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diff --git a/12530-0.txt b/12530-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a069f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/12530-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1494 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12530 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 12530-h.htm or 12530-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/3/12530/12530-h/12530-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/3/12530/12530-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 20, NO. 580.] SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE ANNUALS FOR 1833. + + +[Illustration: ST. GOAR, (_on the Rhine._)] + + + + +THE PICTURESQUE ANNUAL. + +This is certainly one of the most splendid works of the kind ever +produced in this or any other country. This is high but not unmerited +praise; as the reader will believe when we tell him, that it contains +twenty-six large plates, from drawings by Stanfield, engraved by +first-rate artists, and superintended by Mr. Charles Heath. They are +all, strictly speaking, PICTURESQUE scenes, chosen with great skill, +and with right understanding of the Picturesque. The literary portion +consists of Travelling Sketches on the Rhine, and in Belgium, and in +Holland, by Mr. Leitch Ritchie. The plates are, of course, intended as +illustrations to the letter-press; but it is too evident, that the +latter has been _written_ to the plates. However, that matters not, +for the twenty-six engravings are amply worth twenty-one shillings, the +cost of the volume. The author's share is lively and jaunty, and of the +most here-and-there description. We only intend to quote the portion +accompanying the Engraving on the annexed page.[1] + + +ST. GOAR, (_on the Rhine_). + +"We now arrived at St. Goar, and the ruins of the castle of Rheinfels: +but here the pen gives willing place to the pencil. In the view, the +town and river are seen through an arch, in such a way as to convey +a complete idea of what we call the Lakes of the Rhine. In entering +St. Goar by the gate of the Rhine, a stranger of these every-day times +thinks of nothing but being bothered about his passport. It was once +very different. A traveller of any consideration, who visited the town +for the first time, was asked by the functionary, 'Sir, My Lord, or Sir +Knight'--as it happened--'with what do you please to be baptized, wine +or water?'--'With wine,' of course was the answer, if the respondent +happened to be a man of any kind of good sense or virtuous habits; and, +after being commanded to prepare himself for the ceremony, by giving +alms to the poor, he was straightway led by his sponsors to the Fleur +de Lys. In this ancient hostelrie, the neophyte was seated amidst the +assembled brethren, a brazen crown placed on his head, and the rules of +the Order of the Collar read to him. A huge goblet of silver was then +presented to him, filled to the lip with wine, and this he was commanded +to drain to the health of the Emperor; a second was emptied to the +honour of the Landgrave of Hesse; and a third gurgled salutation to the +company. The same ceremony was gone through by the sponsors; and the +name of the baptized being duly entered in the register of the Order, +a second collection was made for the poor, and he was permitted to +continue his way into the town. If, instead of wine, the misguided +individual desired baptism with water, he was justly punished for the +immorality, by a bucket of the insipid element being tumbled over his +head. This Order, it is said, had its origin in the reconciliation at +St. Goar of the two sons of Charlemagne; which was doubtless accompanied +by much out-pouring of wine, and in memory whereof they hung up at the +gates a brazen collar." + +This is the second volume of the _Picturesque Annual._ The Public +are stated, in its preface, to have contributed from ten to twelve +thousand guineas to the support of last year's volume; and we are +inclined to think, that, in his next, the Editor will have the +gratification of reporting still more munificent patronage: for, +if guineas be somewhat less abundant than twelve months since, the +disposition to foster British art, and a liberal appreciation of its +merits, has been and is on the increase; and, though the proverb be +somewhat musty, "Where there is a will," &c. + + [1] Copied by permission of the Proprietor. + + * * * * * + + +THE BOOK OF BEAUTY. + +[This is a title of no small pretension. It is in certain respects ill +chosen, though it may, in some degree, denote the exquisite triumphs +which art has here accomplished. The Illustrations consist of eighteen +portraits of every order of beauty, of variety enough to realize Sir +Philip Sidney's aphorism, that "whatsoever is liked, to the liker is +beautiful." But here all must be liked; therefore all are beautiful. The +very names would make out a sort of court-roll of Venus, and the book +itself the enchanting effect of the goddess' embroidered girdle, which +had the gift of inspiring love. This charm will doubtless ensure the +volume hundreds of possessors. The names of a few of the galaxy will +give the reader a faint idea of their charms, unless the reader accord +with Juliet's somewhat peevish "What's in a name." Thus, we find Julia, +the queen of sentimentality; Belinda, gay and sparkling; Madeline, the +early prey of despair; Lolah, languishing amid Eastern magnificence; +the Orphan, pencilled in the very simplicity of nature, and finely +contrasted with the coquetry of art; Theresa, the very type of romance; +Geraldine, Meditation, the Bride, and Lucy Ashton. But we must not omit +the heroine of our extract--with tall, etherial form, raven ringlets, +and pearly eyes--such charms as would attune the wise man to another +Song of Beauty. + +The letter-press of the volume is too in the type of beauty--from the +chastely-elegant pen of Miss Landon. It consists of tales and sketches, +lights and shadows, such as none but her accomplished pen could tell or +harmonize. Here is probably the best illustration--] + + +THE ENCHANTRESS. (_By herself._) + +You see in me, "the only living descendant of those Eastern Magi to whom +the stars revealed their mysteries, and spirits gave their power. Age +after age did sages add to that knowledge which, by bequeathing to their +posterity, they trusted would in time combat to conquer their mortality. +But the glorious race perished from the earth, till only my father was +left, and I his orphan child. Marvels and knowledge paid his life of +fasting and study. All the spirits of the elements bowed down before +him; but the future was still hidden from his eyes, and death was +omnipotent. His power of working evil had no bounds, but his power of +good was limited; and yet it was good that he desired. How dared he put +in motion those mighty changes, which seemed to promise such happiness +on earth, while he was ignorant of what their results might be? and of +what avail was the joy he might pour out on life, over whose next hour +the grave might close, and only make the parting breath more bitter +from the blessings which it was leaving behind?" + +I was no unworthy daughter of such a sire; I advanced in these divine +studies even to his wish, and looked to the future with a hope which +many years had deadened in himself, but from which I caught an omen of +ultimate success. Alas! he mastered not his destiny: I have said before, +his ashes are in yonder urn. A few unwholesome dews on a summer night +were mightier than all his science. For a time I struggled not with +despair; but youth is buoyant, and habit is strong. Again I pored over +the mystic scroll--again I called on the spirits with spell and with +sign. Many a mystery was revealed, many a wonder grew familiar; but +still death remained at the end of all things, as before. One night +I was on the terrace of my tower. Above me was the deep, blue sky, +with its stars--worlds filled, perchance, with the intelligence which +I sought. On the desert below was the phantasm of a great city. +I looked on its small and miserable streets, where hunger and cold +reigned paramount, and man was as wretched as if flung but yesterday +on the earth, and there had been as yet no time for art to yield its +assistance, or labour to bring forth its fruit. I gazed next on scenes +of festivity, but they were not glad; for I looked from the wreath into +the head it encircled, and from the carcanet of gems to the heart which +beat beneath--and I saw envy, and hate, and repining, and remorse. +I turned my last glance on the palace within its walls; but there the +purple was spread as a pall, and the voice of sorrow and the cry of pain +were loud on the air. I bade the shadows roll away upon the winds, and +rose depressed and in sorrow. I was not alone: one of those glorious +spirits, whose sphere was far beyond the power of our science, whose +existence we rather surmised than knew; stood beside me. + +From that hour a new existence opened before me. I loved, and I was +beloved--love, to which imagination gave poetry, and mind gave strength, +was the new element added to my being. Alas! how little do the miserable +race to which I belong know of such a feeling. They blend a moment's +vanity, a moment's gratification, into a temporary excitement, and they +call it love. Such are the many, and the many make the wretchedness of +earth. And yet your own heart, Leoni, and that of my gentle cousin, may +witness for my words, there are such things as truth, and tenderness, +and devotion in the world; and such redeem the darkness and degradation +of its lot. Nay, more, if ever the mystery of our destiny be unravelled, +and happiness be wrought out of wisdom, it will be the work of love. + +It matters little to tell you of my blessedness; but my very heart was +filled with the light of those radiant eyes, which were to me what the +sun is to the world. Yet one dark shadow rested on my soul, beyond even +their influence. Death had been the awful conqueror with whom my race +had so often struggled, and to whom they had