had time to +glance at, much less to pursue him: +all remained thunderstruck with astonishment +and vexation; and soon +<span class="newpage"><a name="page760" id="page760" title="760"></a></span> forgot all about the brave cavalier, in +the alarm of the renewed firing from +the fortress, which was recommenced +in order to give the bold messenger +time to escape to the mountains. Towards +evening the breaching battery, +which had thundered almost incessantly, +had accomplished its work of +demolition. The prostrate wall formed +a kind of bridge for the besiegers, +who, with the impatience of bravery, +prepared for the assault; when suddenly +an unexpected attack of the +Tcherkéss, who had driven in the +Russian scouts and outposts, compelled +the besiegers to direct the fire of the +redans against the furious mountaineers. +A thundering Allah-il-Allah, +from the walls of Anápa, greeted their +encounter: the volleys of cannon and +musketry arose with redoubled violence +from the walls, but the Russian +grape tore asunder and arrested the +crowds of horsemen and infantry of +the Tcherkéss, as they were preparing +to throw themselves upon the batteries +with their sabres; and they, with +furious cries of "Giaour, giaourla!" +turned back, leaving behind them the +dead and wounded. In a moment the +whole field was strewn with their +corpses and their disabled, who, staggering +to their feet, fell back, struck +by the balls and grape-shot; whilst the +cannon-shot shattered the wood, and +the grenades, bursting, completed +the destruction. But from the beginning +of the action, till the moment +when not one of the enemy remained +in sight, the Russians saw before them +a well-built Tcherkéss on a white +horse, who rode, at a slow pace, up +and down before their redans. All +recognized in him the same horseman +who had leaped over the trenches at +mid-day, probably in order to induce +the Tcherkéss to fall upon the Russians +from the rear, at the moment +when the now unsuccessful sortie was +to be made from the gate. Crashing +and thundering danced the grape-shot +around him. His horse strained +at the bridle; but he, looking calmly +at the batteries, rode along them as +if they were raining flowers upon him. +The artillerymen ground their teeth +with vexation at the unpunished daring +of the cavalier: shot after shot +tore up the earth, but he remained +unhurt as if enchanted. "Give him +a cannon-ball!" shouted a young officer +of artillery, but lately released +from the military college, who was +above all enraged at their want of +success: "I would load the gun with +my head, so glad would I be to kill +that bragger: it is not worth while to +waste grape upon one man—grape—look +out! a cannon-ball will reach the +guilty!" So saying, he screwed up +the quoin and levelled the gun, looking +through the sight; and having +exactly calculated the moment when +the horseman would ride through the +line of aim, he stepped aside and ordered +the fatal fire.</p> + +<p>For some moments the smoke enveloped +the battery in darkness: +when it floated away the frightened +horse was dragging the blood-stained +corpse of his rider, with the foot entangled +in the stirrup. "Hit—killed!" +was shouted from all the trenches; and +the young artillery officer, taking off +his cap, piously crossed himself, and +with a joyous face jumped down from +the battery to seize the prey which he +had earned. He soon succeeded in +catching by the reins the horse of the +slain Tcherkéss, for he was dragging +the body sideways on the ground. +The unfortunate man had his arm +torn off close to the shoulder; but he +still breathed, groaned, and struggled. +Pity touched the good-natured youth: +he called some soldiers, and ordered +them to carry the wounded man carefully +into the trench, sent for the surgeon, +and had the operation performed +before his eyes. At night, when all +was quiet, the artilleryman sat by the +side of his dying prisoner, and watched +him with interest by the dim light of +the lantern. The serpent-marks of +sorrow, graven on his cheek by tears, +the wrinkles on his forehead, dug, not +by years but passions, and bloody +scratches, disfigured his handsome +face; and in it was painted something +more torturing than pain, more +terrible than death. The artilleryman +could not restrain an involuntary +shudder. The prisoner sighed heavily, +and having, with difficulty, raised +his hand to his forehead, opened his +heavy eyelids, muttering to himself +in unintelligible sounds, unconnected +words.... "Blood," he cried, examining +his hand ... "always +blood! why have they put <i>his</i> bloody +shirt upon me? Already, without +that, I swim in blood.... Why do +I not drown in it?... How cold +the blood is to-day!... Once it +<span class="newpage"><a name="page761" id="page761" title="761"></a></span> used to scald me, and this is no better! +In the world it is stifling, in the +gave so cold.... 'Tis dreadful to +be a corpse. Fool that I am, I sought +death. O, let me live but for one +little day—one little hour, to live!..."</p> + +<p>"What? Why have I hidden +another in the grave, <i>whisperest thou</i>? +Learn thyself what it is to die!..." +A convulsive paroxysm interrupted +his raving, an unspeakably dreadful +groan burst from the sufferer, and he +fell into a painful lethargy, in which +the soul lives only to suffer.</p> + +<p>The artilleryman, touched to the +very bottom of his heart, raised the +head of the miserable being, sprinkled +his face with cold water, and rubbed +his temples with spirits of wine, in order +to bring him to himself. Slowly +he opened his eyes, shook his head +several times, as if to shake the mist +from his eyelashes, and steadfastly +directed his gaze on the face of the +artilleryman, which was faintly lighted +up by the feeble gleam of the candle. +Suddenly, with a piercing cry, he +lifted himself on his bed, as if by some +superhuman force: his hair stood upright, +his whole body shook with a +fevered trembling, his hand seemed +endeavouring to push something from +him, an ineffable horror was expressed +on his countenance.... "Your +name!" he cried at length, addressing +the artilleryman. "Who are thou, +stranger from the grave?"</p> + +<p>"I am Verkhóffsky?" ... answered +the young artilleryman. This +was a shot that went straight to the +heart of the prisoner. The ligature +on the principal artery gave way from +a rush of blood, which poured through +the bandages. Yet a few struggles, +yet the throat-rattle, and the leaden +hand of death choked the wounded +man's last sigh, imprinted on his brow +the seal of the last grief; gathering +whole years of repentance into one +rapid moment, in which the soul, tearing +itself from the body, fears equally +the tortures of life and of nothingness, +feels at once all the gnawing of the +past and all the agony of the future. +Terrible was it to look on the convulsed +face of the dead. "He surely +must have been a great sinner," said +Verkhóffsky, in a low voice to the +general's interpreter, who stood near +him, and he shuddered involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"A great villain," rejoined the interpreter: +"it appears to me he was +a Russian deserter. I never met with +a mountaineer who spoke Russian so +correctly as this prisoner. Let me +look at his arms. We may, perhaps, +find some marks on them." With these +words he unsheathed, with a look of +curiosity, the dagger which had been +taken from the dead man, and bringing +it to the lantern, deciphered and +translated the following inscription:—</p> + +<div class="blkquot"><p>"Be slow to offend—swift to revenge!"</p></div> + +<p>"Quite a robber's rule," said Verkhóffsky; +"my poor brother Evstafli! +you fell a victim to such a fanatic +principle as this!"</p> + +<p>The eyes of the good youth filled +with tears.... "Is there not something +else?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"This is apparently the slain man's +name," replied the interpreter.</p> + +<p>"It is: Ammalát Bek!"</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page762" id="page762" title="762"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s6" id="bw332s6"></a><h2>MR BAILEY'S REPLY TO AN ARTICLE IN BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.</h2> + +<p>We have just been favoured with a +pamphlet from Mr Bailey, entitled +"A Letter to a Philosopher, in Reply +to some Recent Attempts to Vindicate +Berkeley's Theory of Vision, and +in further Elucidation of its Unsoundness." +Our article on Mr Bailey's +review of Berkeley's theory, which +appeared in <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i> of +June 1842, was one of these attempts. +Had the author merely attacked or +controverted our animadversions on +his book, we should probably have +left the question to its fate, and not +have reverted to a subject, the discussion +of which, even in the first instance, +may have been deemed out of +place in a journal not expressly philosophical. +There is, in general, little +to be gained by protracting such controversies. +But, as Mr Bailey accuses +us, in the present instance, of having +misrepresented his views, we must be +allowed to exculpate ourselves from +the charge of having dealt, even with +unintentional unfairness, towards one +whose opinions, however much we +may dissent from them, are certainly +entitled to high respect and a candid +examination, as the convictions of an +able and zealous enquirer after truth.</p> + +<p>In our strictures on Mr Bailey's +work, we remarked, that he had represented +Berkeley as holding that the +eye is not directly and originally cognizant +of the outness of objects in +relation to each other, or of what we +would call their reciprocal outness; +in other words, we stated, that, according +to Mr Bailey, Berkeley must +be regarded as denying to the eye the +original intuition of space, either in +length, breadth, or solid depth. It +was, however, only in reference to one +of his arguments, and to one particular +division of his subject, that we laid +this representation to his charge. +Throughout the other parts of his +discussion, we by no means intended +to say that such was the view he took +of the Berkeleian theory. Nor are +we aware of having made any statement +to that effect. If we did, we +now take the opportunity of remarking, +that we restrict our allegation, as +we believe we formerly restricted it, +to the single argument and distinction +just mentioned, and hereafter to be +explained.</p> + +<p>In his reply, Mr Bailey disavows +the impeachment <i>in toto</i>. He declares +that he never imputed to Berkeley the +doctrine, that the eye is not directly +percipient of space in the two dimensions +of length and breadth. "The +perception of this kind of distance," +says he, "never formed the subject +of controversy with any one ... +That we see extension in two dimensions +is admitted by all."—(<i>Letter</i>, +p. 10.) If it can be shown that the +doctrine which is here stated to be +admitted by all philosophers, is yet +expressly controverted by the two +metaphysicians whom Mr Bailey appears +to have studied most assiduously, +it is, at any rate, possible that he may +have overlooked, in his own writings, +the expression of an opinion which has +escaped his penetration in theirs. To +convince himself, then, how much he +is mistaken in supposing that the visual +intuition of longitudinal and lateral +extension is admitted by all philosophers, +he has but to turn to the +works of Dr Brown and the elder +Mill. In arguing that we have no +immediate perception of visible figure, +Dr Brown not only virtually, but expressly, +asserts that the sight has no +perception of extension in any of its +dimensions. Not to multiply quotations, +the following will, no doubt, be +received as sufficient:—"They (<i>i.e.</i> +philosophers) have—<i>I think without +sufficient reason</i>—universally supposed +that the superficial extension of <i>length +and breadth</i> becomes known to us by +sight originally."<a name="footnotetag28" id="footnotetag28"></a><a href="#footnote28"><sup>28</sup></a> Dr Brown then +proceeds to argue, with what success +we are not at present considering, +that our knowledge of extension and +figure is derived from another source +than the sense of sight.</p> + +<p>Mr James Mill, an author whom +Mr Bailey frequently quotes with approbation, +and in confirmation of his +own views, is equally explicit. He +maintains, in the plainest terms, that +the eye has no intuition of space, or +of the reciprocal outness of visible +objects. "Philosophy," says he, "has +<span class="newpage"><a name="page763" id="page763" title="763"></a></span> ascertained that we derive nothing +from the eye whatever but sensations +of colour—that the idea of extension +[he means in its three dimensions] +is derived from sensations not in the +eye, but in the muscular part of our +frame."<a name="footnotetag29" id="footnotetag29"></a><a href="#footnote29"><sup>29</sup></a> Thus, contrary to what Mr +Bailey affirms, these two philosophers +limit the office of vision to +the perception of mere colour or +difference of colour, denying to the +eye the original perception of extension +in any dimension whatever. In +their estimation, the intuition of space +is no more involved in our perception +of different colours than it is involved +in our perception of different smells +or different sounds. Dr Brown's doctrine, +in which Mr Mill seems to concur, +is, that the perception of superficial +extension no more results from +a certain expanse of the optic nerve +being affected by a variety of colours +than it results from a certain expanse +of the olfactory nerve being affected +by a variety of odours.<a name="footnotetag30" id="footnotetag30"></a><a href="#footnote30"><sup>30</sup></a> So much +for Mr Bailey's assertion, that <i>all</i> philosophers +admit the perception of extension +in two dimensions.</p> + +<p>But, of course, our main business is +with the expression of his own opinion. +In rebutting our charge, he maintains +that "the visibility of angular distance +(that is of extension laterally) is +assumed, by implication, as part of +Berkeley's doctrine, in <i>almost</i> every +chapter of my book."—(<i>Letter</i>, p. 13.) +That word <i>almost</i> is a provident saving +clause; for we undertake to show that +not only is the very reverse assumed, +by implication, as part of Berkeley's +doctrine, in the <i>single</i> chapter to which +we confined our remarks, but that, in +another part of his work, it is expressly +avowed as the only alternative +by which, in the author's opinion, Berkeley's +consistency can be preserved.</p> + +<p>At the outset of his enquiry, Mr +Bailey divides his discussion into two +branches: first, Whether objects are +originally seen to be external, or at <i>any</i> +distance at all from the sight; and, +secondly, Supposing it admitted that +they are seen to be external, or at +<i>some</i> distance from the sight, whether +they are all seen in the same plane, or +equally near. It was to the former +of these questions that we exclusively +confined our remarks;<a name="footnotetag31" id="footnotetag31"></a><a href="#footnote31"><sup>31</sup></a> and it was in +reference to it, and to an important +argument evolved by Mr Bailey in +the course of its discussion, that we +charged him with fathering on Berkeley +the doctrine which he now disavows +as his interpretation of the bishop's +opinion. He further disputes +the relevancy of the question about +our perception of lateral extension, +and maintains that distance in a direction +from the percipient, or what +we should call protensive distance, is +the only matter in dispute; and that +it is a misconception of the scope of +Berkeley's essay to imagine otherwise. +The relevancy of the question shall be +disposed of afterwards. In the mean +time, the question at issue is, Can the +allegation which we have laid to Mr +<span class="newpage"><a name="page764" id="page764" title="764"></a></span> Bailey's charge be proved to be the +fact, or not?</p> + +<p>In discussing the first of the two +questions, it was quite possible for Mr +Bailey to have represented Berkeley +as holding, that visible objects, though +not seen to be external to the sight, +were yet seen to be out of each other, +or laterally extended within the organism +or the mind. But Mr Bailey +makes no such representation of the +theory, and the whole argument which +pervades the chapter in which the first +question is discussed, is founded on the +negation of any such extension. All +visible extension, he tells us, must, +in his opinion, be either plane or solid. +Now he will scarcely maintain +that he regarded Berkeley as holding +that we perceive solid extension +within the organism of the eye. Neither +does he admit that, according +to Berkeley, and in reference to this +first question, plane extension is perceived +within the organism of the eye. +For when he proceeds to the discussion +of the <i>second</i> of the two questions, +he remarks that "we must, <i>at this stage</i> +of the argument, consider the theory +under examination, as representing that +we see all things <i>originally in the same +plane</i>,"<a name="footnotetag32" id="footnotetag32"></a><a href="#footnote32"><sup>32</sup></a> obviously implying that he +had not <i>as yet</i> considered the theory as +representing that we see things originally +in the same plane: in other +words, plainly admitting that, in his +treatment of the first question, he had +not regarded the theory as representing +that we see things originally under the +category of extension at all.</p> + +<p>But if any more direct evidence on +this point were wanted, it is to be +found in the section of his work which +treats of "the perception of figure." +In the chapter in which he discusses +the first of the two questions, he constantly +speaks of Berkeley's theory as +representing that "our visual sensations, +or what we ultimately term visible +objects, are originally mere internal +feelings." The expression <i>mere internal feelings</i>, +however, is ambiguous; for, +as we have said, it might still imply +that Mr Bailey viewed the theory as +representing that there was an extension, +or reciprocal outness of objects +within the retina. But this doubt is +entirely removed by a passage in the +section alluded to, which proves that, +in Mr Bailey's estimation, these mere +internal feelings not only involve no +such extension, but that there would +be an inconsistency in supposing they +did. In this section he brings forward +Berkeley's assertion, "that neither +solid nor plane figures are immediate +objects of sight." He then +quotes a passage in which the bishop +begs the reader not to stickle too +much "about this or that phrase, or +manner of expression, but candidly to +collect his meaning from the whole +sum and tenour of his discourse." And +then Mr Bailey goes on to say, "endeavouring, +in the spirit here recommended, +to collect the author's meaning +when he affirms that the figures we +see are neither plane nor solid, it appears +to me to be <i>a part or consequence</i> +of his doctrine already examined, which +asserts that visible objects are only internal +feelings."<a name="footnotetag33" id="footnotetag33"></a><a href="#footnote33"><sup>33</sup></a> We can now be at +no loss to understand what Mr Bailey +means, and conceives Berkeley to +mean, by the expression "mere internal +feelings." He evidently means feelings +in which no kind of extension whatever +is involved: for, in the next page, +he informs us that all visual extension +or extended figure, "<i>must</i> be apprehended +as either plane or solid, and +that it is impossible even to conceive +it otherwise." Consequently, if the +figures we see are, as Berkeley says, +apprehended neither as plane nor as +solid, Mr Bailey, entertaining the notions +he does on the subject of extension, +<i>must</i> regard him as holding that +they cannot be apprehended as extended +at all—and accordingly such is +the express representation he gives of +the theory in the passage just quoted, +where he says that "the doctrine of +Berkeley, which affirms that the figures +we see are neither plane nor solid, +(that is, are extended in <i>no</i> direction, +according to Mr Bailey's ideas of extension,) +appears to him to be <i>a part</i> +of the doctrine which asserts that visible +objects are only internal feelings." +Now if that be not teaching, in the +plainest terms, that, according to Berkeley, +no species of extension is implied +in the internal feelings of vision, we +know not what language means, and +any one thought may be identical with +its very opposite.</p> + +<p>Here we might let the subject drop, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page765" id="page765" title="765"></a></span> having, as we conceive, said quite +enough to prove the truth of our allegation +that, in reference to the first +question discussed, in which our original +visual sensations are represented +by Berkeley to be mere internal feelings, +Mr Bailey understood and stated +those feelings to signify sensations in +which no perception of extension +whatever was involved. However, as +Mr Bailey further remarks that, "although +Berkeley's doctrine about visible +figures being neither plane not +solid, is thus consistent with his assertion +that they are internal feelings, it +is in itself contradictory,"<a name="footnotetag34" id="footnotetag34"></a><a href="#footnote34"><sup>34</sup></a> we shall +contribute a few remarks to show that +while, on the one hand, the negation +of extension is not required to vindicate +the consistency of Berkeley's assertion, +that visible objects are internal +feelings, neither, on the other +hand, is there any contradiction in +Berkeley's holding that objects are not +seen either as planes or as solids, and +are yet apprehended as extended. Mr +Bailey alleges that we are "far more +successful in involving ourselves in +subtle speculations of our own, than in +faithfully guiding our readers through +the theories of other philosophers." +Perhaps in the present case we shall +be able to thread a labyrinth where our +reviewer has lost his clue, and, in spite +of the apparent contradiction by which +Mr Bailey has been gravelled, we shall, +perhaps, be more successful than he in +"collecting Berkeley's meaning from +the whole sum and tenour of his discourse."</p> + +<p>First, with regard to the contradiction +charged upon the bishop. When +we open our eyes, what do we behold? +We behold points—<i>minima visibilia</i>—out +of one another. Do we +see these points to be in the same +plane? Certainly not. If they are in +the same plane we learn this from a +very different experience from that of +sight. Again, do we see these points +to be <i>not</i> in the same plane? Certainly +not. If the points are not in the +same plane we learn this, too, from a +very different experience than that of +sight. All that we see is that the +points are out of one another; and +this simply implies the perception of +extension, without implying the perception +either of plane or of solid extension. +Thus by the observation of a +very obvious fact, which, however, Mr +Bailey has overlooked, is Berkeley's +assertion that visible objects are apprehended +as extended, and yet not apprehended +either as planes or solids, relieved +from every appearance of contradiction.</p> + +<p>It must, however, be admitted that +Mr Bailey has much to justify him in his +opinion that extension must be apprehended +either as plane or as solid. None +of Berkeley's followers, we believe, have +ever dreamt of conceiving it otherwise, +and finding in their master's work the +negation of solid extension specially +insisted on, they leapt to the conclusion +that the bishop admitted the original +perception of plane extension. +But Berkeley makes no such admission. +He places the perception of +plane extension on precisely the same +footing with that of solid extension. +"We see planes," says he, "in the +same way that we see solids."<a name="footnotetag35" id="footnotetag35"></a><a href="#footnote35"><sup>35</sup></a> And +the wisdom of the averment is obvious; +for the affirmation of plane extension +involves the negation of solid extension, +but this negation involves the +conception (visually derived) of solid +extension; but the admission of that +conception, so derived, would be fatal +to the Berkeleian theory. Therefore +its author wisely avoids the danger by +holding, that in vision we have merely +the perception of what the Germans +would call the <i>Auseinanderseyn</i>, that is, +the <i>asunderness</i>, of things—a perception +which implies no judgment as to whether +the things are secerned in plane +or in protensive space.</p> + +<p>With regard to the supposition that, +in order to preserve Berkeley's consistency, +it was necessary for him to +teach that our visual sensations, (colours +namely,) being internal feelings, +could involve the perception neither +of plane nor of solid extension, that is +to say, of no extension at all, according +to Mr Bailey's ideas, we shall +merely remark, that there appears to +us to be no inconsistency in holding, +as Berkeley does, that these colours, +though originally internal to the sight, +are nevertheless perceived as extended +among themselves.</p> + +<p>We shall now say a few words on +the <i>relevancy</i> of the question, for Mr +Bailey denies that this question, concerning +<span class="newpage"><a name="page766" id="page766" title="766"></a></span> the reciprocal outness of visible +objects, ought to form any element +in the controversy. We shall show, +however, that one of his most important +arguments depends entirely on the +view that may be taken of this question; +and that while the argument +alluded to would be utterly fatal to +Berkeley's theory, if the perception of +reciprocal outness were denied, it is +perfectly harmless if the perception in +question be admitted.</p> + +<p>Mr Bailey's fundamental and reiterated +objection to Berkeley's theory is, +that it requires us to hold that conceptions +or past impressions, derived +from one sense, (the touch,) are not +merely recalled when another sense +(the sight) executes its functions, but +are themselves absolutely converted +into the present intuitions of that +other sense. In his own words, (<i>Review</i>, +p. 69,) the theory is said to require +"a transmutation of the conceptions +derived from touch into the perceptions +of sight." "According to +Berkeley, (says he, <i>Review</i>, p. 22,) an +internal feeling (<i>i.e.</i> a visual sensation) +and an external sensation (<i>i.e.</i> a tactual +sensation) having been experienced +at the same time: the internal feeling, +when it afterwards occurs, not only +suggests the idea, but, by doing so, suggests +the idea, or, if I may use the figure, +infuses the perception of its own +externality. Berkeley thus attributes +to suggestion an effect contrary to its +nature, which, as in the case of language, +is simply to revive in our conception +what has been previously perceived +by the sense."</p> + +<p>Now, this objection would be altogether +insurmountable if it were true, +or if it were a part of Berkeley's doctrine, +that the sight has no original +intuition of space, or of the reciprocal +outness of its objects—in other words, +of colours out of colours; for it being +admitted that the sight has ultimately +such a perception, it would be incumbent +on the Berkeleian to show how +conceptions derived from another sense, +or how perceptions belonging to another +sense, could be converted into +that perception. We agree with Mr +Bailey, in thinking that no process of +association could effect this conversion; +that if we did not originally see +colours to be out of each other, and +the points of the same colour to be +out of each other, we could never so +see them; and that his argument, when +thus based on the negation of all original +visual extension, and on the +supposition that the touch is the sole +organ of every species of externality, +would remain invulnerable.</p> + +<p>But, with the admission of the visual +intuition of space, the objection vanishes, +and the argument is shorn of +all its strength. This admission relieves +the theory from the necessity of +maintaining, that conceptions derived +from touch are transmuted into the +perceptions of sight. It attributes to +the sight all that ever truly belongs +to it, namely, the perception of colours +out of one another; it provides the +visual intuitions with an externality of +their own—and the theory never demands +that they should acquire any +other; and it leaves to these visual +intuitions the office of merely suggesting +to the mind tactual impressions, +with which they have been invariably +associated in place. We say, <i>in place</i>; +and it will be found that there is no +contradiction in our saying so, when +we shall have shown that it is the +touch, and not the sight, which establishes +a protensive interval between +the organ and the sensations of vision.</p> + +<p>Visible extension, then, or the perception +of colours external to colours, +being admitted, Mr Bailey's argument, +if he still adheres to it, must be presented +to us in this form. He must +maintain that the theory requires that +the objects of touch should not only +be suggested by the visual objects with +which they have been associated, but +that they should actually be <i>seen</i>. And +then he must maintain that no power +of association can enable us to see an +object which can only be touched—a +position which, certainly, no one will +controvert. The simple answer to all +which, is, that we never do see tangible +objects—that the theory never +requires we should, and that no power +of association is necessary to account +for a phenomenon which never takes +place.</p> + +<p>We cannot help thinking, that not a +little of the misconception on this subject +which prevails in the writings of +Mr Bailey, and, we may add, of many +other philosophers, originates in the +supposition that we identify vision with +the eye in the mere act of seeing, and +in their taking it for granted that sight +of itself informs us that we possess +such an organ as the eye. Of course, +if we suppose that we know instinctively, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page767" id="page767" title="767"></a></span> or intuitively, from the mere +act of seeing, that the eye is the organ +of vision, that it forms a part of the +body we behold, and is located in the +head, it requires no conjurer to prove +that we <i>must</i> have an instinctive, or +intuitive, knowledge of visible things +as larger than that organ, and, consequently, +as external to it. In this +case, no process of association is necessary +to account for our knowledge +of the distance of objects. That +knowledge must be directly given in +the very function and exercise of vision, +as every one will admit, without +going to the expense of an octavo +volume to have it proved.</p> + +<p>But we hold that no truth in mental +philosophy is more incontestable than +this, that the sight originally, and of +itself, furnishes us with no knowledge +of the eye, as we <i>now</i> know that organ +to exist. It does not inform us that +we have an eye at all. And here we +may hazard an observation, which, +simple as it is, appears to us to be +new, and not unimportant in aiding us +to unravel the mysteries of sensation; +which observation is, that, in no case +whatever, does any sense inform us of +the existence of its appropriate organ, +or of the relation which subsists between +that organ and its objects, but +that the interposition of some other +sense<a name="footnotetag36" id="footnotetag36"></a><a href="#footnote36"><sup>36</sup></a> is invariably required to give us +this information. This truth, which +we believe holds good with regard to +all the senses, is most strikingly exemplified +in the case of vision, as we shall +now endeavour to illustrate.</p> + +<p>Let us begin by supposing that man +is a mere "power of seeing". Under +this supposition, we must hold that +the periphery of vision is one and the +same with the periphery of visible +space; and the two peripheries being +identical, of course whatever objects +lie within the sphere of the one must +lie within the sphere of the other also. +Perhaps, strictly speaking, it is wrong +to say that these objects are apprehended +as internal to the sight; for +the conception of internality implies +the conception of externality, and neither +of these conceptions can, as yet, +be realized. But it is obvious what +the expression <i>internal</i> means; and it +is unobjectionable, when understood +to signify that the Seeing Power, the +Seeing Act, and the Seen Things, co-exist +in a synthesis in which there is +no interval or discrimination. For, +suppose that we know instinctively +that the seen things occupy a locality +separate from the sight. But that implies +that we instinctively know that +the sight occupies a locality separate +from them. But such a supposition +is a falling back upon the notion just +reprobated, that the mere act of seeing +can indicate its own organ, or can +localise the visual phenomena in the +eye—a position which, we presume, no +philosopher will be hardy enough to +maintain, when called upon to do so, +broadly and unequivocally. The conclusion, +therefore, is irresistible, that, +in mere vision, the sight and its objects +cling together in a union or synthesis, +which no function of that sense, and +no knowledge imparted to us by it, +(and, according to the supposition, we +have, as yet, no other knowledge,) can +enable us to discriminate or dissolve. +Where the seeing is, there is the thing +seen, and where the thing seen is, +there is the seeing of it.</p> + +<p>But man is not a mere seeing animal. +He has other senses besides: He has, +for example, the sense of touch, and +one of the most important offices which +this sense performs, is to break up the +identity or cohesion which subsists between +sight and its objects. And how? +We answer, by teaching us to associate +<i>vision in general</i>, or the abstract <i>condition</i> +regulating our visual impressions, +with the presence of the small tangible +body we call the eye, and <i>vision in +particular</i>, or the individual sensations +of vision, (<i>i.e.</i> colours,) with the presence +of immeasurably larger bodies +revealed to us by touch, and tangibly +external to the tangible eye. Sight, +as we have said, does not inform us +that its sensations are situated in the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page768" id="page768" title="768"></a></span> eye: it does not inform us that we +have an eye at all. Neither does +touch inform us that our visual sensations +are located in the eye. It does +not lead us to associate with the eye any +of the visual phenomena or operations +<i>in the first instance</i>. If it did, it would +(<i>firstly</i>) either be impossible for it +<i>afterwards</i> to induce us to associate +them with the presence of tangible +bodies distant and different from the +eye: or, (<i>secondly</i>), such an association +would merely give birth to the +abstract knowledge or conclusion, that +these bodies were in one place, while +the sensations suggesting them were +felt to be associated with something in +another place; colour would not be +seen—as it is—incarnated with body: +or, (<i>thirdly</i>), we should be compelled +to postulate for the eye, as many philosophers +have done, in our opinion, +most unwarrantably, "a faculty of +projection"<a name="footnotetag37" id="footnotetag37"></a><a href="#footnote37"><sup>37</sup></a> by which it might dissolve +the association between itself and its +sensations, throwing off the latter in +the form of colours over the surface +of things, and reversing the old Epicurean +doctrine that perception is kept +up by the transit to the sensorium of +the ghosts or <i>simulacra</i> of things,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Quæ, quasi membranæ, summo de corpore rerum,</p> +<p>Direptæ, volitant ultro citroque per auras.<a name="footnotetag38" id="footnotetag38"></a><a href="#footnote38"><sup>38</sup></a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is difficult to say whether the hypothesis +of "cast-off films" is more +absurd when we make the films come +from things to us as spectral effluxes, or +go from us to them in the semblance +of colours.</p> + +<p>But according to the present view +no such incomprehensible faculty, no +such crude and untenable hypothesis, +is required. <i>Before</i> the touch has informed +us that we have an eye, <i>before</i> +it has led us to associate any thing +visual with the eye, it has <i>already</i> +taught us to associate in place the +sensations of vision (colours) with the +presence of tangible objects which are +not the eye. Therefore, when the +touch discovers the eye, and induces +us to associate vision in some way +with it, it cannot be the particular +sensations of vision called colours +which it leads us to associate with that +organ; for these have been already associated +with something very different. +If it be not colours, then what is it +that the touch compels us to associate +with the eye? We answer that it is +the abstract <i>condition</i> of impressions as +the general law on which all seeing +depends, but as quite distinct from +the particular visual sensations apprehended +in virtue of the observance of +that law.</p> + +<p>Nor is it at all difficult to understand +how this general condition comes to +be associated with the eye, and how +the particular visual sensations come +to be associated with something +distant from the eye: and further, +how this association of the condition +with one thing, and of the sensations +with another thing, (an association +established by the touch and not +by the sight,) dissolves the primary +synthesis of seeing and colours. It is +to be observed that there are two +stages in the process by which this secernment +is brought about—<i>First</i>, the +stage in which the visual phenomena +are associated with things different from +the organ of vision, the very existence +of which is as yet unknown. Let us +suppose, then, the function of sight to +be in operation. We behold a visible +object—a particular colour. Let the +touch now come into play. We feel +a tangible object—say a book. Now +from the mere fact of the visible and +the tangible object being seen and felt +together, we could not associate them +in place; for it is quite possible that +the tangible object may admit of being +withdrawn, and yet the visible object +remain: and if so, no association of +the two in place can be established. +But this is a point that can only be +determined by experience; and what +says that wise instructor? We withdraw +the tangible object. The visible +object, too, disappears: it leaves its +place. We replace the tangible object—the +visible object reappears <i>in +statu quo</i>. There is no occasion to +vary the experiment. If we find that +the visible object invariably leaves its +place when the tangible object leaves +its, and that the one invariably comes +back when the other returns, we have +<span class="newpage"><a name="page769" id="page769" title="769"></a></span> brought forward quite enough to establish +an inevitable association in place +between the two. The two places +are henceforth regarded, not as two, +but as one and the same.</p> + +<p>By the aid of the touch, then, we +have associated the visual phenomena +with thing which are <i>not</i> the organ of +vision; and well it is for us that we +have done so betimes, and before we +were aware of the eye's existence. +Had the eye been indicated to us in +the mere act of seeing; had we become +apprised of its existence <i>before</i> +we had associated our visual +sensations with the tangible objects +constituting the material universe, the +probability, nay the certainty, is that +we would have associated them with +this eye, and that then it would have +been as impossible for us to break +up the association between colours +and the organ, as it now is for us to +dissolve the union between colours and +material things. In which case we +should have remained blind, or as bad +as blind; brightness would have been +in the eye when it ought to have been +in the sun; greenness would have +been in the retina when it ought to +have been in the grass. A most wise +provision of nature it certainly is, by +which our visual sensations are disposed +of in the right way before we obtain +any knowledge of the eye. And +most wisely has nature seconded her +own scheme by obscuring all the +sources from which that knowledge +might be derived. The light eyelids—the +effortless muscular apparatus performing +its ministrations so gently as to +be almost unfelt—the tactual sensations +so imperceptible when the eye is left +to its own motions, so keen when it is +invaded by an exploring finger, and so +anxious to avoid all contact by which +the existence of the organ might be +betrayed. All these are so many means +adopted by nature to keep back from +the infant seer all knowledge of his +own eye—a knowledge which, if developed +prematurely, would have perverted +the functions, if not rendered nugatory +the very existence of the organ.</p> + +<p>But, <i>secondly</i>, we have to consider the +stage of the process in which vision is +in some way associated with an object +which is <i>not</i> any of the things with +which the visual sensations are connected. +It is clear that the process is +not completed—that our task, which is +to dissolve the primary synthesis of +vision and its phenomena, is but half +executed, unless such an object be +found. For though we have associated +the visual sensations (colours) +with something different from themselves, +still vision clings to them without +a hair's-breadth of interval and +pursues them whithersoever they go. +As far, then, as we have yet gone, it +cannot be said that our vision is felt or +known to be distanced from the fixed +stars even by the diameter of a grain of +sand. The synthesis of sight and colour +is not yet discriminated. How, +then, is the interval interposed? We +answer, by the discovery of a tangible +object in a different place from any of +the tangible objects associated with +colour; and then by associating, in +some way or other, the operations of +vision with this object. Such an object +is discovered in the eye. Now, as +has frequently been said, we cannot +associate colours or the visual sensations +with this eye; for these have been +already disposed of otherwise. What, +then, do we associate with it—and how? +We find, upon experiment, that our apprehension +of the various visual sensations +depends on the presence and particular +location of this small tangible +body. We find that the whole array of +visual phenomena disappear when it is +tactually covered, that they reappear +when it is reopened, and so forth. +Thus we come in some way to associate +vision with it—not as colour, +however, not as visual sensation. We +regard the organ and its dispositions +merely as a general condition regulating +the apprehension of the visual +sensations, and no more.</p> + +<p>Thus, by attending to the two associations +that occur,—the association +(in place) of visual sensations with +tangible bodies that <i>are not</i> the eye; +and the association (in place) of vision +with a small tangible body that <i>is</i> the +eye—the eye regarded as the condition +on which the apprehension of +these sensations depends; by attending +to these, we can understand how +a protensive interval comes to be recognised +between the organ and its +objects. By means of the touch, we +have associated the sensations of vision +with tangible bodies in one place, +and the apprehension of these sensations +with a tangible body in another +place. It is, therefore, impossible for +the sight to dissolve these associations, +and bring the sensations out of the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page770" id="page770" title="770"></a></span> one place where they are felt, into +the other place where the <i>condition</i> of +their apprehension resides. The sight +is, therefore, compelled to leave the +sensations where they are, and the +apprehension of them where it is; +and to recognize the two as sundered +from each other—the sensations as +separated from the organ, which they +truly are. Thus it is that we would +explain the origin of the perception +of distance by the eye; believing firmly +that the sight would never have +discerned this distance without the +mediation of the touch.</p> + +<p>Rightly to understand the foregoing +reasoning—indeed to advance a single +step in the true philosophy of sensation—we +much divest ourselves of the +prejudice instilled into us by a false +physiology, that what we call our organism, +or, in plain words, our body, is +necessarily <i>the seat</i> of our sensations. +That all our sensations come to be +associated <i>in some way</i> with this body, +and that some of them even come to +be associated with it <i>in place</i>, is undeniable; +but so far is it from being +true, that they are all essentially implicated +or incorporated with it, and +cannot exist at a distance from it, that +we have a direct proof to the contrary +in our sensations of vision; and +until the physiologist can prove (what +has never yet been proven) an <i>à priori</i> +necessity that our sensations must be +where our bodies are, and an <i>à priori</i> +absurdity in the contrary supposition, +he must excuse us for resolutely standing +by the fact as we find it.</p> + +<p>This is a view which admits of much +discussion, and we would gladly expatiate +upon the subject, did time and +space permit; but we must content +ourselves with winding up the present +observations with the accompanying +diagram, which we think explains our +view beyond the possibility of a mistake.</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> A </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>B<i>a</i></td> + <td> </td> + <td><i>á</i>C</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Let A be the original synthesis, or +indiscrimination of vision and its sensations—of +light and colours. Let <i>á</i> +be the visual sensations locally associated +by means of the touch with the +tangible bodies C <i>before</i> vision is in +any way associated with B—before, +indeed, we have any knowledge of the +existence of B. Then let <i>a</i>, the general +condition on which the sensations, +<i>after a time</i>, are found to depend, +and in virtue of which they are +apprehended, be locally associated +with B—the eye discovered by means +of the touch—and we have before us +what we cannot help regarding as a +complete <i>rationale</i> of the whole phenomena +and mysteries of vision. Now, +the great difference between this view +of the subject and the views of it that +have been taken by <i>every</i> other philosopher, +consists in this, that whereas +their explanations invariably implicated +the visual sensations <i>á</i> with B from +the very first, thereby rendering it +either impossible for them to be afterwards +associated with C, or possible +only in virtue of some very extravagant +hypothesis—our explanation, on +the contrary, proceeding on a simple +observation of the facts, and never +implicating the sensations <i>á</i> with B at +all, but associating them with C <i>à primordiis</i>, +merely leaving to be associated +with B, <i>a</i>, a certain general condition +that must be complied with, in +order that the sensations <i>á</i> may be +apprehended,—in this way, we say, our +explanation contrives to steer clear +both of the impossibility and the hypothesis.</p> + +<p>We would just add by way of postscript +to this article—which, perhaps, +ought itself to have been only a postscript—that +with regard to Mr Bailey's +allegation of our having plagiarised +one of his arguments, merely turning +the coat of it outside in, we can assure +him that he is labouring under a mistake. +In our former paper, we remarked +that we could not see things +to be <i>out</i> of the sight, because we +could not see the sight itself. Mr +Bailey alleges, that this argument is +borrowed from him, being a mere reversal +of his reasoning, that we cannot +see things to be <i>in</i> the sight, because +we cannot see both the sight +and the things. That our argument +might very naturally have been suggested +by his, we admit. But it was +not so. We had either overlooked +the passage in his book, or it was clean +out of our mind when we were pondering +our own speculations. It did +not suggest our argument, either nearly +or remotely. Had it done so, we +should certainly have noticed it, and +should probably have handled both +Mr Bailey's reasoning and our own +to better purpose, in consequence. +If, notwithstanding this disclaimer, +he still thinks that appearances are +against us, we cannot mend his faith, +but can merely repeat, that the fact +is as we have stated it.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page771" id="page771" title="771"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s7" id="bw332s7"></a><h2>THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.</h2> + +<h3>WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS, BY WILLIAM MULREADY, R.A.</h3> + +<p>In a review we made last January +of Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," +illustrated by the Etching Club, we +concluded our notice with recommending +to those able artists the +"Vicar of Wakefield;" and expressed +a hope that Mr Maclise would +lend his powerful aid, having in our +recollection some very happy illustrations +of his hand in pictures exhibited +at the Royal Academy Exhibition.</p> + +<p>What the Etching Club are about, +we know not; but the subject has +been taken up by Mr Mulready; and +we now feel it incumbent upon us to +notice this new and illustrated edition +of that immortal work. Immortal it +must be; manners pass away, modes +change, but the fashion of the heart +of man is unalterable. The "Vicar +of Wakefield" bears the stamp of the +age in which it was written. Had it +been laid aside by the author, discovered, +and now first brought out, +without a notice of the author, or of +the time of its composition, received it +must have been indeed with delight, +but not as belonging to the present +day. It differs in its literature and its +manners. It is at once a most happy +work for illustration, and the most +difficult. It is universally known. +Who has not shed previous and heart-improving +tears over it? Taking up +the tale now, for the hundredth time, +we are become, from somewhat morose, +tender as a lamb—propitious +condition for a critic! We opened +upon the scene where Mr Burchell +so cruelly tries poor Sophia, by offering +her a husband in Mr Jenkinson; +we know the whole transaction perfectly, +the bitter joke, the proposal</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i6">"impares</p> +<p>Formas atque animas in juga ahenea</p> +<p>Sævo mittere cum joco."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Yet how strangely are we moved! +Had the taxman at the moment called +for the income-tax, he would have +concluded we were paying the last +farthing of our principal. What art +is this in a writer, that he should by +one and the same passage continue to +move his readers, though they know +the trick! Readers, too, that would +have turned the cold shoulder to real +tales of greater distress, and met suspicion +that all was a cheat halfway; +but the acknowledged fictitious they +yield to at once their whole hearts, +throwing to the winds their beggarly +stint. Never was there a writer that +possessed to so great a degree as did +Goldsmith this wondrous charm; and +in him it is the more delightful in the +light and pleasant <i>allegria</i> with which +he works off the feeling. The volume +is full of subjects that so move; and +in this respect it is most admirable for +illustration, inviting the ablest powers. +But the difficulty, wherein does that +lie? Look at all illustrations that have +hitherto appeared in print, and you cry +out to all—Away with the failure! +Certain it is that but slender abilities +have been hitherto employed; and +when we hear of better artists coming +to the undertaking, we are hardened +against them. And then, how few +come fresh to the tale. To those +who do, perhaps a new illustration +may have a tenfold charm; but to +any one past five-and-twenty, it must +come "with a difference." It is very +difficult to reconcile one to a new Dr +Primrose, a new Mrs Primrose. +Beauty ever had the power of beauty, +and takes us suddenly; we can more +readily dismiss the old idea and +pitch on the new, so that the Miss +Primroses are more reconcilable and +transferable creatures, than the Vicar +and his wife, or the incomparable +Moses and the unyielding Mr Burchell. +We cannot pretend to tell how +all these characters would have fitted +their images given by Mr Mulready, +had the work now first come into our +hands. As it is, we can only say +they are new to us. It requires time +to reconcile this. In the meanwhile +we must take it for granted, that they +actually do represent those in Mr +Mulready's vision, and he is a clear-sighted +man, and has been accustomed +to look into character well. His +name as the illustrator, gave promise +of success. Well do we remember +an early picture by him—entitled, we +believe, the Wolf and the Lamb. It +represented two schoolboys—the bully, +and the more tender fatherless child. +The history in that little picture was +quite of the manner of Goldsmith. The +orphan boy's face we never can forget, +not the whole expression of his +<span class="newpage"><a name="page772" id="page772" title="772"></a></span> slender form, though it is many years +ago that we saw the picture. So that +when the name of Mulready appeared +as illustrator, we said at once, That +will do—down came the book, and +here it is before us. The pages have +been turned over again and again. +We cannot, nevertheless, quite reconcile +our ideas to the new Dr and Mrs +Primrose; but in attempting to do so, +so many real artistical beauties have +beamed from the pages, that we determined +at once to pour out our +hearts to Maga, and turn over page +after page once more. The illustrations +are thirty-two in number; one +to head each chapter, though, and +which we think a defect, the subject +of the illustration is not always in +the chapter at the head of which it is. +The first is the choice of a wife—"and +chose my wife as she did her +wedding-gown." The intended bride +is a very beautiful graceful figure, +with a most sweet simplicity of countenance. +This never could have resembled +Mrs Deborah Primrose; the +outline is most easy and graceful, even +as one of Raffaelle's pure and lovely +beings. The youth of the bride and +bridegroom, fresh in their hopes of +years of happiness, is happily contrasted +with the staid age of the respectable +tradesman, evidently one of honest +trade and industrious habits—the fair +dealer, one of the old race before the +days of "immense sacrifices" brought +goods and men into disrepute. The +little group is charming; every line +assists another, and make a perfect +whole.</p> + +<p>"The Dispute between the Vicar +and Mr Wilmot."—"This, as may be +expected, produced a dispute, attended +with some acrimony." Old Wilmot +is capital; there is acrimony in his +face, and combativeness in his fists—both +clenching confidently his own +argument, and ready for action; the +very drawing back of one leg, and +protrusion of the other, is indicative +of testy impatience. The vicar is a +little too loose and slovenly, both in +attitude and attire; the uniting of the +figures (artistically speaking) is with +Mr Mulready's usual ability.</p> + +<p>"The Rescue of Sophia from +Drowning by Mr Burchell."—"She +must have certainly perished, had not +my companion, perceiving her danger, +instantly plunged in to her relief." +This is altogether a failure, yet it is a +good subject; nor has Mr Mulready +been at all happy in the female beauty. +The vicar stands upon the bank too +apathetic; and the group in the vehicle, +crossing the stream above, seem +scarcely conscious of the event, though +they are within sight of it. Mr Mulready +has here, too, neglected his +text. Sophia fell from her horse; all +the party set out on horseback; there +is no carriage mentioned.</p> + +<p>"The Vicar at Home, with Neighbour +Flamborough and the Piper."—"These +harmless people had several +ways of being good company; while +one played, the other would sing some +soothing ballad." The happy father, +with his children climbing up his chair, +and clinging to him, is a beautiful +group, and quite worthy of Mr Mulready's +pencil.</p> + +<p>"Squire Thornhill."—"At last a +young gentleman, of a more genteel +appearance than the rest, came forward, +and for a while regarding us, +instead of pursuing the chase, stopped +short, and giving his horse to a servant +who attended, approached us +with a careless, superior air." The +family are sweetly grouped—the story +well told—the easy assurance of the +squire undeniable. The father holds +his two boys, one on his lap, the other +between his knees; but is he "<i>the</i> +vicar?"</p> + +<p>"Mr Burchell and Sophia"—A +most charming illustration. It is the +haymaking scene. "I could not avoid, +however, observing the assiduity of +Mr Burchell, in assisting my daughter +Sophia in her part of the task." +Sophia is a lovely creature, just what +she should be. We are not quite +sure of Mr Burchell: possibly he may +look too young; he was a character, +and must have borne about him some +little acquired oddity, sturdy, and not +undignified. In the illustration he is +too prettily genteel; but we do not +wish to see any but Sophia—delightful, +loving, lovable Sophia. In the +background, Moses lies on the ground +with his book, and the vicar has rather +too suspicious a look; but we can forgive +him that, and, for Sophia's sake, +forgive Mr Mulready that he has +paid less attention to her admirer—for +at present he is no more. But his +admiration is better, and more to the +purpose than other men's love.</p> + +<p>"Moses defeated in Argument, or +rather borne down by the arrogant, +ignorant volubility of the Squire."—"This +effectually raised the laugh +<span class="newpage"><a name="page773" id="page773" title="773"></a></span> against poor Moses." It is well +grouped; but the only successful +figure is Moses. The squire is not +the well-dressed, designing profligate. +If the story were not well told by the +grouping, we might have taken the +squire for an itinerant "lecturer." +The squire is so prominent a person +in the tale, that we think there should +have been a well-studied representation +of the accomplished villain and +fine gentleman.</p> + +<p>No. 8.—Beyond the skill in grouping, +Mr Mulready has not attempted +any great interest in this illustration. +It represents the family, with their +friend Burchell, interrupted in their +enjoyment by the chaplain, or rather +the chaplain's gun; for that only presents +its muzzle. "So loud a report, +and so near, startled my daughters; +and I could perceive that Sophia, in +the fright, had thrown herself into Mr +Burchell's arms for protection." We +do not recognize the alarmed and +lovely Sophia—here she might be any +miss; so that the greatest miss is Mr +Mulready's, for he has missed an opportunity +of showing the beauty of +the sweet sisters in alarm. In this +chapter, we have Goldsmith's delightful +ballad, "Turn, gentle hermit of +the dale." Surely this was worthy +an illustration or two; and if Mr Mulready +felt himself confined to the +heads of chapters, might he not, for +once, have made his digression from +the tale, as Goldsmith has done, and +given us that charming episode?</p> + +<p>"The Family Group on Horseback, +going to Church."—"And +when I got about halfway home, perceived +the procession marching slowly +forward towards the church." "The +colt that had been nine years in the +family, and Blackberry, his companion," +are not the best horse-flesh. +Mr Mulready does not draw the horse +like Mr Herring; so, having failed in +the feet of the colt, he has, though +rather awkwardly, hidden Blackberry's +behind a convenient stone, which +yet makes us fear that the "family +pride" will have a fall, and spare the +Vicar's reproof. The party on Blackberry +is good; and the patient, blind +face of the animal is well attempted.</p> + +<p>"The Visit to Neighbour Flamborough's +on Michaelmas Eve."—"But +previously I should have mentioned +the very impolitic behaviour of +Mr Burchell, who, during this discourse, +sat with his face turned to +the fire; and, at the conclusion of +every sentence, would cry out, +'Fudge!'" This is scarcely the subject +of the illustration, for Mr Burchell +is quite in the background. We +should like to have seen his face. Miss +Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs +is good; Lady Blarney is not the +overdressed and overacting peeress. +The whole is very nicely grouped. +Perhaps we are not so pleased with +this illustration, remembering Maclise's +more finished picture of the +subject.</p> + +<p>Moses departing for the "Fair." +Hopeful and confident are the group, +and not least so Moses himself. We +fancy we recognize in Moses a similar +figure in a sweet picture exhibited +last year by Mr Stonhouse, one of the +"Etching Club." We are not quite +satisfied with the other figures—they +all hide their faces, as well they might, +for their simplicity in trusting to the +"discreet boy" that can "buy and +sell to very good advantage"—so off +go Moses and the colt that had been +nine years in the family. "We all +followed him several paces from the +door, bawling after him good-luck! good-luck! +till we could see him no longer."</p> + +<p>No. 12 exhibits simplicity upon a +larger scale, and shows the head of +the family, verifying the old proverb, +"like father like son"—though it +should be here like son like father. +The colt was fitly turned over to the +son, grave blind Blackberry was a +horse for the father's art and wisdom. +"By this time I began to have a most +hearty contempt for the poor animal +myself, and was almost alarmed at +the approach of every customer." +Poor Blackberry! He is quite conscious +of his depreciation; he is a wise animal, +and can see that "with half an +eye." Alas! we fear he has not that half. +Blackberry is good—yet will he +sell for nothing; how patiently he lets +them handle his leg, and a handle it +is; we can imagine the creature thinking, +"pray, sir, would you like to look +at the other poor thing of a leg?" +The rascally Fair, in which Mr Mulready +has shown, according to his +author, that the Vicar ought not to +have been, is well given; but we +should have liked a full length portrait +of Mr Jenkinson pronouncing +<span class="greek" title="Anarchon ara kai atelentaion to pan.">Αναρχον αρα και ατελενταιον το παν</span>. + +<p>The reading the letter, the well-known +letter of Mr Burchell to "The +Ladies." "There seemed, indeed, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page774" id="page774" title="774"></a></span> something applicable to both sides in +this letter, and its censures might as +well be referred to those to whom it +was written, as to us; but the malicious +meaning was obvious, and we went +no further." This, as usual, is well +grouped; the Vicar ponders, and cannot +tell what to make of it. We should +have preferred, as a subject, the Vicar +confronting Mr Burchell, and the cool +effrontery of the philosopher turning +the tables upon the Vicar, "and how +came you so basely to presume to +break open this letter?" or better still, +perhaps, the encounter of art between +Mr Burchell and Mrs Deborah Primrose. +And why have we not Dick's +episode of the dwarf and the giant? +Episodes are excellent things, as good +for the illustrations as for the book. +No. 14, the contrivance of Mrs Primrose +to entrap the squire, properly belongs +to another chapter. "Then the +poor woman would sometimes tell the +squire that she thought him and Olivia +extremely of a size, and would bid +both stand up to see which was tallest." +The passage is nicely told; +there is, however, but one figure to +arrest attention, and that is quite +right, for it is Olivia's, and a sweet +figure it is. Dear Olivia! We have not +seen her portrait before, and we shall +love her, beyond "to the end of the +chapter," to the end of the volume, +and the more so, that hers after all +was a hard fate. It is the part of the +tale which leaves a melancholy impression; +Goldsmith has so determined it—and +to his judgment we bow implicitly. +Had any other author so +wretchedly disposed of his heroine, in +a work not professedly tragic, we +should have been pert as critics usually +are. Mrs Primrose is certainly here +too young. We cannot keep our eyes +off Olivia; and see, the scoundrel has +slyly taken her innocent hand, and +the other is put up to her neck in such +modest doubt of the liberty allowed. +Here, as in other instances, the squire +is not the well-dressed man of the +world, whose gold lace had attracted +Dick's attention. We could linger +longer over this illustration, but must +pass on—honest Burchell has been +dismissed, villany has full sway. We +must leave poor Olivia to her fate, +and turn to the family picture +"drawn by a limner;" capital—"limner" +well suiting the intended satire—some +say a good-natured, sly cut at +Sir Joshua. We should certainly +have had Mrs Primrose as Venus, and +the two little ones as Cupids, and the +Vicar presenting to her his books on +the Whistonian controversy, and the +squire as Alexander. Whoever wishes +to see specimens of this kind may see +some ludicrous ones at Hampton court—particularly +of Queen Elizabeth, +and the three goddesses abashed by +her superiority. We thought to leave +poor Olivia to her fate—Mr Mulready +will not let us give her up so easily, +and takes us to the scene of her quitting +her home for her betrayer; and +this is the subject of—</p> + +<p>"Yes, she is gone off with two +gentlemen in a post-chaise; and one +of them kissed her, and said he would +die for her;" and there she is, hiding +her beautiful face with her hands, and +poor good Dick is pulling her back by +her dress, that she may not go; but a +villain's hand is round her waist, and +one foot he has upon the step of the +chaise, and the door is open. Poor +Dick, you have nothing left you to do +but to run home as fast as you can; and +there you will find such a scene of innocent +enjoyment, how to be marr'd! +at the very moment, too, that the good +Vicar had been feeling and saying, "I +think myself happier now than the +greatest monarch upon earth. He +has no such fireside, nor such pleasant +faces about it. We are descended +from ancestors that knew no stain, +and we shall leave a good and virtuous +race of children behind us. While +we live they will be our support and +our pleasure here, and when we die +they will transmit our honour untainted +to posterity. Come, my son, +we wait for a song: let us have a +chorus. But where is my darling +Olivia? That little cherub's voice is +always sweetest in the concert." O +Dick, Dick! at such a moment as this +to run in and tell him to be miserable +for ever; for that his cherub, his +Olivia is gone, and gone, as it appears, +to infamy, a thousand times more +grievous than death. Was there ever +so touching a scene?—Mr Mulready +feared it. That is a wonderful chapter—the +happiness is so domestically +heightened, that the homefelt joy +may be more instantly crushed. We +know we shall not see dear darling +Olivia again for a long, long time; and +feel we want a pause and a little diversion—so +we will go back to Bill the +songster for amusement, and take it if +we can; and here is for the purpose +<span class="newpage"><a name="page775" id="page775" title="775"></a></span> Bill's "Elegy on the Death of a Mad +Dog," alas! taught him, too, by honest +Mr Williams; we only hope young, +sturdy farmers have strong nerves, and +don't break their hearts in love's disappointments. +Here is Dick's Elegy; +and as we, too, have a Moses at home +of a "miscellaneous education," we +will put on the Vicar's simplicity, and +cheerful familiarity with his own flesh +and blood—and thus we address our +Moses, "Come, my boy, you are no +hand at singing, so turn the Elegy +another way: let us have a little Latin, +for your music is Hexameter and +Pentameter." Our Moses, "That's a +hard task, sir, for one that cannot +mount to Parnass Hill without his +'Gradus ad Parnassum.'" "Well, +then get your Gradus, and put your +foot in that first step of the ladder." +Our Moses, waggishly—"I must mind +my feet, sir, or they will be but lame +verses, and go halting and hobbling—but +I suppose you won't be very particular +as to Latinity. I have heard you +tell how Farmer Williams"—"No," +said we, "not Williams, any other farmer +you please; poor Williams is not +likely to have any children; yet I +know what you were going to say." +"Farmer any body, then," said our +Moses, "when he took his boy to +school, left him with the master; +and shortly returned to inform him, +that, discoursing upon the subject at +the 'public,' he had heard that there +were two sorts of Latin, and so he +brought the master a gammon of +bacon, for he wished his son to have +the best: now I think, sir, one of +these two sorts must be 'dog Latin,' +and that must be best fitted for the +Elegy in question." Our Moses beats +the Vicar's hollow in waggery, so we +are proud of him. He takes after his +mother. We condescended to be familiar +enough to laugh. Now, then, +Moses, to <i>your</i> task and we to <i>ours</i>. +And here we are at—</p> + +<p>The scene of Mr Arnold and his +family breaking in upon his butler +personating his master, we are rather +inclined to think a failure. There +is Mr Mulready's good grouping, but +somehow or other it is rather flat for +so piquant an incident; "I was struck +dumb with the apprehension of my +own absurdity, when whom should I +next see enter the room but my dear +Miss Arabella Wilmot." We should +like to have seen, in illustration, the +political butler ordering the Vicar +out of his house, or at least a more +decided portrait of Arabella Wilmot. +"Beauty is," as Miss Skeggs said of +virtue, "worth any price;" and we +are sorry to look about, and continue, +in her words, "but where is that to +be found?" What had Mr Mulready +to do, that he would not let us have a +sight of Arabella Wilmot. We, +therefore, pass on to her lover, the +Vicar's eldest son George, delivering +his letter of recommendation to the +nobleman's footmen, with his fee, +which brings us to—</p> + +<p>"However, after bribing the servants +with half my worldly fortune, +I was at last shown into a spacious +apartment, my letter being previously +sent up for his lordship's inspection." +The Vicar's son is a fine fellow in the +illustration: we are glad to see him, +but rather wish Mr Mulready had +chosen a better subject. George's +adventures were written with a nice +satire; for Goldsmith knew what and +whom he had to describe. The reasons +why he would not do for an +usher, are well put. Is it not possible +that Mr Dickens took his first +hint of Do-the-boys' Hall from reading +this passage in Goldsmith? Indeed, +there may be a suspicion that Mrs +Primrose gave the idea of Mrs Nickleby, +though he has made her an original. +But to return to the traveller—we +should like to have seen an +"illustration" of his interview with the +principal of the College of Louvain, a +passage quite in the spirit of Le Sage. +"The principal seemed at first to +doubt my abilities; but of these I +offered to convince him, by turning a +part of any Greek author he should fix +upon into Latin. Finding me perfectly +earnest in my proposals he addressed +me thus, 'You see, young man,' continued +he, 'I never learned Greek, +and I don't find that I have ever missed +it. I have had a doctor's cap and +gown without Greek; I have ten +thousand florins a year without Greek; +and, in short,' continued he, 'as I don't +know Greek, I do not believe there is +any good in it.'"</p> + +<p>The office of Mr Crispe, who fitted +becoming situations upon every body. +"There I found a number of poor +creatures, all in circumstances like +myself, expecting the arrival of Mr +Crispe, presenting a true epitome of +English impatience." And there is +Mr Crispe himself, in the distance +indeed, but certainly the principal +<span class="newpage"><a name="page776" id="page776" title="776"></a></span> figure. The expectants are good enough, +but Mr Crispe, with his audacious, +confident, deceitful face, is excellent; +the fellow rattling the money in both +his pockets, with fraud, successful +laughing fraud filling out both his +cheeks. The audacious wretch! little +cares he for the miserable expectants +whom he means to ship off to America +and slavery. Preferring to see +the Vicar's son among "the harmless +peasants of Flanders," we turn over +the leaves.</p> + +<p>Here is a delightful group,—a +fine sturdy fellow holding his dog +by a handkerchief through his collar, +and how naturally the honest brute +leans against his master, as claiming +a sort of kindred—the expression of +the young woman with the child in +her arms, is attention and admiration. +It is not quite certain that one +of the loungers is pleased with that +admiration. This is a pleasant scene, +and happily illustrated. "I had some +knowledge of music, with a tolerable +voice, and now turned what was once +my amusement into a present means +of subsistence." That is a pleasant, +happy scene, though the personages +are the poorest. Of another character +is the next scene, and quite other +personages act in it; for we come +again to poor Olivia in her distress, +grossly, brutally insulted by the +wealthy profligate.</p> + +<p>The profligate scoundrel in the +very lowest baseness of his character.—It +is poor Olivia speaks. "Thus +each day I grew more pensive, and +he more insolent, till at last the +monster had the assurance to offer me to +a young baronet of his acquaintance." +This scene is not fit for picture; it is +seemingly nothing but successful villany, +and of too gay a cast to be pathetic. +The chapter from which it is +taken would have furnished a much +better one—the meeting between the +Vicar and his poor Olivia. We can +bear the suffering of a Cordelia, because +all in that is great though villany +be successful; but there is a littleness +in mere profligacy that infects +even the victim. We could have +wished that Mr Mulready had taken +the "Meeting" for his illustration. +How exquisitely beautiful is the text! +The first impulse of affection is to +forget, or instantly palliate the fault. +"Welcome, any way welcome, my +dearest lost one, my treasure, to your +poor old father's bosom!" Then how +exquisite her observance of the effect +of grief upon the parent's appearance. +"Surely you have too much wisdom +to take the miseries of my guilt upon +yourself." How timely has Goldsmith +thrown in this, when we are +most willing to catch at a straw of +excuse for the lovely sufferer! No, +we say, she never contemplated the +misery she has inflicted; and then +how natural is the instantaneous remembrance +of her guilt! The taking it +up and laying it down at a moment's +call, from affection, is most touchingly +beautiful. "Our wisdom, young woman," +replied I—"Ah, why so cold +a name, papa?" cried she. "This is +the first time you ever called me by +so cold a name." "I ask pardon, my +darling," returned I; "but I was +going to observe that wisdom makes +but a slow defence against trouble, +though at last a sure one." Admitting +the subject chosen by Mr Mulready, +we do not approve of his manner of +telling it; we scarcely know which is +the principal figure. Nor is Olivia's +good. It has nothing of the madness +the text speaks of. "My answer to +this proposal was almost madness." +We are glad to quit the scene, though +our next step is into deeper misery; +and—</p> + +<p>"The return of the Vicar to his +home in flames," a pitiable sight; but +here is the triumph of love over misery, +and the subject is good. "Now," +cried I, holding up my children, "now +let the flames burn on, and all my +possessions perish." The scene is well +told, and not the worse for a justifiable +theft from Correggio in the fainting +figure—it is the <i>mother</i> in the Ecce +Homo in the National Gallery. The +failing of the hands at the moment +of action, is true to the original and +to nature. We rejoice that Mr Mulready +did not take the return of +Olivia as his subject. We should not +like to see Mrs Primrose in that +odious light; and though admirable in +the tale, she is no favourite already. +The parent had called his child, +"woman—young woman"—the coldness +passed away, and the word was +changed for "darling." The word +was again to be resumed, and how +applied!—to the unforgiving—That +even the Vicar's anger, we must +rather say indignation, should be +virtuous. "Ah, madam!" cried her mother, +"this is but a poor place you +have come to after so much finery. +<span class="newpage"><a name="page777" id="page777" title="777"></a></span> My daughter Sophy and I can afford +but little entertainment to persons +who have kept company only with +people of distinction. Yes, Miss +Livy, your poor father and I have +suffered very much of late; but I +hope Heaven will forgive you." Not +a word of her own forgiving, not a +word of endearment; and we suspect +the word madam had, when written, +more blame in it than it now retains—and +how do the words "my daughter +Sophy and I" cut off the forlorn +one from the family!—and the plural +"persons" avoiding the individuality, +the personality of her daughter was +another deep cut into the very flesh +of the lost one's heart. Now then +comes the reproof, and the good man +shines in the glory of goodness and +greatness, indignation for love's sake. +"During this reception the unhappy +victim stood pale and trembling, unable +to weep or to reply; but I could +not continue a silent spectator of her +distress; wherefore, assuming a degree +of severity in my voice and +manner, which was ever followed with +instant submission, 'I entreat, woman, +that my words may be now +marked once for all: I have brought +you back a poor deluded wanderer: +her return to duty demands the revival +of our tenderness. The real +hardships of life are now coming fast +upon us; let us not therefore increase +them by dissensions among each other." +The words to the conclusion of the +chapter should be written in letters +of gold, were not the better place for +them out of sight, upon the hearts of +all; for none of us have too much +charity, though some may have an +excess of love.</p> + +<p>No. 22 is an affecting scene. The +Vicar with his wounded arm is on +his bed, with his distressed family +about him. Olivia has fainted on +hearing the news of her betrayer's +intended marriage, and the mother is +attending her. "My compassion for +my poor daughter, overpowered by +this new disaster, interrupted what I +had further to observe. I bade her +mother support her, and after a short +time she recovered." The countenance +of the Vicar in this scene is the +best among the illustrations—of that +good man enduring affliction, that +sight worthy the gods to look at, as +said the Stoic. But we that have +human sympathies, would willingly +turn away from such a sight; and +where shall we find refuge? for sorrow +is coming on—sorrow upon sorrow—an +accumulation of miseries +no Stoic would have borne; for he, +with all his boasted indifference, would +have borne them no longer, but ended +them and life together, if he might so +end them, as he thought. And now, +happily, "<i>our</i> Moses" comes to our +relief, not with extracts from chapters +on stoicism, or any other false philosophy, +but holding up to us what he +is pleased to call his "dogrel." So, +between him and Bill the Songster, we +will have a duet. But as we have no +Bill present, we will take his part +ourselves, and, like other acting substitutes, +go through the part, reading. +"Now we hope," addressing our +Moses, "you have not lengthened out +your Latin to four lines for the four +short English in each stanza. If you +have, to the flames with them!"</p> + +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> + +<p>"CARMINA ELEGIACA IN MORTEM CUJUSDAM CANIS ISLINGTONIENSIS."</p> + +<p>(<i>We</i>.—Not in such a hurry—"An Elegy on the death of a mad dog;" and what +made you put in Islingtoniensis? Well, I suppose you call that a Ciceronic flourish! +Now, I will read the English—you the Latin.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Good people all, of every sort,</p> +<p class="i5">Give ear unto my song,</p> +<p class="i4">And if you find it wondrous short,</p> +<p class="i5">It cannot hold you long.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Quotlibet huc, ubicunque hominum, auscultate canenti,</p> +<p class="i4">Si breve vos teneam;—non ego longus ero.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">In Islington there was a man</p> +<p class="i5">Of whom the world might say,</p> +<p class="i4">That still a godly race he ran</p> +<p class="i5">Whene'er he went to pray.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Quidam Islingtoniensis erat, quem donec adibat</p> +<p class="i4">Templa pius, sacra diximus ire via.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">A kind and gentle heart he had</p> +<p class="i5">To comfort friends and foes;</p> +<p class="i4"><span class="newpage"><a name="page778" id="page778" title="778"></a></span> The naked every day he clad</p> +<p class="i5">When he put on his clothes.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Suavis amico, inimico, ita mitis, nudum ut amictu,</p> +<p class="i4">Quum se vestibat, cotidie indueret.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">And in that town a dog was found,</p> +<p class="i5">As many dogs there be,</p> +<p class="i4">Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,</p> +<p class="i5">And curs of low degree.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Et canis oppido eodem erat huic, ubi plurimus, et grex</p> +<p class="i4">Et fæx, cum catulis plebs numerosa canum.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">This dog and man at first were friends,</p> +<p class="i5">But when a pique began,</p> +<p class="i4">The dog, to gain some private ends,</p> +<p class="i5">Went mad and bit the man.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Grandis amicitia, at Canis, ut sibi gratificetur</p> +<p class="i4">Fit rabidus, rabido dente hominemque petit.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Around from all the neighbouring streets</p> +<p class="i5">The wondering neighbours ran,</p> +<p class="i4">And swore the dog had lost his wits,</p> +<p class="i5">To bite so good a man.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Concurrunt cives, O illum Cerberun, at aiunt,</p> +<p class="i4">Qualem amens rabido dense momordet herum.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">The wound it seem'd both sore and sad</p> +<p class="i5">To every Christian eye,</p> +<p class="i4">And while they swore the dog was mad,</p> +<p class="i5">They swore the man would die.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">O sævum vulnus, clamant lachrymosius omnes,</p> +<p class="i4">En rabidus canis, et mox moriturus homo.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>We</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">But soon a wonder came to light,</p> +<p class="i5">That show'd the rogues they lied;</p> +<p class="i4">The man recover'd of the bite,</p> +<p class="i5">The dog it was that died.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Our Moses</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Mendaces cives monstrat res prodigiosa,</p> +<p class="i4">Sanus homo subito fit—moriturque canis.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>"A very good boy, Bill, upon my +word," said the Vicar, "and an Elegy +that may truly be called tragical." +So we present our Moses a sovereign +for his verse—"A sovereign for a +verse, my boy." "I will never," +quoth he, "be averse to a sovereign. +We have heard of a monarch who +gave a crown for a song." A little +refreshed, let us turn to the book. +Here is</p> + +<p>No. 23.—Very well, Mr Mulready, +artistically performed; but we fear we +shall not relish too many of these distressing +subjects. We know, from +distress to distress, you will take us +into prison. Artists and writers of +the present day delight in prison +scenes; we are not of that class, but +endure it. We would on no account +sit down with that rascally-looking +fellow that is driving and taking an +inventory of the Vicar's stock. It +is winter too. "The consequence of +my incapacity was his driving my +cattle that evening, and their being +appraised and sold the next day for +less than half their value."</p> + +<p>No. 24—Is the attempt at a rescue. +The Vicar represses and reproves the +violence of his enraged parishioners. +The drawing is good; but it is not +a subject we delight to look at; and +we begin to fear that further on we +shall fare worse. Why did not Mr +Mulready give us the interview between +the Vicar and his old acquaintance, +Mr Jenkinson? Artists +of skill like to show it in grouping, +and prefer that to giving character. +"The consequences might have been +fatal, had I not immediately interposed, +and with some difficulty rescued +the officers from the hands of the enraged +multitude."</p> + +<p>"The Prison." We have little wish to +stay there long, and look at the odious +villains that surround the good man +"paying his footing." "I was apprised +of the usual perquisite required +upon these occasions, and immediately +complied with the demand, though the +little money I had was nearly exhausted." +The next illustration, too, takes +us into equally bad company.</p> + +<p>The Vicar's attempt to reform the +jail. The mockery, and roguery, and +Vicar's perseverance, while a practised +hand is picking his pocket—are admirably +represented. "I therefore read +<span class="newpage"><a name="page779" id="page779" title="779"></a></span> them a portion of the service, with a +loud unaffected voice, and found my +audience perfectly merry upon the +occasion."</p> + +<p>The penitent scene. "My design +succeeded, and in less than six days +some were penitent, and all attentive." +We now began to say, what a happy +thing it was that Dr Primrose was +sent to jail. Doubtless Goldsmith +intended to show how good comes out +of evil. There are some good figures +in this illustration.</p> + +<p>The seizure of poor Sophia—and +very good it is—not that we congratulate +Mr Mulready on his Sophia +here; she is rather a vulgar dowdy +figure, the others are very good, and +the incident well told. "A post-chaise +and pair drove up to them, and +instantly stopped. Upon which a well-dressed +man, but not Mr Thornhill, +stepping out, clasped my daughter +round the waist, and, forcing her in, +bid the postilion drive on, so that they +were out of sight in a moment." Now, +Mr Mulready, in the next edition, you +must positively illustrate the rescue by +Mr Burchell.</p> + +<p>"The Vicar delivering his sermon"—Charmingly +grouped are the attentive +and subdued audience. Mrs Primrose +is surely too young a figure. If we +could get over our early impression of +the Vicar's countenance, his figure +here would probably please. "The +prisoners assembled themselves according +to my directions, for they loved to +hear my counsel—my son and his mother +supported me on either side."</p> + +<p>The return of dear Sophia, with her +true but singular lover and deliverer—Perhaps +the vicar takes it more +coolly than the text justifies. "Just +as he delivered this news, my dearest +girl entered, and with looks almost +wild with pleasure, ran to kiss me in a +transport of action." There should +have been an illustration of the scene +where Mr Burchell is discovered to +be Sir William Thornhill; and above +all, where he proposes Jenkinson to +Sophia.