so often yielded. A mortal, +I loved an immortal, and the fear of separation was ever before me; yet +a long and happy time passed away before my fear found words. + +It was one evening we were floating over the earth, and the crimson +cloud on which we lay was the one where the sun's last look had rested. +Its gleam fell on a small nook, while all around was fast melting +into shade. Still it was a sad spot which was thus brightened--it was +a new made grave. Over the others the long grass grew luxuriantly, +and speckled, too, by many small and fragrant flowers; but on this, +the dark-brown earth had been freshly turned up, and the red worm, +writhed restlessly about its disturbed habitation. Some roses had been +scattered, but they were withered; their sweet leaves were already damp +and discoloured. All wore the present and outward signs of our eternal +doom--to perish in corruption. + +The shadows of the evening fell, deepening the gloom into darkness--the +one last, bright ray had long been past, when a youth came from the +adjacent valley. That grave but yesterday received one who was to have +been his bride--his betrothed from childhood, for whose sake he had been +to far lands and gathered much wealth, but who had pined in his absence +and died. He flung himself on the loathsome place, and the night-wind +bore around the ravings of his despair. Wo for that selfishness which +belonged to my mortality! I felt at that moment more of terror than of +pity! I thought of myself: Thus must I, with all my power, my science, +and loved by one into whose sphere death comes not, even thus must +I perish! True, the rich spices, the perfumed woods, the fragrant oils, +which would feed the sacred fire of my funeral pyre, would save my +mortal remains from that corruption which makes the disgust of death +even worse than its dread. A few odoriferous ashes alone would be +left for my urn. Yet not the less must I share the common doom of my +race--I must die! + +"Nay, my beautiful!" said the voice, which was to me as the fiat of +life and of death, so utterly did it fill my existence: "why should +we thus yield to a vague terror? Listen, my beloved! I know where the +waters of the fountains of life roll their eternal waves--I know I can +bear you thither and bid you drink from their source, and over lips so +hallowed death hath no longer dominion. But, alas! I know not what may +be the punishment. Like yourselves, the knowledge of our race goes on +increasing, and our experience, like your own, hath its agonies. None +have dared what I am about to dare, and the future of my deed is even +to me a secret. But what may not be borne for that draught which makes +my loved one as immortal as my love!" + +I gazed on the glorious hope which lighted up his radiant brow, and +I said to him, "Give me an immortality which must be thine." Worlds +rolling on worlds lay beneath our feet when we stood beside the waters +of life. A joyful pride swelled in my heart. I, the last and the weakest +of my race, had won that prize which its heroes and its sages had found +too mighty for their grasp. A sound, as of a storm rushing over ocean, +startled me when I stooped to drink, the troubled waves rose into +tumultuous eddies, their fiery billows parted, and from amid them +appeared the dark and terrible Spirit of Necessity. The cloud of his +awful face grew deeper as it turned on me. "Child of a sinful and a +fallen kind!" said he, and he spoke the language most familiar to my +ear, which yet sounded like that of another world, "who have ever +measured by their own small wisdom that which is infinite--drink, and be +immortal! Be immortal, without the wisdom or the power belonging unto +immortality. Drink!" + +I shrunk from the starry waters as they rose to my lip, but a power +stronger than my will compelled me to their taste. The draught ran +through my veins like ice. Slowly I turned to where my once-worshipped +lover was leaning. The same change had passed over both. Our eyes met, +and each looked into the other's heart, and there dwelt hate--bitter, +loathing, and eternal hate. I had changed my nature; I was no longer the +gentle, up-looking mortal he had loved. I had changed my nature; he was +no longer to me the one glorious and adored being. We gazed on each +other with fear and abhorrence. The dark power, whose awful brow was +fixed upon us like Fate, again was shrouded in the kindling waters. By +an impulse neither could control, the Spirit and I flung ourselves down +the steep, blue air, but apart and each muttering, "Never! never!" And +that word "never" told our destiny. Never could either feel again that +sweet deceit of happiness, which, if it be a lie, is worth all truth. +Never more could each heart be the world of the other. + +Our feelings are as little in our power as the bodily structure they +animate. My love had been sudden, uncontrollable, and born not of my own +will--and such was my hate. As little could I master the sick shudder +his image now called up, as I could the passionate beating of the heart +it had once excited. I stood alone in my solitary hall--I gazed on the +eternal fire burning over the tomb of my father, and I wished it were +burning over mine. For the first time I felt the limitations of +humanity. The desire of my race was in me accomplished--I was immortal! +and what was this immortality? A dark and measureless future. Alas! we +had mistaken life for felicity! What was my knowledge? it only served to +show its own vanity; what was my power, when its exercise only served to +work out the decrees of an inexorable necessity? I had parted myself +from my kind, but I had not acquired the nature of a spirit. I had lost +of humanity but its illusions, and they alone are what render it +supportable. The mystic scrolls over which I had once pored with such +intenseness, were now flung aside; what could they teach me? Time was to +me but one great vacancy; how could I fill it up, who had neither labour +nor excitement? I set me down mournfully, and thought of the past. Why, +when love is perished, should its memory remain? I had said to myself, +so long as I have life, one deep feeling must absorb my existence. +A change--and that too of my own earnest seeking--had passed over my +being; and the past, which had been so precious, was now as a frightful +phantasm. The love which alters, in its inconstancy may set up a +new idol, and worship again with a pleasant blindness; but the love +which leaves the heart with a full knowledge of its own vanity and +nothingness,--which saith, The object of my passion still remains, but +it is worthless in my sight--never more can I renew my early feeling--I +marvel how I ever could have loved--I loathe, I disdain the weakness of +my former self;--ah, the end of such love is indeed despair! + +"Do you mark yonder black marble slab, which is spread as over a tomb? +It covers the most silvery fountain that ever mirrored the golden light +of noon, or caught the fall of the evening dew, in an element bright +as themselves. The radiant likeness of a spirit rests on those waters. +I bade him give duration to the shadow he flung upon the wave, that +I might gaze on it during his absence. The first act of my immortality +was to shut it from my sight. There must that black marble rest for +ever." + +[By the way, the ancients are excellent judges of beauty. Socrates calls +beauty (we dare not use the contemptible _it_,) a short-lived +tyranny: Xenophon says "Fire burns only when we are near it; but a +beautiful face burns and inflames, though at a distance: Plato calls +beauty a privilege of nature: Theophrastus (arch fellow,) a silent +cheat: Theocritus, (cunning elf,) a delightful prejudice; Carneades, a +solitary kingdom, (which he doubtless would keep to himself): Domitian +says that nothing is more grateful, (not even killing flies); Aristotle +affirms that beauty is better than all the letters of recommendation in +the world: Homer, that it is a glorious gift of nature; and Ovid calls +beauty a favour bestowed by the gods, which this same Ovid shows the +gods to have been jealous of among mortals." Certainly the moderns do +not wage war for a beautiful woman, as did the ancients: we fear they +would rather fight for an old castle. + +To conclude, if, as Steele tells us, "to make happy is the true empire +of beauty;" why, buy the Book of Beauty, to be sure.] + + * * * * * + + +THE COMIC OFFERING + +[MISS SHERIDAN presents us with her third volume of ladye mirth, +as heretofore, over-flowing with fun and patter, and sprinkled with +some sixty or seventy Cuts--many of them, to use a critical term, +of "spirited design." Probably, the most humorous tale among the +fifty is--] + + +THE FLYBEKINS, OR THE FIRE-ESCAPE. + +The Flybekins were distant connexions of the great Lord B., living +"genteelly" in the west of England: and Mr. and Mrs. Flybekin were the +only adult members of the family at the period of the incident which +gave rise to this anecdote. It happened once that these "country +cousins" were possessed with an uncontrollable desire to enter within +the hitherto unapproached circle of London fashion and gaiety in which +their noble relatives moved with such distinction. Every thing was +propitious in furtherance of the meditated scheme: the spring was +approaching, London filling, the country emptying, and the children +could all go to school. A few weeks "in Town, just to see what was going +on," would be fully worth the journey, especially as it would afford an +opportunity for them to commence an acquaintance with their magnificent +relation. And as the boys were growing up, it might be serviceable to +their interests to tighten the bonds of connexion a little, which had, +from lapse of time, and want of intercourse, become somewhat loosened. +There is an old saying--"where there is a will, there is always a +way."