</p> + +<p>The complete detection of the +squire's villainies, and his great disappointment. +"And to convince you +that I speak nothing but truth, here is +the license by which you were married +together." All here is good but +the figure of the Squire. In appearance +we are to presume that Squire +Thornhill was a gentleman, or Miss +Wilmot could not have endured his +addresses, nor indeed would Olivia +have been deceived by him. In this +illustration he has neither the appearance, +dress, nor attitude of one in that +condition.</p> + +<p>The last illustration, or "All's Well +that End's Well." It is, however, +near ending badly, both as to the incident +and the illustration—in the latter +all is good, excepting only Arabella +Wilmot; perhaps there is a defect +in the printing, which gives her +an odd look—but altogether she is not +a good figure. She should have been +elegance personified. Burchell looks +the sturdy runner that could overtake +the chaise, and rescue manfully his +Sophia, to win and wear a favour, +though he seems here in little hurry; +but that is in character. "But as I +stood all this time with my book +ready, I was at last quite tired of the +contest, and shutting it, 'I perceive,' +cried I, 'that none of you have a mind +to be married.'" We should like to +have seen the dinner-party, and the +two Miss Flamboroughs ready to die +with laughing. "One jest I particularly +remember: old Mr Wilmot drinking to +Moses, whose head was turned another +way, my son replied, 'Madam, I thank +you.' Upon which the old gentleman, +winking upon the rest of the +company, observed that he was thinking +of his mistress; at which jest I +thought the two Miss Flamboroughs +would have died with laughing." We +should like to have seen their faces by +Mr Mulready's hand, because we are +sure that the two Miss Flamboroughs +were thinking of themselves, in conjunction +with Moses and the jest.</p> + +<p>We have noticed every illustration. +We hope there will be another edition, +and then we may have a few +more plates. We have therefore, as +we have gone on, ventured to suggest +some subjects—but, above all, we would +recommend Mr Mulready to supply a +few portraits, heads only, such as that +of the "Schoolmaster in the Deserted +Village," by the Etching Club.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page780" id="page780" title="780"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s8" id="bw332s8"></a><h2>THE ATTORNEY'S CLERK IN THE MONK'S HOOD.</h2> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy—</p> +<p>The sleepless soul that perish'd in his pride."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Had the "resolution and independence" +which dignify the lowly, +and strengthen the unhappy, when no +visible eye befriends them, been +among the rich endowments of Chatterton's +wonderful mind—had he possessed +and cherished the courage that +bears up against obloquy and neglect—had +he pursued the rough tenour +of his way undaunted, in spite of +"solitude, pain of heart, distress, and +poverty," how different must have +been the fate of the inspired boy of +Bristol! He might be alive yet; he +would be ninety years old, graced +with honour, love, obedience, troops +of friends, and all that should accompany +old age. He might have +achieved some great epic, or some +gorgeous historical dramas,—have +finished the Fairy Queen, or given +us a Fairy King of his own creation.</p> + +<p>Among the lighter honours of social +distinction, we can fancy his +reception as a London "lion," by +the fair and noble in proud places. +Still pleasanter is the vision of his +less public hours of idleness spent +among congenial spirits. We can +fancy him, the patriarch of living +poets, seated as a guest at the breakfast-table +of Samuel Rogers, who is +about twelve years his junior, and +those fine lads, Lisle Bowles, James +Montgomery, and William Wordsworth, +and those promising children, +Tom Moore and Tom Campbell, and +that braw chiel John Wilson—(<i>palmam +qui meruit ferat</i>)—the youngest +of the party something, perhaps, but +not much, under seventy, except the +bard of the Isle of Palms, who is no +chicken; and unless the master of the +feast have summoned those pretty +babes from the Wood, the two Tennysons. +But alas for Chatterton! +the vision will not hold: he disappears +from his chair at the feast, like +Banquo—"and, when all's done, you +look but on a stool." The ghost of +the slayer of himself, after long +haunting Strawberry Hill, to rebuke +the senile complacency of the chronicler +of royal and noble authors, repaired, +after the death of that prosperous +man of wit and fashion, to his +native town, to prowl in Redcliff +church, and about the graves of his +fathers in its churchyard, and the +graves which they had successively +dug there during a century and a +half. His bones were left to moulder +among those of other pauper strangers +in the burial-ground of Shoelane +workhouse. We attach no +credit to the story of the exhumation +of his body, and its mysterious reinterment +in Redcliff. His fathers were +sextons; and he, too, was in some +sort a sexton also—but spiritually +and transcendantly. He buried his +genius in the visionary grave of Rowley, +"an old chest in an upper room +over the chapel on the north side of +Redcliff church;" and thence, most +rare young conjurer, he evoked its +spirit in the shape of fragments of +law-parchment, quaintly inscribed +with spells of verse and armorial +hieroglyphics, to puzzle antiquaries +and make fools of scholiasts. Puzzle +them he did; and they could not forgive +a clever stripling, whom hunger +had tempted to don an ancient mask, +and impose himself on their spectacled +eyes as a reverend elder. Rogue!—vagabond! +Profligate impostor! +The slim, sleek, embroidered juggler +of the Castle of Otranto had not a +kind word for this ragged orphan of +his own craft. He, whose ambition +was to shine among writers who have +given intellectual grace to their noble +lineage—among whom assuredly he +does and will shine—but whose acute +consciousness of something meretricious +in his metal, made him doubt if +the public would accept coinage from +his mint; and so caused him to wear +tentative disguises, whether he elaborated +a romance or a keen and +playful witticism—and who really +did injustice to his own powers,—not +from modesty but meanness,—even +he, the son of a prime +minister and heir to a peerage—a man +who was himself always something of +a trickster, now mystifying a blind old +woman at Paris; now sending open +<span class="newpage"><a name="page781" id="page781" title="781"></a></span> letters, privately nullified, recommending +the bearers to his friend the +envoy at Florence; now, with the +mechanic aid of village carpenters and +bricklayers, rearing a frail edifice +bristling with false points, and persuading +the world that it was all pure +Gothic, perhaps chuckling at his assurance—even +this shrewd mummer +gravely shook his head at Chatterton, +and frowned on him as a cheat! True; +they were both cheats; Horace Walpole +from apprehensive vanity; Chatterton +from proud oblique humility. +The Bristol boy knew his worth; but, +doubting the equity as well as the sagacity +of his judges, he did not venture +to produce it as his own. He +supposed that an obscure and penniless +youth, such as he, could have little +chance of attention or fair play in +the world if he appeared in his proper +character; so he painfully assumed +another, of a nature that could not long +have been supported even had he been +a various linguist deeply versed in +etymologies, and especially proficient +in our extinct idioms, and their several +dates of usage, instead of wanting +even Latin enough to understand the +easiest parts of Skinner's Etymology +of the English tongue, one of the books +that he consulted and guessed at.</p> + +<p>Of all modern suicides this youth +was the most interesting; of all literary +impostors the least unpardonable, +though his ways were, unhappily for +himself, of indefensible crookedness. +He neither ascribed his fictions to a +great name as Ireland did, nor did he, +like Macpherson, steal the heart out of +national ballads and traditions, to +stuff a Bombastes Penseroso of his own +making.</p> + +<p>Any competent, yet moderately indulgent +reader, who should for the +first time take up Chatterton's works, +and beginning at the beginning, in +Tyrwhitt's first edition, for example, +peruse no more than sixty or seventy +pages, would probably lay down the +volume somewhat disappointed not to +have found the very extraordinary +merit he had expected. The compositions +that this partial examination +would take in are three—Eclogues, +Elinour and Juga, Verses to Lydgate, +with Song to Ella, Lydgate's Answer, +and the Tournament.</p> + +<p>The first Eclogue is a conversation +between two fugitive shepherds, who +bewail the wretched condition to which +the barons' wars have reduced them. +It contains some pleasing lines.</p> + +<p>As the rustics discuss their grievances +in a valley under cover of</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i6">"... Eve's mantle gray,</p> +<p class="i2">The rustling leaves do their white hearts affray.</p> +<p>They regret the pleasures of their forsaken home,</p> +<p class="i6">... the kingcup decked mees,</p> +<p class="i2">The spreading flocks of sheep of lily white,</p> +<p class="i2">The tender applings and embodied trees,</p> +<p class="i2">The parker's grange, far spreading to the sight,</p> +<p class="i2">The gentle kine, the bullocks strong in fight,</p> +<p class="i2">The garden whiten'd with the comfrey plant,</p> +<p class="i2">The flowers Saint Mary shooting with the light—</p> +<p class="i6">...</p> +<p class="i2">The far-seen groves around the hermit's cell,</p> +<p class="i2">The merry fiddle dinning up the dell,</p> +<p class="i2">The joyous dancing in the hostry court—</p> +<p>But now,</p> +<p class="i6">high song and every joy farewell,</p> +<p class="i2">Farewell the very shade of fair disport."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In the second Eclogue, a good son +invokes blessings on his father, who is +gone with the crusaders to Palestine. +He describes with much animation +the voyage, the landing in Syria, the +warring Saracens, King Richard of +lion's heart, and anticipates victory +and the return to England.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Thus Nigel said, when from the azure sea</p> +<p>The swollen sail did dance before his eyne.</p> +<p>Swift as the wish he to the beach did fly,</p> +<p>And found his father stepping from the brine.</p> +<p>Sprites of the blest, the pious Nigel said,</p> +<p>Pour out your pleasance on my father's head!"</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page782" id="page782" title="782"></a></span> The third Eclogue, if divested of certain +exuberances—for Chatterton was +precocious in every thing, and many +of his fancies want the Bowdler pruning-knife—might +be seasonably transferred +to some of the penny publications +for the benefit of Mr Frost's +disciples. A poor man and woman, +on their way to the parson's hayfield, +complain to each other of their hard +lot in being obliged to earn their +bread by the sweat of their brows. +"Why," asks the woman, "should I +be more obligated to work than the +fine Dame Agnes? What is she more +than me? The man, unable to solve +so knotty a point, says he doesn't see +how he himself is not as good as a +lord's son, but he will ask Sir Roger +the parson, whom he consults accordingly.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">By your priestship now say unto me,</p> +<p class="i4">Sir Godfrey the knight, who liveth hard by,</p> +<p class="i5">Why should he than me</p> +<p class="i6">Be more great</p> +<p class="i4">In honour, knighthood, and estate?</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Sir Roger</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">If thou hast ease, the shadow of content,</p> +<p class="i4">Believe the truth, none happier is than thee.</p> +<p class="i4">Thou workest well; can that a trouble be?</p> +<p class="i4">Sloth more would jade thee than the roughest day.</p> +<p class="i4">Could'st thou the secret minds of others see,</p> +<p class="i4">Thou would'st full soon see truth in what I say.</p> +<p class="i4">But let me hear thy way of life, and then</p> +<p class="i4">Hear thou from me the lives of richer men.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i5">I rise with the sun,</p> +<p class="i5">Like him to drive the wain,</p> +<p class="i5">And, ere my work is done,</p> +<p class="i5">I sing a song or twain.</p> +<p class="i5">I follow the plough-tail</p> +<p class="i5">With a bottle of ale.</p> +<p class="i5">On every saint's day</p> +<p class="i5">With the minstrel I'm seen,</p> +<p class="i5">All footing away</p> +<p class="i5">With the maids on the green.</p> +<p class="i4">But oh, I wish to be more great,</p> +<p class="i4">In honour, station, and estate!</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Sir Roger</i>.—</p> +<p class="i5">Hast thou not seen a tree upon a hill,</p> +<p class="i5">Whose ample boughs stretch wide around to sight?</p> +<p class="i5">When angry tempests do the heavens fill,</p> +<p class="i5">It shaketh drear, in dole and much affright:</p> +<p class="i5">While the small flower in lowly graces deck'd</p> +<p class="i5">Standeth unhurt, untroubled by the storm.</p> +<p class="i5">The picture such of life. The man of might</p> +<p class="i5">Is tempest-chafed, his woe great as his form;</p> +<p class="i5">Thyself, a floweret of small account,</p> +<p class="i4">Would harder feel the wind as higher thou didst mount."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Sir Roger's moral is trite enough, +yet it seems to have escaped the consideration +of our Chartists and Socialists.</p> + +<p>Elinour the nut-brown, and Juga +the fair, are two pining maidens, who, +seated on the banks of the Redbourne, +a river near St Alban's, are each bemoaning +their lovers, gone to fight in +that neighbourhood for the Rose of +York. Presently, racked with suspense, +they hasten nearer to the scene of +action.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Like twain of clouds that hold the stormy rain,</i></p> +<p><i>They moved gently o'er the dewy meads</i></p> +<p>To where Saint Alban's holy shrines remain.</p> +<p>There did they find that both their knights were slain.</p> +<p>Distraught they wander'd to swoln Redbourne's side,</p> +<p>Yell'd there their deadly knell, sank in the waves, and died."</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page783" id="page783" title="783"></a></span> The verses to Lydgate consist of +ten lines of no merit at all, and supposed +to be sent to him by Rowley, +with the Ode to Ella, which has a +movement that recalls Collins, a lyrical +artist perhaps unexcelled in our language, +and in whose manner Chatterton +so obviously and frequently composes, +that the fact alone might have +settled the Rowley question, though +we are not aware that it was ever particularly +insisted on in the controversy.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Oh Thou, or what remains of Thee,</p> +<p class="i3">Ella! the darling of futurity,</p> +<p>Let this my song bold as thy courage be,</p> +<p class="i3">As everlasting to posterity—</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"When Dacia's sons, with hair of blood-red hue,</p> +<p>Like kingcups glittering with the morning dew,</p> +<p class="i3">Arranged in drear array,</p> +<p class="i3">Upon the fatal day,</p> +<p>Spread far and wide on Watchet's shore,</p> +<p class="i3">Then didst thou furious stand,</p> +<p class="i3">And by thy valiant hand</p> +<p>Besprinkle all the meads with gore.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i3">"Driven by thy broadsword fell,</p> +<p class="i3">Down to the depths of hell,</p> +<p class="i4">Thousands of Dacians went.</p> +<p class="i3">...</p> +<p class="i3">"Oh Thou, where'er, thy bones at rest,</p> +<p class="i3">Thy sprite to haunt delighteth best,</p> +<p>Whether upon the blood-embrued plain—</p> +<p class="i3">Or where thou ken'st from far,</p> +<p class="i3">The dismal cry of war,</p> +<p><i>Or see'st some mountain made of corses slain,</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i3">"Or see'st the war-clad steed</p> +<p class="i3">That prances o'er the mead,</p> +<p>And neighs to be among the pointed spears—</p> +<p class="i3">Or in black armour stalk around</p> +<p class="i3">Embattled Bristol, once thy ground,</p> +<p>Or haunt with lurid glow the castle stairs,</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i3">"Or, fiery, round the Minster glare!</p> +<p class="i3">Let Bristol still be made thy care;</p> +<p>Guard it from foeman and consuming fire;</p> +<p class="i3">Like Avon's stream embrace it round,</p> +<p class="i3">Nor let a sparkle harm the ground,</p> +<p>Till in one flame the total world expire."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The quatrains entitled Lydgate's answer, are amply complimentary on the +foregoing song, but otherwise as prosaic as the lines that introduce it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;"> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Among the Grecians Homer was</p> +<p class="i1">A poet much renown'd;</p> +<p>Among the Latins <i>Virgilius</i></p> +<p class="i1">Was best of poets found.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"The British Merlin often had</p> +<p class="i1">The gift of inspiration;</p> +<p>And Afled to the Saxon men</p> +<p class="i1">Did sing with animation.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"In Norman times Turgotus and</p> +<p class="i1">Good Chaucer did excel;</p> +<p>Then Stowe, the Bristol Carmelite,</p> +<p class="i1">Did bear away the bell.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Now Rowley, in these murky days,</p> +<p class="i1">Sends out his shining lights,</p> +<p>And Turgotus and Chaucer live</p> +<p class="i1">In every line he writes."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The next is the Tournament, an interlude. +Sir Simon de Burton, its +hero, is supposed to have been the +first founder, in accomplishment of a +vow made on the occasion, of a church +dedicated to <i>Our Lady</i>, in the place +where the church of St Mary Redcliff +now stands. There is life and force +in the details of this tourney; and the +songs of the minstrel are good, especially +the first, which is a gallant +hunting stave in honour of William +the Red King, who hunts the stag, +the wolf, and "the <i>lion</i> brought from +sultry lands." The sentiment conveyed +<span class="newpage"><a name="page784" id="page784" title="784"></a></span> in the burden of this spirited +chorus sounds oddly considerate, as +the command issued by William Rufus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Go, rouse the lion from his hidden den,</p> +<p>Let thy darts drink the blood of any thing but men."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>To the paternity of the next in order—the +Bristol Tragedy, or Death +of Sir Charles Baldwin—Chatterton +confessed; and such an admission +might have satisfied any one but Dean +Milles. The language is modern—the +measure flowing without interruption; +and, though the orthography +affects to be antiquated, there is but +one word (bataunt) in the whole series +of quatrains, ninety-eight in number, +that would embarrass any reader in his +teens; though a boy that could generate +such a poem as that, might well +be believed the father of other giants +whom he chose to disown. It is a +masterpiece in its kind, almost unexceptionable +in all its parts. The subject +is supposed to have been suggested +by the fate of Sir Baldwin Fulford, +a zealous Lancastrian, beheaded at +Bristol in 1461, the first year of the +reign of Edward IV., who, it is believed, +was actually present at the +execution.</p> + +<p>Now comes Ella, a tragical interlude, +or discoursing tragedy, by Thomas +Rowley, prefaced by two letters +to Master Canning, and an introduction. +In the first letter, among various +sarcasms on the age, is one, complaining +that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"In holy priest appears the baron's pride."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A proposition, we fear, at least as +true in our day as in the fifteenth +century. From the same epistle we +would recommend to the consideration +of the Pontius Pilates of our era, the +numerous poets who choose none but +awfully perilous themes, and who re-enact +tremendous mysteries more confidently +than if they were all Miltons, +the annexed judicious admonition:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Plays made from holy tales I hold unmeet;</p> +<p class="i1">Let some great story of a man be sung;</p> +<p>When as a man we God and Jesus treat,</p> +<p class="i1">In my poor mind we do the Godhead wrong."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>And the following piece of advice, +from the same letter, would not be ill +bestowed on modern shopocracy:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Let kings and rulers, when they gain a throne,</p> +<p class="i1">Show what their grandsires and great-grandsires bore;</p> +<p>Let trades' and towns'-folk let such things alone,</p> +<p class="i1">Nor fight for sable on a field of ore."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Yet he who could give this sensible +counsel did by no means follow it. +Chatterton, who really could trace +back his ancestors for 150 years as a +family of gravediggers, drew out for +himself a pedigree which would have +astonished Garter king-at-arms, and +almost abashed a Welsh or German +genealogy. He derived his descent +from Sire de Chasteautonne, of the +house of Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, +who made an incursion on the +coast of Britain in the ninth century, +and was driven away by Alfred the +Great! Nine shields, exhibiting the +family arms, were carefully prepared +by him, and are preserved, with many +other and very various inventions by +the same hand, in the British Museum; +and neat engravings of those +Chatterton escutcheons are furnished +by Mr Cottle, in his excellent essays +on this tortuous genius. He was +equally liberal in providing a pedigree +for his friend Mr Burgham, a +worthy and credulous pewterer in his +native town, convincing him, by proofs +that were not conclusive at the Herald's +College, that he was descended +from the De Burghams, who possessed +the estate and manor of Brougham +in the reign of Edward the Confessor, +and so allying the delighted hearer +with the forefathers of an illustrious +Ex-Chancellor of our day. No less a +personage, too, than Fitz-Stephen, son +of Stephen Earl of Ammerle in 1095, +grandson of Od, Earl of Bloys and +Lord of Holderness, was the progenitor +gravely assigned to Chatterton's +relative, Mr Stephens, leather-breeches-maker +of Salisbury. Evidence +of all sorts was ever ready +among the treasures in the Redcliff +muniment room, the Blue-Coat boy's +"Open Sesame!"</p> + +<p>The plot of Ella may be told in a +few words. Ella, a renowned English +warrior, the same who is invoked in +the fine song already quoted, marries +Bertha, of whom his friend and fellow +warrior, Celmond, is secretly +enamoured. On the wedding-day he +is called suddenly away to oppose a +Danish force, which he defeats, but +<span class="newpage"><a name="page785" id="page785" title="785"></a></span> not without receiving wounds severe +enough to prevent his immediate return +home. Celmond takes advantage +of this circumstance, and under +pretence of conducting Bertha to her +husband, betrays her into a forest +that chances to be the covert of Hurra, +the Danish general, and other of the +discomfited invaders. Her shrieks +bring Hurra and his companions to +her aid. They kill Celmond, and generously +resolve to restore Bertha to +her lord. He in the mean time, impatient +to rejoin his bride, has contrived +to get home, where, when he +hears of her ill-explained departure, +believing her false, he stabs himself. +She arrives only in time to see him +die.</p> + +<p>Celmond, soliloquizing on the +charms of Bertha, exclaims,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Ah, Bertha, why did nature frame thee fair?</p> +<p>Why art thou not as coarse as others are?</p> +<p><i>But then thy soul would through thy visage shine</i>;</p> +<p>Like nut-brown cloud when by the sun made red,</p> +<p>So would thy spirit on thy visage spread."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At the wedding-feast, so unexpectedly interrupted by news of the Danes, +the following pretty stanzas are sung by minstrels representing a young man +and woman.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Turn thee to thy shepherd swain;</p> +<p class="i4">Bright sun has not drunk the dew</p> +<p class="i4">From the flowers of yellow hue;</p> +<p class="i4">Turn thee, Alice, back again.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Woman</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">No, deceiver, I will go,</p> +<p class="i4">Softly tripping o'er the mees,</p> +<p class="i4">Like the silver-footed doe</p> +<p class="i4">Seeking shelter in green trees.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">See the moss-grown daisied bank</p> +<p class="i4">Peering in the stream below;</p> +<p class="i4">Here we'll sit in dewy dank,</p> +<p class="i4">Turn thee, Alice: do not go.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Woman</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">I've heard erst my grandam say</p> +<p class="i4">That young damsels should not be,</p> +<p class="i4">In the balmy month of May,</p> +<p class="i4">With young men by the greenwood tree.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Sit thee, Alice, sit and hark</p> +<p class="i4">How the blackbird chants his note,</p> +<p class="i4">The goldfinch and the gray-morn lark,</p> +<p class="i4">Shrilling from their little throat.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Woman</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">I hear them from each greenwood tree</p> +<p class="i4">Chanting out so lustily,</p> +<p class="i4">Telling lectures unto me,</p> +<p class="i4">Mischief is when you are nigh.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">See, along the mends so green</p> +<p class="i4">Pièd daisies, kingcups sweet,</p> +<p class="i4">All we see; by none are seen;</p> +<p class="i4">None but sheep set here their feet.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Woman</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">Shepherd swain, you tear my sleeve;</p> +<p class="i4">Out upon you! let me go;</p> +<p class="i4">Keep your distance, by your leave,</p> +<p class="i4">Till Sir Priest make one of two.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">By our lady and her bairn,</p> +<p class="i4">To-morrow, soon as it is day,</p> +<p class="i4">I'll make thee wife, nor be forsworn,</p> +<p class="i4">So may I live or die for aye.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Woman</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">What doth hinder but that now</p> +<p class="i4">We at once, thus hand in hand,</p> +<p class="i4"><span class="newpage"><a name="page786" id="page786" title="786"></a></span> Unto a divine do go,</p> +<p class="i4">And be link'd in wedlock-band?</p> +<p class="i6">(Sensible woman!)</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Man</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">I agree, and thus I plight</p> +<p class="i4">Hand and heart and all that's mine.</p> +<p class="i4">Good Sir Herbert do us right,</p> +<p class="i4">Make us one at Cuthbert's shrine.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Both</i>.—</p> +<p class="i4">We will in a cottage live,</p> +<p class="i4">Happy though of no estate;</p> +<p class="i4">Every hour more love shall give;</p> +<p class="i4">We in goodness will be great."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The two Danish generals, Hurra +and Magnus, warm their blood to the +fighting temperature before the battle +by quarreling with and abusing each +other, like Grecian heroes. They are +both bullies, but Hurra is brave and +Magnus a craven. Chatterton's sarcastic +humour plays them off admirably. +The result of the struggle between +the two armies is pithily announced +by one of the fugitives:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Fly, fly, ye Danes! Magnus the chief is slain;</p> +<p>The Saxons come with Ella at their head:</p> +<p>Fly, fly, <i>this is the kingdom of the dead</i>."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In this drama is the exquisite melody, "O, sing unto my roundelay!" +with which every one is familiar, as it is introduced into all our popular selections +from the poets.</p> + +<p>Here is a cunning description of dawn.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"The morn begins along the east to sheen,</p> +<p><i>Darkling the light doth on the waters play</i>;</p> +<p>The faint red flame slow creepeth o'er the green,</p> +<p>To chase the murkiness of night away,</p> +<p>Swift flies the hour that will bring out the day.</p> +<p>The soft dew falleth on the greening grass;</p> +<p>The shepherd-maiden, dighting her array,</p> +<p><i>Scarce sees her visage in the wavy glass</i>."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Such extracts do not, and are not +intended to, convey any notion of +Chatterton's dramatic power in this +play. Mere extracts would not do +justice to that, and therefore we confine +ourselves to selections of a few +out of many passages that can stand +independent of plot or action, without +detriment to their effect. The same +remark will not apply to the next +piece, or rather fragment. Godwin, +a Tragedy, by Thomas Rowley. It +is short, and the dramatic interest +weak. In the following noble chorus, +however, we recognise the genius of +Chatterton:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"When Freedom, drest in blood-stained vest,</p> +<p class="i1">To every knight her war-song sung,</p> +<p>Upon her head wild weeds were spread,</p> +<p class="i1">A gory broadsword by her hung.</p> +<p class="i4">She paced along the heath,</p> +<p class="i4">She heard the voice of death.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Pale-eyed Affright, his heart of silver hue,</p> +<p class="i1">In vain essay'd her bosom to congeal:</p> +<p>She heard inflamed the shrieking voice of Woe,</p> +<p class="i1">And cry of owls along the sadden'd vale.</p> +<p class="i4">She shook the pointed spear,</p> +<p class="i5">On high she raised her shield;</p> +<p class="i4">Her foemen all appear,</p> +<p class="i5">And fly along the field.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Power, with his head uplifted to the skies,</p> +<p class="i1">His spear a sunbeam and his shield a star,</p> +<p>Like two bright-burning meteors rolls his eyes,</p> +<p class="i1">Stamps with his iron feet, and sounds to war.</p> +<p class="i4"><span class="newpage"><a name="page787" id="page787" title="787"></a></span> She sits upon a rock,</p> +<p class="i5">She bends before his spear,</p> +<p class="i4">She rises from the shock,</p> +<p class="i5">Wielding her own in air.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Hard as the thunder doth she drive it on;</p> +<p class="i1">Keen wit, cross muffled, guides it to his crown;</p> +<p>His long sharp spear, his spreading shield are goe;</p> +<p class="i1">He falls, and falling rolleth thousands down."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A short prologue by Master William +Canning, informs us that this +tragedy of Godwin was designed to +vindicate the Kentish earl's memory +from prejudices raised against him by +monkish writers, who had mistaken +his character, and accused him of ungodliness +"for that he gifted not the +church." There are but three scenes +in the play. In the first, Godwin and +Harold confer together on the distressed +state of the nation, and the weakness +of the king, whose court is overrun +with Norman favourites to the +exclusion of the English knights, and +the great oppression of the people. +Harold, young and impetuous, is for +instant rebellion; but the father tries +to moderate his rage, recommending +patience and calm preparation.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>Godwin</i>.—</p> +<p class="i3">What tidings from the king?</p> +<p><i>Harold</i>.—</p> +<p class="i6">His Normans know.</p> +<p><i>Godwin</i>.—</p> +<p class="i3">What tidings of the people?</p> +<p><i>Harold</i>.—</p> +<p class="i3">Still murmuring at their fate, still to the king</p> +<p class="i4">They roll their troubles like a surging sea.</p> +<p class="i3">Has England, then, a tongue but not a sting?</p> +<p class="i4">Do all complain, yet will none righted be?</p> +<p><i>Godwin</i>.—</p> +<p class="i3">Await the time when God will send us aid.</p> +<p><i>Harold</i>.—</p> +<p class="i3">Must we, then, drowse away the weary hours?</p> +<p class="i4">I'll free my country, or I'll die in fight.</p> +<p><i>Godwin</i>.—</p> +<p class="i3">But let us wait until some season fit.</p> +<p class="i4"><i>My</i> Kentishmen, <i>thy</i> Somertons shall rise,</p> +<p class="i4">Their prowess warmer for the cloak of wit,</p> +<p class="i4">Again the argent horse shall prance in skies."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>An allusion, says Chatterton, to the +arms of Kent, a horse salient, argent. +As to the cloak of wit, it may possibly +be preserved in Somersetshire; but +the mantle certainly was not tied as an +indefeasible heirloom over the broad +shoulders of the county of Kent. No +ancient Saxons, or even Britons, ever +displayed prowess so stolid as those +brave wild-wood savages of Boughton +Blean, near Canterbury, who recently +fell in battle with her Majesty's 45th +regiment, opposing sticks to balls and +bayonets, under their doughty leader +Sir William Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, +Knight of Malta, King of +Jerusalem, and much more. And there +were other blockheads, substantial +dunces, of respectable station in East +Kent, among this ignorant and ambitious +madman's supporters; men who +had been at school to little purpose. +Such an insurrection of satyrs, and +such a Pan, in the middle of the nineteenth +century, within earshot of the +bells of Christchurch! But this by +the bye.</p> + +<p>The next poem is styled English +Metamorphosis, by T. Rowley. It +consists of eleven stanzas of ten lines +each, all fluent and spirited, and some +of very superior merit. It is the fable +of Sabrina, Milton's "daughter of Locrine," +transliquefied to the river Severn, +while her mother, Elstrida, was +changed to the ridge of stones that +rises on either side of it, Vincent's +rocks at Clifton, and their enemy, the +giant, was transformed to the mountain +Snowdon. This giant was a very +Enceladus.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"He tore a ragged mountain from the ground;</p> +<p>Hurried up nodding forests to the sky:</p> +<p>Then with a fury that might earth astound,</p> +<p>To middle air he let the mountain fly,</p> +<p><i>The flying wolves sent forth a yelling cry</i>."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In illustration of Elstrida's beauty,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"The morning tinge, the rose, the lily flower,</p> +<p>In ever-running race on her did paint their power."</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page788" id="page788" title="788"></a></span> The most vulgar and outworn simile +is refreshed with a grace by the touch +of Chatterton.</p> + +<p>Of the next poem—An excellent +ballad of Charity, by the good priest, +Thomas Rowley, 1454—it is clear +that the young author thought highly, +by a note that he transmitted with it +to the printer of the "Town and +Country Magazine," July 4, 1770, the +month preceding that of his death. +Unlike too many bearers of sounding +appellations, it has certainly something +more than its title to recommend +it.</p> + +<p>The octosyllabic lines—twenty +only—on Redcliff Church, by T.R., +show what nice feeling Chatterton +had for the delicacies of that florid +architecture:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"The cunning handiwork so fine,</p> +<p>Had wellnigh dazzled mine eyne.</p> +<p>Quoth I, some artful fairy hand</p> +<p>Uprear'd this chapel in this land.</p> +<p>Full well I know so fine a sight,</p> +<p>Was never raised by mortal wight."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Of its majesty he speaks in another +measure:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Stay, curious traveller, and pass not by</p> +<p class="i1">Until this festive pile astound thine eye.</p> +<p>Whole rocks on rocks, with iron join'd, survey;</p> +<p class="i1">And oaks with oaks that interfitted lie;</p> +<p>This mighty pile that keeps the winds at bay,</p> +<p class="i1">And doth the lightning and the storm defy,</p> +<p>That shoots aloft into the realms of day,</p> +<p class="i1">Shall be the record of the builder's fame for aye.</p> +<p class="i2">Thou see'st this mastery of a human hand,</p> +<p class="i2">The pride of Bristol, and the western land.</p> +<p>Yet is the builder's virtue much more great;</p> +<p class="i1">Greater than can by Rowley's pen be scann'd.</p> +<p><i>Thou see'st </i>the saints and kings in stony state,</p> +<p class="i1"><i>As if with breath and human soul expand</i>.</p> +<p class="i2">Well may'st thou be astounded—view it well;</p> +<p class="i2">Go not from hence before thou see thy fill,</p> +<p>And learn the builder's virtues and his name.</p> +<p class="i1">Of this tall spire in every country tell,</p> +<p>And with thy tale the lazy rich men shame;</p> +<p class="i1">Show how the glorious Canning did excel;</p> +<p class="i2">How he, good man, a friend for kings became,</p> +<p class="i2">And glorious paved at once the way to heaven and fame."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The "Battle of Hastings" is the +longest of Chatterton's poems, and +the reader who arrives at its abrupt +termination will probably not grieve +that it is left unfinished. The whole +contains about 1300 lines in stanzas +of ten, describing archery fights and +heroic duels that are rather tedious +by their similarity, and offensive from +the smell of the shambles; and which +any quick-witted stripling with the +knack of rhyming might perhaps have +done as well, and less coarsely, after +reading Chapman's or Ogilby's Homer, +or the fighting scenes in Spenser, +the Border Ballads, &c. But even +this composition is not unconscious of +the true afflatus, such as is incommunicable +by learning, not to be inhaled +by mere imitative powers, and which +might be vainly sought for in hundreds +of highly elaborated prize +poems.</p> + +<p>There is nothing more interesting +in British history than the subject; +and it is one which Chatterton, with +all his genius, was much too young to +treat in a manner at all approaching +to epic completeness. Yet a few specimens +might show that he is not deficient +in the energy of the Homeric +poetry of action. But here is metal +more attractive, a young Saxon wife:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"White as the chalky cliffs of Britain's isle,</p> +<p>Red as the highest-coloured Gallic wine,</p> +<p>Gay as all nature at the morning smile,</p> +<p>Those hues with pleasance on her lips combine;</p> +<p>Her lips more red than summer evening's skies,</p> +<p>Or Phœbus rising in a frosty morn;</p> +<p>Her breast more white than snow in fields that lies,</p> +<p>Or lily lambs that never have been shorn,</p> +<p>Swelling like bubbles in a boiling well,</p> +<p>Or new-burst brooklets gentling whispering in the dell,</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<hr style="width: 45%;"> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page789" id="page789" title="789"></a></span> "Brown as the filbert dropping from the shell,</p> +<p>Brown as the nappy ale at Hocktide game—</p> +<p>So brown the crooked rings that neatly fell</p> +<p>Over the neck of that all-beauteous dame.</p> +<p>Grey as the morn before the ruddy flame</p> +<p>Of Phœbus' chariot rolling through the sky;</p> +<p>Grey as the steel-horn'd goats Conyan made tame—</p> +<p>So grey appear'd her featly sparkling eye.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<hr style="width: 45%;"> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Majestic as the grove of oaks that stood</p> +<p>Before the abbey built by Oswald king;</p> +<p>Majestic as Hibernia's holy wood,</p> +<p>Where saints, and souls departed, masses sing—</p> +<p>Such awe from her sweet look far issuing,</p> +<p>At once for reverence and love did call.</p> +<p>Sweet as the voice of thrushes in the spring,</p> +<p>So sweet the words that from her lips did fall.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<hr style="width: 45%;"> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Taper as candles laid at Cuthbert's shrine,</p> +<p>Taper as silver chalices for wine,</p> +<p>So were her arms and shape.—</p> +<p>As skilful miners by the stones above</p> +<p>Can ken what metal is inlaid below,</p> +<p>So Kennewalcha's face, design'd for love,</p> +<p>The lovely image of her soul did show.</p> +<p>Thus was she outward form'd; the sun, her mind,</p> +<p>Did gild her mortal shape and all her charms refined."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The next poem, and the last of the <i>modern-antiques</i> that it may be worth +while to note, is the story of William Canning, the illustrious founder of Redcliff +Church, and is worthy of the author and his subject.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Anent a brooklet as I lay reclined,</p> +<p>Listening to hear the water glide along,</p> +<p>Minding how thorough the green meads it twined,</p> +<p>While caves responded to its muttering song,</p> +<p>To distant-rising Avon as it sped,</p> +<p>Where, among hills, the river show'd his head.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>Engarlanded with crowns of osier-weeds,</p> +<p>And wreaths of alders of a pleasant scent.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Then from the distant stream arose a maid,</p> +<p>Whose gentle tresses moved not to the wind.</p> +<p>Like to the silver moon in frosty night,</p> +<p>The damsel did come on so blithe and bright.</p> +<p>No broider'd mantle of a scarlet hue,</p> +<p>No peakèd shoon with plaited riband gear,</p> +<p>No costly paraments of woaden blue;</p> +<p>Nought of a dress but beauty did she wear;</p> +<p>Naked she was, and looked sweet of youth,</p> +<p>And all betoken'd that her name was Truth."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The few words then spoken by this +angelical lady—who unhappily favoured +Chatterton but with "angel visits, +short and far between"—throw him +into a reverie on the life of William +Canning, whose boyhood was more +fortunate than the poet's; for it is here +reported of Canning, that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>"He ate down learning with the wastlecake."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Chatterton, poor fellow, had neither +fine bread to eat, nor fine learning +within the possibility of his acquisition. +Yet even the worthy Corporation +of his native city will, we doubt +not, be willing to allow that the Blue-Coat +Charity boy might be entitled +to the praise he gives Canning in the +next couplet: that he—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page790" id="page790" title="790"></a></span> "As wise as any of the Aldermen,</p> +<p>Had wit enough to make a Mayor at ten."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>We have limited these slight notices +to the Rowley Poems; and such readers +of our extracts as have been repelled +from the perusal of those poems, +by the formidable array of uncouth +diction and strange spelling, may enquire +what has become of the hard +words. Here are long quotations, +and not an obsolete term or unfamiliar +metre among them. Chatterton +took great pains to encrust his gold +with verd-antique; it requires little to +remove the green rubbish from the +coin. By the aid of little else than +his own glossary, "the Gode Preeste +Rowleie, Aucthoure," is restored to +his true form and pressure, and is all +the fairer for the renovation.</p> + +<p>We have no space for examination +of the "numerous verse," and verses +numerous, that Chatterton left undisguised +by barbarous phraseology. +His modern poems, morally exceptionable +as is much of the matter, are +affluent of the genius that inspired the +old. African Eclogues, Elegies, Political +Satires, Amatory Triflings, Lines on +the Copernican System, the Consuliad, +Lines on Happiness, <i>Resignation</i>, The +Art of Puffing, and Kew Gardens—to +say nothing of his equally remarkable +prose writings—attest the versatility +of his powers, and the variety of his +perception of men and manners. His +knowledge of the world appears to +have been almost intuitive; for surely +no youth of his years ever displayed so +much. Bristol, it is true, was, of all +great towns in England, one of the +most favourable to the development +of his peculiar and complicated faculties. +His passion for antiquarian lore, +and his poetical enthusiasm, found a +nursing mother in a city so rich in +ancient architecture, heraldic monuments, +and historical interest; his +caustic humour was amply fed from +the full tide of human life, with all its +follies, in that populous mart; and his +exquisite sensibility to the beautiful +and magnificent in nature, was abundantly +ministered to by the surrounding +country. We are told that he had +been by some odd chance taught his +alphabet, and his first lesson in "reading +made easy," out of a black-letter +Bible! That accident may have had +its share in forming his taste for old-fashioned +literature. But he was an +attorney's clerk! The very name of +a lawyer's office seems to suggest a +writ of ejectment against all poetical +influences in the brain of his indented +apprentice. Yet Chatterton's anomalous +genius was in all likelihood +fostered by that dark, yet subtle atmosphere. +His duty of copying precedents +must have initiated him in +many of the astute wiles and twisted +lines of reasoning that lead to what is +termed sharp practice, and so may +have confirmed and aided his propensities +to artifice; while the mere manual +operation tutored his fingers to dexterity +at quaint penmanship. He had +much leisure too; for it is recorded +that his master's business seldom occupied +him more than two hours a-day. +He was left to devote the rest +of his time unquestioned to all the devices +of an inordinate imagination.</p> + +<p>After all, it is no unreasonable +charity to believe, that what was unworthy +and unsound in his character, +and probably in his physical temperament, +might, under more auspicious +circumstances of condition and training, +have been kept in check till +utterly expelled by the force of his +own maturer mind. In weighing his +faults against his genius and its better +fruits, it should never be forgotten that +when he terminated his existence he +was only seventeen years and nine +months old.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">"More wounds than nature gave he knew,</p> +<p class="i2">While misery's form his fancy drew</p> +<p>In dark ideal hues and horrors not its own."<a name="footnotetag39" id="footnotetag39"></a><a href="#footnote39"><sup>39</sup></a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>May we not even dare to hope, then, +though he "perished in his pride," +that he is still a living genius, assoiled +of that foul stain of self-murder, and +a chartered spiritualized melody where +want and trouble madden not?</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page791" id="page791" title="791"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s9" id="bw332s9"></a><h2>IGNACIO GUERRA AND EL SANGRADOR;</h2> + +<h3>A TALE OF CIVIL WAR.</h3> + +<p>On a June evening in the year 1839, +four persons were assembled in the +balcony of a pleasant little villa, some +half-league from the town of Logroño +in Navarre. The site of the house in +question was a narrow valley, formed +by a double range of wood-covered +hills, the lower limbs of a mountain +chain that bounded the horizon some +miles in rear of the villa. The house +itself was a long, low building, of which +the white stone walls had acquired +the mellow tint that time and exposure +to the seasons can alone impart. A +solid balcony of carved unpainted oak +ran completely round the house, its +breadth preventing the rays of the sun +from entering the rooms on the ground +floor, and thereby converting them +into a cool and delightful refuge from +the heats of summer. The windows +of the first and only story opened upon +this balcony, which, in its turn, received +shelter from a roof of yellow +canes, laid side by side, and fastened +by innumerable packthreads, in the +same way as Indian matting. This +sort of awning was supported by light +wooden pillars, placed at distances of +five or six feet from each other, and +corresponding with the more massive +columns that sustained the balcony. +At the foot of these latter, various +creeping plants had taken root. A +broad-leafed vine pushed its knotty +branches and curled tendrils up to the +very roof of the dwelling, and a passion-flower +displayed its mystical purple +blossoms nearly at as great a height; +while the small white stars of the jasmine +glittered among its narrow dark-green +leaves, and every passing breeze +wafted the scent of the honeysuckle +and clematis through the open windows, +in puffs of overpowering fragrance.</p> + +<p>About two hundred yards to the +right of the house, rose one of the +ranges of hills already mentioned, and +on the opposite side the eye glanced +over some of those luxuriant corn-fields +which form so important a part of the +riches of the fertile province of Navarre. +The ground in front of the villa was +tastefully laid out as a flower garden, +and, midway between two magnificent +chestnut trees, a mountain rivulet fell +into a large stone basin, and fed a +fountain, from which it was spouted +twenty feet into the air, greatly to the +refreshment of the surrounding pastures.</p> + +<p>The party that on the evening in +question was enjoying the scent of the +flowers and the song of the nightingales, +to which the neighbouring trees +afforded a shelter, consisted, in the first +place, of Don Torribio Olana, a wealthy +proprietor of La Rioja, and owner +of the country-house that has been described. +He had been long used to +pass the hot months of each year at +this pleasant retreat; and it was no +small calamity to him when the civil +war that broke out on the death of +Ferdinand, rendered it scarcely safe, in +Navarre at least, to live out of musket-shot +of a garrison. Sometimes, however, +and in spite of the advice of his +friends, who urged him to greater prudence, +the worthy Riojano would +mount his easy-going round-quartered +cob, and leave the town for a few hours' +rustication at his <i>Retiro</i>. After a time, +finding himself unmolested either by +Carlists or by the numerous predatory +bands that overran the country, he +took for companions of his excursions +his daughter Gertrudis, and an orphan +niece, to whom he supplied the place +of a father. Five years of impunity +were taken as a guarantee for future +safety, and Don Torribio now no longer +hesitated to pass the night at his country-house +as often as he found it convenient. +It was observed, also, that +many of those persons who had at first +loudly blamed him for risking his neck, +and that of his daughter and niece, in +order to enjoy a purer atmosphere than +could be inhaled in the dusty streets of +Logroño, at length gathered so much +courage from his example, as to accompany +him out to the <i>Retiro</i>, and eat +his excellent dinners, and empty his +cobweb-covered bottles, without allowing +their fear of the Carlists to diminish +their thirst or disturb their digestion.</p> + +<p>Upon this occasion, however, the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page792" id="page792" title="792"></a></span> only guest was a young and handsome +man, whose sunburnt countenance and +military gait bespoke the soldier, while +a double stripe of gold lace on the cuff +of his blue frock-coat, marked his rank +as that of lieutenant-colonel. Although +not more than thirty years of age, Don +Ignacio Guerra had already attained a +grade which is often the price of as +many years' service; but his rapid promotion +was so well justified by his +merit and gallantry, that few were +found to complain of a preference +which all felt was deserved. Both by +moral and physical qualities, he was +admirably suited to the profession he +had embraced. Slender in person, but +well knit and muscular, he possessed +extraordinary activity, and a capacity +of enduring great fatigue. Indulgent +to those under his command, and self-denying +in all that regarded himself personally, +his enthusiasm for the cause +he served was such, that during nearly +two years that he had been the accepted +lover of Donna Gertrudis Olana, this +was only the second time he had left +his regiment for a few days' visit to his +affianced bride. He had arrived at +Logroño the preceding day from a town +lower down the Ebro, where the battalion +he commanded was stationed; and +Don Torribio, with whom he was a +great favourite, had lost no time in +taking him out to the <i>Retiro</i>; nor, perhaps, +were the lovers sorry to leave the +noise and bustle of the town for this +calm and peaceful retreat.</p> + +<p>It was about an hour after sunset, +and Don Torribio sat dozing in an +arm-chair, with his old black dog +Moro coiled up at his feet, and his +niece Teresa beside him, busying herself +in the arrangement of a bouquet of +choice flowers, while at the other end +of the balcony Gertrudis and her lover +were looking out upon the garden. +The silence was unbroken, save by the +splashing noise of the fountain as it +fell back upon the water-lilies that covered +its basin. The moon was as yet +concealed behind the high ground to +the right of the house; but the sky in +that direction was lighted up by its +beams, and the outline of every tree +and bush on the summit of the hill +was defined and cut out, as it were, +against the clear blue background. +Suddenly Gertrudis called her companion's +attention to the neighbouring +mountain. "See, Ignacio!" exclaimed +she, "yonder bush on the very highest +point of the hill! Could not one almost +fancy it to be a man with a gun +in his hand? and that clump of leaves +on the top bough might be the <i>boina</i> +of one of those horrid Carlists?"</p> + +<p>While she spoke the officer ran his +eye along the ridge of the hill, and +started when he caught sight of the +object pointed out by Gertrudis; but +before he could reply to her remark, +she was called away by her father. +At that moment the supposed bush +made a sudden movement, and the +long bright barrel of a musket glittered +in the moonbeams. The next instant +the figure disappeared as suddenly +as though it had sunk into the +earth.</p> + +<p>The Christino colonel remained for +a moment gazing on the mountain, +and then, turning away, hastened to +accompany his host and the ladies, who +had received a summons to supper. +On reaching the foot of the stairs, +however, instead of following them +into the supper-room, he passed +through the house-door, which stood +open, and, after a moment's halt in the +shade of the lattice portico, sprang +forward with a light and noiseless +step, and in three or four bounds found +himself under one of the large chestnut +trees that stood on either side the +fountain. Keeping within the black +shadow thrown by the branches, he +cast a keen and searching glance over +the garden and shrubberies, now partially +lighted up by the moon. Nothing +was moving either in the garden, +or as far as he could see into the +adjacent country. He was about to +return to the house, when a blow on +the back of the head stretched him +stunned upon the ground. In an instant +a slip-knot was drawn tight +round his wrists, and his person securely +pinioned by a strong cord to +the tree under which he had been +standing. A cloth was crammed into +his mouth to prevent his calling out, +and the three men who had thus rapidly +and dexterously effected his capture, +darted off in the direction of the +house.</p> + +<p>Desperate were the efforts made by +Don Ignacio to free himself from his +bonds, and his struggles became almost +frantic, when the sound of a scuffle in +the house, followed by the piercing +shrieks of women, reached his ears. +He succeeded in getting rid of the +handkerchief that gagged him, but +<span class="newpage"><a name="page793" id="page793" title="793"></a></span> the rope with which his arms were +bound, and that had afterwards been +twined round his body and the tree, +withstood his utmost efforts. In vain +did he throw himself forward with all +his strength, striking his feet furiously +against the trunk of the tree, and +writhing his arms till the sharp cord +cut into the very sinew. The rope +appeared rather tightened than slackened +by his violence. The screams +and noise in the house continued; he +was sufficiently near to hear the hoarse +voices and obscene oaths of the banditti—the +prayers for mercy of their +victims. At length the shrieks became +less frequent and fainter, and at +last they died away entirely.</p> + +<p>Two hours had elapsed since Ignacio +had been made prisoner, hours that +to him appeared centuries. Exhausted +by the violence of his exertions, and +still more by the mental agony he had +endured, his head fell forward on his +breast, a cold sweat stood upon his forehead, +and had it not been for the cords +that held him up, he would have fallen +to the ground. He was roused from +this state of exhaustion and despair +by the noise of approaching footsteps, +and by the arrival of a dozen men, +three or four of whom carried torches. +They were dressed in the sort of half +uniform worn by the Carlist <i>volantes</i>, +or irregular troops; round their waists +were leathern belts filled with cartridges, +and supporting bayonets and +long knives, in many instances without +sheaths. Ignacio observed with +a shudder that several of the ruffians +had their hands and weapons stained +with blood.</p> + +<p>"Whom have we here?" exclaimed +a sallow, evil-visaged fellow, who wore +a pair of tarnished epaulets. "Is this +the <i>negro</i> you secured at the beginning +of the affair?"</p> + +<p>One of the men nodded assent, and +the chief bandit, taking a torch, passed +it before the face of the captive +officer.</p> + +<p>"<i>Un militar</i>!" exclaimed he, observing +the uniform button. "Your +name and rank?"</p> + +<p>Receiving no reply, he stepped a +little on one side, and looked to the +coat-cuff for the usual sign of grade.</p> + +<p>"<i>Teniente coronel</i>!" cried he on +seeing the double stripe.</p> + +<p>A man stepped forward, and Ignacio, +who knew that death was the best he +had to expect at the hands of these +ruffians, and was observing their proceedings +in stern silence, immediately +recognized a deserter from his battalion.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the Colonel Ignacio Guerra," +said the man; "he commands the first +battalion of the Toledo regiment."</p> + +<p>An exclamation of surprise and pleasure +burst from the Carlists on hearing +the name of an officer and battalion, +well known and justly dreaded +among the adherents of the Pretender. +Their leader again threw the light of +the torch on the features of the Christino, +and gazed at him for the space of +a minute with an expression of cruel +triumph.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" exclaimed he, "<i>el Coronel +Guerra! He</i> is worth taking to headquarters."</p> + +<p>"We shall have enough to do to get +away ourselves, laden as we are," said +one of the men, pointing to a number +of large packages of plunder lying on +the grass hard by. "Who is to take +charge of the prisoner? Not I, for +one."</p> + +<p>A murmur among the other brigands +approved this mutinous speech.</p> + +<p>"<i>Cuatro tiros</i>," suggested a voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the leader, "to bring +down the enemy's pickets upon us. +They are not a quarter of a league off. +Pedro, lend me your knife. We will +see," he added with a cruel grin, +"how the gallant colonel will look +cropped."</p> + +<p>A knife-blade glanced for a moment +in the torchlight as it was passed +round the head of the Christino officer.</p> + +<p>"<i>Toma! chicos!</i>" said the savage, +as he threw the ears of the unhappy +Ignacio amongst his men. A ferocious +laugh from the banditti welcomed +this act of barbarous cruelty.</p> + +<p>The leader sheathed the knife twice +in his victim's breast before restoring +it to it's owner, and the Carlists, snatching +up their booty, disappeared in the +direction of the mountains.</p> + +<p>At daybreak the following morning, +some peasants going to their labour in +the fields saw the body of the unfortunate +officer still fastened to the tree. +They unbound him, and, perceiving some +signs of life, carried him into Logroño, +where they gave the alarm. A +detachment was immediately sent out +to the Retiro, but it was too late to +pursue the assassins; and all that +could be done was to bring in the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page794" id="page794" title="794"></a></span> bodies of Don Torribio, his daughter, +and niece, who were lying dead in the +supper-room. An old groom and two +women servants had shared a like fate; +the horses had been taken out of the +stable, and the house ransacked of +every thing valuable.</p> + +<p>For several weeks Ignacio Guerra +remained wavering, as it were, between +life and death. At length he recovered; +but his health was so much impaired, +that the surgeons forbade his again encountering +the fatigues of a campaign. +Enfeebled in body, heartbroken at the +horrible fate of Gertrudis, and foreseeing +the speedy termination of the +war, consequent on the concluded +treaty of Bergara, he threw up his +commission, and left Spain to seek +forgetfulness of his misfortunes in foreign +travel.</p> + +<p>In all French towns of any consequence, +and in many whose size and +population would almost class them +under the denomination of villages, +there is some favourite spot serving as +an evening lounge for the inhabitants, +whither, on Sundays and fête-days especially, +the belles and <i>élégants</i> of the +place resort, to criticize each other's +toilet, and parade up and down a walk +varying from one to two or three hundred +yards in extent.</p> + +<p>The ancient city of Toulouse is of +course not without its promenade, although +but poor taste has been evinced +in its selection; for, while on one side +of the town soft well-trimmed lawns, +cool fountains, and magnificent avenues +of elm and plane trees, are abandoned +to nursery-maids and their charges, +the rendezvous of the fashionables of +the pleasant capital of Languedoc is +a parched and dusty <i>allée</i>, scantily +sheltered by trees of recent growth, extending +from the canal to the open +square formerly known as the Place +d'Angoulême, but since 1830 re-baptized +by the name of the revolutionary +patriarch General Lafayette.</p> + +<p>It was on a Sunday evening of the +month of August 1840, and the Allée +Lafayette was more than usually +crowded. After a day of uncommon +sultriness, a fresh breeze had sprung +up, and a little before sundown the +fair Toulousaines had deserted their +darkened and artificially cooled rooms, +and flocked to the promenade. The +walk was thronged with gaily attired +ladies, smirking dandies, and officers +in full dress. In the fields on the +further side of the canal, a number of +men of the working-classes, happy in +their respite from the toils of the week, +were singing in parts, with all the musical +taste and correctness of ear for +which the inhabitants of that part of +France are noted; while, on the broad +boulevard that traverses the lower end +of the <i>allée</i>, a crowd of recruits whom +the conscription had recently called under +the colours, stood gazing in open-mouthed +astonishment and infinite delight +at some rudely constructed +booths and shows, outside of which, +clown and paillasse were rivalling +each other in the broad humour of +their lazzi. Parties of students, easily +recognizable by their eccentric and +exaggerated style of dress, and the +loud tone of their conversation, were +seated outside the cafés and ice-rooms, +or circulating under the trees, puffing +forth clouds of tobacco smoke; and on +the road round the <i>allée</i>, open carriages, +smart tilburies, and dapper +horsemen were careering.</p> + +<p>Among the various groups thronging +the promenade was one, which, in +Hyde Park or on the Paris boulevards, +would have attracted some notice; but +the persons composing it were of a +class too common of late years in the +south of France to draw upon them +any attention from the loungers. The +party in question consisted of three +men, who, by their bronzed complexions, +ragged mustaches, and sullen, +dogged countenances, as well as their +whole air and <i>tournure</i>, were easily distinguishable +as belonging to the exiled +and disappointed faction of the Spanish +Pretender. Their threadbare costume +still exhibited signs of their late military +employment, probably from a +lack of means to replace it by any +other garments. The closely buttoned +blue frock of one of them still +had upon its shoulders the small lace +straps used to support the epaulets, and +another wore for headdress a <i>boina</i>, +with its large starlike tassels of silver +cord. The third and most remarkable +of the party, was a man in the +prime of life and strength, whose countenance +bore the impress of every bad +passion. It was one of those faces +sometimes seen in old paintings of +monkish inquisitors, on viewing which, +one feels inclined to suspect that the +artist has outdone and exaggerated +nature. The expression of the cold, +glassy, grey eye, and thin, pale, compressed +<span class="newpage"><a name="page795" id="page795" title="795"></a></span> lips, was one of unrelenting +cruelty; while the coarsely moulded +chin and jaw gave a sensual character +to the lower part of the face. The +scar of a sabre-cut extended from the +centre of the forehead nearly to the +upper lip, partly dividing the nose, and +giving a hideously distorted and unnatural +appearance to that feature. +The man's frame was bony and powerful; +the loose sheepskin jacket he wore +was thrown open, and through the +imperfectly fastened shirt-front, it +might be seen that his breast was +covered with a thick felt of matted +hair.</p> + +<p>It was the moment of the short twilight +that in the south of France intervenes +between day and night. The +Carlists had reached the upper end of +the walk, and, turning round, began to +descend it again three abreast, and +with the man who has been particularly +described in the centre. On +a sudden the latter stopped short, +as though petrified where he stood. +His countenance, naturally sallow, became +pale as ashes, and, as if to save +himself from falling, he clutched the +arm of one of his companions with a +force that made him wince again, +while he gazed with distended eyeballs +on a man who had halted within half-a-dozen +paces of the Spaniards. The +person whose aspect produced this +Medusa-like effect upon the Carlist +was a man about thirty years of age, +plainly but elegantly dressed, and of +a prepossessing but somewhat sickly +countenance, the lines of which were +now working under the influence of +some violent emotion. The only peculiarity +in his appearance was a +black silk band which, passing under +his chin, was brought up on both sides +of the head, and fastened on the crown +under the hat.</p> + +<p>"<i>Que tienes, Sangrador</i>? What ails +thee, man?" enquired the Carlists of +their terror-stricken companion, addressing +him by a <i>nom-de-guerre</i> that +he doubtless owed to his bloody deeds +or disposition. At that moment the +stranger sprang like a bloodhound into +the centre of the group. In an instant +El Sangrador was on the ground, his +assailant's knee upon his breast, and +his throat compressed by two nervous +hands, which bade fair to perform the +office of a bowstring on the prostrate +man. All this had passed in far less +time than is required to narrate it, and +the astonishment of the Carlists at their +comrade's terror and this sudden attack, +was such, that, although men of +action and energy, they were for a +moment paralysed, and thought not of +rescuing their friend from the iron +gripe in which he was held. Already +his eyes were bloodshot, his face +purple, and his tongue protruding +from his mouth, when a gendarme +came up, and aided by half-a-dozen of +those agents who, in plain clothes, +half-spy and half-policeman, are to be +found in every place of public resort in +France, succeeded, but not without +difficulty, in rescuing the Carlist from +the fierce clutch of his foe, who clung +to him with bull-dog tenacity till they +were actually drawn asunder by main +force.</p> + +<p>"<i>Canalla! infame!</i>" shouted the +stranger, as he writhed and struggled +in the hands of his guards. "By +yonder villain have all my hopes in +life been blasted—an adored mistress +outraged and murdered, myself tortured +and mutilated in cold blood!" +And, tearing off the black fillet that +encircled his head, it was seen that his +ears had been cut off. A murmur of +horror ran through the crowd which +this scene had assembled. "And shall +I not have revenge?" shouted Ignacio +(for he it was) in a voice rendered +shrill by furious passion. And by a +violent effort he again nearly succeeded +in shaking off the men who held +him.</p> + +<p>El Sangrador, whose first terror had +probably been caused by astonishment +at seeing one whom he firmly +believed numbered with the dead, had +now recovered from his alarm.</p> + +<p>"<i>Adios</i>, Don Ignacio," cried he +with a sneer, as he walked away between +two gendarmes, while his enemy +was hurried off in another direction.</p> + +<p>The following day El Sangrador was +sent to a depôt of Spanish emigrants in +the interior of France. On his departure, +the authorities, who had made +themselves acquainted with the particulars +of this dramatic incident, released +Don Ignacio from confinement; +but he was informed that no passport +would be given him to quit Toulouse +unless it were for the Spanish frontier.</p> + +<p>At the distance of a few leagues +from the town of Oleron, and in one +of the wildest parts of the Pyrenees, is +a difficult pass, scarcely known, except +to smugglers and izard-hunters +<span class="newpage"><a name="page796" id="page796" title="796"></a></span> whose hazardous avocations make them +acquainted with the most hidden recesses +of these rugged and picturesque +mountains. Towards the close of the +summer of 1841, this defile was occasionally +traversed by adherents of the +Ex-Queen-Regent Christina, entering +Spain secretly and in small parties, to +be ready to take share in the abortive +attempt subsequently made to replace +the reins of government in the hands +of Ferdinand's widow. Not a few +Carlists also, weary of the monotonous +inactive life they were leading in +France, prepared to join the projected +insurrection; and, leaving the towns in +which a residence had been assigned +them, sought to gain the Spanish side +of the Pyrenees, where they might lie +<i>perdus</i> until the moment for active +operation arrived, subsisting in the +meanwhile by brigandage and other +lawless means. Owing to the negligence, +either accidental or intentional, +of the French authorities, these adventurers +usually found little difficulty +in reaching the line of demarcation +between the two frontiers; but it was +there their troubles began, and they +had to take the greatest precaution to +avoid falling into the hands of the +Spanish <i>carabineros</i> and light troops +posted along the frontier.</p> + +<p>Among those who intended to take +a share in the rebellion, Don Ignacio +Guerra occupied a prominent place. +Being well known to the Spanish Government +as a devoted adherent of +Christina, it would have been in vain +for him to have attempted entering +Spain by one of the ordinary roads. +Repairing to Oleron, therefore, he +procured himself a guide, and one of +the small but sure-footed horses of the +Pyrenees, and, after a wearisome march +among the mountains, arrived about +dusk at a cottage, or rather hovel, +built on a ledge of rock within half-an-hour's +walk of the Spanish frontier. +Beyond this spot the road was +impracticable for a horse, and dangerous +even for a pedestrian, and Don +Ignacio had arranged to send back his +guide and horse and proceed on foot; +in which manner, also, it was easier +to avoid falling in with the Spanish +troops. The night was fine, and having +had the road minutely explained +to him by his peasant guide, Ignacio +had no doubt of finding himself, in a +few hours, at a village where shelter +and concealment were prepared for +him. Leaving the horse in a sort of +shed that afforded shelter to two or +three pigs, the Christino officer entered +the hut, followed by his guide and by +a splendid wolf-dog, an old and faithful +companion of his wanderings. It +was some seconds, however, before their +eyes got sufficiently accustomed to the +dark and smoky atmosphere of the +place, to distinguish the objects it +contained. The smoke came from a +fire of green wood, that was smouldering +under an enormous chimney, and +over which a decrepit old woman was +frying <i>talloua</i> or maize-meal cake, in +grease of a most suspicious odour. +The old lady was so intent on the preparation +of this delicacy, a favourite +food of the Pyrenean mountaineers, +that it was with difficulty she could +be prevailed upon to prepare something +more substantial for the hungry +travellers. Some smoked goats' +flesh and acid wine were at length +obtained, and, after a hasty meal, Ignacio +paid his guide and resumed his +perilous journey. The moon had not +yet risen—the night was dark—the +paths rugged and difficult, and the +troops on the alert; to avoid falling in +with an enemy, or down a precipice, +so much care and attention were necessary, +that nearly three hours had +elapsed before Ignacio perceived that +his dog had not followed him from the +cottage. The animal had gone into +the stable and lain down beside his +master's horse, doubtless imagining, +by that sort of half-reasoning instinct +which dogs possess, that, as long as +the horse was there, the rider would +not be far off.</p> + +<p>Ignacio's first impulse, on discovering +the absence of his four-footed +companion, was to return to the cottage; +but the risk in so doing was extreme, +and as he felt certain his guide +would take care of the dog, and that +he should get it at some future day, +he resolved to pursue his journey. +Meantime the night became darker +and darker—thick clouds had gathered, +and hung low—there was no longer +the slightest trace or indication of a +path, and the darkness preventing him +from finding certain landmarks he had +been told to observe, he was obliged +to walk on nearly at hazard, and soon +became aware he had lost his way. +To add to his difficulties, the low +growlings of distant thunder were +heard, and some large drops of rain +<span class="newpage"><a name="page797" id="page797" title="797"></a></span> fell. A violent storm was evidently +approaching, and Ignacio quickened +his pace in hopes of finding some shelter +before it came on, resolving to +wait at all risks till daylight before +continuing his route, lest he should +run, as it were, blindfolded into the +very dangers he wished to avoid. A +sort of cliff or wall of rock he had for +some time had on his left hand, now +suddenly ended, and a scene burst on +his view which to him was commonplace +enough, but would have appeared +somewhat strange to a person unaccustomed +to such sights. The mountain, +which had been steep and difficult +to descend, now began to slope +more gradually as it approached nearer +its base. On a sort of shelving plateau +of great extent, a number of charcoal-burners +had established themselves, +and, as the most expeditious way of +clearing the ground, had set light in +various places to the brushwood and +furze that clothed this part of the +mountain. To prevent, however, the +conflagration from extending too far, +they had previously, with their axes, +cleared rings of several feet wide +around the places to which they set +fire. The bushes and furze they rooted +up were thrown into the centre, and +increased the blaze. In this manner +the entire mountain side, of which +several hundred acres were overlooked +from the spot where Ignacio stood, +appeared dotted with brilliant fiery +spots of some fifty feet in diameter, +the more distant ones assuming a lurid +blood-red look, seen through the fog and +mist that had now gathered over the +mountain. Ignacio approached the +nearest of the fires, lighted close to a +crag that almost overhung it, and that +offered a sufficient shelter from the rain +which had begun to descend in torrents. +Throwing himself on the +ground with his feet towards the +flames, he endeavoured to get a little +sleep, of which he stood much in +need. But it was in vain. The situation +in which he found himself +suggested thoughts that he was unable +to drive away. Gradually a sort +of phantasmagoria passed before his +"mind's eye," wherein the various +events of his life, which, although a short +one, had not the less been sadly eventful, +were represented in vivid colours. +He thought of his childhood, spent in +the sunny <i>vegas</i> of Andalusia—of the +companions of his military studies, +high-spirited free-hearted lads, of +whom some had achieved honours and +fame, but by far the greater part had +died on the battle-field—the smoke +of the bivouac fire, the merry laugh of +the <i>insouciant</i> soldier—the din and excitement +of the fight—the exultation of +victory, and the well-won and highly +relished pleasures of the garrison town +after severe duty in the field;—the +graceful form of Gertrudis now flitted +across the picture—her jetty hair +braided over her pure white forehead, +the light of her swimming "eye, that +mocked her coal-black veil," flashing +from under the mantilla. Her father, +with his portly figure and good-humoured +countenance, was beside her. They +smiled at Ignacio, and seemed to beckon +to him. So life-like was the illusion +of his fancy, he could almost have +sprung forward to join them. But +again there was a change. A large +and handsome room, a well-covered +table—all the appliances of modern +luxury—plate and crystal sparkling in +the brilliant lights—a happy cheerful +party surrounding the board. Alas, +for the tragedy played on this stage! +The hand of the spoiler was there—blood +and womens' screams, dishevelled +hair and men's deep oaths, the +wild and broken accents of despair, +the coarse jest and ferocious exultation +of gratified brutality. And then +all was dark and gloomy as a winter's +night, and through the darkness was +seen a grave-stone, shadowy and spectral, +and a man still young, but with +heart crushed and hopes blighted, lying +prostrate before it, his breast heaving +with convulsive sobs of agony, +until at length he rose and moved sadly +away, to become an exile and a wanderer +in a foreign land.</p> + +<p>Maddened by these reflections, Ignacio +started to his feet, and was about +to rush out into the storm, and fly, he +knew not whither, from his own +thoughts, when he suddenly became +aware of the presence of a man within +a few yards of him. The projecting +crag, under which he had sought a +shelter, extended all along one side of +the fire. In one corner an angle of +the rock threw a deep shadow, in which +Ignacio now stood, and was thus enabled, +without being seen himself, to +observe the new-comer, who seated +himself on a block of stone close to the +fire. As he did so, the flame, which +had been deadened by the rain, again +<span class="newpage"><a name="page798" id="page798" title="798"></a></span> burned up brightly, and threw a strong +light on the features of the stranger. +They were those of <i>El Sangrador</i>.</p> + +<p>With stealthy pace, and trembling +at every step, lest his prey should take +the alarm, and even yet escape him, +Ignacio stole towards his mortal foe. +The noise of the storm, that still raged +furiously, enabled him to get within +five paces of him without being heard. +He then halted, and silently cocking a +pistol, remained for some time motionless +as a statue. Now that his revenge +was within his grasp, he hesitated to +take it, not from any relenting weakness, +but because the speedy death it +was in his power to give, appeared an +inadequate punishment—a paltry vengeance. +Had he seen his enemy torn +by wild horses, or broken on the wheel, +his burning thirst for revenge would +hardly have been slaked; and an easy, +painless death by knife or bullet, he +looked upon as a boon rather than a +punishment. An end was put to his +hesitation by the Carlist himself, who, +either tormented by an evil conscience, +or oppressed by one of those unaccountable +and mysterious presentiments that +sometimes warn us of impending danger, +became restless, cast uneasy glances +about him, and at last, turning +round, found himself face to face with +Ignacio. Almost before he recognized +him, a hand was on his collar, +and the muzzle of a pistol crammed +into his ear. The click of the lock +was heard, but no discharge ensued. +The rain had damped the powder. Before +Ignacio could draw his other pistol, +the Carlist grappled him fiercely, +and a terrible struggle commenced. +Their feet soon slipped upon the wet +rock, and they fell, still grasping each +other's throats, foaming with rage, and +hate, and desperation. The fire, now +nearly out, afforded little light for the +contest; but as they rolled over the +smouldering embers, clouds of sparks +arose, their clothes and hair were burned, +and their faces scorched by the heat. +The Carlist was unarmed, save with a +clasp-knife, which, being in his pocket, +was useless to him; for had he ventured +to remove one hand from the +struggle even for a moment, he would +have given his antagonist a fatal advantage. +At length the contest seemed +about to terminate in favour of Ignacio. +He got his enemy under, and +knelt upon his breast, while, with a +charred, half-burned branch which he +found at hand, he dealt furious blows +upon his head. Half-blinded by the +smoke and heat, and by his own blood, +the Carlist felt the sickness of death +coming over him. By a last effort he +slipped one hand, which was now at +liberty, into his pocket, and immediately +withdrawing it, raised it to his +mouth. His teeth grated upon the +blade of the knife as he opened it, and +the next instant Ignacio, with a long +deep sob, rolled over among the ashes. +The Carlist rose painfully and with +difficulty into a sitting posture, and +with a grim smile gazed upon his enemy, +whose eyes were glazing, and features +settling into the rigidity of death. +But the conqueror's triumph was short-lived. +A deep bark was heard, and a +moment afterwards a wolf-dog, drenched +with mud and rain, leaped into the +middle of the embers. Placing his +black muzzle on Ignacio's face, he +gave a long deep howl, which was succeeded +by a growl like that of a lion, +as he sprang upon the Carlist.</p> + +<p>The morning after the storm, when +the charcoal-burners returned to their +fires, they found two dead bodies amidst +the ashes. One of them had a +stab in his breast, which had caused +his death. The other was frightfully +disfigured, and bore marks of the fangs +of some savage animal. In that wild +district, the skirmishing-ground of +smugglers and <i>douaniers</i>, the mountaineers +think little of such occurrences. +A hole was dug, the bodies thrown +into it; and a cross, rudely cut upon +the rock, alone marks the spot where +the midnight conflict took place.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page799" id="page799" title="799"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s10" id="bw332s10"></a><h2>MEMORANDUMS OF A MONTH'S TOUR IN SICILY.</h2> + +<h3>LEAVING NAPLES.</h3> + +<h3>STEAM-BOATIANA.</h3> + +<p>The <i>Francesco Primo</i> was to leave +the harbour at ten o'clock. Better +acquaintance with Mediterannean <i>pyroscaphs</i>, +as they call themselves, +whose axle-trees turn not except when +the police pleases, ought to have led +us to all the latitude of uncertainty; +but when two hours and more had +elapsed with all the passengers aboard, +we began to suppose some extraordinary +cause for so long a detention. +A deputation is accordingly dispatched +to the captain, which brings back +an abrupt reply, that he is not going +<i>yet</i>; and that it is for him and the proprietors +to be dissatisfied, who are +wasting steam, while we are only losing +patience. It shortly transpired +that he was under Government orders, +and would not proceed for another +hour at <i>least</i>, nor even then, unless he +received permission from the minister +of police. The affair now looked serious. +We must have some <i>carbonaro</i> +on board, who was, in due time, to be +arrested; and no further doubt could +remain of this, when, that other hour +being past, we saw a longboat leaving +shore, with two officers and six +stout rowers, who soon brought her +under our bow. What can it be? +The senior epaulet rises in the boat—the +second follows his example—both +are on deck; the captain, hitherto +unseen, now comes forward with +alacrity, and, stretching forward <i>both</i> +his hands, receives with profound reverence +a thin, square enclosure, with +an immense seal attached to it, and +retires to put it in a place of safety. +The uniforms disappear over the side +of the vessel—the paddles begin to +paw the water—we swing round—and +in a few seconds our prow points +for the <i>Sorrentine</i> coast, and we are +on our watery way to <i>Sicily</i>. What, +then, had detained us? It is always +very provoking to have a miserable +solution of a promising mystery! +We were on the exact spot for a new +edition of some "<i>Verbosa et grandis +Epistola</i>" from the tyrants of the +land; and so it was, but only not +<i>from</i> Capreæ or Tiberius this time. +Yes! The actual cause of the delay +of a great steam-boat, full of passengers, +for three hours, attended, among +other melancholy results, with that of +exciting the choler of a new-made +cardinal, was a <i>letter</i> that the Queen +of Naples, who had probably overslept +herself, had occasion to write to +the king on conjugal affairs!—his +majesty having left her majesty only +the day before, to show himself to his +loving subjects at Palermo. Hem! +Campania <i>felix</i>! If we were known +to be inditing this unreverential passage, +and its disloyal apostrophe, we +should, no doubt, be invited to leave +"Campania the happy" at a day's +notice; whereas our comfort is, that +this day three months it is quite possible +that it will have been read in +Bengal!