--In a short time Mr. and Mrs. Flybekin, being bent on the measure, +argued themselves into a belief of the projected visit being nothing +short of an imperative moral duty. + +When matters had gone thus far, a hint was dropped in the drawing-room, +which immediately reached the "domestic department," and very soon +spread through the village,--as the smallest stone falling into water +creates successive circles around the spot where it fell, each +increasing in circumference. Accordingly, the Flybekins were the centre +of attraction on the following Sunday, after morning service. Hearty +congratulations, and ardent wishes for a pleasant trip, with various +commissions, pressed upon them. The newest fashions were promised to be +brought down, and the village milliner looked forward to a glorious +triumph over all her rivals in the trade about the country. The happy +pair were on the pinnacle of provincial glory; _he_ was expected to +return with the true state of foreign affairs, and the nation, from the +intercourse he would enjoy with the peer; _she_ was expected to +import news of operas, plays, music, novels, writers, balls, routs, +drawing-rooms and dresses, from her intercourse with the peeress. + +In all the pleasure to which they looked _forward_ there was but +one _draw-back_, viz. a most extraordinary dread of _London fires_ +at night: and this originated in the frequent occurrence in their county +paper of paragraphs headed "_Another alarming conflagration: many +lives lost!_"--put in either to aid the Insurance office, or fill the +paper. As our rustic pair had never visited the metropolis, they did not +know but Leadenhall Street and Hyde Park, Lambeth and Portland Place, +might all be close neighbours; therefore, however distant the different +fires might be, they fancied they all occurred nearly in the same place; +and from the time Mr. and Mrs. Flybekins resolved to visit Town, +scarcely a night passed in which they did not start in terror from their +dreams, screaming "Fire, Fire!" + +All was hurry and preparation at "the Lodge," until the anticipated +arrival of the "Barnstaple Sociable," one morning at the door, summoned +the ambitious pair, and on the _fourth day_ of their departure +from Devonshire, they were duly set down at the White Horse Cellar, for +road-making had not then received the magic touch of Macadam. The next +day was occupied in searching for, and entering, suitable lodgings; and +the following day, having hired a carriage, which their unpractised eyes +considered most elegant in style and equipment, they sallied forth, +armed with a card-case, and a long list of commissions, the practised +horses going at the full rate of six miles an hour. + +A friendly and familiar visit over, to some Devonshire friends in +Devonshire Place, they essayed next to discharge the now almost dreaded +call of state; for that which, contemplated at a distance, imparted joy +and hope, when at hand possessed something of awe mingled with these +feelings. Arrived in Grosvenor-square, after sidling along the gutter +close by the foot pavement, the distance of two or three houses, and +with a little preliminary tug of the reins, the coachman drew up +opposite the door of No. ----. Two powdered lackeys in rich livery were +peering through the long narrow windows on each side of the door, and +anticipated the intention of the diminutive, bandy footman, of knocking, +(that is, if he could have reached the knocker.) To the question of +"Lord and Lady B. at home?" a negative answer was delivered; they were +gone to the country, but were expected back to dinner. A card was then +handed in, inscribed in the neatest, spider-pattern handwriting of Mrs. +Flybekin: and they drove off to pursue the agreeable pastime of shopping +and going through part of the list of commissions, vivenda and agenda, +with which they were provided. + +As the Flybekins drove along the streets, the words "PATENT +FIRE-ESCAPES," in large letters, upon the front of a tall house, +attracted their attention, and roused all their latent fears of London +fires, with accounts of which the newspapers so frequently teemed. +A fire-escape would impart security to sleep, and might be taken +down into the country. Accordingly the check string was pulled, the +manufactory entered, the machines inspected, an economical one selected +by each: and in an hour after their arrival at home to dinner, the +fire-escapes were duly mounted in one of the front bed-room windows. + +Their evening meal being finished at the barbarous hour of nine, +the Flybekins began to yawn over the events of the past day, and the +prospective engagements of the morrow. The excitements of the morning in +the crowded London streets, had completely tired the rustic couple, who +being susceptible of no farther excitement, sought repose at this early +hour, and were both soon wrapt in deep sleep. Leaving them to enjoy +their repose, we return to Grosvenor-square. The noble pair returned +to a family dinner, and on entering the house, read, with strained +eyeballs, the card deposited that morning by the Flybekins, and with +some such an expression of countenance as one may be supposed to assume +in discovering something in a drawer more than was anticipated. "Umph!" +said the peer, "the Flybekins in town! what could have brought them up +so far from the country?" "Something that will not detain them long, I +hope;" dryly answered Lady B. "Yet, we _must_ take some notice of +these country cousins," said the peer: "Let us invite them to a family +dinner." "Well, if we _must_,"--said the Countess shrugging her +shoulders--and with that the subject dropped for the time. + +Now it is quite clear that however brilliant might have been the +prospects of the Flybekins, the peer and his lady wished them any where +but in London; and, rather than invite them to Grosvenor-square to +dinner, the former would have been glad to be let off with a writership +for one of the sons in India. + +Their carriage was ordered at ten, to convey them to the Duchess of R.'s +party, and Lord B. proposed to make a friendly call upon their relations +before waiting on Her Grace. Accordingly thither they drove, accompanied +by two footmen bearing flaming flambeaux, the custom of the great in +those days, when the town was not so well lighted as in the present +age. The signs of this custom are indeed still to be seen in the +extinguishers attached to the railings in front of many houses, which +served for the footmen to extinguish their lights. + +Meantime the Flybekins slept on, not dreaming of the honour intended +them, and were as sound asleep as Duncan in Macbeth's castle, when a +long thundering rap at the door startled them amid their slumbers. The +diminutive, bandy footman had gone home with the coachman and horses, +the landlady and her family had followed the example of the lodgers; and +before any one could rise to unbar and open the door, to ascertain the +cause of such an unusual alarm, a second louder and longer rap had been +made upon it, and which awoke the sleepers to an instinctive idea that +the house was on fire; a notion confirmed by the strong glare of red +light reflected against their windows, and illuminating the apartment, +as the footmen impatiently shook thousands of sparks from the flambeaux. + +As Bonaparte observed upon another occasion, "From the sublime to the +ridiculous is but one step." So it was with the Flybekins. From the most +sublime repose they hurried into the ridiculous fire-escapes, in the +full conviction that the lower part of the house was on fire; and +without waiting to dress, or inquire into the real state of affairs, +they gave the signal-word "Now!" and both descended in all the freshness +of their fears to the pavement before the door! + +The wondering lord and lady, and still more wondering footmen, glared +upon the apparition before them with the most inexplicable amazement, +totally at a loss to conceive the cause of such a novel reception. The +terrified pair were, like Othello, "perplexed in the extreme," when they +found themselves, instead of being in the confusion of a fire, deposited +beneath the windows of a magnificent carriage, attended by footmen with +white torches, and a full dressed lady and gentleman inquiring after +them, and the meaning of the extraordinary descent. A few minutes served +to explain the mal à propos mistake; the detected pair sought refuge +in the hall of the house, with some such feeling as our first parents +experienced when they had tasted the fatal apple in the garden of Eden. +The carriage rolled away with the tittering coachman and footmen, and +the ill-suppressed mirth of their master and mistress, who quickly +disseminated the story throughout the fashionable throng of the party +whither they were bent, and which remained for the rest of the season +a standing joke wherever Lord and Lady B. appeared. + +Humbled and confused, the unhappy Flybekins could not retrieve the +blunder they had committed, and prudently resigned all their ambitious +schemes. So they returned to Devonshire with the unlucky fire-escapes, +sincerely regretting they had ever been tempted to purchase them. +But, although the disaster had got wind, and with various versions had +reached even into Devonshire, they were much consoled by the following +narration of it which appeared in the county paper, in a light most +favourable to their interests and reputation, although totally devoid +of truth in almost every particular. + +The _flaming_ paragraph ran thus:--"We understand that Mr. and. +Mrs. Flybekin of ------ in this county, while upon a visit to their +noble relatives, Lord and Lady B. in London, narrowly escaped being +burnt to death. The devouring element almost destroyed the lower part +of the family mansion in Grosvenor-square, over which the lady and +gentleman slept, who had retired early to bed, and who by the accidental +return of Lord and Lady B. from a party, were awakened only just in time +to effect their retreat by means of a fire-escape, fortunately attached +to their bed-room window. We are informed that the fire occurred in +consequence of the footmen, appointed to sit up for their master and +mistress, having fallen asleep, leaving a lighted candle in the room. +Mr. and Mrs. Flybekin escaped, with the loss of all their clothes +but what they hurried on in the confusion, and were conveyed to a +neighbouring hotel by their noble relatives, where they received +succour for the night." + +But unhappily for the Flybekins, the naked truth at length forced its +way into Devonshire, and the true statement of the matter was circulated +as above related, and now handed down to their posterity. + +Thus, the best version of their story only placed them, "out of the fire +into the frying pan," and the unlucky fire-escapes merely saved them +from the fear of being _badly burnt_, in order that they might all +the rest of their lives be _well roasted_! + +There is considerable humour and ingenuity +in the following lines, introducing the +names of London booksellers, and their nominal +fitness for publishing certain books:-- + + * * * * * + + +"WHAT'S IN A NAME?" + + + Long hail! to _Longman_, and his longer Co., + Pride of our city's Pater Noster Row; + Thy trade forego in novel trash romantic, + And treat the world to something more _gigantic_. + + Let _Underwood_ all essays sell on _trees_, + On _shrubs_, or growth of _brushwood_ if he please; + All works on _brewing_ leave to Mr. _Porter_,-- + To _Boosey--temperance_, for his firm supporter. + + Leave to friend _Bull_ all works on _horned cattle_, + While _Reid_ will teach the youthful mind to _prattle_; + Give _Bohn--anatomy_; give _Mason sculpture_; + _Gardiner's engrafted_ upon _horticulture_. + + For valuation-tables on the price of laud, + Why should we seek, since _Byfield_ is at hand; + For works on draining either bog or fen, + In _Marsh_ and _Moore_ we have a choice of men. + + Give _Sherwood_ tales of merry men, who stood-- + Firm to their robbing--around _Robin Hood_. + _Ogle_ takes _optics,--Miller_, works on _grain_,-- + _Ridgway_, on _railroads,--Surgery_ with _Payne_. + + Hail! Pic-a-dilly _Hatchard_, thy vocation + Should be prolific, for 'tis _incubation_; + Thy pious care brought _Egley_ into _note_, + And still on _Gosling_ some folks say you dote. + + But to my plan.--To make the dull ones plod well, + Books for the use of _schools_, give Mr. _Rodwell_; + And works on _painting_ should you ever lack, + You need but brush to either _Grey_ or _Black_. + + From _Cowie_ works on _vaccination_ fetch, + _Pedestrian tours_ from _Walker_, or from _Stretch_; + And if in search of _wonders_ you should range, + Where can you seek them better than from _Strange_. + + The suff'ring climbing boys our pity claim, + To aid their interest--_Suttaby_, I'd name; + And as they're oft of _churchyard-terrors_ slaves, + Print works to cure them, O! _Moon, Boys,_ and _Graves_. + + For plans of bridges _Arch_ would be the best; + For stairs and steps on _Banister_ I'd rest; + All that relates to church or chapel holy, + I vote that such be _Elder's_ business solely. + + _Sustenance_ on _diet_ surely ought to treat; + _Joy_ gives us _human happiness_ complete: + _Tilt_ will all works on _tournament_ enhance, + The _law_--Oh! that of course I leave to _Chance_, + + _Priestly_ and _Chappell_ may divide _theology_, + _Hookham_ and _Roach_ the angling and _ichthyology_; + And for _Phrenology_, what need of rumpus, + One for his _Nob_ will do--so take it, _Bumpus_! + + * * * * * + + +SPINNING-WHEEL SONG. + +BY MISS MITFORD. + + + Fair Janet sits beside her wheel; + No maiden better knew + To pile upon the circling reel + An even thread and true; + But since for Rob she 'gan to pine, + She twists her flax in vain; + 'Tis now too coarse,--and now too fine,-- + And now--'tis snapt in twain! + + Robin, a bachelor profest, + At love and lovers laughs, + And o'er the bowl with reckless jest, + His pretty spinster quaffs; + Then, whilst all sobbing, Janet cries + "She scorns the scornful swain!" + With angry haste her wheel she plies, + And--snaps the thread again! + + +[The Publishers have obligingly enabled us to present the reader with +three of the _smartest_ Cuts. The fun of these Cuts requires neither +note nor comment. + +Altogether, we may recommend the _Offering_ as a really comic +companion.] + + +[Illustration: (Dandy Lion.)] + +[Illustration: (Pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.)] + +[Illustration: _Bob in_ for Eels.] + + +THE AMULET + +[Is decidedly an improvement upon former years, and, taken altogether, +plates, prose, and poetry, is the best book of the present season. +The Editor, Mr. Hall, has judiciously maintained the original feature +of his plan--that of "considering attractive tales and beautiful poems, +however, essential to the interest and variety of the volume, as +secondary to that which conveyed information and led to improvement." He +then proceeds to enumerate a few of the papers to which he particularly +refers, which have appeared in former volumes of the _Amulet_; as +Dr. Walsh's Essay on Coins and Medals, illustrating the progress of +Christianity: accounts of the American Christians at Constantinople, and +of the Chaldean Christians, and a visit to Nicæa, by the same author: +the Rev. Robert Hall's Essay on Poetry and Philosophy: Mr. Coleridge's +Travels in Germany: An Essay on French Oaths, by Miss Edgeworth: the +Rev. W.S. Gilly's Narrative of the Albigenses: Mr. Ellis's Account of +the Austral Islands: Dr. Walsh's Account of the Aborigines of Canada; +and Mr. Macfarlane's Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. +These papers are entitled to special mention, and we think the Editor +justified in his estimate of them. In the volume for the present year +we have two contributions of this class; an Essay on Sneezing, a learned +paper, by Dr. Walsh; and the following] + + * * * * * + + +HISTORY OF THE HOLY CROSS.[2] + +_By Lord Mahon._ + +The supposed discovery of a religious relic, and the miracles attending +it, are events so common in Roman Catholic legends as to deserve but +little attention, even on the ground of curiosity; but the real changes +and vicissitudes of one of these relics, for twelve centuries after its +discovery, may perhaps excite some interest, more especially as its +singular adventures, very distant in time, and recorded by different +writers, have never yet been brought together, and formed into one +connected narrative. + +In the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great, his mother Helena, +when almost an octogenarian, undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. +Her pious zeal was particularly directed to the search of the holy +sepulchre, and of the cross on which Jesus Christ had suffered; and, +according to her own judgment: at least, she was successful in both. +A vision, or perhaps a dream, disclosed the place of the Holy Sepulchre; +the three crosses were found buried near it, and that of the Saviour is +said to have been distinguished from the others by its healing powers +on the sick, and even restoring a corpse to life. This discovery caused +great and general rejoicing throughout Christendom.[3] The spot was +immediately consecrated by a church, called the New Jerusalem, and of +such magnificence that the celebrated Eusebius is strongly inclined +to look upon its building as the fulfilment of the prophecies in the +Scriptures for a city of that name.[4] A verse of the sibyl was also +remembered or composed, which, like all predictions after the event, +tallied in a surprising manner with the holy object so happily revealed. +The greater share of the Cross was left at Jerusalem, set in a case of +silver, and the remainder was sent to Constantine, who, in hopes of +securing the prosperity and duration of his empire, enclosed it within +his own statue on the Byzantine Forum. The pilgrims also, who thronged +to Jerusalem during a long course of years, were always eager, and often +successful, in obtaining a small fragment of the cross for themselves; +so that at length, according to the strong expression of St. Cyril, the +whole earth was filled with this sacred wood. Even at present, there +is scarcely a Roman Catholic cathedral which does not display some +pretended pieces of this relic; and it has been computed, with some +exaggeration, that were they all collected together, they might prove +sufficient for building a ship of the line. To account for this +extraordinary diffusion of so limited a quantity, the Catholic writers +have been obliged to assert its preternatural growth and vegetation, +which the saint already quoted ingeniously compares to the miracle of +the loaves and fishes.[5] That the guardians of this cross at Jerusalem +should have had recourse to such evident and undoubted falsehood, +should, I think, very much increase our doubts whether the Cross itself +was genuine, and whether the old age and credulity of Helena, may not +have been grossly imposed upon. Where we see one fraud, we may justly +suspect another. From this period, however, the history of this +fragment of wood may be clearly and accurately traced during the +twelve succeeding centuries. + +In spite of its frequent partitions, the Holy Cross, say the monkish +writers, thus remained undiminished at Jerusalem, receiving the homage +of innumerable pilgrims, until the year 614, when that city was besieged +and taken by the Persians. Their barbarous fanaticism reduced to ruins +or burnt to the ground nearly all the sacred buildings, and made a +great slaughter of the Christians, in which they are said to have been +actively assisted by the resident Jews.[6] The bishop and the relic +in question were removed into Persia, and continued in that country +fourteen years, until the victories of the Emperor Heraclius led to +an honourable peace, in which the restoration of this most precious +treasure was expressly stipulated. During its captivity it had happily +escaped the pollution of infidel hands; the case which contained it was +brought back, unopened, to Jerusalem, and Heraclius himself undertook a +journey in order to replace it in its former station on Mount Calvary. +The prelude to this religious ceremony was a general massacre of the +Jews, which the emperor had long withstood, but at length granted to the +earnest and renewed entreaties of the monks of Alsik. The fact itself, +and all its details, are so disgraceful to the parties concerned, that +I would gladly reject it as false or overcharged, did it not rest on +the authority of a patriarch of Alexandria.