</p> + +<p>We are now in the middle of the +Bay of Naples; the spot from which +panoramas have been so often sketched +on that noble elevation, the deck of +a lofty ship, swinging on her cables. +What numberless sites of unparallelled +interest are hence visible to the +newly arrived and insatiable stranger! +<i>Misenum, Baiæ, Puteoli, Gaurus, +Vesuvius, Herculaneum, Pompeii</i>! +But the office of the cicerone here +cannot—alas for Britain!—be confined +to the old classics, or the mere indication +of places whose very <i>names</i> are +things to <i>conjure with</i>! In America, +we converse with nature only, whose +voice is in her woods and waterfalls; +but, in our threadbare Europe, all +<i>sites</i> are <i>historical</i>, and chiefly in one +sad sense—for Waterloo only brings +up the rear of fields illustrated by the +wholesale destruction of mankind! +In the position which we now occupy, +volumes might be written—ay, and +<i>have been written</i>.</p> + +<p>Look at that proud, impregnable +Castle of St Elmo, culminating over +all Naples! Look at those sea-washed +fortresses which guard the entrance of +her harbour! The garrisons +of those strong places having, in the +year 1799, from the turn of public +affairs, judged it expedient to capitulate +to Ferdinand and his allies, on +conditions which should leave their +honour without blemish, and assure +their own safety and that of the city; +and this capitulation having been solemnly +accepted and ratified by <i>Cardinal +<span class="newpage"><a name="page800" id="page800" title="800"></a></span> Ruffo, as the king's legate and +plenipotentiary</i>, by the late <i>Sir Edward +Foote</i>, as acting commodore of +the British force, and by the representatives +of <i>two European governments</i>, +officially residing in the revolutionized +city, and the surrender of +the forts having accordingly taken +place, it came to pass, in an evil +hour, that Lord Nelson, entering the +bay as commander-<i>in-chief</i>, took upon +himself the odious responsibility of +rescinding the British guarantee, and +of supporting Ferdinand, powerless +but through him, in his refusal to +hold himself bound by a convention +made <i>by his own viceroy</i>!—thus delivering +over the defenceless city to +its own implacable sovereign. Then +came a political persecution unknown +in the annals of mankind; till, <i>hebetes +lasso lictore secures</i>, even Naples could +bear no more! The noblest blood +and the most distinguished talent were +no protection at the bar of a special +tribunal, with a low-born monster at +its head, not surpassed in its atrocities +by the revolutionary tyrants of Paris +and of Lyons. The ships shared the +infamy; the venerable and noble Caraccioli, +seventy-five years of age, +himself an admiral, was the first <i>piaculum</i>! +Summarily condemned by +a court-martial <i>held on board Nelson's +flag-ship</i>, he was executed like a felon, +and cast overboard from a Neapolitan +frigate floating on the same anchorage, +and subject to the same authority!</p> + +<p>But Nelson's star was then in the ascendant; +the presence and notorious influence +of Emma Hamilton in these +frightful transactions, was unaccountably +connived at by the British nation. +The officer who has been a party to a +convention, which his commander-in-chief +thinks proper not only to disapprove +but to violate, must inevitably +suffer in that fame and popularity +which our public services so justly +cherish. And in the state of men's +passions during that memorable war, +<i>so that it were against the French, a successful</i> +commander-in-chief could do +no wrong! Yet here, probably, the +matter would have rested; but when, +nine years afterwards, <i>Stanier Clarke</i> +so little appreciated the duty of a biographer +as to relate a transaction +susceptible of no excuse, in terms unjustified +by the facts, and sought to +render his hero <i>immaculate</i> at the <i>expense +of others</i>, the excellent officer +whose feelings and character had been +so cruelly sacrificed, felt himself compelled +at last to publish his "Vindication," +judicious in every thing but +<i>the title</i>. He most properly printed the +<i>Convention itself</i> in the original words, +and with all the signatures it bore. +Such works, however, even when the +affairs they refer to are <i>recent</i>, are never +read but by <i>friends</i>—or <i>enemies</i>. A +late atonement was made by William +IV. in conferring on Sir Edward +Foote a titular distinction, which the +public heed not; but the tables are +now turned, and Europe, taught by +Cuoco, Coletta, and by Botta, the great +historian of Italy, has irrevocably +closed this <i>great account</i>. The name +of Foote is recorded in all their pages +in terms which, had he seen them, +might well have consoled him for the +past; while the last and most popular +biographer of Nelson (Southey) feels +himself compelled to admit, and the +frank admission does him infinite honour, +that this is a passage of his +hero's life which the muse of history +"must <i>record with sorrow and with +shame</i>."</p> + +<p>But the sea spray is dashing splendidly +on our bows—we are clearing +Capri, and have, as we pass it, a fine +view of that high and precipitous +rock, thinking of Tiberius and the +soothsayer Thrasyllus, and of all the +monstrous scenes which those unapproachable +cliffs concealed from the +indignation even of a Roman world. +But twilight was already coming on, +and the city and the coast were gradually +withdrawn from the panorama—dark +night came rushing over the +deep, an Italian summer's night, and +yet with no stars or moon; meanwhile +steadily rides our vessel along +the Calabrian waters, confident alike +of her strength and her bearings, +which we soon left her to pursue, and +went down to see what the cabin and +the company promised below. And +thus the hours passed away; and when +the suspended lamp began to burn +dimly under the skylight, and grey +morning found stealthy admittance +through the cabin windows, although +we had been unable to sleep, the anticipation +of all the marvels we were to +see in Sicily had answered the purpose +of a night's rest, and sent us active +and alert on deck to fresh air and +the rising sun. Nor were we a moment +too soon. A large flotilla of little +boats manœuvring between two of +<span class="newpage"><a name="page801" id="page801" title="801"></a></span> larger size, placed to defend the space +destined for their operations, were +now in the full activity of the thunny +and spada fishery; and a most picturesque +rock, right over our bow, +proved to be no other than <i>Monte Pelegrino</i>, +at the foot of which lay Palermo +and our breakfast—in short, after +a voyage of little more than a summer's +night, we are again on <i>terra +firma</i>, if that name can be given to +volcanic soils, and long before noon +are actively engaged in perambulating +the streets of the Sicilian capital of +the <i>fæcunda Panormos</i>.</p> + +<p>Among the most striking peculiarities +of the interior or street views, +presented to the stranger's eye at Palermo, +are its very unusually situated +convents, buildings which, even in +cities, are commonly and naturally in +<i>retirement</i>; but here, in whichever of +the most public ways you walk, a number +of extraordinary trellised balconies +are observed on the upper stories +of almost every large house, while +business and bustle of all kinds are +transacted as usual in the street below. +You may well be surprised to see the +nunnery over the <i>Marchande de +Modes</i>! The unhappy inmates thus +tormented by the sight and sound +of worldly activity, have not in +Palermo even the solace of a garden; +and if these places of more than +usual mortification have any connexion +with the world without, it is by an +under-ground passage to some church +in the neighbourhood! Thither repair +the poor victims of superstition +to warble <i>Aves</i> to the Virgin +behind their screens, and then back +again to their monotonous cloister. +There are twenty-four nunneries in +the city of Palermo alone, each containing +from thirty to sixty women, +and there are as many monasteries! +With open doors like coffee-houses, +full upon the street, are placed at +Palermo innumerable <i>consulting shops</i> +of so many <i>lawyers</i>; the earliest to begin +business, the last to close, you +may have the luxury of law at any +hour of the day till bedtime. Nay, +your Sicilian lawyer, unlike the lazy +tradesman who puts up his shutters +and sleeps from twelve to four, takes +no <i>siesta</i>; his <i>atra janua lilis</i> is always +open, and there sit the <i>firm</i>, one listening +to a client, another smoking a +cigar, a third chatting with an acquaintance +over his coffee or the +newspaper. Scarcely less mischievous +than these sowers of dissension, +is the <i>barber-surgeon</i>, who still +flourishes in Trinacria. The bleeding +arm over the peruke shop is often +to be seen in Rome and Naples; +but at Palermo almost at every +third house, you read <i>Salassatore</i> over +a half-naked figure in wood or canvass, +erect like Seneca in his bath, or +monumentally recumbent, the blood +spouting, like so many Tritons, from +twenty orifices at once. Led by professional +curiosity, we enter one of +these open doors; and, desiring the ordinary +service of the razor, and intending +to ask some questions parenthetically +touching the double craft, we +have scarcely occupied the chair, +when a smart youth comes up with a +razor and a lancet, and quietly asks +"<i>Which</i>?" Why, surely he could not +think of <i>bleeding</i> us without a warrant +for our needing it. "<i>Eperchè? Adesso +vi le dîrò subito</i>—Why not? I'll +tell you whether you want it without +a doctor,"—feeling for our pulse. +"<i>Non c'è male</i>—not so much amiss," +pursued the functionary; "but a few +ounces bleeding would do you <i>no harm</i>! +Your hand is hot, it must be <i>several +months</i> since you were last bled!" +"A year." "Too long: you should +be bled, at your age, at least <i>twice a-year</i> +if you would keep your health!" +"What amount of depletion did he +recommend?" "<i>Depende—di sei a +dieci oncie</i>," at which portion of the +dialogue our mouth was shut to all +further interrogations by a copious +supply of soap-suds, and now he became +the tonsor only, and declares +against the mode in which we have +our hair cut: "They have cut your +hair, Signor, <i>à condannato</i>—nobody +adopts the toilette of the guillotine +now; it should have been left to grow +in front <i>à la Plutus</i>, or have been long +at the sides <i>à la Nazarène</i>, which is +the mode most of our Sicilian gentlemen +prefer." We were about to rise, +wash, and depart, but an impediment +is offered by the artist. "<i>Non l'ho</i> +raffinato <i>ancora, Signor, bisogna</i> raffinarlo +<i>un poco</i>!" and before we could +arrive at the occult meaning of <i>raffinare</i>, +his fingers were exploring very +technically and very disagreeably the +whole surface over which his razor had +travelled, and a number of supplementary +scrapings were only stopped +by an impatient <i>basta</i> of the victim. +<i>Still</i> he was unwilling to part with us. +<i>Would</i> we like, now that we are on +the spot, to <i>lose a few ounces of blood</i> +before he takes a stranger in hand, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page802" id="page802" title="802"></a></span> (who is waiting for the one or other +operation;) and, as we most positively +declined, he turned to the latter to +ask him whether he was come for his +"<i>piccolo salassio di sei oncie</i>." "<i>Gia</i>!" +said Signor Antonio, taking off his +coat, and sitting down with as much +<i>sangfroid</i> as if he were going to take +his breakfast. "Can you shave <i>me</i>?" +asks a third party, standing at the +door. "<i>Adesso</i>," after I have <i>bled</i> +this gentleman. Such are all the <i>interiors</i> +where <i>Salassatore</i> is written +over the door; they bleed and they +shave indifferently, and doing either, +talk of the last <i>take</i> of <i>thunny</i>, the +<i>opera</i> that has been or is to be, and +the meagre skimmings of their permitted +newspaper, <i>which</i> begins probably +with the advertisement of a +church ceremony, and ends always +with a charade—for our subscribers!!</p> +<br> + +<h3>CHURCHES.</h3> + +<p>The clergy are wealthy, the bishop's +salary is 18,000 scudi, and many of +the convents are very opulent; but +there is scarcely one of the churches +which you care to visit twice. Most +of them are disgraced by vulgar ornaments, +in which respect they surpass +even the worst specimens at Naples! +Gilt stucco, cut and stamped into +flowery compartments, shows off like +a huge twelfth cake! but the <i>Matrice</i> +or <i>Duomo</i>, and the Saracenic <i>Chapel of +the Palazzo Reale</i>, and the cathedral of +<i>Monreale</i>, four miles beyond the town, +are noble exceptions; these in their +several ways are all interesting, both +within and without. The old Siculo-Norman +archway of <i>Monreale</i>, and its +fine bronze gates crusted with a beautiful +hard polished <i>coin-like patina</i>, would +repay the excursion, even were the interior +less fine. Here we have columns +from whose high architraves the Gothic +arch springs vigorously; walls +perfectly covered with old Byzantine +mosaics; a roof of marvellous lightness, +and almost modern elegance; +still the critic, who is bound by <i>métier</i> +to find fault with violated canons, will, +we must own, be at no loss for a text +in the church of Monreale—a building +which is, however, of sufficient importance +in ecclesiastical architecture to +have been designed, measured, and +engraved, in whole and in part, in a +splendid volume, published in folio, by +the Duke of Serra di Falco.</p> +<br> + +<h3>VISIT TO THE GARDEN OF THE DUKE OF SERRA DI FALCO, NEAR PALERMO.</h3> + +<p>After a delicious half hour's drive +through country lanes hedged with +cactus, aloes, and pomegranates, we +find ourselves in front of a small villa +distant about two miles from the sea. +As to the house, many an English +gentleman, in very moderate circumstances, +has a far better; but on passing +the archway of this Sicilian country-box +into its garden, two trees, +which must be astonished at finding +themselves out of Brazil—trees of surpassing +beauty—are seen on a crimson +carpet of their own fallen petals, mixed +with a copious effusion of their seeds, +like coral. At the northern extremity +of Italy (Turin) this <i>Erythinia corallodendron</i> +is only a small stunted +shrub; nor is it much bigger at +Naples, where it grows under cover. +Six years in the <i>open air</i> have in Sicily +<i>produced</i> the tree before you: it is, in +fact, larger than most of our fruit-bearers. +We next recognise an agreeable +acquaintance, formed two years +ago, in the <i>Neapolis Japonicus</i>; it +bears a delicate fruit, of the size of a +plum, whose yellow, freckled skin +contains such a nectar-like juice that +the pine-apple itself scarcely excels it. +Our fellow-passenger, the infallible +voice of a new-made cardinal of the +warlike name of Schwarzenburg, who +tasted it here, as he told us, for the +first time, has already pronounced a +similar opinion, and no dissentients +being heard, the Japan medlar passed +with acclamation. The <i>Buggibellia +spectabilis</i> of New Holland, calls you +to look at his pink <i>blossoms</i>, which are +no other than his leaves in masquerade. +We grub up, on the gardener's hint +and permission, some of the <i>Cameris +humilis</i>, to whose filamentous radicles +are attached certain little grains, of +great sweetness and flavour. The +banana-tree, "<i>Musa paradisaica</i>," +which, cooped in our low hot-houses +at home, breaks its neck, and might +well break its heart, as its annual +<span class="newpage"><a name="page803" id="page803" title="803"></a></span> growth is resisted by the inexorable +glass dome, is here no prisoner but +an acclimated denizen of sun and air. +The <i>Cactus Opuntiæ</i>, or Indian fig, is +here for vulgar tastes; and the <i>Cactus +cochinellifera</i> for the Luculluses of the +day, who could afford to pay for its +rearing. The small <i>sneezing plant</i>, a +vegetable smelling-bottle, is still employed +in headach by the common +people of Sicily, who bruise the leaves +and sniff their pungency: its vulgar +name, <i>malupertusu</i>, is the corruption of +Marum del Cortuso, as we find it in +the ancient herbal of Durante. The +<i>Ferula communis</i> or <i>Saracinisca</i>, a legacy +left to the Sicilian pedagogues by their +eastern lords, is sold in fagots at the +green-grocers, and fulfils the scholastic +office of <i>birch</i>; and, being more elastic, +must be pleasant to <i>flog with</i>. We +recommend it to <i>head masters</i>. The +<i>sumac</i>, <i>Rhus coriaria</i>, is not only to be +seen here, but every where else in Sicily; +and they say there is a daily exportation +of one thousand sacks of its +ground leaves. The ancients knew it +well, and employed it for giving a +flavour to their meat, as they do now +in Nubia and Egypt, according to +Durante, who deems its many virtues +deserving of Latin verse. We +smell pepper!—a graceful shrub, +whose slender twigs stand pencilled +out like sea-weed spread upon +paper; and the <i>Schinus mollis</i>, a +leaf of which we have gathered ignorantly, +is the source of the smell. We +strew some leaves on the basin of a +neighbouring fountain, and amuse ourselves +by seeing them swim about as +if they were bewitched, parting at the +same time with a whitish fluid, which, +spreading on the surface of the water, +gives it an iridescent hue. The <i>Fuchsia +arborescens</i> of Japan flowers here, they +say, every month, just as we see him +in all his pink luxuriance, and makes +himself quite at home; and here +is that little blue vegetable butterfly, +the <i>Polygala</i>! Who can overlook +his <i>winged</i> petals, peeping out of their +myrtle-looking bower? Then the +<i>geraniums</i>!—not potted, as in Covent-Garden, +or the <i>Marché aux Fleurs</i>, but +forming vast parti-coloured <i>hedgerows</i>, +giving to every pathway its own +<i>particular flower and perfume</i>; so that +a connoisseur might be taken blindfold +and declare where each kind +grew. <i>Hedges of geranium seven feet +high</i>! Think of that, ye <i>Dicksons</i> and +nursery-ground men about <i>Brompton</i> +and the <i>King's Road</i>! The stalks a mass +of real ligneous matter, fit for the turner's +lathe if it were but hard enough. +A small mound enables us to look +about us more at large; and now we +discern the stately <i>bamboo</i>, thicker +than your arm, and tall as a small +mast; and the <i>sugar-cane</i>, formerly +cultivated for his juice, but now looking +as if he were ill-used and neglected. +His biography (but as it is not +<i>auto</i>-biography, and written with his +own <i>reed</i>, there may be some mistake) +is remarkable. Soon after the annexation +of Sicily to Spain in 1420, he +was carried from Syracuse into Spanish +captivity; he then escaped to +Madeira and the Canaries, and at +length saved himself in the West +Indies. The <i>pistachia</i> is also here, +with its five-partite sessile leaf, like a +dwarf walnut; the capsule holding +the nut containing at present only a +white germ, which it will require four +months more to bring to nutty maturity. +The <i>manna</i>-tree is very like an +<i>alder</i> in its general character, but +thicker in its stem, and bears the +cicatrices of last year's <i>ill treatment</i>; +its wounds, however, will not bleed +afresh now; but towards August the +<i>salassatore</i> of trees will run his steel +into its limbs, taking care to place +under the bleeding orifices leaves from +the <i>cactus</i> hedge hard by to serve as +recipients, and drain its juices till it +faints.</p> + +<p>That a <i>leaf</i> might not be <i>wanting</i> to +record these vegetable treasures, the +pagoda-topped <i>papyrus</i> nodded to us +gracefully, and offered its services; +while, to finish the picture, Angola +goats are browsing amid the green +and yellow ribbed <i>agaves</i>; and the +beautiful blue sea peeps in through +gaps of the wall of <i>cactus</i>, whose green +stems are now all fringed with yellow +blossoms. Leaving the flower garden, +we enter a labyrinth, and arrive +at a small hut, with a closed door, +upon the threshold of which we have +scarcely pressed, when the wicket +flies open, and a big brown friar, with +long beard and sandals, starts up in +act to frighten us, which he succeeds +in doing. This automaton <i>Schedoni</i> +might really well produce abortion, +and would not care if he did: he cannot, +we suppose, be placed there as a +lawful instrument of relief, for all the +<i>donzelle</i> of Palermo must be <i>aware</i> of, +and be used to him. This, however, +is thought so good a joke, that it is +<span class="newpage"><a name="page804" id="page804" title="804"></a></span> repeated with variations; for on releasing +another spring a similar contrivance +introduces us to another +monk of the same convent, who is +reading a huge tome on the lives of +the saints: resenting the interruption, +he raises his head, and fixes his eyes +on the intruder, at the same time +beckoning to him with his hand, and +intimating that if he will do him the +favour to come a little nearer, he will +knock him down with the folio, as +Johnson did Osborn the bookseller.</p> + +<p>Another surprise is—but really +these are surprising enough—and we +came here to see vegetable rarities, +and not the tricks of an overgrown +toyshop.</p> +<br> + +<h3>THE THUNNY FISHERY.</h3> + +<div class="blkquot"> +<span class="greek" title="Tan baitan apodys eis kymata taena haleymai, +Hopeth tos Thunnos skopiazetai Olpis ho gripeys. + +Translation: +Will you not hear me, nor regard my woe? +I'll strip, and throw me from yon rock so high, +Where Olpis sits to watch the scaly fry.">Ταν βαιταν +αποδυς εις κυματα τηνα αλευμαι<br> +Ωπερ τως Θυννως σκοπιαζεται Ολπις +ο γριπευς—Theoc.</span> +</div> + +<p>The thunny fishery, if not as exciting +as that of the whale, is far from +uninteresting to the uninitiated. We +were rowing about in want of an object, +when our boatmen proposed to +take us to see this animating species +of labour; and off we went to a spot +about two miles from shore, where we +came upon a little flotilla of boats, all +occupied in the common pursuit. A +large quantity of floating cork announced +our arrival on the fishing +ground; then came long lines of buoys, +to which the drop-nets were attached, +and at last we drew alongside a small +boat, hailing which, we learn that the +net is already half-drawn, and that +<i>la pipa</i> (the sword-fish) is <i>in</i> it. Now, +we had long wanted to see a live +sword-fish, but there was no need to +stimulate our rowers, who appeared +equally eager that we should assist at +the fun, and made great exertions to +reach the spot in time. "<i>Questa</i>," +says our guide, showing the boundary +of the space circumscribed by +walls of net; "<i>questa è la camera della +morte</i>, (this is the chamber of death,) +<i>piano, piano</i>, (or we shall shoot ahead.") +The space thus designated +lay between two long barges, one of +which was fixed by anchor, and had +few people on board, while the other +was crowded with naked limbs, and +fine heads in Phrygian bonnets, academy +figures every man of them. +What symmetry of form! what jet +black beard and mustache! what dark +flashing eyes! what noses without reproach! +All were in the various combinations +of action which their position +demanded, hauling away at what +seemed to our impatience an endless +net; by the shortening of which, +however, as their boat received it, +layer upon layer, fold upon fold, coil +upon coil, they were slowly bringing +up the reticulated wall. As the place +of captivity came nearer, every body +was intensely anxious to get a first +view of the fish; and many other boats +were coming up alongside of ours, +which fortunately lay right over the +meshes of the prison, which was becoming +every second more and more +restricted in size. At length some of +us obtained a first view of the <i>spada</i> +and his long sword, and testified our +delight with vociferation. The fish, +meanwhile, who hates publicity, backs +off, and would back out, to the opposite +end of the net, where, still finding +himself an object of unpleasant remark, +he tries by violence to escape +sideways; but that is <i>no go</i> even for a +sword-fish, for a sword is his which +cannot cut cords, and he soon finds +he can make nothing of it. Smaller +and smaller, meanwhile, is becoming +the condemned hold, and greater and +greater the perturbation within. The +captive fish begins to swim round and +round, and to watch a new opportunity, +but it is too late!—too many are +on the look-out for him! Every man +gets ready his hooked pole, and there +is more tightening of the tackle! The +terrified fish now rises to the surface, +as it were to reconnoitre, and then +down he dives with a lash of his tail, +which sends buckets of water into the +boat of the assailants. This dive, of +course, only carries him to the false +bottom of the net, and come up presently +he must! Every eye now looks +<i>fishy</i>, and every man's hand is armed +for the first blow. One tall athletic +fellow takes aim, and misses; another +is more successful, and hits. Stunned +by the blow, the poor fish flounders +on this side and on that, and the water +is discoloured by his blood! One, +two, three pointed poles at once, are +again in his flank; and now he rushes +<span class="newpage"><a name="page805" id="page805" title="805"></a></span> about like a rounded lion, brandishing +his tail, and dashing up whirlpools +of water. More Blows! more +blood! He rushes desperately at the +net, and running his long snout into +the meshes, is hopelessly entangled. +It is all over with him! Countless +wounds follow, till he turns over on +his side, and is handed up lifeless into +the boat.</p> + +<p>"There," says one, "goes fifteen +scudi's worth, and no harm done to +<i>the net</i>." "Little enough, too; but +he is worth two thunny, anyhow," +says another. "Ay! and gives more +<i>sport</i>," exclaims a third. Such piscatory +eclogue fell upon our ear, when +our guide announced to us that we +had now seen every thing. The excitement +over, we sat down in our +boat to make a note of what we have +written, while the boatmen clave the +phosphorescent water homewards, and +landed us neatly at sunset, with their +oars dripping luminous drops at every +stroke, in the beautiful harbour of +Palermo.</p> + +<p>Some days after we were still more +fortunate; we had observed the scouts +with a white hood over their boat, +<i>looking keenly down</i> (<i>vide</i> our quotation +from Theocritus) into the deep +blue sea, and watching with all-eyed +attention for the apparition of some +giant shadow which should pass +athwart the abyss, and give the signal +for a new chase, while their comrades +were hauling in an immense miscellaneous +<i>take</i> of fish, the acquisition of +the morning. We shot the outpost, +(placed to prevent larger vessels +from entering the fishing preserves +and injuring the nets,) and remarked +our boatmen uncovering to a small +<i>Madonna</i> railed in alongside. We +were just in time on this occasion to +see the water enclosed in the <i>camera +della morte</i>, already all alive with fish; +for a shoal of <i>palamide</i>, and of immense +<i>pesce di moro</i>, filled the reticulated +chamber. They darted here and +there as the net was raising, and +splashed so furiously about, that the +whole water became one lather; +meanwhile, the men who had been +singing gaily, now prepared their +landing-nets, shouting in a way which +certainly <i>did</i> seem to increase the terror +of their prisoners, who redoubled +their efforts to escape.</p> + +<p>The rich hues of the <i>palamide</i>, in +shape and colour not unlike our mackerel, +but with longitudinal, in place +of transverse, green bands, were beautiful +objects as they were raised all +iridescent in their freshness out of the +water, and transferred to the side +boat. We also noticed in the net +one or two immense fish, in shape like +rounded parallelograms, with tough +shagreen hides, goggle eyes, and two +immense leathery fins placed at the +lower part of the abdomen. They +kept flapping these valves up and +down, but not offering to strike, though +lugged out by a hook. The haul was +a good one, each fish worth a ducat; +and had they, in fact, been at this +price converted into coin at once, the +money would have made no mean +show in the bottom of the net. The +treacherous <i>camera della morte</i> was +emptied quickly, and in one minute +more, down it went again into the +depths below.</p> + +<p>We should have mentioned a singular +practice of the fishermen of the +present day in Sicily, to <i>pat</i> the thunny +while he is in the net, as you pat a +horse or dog: They say it makes +him docile. This done, they put their +legs across his back, and <i>ride</i> him +round the net room, an experiment +few would practise on the dolphin's +back, at least in these days; yet Aulus +Gellius relates that there was a +dolphin who used to delight in carrying +children on his back through the +water, swimming out to sea with +them, and then putting them safe on +shore! Now, <i>but for the coins</i>, taking +the above custom into consideration, +one might have supposed the ancients' +<i>delphinus</i> to have been the modern +<i>thunny</i>.</p> +<br> + +<h3>THE FISH MARKET.</h3> + +<p>"Dragged through the mire, and +bleeding from the hock," lay a continuous +mass of slaughtered thunny, +mouths wide open, bloody sockets, +from which the eyes had been torn to +make lamp-oil, gills ripped off to be +eaten fresh, and roes in baskets by +their sides. There was also a quantity +of a fish of dirty white belly and +dusky back, the <i>alalonga</i>, and two huge +<span class="newpage"><a name="page806" id="page806" title="806"></a></span> <i>dolphins</i>, with skins full of lamp-oil. +This really ugly creature looks far +better in the <i>delphin</i> title-pages, with +his lamp and his "<i>alere flammam</i>" on +clean paper, than on the stall; but his +very best appearance is on a fine Sicilian +coin, with <i>Arion on his back</i>. +The snouts of four large sword-fish +were also conspicuous; and there was +thunny enough for all the world: +some of the supply, however, was to +be hawked about the streets, in order +to which cords are placed under the +belly of a thunny of fifteen cwt., and +off he goes slung on a pole, with a +drummer before and a drummer behind, +to disturb every street and alley +in Palermo till he is got rid of; not +that the stationary market is quiet; +for the noise made in selling the +mutest of all animals is in all countries +really remarkable; but who shall +do justice to a <i>Sicilian</i> Billingsgate at +<i>mezzogiorno</i>! "<i>Trenta sei, trenta +sei</i>," bawls out the Padrone, cleaving +a fish in twain with one stroke of an +immense chopper kept for the purpose. +"<i>Trenta sei, trenta sei</i>," repeat +the two journeymen accomplices, +one counting it on his fingers to secure +accuracy and telegraph the information +to distant purchasers, or +such as cannot <i>hear</i> in the noise; another +holds up a slice as a specimen; +three fellows at our elbow are roaring +"<i>tutti vivi, tutta vivi</i>," "<i>a sedici, a +sedici</i>." The man of <i>whitings</i>, and +even he of <i>sardines</i>, have a voice and +a figure of their own. As you approach +each stall, the noisy salesmen +suspend their voices, and enquire, in +gentler accents, if you intend to buy; +if you do not, like the cicada their +stunning sound returns as soon as +you are past. We have hinted that +the thunny, "<i>Integer et cadavere +toto</i>," does not look handsome: vastly +less attractive is he when mutilated. +Big as an elephant's thigh, and with +flesh like some black-blooded bullock +of ocean breed, his unsavoury meat attracts +a most repulsive assemblage, +not only of customers, but of flies and +wasps, which no flapping will keep +off from his grumous liver. The +<i>sword-fish</i> cuts up into large bloodless +slices, which look on the stall like so +many fillets of very white veal, and +might pass for such, but that the head +and shoulders are fixed upon a long +lance, high above the stall, to inform +the uninitiated that the delicate looking +meat in question was fed in the +pastures of the deep. The <i>price</i> of +thunny, a staple commodity and object +of extensive Sicilian commerce, +varies considerably with the supply; +as to the demand, it never ceases. +During our stay in Palermo, a whole +fish would fetch about eight <i>scudi</i>, and +his retail price was about twopence +<i>per English pound</i>. Think of paying +three or four <i>francs</i> for less than half +a pound <i>sott 'olio</i> in Paris. The supply +seems very constant during the +season, which, on the Palermo side of +the island, is from May to July, and +continues a month later along the +<i>Messina</i> coast; after which, as the +fish cease to be seen, it is presumed +here that they have sailed to the African +coast. The flesh of the <i>spada</i> +fish is generally double in market +price to that of the thunny, selling during +the greater part of June at about +fourpence a-pound. Every thunny +is weighed upon landing, and a high +tax paid upon it to the king, who, +in consideration thereof, charges his +Sicilian subjects no duty for gunpowder +or salt. The fixed fisheries +for thunny, round the Sicilian coast, +are upwards of a dozen, the most famous +being that of Messina. At +Palermo, however, they sometimes +take an immense strike of several +hundred in one expedition. The +average weight of a full grown +thunny, is from 1000 to 1200 pounds; +of course the men with poles who land +him, can carry him but a little way, +and he reaches the market by relays. +Every bit of him is eaten, except his +bones and his eyes, and even these +yield a quantity of oil.</p> + +<p>The spada, too, is pickled down to +his bones—he is in great request for +the hotels, and his eyes, duly salted, +are considered a sort of luxury; in +some places these are the perquisite +of the fishermen, yielded by their +employers, who farm the fisheries, +and having satisfied the king, make +what terms they can with the subject.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page807" id="page807" title="807"></a></span> +<a name="bw332s11" id="bw332s11"></a><h2>COMMERCIAL POLICY—RUSSIA.</h2> + +<p>From the brief review, in our last +Number, of Spain, her commercial policy, +her economical resources, her fiscal +rigours, her financial embarrassments, +these facts may be said to have +been developed:—In the first place, +that theoretically—that is, so far as legislation—Spain +is the land of restrictions +and prohibitions; and that the +principle of protection in behalf, not +of nascent, but of comparatively ancient +and still unestablished interests, +is recognized, and carried out in the +most latitudinarian sense of absolute +interdict or extravagant impost. Secondly, +that under such a system, Spain +has continued the exceptional case of +a non or scarcely progressing European +state; that the maintenance and +enhancement of fiscal rigours and +manufacturing monopoly, jealously +fenced round with a legislative wall +of prohibition and restriction, has +neither advanced the prosperity of +the quarter of a million of people in +Catalonia, Valencia, and Biscay, in +whose exclusive behalf the great and +enduring interests of the remaining +thirteen millions and upwards of the +population have been postponed or sacrificed—nor +contributed to strengthen +the financial resources of the government, +as proved by the prostrate position +and prospects of a bankrupt and +beggared exchequer; that, as the necessary +and inevitable consequence, +the progress of agriculture, the ascendant +interest of all-powerful communities +and vast territorially endowed +states—of Spain, the almost one only +interest and element of vitality, economical +and political—has been impeded, +and continues to be discouraged; +that the march of internal improvements +is checked or stunted, when not +absolutely stayed; finally, that public +morals—the social health of a great +people, inheritors of glorious antecedents, +of an historic renown for those +qualities of a high order, the deep-seated +sentiment of personal, as of national +honour and dignity, the integrity, +fidelity, and gallantry, which +more loftily spurn contaminating approximation +with action springing out +of base, sordid, and degrading motives +and associations—have been sapped +and corrupted by the debasing influences +of that gigantic system of organized +illicit trade which covers Spain +with hordes of <i>contrabandistas</i>, more +numerous and daring than the bands +of <i>aduaneros</i> and the armies of regulars +whom they set at defiance, and +infests the coast of Spain with fleets +of smuggling craft, which all the <i>guardas +costas</i>, with the ancient armada of +Spain, were it in existence, would be +powerless to annihilate. And all this +fine nation, of warm and generous temperament, +of naturally noble and virtuous +aspirations, thus desperately to +be dismantled of its once-proud attributes, +and demoralized in its character; +its exhaustless riches of soil and +climate to be wantonly wasted—per +force of false legislation to be left uncultured—and +for why? Shades of the +illustrious Gabarrus and Jovellanos, +why? Why, to enable some half dozen +<i>fabricantes</i> of Barcelona to keep less +than half-a-dozen steam-engines at +work, which shall turn some few thousands +of spindles, spinning and twisting +some few millions of pounds of +yarn, by which, after nearly three +quarters of a century that the cotton +manufacture has been planted, "swathed, +rocked, and dandled" with legislative +fondness into a rickety nursling, +some fifty millions of yards of cotton +cloths are said to be painfully brought +forth in the year; the value of which +may probably be equal to the same or +a larger quantity of French cottons introduced +by contraband, and consumed +in the provinces of Catalonia and +Arragon themselves—the first being +sole seat of the cotton manufacture for +all Spain. And for this deplorable +consummation, the superabundant harvests +of the waving fields, the luscious +floods of the vineyards, the full flowing +yield of the olive groves of Spain—of +the wine, the oil, and the corn, of +which nature is more bountiful than +in Egypt of old—the produce and the +wealth of the millions, (which, permitted, +would exchange advantageously +for foreign products, and, bye all the +value, add to the store of national +wealth, and create the means of reproduction,) +are left to run waste and absolutely +perish on the ground, as not +worth the cost of transport to markets +without demand. "The production +of this soil," observes the Ayuntamiento +of Malaga, in their eloquent <i>Exposicion</i> +<span class="newpage"><a name="page808" id="page808" title="808"></a></span> to the Cortes cited in our last +Number, after referring to their own +port and province, in whose elaboration +thousands and thousands of hands +are employed, millions and millions of +capital invested, "are consumed, if +not in totality, at least with close approximation, +in England;" and after +enumerating the wines, oil, raisins, +grapes, oranges, lemons, and almonds, +as products so consumed in this country—"We +have active and formidable +rivals in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, +Turkey, the Greek Archipelago, +and other countries. We shall say nothing +of the wools, corn and other +fruits of Spain, so important, and some +so depressed in England by foreign +competition with those of this province. +If the treaties of commerce of +England with Italy and Turkey are +carried into effect, the exportation of +our oils and dried fruits will receive its +death warrant—<i>queda herida demuerte</i>. +France, Germany, and Portugal, accepting +favourably the idea of the British +Government, will cause our wines +to disappear from the market; their +consumption is already very limited, +inasmuch as the excessive duty, to one-third +the amount of which the value +of the wine does not reach, at the mouth +of the Thames, prevents the sale of +the inferior dry wines. The same excessive +duty tends to diminish the +consumption of our fruits from year to +year. Our oil has alone been able to +find vent by favour of the double duty +imposed till now upon Sicilian, superior +to ours in quality. But the English +speculators are already shy of +purchasing, in the expectation of an +assimilation of duties on oils of whatever +origin." The Ayuntamiento proceeds +to urge the necessity of a "beneficial +compensation" to British manufactures +in the tariff of Spain, without +which, "the flattering perspective" of +prosperous progress for the industry +and agriculture of the Andalusias will +be destroyed, and that those vast, rich, +and fertile provinces will become a desolate +desert. "The admission or prohibition +of foreign woven cottons," says +the <i>Exposicion</i>, "is for Malaga and its +province of vital importance under two +aspects—of morality and commerce. +Until now we have endured the terrible +consequences of prohibition. The +exorbitant gain which it supports is +the germ of all the crimes perpetrated +in our country. The man who carries +a weapon, who uses it and sheds the +blood of an agent of the law in the +defence of his illegally acquired goods, +will not hesitate in shedding the blood +of a fellow citizen who may stand in +the way of his desires. And hence the +frequent assassinations. He who with +gold seduces others for the increase of +his own property and for antisocial +purposes, does not scruple, when fortune +is adverse, to possess himself by +violence of the gold of the honest husbandman, +or peaceful trader: from +hence the constant robberies in the less +frequented places; from hence the general +abuse of carrying prohibited arms +of all sorts, and using them criminally +against any one on the least provocation, +already accustomed to use them +against the Government. Who shall +venture to enumerate the assassinations, +the robberies, the ruined families, +the misfortunes of all kinds, which, +directly and indirectly, spring from +contraband trade?"</p> + +<p>Such is the <i>Exposicion</i>, such the +experience, and such the views of a +patriotic and enlightened corporation, +representing and ruling over one of +the most populous, wealthy, and industrially +disposed districts of Spain. Our +object in prefacing at this length, and +with seeming irrelevance, perhaps, our +review of the commercial policy of +Russia, with its bearings on the interests +of Great Britain, is to show the +differing action of the same commercial +system, in the present case of the +prohibitive and restrictive system in +different countries, both in respect of +the mode in which the internal progress +and industry of countries acting +upon the same principle are variously +affected themselves and in respect of +the nature and extent of the influences +of such action upon those relations of +interchange which they entertain, or +might otherwise entertain, with other +countries where an opposite or modified +system prevails. In its broad features +the system of Russia varies from +that of Spain only in being more rigorous +and intractable still. Both, +however, are founded on the same exclusive +principle, that of isolation—that +of forcing manufactures at whatever +cost—that of producing all that +may be required for domestic consumption—of +exporting the greatest +possible maximum—of importing the +lowest conceivable minimum. Starting +from the same point, and for the +<span class="newpage"><a name="page809" id="page809" title="809"></a></span> same goal, it will not be without interest +or instruction to accompany and +observe the progress of the one, as we +have already endeavoured to illustrate +the fortunes of the other—to present +Russia, industrial and commercial, side +by side, or in contrast with Spain, as +we have described her. Your absolute +theory men, your free-traders with +one idea, like Lord Howick, your performers +in the economic extravaganza +now rehearsing in the Parliament-house +under the style of "leave imports +free, and the exports will take +care of themselves," may chance to +meet with many strange facts to confound +their arbitrary theorems on the +banks of the Neva. Absolute of wisdom, +however, as they arrogate to be, +and casehardened as they are, against +assaulting results which should destroy +their self-willed principle—a principle, +like the laws of the Medes and Persians, +proclaimed to be unchanged and +unchangeable—in face of which facts +are powerless and adverse experience +contumeliously scouted, or mendaciously +perverted, it is sufficiently obvious +that lessons in political economy +will, less than from any quarter of the +globe, perhaps, be accepted from St +Petersburg—they will fall upon unwilling +ears—upon understandings obtuse +or perverted.