[7] Heraclius then, attended +by a solemn procession, but laying aside his diadem and purple, bore +the Cross on his own shoulders towards the holy sepulchre. An officer +was appointed to its peculiar care, with the title of STAUROPHULAX;[8] +and the anniversary of this event, the 14th September, is still +celebrated in the Greek Church as a festival, under the name of the +Exaltation of the Cross. + +The relic did not long continue in the place to which the valour +and piety of Heraclius had restored it, but was doomed to undergo +still further vicissitudes of fortune. Only eight years afterwards +(A.D. 636,) an army of Arabs, the new and fervent proselytes of Mahomet, +invaded Palestine. At the battle of Yermuck, the imperial forces were +totally routed, and Heraclius, downcast and dismayed, returned to +Constantinople, bearing with him, as a source of consolation, the +invaluable fragment, whose alleged miraculous powers were never exerted +for its own protection.[9] It is rarely that, when a sovereign despairs +of success, his subjects have the courage (it would, perhaps, be termed +the disloyal presumption) to prolong their resistance; but the +inhabitants of Jerusalem were animated by religious zeal and local +associations, and did not, till after a doubtful siege of several +months, yield the holy city to the Saracens. The event soon justified +the prudent foresight of Heraclius in removing the Cross from the danger +of Mahometan masters. The Caliph of Omar experienced some difficulties +in the construction of a mosque at Jerusalem: he immediately supposed +those difficulties to be supernatural, and, by the advice of the Jews, +destroyed a great number of the neighbouring crosses; so that it seems +certain that the wood of the real crucifixion could still less have +escaped the effects of his ignorant fanaticism.[10] At Constantinople, +on the contrary, it was preserved with the utmost veneration in the +metropolitan church of St. Sophia, and the honours paid to it are +attested and described by the father of English historians.[11] Never, +but on the three most solemn festivals of the year, was its costly case +unclosed. On the first day, it received the adoration of the emperor and +principal officers of state; on the next, the empress and chief ladies +repeated the same ceremony; and the bishops and clergy were admitted on +the third. While exposed to view on the altar, a grateful odour pervaded +the whole church, and a fluid resembling oil distilled from the knots in +the wood, of which the least drop was thought sufficient to cure the +most inveterate disease. This precious fluid is also mentioned by Pope +Gregory, the Great, in one of his letters to Leontius. "I have received +your present," writes the Pope, "some oil of the Holy Cross and some +wood of aloes, of which the one confers blessing by its very touch, +and the other, when burnt, diffuses a pleasant perfume."[12] + +In a period of several centuries, during which this relic remained at +Constantinople we find it occasionally mentioned in the annals of the +time. It was on the Holy Cross that Heracleonas swore to cherish and +defend his nephew;[13] it was to the same fragment that the son of +Justinian the Second clung for protection, in the revolution which +hurled his father from the throne;[14] and we might entertain more +respect for the superstition of the Greeks, if the supposed sanctity of +this relic had produced either the observance of the oath, or the safety +of the suppliant. At length, in the year 1078, the object of this +narrative recommenced its travels. A wealthy citizen of Amalfi, whose +name is not recorded, had long felt a wish to exchange active life for +the cloister, and had selected the monastery of Casinum as the place of +his future retirement. Being present in the Eastern capital during the +tumultuous deposition of Michael the Seventh, he perceived in the +general confusion a favourable opportunity for appropriating this +precious fragment to himself. His zeal did not forget at the same time +to secure the golden case, richly embossed with jewels, which contained +it, and both were laid as a welcome offering before the shrine of St. +Benedict, at Casinum.[15] The good fathers must have felt no little pride +when strangers beheld, in their secluded and obscure retreat, a relic +which a long succession of the most illustrious princes had gloried +in possessing. + +The next place to which we can trace the Cross is Palestine, during the +crusades, to which it had doubtless been conveyed for the purpose of +restoring it to its more ancient and appropriate station, at Jerusalem. +In, that country it was exposed to frequent hazards, as the crusaders +appear to have been in the habit of bearing it in the van of their +armies, when marching against the Mussulmans, hoping by its presence +amongst them to secure the victory. One of their battles against the +forces of Saladin by no means fulfilled their expectations, and in the +course of it the sacred relic itself was unfortunately severed; one half +of it being captured by the enemy, and most probably destroyed.[16] +This untoward accident, however, by no means impaired their veneration +for the remaining fragment; and, at the commencement of the thirteenth +century, it is again recorded as taking the field with the King of +Hungary and the Duke of Austria.[17] From these it passed into the hands +of their brother crusaders, the Latin sovereigns of Constantinople; and +thus, by a singular train of circumstances, a change of dynasty restored +this precious relic to the people which had so long enjoyed its +possession. It does not, however, appear to have received the full +measure of its ancient veneration, and a new Crown of Thorns, alleged +to be that of the passion, held at this period a far higher rank with +the public. + +In the year 1238, the pressure of poverty and impending ruin compelled +the Emperor Baldwin the Second, to sell what the piety of St. Louis, +King of France, induced him as eagerly to purchase.[18] A very +considerable sum was given in exchange for the holy wood and on its +arrival in Paris, it was deposited by King Louis in a chapel which he +built on this occasion. There, the Cross remained for above three +hundred years, until at length, on the 20th of May, 1575, it disappeared +from its station. The most anxious researches failed in tracing the +robber, or recovering the spoil, and the report which accused King Henry +the Third of having secretly sold it to the Venetians may be considered +as a proof of the popular animosity rather than of royal avarice.[19] +To appease in some degree the loud and angry murmurs of his subjects, +Henry, the next year, on Easter day, announced that a new Cross had been +prepared for their consolation, of the same shape, size, and appearance +as the stolen relic, and asserted, most probably with perfect truth, +that in Divine powers, or claim to religious worship, it was but little +inferior to its model. "The people of Paris," says Estoile, an +eye-witness of this transaction, "being very devout, and easy of faith +on such subjects" (he is speaking of the sixteenth century,) "gratefully +hailed the restoration of some tangible and immediate object for their +prayers." Of the original fragment I can discern no further authentic +trace; and here, then, it seems to have ended its long and adventurous +career. + +Before I conclude, I ought, perhaps, to make some mention of the +pretended nails of the passion, which were obtained by Constantine the +Great at the same time with the cross. He melted a part of them into a +helmet for himself; and the other part was converted into a bridle for +his horse, in supposed obedience to a prophetic text of Zechariah: +"In that day shall there be upon the bells (bridles) of the horses, +holiness unto the Lord."[20] Yet, though the helmet alone might appear +to have required all the nails which could possibly be employed in a +crucifixion, it is not unusual in southern Europe to meet with fragments +of old iron, for which the same sacred origin is claimed. Thus, for +instance, at Catania, in Sicily, I have seen one of these nails, which +is believed to possess miraculous powers, and exhibited only once a year +with great solemnity. There is another in a private oratory of the +Escurial; and I was surprised in observing in the same case a relic of +Sir Thomas à Becket. All the nails, from the time of Constantine, are +rejected as spurious by Cardinal Baronius;[21] yet a former Pope had +expressed his belief in their authenticity;[22] and the ingenious idea +of miraculous vegetation might have been easily applied to them. But +to trace the other parts of this real or fabulous history, and more +especially their insertion in the Iron crown of Lombardy, would require, +though scarcely deserve, a separate essay. + + + [2] Read before the Royal Society of Literature, but since altered + by the author. + + [3] For the discovery of the cross, compare Theodoret, lib. i. c. + 18; Socrates, lib. i. c. 17; and Sozomen, lib. ii. c. 1, &c. + + [4] De Vita Constant, lib. iii. c. 33. + + [5] St. Cyril ap. Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 326, No. 50. One + whole epistle of St. Paulinis of Nola (the eleventh) is also + devoted to this subject. + + [6] The participation of the Jews is positively asserted by + Eutychius (Annal. vol. ii. p. 212,) but doubted by Theophanes + (Chronograph, p. 252:) [Greek: os phasi tines], are his words. + + [7] Eutychius, Annal, vol. ii. p. 242-247. + + [8] Ducange, Gloss. Med. Graec., p. 1437. + + [9] Theophanes, Chronograph. p. 280. + + [10] Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 643. No. 1-4. + + [11] Bede, Op. vol. iii. p. 370. Ed. Colon. Agripp. 1688. + + [12] Epist, lib. 7. indict, i. ep. 34. + + [13] Nicephor. Constantinopolit. p. 20. + + [14] Theophanes, Chronograph. p. 318. + + [15] Chronicon Casinense, lib. iii. c. 55. + + [16] There is some account of its recovery by a Genoese, but it is + clouded with miracles. He walked over the sea, as over dry + land, &c. See Muraturi, Dissert. 58. vol. v. p. 10, ed. 1741. + + [17] See Raynaldus, Aunual. Eccles. A.D. 1217, No. 39, and Pagi, + Critic. A.D. 1187, No. 4. + + [18] See Dupleix, Historic de France, vol. ii. p. 257. ed. 1634. + The original authority is Nangis (Annales de St. Louis, p. 174. + ed. 1761.) Rigord, who speaks of the sale of this relic to + Philip Augustus, appears to be guilty of a fable or anachronism, + in which he was follow by Raynaldus, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1205, + No. 60. + + [19] See L'Estoile, Journal de Henri III., vol. i. p. 125, 161, + ed. 1744. + + [20] Zech. ch. xiv. ver. 20. + + [21] Annal. Eccles. A.D. 326. No. 54. + + [22] See a Letter from Innocent VI. ap. Raynald Annal. Eccles. A.D. + 1354. No. 18. + + * * * * * + +[To this class likewise belongs a Pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, from +the accomplished pen of Contarini Fleming. The lighter papers are tinged +with a high moral feeling; and we do not think that better evidence will +be found than in the following of Mrs. Hall's contributions.] + + +THE TRIALS OF GRACE HUNTLEY. + +[This tale occupies nearly fifty pages. It so teems with moral pathos +and touching beauty, that we are at a loss to abridge it throughout so +as to preserve that acquaintance with the finest feelings of our nature, +which marks every page with sterling value. We, therefore, only adopt +the conclusion, and attempt a leading thread of the story. Grace is +the daughter of a village schoolmaster. She loves "not wisely, but too +well," "Joseph Huntley, the handsomest youth in the retired village of +Craythorpe." The father consents to their union. The real character of +the husband appears early; his fond love soon dwindles to painful +neglect: how truly does the writer observe, "the rapidity with which +love may glide from the heart of man is a moral phenomenon for which it +would puzzle philosophers to account. The brief space of a few months +not unfrequently converts the devoted into the unkind, or to a delicate +mind still worse--the neglectful husband." The wayward Huntley breaks +off church-going; he refuses Grace his company, and we find her first +solitary walk since her marriage thus touchingly referred to: "almost +every tree certainly every stile she passed--was hallowed by some +remembrance connected with the playmate of her childhood--the lover of +her early youth--the husband of her affections." When, she looked on the +dew dancing amid the delicate tracery of the field spider's web--when +the joyous whistle of the gay blackbird broke upon her ear--gazing +silently on all that was really fresh and beautiful in nature--she +felt that, instead of warming, it fell chilly upon her heart. And yet +all was as usual--the bright sun, and the smiling landscape. Why, then, +was she less cheerful? She was alone! No one she loved was by her side, +to whom to say, "How beautiful!" Joseph gets into debt, and upon Grace +offering to sacrifice a favourite article of dress to enable him to keep +a "promise to pay," we find the following exquisite paragraph: "there is +something so commanding, so holy, in virtue, that, though the wicked may +not imitate, they cannot withhold from it their admiration." As Huntley +looked upon his wife, he thought she never appeared so lovely. Some of +the affection of earlier and purer years returned warmly to his heart; +and as he kissed her, words of happier import broke from his lips--"God +bless you, Grace! I am a sad scoundrel, and that's the truth." Joseph +deserts her, and in less than eight years after their marriage, her +little family are entirely dependent upon her for support. The husband +returns, and sets the eldest boy to rob his mother; the villany of the +father is reproved by Grace, meekly but firmly. Joseph takes the boy +under his guidance, and becoming acquainted with "John and Sandy Smith, +(two poachers,) who lived together in a wretched hut on the skirt of +Crayton Common," he soon initiates the little fellow into crime. After a +storming quarrel with his wife--] + +That night, as latterly had been his custom, he sallied forth about +eight o'clock, leaving his home and family without food or money. The +children crowded round their mother's knee to repeat their simple +prayers, and retired, cold and hungry, to bed. It was near midnight +ere her task was finished; and then she stole softly into her chamber, +having first looked upon and blessed her treasures. Her sleep was of +that restless heavy kind which yields no refreshment. Once she was +awakened by hearing her husband shut the cottage-door; again she slept, +but started from a horrid dream--or was it indeed reality! and had her +husband and her son Abel quitted the dwelling together? She sprang from +her bed, and felt on the pallet--Gerald was there; again she felt--she +called--she passed into the next room--"Abel, Abel, my child! as you +value your mother's blessing speak!" There was no reply. A dizzy +sickness almost overpowered her senses. Was her husband's horrid +threat indeed fulfilled? and had he so soon taken their child as his +participator in unequivocal sin? She opened the door, and looked out +upon the night; it was cold and misty, and her sight could not penetrate +the gloom. The chill fog rested upon her face like the damps of the +grave. She attempted to call again upon her son, but her powers of +utterance were palsied--her tongue quivered--her lips separated yet +there came forth no voice, no sound to break the silence of oppressed +nature. Her eyes moved mechanically towards the heavens--they were dark +as the earth; had God deserted her?--would he deny one ray, one little +ray of light, to lead her to her child? Why did the moon cease to shine, +and the stars withhold their brightness? Should she never again behold +her boy, her first-born? Her heart swelled, and beat within her bosom. +She shivered with intense agony, and leaned her throbbing brow against +the door-post, to which she had clung for support. Her husband's words +rang in her ears--"One by one shall your children be taken from you to +serve my purposes!" Through the dense fog she fancied that he glared +upon her in bitter hatred--his deep-set eyes flashing with demoniac +fire, and his smile, now extending, now contracting, into all the varied +expressions of triumphant malignity! She pressed her hand on her eyes to +shut out the horrid vision, and, a prayer, a simple prayer, rose to her +lips. Like oil upon the troubled waters, it soothed and composed her +spirit. She could not arrange, or even remember, a form of words; but +she repeated, again and again, the emphatic appeal, "Lord, save me, I +perish!" until she felt sufficient strength to enable her to look again +into the night. As if hope had set its beacon in the sky, calmly and +brightly the moon was now shining upon her cottage. With the sudden +change, at once the curse and blessing of our climate, a sharp east +wind had set in, and was rolling the mist from the canopy of heaven. +Numerous stars were visible, where, but five minutes before, all had +been darkness and gloom. The shadow passed from her soul; she gazed +steadily upwards; her mind regained its firmness; her resolve was taken. +She returned to her bed-room, dressed, and, wrapping her cloak closely +to her bosom, was quickly on her way to the Smiths' dwelling, on +Craythorpe Common. + +The solitary hut was more than two miles from the village; the path +leading to it broken and interrupted by fragments of rocks, roots of +furze, and stubbed underwood, and, at one particular point, intersected +by a deep and brawling brook. Soon after Grace had crossed this stream, +she came in view of the cottage, looking like a misshapen mound of +earth; and, upon peering in at the window, which was only partially +lined by a broken shutter, Covey, the lurcher, uttered, from the inside, +a sharp muttering bark, something between reproof and recognition. +There had certainly been a good fire, not long before, on the capacious +hearth, for the burning ashes cast a lurid light upon an old table, and +two or three dilapidated chairs. There was also a fowling-piece lying +across the table; but it was evident none of the inmates were at home; +and Grace walked slowly, yet disappointedly, round the dwelling, till +she came to the other side, that rested against a huge mass of mingled +rock and clay, overgrown with long tangled fern and heather. She +climbed to the top, and had not been many minutes on the look-out ere +she perceived three men rapidly approaching from the opposite path. As +they drew nearer, she saw that one of them was her husband; but where +was her son? Silently she lay among the heather, fearing she knew not +what--yet knowing she had much to fear. The chimney that rose from the +sheeling had, she thought, effectually concealed her from their view, +but in this she was mistaken; for, while Huntley and one of the Smiths +entered the abode, the other climbed up the mound. She saw his hat +within a foot of where she rested, and fancied she could feel his breath +upon her cheek as she crouched, like a frightened hare, more closely in +her form. However, he surveyed the spot without ascending further, and +then retreated muttering something about corbies and ravens, and, almost +instantly, she heard the door of the hut close. Cautiously she crept +down from her hiding-place; and, crawling along the ground with stealth +and silence, knelt before the little window, so as to observe, through +the broken shutter, the occupation of the inmates. The dog alone was +conscious of her approach; but the men were too seriously engaged to +heed his intimations of danger. + +[She sees all that the three are about, is convinced that her son will +be lost, and forms her resolution:] + +"Then there is hope for my poor child!" she thought, "and I can--I +_will_ save him!" With this resolve, she stole away as softly and +as quickly as her trembling limbs would permit. The depredators revelled +in their fancied security. The old creaking table groaned under the +weight of pheasant, hare, and ardent spirits; and the chorus of a wild +drinking-song broke upon her ear as returning strength enabled her to +hasten along the rude path leading to Craythorpe. + +The first grey uncertain light of morning was visible through the old +churchyard trees as she came within sight of her cottage. She entered +quietly, and saw that Abel had not only returned, but was sleeping +soundly by his brother's side. + +Grace set her house in order--took the work she had finished to her +employer--came back, and prepared breakfast, of which her husband, +having by this time also returned, partook. Now he was neither the +tyrant whose threat still rung in her ears, nor the reckless bravo of +the common; he appeared that morning, at least so his wife fancied, +more like the being she had loved so fondly, and so long. + +"I will sleep, Grace," he said, when their meal was finished--"I will +sleep for an hour; and to-morrow we shall have a better breakfast." He +called his son into the bed-room, where a few words passed between them. +Immediately after this Grace went into the little chamber to fetch her +bonnet. She would not trust herself to look upon the sleeper, but her +lips moved as if in prayer; and even her children still remember, that, +as she passed out of the cottage-door, she had a flushed and agitated +appearance. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Huntley," said her old neighbour, Mrs. Craddock; +"Have you heard the news? Ah! these are sad times--bad people going--" + +"True, true!" replied poor Grace as she hurried onwards; "I know--I +heard it all." + +Mrs. Craddock looked after her, much surprised at her abruptness. + +"I was coming down to you, Grace," said her father, standing so as to +arrest her progress; "I wished to see if there was any chance of the +child Abel's returning to his exercises. As this is a holiday, I +thought--" + +"Come with me," interrupted Grace, "come with me, father, and we will +make a rare holiday." + +She hurried the feeble old man along the road leading to the rectory, +but returned no answer to his inquiries. The servant told her, when she +arrived at her destination, that his master was engaged--particularly +engaged--could not be disturbed--Sir Thomas Purcel was with him; and, as +the man spoke, the study-door opened, and Sir Thomas crossed the hall. + +"Come back with me, sir," exclaimed Grace Huntley, eagerly: "I can tell +you all you want to know." + +The Baronet shook off the hand she had laid upon his arm as if she were +a maniac. + +Grace appeared to read the expression of his countenance. "I am not mad, +Sir Thomas Purcel," she continued, in a suppressed tremulous voice; "not +mad, though I may be so soon. Keep back these people, and return with +me. Mr. Glasscott knows I am not mad." + +She passed into the study with a resolute step, and held the door for +Sir Thomas to enter. Her father followed also, as a child traces its +mother's footsteps, and looked around him, and at his daughter, with +weak astonishment. One or two of the servants, who were loitering in +the hall, moved as if they would have followed. + +"Back, back, I say!" she repeated; "I need no witnesses--there will be +enough of them soon. Mr. Glasscott," she continued, closing the door, +"hear me, while I am able to bear testimony, lest weakness--woman's +weakness--overcome me, and I falter in the truth. In the broom-sellers' +cottage, across the common, on the left side of the chimney, concealed +by a large flat stone, is a hole--a den; there much of the property +taken from Sir Thomas Purcel's last night is concealed." + +"I have long suspected these men--Smith, I think, they call themselves. +Yet they are but two. Now, we have abundant proof, that _three_ men +absolutely entered the house." + +"There was a third," murmured Grace, almost inaudibly. + +"Who?" + +"My--my--my husband!" and, as she uttered the word, she leaned against +the chimney-piece for support, and buried her face in her hands. + +The clergyman groaned audibly;--he had known Grace from her childhood, +and felt what the declaration must have cost her. Sir Thomas Purcel was +cast in a sterner mould. + +"We are put clearly on the track, Mr. Glasscott," he said, "and must +follow it forthwith; yet there is something most repugnant to my +feelings in finding a woman thus herald her husband to destruction." + +"It was to save my children from sin!" exclaimed Grace, starting +forward with an energy that appalled them all: "God in heaven, whom +I call to witness, knows, that though I would sooner starve than taste +of the fruits of his wickedness, yet I could not betray the husband of +my bosom to--to--I dare not think what!--I tried, I laboured to give +my offspring honest bread. I neither asked nor received charity; with +my hands I laboured, and blessed the Power that enabled me to do so. +If we are poor, we will be honest, was my maxim, and my boast. But +he--my husband--returned; he taught my boy to lie--to steal! and +when I remonstrated--when I prayed, with many tears, that he would +cease to train our--ay, _our_ child for destruction, he +mocked--scorned--told me, that, one by one, I should be bereaved of my +children if I thwarted his purposes; and that I might seek in vain for +them through the world, until I saw their names recorded in the book of +shame!--Gentlemen, this was no idle threat. Last night, Abel was taken +from me--" + +"I knew there must have been a fourth," interrupted Sir Thomas, coldly; +"we must have the boy also secured." + +The wretched mother, who had not imagined that any harm could result +to her son, stood as if a thunderbolt had transfixed her; her hands +clenched and extended--her features rigid and blanched--her frame +perfectly erect, and motionless as a statue. The schoolmaster, during +the whole of this scene, had been completely bewildered, until the idea +of his grandchild's danger or disappearance, he knew not which, took +possession of his mind; and, filled with the single thought his +faculties had the power of grasping at a time, he came forward to the +table at which Mr. Glasscott was seated, and respectfully uncovering his +grey hairs, his simple countenance presenting a strong contrast to the +agonized iron-bound features of his daughter, he addressed himself to +the worthy magistrate: "I trust you will cause instant search to be made +for the child Abel, whom your reverence used kindly to regard with +especial favour." + +He repeated this sentence at least half a dozen times, while the +gentlemen were issuing orders to the persons assembled for the +apprehension of the burglars, and some of the females of the family were +endeavouring to restore Grace to animation. At last Sir Thomas Purcel +turned suddenly round upon Abel Darley, and, in his stentorian tone, +bawled out, "And who are you?" + +"The schoolmaster of Craythorpe, so please you, sir--that young woman's +father--and one whose heart is broken!" + +So saying, he burst into tears; and his wail was very sad, like that of +an afflicted child. Presently there was a stir among the little crowd, +a murmur--and then two officers ushered in Joseph Huntley and his son. + +He walked boldly up to the magistrate's table, and placed his hand upon +it, before he perceived his wife, to whom consciousness had not yet +returned. The moment he beheld her he started back, saying, "Whatever +charge you may have against me, gentlemen, you can have none against +that woman." + +"Nor have we," replied Sir Thomas; "she is your accuser!" + +The fine features of Joseph Huntley relaxed into an expression of scorn +and unbelief. "She appear against me! Not--not if I were to attempt to +murder her!" he answered firmly. + +"Grace!" exclaimed her father joyfully, "here is the child Abel--he is +found!" and seizing the trembling boy, with evident exultation, led +him to her. The effect of this act of the poor simple-minded man was +electrical. The mother instantly revived, but turned her face from her +husband; and, entwining her son in her arms, pressed him closely to her +side. The clergyman proceeded to interrogate the prisoner, but he +answered nothing, keeping his eyes intently fixed upon his wife and +child. In the mean time, the officers of justice had been prompt in the +execution of their duty; the Smiths were apprehended in the village, and +the greater portion of the property stolen from Sir Thomas Purcel was +found in the hut where Grace had beheld it concealed. + +When the preparations were sufficiently forward to conduct the +unfortunate men to prison, Joseph Huntley advanced to his wife. The +scornful as well as undaunted expression of his countenance had changed +to one of painful intensity; he took her hand within his, and pressed it +to his lips, without articulating a single syllable. Slowly she moved +her face, so that their eyes encountered in one long mournful look. Ten +years of continued suffering could not have exacted a heavier tribute +from Grace Huntley's beauty. No language can express the withering +effects of the few hours' agony. Her husband saw it. + +"'Twas to save my children!" was the only sentence she uttered, or +rather murmured; and it was the last coherent one she spoke for many +weeks. Her fine reason seemed overwhelmed. It was a sight few could +witness without tears. The old father, tending the couch of his +afflicted daughter, would sit for hours by her bedside, clasping the +child Abel's hand within his, and every now and then shaking his head +when her ravings were loud or violent. + +[We add the conclusion.] + +It might be some fifteen years after these distressing events had +agitated the little village of Craythorpe, that an elderly woman, +of mild and cheerful aspect, sat calmly reading a large volume she +supported against the railing of a noble vessel, that was steering its +course from the shores of "merrie England" to some land far over the +sea. Two gentlemen, who were lounging on the quarter-deck arm-in-arm, +frequently passed her. The elder one, in a peculiarly kind tone of +voice, said, "You bear the voyage well, dame."--"Thank God! yes, +sir."--"Ah! you will wish yourself back in Old England before you +are landed six weeks."