</p> + +<p>We are not of the number of those +who would contend that, under all +times or circumstances, should a +principle, or rather the system built +upon a principle, be rigorously upheld +in its application intact, sacred equally +from modification on the one hand, as +against radical revolution on the other. +It cannot be denied that, under the +protective system, have grown into +their present gigantic proportions all +the great manufacturing interests of +Great Britain. But, with customary +hardihood of assertion, maintain the +economists—in whose wake follow the +harder-mouthed, coarser-minded Cobdens +of the League—although manufactures +have flourished under such a +system to an extent which has constituted +this country the workshop of the +world, they have so flourished in spite +of the system; and, in its absence, left +exposed to free unrestricted competition +from abroad, must inevitably have +progressed at a more gigantic rate of +speed still. This is asserted to be in +the order of nature, but as nature is +every where the same—as the same +broad features and first elements characterize +all countries more or less +alike—we ask for examples, for one +example only, of the successful establishment +and progress of any one unprotected +industry. The demand is +surely limited, and reasonable enough. +The mendacious League, with the +Brights and Cobdens of rude and riotous +oratory, are daily trumpeting it in +the towns, and splitting the ears of +rural groundlings with the reiterated +assertion that, of all others, the cotton +manufacture owes nothing to protection. +What!—nothing? Were general +restrictive imposts on foreign manufactures +no protection? Was the virtually +prohibited importation of the +cotton fabrics of India no boon? of +India, root and branch sacrificed for +the advancement of Manchester? +Why, there are people yet alive who +can recollect the day when Manchester +cottons could not have stood one +hour's competition with the free, or +even 100 per cent taxed fabrics of India.<a name="footnotetag40" id="footnotetag40"></a><a href="#footnote40"><sup>40</sup></a> +How, indeed, could competition +have been possible, with the wages of +weaving and spinning in India at +three-halfpence per day, whilst for +equal quantities and qualities of workmanship, +the British weaver was earning +five shillings, and the spinner ten +shillings per day on the average? In +1780, Mr Samuel Crompton, the ingenious +inventor of the mule frame for +spinning, such as it exists to this day, +and is the vast moving machine of +cotton manufacturing greatness, stated +that he obtained <i>fourteen</i> shillings per +lb. for the spinning and preparation of +No. 40 yarn, twenty-five shillings for +<span class="newpage"><a name="page810" id="page810" title="810"></a></span> No. 60, and two guineas for No. 80. +The same descriptions of yarns are +now profitably making at prices ranging +from about tenpence to twentypence +per lb. At the same period +common calicoes were saleable at about +two shillings per yard, which now may +be purchased for threepence. Will it +be said that the Indian spinner and +weaver by hand could not, at the same +epoch, have produced their wares at +one-half the price, had not importation, +with unrelenting jealousy, been interdicted? +Was the rigid prohibition of +the export of machinery no concession, +all exclusively and prodigiously in the +interest of the cotton manufacture, to +the zealous promotion and ascendancy +of which the mining and agricultural +interests are unhesitatingly, not to say +wantonly, prejudiced, if not absolutely +perilled? We say wantonly, because +the free exportation of cotton yarn, +tolerated at the same moment, was an +absurd and mischievous violation of +the very principle on which the prohibited +exportation of machinery was +alone and could be justified. In face +of these incontrovertible facts, of +which hereafter, and now that the +record of them is consigned to that +wide circulation through the world +which the pages of Blackwood only +can afford, misrepresentation remains +without excuse on the question of that +fostering protection to which, in a +larger degree, if not exclusively, the +cotton manufacture of Great Britain is +indebted for its growth to its present +colossal, mammoth-like, and almost unwieldy +grandeur. We do not, however, +whilst re-establishing facts in their purity, +dream the practical impossibility +of confounding and disarming the +ignorance of men unfortunately so ill +educated and unread, and with intellect +so incapable, apparently, of appreciating +instruction, if not wilfully perverse, +as the Cobdens, or of restraining +the less coarse but more fluent +flippancy and equally unscrupulous +assurance of friend Bright, from resort +to that stock and stale weapon of vulgar +minds which is so readily drawn +from the armoury of falsehood. To +the end of the chapter they will lie +on, until doomsday arrive, and they +sink, like the Henry Hunts, <i>et id genus +omne</i>, their at least as well-bred predecessors +of the popularity-hunting +school, to their proper level in the +cess-pool of public contempt. Time, +which executes justice upon all in the +long run, cannot fail to lay the ghost +of cotton and anti-corn law imposture, +even in the troubled waters of +the muddy Irk and Irwell, where first +conjured from. And now, having +shown how the cotton manufacture of +Great Britain was from its birth cradled, +rocked, and dandled into successful +progress; how it was fostered +and fenced round with protection and +prohibitive legislation as against competition +from abroad; we shall proceed +with our review of the rise and +career of <i>protected</i> manufactures in +Russia. And we would counsel "one +who has whistled at the plough," +whose "farming notes" in the <i>Morning +Chronicle</i>, when confined to such +matters of practical detail as may be +supposed to lie within the scope of his +own experience and comprehension, +are not destitute of interest and information, +though with distorted and +exaggerated views, to ponder well before +a next reiteration of the random +and absurd assertion that the "corn-law +has done to agriculture <i>what every +law of protection has done for every +trade that was ever practised</i>—it has +induced negligence, and, by its uncertain +operation, has obstructed enterprise." +Instead of whistling at the +plough, such a writer almost deserves +to be whipped at the cart's tail for so +preposterously dogmatic an assumption. +It has yet to be demonstrated, +and the proof is challenged, that ever +a great interest, whether manufacturing +or agricultural, was established in +any part of the world, since the creation, +without the aids and appliances +of legislative and guernatorial patronage. +The degree, the qualification +the practical limitations, which in +the progress of time, with social +and industrial changes supervening +at home and abroad, may be rendered +expedient or necessary in the +application of the principle, constitute +quite a different question, which +may be discussed and entertained +without any disparagement of the +soundness of the policy, as best adapted +to existing circumstances, of the +system when first applied. The theory +of free trade may be, in its entirety, +as plausibly it is presented to us, +founded on just principle; the abstract +truth and perfection of which are just +as unimpeachable as that of the social +theory propounded by Rousseau in +<span class="newpage"><a name="page811" id="page811" title="811"></a></span> the Savoyard's profession of faith, or +that of the "liberty, equality, and +community of property" (to say nothing +of women) theory preached, and +practically developed to some extent, +in the paganish philosophies and New +Harmony vagaries of the St Simonians, +the Fourierians, and of Robert +Owen, in these our days. And yet, +from the beginning of time—whether +from the world before the flood, or +since the reconstruction of the world +after—never, to this present epoch, has +one single example come down to us +of the sober realization of either the +economical abstraction or the social +abstraction. Primeval chaos, chaos +existing before all time, could alone +have represented the <i>beau-ideal</i> of +each. So far indeed as their own demesnes +and domains, Laban and Pharaoh +were not without their practical +proficiency in the elements of economical +science—for the one knew how +to sell his daughters, as the other his +corn, in the "dearest market;" and +each to buy his labour and his money +at the "cheapest." And never will +these free-trade and social day-dreams +be accomplished to the end of all time; +never until chaos come again; never, +unless perchance the Fitzwilliams +and the Phillipses, impregnated with +the beatific reveries of socialist Robert +Owen, should throw open, the one, +Wentworth hall, with its splendid +parks and spacious domains—the other, +his Manchester mills, wonder-working +machinery, and million of capital stock, +to joint-stock occupancy, with common +right of possession of the rural +labourers who till the ground, and the +urban operatives who ply the shuttle—the +producers, in fact, of all their +wealth—share and share alike; themselves, +in future, undertaking the proportion +of daily task-work; driving +the "teams afield," or tenting the +mule-frame. Should, perhaps, the +Phalansterial system of Fourier preferably +suit their taste, they will be +entitled to enter into the "phalanx of +harmony," and share <i>à des degrés différents, +dans la répartition des trots facultés—capital, +travail, talent</i>, ... with +the enjoyment of such an apartment +in the Phalansterial "palace" for four +hundred families, the minimum of the +phalanx being eighty, which may +compare with the quality of <i>répartition</i> +corresponding to them, as expounded +by Madame Gatti de Gamond, +the principal legatee of Fourier +and his system.</p> + +<p>In the course of the discussions +which terminated in the treaty of +commerce and navigation with Russia, +laid before parliament on the opening +of the session—the stipulations of +which, however, chiefly bore upon the +extension of certain reciprocal rights +of navigation—the Emperor Nicholas, +in answer to representations pressed +upon him from this country, for a liberal +extension of the same principle +to the general commerce of Russia, to +foreign imports as well as shipping +and exports—to let in a glimmer of the +free-trade principle, in fact—replied, as +we observed in a former article, that +"the system, such as it was, he had +received from his predecessors, and it +was found to work well for the interests +of his empire." The Autocrat, +despot as he may be, was not singular +in the opinion; for even our esteemed +friend Count Valerian Krasinski, distinguished +no less for the solidity of +his literary attainments than for the +liberality of opinion and the patriotism +which condemns him to the penalty +of exile in a "dear country's +cause," who therefore will not be suspected +of undue bias in favour of Russian +systems, had written and published +in an able article on Russia, +treating <i>inter alia</i> of the rise and +progress of her manufactures and +commerce, to the following effect:—"The +manufacturers of Russia commenced, +as in other countries, with +the beginning of its political importance, +but have been chiefly indebted +for their encouragement and progress +to the efforts of the Government ... +The (protective) system has been +steadily adhered to with constantly +increasing energy, and <i>the most brilliant +success</i>, up to the present time." +This was published in 1842. We shall +proceed to test the merits of the case +by reference to documents of official +origin, Russian and British—both to +the latest dates to which made up in +a sufficiently complete shape for the +object in view, and the former in some +instances later than any yet published +in this country, and, as believed, exclusively +in our possession. We shall +have to deal with masses of figures; +but to the general reader in search of +truth, they can hardly fail to be more +acceptable than whole pages of allegations +and assumptions unsupported by +<span class="newpage"><a name="page812" id="page812" title="812"></a></span> proof, however eloquently worked out +to plausible conclusions.</p> + +<p>We commence with laying the +foundation for a comprehension of the +industrial progression of Russia, by a +comparative statement of the average +imports of a few of the chief articles of +consumption, raw materials of manufacture, +and manufactures, for two +series, of three years each; the first +series being the earliest for which official +records can be cited, or were perhaps +kept. Accidental circumstances, +and the special influences which, favourably +or unfavourably, may act +upon particular years, producing at +one time a feverish excess of commercial +movement, and at another, a reacting +depression as unnatural, are best +corrected and balanced by taking averages +of years. Thus, the mean term +of imports for 1793, 1794, and 1795, +may be thus contrasted with that for +1837, 1838, and 1839, of the following +commodities:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td align="center">Annual imports,</td> + <td align="center" colspan="2">1793–95</td> + <td align="center" colspan="2">1837–9</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sugar,</td> + <td align="right">341,356</td> + <td align="center">poods</td> + <td align="right">1,675,806</td> + <td align="center">poods</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Olive oil,</td> + <td align="right">42,239</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">345,455</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Machines and Instruments of all kinds, for</td> + <td align="right">111,300</td> + <td align="center"> silver rubles </td> + <td align="right">1,025,264</td> + <td align="center"> silver rubles </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woollen cloths for</td> + <td align="right">3,978,000</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">570,000</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raw cotton,</td> + <td align="right">10,000</td> + <td align="center">poods</td> + <td align="right">315,000</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton-yarn,</td> + <td align="right">50,000</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">600,000</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton fabrics for</td> + <td align="right">2,600,000</td> + <td align="center">silver rubles</td> + <td align="right">3,866,000</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>During the first triennial period, a +large proportion of the sugars imported +was in the refined state, the number +of sugar refineries being then very +limited; in the second period, the +imports consisted exclusively of raw +sugar for the numerous existing refining +establishments, which consumed +besides 125,000 poods of beet-root +sugar, the produce of the beet-root +works established in Southern Russia. +Woollen manufactories have so rapidly +and extensively increased, that, +whereas, comparatively a few years +past only, the manufacture of woollens +was confined almost exclusively to the +coarser sorts for army use, whilst the +better qualities for the consumption +of the more easy classes, and for export +to Asia, were imported from +abroad, chiefly from Great Britain; for +the fifteen years preceding 1840 the +case has been completely altered. The +import of foreign woollens has almost +altogether ceased for internal consumption +in Russia, whilst no woollens +but of Russian make are now exported +to Asia, and especially China. +The export of these home-made woollens +figures far above two millions of +rubles yearly in the tables of Russian +commerce with eastern countries. It +will be seen that while the imports of +cotton yarn, in the space of forty-two +years, had increased in the proportion +from 1 to 12 only, that of raw cotton +had advanced in the proportion from 1 +to 32. The facts are significant of the +growing extension both of spinning +factories and the cotton manufactories. +It is difficult to understand or credit +the increased imported values of cotton +fabrics here represented, knowing, +as we do, the decreased export to Russia +in our own tables of values and quantities. +But we shall have occasion hereafter, +perhaps, to notice some peculiarities +in the Russian official system of +valuations, which may probably serve to +clear up the ambiguity. But although +importing foreign cottons for internal +consumption, Russia is moreover an exporter +of domestic fabrics, to the value +of about one million of silver rubles, +on the side of Asia. In order to avoid +as far as possible the multiplication of +figures by the accompanying reduction +of the moneys and weights of Russia +into English quantities, it may be convenient +to state, that the silver ruble +is equal to 37½. sterling, and, in commercial +reckoning, the pood answers to +36 lbs. avoirdupois.</p> + +<p>Limiting our views for the present +to the trade in cottons, as the manufacture +of cottons is of much more recent +growth in Russia than woollen +and other manufactures, we find that +the exact imports, quantities, or values, +of cotton and yarn, are thus quoted in +Russian official returns for the three +last years to which made up <i>seriatim</i>.</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">1839.</td> + <td align="center">1840.</td> + <td align="center">1841.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raw cotton,</td> + <td align="right"> 354,832</td> + <td align="right"> 398,189</td> + <td align="right"> 314,000</td> + <td align="center">poods.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton yarn,</td> + <td align="right">535,817</td> + <td align="right">519,189</td> + <td align="right">560,799</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The depressed state of the cotton +trade in 1841 in this country, with the +very low prices of yarn, from consignments +pushed, in consequence, for sale +<span class="newpage"><a name="page813" id="page813" title="813"></a></span> at any rates against advances, were +doubtless the cause of the increased +imports of yarn, and the decrease in +raw cotton, exhibited in the returns for +1841. Otherwise, the import of raw +cotton has been comparatively much +more on the increase than cotton yarn +for some years past. Thus, beginning +with 1822, when the cotton industry +began more rapidly to develope itself, +but omitting the years just given, the +imports stood thus:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">1822.</td> + <td align="center">1830.</td> + <td align="center">1838.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raw cotton,</td> + <td align="right">55,838</td> + <td align="right">116,314</td> + <td align="right">326,707</td> + <td align="center">poods</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton-yarn,</td> + <td align="right"> 156,541</td> + <td align="right"> 429,736</td> + <td align="right"> 606,667</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Now, it will not be denied that the +cotton manufacture in this country +has enjoyed supereminent advantages +over that of any other in the world, +whether we look at the protective +scale of duties maintained for half a +century in its favour against foreign +competition, or regard those glorious +inventions and improvements in machinery, +of which rigorous prohibitive +laws against export, during the same +period in force, long secured it a +strict, and, even to a more recent period, +a <i>quasi</i> monopoly, and gave it a start +in the race, which seemed to leave all +chance of foreign concurrence, or +equal ratio of progression, out of the +question altogether. Neither for spinning +nor weaving could Russia, in +particular, possess any other than machinery +of the rudest kind, with hand +labour, until perhaps subsequently to +1820. Her tariffs, even by special +treaty of commerce, in 1797, were +entirely favourable to the entrance +and consumption of British fabrics. +The prohibitory, or Continental system +of Bonaparte, was indeed substituted +after the treaty of Tilsit; but +in 1816 a new tariff was promulgated, +modifying the "prohibiting system of +our trade," as the Emperor Alexander, +in his ukase on the occasion, expressed +it. By this tariff, cotton fabrics of all +kinds were taxed twenty-five per cent +in value only; cotton yarn, seven and +a half copecs per cent; fine woollens, +1 ruble 25 copecs per arschine; kerseymeres +and blankets, twenty-five +per cent on value; flannels, camlets, +druggets, cords, &c., fifteen per cent. +How, then, has Russia, subject to all +these disadvantages and drawbacks, +and so late in the field, fared in comparison +with this country, so long and +so far before her? Let us take the +Russian data first given for the two +triennial periods, and ascertain the +issue.</p> + +<p>The mean annual imports of cotton +taken for consumption into Great +Britain, deducting exports, may be +thus stated in round numbers for the +two terms, 1793–4–5 and 1837–8–9.</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td align="center">Annual imports,</td> + <td align="center">1793–5.</td> + <td align="center">1837–9.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raw cotton,</td> + <td align="right"> 22,000,000 lbs.</td> + <td align="right"> 391,830,000 lbs.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The ratio of progress of the manufacture, +therefore, from one term to +the other, of the forty-four years, was +not far from eighteenfold.</p> + +<p>Reducing the quantities of cotton-yarn +imported into Russia into the +state of raw cotton, by an allowance +of about three ounces in the pound, or +nearly seven pounds per pood, for +waste in the operations of spinning, +we have the following approximate +results:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td align="center">Annual imports,</td> + <td align="center">1793–5.</td> + <td align="center">1837–9.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raw cotton,</td> + <td align="right"> 69,700 poods.</td> + <td align="right"> 1027,500 poods.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The ratio of increase from term to +term being thus the greater part of fifteenfold.</p> + +<p>But as the cotton manufacture, +from circumstances referred to of favourable +tariffs for importation—comparatively +free-trade tariffs—did +not begin fairly to shoot forth until +1822, it will be only right to try the +question of comparative increase by +another list, namely, as between the +returns of the consumption of cotton +respectively in the two countries for +that year, and one of the later years, +1839, 1840, or 1841; but say rather +an average of the three. We are unable, +however, to strike a corresponding +average three years forward from, +but inclusive of 1822, for want of the +corresponding Russian official returns +for two of the years. On the other +hand, to take the one year of 1839, +when the quantity of cotton taken for +consumption in this country was at a +low ebb, would be like straining for an +effect, which the impartial seeker after +<span class="newpage"><a name="page814" id="page814" title="814"></a></span> truth can have no object in doing, +whilst the return for 1840 would be as +much in excess the other way. Thus +the total quantities of raw cotton taken +for consumption in Great Britain +were—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>For the year 1822,</td> + <td align="right">144,180,000</td> + <td>lbs.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Average of the three years 1839, 1840, 1841,</td> + <td align="right"> 440,146,000</td> + <td>ib.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The ratio of progression in Great Britain, +for the term of eighteen years, +was somewhat more than threefold.</p> + +<p>The imports of raw cotton, and of +cotton-yarn, rendered into cotton by +an allowance in addition, at the rate +of about three ounces per lb. for waste, +or nearly seven pounds per pood, +stand thus for Russia in round numbers:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>For the year 1822,</td> + <td>in the shape of raw cotton,</td> + <td align="right">55,838</td> + <td>poods.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td>Cotton yarn calculated into about</td> + <td align="right"> 186,900</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Total cotton,</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"> 242,738</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2">Average raw cotton imports of 1839–40–41</td> + <td align="right">355,673</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2">Id. of cotton yarn calculated into cotton,</td> + <td align="right">643,300</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Total cotton,</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"> 998,973</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The ratio of increase in the cotton +manufacture of Russia, for the same +term of eighteen years, was therefore +considerably more than fourfold. And +this steady but extraordinary superiority +of Russian progression took place +in the face of all those prosperity +years, when, from 1833 to 1838, the +British cotton manufacture was stimulated, +and bloated to excess, with the +high prices resulting from the flash +bank-paper and loan system of the +United States, and the mad joint-stock +banking freaks of Lancashire.</p> + +<p>The average import and consumption of raw cotton in Russia, and of yarn +calculated into cotton, was at the rate, on the average of the three years cited, +of about, 35,963,000 lbs. per annum;</p> + +<p>Which approximates the position of the Russian +with that of the cotton manufacture of +France as existing in the year 1818, when the +consumption of raw cotton is officially stated at, 16,974,159 kilogrammes;</p> + +<p>And with that of the cotton manufacture of +the United States in 1828, when the quantity +consumed at home was stated at about, 35,359,000 lbs.</p> + +<p>It will still be insisted, doubtless, as +all along it has never failed to be the +cuckoo-note of unreflecting theorists, +that the manufactures of Russia have +flourished, and are flourishing, in spite +of protection; that the only effect of +protection is to repress their growth +and mar their perfection. The assertion +stands ready-made, and ever the +stock on hand; it is a rash and blindfold +speculation upon chance and futurity, +at the best; a building without +a corner stone; a <i>chateau-d'Espagne</i> +nowhere to be found. Where, except +in the glowing fictions of Scheherezade, +may the personification of such +a phantom be detected? History, +whether ancient or modern, may be +ransacked in vain for one footprint of +the realised existence and miraculous +economical prodigies worked upon the +absolute free-trade principle, in the +spontaneous creation, the progress unrivalled, +the prosperity Pactolean, of +ingenious manufactures. The El-Dorado +region has yet to be discovered; +will Cobden, like another Columbus +in search of new worlds, adventure +upon the desperate enterprise, +and furnish the writer of romance +with apt materials for the frights and +freaks of another "phantom ship" on +the wide ocean? If so inclined, indeed, +we may commend him to an +undertaking now, at this present writing, +in actual progress, as we learn +from assured sources and high quarters, +in Paris. A goodly ship of substantial +proportions is now preparing +in a French port, richly freighted for +an interesting voyage with the products +of French industry, with destination +for the great sea-river of the +Amazons, for navigating its thousands +of miles of unploughed course, and +exploring those realms untold of, those +interminable wastes recorded, and +those numberless nations as yet unknown, +<span class="newpage"><a name="page815" id="page815" title="815"></a></span> if existing, which coast the +vast expanse of its waters to the utmost +limits of Brazil, and the very +confines of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. +The King of the French is himself +the patron and promoter of this +great enterprise. Hasten, then, friend +Cobden, erratic and chivalrous as +Quixote of old, to "swell the breezes +and partake the gale" of an expedition +so glorious; for know, that on +the banks of the noble Amazons itself, +the magnificent queen-river, most +worthy in the world of such distinction, +have poets, romancers, and chroniclers, +undoubting, from all time, +sung of and planted the resplendent +empire of the El-Dorado itself.</p> + +<p>Our design being to demonstrate, +by the force of example and contrast, +the sophistical absurdity of absolute +theories, that, however naturally and +harmoniously their parts may be made +to correspond in thesis and system as +a whole, according to which the same +consequences, upon a given principle, +should inevitably flow from certain +causes, yet that, practically, it is found +the same causes do not produce the +same effects, even when circumstances +are most analogous; that, for instance, +the protective, or restrictive system of +industry, under the rule of which +Spain languishes, notwithstanding the +abundant possession of the first materials +for the promotion of manufacturing, +and the prosperity of agricultural +interests, proves, at the other +extremity of Europe, the spring of +successful progress and industrial accumulation, +and renders Russia prosperous, +though proportionally not +more largely gifted with those natural +elements of wealth and production +which consist in fertility of soil, in +mines of the precious metals, of coal, +iron, &c. We shall pursue our task +to its completion before we proceed to +draw and sum up those conclusions +which must follow from the premises +established, before we enter in order +upon the analysis and dissection of the +one absolute principle or theory, by +which, in the conceit of certain sage +travellers on the royal railroad to wisdom, +eager for the end and impatient +of the toil of thinking, the economical +destinies of all nations should +be cut, carved, and adjusted <i>secundum +artem</i>, with mathematical precision +and uniformity, according to the rule +invariable of robber Procrustes, the +ancient founder of the sect, who constructed +a bed—that is, a system of +certain proportions of size—that is, +upon a certain principle—upon which +he laid his victims; those found too +short to fit the dimensions of the +pallet, he stretched and tortured +into the length required; those too +long he fitted by decapitating the superabundance +of head and shoulders, +or by squaring off the legs and feet; +just as economists would sever nations +with their invariable system; just as, +with their selfish and one-sided, sordid +idea, the junta of Leaguers, rule and +plummet in hand, would deal with the +British empire, with its vast possessions +in every clime, on which the sun +never sets, peopled by races numerous +and diverse of origin as of interests, +multifarious, complicated, often conflicting. +"<i>L'etât</i>," said Louis le +Grand, "<i>c'est moi</i>." "The British +empire"—bellows Syntax Cobden—"'tis +<i>me</i> and printed calicoes." "The +British government and legislature"—exclaims +Friend Bright—"'tis I and +Rochdale flannel."</p> + +<p>It is a strange, and, with our qualified +and not exclusive opinions, not +less a discouraging complication of +affairs with which we have to deal, +that, look among the great nations +where we will, we find, to a great +extent, that the protective system of +commerce, where in force, or where +it has superseded a <i>quasi</i> free-trade +system before in force, has conduced, +in no small degree, to the advancement +of material interests. The Germanic +Customs' Union, that peculiar +handicraft creation of Lord Palmerston, +is there to confirm the fact, +no less than Russia, than France, than +Belgium, and other lands. The League +themselves ostentatiously proclaim it, +whilst pretending to impugn the retention +of the very shadow of a shade +of the same principle, for the country, +above all others, which has grown to +greatness under it—the very breath of +whose nostrils it has been, during the +struggles of infancy and progress to +that full-blown maturity, when assuredly +it seeks, (and need seek only,) +willingly proffers, and readily accepts, +equality of condition—reciprocity of +interchange, with all the world. "The +Manchester manufacturer"—the false +<i>nom-de-guerre</i> of a calico printer, who +was not a manufacturer at all, and +could scarcely distinguish a calico from +<span class="newpage"><a name="page816" id="page816" title="816"></a></span> a cambric at the time of writing, who +erst was, is yet, perchance, the trumpeter +of Russian policy, Russian principles, +and Russian progress in the +East and elsewhere—must be grateful +for the information we have already +afforded on the full careering ascendency +of Russian material interests +also. His gratitude will expand as he +accompanies these pages.</p> + +<p>Peter the Great laid the foundations +of Russian manufactures, as of +the Russian empire itself. He founded +manufactories in all the larger cities. +But with his death they fell into +decay until the reign of Elizabeth. +With that epoch began their revival, +and the more rigorous revival also of +the prohibitory system. Their present +imposing appearance and magnitude +date, however, from the peace of +1815, the great parent and promoter +of all continental manufactures. In +1812 no more than 2,332 manufacturing +establishments in the whole empire +were in existence, employing +119,000 work-people; in 1835 the +number of the former had reached to +6,015, and of the latter to 279,673, the +half of the free labourers. At the beginning +of 1839, says the report of the +department of manufactures and internal +commerce—the last which, hitherto, +has been made up or come to our +hands—the number of factories and +manufactories had risen to 6,855, an +increase over the year preceding of +405, whilst the number of workmen +employed in them was 412,931, an +increase over the year before of 35,111. +Thus, in the space of three years, +from 1835 to the end of 1838, 810 +new establishments had been organized, +and the number of workmen +augmented by one-half. These industrial +establishments were non-inclusive +of mining works, iron works, +&c., and the people employed in them. +They were classed as follows:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Woollen manufactories,</td> + <td align="right">606</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Silk ib.</td> + <td align="right">227</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton ib.</td> + <td align="right">467</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Linen ib.</td> + <td align="right">216</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tanneries,</td> + <td align="right">1918</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Tallow works,</td> + <td align="right">554</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Candle ib.</td> + <td align="right">444</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Soap ib.</td> + <td align="right">270</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Hardware ib.</td> + <td align="right">486</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The seat of Russian manufactures is +principally in the central portion of +the empire, in its ancient capital Moscow, +and the surrounding provinces. +The progress of Moscow itself may +be thus briefly sketched, after remarking +that in the beginning of 1839 +there existed in the government, of +which it was the capital city, 1058 manufactories, +employing 83,054 work-people. +In the 315 manufactories of +the neighbouring province of Vladimir, +83,655 work-people were employed; +in the equally adjacent province +of Kalouga, 164 manufactories gave +work to 20,401 workmen. The population +of Moscow, the Manchester +of Russia, amounted in 1825 to +241,514; in 1827 it had risen to +257,694; in 1830 to 305,631; in 1833 +to 333,260; in 1840 to 347,224. The +principal manufactories were thus +classed for the latter year.</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Silk manufacture,</td> + <td align="right">68</td> + <td align="center">looms,</td> + <td align="right">2217</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton ib.</td> + <td align="right">139</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">7252</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woollen cloth ib.</td> + <td align="right">51</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">2960</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Other woollen stuff ib.</td> + <td align="right">16</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">579</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Shawl ib.</td> + <td align="right">17</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + <td align="right">282</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>In thirteen of the chief factories +there were 263 spinning machines; +three cotton factories alone contained +138. Besides these larger establishments, +3122 workshops, not considerable +enough to be ranked as manufactories, +employed alone 19,638 +work-people; and 142 industrial establishments, +such as founderies, breweries, +distilleries, tallow and soap +works, &c., gave bread to thousands +more.</p> + +<p>The consumption of the principal +raw materials of manufacture is thus +stated as an average of that and recent +preceding years.</p> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page817" id="page817" title="817"></a></span></p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Cotton for the twenty spinneries of Moscow,</td> + <td align="right">100,000</td> + <td align="center">poods per an.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton yarn,</td> + <td align="right">300,000</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dyed cotton yarn</td> + <td align="right">200</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raw silk,</td> + <td align="right">30,000</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dye woods,</td> + <td align="right">100,000</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Madder,</td> + <td align="right">250,000</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The machinery for the manufactories +is made for the most part in the +founderies and machine-works of Vladimir, +Tamboff, Kalouga, and Riazan, +but, above all, in the city of Tula and +the village of Parlovo. In McCulloch's +<i>Statistical Dictionary</i>, the number +of steam-engines in the government +of Moscow is stated, for 1830, +at about 100—in 1820, two only being +in existence. On what authority the +statement is given does not appear; +our own documents, to 1841 inclusive, +are silent on that head. For Moscow, +with its immediate environs, the total +number and the produce of the cotton +looms are thus given:—</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Cotton loom,</td> + <td align="right">17,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Producing annually,</td> + <td align="right">450,000</td> + <td>pieces of calico</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Do.</td> + <td align="right">400,000</td> + <td>do. of nankeen</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Do. above,</td> + <td align="right">2,000,000</td> + <td>do. of handkerchiefs</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In the whole, inclusive of other goods, such as muslins, velvets, &c., &c., equal to above,</td> + <td align="right">40,000,000</td> + <td>arschines of fabrics</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Valued at</td> + <td align="right">7,500,000</td> + <td>silver rubles.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The arschine is about twenty-eight English inches. The silk manufacture, +of recent establishment only in Moscow, presented the following results, +for that city and the surrounding districts:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Number of common looms,</td> + <td align="right">10,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Jacquard, more than</td> + <td align="right">5,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Producing annually,</td> + <td align="right">15,000,000</td> + <td>arschines of st</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Valued at</td> + <td align="right">10,000,000</td> + <td>silver rubles.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The woollen manufactories of Moscow, inclusive of the environs, employed +apart smaller loom shops:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Looms,</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">5,139</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Producing</td> + <td>yearly,</td> + <td align="right">30,000</td> + <td align="center">pieces</td> + <td>of superior quality</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center">Do.</td> + <td>more than</td> + <td align="right">50,000</td> + <td align="center">do.</td> + <td>ordinary for the army</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>And</td> + <td align="center">do.</td> + <td align="right"> 700,000</td> + <td colspan="2"> arschines of light cloths for China.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The values not given. The imports of merchandise from Moscow by +water, of which alone exact and detailed particulars are stated, amounted +in—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>1837, to </td> + <td align="right">22,881,000</td> + <td>rubles assignation</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1838,</td> + <td align="right">22,074,563</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1839,</td> + <td align="right">17,467,391</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1840,</td> + <td align="right">28,283,877</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Three and a half rubles assignation, +are equal to one silver ruble. +Moscow enjoys the advantage of being +an internal bonded port, or port of +intrepôt, a privilege now seeking by +Manchester, so that importers of foreign +merchandise are not called upon +for the payment of duties until the +moment when, withdrawing their imports, +or any other portion of them as occasion +requires, the payment becomes +necessary. Formerly the duties had +to be paid in the frontier ports, and +often in bulk. The customhouse revenue +resulting, amounted in—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>1837, to </td> + <td align="right">637,074</td> + <td>rubles assignation</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1838,</td> + <td align="right">614,464</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1839,</td> + <td align="right">626,764</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1840,</td> + <td align="right">776,021</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1841,</td> + <td align="right">898,398</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page818" id="page818" title="818"></a></span> These returns are proof indisputable +of industrial and social progress. +It is unnecessary further to remark +upon the great and growing importance +of other branches of industry in +Moscow, or to extend the limits of +this notice so far as to comprise a review +of the iron and hardware manufactories, +and the numerous tanneries +of Tula and Perm. The active movement +of internal commerce, may, +however, be inferred from the returns +of products exhibited and sold at +twelve fairs held annually, with one +thrice, and another twice, in the year, +the total value of which exposed for +sale in 1840, was stated at 101,551,000 +silver rubles, and of the quantity +actually sold at 64,326,700 rubles. +Of which alone at—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">On Sale.</td> + <td align="center">Sold.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Nijny Novgorod, for </td> + <td align="right"> 47,264,967</td> + <td align="right"> 38,828,984</td> + <td align="center">silver rubles</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Irbit,</td> + <td align="right">12,232,286</td> + <td align="right">7,682,000</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Romna, 2d fair</td> + <td align="right">9,001,904</td> + <td align="right">4,454,747</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Kharkoff, 1st fair,</td> + <td align="right">5,743,280</td> + <td align="right">2,944,390</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Koursk,</td> + <td align="right">7,014,802</td> + <td align="right">2,014,834</td> + <td align="center">...<br> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The great fair of Nijny Novgorod may rival with Leipzig in the magnitude +of its transactions. In 1841, the general movement of values at this +fair is thus returned:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Merchandise for sale,</td> + <td align="right">50,506,606</td> + <td>silver rubles, or</td> + <td align="right">176,773,121</td> + <td>rbls. ass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sold,</td> + <td align="right">41,704,236</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">145,964,826</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>By decree of the government, within +the last three years, the public accounts, +before kept in rubles assignation, +that is government paper money, +were ordered to be reckoned in silver +rubles. For purposes of comparison +with former years, we state them in +both. Of the mass of commodities +thus in motion at the fair, there were +of Russian manufactures and indigenous +products, to the total value of +37,132,693 silver rubles exposed for +sale, and for 29,762,473 sold; some +other chief articles ranging thus;—</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">For sale.</td> + <td align="center">Sold.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton goods,</td> + <td align="right">7,336,665</td> + <td align="right">5,947,865</td> + <td align="center">silver rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woollens,</td> + <td align="right">3,448,295</td> + <td align="right">2,620,175</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Linen and hempen fabrics,</td> + <td align="right">3,126,736</td> + <td align="right">2,375,736</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Silks,</td> + <td align="right">3,220,489</td> + <td align="right">2,239,989</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Leather, worked and not,</td> + <td align="right">1,043,583</td> + <td align="right">876,083</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Produce of mines and founderies, iron, copper, hardware, jewellery,</td> + <td align="right"> 7,600,330</td> + <td align="right"> 6,450,330</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Tea, for 7,107,500 rubles assignation, +and other products of China, +were brought to the fair; raw cotton, +cotton-yarn, shawls, silks, skins, &c. +from Persia and Asia, to the value of +29,796,819 roubles assignation, and +chiefly sold. Of the products of Western +Europe, which make but a miserable +exhibit, the following are the chief:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Woollen stuffs, for</td> + <td align="right">256,455</td> + <td align="center">silver rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cottons,</td> + <td align="right">510,830</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Linens and hempen fabrics, </td> + <td align="right">192,300</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Silks,</td> + <td align="right">423,130</td> + <td align="center">...<br> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Indigo,</td> + <td align="right">918,000</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The growing magnitude of this fair will be appreciated by the following returns +of former years:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Total commodities</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">for sale.</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Rubles assignation.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1829,</td> + <td align="right">104,018,586</td> + <td align="center">of which sold for</td> + <td align="right">50,104,971</td> + <td>rbls. ass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1831,</td> + <td align="right">129,457,600</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">98,329,520</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1833,</td> + <td align="right">146,207,311</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">117,210,670</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1835,</td> + <td align="right">143,369,240</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">117,743,340</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1837,</td> + <td align="right">146,638,181 + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">125,507,881</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1838,</td> + <td align="right">156,192,500</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">129,234,500</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1839,</td> + <td align="right">161,643,674</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">137,100,774</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1840,</td> + <td align="right">165,427,384</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">135,901,454</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page819" id="page819" title="819"></a></span> The convenience of these fairs for +the purposes of interchange, both between +different industries and the populations +of different provinces of the +same empire, and with contiguous +countries from which so great an affluence +of merchants with their merchandise +for exchange was attracted, +has induced the government to decree +the establishment of eleven new fairs +in different towns, and fifty-nine others +in as many large villages, which, in +growing size, may be already compared +with towns.</p> + +<p>The internal commercial communications +of Russia are chiefly carried +on by means of those innumerable +rivers and canals, that network of natural +and artificial canals, by which +she is intersected through all her extent, +and which, taking their rise in +various central parts of the empire, +pursue their course singly, or falling +into each other, and so constituting +mighty streams, to the White sea and +the Baltic, or fall into the Black sea +and the Caspian. The total movement +of this internal navigation in all +the rivers, presented the following results:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2">Departures from the different ports in the interior in 1839,</td> + <td align="right">60,277</td> + <td>barques.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="right">(</td> + <td> do.</td> + <td align="right">24,421</td> + <td>rafts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="right">Arrivals at (</td> + <td> do.</td> + <td align="right">46,850</td> + <td>barques.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="right">(</td> + <td> do.</td> + <td align="right">17,469</td> + <td>rafts.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>They were the convoys of merchandise dispatched from the ports to the value of</td> + <td align="right">737,814,276</td> + <td>rubles ass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Of merchandise forwarded to do.</td> + <td align="right">538,921,730</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In 1837 the values dispatched from, ascended only to</td> + <td align="right">618,990,306</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Do. forwarded to</td> + <td align="right">490,505,940</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The various and many basins of +river and water communication, scientifically +arranged, and showing how +all parts of that vast empire are connected +with each other through all +and nearly every portion of its territorial +extent, as in the report before +us, is a document worthy of study and +more minute analysis, but our limits +forbid.</p> + +<p>The foreign commerce of Russia presents the following results for 1841:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Exports to foreign countries, </td> + <td align="right">86,382,179</td> + <td align="center">silver rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Imports from do.</td> + <td align="right">79,429,490</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + </table> + +<p>The Russian official tables include, +under the head of foreign commerce, +the exports and imports with Finland +and Poland; but as they fall within +the range, in reality, of internal commerce, +the accounts are better simplified +by their exclusion. The system +of separate returns results, doubtless, +from the political arrangements and +conventions by which Russia acquired +the possession of those two countries.</p> + +<p>The progress of exports and imports +may be thus indicated:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">1838.</td> + <td align="center">1839.</td> + <td align="center">1840.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Exports,</td> + <td align="right"> 85,718,930</td> + <td align="right"> 94,857,788</td> + <td align="right"> 82,731,386</td> + <td align="center"> silver rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Imports,</td> + <td align="right">69,693,824</td> + <td align="right">69,993,589</td> + <td align="right">76,726,490</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The remarkable excess of exports +in 1839 resulted from the large demand +for, and shipments of, corn in +that year—the official value of which +is stated at 25,217,027 silver rubles; +the smallest export, so far as value, +being that of 1841, valued at 10,382,509 +silver rubles only. Exclusive of corn, +the exports would stand thus:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>1838 for </td> + <td align="right">70,562,252</td> + <td align="center"> silver rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1839</td> + <td align="right">69,640,761</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1840</td> + <td align="right">68,704,971</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1841</td> + <td align="right">75,999,670</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Gold and silver, in bars or specie, are not comprised in these returns.</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>For 1841 the values thus exported were, </td> + <td align="right">4,023,728</td> + <td align="center"> silver rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> ... imports,</td> + <td align="right">9,347,867</td> + <td align="center">ib.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>It is necessary, however, to travel +more backwards in order to a right +appreciation of the progress of the +foreign trade of Russia. This comparison +<span class="newpage"><a name="page820" id="page820" title="820"></a></span> is here instituted with earlier +years, premising that the exports to +Poland and Finland, amounting to +some ten or twelve millions of rubles +assignation, and imports from, amounting +to about three millions, are included, +and therefore swell the amount +of the imports and exports of the following +years. However, to facilitate +the comparison, the silver ruble values +of 1841 are multiplied into corresponding +ruble assignation values:</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Exportations.</td> + <td align="center">Importations.</td> + <td align="center">Balance</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">in favour</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">of Russia.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In</td> + <td>1830</td> + <td align="right"> 268,887,342</td> + <td align="right"> 197,115,340</td> + <td align="right"> 71,772,002</td> + <td>rb. as.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>1836</td> + <td align="right">283,748,233</td> + <td align="right">237,251,204</td> + <td align="right">13,733,196</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>1837</td> + <td align="right">264,485,160</td> + <td align="right">251,757,177</td> + <td align="right">12,727,983</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>1841</td> + <td align="right">302,337,626</td> + <td align="right">378,003,215</td> + <td align="right">24,334,411</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Add 11,808,743 rubles assignation +for exports to, and 4,792,346 imports +from, Poland and Finland in 1841, +and the real comparison would be, for +1841, exports 314,146,349, imports +282,795,561; balance in favour of +1841, 31,350,688 rubles assignation.</p> + +<p>The bulk of Russian exportations +consists of raw or first materials, such +as flax, hemp, flax-seed, oil, tallow, +leather, woad, metals, and of which +to the aggregate value in 1841, of +59,773,354 silver rubles was exported; +an amount nearly stationary as +compared with the three previous +years. But the export of Russian +manufactures, viz. woollens, cottons, +linens, candles, cordage, and cloths +for China, had improved in aggregate +amount from,—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>Silver Rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In 1838,</td> + <td align="right">6,527,222</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>To, in 1841,</td> + <td align="right">10,259,209</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>It was the trade with China by +Kiachta, and latterly also by the line +of Siberia, which, however, had perhaps +taken the most remarkable extension, +and was held to be most promising +of future progress and profit. +The imports, and therefore the consumption, +of tea in Russia, are growing +annually larger; and the exports +of Russian products and manufactures +to China, equally in proportion. For +by mutual convention, as dictated by +China, for regulating the commercial +intercourse between the two countries +strictly limited to that frontier river +port, although now indirectly countenanced +by Siberia, the trade is exclusively +one of barter; tea and silks +for leather, furs, cottons, woollens, +and linens. A condition, be it observed, +which serves to place beyond +all doubt the fact, that it was not the +introduction and consumption, with +the deterioration to the health of the +population resulting, physically and +morally, from the use of opium, which +had so much effect with the celestial +Emperor in provoking the late war with +Great Britain, as the abstraction by +export in payment, and the drain so +constant, of Sycee silver. The imports +of tea in—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">Poods.</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">Silver Rubles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1838,</td> + <td>By Kiachta, were, of good and ordinary quality, </td> + <td align="right">127,645</td> + <td align="center"> value</td> + <td align="right">2,015,189</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>By the line of Siberia,</td> + <td align="right">10</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">600</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">127,655</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">2,015,789</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1841,</td> + <td>By Kiachta,</td> + <td align="right">168,218</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">6,976,363</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>By the line of Siberia and Caspian Sea,</td> + <td align="right">1,364</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">66,293</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">169,582</td> + <td align="center">...</td> + <td align="right">7,012,656</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Besides which, the imports of an +inferior tea, called <i>brick tea</i>, amounted +to the value of 359,223 silver rubles +in 1841. In three years, the general +trade, China silks inclusive, had therefore +more than trebled so far as value; +for it is remarkable, that though +larger quantities of tea are imported, +yet prices, so far from declining, had +actually considerably advanced; which +proves that the commodity was becoming +a favourite beverage, and gaining +into more general consumption, in +Russia. The values of the Russian +merchandise, such as stated, which +passed in barter, are said to have been +equally sustained. It may be noted, +indeed, as an extraordinary fact, that +whilst, as the official report of the +department of commerce observes, +the prices and values of almost all +foreign raw products and manufactured +<span class="newpage"><a name="page821" id="page821" title="821"></a></span> wares imported into Russia, during +the three or four years preceding +1841, and including 1841, entered +constantly, and some at considerably +depreciated rates, in the reverse the +products of Russia, exported to Europe +and elsewhere during the same period, +quantity for quantity, generally improved +in prices and ascended in +value.</p> + +The foreign commerce of Russia by sea was carried on, during the year<br> +1841, by + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">2,596</td> + <td>vessels, inwards loaded,</td> + <td align="center">tonnage,</td> + <td align="right"> 452,760</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">2,174</td> + <td>do. in ballast,</td> + <td align="center">do.</td> + <td align="right">410,164</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Totals,</td> + <td align="right">4,770</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">862,924</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">4,582</td> + <td>do. outwards loaded,</td> + <td align="center">do.</td> + <td align="right">819,232</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">312</td> + <td>do. do. in ballast,</td> + <td align="center">do.</td> + <td align="right">58,046</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Totals,</td> + <td align="right">4,894</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">877,278</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>In the coasting trade in the Northern +seas, the number of vessels dispatched +from port to port was 2007, +in the Black Sea, 5,275.</p> + +<p>The revenue from customs in 1841 +amounted to 27,387,494 silver rubles, +or upwards of two-fifths in excess +of the receipts of 1830.</p> + +<p>In order to exemplify the nature +of the trade betwixt Great Britain and +Russia, and exhibit it in its most disadvantageous +aspect, we shall add +here, from statements verified as authentic +by competent authorities on +the spot, the returns of British trade +and shipping with certain Russian +ports for 1842, which we have recently +received direct. They will assist us +to a conception of the relative importance +of each place in respect of +its commercial connexion with this +country.</p> + +<p>The commerce of the port of +Archangel, omitting from the table +Onega, Kola, Kemi, and Soumsk, the +other ports in the White Sea, their +traffic being inconsiderable, is thus +represented.</p> + +<p>1842.—Total shipping outward, 212, of which, British, 153, tonnage, 31,704</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Total imports, (exclusive of L.13,816 by Norway coasters,)</td> + <td align="right">L.18,384</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Of which from Great Britain,</td> + <td align="right">L.801</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Total exports, (omitting L.22,236 to Norway,)</td> + <td align="right">L.427,789</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Of which to Great Britain,</td> + <td align="right">L.305,823</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In 1841, 176 vessels exported for Great Britain the value,</td> + <td align="right">L.408,077</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Exclusive of cargoes by 2 other vessel, to the amount of L.7,208, for the Hanse towns and Holland.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>In 1840, 250 vessels, tonnage 48,249, exported to Great Britain the value of</td> + <td align="right">L.442,381</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Exclusive of 6 British vessels which carried cargoes to the Hanse towns, France, and Italy, of the aggregate value of L.12,858.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The commerce with Riga exhibits +a somewhat more favourable proportion +between imports and exports, +and we are induced, therefore, to give +the return of imports for 1842 in same +detail as received.</p> + +<p>Nature and value of merchandise imported into Riga from Great Britain +during the year 1842:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Coffee,</td> + <td align="right">L.2,500</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton,</td> + <td align="right">11,011</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cotton twist, L.21,159, 10s; do. goods, L.1135,</td> + <td align="right">22,294</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woollen goods,</td> + <td align="right">4,100</td> + <td align="right">16</td> + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Woollen twist,</td> + <td align="right">19,057</td> + <td align="right">3</td> + <td align="right">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Indigo and other dyes,</td> + <td align="right">13,764</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dye-woods,</td> + <td align="right">2,718</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Salt,</td> + <td align="right">53,269</td> + <td align="right">3</td> + <td align="right">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sugar,</td> + <td align="right">24,882</td> + <td align="right">10</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Wines and brandies,</td> + <td align="right">19,200</td> + <td align="right">13</td> + <td align="right">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Iron and steel wares,</td> + <td align="right">7,025</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Spices and drugs,</td> + <td align="right">13,440</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="right">8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Non-enumerated articles,</td> + <td align="right">12,527</td> + <td align="right">10</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right" colspan="3">——————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center">Total,</td> + <td align="right">L.205,791</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">0</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page822" id="page822" title="822"></a></span> Countries from whence British vessels have arrived at the port of Riga +during the year 1842:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="center">No. of vessels.</td> + <td align="center">Tonnage.</td> + <td>Remarks.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>United Kingdom,</td> + <td align="right">387</td> + <td align="right">59,629</td> + <td>With cargoes and in ballast.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Hamburg,</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="right">1,261</td> + <td>In ballast.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Denmark,</td> + <td align="right">21</td> + <td align="right">3,730</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Norway,</td> + <td align="right">13</td> + <td align="right">2,438</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>France,</td> + <td align="right">5</td> + <td align="right">670</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Belgium,</td> + <td align="right">1</td> + <td align="right">484</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Holland,</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="right">1,018</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Prussia,</td> + <td align="right">4</td> + <td align="right">562</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Sweden,</td> + <td align="right">3</td> + <td align="right">669</td> + <td>...</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">——</td> + <td align="right">———</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center">Total,</td> + <td align="right">446</td> + <td align="right">70,461</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td align="center">1842 exports. + <td align="center">Tons.</td> + <td>Total value of exportations to Great Britain.</td> + <td>Countries to whence exported.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>British vessels, 446</td> + <td align="right">70,461</td> + <td align="right">L.1,527,810 5 4</td> + <td>United Kingdom.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The commerce of Odessa represents +a closer approximation still between +imports and exports; and they would +perhaps nearly balance, but for the +large shipments of wheat to this country, +which contribute to swell the exports.</p> + +<p>In 1842, 174 British ships entered, tonnage 44,428, sailed 176 tonnage, 44929</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Total value of imports by them,</td> + <td align="right">L.185,870</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Of which, from the United Kingdom,</td> + <td align="right">184,370</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The remainder by 64 British vessels entering from Leghorn, Turkey, Algiers, Amsterdam, mostly in ballast.</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>Total average of exports,</td> + <td align="right">784,865</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Of which, to the United Kingdom,</td> + <td align="right">776,995</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The remainder to the countries above named.</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>1841,</td> + <td>Total imports by British ships,</td> + <td align="right">147,950</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>Do. exports do.</td> + <td align="right">590,570</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1840,</td> + <td>Total imports by British ships,</td> + <td align="right">130,660</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>Do. exports do.</td> + <td align="right">859,090</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The commerce of St Petersburg is +stated, for 1812, imports and exports +together, at the value of 97,795,415 +silver rubles. And of 1147 foreign vessels +which left that port and Cronstadt +with cargoes, more or less, 515 were +British, of 117,793 tonnage—being a +rather considerably less number than +in either 1840 or 1841.</p> + +<p>The present is the proper occasion to +remark upon and explain the system of +official valuation pursued in Russia, by +which it will be observed how the real +value, both of imports and exports, is +swelled, probably with a view to the +vain display of a greater commerce than +is really carried on. As the system is +nearly the same for both imports and +exports, it cannot, of course, materially +interfere with, or impeach the +accuracy of the general balance-sheet. +It is desirable, however, that the facts +should be fairly represented, for the +guidance of those who may be in the +habit of consulting and comparing the +official documents of different countries; +and they will serve moreover to +explain, in some degree, the extraordinary +discrepancies which have been +found betwixt the declared values of +British products and manufactures exported +to Russia, as published in the +Board of Trade tables, and the same +exports as exhibited in Russian customhouse +returns.</p> + +<p>In calculating the annual value of +importations, it is the rule in the Russian +customhouses to add the duties +paid on the entry of goods to their +original value. This practice in Russia, +where the duties are so high, +swells the value of imports far beyond +their true amount, and gives a false +and exaggerated view of them.</p> + +<p>With respect to the exports, nearly +the same practice exists. In calculating +their value, all the shipping +charges are added to the cost of the +article; and we are informed by merchants +resident in Russia, that on +comparing the annual Government +statements of exports for their establishments, +they are found to correspond +with the invoices forwarded to +their foreign correspondents, which, +of course, include commission, and all +the expenses attendant on the shipping +of the goods. The law also requires +<span class="newpage"><a name="page823" id="page823" title="823"></a></span> that the shipper, on clearing +merchandise for export through the +customhouse, should declare its +value. With a view of preserving +uniformity, the Russian authorities, +from time to time, fix a standard price +at which particular articles shall be +valued for export at the customhouse. +To exemplify the evil of this system, +it is necessary only to mention that +oats, for example, could lately be purchased +at a Baltic port at sixty silver +rubles per last, while the latest customhouse +standard values them at +eighty silver rubles per last. This +practice is no way injurious to the +merchant, but only unnaturally swells +the tables of exports when annually +made up by the Russian Government. +A shipper, therefore, of any of the +articles included in the Russian standard, +is compelled to state a much +greater value at the customhouse than +he furnishes to his foreign correspondent, +who, of course, only pays the +market price of the article, with the +additional shipping expenses.</p> + +<p>The difficulty, such as it is, might +be obviated, were the masters of +British merchantmen compelled by +law to submit their ship's papers, on +arrival and departure, to the British +consuls at each port, who would then +be placed on the same footing with +the consuls of other countries, and be +enabled to communicate much important +statistical information to their +Government, of the opportunity for +acquiring and transmitting which +they are now deprived.</p> + +<p>Our review of Russian commerce +and industry would be more incomplete +than it is, if we were to omit all +notice of the vast mining wealth of +that empire. But our limits, already +nearly reached, do not admit of more +than a passing reference. Suffice it, +that in coal, both bituminous and +anthracite, in iron and other metals, +and salt, constituting the raw materials, +Russia is rich enough for all her +wants, and indeed supplies the great +bulk of those wants within herself, +with to spare in some of these products +for her neighbours and other +countries. Her mines are annually +increasing in productiveness and number, +as enterprise is extended and +capital invested in them, and as domestic +manufactures and improving +agriculture increasingly absorb their +produce. The treasure-yielding progress +of her gold mines is one of the +extraordinary events of the age. The +existence of gold in Siberia was +scarcely suspected till 1829. The +first researches of adventuring individuals +were attended with no success. +Feodot Popoff, one of the earliest, +succeeded at length in that year, +when all others had abandoned the +undertaking as hopeless, in discovering +traces, and procuring some inconsiderable +specimens, of gold—not in +quantity, however, to repay the +working; and the doubts before existing +seemed confirmed as to the +fruitlessness of further perseverance +in the search. Major-General Kovalevsky, +of the engineers of mines, +having been appointed governor of +Tomsk, renewed the attempt in +1830; and, at the close of that year, +his indefatigable labours, and more +methodical plan of operations, were +rewarded with the discovery of a first +considerable stratum of auriferous +sands, which was designated Yégorievsky, +(St George.) Adventurers +flocked into the district forthwith, +and in numbers, upon the widespreading +news; and excellently did +renewed labours recompense the zeal +of the more fortunate; numerous +were the discoveries of layers of +golden sands. In one of these, last +year, a massive piece of native gold, +weighing 24½ pounds Russian, (the +Russian pound is about 1½ oz. less +than the English,) was discovered +embedded in a fragment of quartz, +and is now deposited in the museum +of the School of Mines at St Petersburg. +The yield of the Siberian +mines has since been at the following +rate of progression—omitting the intermediate +years for brevity, although +in every year there was an increase +of quantity upon the preceding:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>1830 </td> + <td align="right">5</td> + <td align="center">poods, </td> + <td align="right">32</td> + <td align="center">lbs., </td> + <td align="center">59-1/2</td> + <td> zdotnicks.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1832</td> + <td align="right">21</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">34</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="center">68-3/4</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1834</td> + <td align="right">65</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">18</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="center">90-3/8</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1836</td> + <td align="right">105</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">9</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="center">41</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1838</td> + <td align="right">193</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="center">47-1/2</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1840</td> + <td align="right">255</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">27</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="center">26-3/8</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1842</td> + <td align="right">631</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">5</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="center">21-1/4</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The total of the thirteen years has been 2093 poods, 38 lbs., 46 zd. +<span class="newpage"><a name="page824" id="page824" title="824"></a></span> The pood, be it remembered, is equal to (rather more than) 36 lbs. avoirdupois.</p> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>The total general yield of the older worked mines of the Oural mountains for 1842, was, besides,</td> + <td align="right">149</td> + <td>poods,</td> + <td align="right">18</td> + <td>lbs.,</td> + <td align="right">58</td> + <td>zd.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>And of platina,</td> + <td align="right">53</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">33</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + <td align="right">67</td> + <td align="center">—</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>On a rough estimation, the produce +of all the gold, platina, and silver +from the silver mines, could not have +amounted to less, perhaps, for the year +1842, than three millions sterling.</p> + +<p>According to the learned academician +Köppen, of St Petersburg, in a +lengthened memoir upon the subject, +the total population of Russia, inclusive +of Poland, Finland, and Trans-Caucasian +provinces, ascended in +1839 to 65,000,000. +Or of Russia Proper alone, 55,500,000.</p> + +<p>With an empire so gigantic, a population +so large, however disproportioned +as compared with territory, and +with resources so incalculable, it must +appear extraordinary that foreign commercial +relations are so limited. The +total of exports and imports together +for 1841, represents only, in round +numbers, a commercial movement to +the value of 165,811,000 silver rubles, +or in sterling, about L.25,907,300. +The matter which most concerns this +country, is the very disproportionate +interest which results to its share in +the export and import trade of Russia. +Taking the latest British returns of +the value of Russian products imported +into England, for the Board of +Trade tables give quantities only, as +we find them stated by Mr McGregor, +the indefatigable secretary of that +board, for 1838, at L.6,977,396, or say,</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>in round numbers</td> + <td align="right">L.7,000,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>And British exports at the declared value here of, say,</td> + <td align="right">1,700,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">—————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>There would appear to result the very heavy difference against the United Kingdom of</td> + <td align="right">L.5,300,000</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>But bad as the case may be, it is +not quite so bad as these figures would +represent. It must not be forgotten +in this sort of calculation, that shipping, +freights, insurances, and commissions, +represent property quite as +substantially in the commercial sense, +as even Mr Cobden's printed calicos, +or friend Bright's flannel pieces. Now, +we think it might admit of proof, +that as much as nine-tenths of all the +produce brought to this country from +Russia, is so brought in British bottoms, +and so also of the exports to +Russia; although in 1840, the last of +the Board of Trade tables containing +such particulars, no more than 1629 +British vessels, of 340,567 tonnage, +against 296 foreign, of 79,152 tonnage, +entered British ports from Russia—the +proportions being much the same +outwards; but whether the foreign +were all Russian vessels may be doubted. +Let us assume, however, that no +more than three-fourths of both imports +and exports were so carried, and leaving +three-fourths British freights outwards +to balance Russian one-fourth +freights inwards and outwards, let us in +fairness estimate the worth of that +freightage in reduction of the enormous +balance against us. As for +Spain, in our last Number, we took +twenty per cent to cover all the freightage +charges, before indicated, on her +commodities of less bulk though more +value in proportion, twenty-five per +cent on the average will not be too +much, certainly, to cover those charges +on the more bulky products of Russia, +more especially when the long, costly, +and intricate navigation of the Baltic, +and the White and Black Seas, are +taken into account. The calculation +will then stand thus:—</p> + +<table align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Imports from Russia,</td> + <td align="right">L.7,000,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Deduct twenty-five per cent freightage, &c. as British property and profit,</td> + <td align="right">1,750,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Real value of imports as on board in Russia,</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"> L.5,250,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Declared value of ex-British exports to Russia,</td> + <td align="right">L.1,700,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Value of British freightage, &c., as above,</td> + <td align="right">1,750,000</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + <td align="right">L.3,450,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Real approximative balance in favour of Russia,</td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right">L.1,800,000</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="page825" id="page825" title="825"></a></span> or say two millions, as the three-fourths +produce of outward freight +would, perhaps, not quite compensate +the one-fourth on inward and outward +cargoes to the Russian shipping. Even +such a balance is exclusively and unjustly +large against a country which, +like Great Britain, is a consumer of +Russian products to the extent of +seven-twelfths of the total exports of +Russia to all the world. The consequence +is, that the rate of exchange +is almost invariably against this country. +Lord Howick, indeed, most +quixotically deals with adverse exchanges; +he disposes of them summarily, +and in a style that must have +astonished the people on 'Change. +This disciple and representative of +Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield's economics +in the House of Commons, as +Lord Durham was before his political +disciple, and the victim of his schemes +colonial, thus decisively disposes of +adverse exchanges in the celebrated +debate on Import Duties, taking Portugal +for an example.</p> + +<div class="blkquot"><p>"A large increase of importations from +Portugal would necessarily be attended by +a proportionate increase of our export +trade. Was it not clear that every merchant +who imported a pipe of wine would +anticipate the bills drawn against him on +account of it, and that, whatever would be +the increase in the amount of imports, +there would be a corresponding increase +in the amount of the bills drawn against +us? How were our merchants to provide +for them? There would be no difficulty +in it, whether the trade of Portugal increased +legally or illegally. Suppose an +increase of imports into Portugal, there +would be an immediate demand for bills +to Portugal. <i>The consequence would be, +that if there was any other country from +which Portugal received more than it exported, +the bill-brokers would get bills +from that country</i>, and our manufactures +would be sent there instead of to Portugal. +Admit that you could not find in any +other country the means of discharging +your debt by importation of your manufactures, +bills on Portugal should then rise +to a certain premium, and gold and silver +would be sent to discharge the debt. The +gold and silver would come from some +other country, and the consequence would +be that we should send our manufactures, +not to Portugal, but to South America; +while Portugal would be obliged to send +the bullion to some other country that it +might carry on a smuggling trade with its +neighbour, Spain. It was impossible for +the ingenuity of man to point out any +different result."</p></div> + +<p>The "bill-brokers" will be greatly +amused with the new line of business +chalked out for them, of "getting +bills" from other countries when short +in this. There are two descriptions +of "bill brokers," but the class bearing +that designation purely deal with +domestic bills only. The other class +are known as "exchange brokers," +because they meddle only with foreign +bills; but as to "getting bills" from +abroad when bills are wanting here, +that trustworthy and respectable description +of agents certainly never +dreams of such an occupation. Lord +Howick would seem to imagine that +manufactories of bills existed specially +abroad, and that people could draw +with as much nonchalance from Paris +or from Hamburg, upon Jack Nokes +and Tom Styles at Amsterdam or +Frankfort, as here Lord Huntingtower +accepted for his dear friend the Colonel +values uncared for, or as folks +familiarly talk of valuing an Aldgate +pump when an accommodation bill is +in question. May we venture to hint +to the member for commercial Sunderland, +the <i>ex</i> for Northumberland, +that the functions of "exchange brokers" +extend no further than to ask +A if he has any bills to sell, and B if +he is a buyer; whereupon he has only +further to learn what rate the one will +purchase and the other sell at; that +knotty point arranged, the bargain is +concluded, and he receives his very +small percentage. The operations +are carried on every day, more or less, +but on Tuesdays and Fridays, being +especially "post days" on London +'Change, where Lord Howick any day +may be initiated in the mystery, if not +punctilious about being unceremoniously +elbowed and jostled about.