--"I did not wish to leave it, sir; but my duty +obliged me to do so." + +The gentlemen walked on. + +"Who is she?" inquired the younger. + +"A very singular woman. Her information transported for life a husband +whom she loved, notwithstanding his coldness and his crimes. She had at +that time three children, and the eldest had already become contaminated +by his father's example. She saw nothing but destruction for them in +prospective, her warnings and intreaties being alike unregarded. So she +made her election--sacrificed the husband and saved the children!" + +"But what does she here?" + +"Her eldest son is now established in a small business, and respected by +all who know him. Her second boy, and a father, whom her misfortunes +reduced to a deplorable state of wretchedness, are dead. Her daughter, +a village belle and beauty, is married to my father's handsome new +parish-clerk; and Mrs. Huntley having seen her children provided for, +and by her virtues and industry made respectable in the Old World, is +now on her voyage to the New, to see, if I may be permitted to use her +own simple language, 'whether she can contribute to render the last days +of her husband as happy as the first they passed together.' It is only +justice to the criminal to say, that I believe him truly and perfectly +reformed." + +"And on this chance she leaves her children and her country?" + +"She does. She argues, that as the will of Providence prevented her from +discharging her duties _together_, she must endeavour to perform +them _separately_. He was sentenced to die; but, by my father's +exertions, his sentence was commuted to one of transportation for life; +and I know she has quitted England without the hope of again beholding +its white cliffs." + +[Miss Landon has contributed a few poetical pieces of great merit; and +the Editor, the "simple story" of an Emigrant in verse, full of truth +and nature. The Author of the Corn Law Rhymes has two pieces. + +The Illustrations are nearly unexceptionable. Seven of them are +from pictures by Lawrence; Newton's Gentle Student has supplied the +Frontispiece; and Wilkie's Theft of the Cap, one of the most pleasing +of the well arranged selection.] + + * * * * * + + +THE FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING. + +[Edited by a poet of no mean merit, has a golden flood of minor pieces +in verse, many of them of great beauty and touching sweetness, and +nearly all above the usual _calibre_ of such contributions to +_Annual_ literature. The prose tales are by Miss Mitford, Mr. J.B. +Fraser, Derwent Conway, and by Leitch Ritchie: that by the latter is +perhaps the best in the volume; it has a serio-ludicrous interest which +is very amusing. + +The pieces number upwards of sixty; and as the prose are too lengthy for +our columns, we take a slight sprinkling of the poetical flowers:--] + + +THE ARMADA, + +A FRAGMENT,--BY T.B. MACAULAY. + + + Attend, all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise, + I tell of the thrice famous deeds she wrought in ancient days, + When that great fleet invincible against her bore in vain + The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain. + It was about the lovely close of a warm summer's day, + There came a gallant merchant ship full sail to Plymouth bay; + Her crew hath seen Castille's black fleet, beyond Aurigny's isle, + At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving many a mile. + At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial grace; + And the tall Pinta, till the noon, had held her close in chase. + Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the wall; + The beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty hall; + Many a light fishing bark put out to pry along the coast; + And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a post. + With his white hair unbonneted the stout old sheriff comes; + Behind him march the halberdiers, before him sound the drums; + His yeomen, round the market-cross, make clear an ample space, + For there behoves him to set up the standard of her Grace. + And haughtily the trumpets peal, and gaily dance the bells, + As slow upon the labouring wind the royal blazon swells. + Look how the lion of the sea lifts up his ancien crown, + And underneath his deadly paw treads the gay lilies down. + So stalked he when he turned to flight, on that famed Picard field, + Bohemia's plume, and Genoa's bow, and Caesar's eagle shield: + So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he turned to bay, + And crushed and torn beneath his claws the princely hunters lay. + Ho! strike the flag-staff deep, sir knight: ho! scatter flowers, + fair maids: + Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute; ho! gallants draw your blades: + Thou sun, shine on her joyously: ye breezes waft her wide: + Our glorious SEMPER EADEM,--this banner of our pride. + The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner's massy fold, + The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty scroll of gold: + Night sank upon the dusky beach, and on the purple sea;-- + Such night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er again shall be. + From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford bay, + That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day: + For swift to east and swift to west the warning radiance spread; + High on St. Michael's mount it shone, it shone on Beachy Head. + Far on the deep the Spaniards saw, along each southern shire, + Cape beyond cape, in endless rage, those twinkling points of fire: + The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar's glittering waves; + The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip's sunless caves. + O'er Longleat's towers, o'er Cranbourne's oaks, the fiery herald flew; + He roused the Shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers of Beaulieu. + Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out from Bristol town; + And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down. + The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into the night, + And saw o'erhanging Richmond-hill the streak of blood-red light. + Then bugle's note and cannon's roar the death-like silence broke, + And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke. + At once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires: + At once the wild alarum clashed from all her reeling spires: + From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear; + And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder cheer: + And from the furthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet, + And the broad stream of flags and pikes dashed down each roaring street: + And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din. + As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in: + And eastward straight, from wild Blackheath, the warlike errand went, + And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent. + Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills flew those bright couriers forth; + High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the north. + And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still, + All night from tower to tower they sprang;--they sprang from hill + to hill, + Till the proud peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dales, + Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales, + Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height. + Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest of light; + Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane, + And tower and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain; + Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent, + And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent; + Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile, + And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlise. + + * * * * * + + +THE TORNADO. + +AN AFRICAN SKETCH,--BY THOMAS PRINGLE. + + + Dost thou love to list the rushing + Of the tempest in its might? + Dost thou joy to see the gushing + Of the torrent at its height? + Hasten forth ere yet the gloaming + Waneth wildly into night, + While the troubled sea is foaming + With a strange phosphoric light. + + Lo, the sea-fowl, loudly screaming, + Seeks the shelter of the land; + And a signal light is gleaming + Where yon vesel nears the strand: + Just at sun-set she was lying + All-becalmed upon the main; + Now, with sails in tatters flying, + She to sea-ward beats--in vain! + + * * * * * + + Now the forest trees are shaking, + Like bullrushes in the gale; + And the folded flocks are quaking + 'Neath the pelting of the hail. + From the jungle-cumbered river + Comes a growl along the ground; + And the cattle start and shiver, + For they know full well the sound. + + 'Tis the lion, gaunt with hunger. + Glaring down the darkening glen; + But a fiercer Power and stronger + Drives him back into his den: + For the fiend TORNADO rideth + Forth with FEAR, his maniac bride. + Who by shipwrecked shores abideth, + With the she-wolf by her side. + + Heard ye not the Demon flapping + His exulting wings aloud? + And his mate her wild hands clapping + From yon scowling thunder-cloud? + By the fireflaucht's gleamy flashing + The doomed vessel ye may spy, + With the billows o'er her dashing-- + Hark (Oh God!) that fearful cry! + + Seven hundred human voices + In that shriek came on the blast! + Ha! the Tempest-Fiend rejoices-- + For all earthly aid is past! + White as smoke the surge is showering + O'er the cliffs that sea-ward frown, + While the greedy gulph, devouring, + Like a dragon sucks them down. + + +The Plates are excellent: two or three fancy portraits beam with +loveliness; Christ entering Jerusalem, engraved by E.J. Roberts, from +Martin, is a sublime scene of "the glorious city of God;" and Corfu and +the Bridge of Alva, from drawings by Purser, maintain the promising +excellence of his pencil. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London, sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; +CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12530 *** |