</p> + +<p>In the principle of protection, we +hold Russia to be perfectly in her +right and her interest; in the abuse +of it, she damages herself. Prohibition +is not protection; restrictive duties +equal to absolute prohibition, like +the 85 per cent prohibitory tax, formerly +levied here on Indian cotton +fabrics, in favour of Lancashire, are +not protection in the legitimate sense. +The late Emperor Alexander hit the +true nail of principle on the head +when, in 1819, he reformed the Russian +tariff on the calculation of imposts +ranging from fifteen to forty per cent. +<span class="newpage"><a name="page826" id="page826" title="826"></a></span> We are, nevertheless, bound to say, +that, even as protection is understood +in its exaggerated sense by the Autocrat, +the system has worked well for +Russia, as indeed we have shown. +She has accumulated wealth by that +system; she has secured by it the +possession of a large proportion of +those precious metals, which are indispensable +no less as the medium of +foreign exchanges and balances, than +as the means by which, above all other +means, the operations of industry, and +the employment of labour, are facilitated +at home. How would industry +progress, and wages be dispensed, if +the master manufacturer could offer +payment of wages only in yards or +pieces of cloth, the iron-master in ore, +or the land-proprietor in oxen, sheep, +corn, hay, or cabbages? In respect +of commercial balances, that of Great +Britain against Russia is liquidated +probably, to some extent, by the +yearly balance resulting against Russia +in her dealings with Persia; for +the policy of Russia is to favour the +commerce of Asia, whilst oppressing +that with Europe, and Persia is always +indebted to Great Britain. She has, +however, the game in her own hands. +Can we wonder that she plays it to +her own advantage, half-political, half-commercial? +She knows as well as +we feel keenly, that the raw materials, +in which she is so rich, are indispensable +for our use; she charges accordingly. +The time may come when we +shall be more independent of her, and +then, then only, she will conform to +altered circumstances. The able and +distinguished diplomatist at her court, +Lord Stuart de Rothesay, who succeeded +in the arduous task of negotiating +the recent treaty of navigation +with that crafty Government, is the +man also who will not be slow to +avail himself of any favourable conjuncture +for turning circumstances to +account, and redressing the adverse +balance now against this country.</p> + +<p>As before said, our intention, on +this occasion, is not to dissect principles +or theories, but to present facts. +We have still more in store for the absolute +theory men. But, in concluding, +we may be allowed to observe, that the +causes why a restrictive and exclusive +system does answer for Russia, and, +on the contrary, tends to the ruin of +Spain, are simply these:—The raw +materials of Russia are indispensable +for this and other manufacturing +countries, because cheaper and more +abundant than can be elsewhere procured, +and the price of labour is low. +The raw products of Spain necessary +for manufactures are, on the reverse, +dear priced; her products of luxury, +even, are dear; her rates of labour +are higher than in this or any other +country of Europe. Two shillings +and sixpence a-day, or fifteen shillings +a-week; with, besides Sundays, a hundred +saints' days or holidays in the +year, put her labour and produce quite +<i>hors de combat</i> in the race of competition. +A Spanish operative would +no more toil on a <i>dia de dos cruces</i>, +(two saints on one day,) than he would +fast on a feast-day, with an odorous +<i>olla podrida</i> before him on the table.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + +<a name="bw332-footnotes" id="bw332-footnotes"></a><h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote1" id="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>See "Chapters of Turkish History," No. III., November 1840.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote2" id="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2</b>: <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a><p> +He was afterwards, in 1651, mufti for a few months; but is better known as an +historian, (under the appellation of Kara-Tchelibi-Zadah,) and as having been tutor +to Ahmed-Kiuprili.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote3" id="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3</b>: <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a><p> +His name, according to Evliya, was originally Yusuf, but was changed to Mohammed +on the entreaty of the ladies of the seraglio, who said that Yusuf was the name of +a slave.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote4" id="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4</b>: <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a><p> +The Turkish historian, Naima, fancifully compares this plane to the fabulous tree +in the islands of Wak-Wak, the fruit of which consisted of human heads, as is fully +detailed in the romance of Hatem Tai, besides various passages of the Thousand and +One Nights. Under this same plane, by a singular instance of retribution, the heads +of the janissaries massacred in the At-meidan in 1826, were piled by order of Sultan +Mahmood.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote5" id="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5</b>: <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a><p> +The Turkish annalists do not fail to remark, that Kiuprili crossed the imperial +threshold at the moment when the call to noon prayers was resounding from the minarets—an +evident token of the Divine protection extended to him!</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote6" id="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6</b>: <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a><p> +In a narrative by a writer named Chassipol, (Paris, 1676,) professing to be the +biography of the two first Kiuprili vizirs, Mohammed is said to have been the son of a +French emigrant, and this romance has been copied by most European authors. But +the testimony of Evliya, Kara-Tchelibi, and all contemporary Turkish writers, is decisive +on the point of his Albanian origin.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote7" id="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7</b>: <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a><p> +Ipshir Mustapha Pasha was originally a Circassian slave, and said to have been +a tribesman and near relation of the famous Abaza. During the revolutions which distracted +the minority of Mohammed, he became grand-vizir for a few months, (Oct. +1654–May 1655,) but was cut off by an unanimous insurrection of the spahis and +janissaries, who forgot their feuds for the sake of vengeance on the common enemy.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote8" id="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8</b>: <a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a><p> +De la Haye, the French ambassador, was imprisoned in 1658, and his son bastinadoed +in the presence of Kiuprili, for being unable or unwilling to give a key to some +letters in cipher from the Venetians; and some years later, the envoy of the Czar, +Alexis Mikhailowitz, was driven, with blows and violence, from the presence of the +sultan, who was irritated by the incompetency of the interpreter to translate the Czar's +letter! This latter outrage, however, was not till after the death of the elder Kiuprili.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote9" id="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9</b>: <a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a><p> +This monstrous exaggeration is reduced by Rycaut to the more credible, but still +enormous number of 36,000 victims during the five years of his ministry.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote10" id="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10</b>: <a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a><p> +"The Turk," says Montecuculi, "who is always armed, never finds time bald, +but can always seize him by the forelock: the number of his victories, and the extent +of territory which he has taken from the Christians, and which they have never been +able to recover, sufficiently proves this, and shows the rashness and folly of those who +pretend to make light of his power."</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote11" id="footnote11"></a><b>Footnote 11</b>: <a href="#footnotetag11">(return)</a><p> +The name of Candia, which is the Italianized form of Kandax, (now Megalo-Kastro,) +is unknown at the present day to the Greek inhabitants of the island, which +they call by its classic name of <span class="greek" title="Kraetae">Κρητη</span>.—See PASHLEY'S <i>Travels in Crete</i>, i. chap. 11.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote12" id="footnote12"></a><b>Footnote 12</b>: <a href="#footnotetag12">(return)</a><p> +A notable retort is on record from the vizir to the Venetian envoy, who, on repairing +to Constantinople after the battle, expressed his astonishment at the progress already +made in the equipment of a new fleet. "Know," (said the haughty Osmanli,) "that +the loss of a fleet to the Padishah is as the shaving of his beard, which will grow again +all the thicker; whereas the loss of Cyprus is to Venice as the amputation of an arm +from the body, which will never be reproduced."</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote13" id="footnote13"></a><b>Footnote 13</b>: <a href="#footnotetag13">(return)</a><p> +"Thus were they annihilated, and all men who were faithful and devoted to God +and their prince, were solaced and consoled."—<i>MS. Chronicle by the notary Trivan, +quoted by</i> PASHLEY, chap. 33. These atrocities were perpetrated in the early part of +the 16th century.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote14" id="footnote14"></a><b>Footnote 14</b>: <a href="#footnotetag14">(return)</a><p> +Among the captives was the ex-nurse of the heir-apparent, afterwards Mohammed +IV., with her son, who was mistaken for a prince of the Imperial family; and +being carried to Malta, was brought up there as a monk under the name of Padre +Ottomanno! During the siege of Candia he was brought to the beleaguered fortress, +in the hope that the presence of this supposed Turkish prince of the blood would shake +the allegiance of the janissaries—but this notable scheme, as might have been foreseen, +was wholly without success.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote15" id="footnote15"></a><b>Footnote 15</b>: <a href="#footnotetag15">(return)</a><p> +Many of them adopted the faith of the invaders—and Tournefort, who visited +Crete in 1700, says that "the greater part of the Turks on the island were either +renegades, or sons of renegades." The Candiote Turks of the present day are popularly +held to combine the vices of the nation from which they descend with those of +their adopted countrymen.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote16" id="footnote16"></a><b>Footnote 16</b>: <a href="#footnotetag16">(return)</a><p> +The use of parallels is usually said to have been introduced at this time by Kiuprili; +but they were certainly employed before Neuhausel, four years earlier.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote17" id="footnote17"></a><b>Footnote 17</b>: <a href="#footnotetag17">(return)</a><p> +These were, the Sabionera, covered by the detached fort of St Demetrius, the +Vetturi, Jesus, Martinengo, Bethlehem, Panigra, and St Andrew.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote18" id="footnote18"></a><b>Footnote 18</b>: <a href="#footnotetag18">(return)</a><p> +The majority of these volunteers were supplied by the fiery noblesse of France, +among whom the crusading spirit of their ancestors seems to have been revived at this +period. At the battle of St Gothard, a considerable body of French auxiliaries was +present, under the Duc de la Feuillade, (whose name was travestied by the Turks into, +<i>Fouladi, man of steel</i>;) and his subsequent expedition to Candia, as well as the more +formidable armament under Noailles, seem to have received the direct sanction of Louis +XIV. Yet the old treaties between France and the Porte were still in force; so that +it was not without some reason that Kiuprili replied, a few years later, to the Marquis +de Nointel's professions of amity on the part of France, "I know that the French are +our friends, but I always happen to find them in the ranks of our enemies!"</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote19" id="footnote19"></a><b>Footnote 19</b>: <a href="#footnotetag19">(return)</a><p> +Villa is said to have produced before the senate of Venice a letter from Morosini +to the vizir, offering to betray him into the hands of the Turks.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote20" id="footnote20"></a><b>Footnote 20</b>: <a href="#footnotetag20">(return)</a><p> +The harbour of Candia (now almost choked up) was at all times so small, and with +so little depth of water, as to afford shelter only to galleys, the station of the larger +vessels being at the isle of Standia, at some leagues' distance.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote21" id="footnote21"></a><b>Footnote 21</b>: <a href="#footnotetag21">(return)</a><p> +The appointment of the <i>Greek</i> Panayoti marks an important change in the system +of Ottoman diplomacy; as previously the Porte had disdained to employ the <i>rayahs</i> in +places of trust, depending wholly, in their intercourse with foreign ambassadors, on the +interpreters attached to the suite of the latter.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote22" id="footnote22"></a><b>Footnote 22</b>: <a href="#footnotetag22">(return)</a><p> +Bashlík—a bonnet worn in bad weather.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote23" id="footnote23"></a><b>Footnote 23</b>: <a href="#footnotetag23">(return)</a><p> +Give him her feelings—a Tartar phrase.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote24" id="footnote24"></a><b>Footnote 24</b>: <a href="#footnotetag24">(return)</a><p> +Willingly, if you please? Literally, "on my head, on my eyes."</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote25" id="footnote25"></a><b>Footnote 25</b>: <a href="#footnotetag25">(return)</a><p> +This cushion is embroidered with jewels, and is invaluable.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote26" id="footnote26"></a><b>Footnote 26</b>: <a href="#footnotetag26">(return)</a><p> +The Mussulmans believe, that in the northern burial-ground of Derbénd, are +buried the forty first true believers, who were martyred by the idolaters.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote27" id="footnote27"></a><b>Footnote 27</b>: <a href="#footnotetag27">(return)</a><p> +God gave—Much good may it do you.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote28" id="footnote28"></a><b>Footnote 28</b>: <a href="#footnotetag28">(return)</a><p> +Brown's Lectures, Lecture xxviii.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote29" id="footnote29"></a><b>Footnote 29</b>: <a href="#footnotetag29">(return)</a><p> +Mill's Analysis, vol. i. p. 73.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote30" id="footnote30"></a><b>Footnote 30</b>: <a href="#footnotetag30">(return)</a><p> +This reasoning of Dr Brown's is founded upon an assumed analogy between the +structure of the optic nerve, and the structure of the olfactory nerves and other sensitive +nerves, and is completely disproved by the physiological observations of Treviranus, +who has shown that no such analogy exists: that the ends of the nervous fibres in the +retina being elevated into distinct separate <i>papillæ</i>, enable us to perceive the extension, +and discriminate the position of visible bodies, while the nerves of the other +senses being less delicately defined, are not fitted to furnish us with any such perception, +or to aid us in making any such discrimination. See <i>Müller's Physiology, +translated by W. Baly, M.D.</i>, vol. ii. pp. 1073, 1074. Although the application +of Treviranus's discovery to the refutation of Dr Brown's reasoning is our own, we +may remark, in justice to an eminent philosopher, that it was Sir William Hamilton +who first directed our attention to the <i>fact</i> as established by the great physiologist.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote31" id="footnote31"></a><b>Footnote 31</b>: <a href="#footnotetag31">(return)</a><p> +Mr Bailey seems disposed to carp at us for having confined our remarks to this +first question, and for not having given a more complete review of his book. But the +reason why we cut short our critique is obvious; for if it be proved, as we believe it +can, that objects are originally seen at <i>no distance whatever</i> from the sight, it becomes +quite superfluous to enquire what appearance they would present if originally seen at +<i>some</i> distance from the sight. The way in which we disposed of the first question, +however imperfect our treatment of it may have been, necessarily prevented us from +entering upon the second; and our review, with all its deficiencies, was thus a complete +review of his book, though not a review of his complete book.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote32" id="footnote32"></a><b>Footnote 32</b>: <a href="#footnotetag32">(return)</a><p> +Review of Berkeley's Theory, p 35.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote33" id="footnote33"></a><b>Footnote 33</b>: <a href="#footnotetag33">(return)</a><p> +Ibid. p. 136.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote34" id="footnote34"></a><b>Footnote 34</b>: <a href="#footnotetag34">(return)</a><p> +Review of Berkeley's Theory, p. 137.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote35" id="footnote35"></a><b>Footnote 35</b>: <a href="#footnotetag35">(return)</a><p> +Essay, § 158.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote36" id="footnote36"></a><b>Footnote 36</b>: <a href="#footnotetag36">(return)</a><p> +It would not be difficult to show, that as, on the one hand, <i>distance</i> is not involved +in the original intuitions of sight, so, on the other hand, <i>proximity</i> is not involved in +the original intuitions of touch; but that, while it is the touch which establishes an interval +between the organ and the objects of sight, it is the sight which establishes <i>no</i> +interval between the organ and the objects of touch. Sight thus pays back every fraction +of the debt it has incurred to its brother sense. This is an interesting subject, but +we can only glance at it here.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote37" id="footnote37"></a><b>Footnote 37</b>: <a href="#footnotetag37">(return)</a><p> +We observe that even Müller speaks of the "faculty of projection" as if he sanctioned +and adopted the hypothesis.—See <i>Physiology</i>, vol. ii. p. 1167.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote38" id="footnote38"></a><b>Footnote 38</b>: <a href="#footnotetag38">(return)</a><p> +Lucretius.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote39" id="footnote39"></a><b>Footnote 39</b>: <a href="#footnotetag39">(return)</a><p> +T. Warton's "Suicide."</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a name="footnote40" id="footnote40"></a><b>Footnote 40</b>: <a href="#footnotetag40">(return)</a><p> +The cotton piece goods of India were still subject, in 1814, to a duty on importation +equal to 85 per cent. This duty was reduced on the 5th of July 1819, +but to L.67, 10s. per cent only. Finally, in 1825 the duty was again reduced to +10 per cent, at which it remains. The duty on cotton yarn imported from India +was at the same time subject to a duty of 10d. per lb., and so remained till 1831 +at least. It must be borne in mind, that India was the only country in the world +which, before and during the rise of the cotton manufacture in Great Britain, was, +or could be, an exporter of cotton fabrics and yarns.</p> +</blockquote> + + +<hr class="full"> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="page827" id="page827" title="827"></a></span> +<a name="bw332-index" id="bw332-index"></a><h2>INDEX TO VOL. LIII.</h2> + +<div class="blkquot"><p>[Transcriber's note: The page numbers refer to editions 327 to 332, +published between January and June, 1843, according to the following +table:</p></div> + +<table align="center"> + <tr><td align="center">Edition</td><td align="center"> Pages </td><td align="center">Month</td></tr> + <tr><td align="center">327</td><td align="center">1–140</td><td align="center">January</td></tr> + <tr><td align="center">328</td><td align="center">141–280</td><td align="center">February</td></tr> + <tr><td align="center">329</td><td align="center">281–414</td><td align="center">March</td></tr> + <tr><td align="center">330</td><td align="center">415–550</td><td align="center">April</td></tr> + <tr><td align="center">331</td><td align="center">551–692</td><td align="center">May</td></tr> + <tr><td align="center">332</td><td align="center">693–826</td><td align="center">June.]</td></tr> +</table> + +<ul> + <li>Aden, on the occupation of, 484.</li> + <li>Affghanistan, + <ul> + <li>the war in, 17</li> + <li>review of the events in, 239</li> + <li>the evacuation of, 266.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Agriculture, the practice of, 415.</li> + <li>Akhbar Khan, + <ul> + <li>murder of Macnaghten by, 257</li> + <li>defeat of, at Tazeen, 269.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Amalia, from the German of Schiller, 442.</li> + <li>Ammalát Bek, a tale, translated from the Russian, + <ul> + <li>Translator's preface, 281</li> + <li>Chap. I., 288</li> + <li>Chap. II., 296</li> + <li>Chap. III., 464</li> + <li>Chap. IV., 471</li> + <li>Chap. V., 478</li> + <li>Chap. VI., 568</li> + <li>Chap. VII., 573</li> + <li>Chap. VIII., 579</li> + <li>Chap. IX., 584</li> + <li>Chap. X., <a href="#page746">746</a></li> + <li>Chap. XI., <a href="#page750">750</a></li> + <li>Chap. XII., <a href="#page752">752</a></li> + <li>Chap. XIII., <a href="#page755">755</a></li> + <li>Chap. XIV. <a href="#page759">759</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Anti-Corn Law League, failure of the, 6.</li> + <li>Antique at Paris, the, from Schiller, 312.</li> + <li>Antique, the, to the Northern Wanderer, 312.</li> + <li>Aristocracies of London life, the, 67 + <ul> + <li>the aristocracy of fashion, 68</li> + <li>of power, 227</li> + <li>of talent, 386.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Arnold's lectures on history, review of, 141.</li> + <li>Astronomical works, from Schiller, 311.</li> + <li>Attorney's Clerk in the Monk's Hood, the, a review of Chatterton, <a href="#page780">780</a>.</li> + <li>Auckland, Lord, remarks on his policy in India, 18, 266.</li> + <li>Bailey, Mr, his Reply to an Article in Blackwood's Magazine, on Berkeley's Theory of Vision, <a href="#page762">762</a>.</li> + <li>Ballads of Schiller, the, see <a href="#index-Schiller">Schiller</a>.</li> + <li>Battle, the, from Schiller, 446.</li> + <li>Battle of the Blocks, the, 614.</li> + <li>Berkeley's Theory of Vision, further remarks on, <a href="#page762">762</a>.</li> + <li>Book of the Farm, review of the, 415.</li> + <li>Buckingham, the Duke of, his resignation, 5.</li> + <li>Burial march of Dundee, the, 537.</li> + <li>Burnes, Sir Alexander, murder of, 244.</li> + <li>Cabul, Eyre's Narrative of the Operations in, reviewed, 239.</li> + <li>Caleb Stukely, + <ul> + <li>Part X. The Revulsion, 33</li> + <li>Part XI. Saints and Sinners, 213</li> + <li>Part XII. The Parsonage, 314</li> + <li>Part XIII. The Fugitive, 496</li> + <li>Part last, Tranquillity, 651.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Candia, the siege of, <a href="#page718">718</a>.</li> + <li>Capello, Bianca, history of, 554.</li> + <li>Chapters of Turkish History, No. IX, Rise of the Kiuprili family siege of Candia, <a href="#page718">718</a>.</li> + <li>Chatterton's Poems, review of, <a href="#page780">780</a>.</li> + <li>Chief End of Man, the, from Schiller, 311.</li> + <li>China, state of our relations with, at the commencement of 1843, 19 + <ul> + <li>justice of the war with, 20</li> + <li>future prospects of, 21.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Claverhouse's Burial March, a poem, 537.</li> + <li>Columbus, from Schiller, 312.</li> + <li>Commercial Policy in relation to Spain, review of, 673 + <ul> + <li>In relation to Russia, <a href="#page807">807</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Comte, Auguste, review of his Cours de Philosophie Positive, 397.</li> + <li>Corn-Law, Sir Robert Peel's alteration in the, defended, 5.</li> + <li>Correctness, from Schiller, 310.</li> + <li>Count Eberhard the Grumbler, from Schiller, 628.</li> + <li>Cromwell and Sir Oliver Cromwell, Imaginary conversation between, 209.</li> + <li>Cunningham's Life of Reynolds, strictures on, 596.</li> + <li>Curse of Glencoe, the, by B. Simmons, 121.</li> + <li>Death of Thomas Hamilton, Esq., 280.</li> + <li>Delta, the Lost Lamb, by, 395.</li> + <li>Disturbances in the manufacturing districts, the, 11.</li> + <li>Division of Ranks, the, from Schiller, 311.</li> + <li>Dream of Lord Nithsdale, the, by Charles Mackay, 83.</li> + <li>Dumas' Travels in Italy, review of, 552.</li> + <li>Dundee, the burial march of, 537.</li> + <li>East and South of Europe, the, 101.<span class="newpage"><a name="page828" id="page828" title="828"></a></span></li> + <li>Eberhard of Wurtemberg, from Schiller, 628.</li> + <li>El Empecinado, passage in the career of, 343.</li> + <li>Ellenborough, Lord, policy of, in India, 18 + <ul> + <li>his policy with regard to Affghanistan, 266</li> + <li>his proclamation on evacuating the country, 276</li> + <li>defended against the charges of the Whigs, 539.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Elysium, from Schiller, 628.</li> + <li>Europe, the east and south of, 101.</li> + <li>Evacuation of Affghanistan, the, 266.</li> + <li>Expectation and Fulfilment, from Schiller, 439.</li> + <li>Eyre's narrative of the events in Cabul, review of, 239.</li> + <li>Fantasia to Laura, from Schiller, 638.</li> + <li>Favour of the moment, the, from Schiller, 438.</li> + <li>Fight with the dragon, the, from Schiller, 175.</li> + <li>Financial position of Great Britain at the close of 1842, 6.</li> + <li>Florence, sketches of, 561.</li> + <li>Flowers, from Schiller, 445.</li> + <li>Foreign affairs, aspect of, at the commencement of 1843, 15.</li> + <li>Fortune and Wisdom, from Schiller, 631.</li> + <li>Fortune-Favoured, the, from Schiller, 439.</li> + <li>Founding of the Bell, the, by Charles Mackay, 462.</li> + <li>Funeral phantasie, from Schiller, 626.</li> + <li>Genius, from Schiller, 310.</li> + <li>Gentility-mongering, on, 379.</li> + <li>Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield illustrated, review of, <a href="#page771">771</a>.</li> + <li>Good and the Beautiful, the, from Schiller, 309.</li> + <li>Great Britain at the commencement of 1843, 1 + <ul> + <li>her position on the meeting of parliament, 5</li> + <li>financial state, 7</li> + <li>aspect of domestic affairs, 14</li> + <li>and of foreign relations, 15</li> + <li>state of her Indian empire, 18</li> + <li>and of affairs in China, 19.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Group in Tartarus, a, from Schiller, 627.</li> + <li>Hamilton, Thomas, Esq., death of, 280.</li> + <li>Hector and Andromache, from Schiller, 441.</li> + <li>History, Arnold's Lectures on, reviewed, 141.</li> + <li>Honour to Woman, from Schiller, 173.</li> + <li>Ideal, the, from Schiller, 433.</li> + <li>Ideal and the Actual Life, the, from Schiller, 435.</li> + <li>Ignacio Guerra and El Sangrador, a tale of civil war, <a href="#page791">791</a>.</li> + <li>Imaginary Conversations, + <ul> + <li>by Walter Savage Landor + <ul> + <li>between Tasso and Cornelia, 62</li> + <li>between Cromwell and Sir Oliver Cromwell, 209</li> + <li>between Sandt and Kotzebue, 338;</li> + </ul></li> + <li>by Edward Quillinan + <ul> + <li>between W.S. Landor and Christopher North, 518.</li> + </ul></li> + </ul></li> + <li>Imitator, the, from Schiller, 310.</li> + <li>Income Tax, discussion on the, 7 + <ul> + <li>remarks on, 8</li> + <li>causes which led to its imposition, 10.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Infanticide, the, from Schiller, 631.</li> + <li>Ireland, state of, at the commencement of 1843, 14.</li> + <li>Italy, Dumas' travels in, reviewed, 552.</li> + <li>Jeweller's Wife, the, a passage in the career of El Empecinado, 343.</li> + <li>Jove to Hercules, from Schiller, 311.</li> + <li>Khelat, occupation of, by the British, 274.</li> + <li>Khoord Cabul pass, retreat of the British through the, 262.</li> + <li>Kiuprili Family, rise of the, a chapter in Turkish history, <a href="#page718">718</a>.</li> + <li>Landor, Walter Savage, Imaginary Conversations by + <ul> + <li>between Tasso and Cornelia, 62</li> + <li>Cromwell and Sir Oliver Cromwell, 209</li> + <li>Sandt and Kotzebue, 338</li> + <li>lines by, 337</li> + <li>Imaginary conversation between, and Christopher North, 518.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Last of the Shepherds, the, + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., 447</li> + <li>Chap. II., 449</li> + <li>Chap. III., 451</li> + <li>Chap. IV., 453</li> + <li>Chap. V., 455</li> + <li>Chap. VI., 458</li> + <li>Chap. VII., 460.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Lay of the Bell, the, from Schiller, 302.</li> + <li>Leap Year, a tale, + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., 603</li> + <li>Chap. II., 606</li> + <li>Chap. III., 611.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Lesurques, or the victim of Judicial error, + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., the four guests, 24</li> + <li>Chap. II., the four horsemen, 25</li> + <li>Chap. III., the robbery and murder, ib.</li> + <li>Chap. IV., the arrest, 26</li> + <li>Chap. V., the trial, 28</li> + <li>Chap. VI., the execution, 30</li> + <li>Chap. VII., the proofs, ib.</li> + <li>Chap. VIII., the way in which France rectifies an error, 32.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>London, the world of, see <a href="#index-World">World</a>.</li> + <li>Londonderry, the Marquis of, review of his steam voyage to Constantinople, &c., 101.</li> + <li>Lost Lamb, the, by Delta, 295.</li> + <li>Love's Triumph, from Schiller, 635.</li> + <li>Mackay, Charles, dream of Lord Nithsdale, by, 83 + <ul> + <li>Founding of the Bell, by, 462.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Mackenzie, Captain, account of the murder of Macnaghten, by, 257.</li> + <li>Macnaghten, Sir William, description of the murder of, 257.</li> + <li>Maître-d'Armes, a passage in the life of a, <a href="#page733">733</a>.</li> + <li>Marlínski's Ammalát Bek, translation of, + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., 288</li> + <li>Chap. II., 296</li> + <li>Chap. III., 464</li> + <li>Chap. IV., 471</li> + <li>Chap. V., 478</li> + <li>Chap. VI., 568</li> + <li>Chap. VII., 573</li> + <li>Chap. VIII., 579</li> + <li>Chap. IX., 584</li> + <li>Chap. X., <a href="#page746">746</a></li> + <li>Chap. XI., <a href="#page750">750</a></li> + <li>Chap. XII., <a href="#page752">752</a></li> + <li>Chap. XIII., <a href="#page755">755</a></li> + <li>Chap. XIV., <a href="#page759">759</a>.</li> + </ul><span class="newpage"><a name="page829" id="page829" title="829"></a></span></li> + <li><a name="index-Marston" id="index-Marston">Marston</a>; or, the memoirs of a statesman. Part I., <a href="#page693">693</a>.</li> + <li>Martyr's Monologue, the, a poem, 125.</li> + <li>Master, the, from Schiller, 310.</li> + <li>Memorandums of a month's tour in Sicily—leaving Naples—steam boatiana, <a href="#page799">799</a> + <ul> + <li>churches, <a href="#page802">802</a></li> + <li>visit to the gardens of the Duke of Serra di Falco, near Palermo, <a href="#page802">ib</a>.</li> + <li>the Thunny fishery, <a href="#page804">804</a></li> + <li>the fishmarket, <a href="#page805">805</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Merchant, the, from Schiller, 312.</li> + <li>Might of Song, from Schiller, 172.</li> + <li>Monaco, sketch of the history of, 573.</li> + <li>Moralist, to a, from Schiller, 630.</li> + <li>Mulready's illustrations to the Vicar of Wakefield, review of, <a href="#page771">771</a>.</li> + <li>Music in England, state of, Part I., 127.</li> + <li>Mystery of reminiscence, the, from Schiller, 442.</li> + <li>Natural history of the salmon and sea-trout, the, 640.</li> + <li>Non-intrusion controversy, account of the, 352.</li> + <li>Nott, General, movements of, in Cabul, 270.</li> + <li>Occupation of Aden, on the, 484.</li> + <li>Opium question, the, 22.</li> + <li>Parr, natural history of the, 640 + <ul> + <li>its identity with the salmon, 643.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Passage in the life of a Maître-d'Armes, <a href="#page733">733</a>.</li> + <li>Paul de Kockneyisms, by a Cockney, 366 + <ul> + <li>a cit's soirée, 373.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Paving Question, the, 614.</li> + <li>Peel, Sir Robert, difficulties of his position on his accession to power, 2 + <ul> + <li>errors of his predecessors, 5</li> + <li>his alteration in the corn-law, 5</li> + <li>his financial policy, 7</li> + <li>his tariff, 11.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Philosophy of Dress, the, 230.</li> + <li>Poems and Ballads of Schiller. See <a href="#index-Schiller">Schiller</a>.</li> + <li>Poetry, the dream of Lord Nithsdale, by Charles Mackay, 83 + <ul> + <li>the curse of Glencoe, by B. Simmons, 121</li> + <li>the martyr's monologue, 125</li> + <li>the poems and ballads of Schiller, + <ul> + <li>Part V., 166</li> + <li>Part VI., 302</li> + <li>Part VII., 433</li> + <li>Part VIII., 626</li> + </ul></li> + <li>the young grey head, 202</li> + <li>lines by W.S. Landor, 337</li> + <li>the lost lamb, by Delta, 395</li> + <li>the founding of the bell, by Charles Mackay, 462</li> + <li>sonnet, on viewing my mother's picture, 495</li> + <li>the burial march of Dundee, 537</li> + <li>the vigil of Venus, <a href="#page715">715</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Poetry of Life, the, from Schiller, 313.</li> + <li>Pollock, General, advance of, into Affghanistan, 269.</li> + <li>Poor-law, support of the, by the Conservatives, 14.</li> + <li>Practice of Agriculture, the, 415.</li> + <li>Pretenders to Fashion, on, 234.</li> + <li>Quillinan, Edward, imaginary conversation by, between W.S. Landor and Christopher North, 518.</li> + <li>Retreat from Cabul, description of the, 261.</li> + <li>Reviews, + <ul> + <li>Londonderry's steam voyage to Constantinople, 101</li> + <li>Reynolds's discourses, + <ul> + <li>Part II., 181</li> + <li>conclusion, 589</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Eyre's Cabul, 239</li> + <li>Auguste Comte's cours de philosophie positive, 397</li> + <li>Stephens' Book of the Farm, 415</li> + <li>Dumas' Travels in Italy, 552</li> + <li>Young and Shaw on Salmon and Sea-Trout, 640</li> + <li>The Vicar of Wakefield, illustrated by William Mulready, R.A., <a href="#page771">771</a></li> + <li>Chatterton's poems, <a href="#page780">780</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Reynolds, Sir Joshua, review of the discourses of, Part II., 181 + <ul> + <li>conclusion, 589</li> + <li>defence of, against the aspersions of Allan Cunningham, 496.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Riots in the manufacturing districts, the, 13.</li> + <li>Rousseau, from Schiller, 631.</li> + <li>Rowley's Poems, review of, <a href="#page780">780</a>.</li> + <li>Rudolph of Hapsburg, from Schiller, 169.</li> + <li>Russia, commercial policy in reference to, <a href="#page807">807</a>.</li> + <li>Russian Literature, remarks on, 281.</li> + <li>Salmon, Natural History of the, 640.</li> + <li>Sandt and Kotzebue, imaginary conversation between, by Walter Savage Landor, 338</li> + <li>Sangrador, El, and Ignacio Guerra, a tale of civil war, <a href="#page791">791</a>.</li> + <li><a name="index-Schiller" id="index-Schiller">Schiller</a>, the Poems and Ballads of, translated. + <ul> + <li>No. V. + <ul> + <li>The victory-feast, 166</li> + <li>Rudolph of Hapsburg, 169</li> + <li>the words of error, 171</li> + <li>the words of belief, 172</li> + <li>the might of song, ib.</li> + <li>honour to woman, 173</li> + <li>the fight with the dragon, 175</li> + </ul> + <li>No. VI. + <ul> + <li>The lay of the bell, 302</li> + <li>votive tablets, 309</li> + <li>the good and the beautiful, ib.</li> + <li>to ——, 310</li> + <li>genius, ib.</li> + <li>correctness, ib.</li> + <li>the imitator, ib.</li> + <li>the master, ib.</li> + <li>to the mystic, ib.</li> + <li>astronomical works, 311</li> + <li>the division of ranks, ib.</li> + <li>theophany, ib.</li> + <li>the chief end of man, ib.</li> + <li>Ulysses, ib.</li> + <li>Jove to Hercules, ib.</li> + <li>the sower, 312</li> + <li>the merchant, ib.</li> + <li>Columbus, ib.</li> + <li>the antique to the northern wanderer, ib.</li> + <li>the antique at Paris, ib.</li> + <li>the poetry of life, 313</li> + </ul></li> + <li>No. VII. + <ul> + <li>The ideal, 433</li> + <li>the ideal and the actual life, 435</li> + <li>the favour of the moment, 438</li> + <li>expectation and fulfilment, 439</li> + <li>to the proselyte maker, ib.</li> + <li>value and worth, ib.</li> + <li>the fortune-favoured, ib.</li> + <li>Poems of the first period, introductory remarks on them, 441</li> + <li>Hector and Andromache, ib.</li> + <li>to Laura, the mystery of reminiscence, 442</li> + <li>to Laura, rapture, ib.</li> + <li>to Laura, playing, 444</li> + <li>flowers, 445</li> + <li>the battle, ib.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>No. VIII. + <ul> + <li>A funeral fantasie, 626<span class="newpage"><a name="page830" id="page830" title="830"></a></span></li> + <li>a group in Tartarus, 627</li> + <li>Elysium, 628</li> + <li>Count Eberhard, the grumbler, of Wurtemberg, ib.</li> + <li>to a moralist, 630</li> + <li>Rousseau, 631</li> + <li>fortune and favour, ib.</li> + <li>the infanticide, ib.</li> + <li>remarks on it, 634</li> + <li>the triumph of love, 635</li> + <li>fantasie to Laura, 638</li> + <li>to the spring, 639.</li> + </ul></li> + </ul></li> + <li>Scinde, occupation of, by the British, 273.</li> + <li>Sea-Trout, natural history of the, 640.</li> + <li>Shah Shoojah, death of, 266, <i>note</i>.</li> + <li>Shaw, Mr, on sea-trout and salmon, 640.</li> + <li>Shaw, Thomas B., translation of Ammalát Bek by, introductory remarks, 281 + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., 288</li> + <li>Chap. II., 296</li> + <li>Chap. III., 464</li> + <li>Chap. IV., 471</li> + <li>Chap. V., 478</li> + <li>Chap. VI., 568</li> + <li>Chap. VII., 573</li> + <li>Chap. VIII., 579</li> + <li>Chap. IX., 584</li> + <li>Chap. X., <a href="#page746">746</a></li> + <li>Chap. XI., <a href="#page750">750</a></li> + <li>Chap. XII., <a href="#page752">752</a></li> + <li>Chap. XIII., <a href="#page755">755</a></li> + <li>Chap. XIV., <a href="#page759">759</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Shepherds, last of the, a tale, + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., 447</li> + <li>Chap. II., 449</li> + <li>Chap. III., 451</li> + <li>Chap. IV., 453</li> + <li>Chap. V., 455</li> + <li>Chap. VI., 458</li> + <li>Chap. VII., 460.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Sicily, memorandum of a month's tour in, leaving Naples, steam-boatiana, <a href="#page799">799</a> + <ul> + <li>churches, <a href="#page802">802</a></li> + <li>visit to the garden of the Duke of Serra di Falco, near Palermo, <a href="#page802">ib</a>.</li> + <li>the Thunny fishery, <a href="#page804">804</a></li> + <li>the fishmarket, <a href="#page805">805</a>.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Siege of Candia, the, <a href="#page718">718</a>.</li> + <li>Simmons, B., the curse of Glencoe, by, 121.</li> + <li>Song of the bell, the, from Schiller, 302.</li> + <li>Sonnet, by the author of the Life of Burke, 495.</li> + <li>Sower, the, from Schiller, 312.</li> + <li>Spain, commercial policy of Great Britain towards, 673.</li> + <li>Spring, address to, from Schiller, 639.</li> + <li>Statesman, memoirs of a, see <a href="#index-Marston">Marston</a>.</li> + <li>Stephens' Book of the Farm, review of, 415.</li> + <li>Tale of a Tub, the, an additional chapter, how Jack ran mad a second time, 352.</li> + <li>Tariff, reconstruction of the, difficulty of the task, 11.</li> + <li>Tasso and Cornelia, imaginary conversation between, by Walter Savage Landor, 62.</li> + <li>Taste and Music in England, state of, Part. I., 127.</li> + <li>Theophany, from Schiller, 311.</li> + <li>Thunny fishery, the, <a href="#page804">804</a>.</li> + <li>To ——, from Schiller, 310.</li> + <li>To Laura, the mystery of reminiscence, from Schiller, 442.</li> + <li>To Laura, rapture, from Schiller, 443.</li> + <li>To Laura, playing, from Schiller, 444.</li> + <li>To a Moralist, from Schiller, 630.</li> + <li>To the Mystic, from Schiller, 310.</li> + <li>To the Proselyte-maker, from Schiller, 439.</li> + <li>To the Spring, from Schiller, 639.</li> + <li>Triumph of Love, the, from Schiller, 635.</li> + <li>Turkish History, chapters of; No. IX. rise of the Kiuprili family siege of Candia, <a href="#page718">718</a>.</li> + <li>Two Hours of Mystery, a tale, + <ul> + <li>Chap. I., 85</li> + <li>Chap. II., 89</li> + <li>Chap. III., 93.</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Ulysses, from Schiller, 311.</li> + <li>Value and Worth, from Schiller, 439.</li> + <li>Vicar of Wakefield illustrated, review of, <a href="#page771">771</a>.</li> + <li>Victory Feast, the, from Schiller, 166.</li> + <li>Vigil of Venus, the, translated from the Latin, <a href="#page715">715</a>.</li> + <li>Votive Tablets, from Schiller, 309.</li> + <li>Whigs, the, and Lord Ellenborough, 539.</li> + <li>Wood Paving, remarks on, 614.</li> + <li>Words of Error, the, from Schiller, 171 + <ul> + <li>and of belief, 172.</li> + </ul></li> + <li><a name="index-World" id="index-World">World</a> of London, 2d series. + <ul> + <li>Part I. + <ul> + <li>Aristocracies of London life, 67</li> + <li>the aristocracy of fashion, 68</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Part II. + <ul> + <li>Concerning slow fellows, 225</li> + <li>the aristocracy of power, 227</li> + <li>the philosophy of dress, 230</li> + <li>pretenders to fashion, 234</li> + </ul></li> + <li>Part III. + <ul> + <li>Aristocracies of London life continued, of gentility-mongering, 379</li> + <li>the aristocracy of talent, 386.</li> + </ul></li> + </ul></li> + <li>Young, Mr, on grilse and salmon, review of, 640.</li> + <li>Young grey head, the, a poem, 202.</li> +</ul> + +<hr class="full"> + +<h2>END OF VOL. LIII.</h2> + +<hr class="full"> + +<center><i>Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work.</i></center> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12511 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |