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diff --git a/old/13643.txt b/old/13643.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2244b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13643.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3885 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. I, +No. 6, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. I, No. 6 + Of Literature, Art, And Science, New York, August 5, 1850 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 6, 2004 [EBook #13643] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, William Flis, the PG Online Distributed +Proofreading Team, and Cornell University + + + + + +INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY MISCELLANY + +Of Literature, Art, and Science. + + * * * * * + +Vol. I. NEW YORK, AUGUST 5, 1850. No. 6. + + * * * * * + + + + +GERMAN CRITICISM ON ENGLISH FEMALE ROMANCE WRITERS. + +We translate the following for the _International_ from a letter dated +London, June 15, to the _Cologne Gazette_. + +"Among the most remarkable writers of romances in England, three women +are entitled to be reckoned in the first rank, namely, Miss Jewsbury, +Miss Bronte, and Mrs. Gaskell. Miss Jewsbury issued her first work +about four years since, a novel, in three volumes, under the title of +'Zoe,' and since then she has published the 'Half Sisters.' Both these +works are excellent in manner as well as ideas, and show that their +author is a woman of profound thought and deep feeling. Both are +drawn from country life and the middle class, a sphere in which Miss +Jewsbury is at home. The tendency of the first is speculative, and +is based on religion; that of the second is social, relating to the +position of woman. + +"Miss Jewsbury is still young, for an authoress. She counts only some +thirty years, and many productions may be confidently expected from +her hand, though perhaps none will excel those already published, +for, after gaining a certain climax, no one excels himself. Her +usual residence is Manchester; it is but seldom that she visits the +metropolis; she is now here. She has lively and pleasing manners, a +slight person, fine features, a beautiful, dreamy, light brown eye. +She is attractive without being beautiful, retiring, altogether +without pretensions, and in conversation is neither brilliant nor very +intellectual,--a still, thoughtful, modest character. + +"Miss Bronte was long involved in a mysterious obscurity, from which +she first emerged into the light as an actually existing being, at her +present visit to London. Two years ago there appeared a romance, 'Jane +Eyre,' by 'Currer Bell,' which threw all England into astonishment. +Everybody was tormenting himself to discover the real author, for +there was no such person as Currer Bell, and no one could tell +whether the book was written by a man or woman, because the hues of +the romance now indicated a male and now female hand, without any +possibility of supposing that the whole originated with a single +pencil. The public attributed it now to one, now to another, and the +book passed to a second edition without the solution of the riddle. +At last there came out a second romance, 'Shirley,' by the same +author, which was devoured with equal avidity, although it could +not be compared to the former in value; and still the incognito was +preserved. Finally, late in the autumn of last year the report was +spread about that the image of Jane Eyre had been discovered in London +in the person of a pale young lady, with gray eyes, who had been +recognized as the long-sought authoress. Still she remained invisible. +And again, in June 1850, it is said that Currer Bell, Jane Eyre, Miss +Bronte,--for all three names mean the same person,--is in London, +though to all inquiries concerning the where and how a satisfactory +answer is still wanting. She is now indeed here, but not for the +curious public; she will not serve society as a lioness, will not be +gazed and gaped at. She is a simple child of the country, brought up +in the little parsonage of her father, in the North of England, and +must first accustom her eye to the gleaming diadem with which fame +seeks to deck her brow, before she can feel herself at home in her own +sunshine. + +"Our third lady, Mrs. Gaskell, belongs also to the country, and is +the wife of a Unitarian clergyman. In this capacity she has probably +had occasion to know a great deal of the poorer classes, to her honor +be it said. Her book, 'Mary Barton,' conducts us into the factory +workman's narrow dwelling, and depicts his joys and sorrows, his +aims and efforts, his wants and his misery, with a power of truth +that irresistibly lays hold upon the heart. The scene of the story +alternates from there to the city mansion of the factory owner, +where, along with luxury and splendor we find little love and little +happiness, and where sympathy with the condition of the workman is +wanting only because it is not known, and because no one understands +why or how the workman suffers. The book, is at once very beautiful, +very instructive, and written, in a spirit of conciliation." + + * * * * * + +MARGARET FULLER, MARCHESA D'OSSOLI. + +Sarah Margaret Fuller, by marriage Marchioness of Ossoli, was born +in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about the year 1807. Her father, Mr. +Timothy Fuller, was a lawyer, and from 1817 to 1825 he represented +the Middlesex district in Congress. At the close of his last term as +a legislator he purchased a farm near Cambridge, and determined to +abandon his profession for the more congenial one of agriculture; but +he died soon after, leaving a widow and six children, of whom Margaret +was the eldest. + +At a very early age she exhibited unusual abilities, and was +particularly distinguished for an extraordinary facility in acquiring +languages. Her father, proud of the displays of her intelligence, +prematurely stimulated it to a degree that was ultimately injurious to +her physical constitution. At eight years of age he was accustomed to +require of her the composition of a number of Latin verses every day, +while her studies in philosophy, history, general science and current +literature were pressed to the limit of her capacities. When he first +went to Washington he was accustomed to speak of her as one "better +skilled in Greek and Latin than half of the professors;" and alluding +in one of her essays, to her attachment to foreign literature, she +herself observes that in childhood she had well-nigh forgotten her +English while constantly reading in other tongues. + +Soon after the death of her father, she applied herself to teaching +as a vocation, first in Boston, then in Providence, and afterward +in Boston again, while her "Conversations" were for several seasons +attended by classes of women, some of them married, and many of them +of the most eminent positions in society. These conversations are +described by Dr. Orestes A. Brownson, as "in the highest degree +brilliant, instructive, and inspiring," and our own recollections of +them confirm to us the justice of the applause with which they are +now referred to. She made her first appearance as an author, in a +translation of Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe, published in +Boston in 1839. When Mr. Emerson, in the following year, established +_The Dial_, she became one of the principal contributors to that +remarkable periodical, in which she wrote many of the most striking +papers on literature, art, and society. In the summer of 1843 she made +a journey to the Sault St. Marie, and in the next spring published +in Boston reminiscences of her tour, under the title of Summer on the +Lakes. _The Dial_ having been discontinued, she came to reside in New +York, where she had charge of the literary department of the New York +_Tribune_, which acquired a great accession of reputation from her +critical essays. Here in 1845 she published Woman in the Nineteenth +Century; and in 1846, Papers on Literature and Art, in two volumes, +consisting of essays and reviews, reprinted, with one exception, from +periodicals. + +In the summer of 1845, she accompanied the family of a friend to +Europe, visiting England, Scotland, and France, and passing through +Italy to Rome, where they spent the ensuing winter. The next spring +she proceeded with her friends to the north of Italy, and there +stopped, spending most of the summer at Florence, and returning at +the approach of winter to Rome, where she was soon after married to +Giovanni, Marquis d'Ossoli, who made her acquaintance during her first +winter in that city. They resided in the Roman States until the last +summer, after the surrender of Rome to the French army, when they +deemed it expedient to go to Florence, both having taken an active +part in the Republican movement. They left Florence in June, and +at Leghorn embarked in the ship Elizabeth for New York. The passage +commenced auspiciously, but at Gibraltar the master of the ship died +of smallpox, and they were detained at the quarantine there some time +in consequence of this misfortune, but finally set sail again on the +8th of June, and arrived on our coast during the terrible storm of +the 18th and 19th ult., when, in the midst of darkness, rain, and a +terrific gale, the ship was hurled on the breakers of Fire Island, +near Long Island, and in a few hours was broken in pieces. Margaret +Fuller d'Ossoli, the Marquis d'Ossoli, and their son, two years of +age, with an Italian girl, and Mr. Horace Sumner of Boston, besides +several of the crew, lost their lives. We reprint a sketch of the +works and genius of Margaret Fuller, written several years ago by the +late Edgar A. Poe. + + * * * * * + +"Miss Fuller was at one time editor, or one of the editors of the +'The Dial,' to which she contributed many of the most forcible and +certainly some of the most peculiar papers. She is known, too, by +'Summer on the Lakes,' a remarkable assemblage of sketches, issued +in 1844, by Little & Brown, of Boston. More lately she published +'Woman in the Nineteenth Century,' a work which has occasioned much +discussion, having had the good fortune to be warmly abused and +chivalrously defended. For '_The New York Tribune_,' she has furnished +a great variety of matter, chiefly notices of new books, etc., etc., +her articles being designated by an asterisk. Two of the best of them +were a review of Professor Longfellow's late magnificent edition +of his own works, (with a portrait,) and an appeal to the public +in behalf of her friend Harro Harring. The review did her infinite +credit; it was frank, candid, independent--in even ludicrous contrast +to the usual mere glorifications of the day, giving honor _only_ where +honor was due, yet evincing the most thorough capacity to appreciate +and the most sincere intention to place in the fairest light the real +and idiosyncratic merits of the poet. In my opinion it is one of the +very few reviews of Longfellow's poems, ever published in America, +of which the critics have not had abundant reason to be ashamed. Mr. +Longfellow is entitled to a certain and very distinguished rank among +the poets of his country, but that country is disgraced by the evident +toadyism which would award to his social position and influence, to +his fine paper and large type, to his morocco binding and gilt edges, +to his flattering portrait of himself, and to the illustrations of his +poems by Huntingdon, that amount of indiscriminate approbation which +neither could nor would have been given to the poems themselves. The +defense of Harro Harring, or rather the philippic against those who +were doing him wrong, was one of the most eloquent and well-_put_ +articles I have ever yet seen in a newspaper. + +"'Woman in the Nineteenth Century' is a book which few women in the +country could have written, and no woman in the country would +have published, with the exception of Miss Fuller. In the way of +independence, of unmitigated radicalism, it is one of the 'Curiosities +of American Literature,' and Doctor Griswold should include it in +his book. I need scarcely say that the essay is nervous, forcible, +suggestive, brilliant, and to a certain extent scholar-like--for +all that Miss Fuller produces is entitled to these epithets--but I +must say that the conclusions reached are only in part my own. Not +that they are bold, by any means--too novel, too startling or too +dangerous in their consequences, but that in their attainment too many +premises have been distorted, and too many analogical inferences left +altogether out of sight. I mean to say that the intention of the Deity +as regards sexual differences--an intention which can be distinctly +comprehended only by throwing the exterior (more sensitive) portions +of the mental retina _casually_ over the wide field of universal +_analogy_--I mean to say that this _intention_ has not been +sufficiently considered. Miss Fuller has erred, too, through her own +excessive objectiveness. She judges _woman_ by the heart and intellect +of Miss Fuller, but there are not more than one or two dozen Miss +Fullers on the whole face of the earth. Holding these opinions in +regard to 'Woman in the Nineteenth Century,' I still feel myself +called upon to disavow the silly, condemnatory criticism of the +work which appeared in one of the earlier numbers of "_The Broadway +Journal_." That article was _not_ written by myself, and _was_ written +by my associate, Mr. Briggs. + +"The most favorable estimate of Miss Fuller's genius (for high genius +she unquestionably possesses) is to be obtained, perhaps, from her +contributions to 'The Dial,' and from her 'Summer on the Lakes.' Many +of the _descriptions_ in this volume are unrivaled for _graphicality_, +(why is there not such a word?) for the force with which they convey +the true by the novel or unexpected, by the introduction of touches +which other artists would be sure to omit as irrelevant to the +subject. This faculty, too, springs from her subjectiveness, which +leads her to paint a scene less by its features than by its effects. + +"Here, for example, is a portion of her account of Niagara:-- + + "'Daily these proportions widened and towered more and more + upon my sight, and I got at last a proper foreground for these + sublime distances. Before coming away, I think I really saw + the full wonder of the scene. After a while it _so drew me + into itself as to inspire an undefined dread, such as I never + knew before, such as may be felt when death is about to usher + us into a new existence_. The perpetual trampling of the + waters seized my senses. _I felt that no other sound, however + near, could be heard, and would start and look behind me for a + foe_. I realised the identity of that mood of nature in which + these waters were poured down with such absorbing force, with + that in which the Indian was shaped on the same soil. For + continually upon my mind came, unsought and unwelcome, _images + such as had never haunted it before, of naked savages stealing + behind me with uplifted tomahawks_. Again and again this + illusion recurred, and even _after I had thought it over, and + tried to shake it off, I could not help starting and looking + behind me_. What I liked best was to sit on Table Rock close + to the great fall; _there all power of observing details, all + separate consciousness was quite lost_.' + +"The truthfulness of the passages italicized will be felt by all; the +feelings described are, perhaps, experienced by every (imaginative) +person who visits the fall; but most persons, through predominant +subjectiveness, would scarcely be conscious of the feelings, or, at +best, would never think of employing them in an attempt to convey to +others an impression of the scene. Hence so many desperate failures to +convey it on the part of ordinary tourists. Mr. William W. Lord, to be +sure, in his poem 'Niagara,' is sufficiently objective; he describes +not the fall, but very properly, the effect of the fall upon _him_. +He says that it made him think of his _own_ greatness, of his _own_ +superiority, and so forth, and so forth; and it is only when we +come to think that the thought of Mr. Lord's greatness is quite +idiosyncratic confined exclusively to Mr. Lord, that we are in +condition to understand how, in spite of his objectiveness he has +failed to convey an idea of anything beyond one Mr. William W. Lord. + +"From the essay entitled 'Philip Van Artevelde, I copy a paragraph +which will serve at once to exemplify Miss Fuller's more earnest +(declamatory) style, and to show the tenor of her prospective +speculations:-- + + "'At Chicago I read again 'Philip Van Artevelde,' and certain + passages in it will always be in my mind associated with the + deep sound of the lake, as heard in the night. I used to read + a short time at night, and then open the blind to look out. + The moon would be full upon the lake, and the calm breath, + pure light, and the deep voice, harmonized well with the + thought of the Flemish hero. When will this country have + such a man? It is what she needs--no thin Idealist, no coarse + Realist, but a man whose eye reads the heavens while his + feet step firmly on the ground, and his hands are strong and + dexterous in the use of human instruments. A man, religious, + virtuous, and--sagacious; a man of universal sympathies, but + self-possessed; a man who knows the region of emotion, though + he is not its slave; a man to whom this world is no mere + spectacle or fleeting shadow, but a great, solemn game, to be + played with good heed, for its stakes are of eternal value, + yet who, if his own play be true, heeds not what he loses by + the falsehood of others. A man who lives from the past, yet + knows that its honey can but moderately avail him; whose + comprehensive eye scans the present, neither infatuated by its + golden lures nor chilled by its many ventures; who possesses + prescience, as the wise man must, but not so far as to be + driven mad to-day by the gift which discerns to-morrow. When + there is such a man for America, the thought which urges her + on will be expressed." + +"From what I have quoted, a _general_ conception of the prose style +of the authoress may be gathered. Her manner, however, is infinitely +varied. It is always forcible--but I am not sure that it is always +anything else, unless I say picturesque. It rather indicates than +evinces scholarship. Perhaps only the scholastic, or, more properly, +those accustomed to look narrowly at the structure of phrases, would +be willing to acquit her of ignorance of grammar--would be willing +to attribute her slovenliness to disregard of the shell in anxiety +for the kernel; or to waywardness, or to affectation, or to blind +reverence to Carlyle--would be able to detect, in her strange and +continual inaccuracies, a capacity for the accurate. + + "'I cannot sympathize with such an apprehension; the spectacle + is _capable to_ swallow _up_ all such objects." + + "It is fearful, too, to know, as you look, that whatever has + been swallowed by the cataract, is _like_ to rise suddenly to + light." + + "I took our _mutual_ friends to see her." + + "It was always obvious that they had nothing in common + _between them_." + + "The Indian cannot be looked at truly _except_ by a poetic + eye." + + "McKenny's Tour to the Lakes gives some facts not to be met + _with_ elsewhere." + + "There is that mixture of culture and rudeness in the aspect + of things _as_ gives a feeling of freedom," etc., etc. + +"These are merely a few, a very few instances, taken at random from +among a multitude of _willful_ murders committed by Miss Fuller on +the American of President Polk. She uses, too, the word 'ignore,' a +vulgarity adopted only of late days (and to no good purpose, since +there is no necessity for it) from the barbarisms of the law, and +makes no scruple of giving the Yankee interpretation to the verbs +'witness' and 'realize,' to say nothing of 'use,' as in the sentence, +'I used to read a short time at night.' It will not do to say in +defense of such words, that in such senses they may be found in +certain dictionaries--in that of Bolles', for instance;--_some_ kind +of 'authority' may be found for _any_ kind of vulgarity under the sun. + +"In spite of these things, however and of her frequent unjustifiable +Carlyleisms, (such as that of writing sentences which are no +sentences, since, to be parsed, reference must be had to sentences +preceding,) the style of Miss Fuller is one of the very best with +which I am acquainted. In general effect, I know no style which +surpasses it. It is singularly piquant, vivid, terse, bold, +luminous--leaving details out of sight, it is everything that a style +need be. + +"I believe that Miss Fuller has written much poetry, although she has +published little. That little is tainted with the affectation of the +_transcendentalists_, (I used this term, of course, in the sense which +the public of late days seem resolved to give it,) but is brimful of +the poetic _sentiment_. Here, for example, is something in Coleridge's +manner, of which the author of 'Genevieve' might have had no reason to +be ashamed:-- + + A maiden sat beneath a tree; + Tear-bedewed her pale cheeks be, + And she sighed heavily. + + From forth the wood into the _light_ + A hunter strides with carol _light_ + And a glance so bold and bright. + + He careless stopped and eyed the maid; + 'Why weepest thou?' he gently said; + 'I love thee well, be not afraid.' + + He takes her hand and leads her on-- + She should have waited there alone, + For he was not her chosen one. + + He _leans_ her head upon his breast-- + She knew 'twas not her home of rest, + But, ah! she had been sore distrest. + + The sacred stars looked sadly down; + The parting moon appeared to frown, + To see thus dimmed the diamond crown. + + Then from the thicket starts a deer-- + The huntsman seizing _on_ his spear + Cries, 'Maiden, wait thou for me here.' + + She sees him vanish into night-- + She starts from sleep in deep affright, + For it was not her own true knight. + + Though but in dream Gunhilda failed-- + Though but a fancied ill assailed-- + Though she but fancied fault bewailed-- + + Yet thought of day makes dream of night; + She is not worthy of the knight; + The inmost altar burns not bright. + + If loneliness thou canst not bear-- + Cannot the dragon's venom dare-- + Of the pure meed thou shouldst despair. + + Now sadder that lone maiden sighs; + Far bitterer tears profane her eyes; + Crushed in the dust her heart's flower lies.' + +"To show the evident carelessness with which this poem was +constructed, I have italicized an identical rhyme (of about the same +force in versification as an identical proposition in logic) and two +grammatical improprieties. _To lean_ is a neuter verb, and 'seizing +_on_' is not properly to be called a pleonasm, merely because it +is--nothing at all. The concluding line is difficult of pronunciation +through excess of consonants. I should have preferred, indeed, the +ante-penultimate tristich as the _finale_ of the poem. + +"The supposition that the book of an author is a thing apart from the +author's self, is, I think, ill-founded. The soul is a cipher, in the +sense of a cryptograph; and the shorter a cryptograph is, the more +difficulty there is in its comprehension--at a certain point of +brevity it would bid defiance to an army of Champollions. And thus +he who has written very little, may in that little either conceal his +spirit or convey quite an erroneous idea of it--of his acquirements, +talents, temper, manner, tenor and depth (or shallowness) of +thought--in a word of his character, of himself. But this is +impossible with him who has written much. Of such a person we get, +from his books, not merely a just, but the most just representation. +Bulwer, the individual, personal man, in a green velvet waistcoat and +amber gloves, is not by any means the veritable Sir Edward Lytton, +who is discoverable only in 'Ernest Maltravers,' where his soul is +deliberately and nakedly set forth. And who would ever know Dickens by +looking at him or talking with him, or doing anything with him except +reading his 'Curiosity Shop?' What poet, in especial, but must feel +at least the better portion of himself more fairly represented in even +his commonest sonnet, (earnestly written,) than in his most elaborate +or most intimate personalities? + +"I put all this as a general proposition, to which Miss Fuller affords +a marked exception--to this extent, that her personal character and +her printed book are merely one and the same thing. We get access +to her soul _as_ directly from the one as from the other--no _more_ +readily from this than from that--easily from either. Her acts are +bookish, and her books are less thoughts than acts. Her literary and +her conversational manner are identical. Here is a passage from her +'Summer on the Lakes:'-- + + "'The rapids enchanted me far beyond what I expected; they + are so swift that they cease to _seem_ so--you can think + only of their _beauty_. The fountain beyond the Moss Islands + I discovered for myself, and thought it for some time an + _accidental_ beauty which it would not do to _leave_, lest + I might never see it again. After I found it _permanent_, I + returned many times to watch the play of its crest. In the + little waterfall, beyond, Nature seems, as she often does, to + have made a _study_ for some larger design. She delights in + this--a sketch within a sketch--a dream within _a dream_. + Wherever we see it, the lines of the great buttress in the + fragment of stone, the hues of the waterfall, copied in the + flowers that _star_ its bordering mosses, we are _delighted_; + for all the lineaments become _fluent_, and we mould the scene + in congenial thought with its _genius_.' + +"Now all this is precisely as Miss Fuller would _speak_ it. She is +perpetually saying just such things in just such words. To get the +_conversational_ woman in the mind's eye, all that is needed is to +imagine her reciting the paragraph just quoted: but first let us have +the _personal_ woman. She is of the medium height; nothing remarkable +about the figure; a profusion of lustrous light hair; eyes a bluish +gray, full of fire; capacious forehead; the mouth when in repose +indicates profound sensibility, capacity for affection, for love--when +moved by a slight smile, it becomes even beautiful in the intensity +of this expression; but the upper lip, as if impelled by the action +of involuntary muscles, habitually uplifts itself, conveying the +impression of a sneer. Imagine, now, a person of this description +looking at you one moment earnestly in the face, at the next seeming +to look only within her own spirit or at the wall; moving nervously +every now and then in her chair; speaking in a high key, but +musically, deliberately, (not hurriedly or loudly,) with a delicious +distinctness of enunciation--speaking, I say, the paragraph in +question, and emphasizing the words which I have italicized, not by +impulsion of the breath, (as is usual) but by drawing them out as long +as possible, nearly closing her eyes, the while--imagine all this, and +we have both the woman and the authoress before us." + + * * * * * + +[FROM THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE.] + +ON THE DEATH OF S. MARGARET FULLER. + +BY G.F.R. JAMES + + High hopes and bright thine early path bedecked, + And aspirations beautiful, though wild, + A heart too strong, a powerful will unchecked, + A dream that earth-things could be undefiled. + + But soon, around thee, grew a golden chain, + That bound the woman to more human things, + And taught with joy--and, it may be, with pain-- + That there are limits e'en to Spirits' wings. + + Husband and child--the loving and beloved-- + Won, from the vast of thought, a mortal part, + The empassioned wife and mother, yielding, proved + Mind has, itself, a master--in the heart. + + In distant lands enhaloed by old fame + Thou found'st the only chain the spirit knew, + But, captive, led'st thy captors from the shame + Of ancient freedom, to the pride of new. + + And loved hearts clung around thee on the deck, + Welling with sunny hopes 'neath sunny skies; + The wide horizon round thee had no speck; + E'en Doubt herself could see no cloud arise. + + The loved ones clung around thee, when the sail, + O'er wide Atlantic billows, onward bore + Thy freight of joys, and the expanding gale + Pressed the glad bark toward thy native shore. + + The loved ones clung around thee still, when all + Was darkness, tempest, terror, and dismay-- + More closely clung around thee, when the pall + Of fate was falling o'er the mortal clay. + + With them to live--with them, with them to die-- + Sublime of human love intense and fine! + Was thy last prayer unto the Deity, + And it was granted thee by love divine. + + In the same billow--in the same dark grave-- + Mother, and child, and husband find their rest. + The dream is ended; and the solemn wave + Gives back the gifted to her country's breast. + + * * * * * + +An Illustration of the high prices paid to fortunate artists in these +times may be found in the fact that Alboni, the famous contralto +singer, has been engaged to sing at Madrid, at the enormous rate of +$400 dollars per day, while Roger, the tenor, who used to sing at the +Comic Opera at Paris, and who was transplanted to the Grand Opera to +assist in the production of Meyerbeer's "Prophet," has been engaged +to sing with her at the more moderate salary of $8000 a month. This +is almost equal to the extravagant sum guaranteed to Jenny Lind for +performing in this country. It would be a curious inquiry why singers +and dancers are always paid so much more exorbitantly than painters, +sculptors or musical composers, especially as the pleasure they +confer is of a merely evanescent character, while the works of the +latter remain a perpetual source of delight and refinement to all +generations. + + * * * * * + +FRASER'S MAGAZINE UPON THE POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA. + +The last number of _Fraser's Magazine_ has a long article upon THE +POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA, in which the subject is treated with more +than the customary civility of English criticism upon this subject. We +are half inclined, indeed, to believe the article was written "above +Bleecker," or by an inhabitant of that quarter now in London. Omitting +the illustrative extracts, we copy the greater portion of the review, +in which most of those who are admitted to be poets are characterized. + +"When Halleck said of New York-- + + Our fourteen wards + Contain some seven-and-thirty-bards, + +he rather understated than exaggerated the fact. Mr. Griswold, besides +the ninety regular poets in his collection, gives an appendix of about +seventy fugitive pieces by as many authors; and bitter complaints +have been made against him in various quarters for not including +some seventy, or a hundred and seventy more, 'who,' it is said, and +probably with truth, 'have as good a right to be there as many of +those admitted.' Still it is possible to pick out a few of general +reputation, whom literati from all parts of the Union would agree +in sustaining as specimens of distinguished American poets, though +they would differ in assigning their relative position. Thus, if the +Republic had to choose a laureate, Boston would probably deposit a +nearly unanimous vote for Longfellow; the suffrages of New York might +he divided between Bryant and Halleck; and the southern cities would +doubtless give a large majority for Poe. But these gentlemen, and +some three or four more, would be acknowledged by all as occupying +the first rank. Perhaps, on the whole, the preponderance of native +authority justifies us in heading the list with Bryant, who, at any +rate, has the additional title of seniority in authorship, if not in +actual years. + +"William Cullen Bryant is, as we learn from Mr. Griswold, about +fifty-five years old, and was born in Massachusetts, though his +literary career is chiefly associated with New York, of which he is +a resident. With a precocity extraordinary, even in a country where +precocity is the rule instead of the exception, he began to write _and +publish_ at the age of thirteen, and has, therefore, been full forty +years before the American public, and that not in the capacity of +poet alone--having for more than half that period edited the _Evening +Post_, one of the ablest and most respectable papers in the United +States, and the oldest organ, we believe, of the Democratic party in +New York. He has been called, and with justice, a poet of nature. +The prairie solitude, the summer evening landscape, the night wind of +autumn, the water-bird flitting homeward through the twilight--such +are the favorite subjects of inspiration. _Thanatopsis_, one of +his most admired pieces, was written at the age of _eighteen_, and +exhibits a finish of style, no less than a maturity of thought, very +remarkable for so youthful a production. Mr. Bryant's poems have +been for some years pretty well known on this side the water,--better +known, at any rate, than any other transatlantic verses; on which +account, being somewhat limited for space, we forbear to make any +extracts from them. + +"FITZ-GREENE HALLECK is also a New-Englander by birth and a New Yorker +by adoption. He is Bryant's contemporary and friend, but the spirit +and style of his versification are very different; and so, it is +said, are his political affinities. While Bryant is a bulwark of +the Democracy, Halleck is reported to be not only an admirer of the +obsolete Federalists, but an avowed Monarchist. To be sure, this is +only his private reputation: no trace of such a feeling is observable +in his writings, which show throughout a sturdy vein of republicanism, +social and political. In truth, the party classification of American +literary men is apt to puzzle the uninitiated. Thus Washington Irving +is said to belong to the Democrats; but it would be hard to find in +his writings anything countenancing their claim upon him. His sketches +of English society are a panegyric of old institutions; and the fourth +book of his _Knickerbocker_ is throughout a palpable satire on the +administration of Thomas Jefferson, the great apostle of Democracy. +Perhaps, however, he may since have changed his views. Willis, too, +the 'Free Penciler,' who has been half his life prating about lords +and ladies, and great people, and has become a sort of Jenkins to +the fashionable life of New York; he also is one of the Democratic +party. Peradventure he may vote the 'Locofoco ticket' in the hope +of propitiating _the boys_ (as the _canaille_ of American cities are +properly called), and saving his printing-office from the fate of the +Italian Opera House in Astor Place. But what shall we say of Cooper, +who, by his anti-democratic opinions, has made himself one of the most +unpopular men in his country, and whose recent political novels rival +the writings of Judge Haliburton in the virulence as well as the +cleverness of their satire upon Republican institutions? He, too, is +a Democrat. To us, who are not behind the curtain, these things are +a mystery incapable of explanation. To return to our present subject. +Halleck made his _debut_ in the poetical world by some satirical +pieces called _The Croakers_, which created as much sensation at their +appearance as the anonymous _Salmagundi_ which commenced Irving's +literary career. These were succeeded by _Fanny_, a poem in the +_Don Juan_ metre. _Fanny_ has no particular plot or story, but is a +satirical review of all the celebrities, literary, fashionable, and +political, of New York at that day (1821). And the satire was probably +very good at the time and in the place; but, unfortunately for the +extent and permanence of its reputation, most of these celebrities are +utterly unknown, not merely beyond the limits of the Union, but beyond +those of New York. Among all the personages enumerated we can find +but two names that an European reader would be likely to know anything +about,--Clinton and Van Buren. Nay, more, in the rapid growth and +change of things American, the present generation of New Yorkers are +likely to lose sight of the lions of their immediate progenitors; and +unless some Manhattanese scholiast should write a commentary on the +poem in time, its allusions, and with them most of its wit, will be +in danger of perishing entirely. What we _can_ judge of in _Fanny_ are +one or two graceful lyrics interspersed in it, though even these are +marred by untimely comicality and local allusions. The nominal hero, +while wandering about at night after the wreck of his fortunes, hears +a band playing outside a public place of entertainment. It must have +been a better band than that which now, from the Museum opposite the +Astor House, drives to frenzy the hapless stranger.... In Halleck's +subsequent productions the influence of Campbell is more perceptible +than that of Byron, and with manifest advantage. It may be said of his +compositions, as it can be affirmed of few American verses, that they +have a real innate harmony, something not dependent on the number of +syllables in each line, or capable of being dissected out into feet, +but growing in them, as it were, and created by the fine ear of the +writer. Their sentiments, too, are exalted and ennobling; eminently +genial and honest, they stamp the author for a good man and +true,--Nature's aristocracy.... For some unexplained reason Halleck +has not written, or at least not published, anything new for several +years, though continually solicited to do so; for he is a great +favorite with his countrymen, especially with the New Yorkers. His +time, however, has been by no means passed in idleness. Fashionable +as writing is in America, it is not considered desirable or, indeed, +altogether reputable, that the poet should be _only_ a poet. Halleck +has been in business most of his life; and was lately head-clerk +of the wealthy merchant, John Jacob Astor, who left him a handsome +annuity. This was increased by Mr. Astor's son and heir, a man of +well-known liberality; so that between the two there is a chance +of the poet's being enabled to 'meditate the tuneful Muse' for the +remainder of his days free from all distractions of business. + +"LONGFELLOW, the pet poet of Boston, is a much younger man than either +Bryant or Halleck, and has made his reputation only within the last +twelve years, during which time he has been one of the most noted +lions of American Athens. The city of Boston, as every one knows who +has been there, or who has met with any book or man emanating from +it, claims to be the literary metropolis of the United States, and +assumes the slightly-pretending _soubriquet_ just quoted. The American +Athenians have their thinking and writing done for them by a coterie +whose distinctive characteristics are Socinianism in theology, a +praeter-Puritan prudery in ethics, a German tendency in metaphysics, +and throughout all a firm persuasion that Boston is the fountain-head +of art, scholarship, and literature for the western world, and +particularly that New York is a Nazareth in such things, out of which +can come nothing good. For the Bostonians, who certainly cultivate +literature with more general devotion, if not always with more +individual success than the New Yorkers, can never forgive their +commercial neighbors for possessing by birth the two most eminent +prose-writers of the country--Irving and Cooper; and by adoption, two +of the leading poets--Bryant and Halleck. Nor are the good people of +the 'Empire State' slow to resent these exhibitions of small jealousy; +but, on the contrary, as the way of the world is, they are apt to +retort by greater absurdities. So shy are they of appearing to be +guided by the dicta of their eastern friends, that to this day there +is scarcely man or woman on Manhattan Island who will confess a +liking for Tennyson, Mrs. Barrett Browning, or Robert Browning, simply +because these poets were taken up and patronized (metaphorically +speaking, of course,) by the 'Mutual Admiration Society' of Boston. + +"The immediate influences of this _camaraderie_ are highly flattering +and apparently beneficial to the subject of them, but its ultimate +effects are most injurious to the proper development of his powers. +When the merest trifles that a man throws off are inordinately +praised, he soon becomes content with producing the merest trifles. +Longfellow has grown unaccustomed to do himself justice. Half his +volumes are filled up with translations; graceful and accurate, +indeed; but translations, and often from originals of very moderate +merit. His last original poem, _Evangeline_, is a sort of pastoral +in hexameters. The resuscitation of this classical metre had a queer +effect upon the American quidnuncs. Some of the _critics_ evidently +believed it to be a bran-new metre invented for the nonce by the +author, a delusion which they of the 'Mutual Admiration' rather winked +at; and the parodists who endeavored to ridicule the new measure were +evidently not quite sure whether seven feet or nine made a hexameter. +It is really to be regretted that Longfellow has been cajoled into +playing these tricks with himself, for his earlier pieces were works +of much promise, and, had they been worthily followed out, might +have entitled him to a high place among the poets of the language.... +Longfellow's poetry, whenever he really lays himself out to write +poetry, has a definite idea and purpose in it--no small merit +now-a-days. His versification is generally harmonious, and he displays +a fair command of metre. Sometimes he takes a fancy to an obsolete +or out-of-the-way stanza; one of his longest and best poems, _The +Skeleton in Armor_, is exactly in the measure of Drayton's fine +ballad on Agincourt. His chief fault is an over-fondness for simile +and metaphor. He seems to think indispensable the introduction into +everything he writes of a certain (or sometimes a very uncertain) +number of these figures. Accordingly his poems are crowded with +comparisons, sometimes very pretty and pleasing, at others so +far-fetched that the string of tortured images which lead off Alfred +de Musset's bizarre _Ode to the Moon_ can hardly equal them. This +_making figures_ (whether from any connection with the calculating +habits of the people or not) is a terrible propensity of American +writers, whether of prose or verse. Their orators are especial sinners +in this respect. We have seen speeches stuck as full of metaphors +(more or less mixed) as Burton's _Anatomy_ is of quotations. + +"Such persons as know from experience that literary people are not +always in private life what their writings would betoken, that +Miss Bunions do not precisely resemble March violets, and mourners +upon paper may be laughers over mahogany--such persons will not be +surprised to hear that the Longfellow is a very jolly fellow, a lover +of fun and good dinners, and of an amiability and personal popularity +that have aided not a little the popularity of his writings in +verse and prose--for he writes prose too, prettier, quainter, more +figurative, and more poetic if anything, than his poetry. He is also a +professor at Harvard College, near Boston. + +"EDGAR A. POE, like Longfellow and most of the other American poets, +wrote prose as well as poetry, having produced a number of wild, +grotesque, and powerfully-imagined tales; unlike most of them he was +a literary man _pur sang_. He depended for support entirely on his +writings, and his career was more like the precarious existence of +an author in the time of Johnson and Savage than the decent life of +an author in our own day. He was a Southerner by birth, acquired a +liberal education, and what the French call 'expansive' tastes, was +adopted by a rich relative, quarreled with him, married 'for love,' +and lived by editing magazines in Richmond, Philadelphia, and New +York; by delivering lectures (the never-failing last resort of the +American literary adventurer); by the occasional subscriptions of +compassionate acquaintances or admiring friends--any way he could--for +eighteen or nineteen years: lost his wife, involved himself in endless +difficulties, and finally died in what should have been the prime of +his life, about six months ago. His enemies attributed his untimely +death to intemperance; his writings would rather lead to the belief +that he was an habitual taker of opium. If it make a man a poet to be + + Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, + The love of love, + +Poe was certainly a poet. Virulently and ceaselessly abused by his +enemies (who included a large portion of the press), he was worshiped +to infatuation by his friends. The severity of his editorial +criticisms, and the erratic course of his life, fully account for the +former circumstance; the latter is probably to be attributed, in part +at least, to pity for his mishaps. + +"If Longfellow's poetry is best designated as quaint, Poe's may most +properly be characterized as fantastic. The best of it reminds one +of Tennyson, not by any direct imitation of particular passages, but +by its general air and tone. But he was very far from possessing +Tennyson's fine ear for melody. His skill in versification, sometimes +striking enough, was evidently artificial; he overstudied metrical +expression and overrated its value so as sometimes to write, what +were little better than nonsense-verses, for the rhythm. He had an +incurable propensity for refrains, and when he had once caught a +harmonious cadence, appeared to think it could not be too often +repeated. Poe's name is usually mentioned in connection with _The +Raven_, a poem which he published about five years ago. It had an +immense run, and gave rise to innumerable parodies--those tests of +notoriety if not of merit. And certainly it is not without a peculiar +and fantastic excellence in the execution, while the conception is +highly striking and poetic. This much notice seems due to a poem which +created such a sensation in the author's country. To us it seems by +no means the best of Poe's productions; we much prefer, for instance, +this touching allegory, which was originally embodied in one of his +wildest tales, _The Haunted Palace_. In the very same volume with this +are some verses that Poe wrote when a boy, and some that a boy might +be ashamed of writing. Indeed the secret of rejection seems to be +little known to Transatlantic bards. The rigidness of self-criticism +which led Tennyson to ignore and annihilate, so far as in him lay, +full one half of his earlier productions, would hardly be understood +by them. This is particularly unlucky in the case of Poe, whose rhymes +sometimes run fairly away with him, till no purpose or meaning is +traceable amid a jingle of uncommon and fine-sounding words.... + +"Though Poe was a Southerner, his poetry has nothing in it suggestive +of his peculiar locality. It is somewhat remarkable that the +slave-holding, which has tried almost all other means of excusing or +justifying itself before the world, did not think of 'keeping a poet,' +and engaging the destitute author from its own territory to sing the +praises of 'the patriarchal institution.' And it would have been +a fair provocation that the Abolitionists had their poet already. +Indeed several of the northern poets have touched upon this subject; +Longfellow, in particular, has published a series of spirited +and touching anti-slavery poems; but the man who has made it his +_specialite_ is JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, a Quaker, literary editor of +the _National Era_, an Abolition and ultra-Radical paper, which, in +manful despite of Judge Lynch, is published at Washington, between the +slave-pens and the capitol. His verses are certainly obnoxious to the +jurisdiction of that notorious popular potentate, being unquestionably +'inflammatory, incendiary, and insurrectionary,' as the Southern +formula goes, in a very high degree. He makes passionate appeals to +the Puritan spirit of New England, and calls on her sons to utter +their voice, + + ... From all her wild green mountains, + From valleys where her slumbering fathers lie, + From her blue rivers and her welling fountains, + And clear cold sky-- + From her rough coast, and isles, which hungry Ocean + Gnaws with his surges--from the fisher's skiff, + With white sails swaying to the billow's motion + Round rock and cliff-- + From the free fireside of her unbought farmer, + From her free laborer at his loom and wheel. + From the brown smithy where, beneath the hammer, + Rings the red steel-- + From each and all, if God hath not forsaken + Our land and left us to an evil choice;-- + +"and protest against the shocking anomaly of slavery in a free +country. At times, when deploring the death of some fellow laborer in +the cause, he falls into a somewhat subdued strain, though even then +there is more of spirit and fire in his verses than one naturally +expects from a follower of George Fox; but on such occasions he +displays a more careful and harmonious versification than is his +wont. There is no scarcity of these elegies in his little volume, +the _Abolitionists_, even when they escape the attentions of the +high legal functionary already alluded to, not being apparently a +long-lived class. + +"_Toujours perdrix_ palls in poetry as in cookery; we grow tired after +awhile of invectives against governors of slave-states and mercenary +persons, and dirges for untimely perished Abolitionists. The wish +suggests itself that Whittier would not always + + 'Give up to a party what is meant for mankind,' + +but sometimes turn his powers in another direction. Accordingly, it is +a great relief to find him occasionally trying his hand on the early +legends of New England and Canada, which do not suffer such ballads as +_St. John_.... + +"Whittier is less known than several other Western bards to the +English reader, and we think him entitled to stand higher on the +American Parnassus than most of his countrymen would place him. His +faults--harshness and want of polish--are evident; but there is +more life, and spirit, and soul in his verses, than in those of +eight-ninths of Mr. Griswold's immortal ninety. + +"From political verse (for the anti-slavery agitation must be +considered quite as much a political as a moral warfare) the +transition is natural to satire and humorous poetry. Here we find no +lack of matter, but a grievous short-coming in quality. The Americans +are no contemptible humorists in prose, but their fun cannot be set +to verse. They are very fond of writing parodies, yet we have scarcely +ever seen a good parody of American origin. And their satire is +generally more distinguished for personality and buffoonery than +wit. Halleck's _Fanny_ looks as if it might be good, did we only know +something of the people satirized in it. The reputed comic poet of the +country at present is OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, a physician. Whether +it was owing to the disappointment caused by hearing too much in his +praise beforehand we will not pretend to say, but it certainly did +seem to us that Dr. Holmes' efforts in this line must originally +have been intended to act upon his patients emetically. After a +conscientious perusal of the doctor, the most readable, and about the +only presentable thing we can find in him, is the bit of seriocomic +entitled _The Last Leaf_. + +"But within the last three years there has arisen in the United States +a satirist of genuine excellence, who, however, besides being but +moderately appreciated by his countrymen, seems himself in a great +measure to have mistaken his real forte. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, one of +the Boston coterie, has for some time been publishing verses, which +are by the coterie duly glorified, but which are in no respect +distinguishable from the ordinary level of American poetry, except +that they combine an extraordinary pretension to originality, with a +more than usually palpable imitation of English models. Indeed, the +failure was so manifest, that the American literati seem, in this +one case, to have rebelled against Boston dictation, and there is +sufficient internal evidence that such of them as do duty for critics +handled Mr. Lowell pretty severely. Violently piqued at this, and +simultaneously conceiving a disgust for the Mexican war, he was +impelled by both feelings to take the field as a satirist: to the +former we owe the _Fable for Critics_; to the latter, the _Biglow +Papers_. It was a happy move, for he has the rare faculty of writing +_clever doggerel_. Take out the best of _Ingoldsby_, Campbell's rare +piece of fun _The Friars of Dijon_, and perhaps a little of Walsh's +_Aristophanes_, and there is no contemporary verse of the class with +which Lowell's may not fearlessly stand a comparison; for, observe, we +are not speaking of mock heroics like Bon Gaultier's, which are only +a species of parody, but of real doggerel, the Rabelaisque of poetry. +The _Fable_ is somewhat on the Ingoldsby model,--that is to say, a +good part of its fun consists in queer rhymes, double, treble, +or poly-syllabic; and it has even Barham's fault--an occasional +over-consciousness of effort, and calling on the reader to admire, as +if the _tour de force_ could not speak for itself. But _Ingoldsby's_ +rhymes will not give us a just idea of the _Fable_ until we superadd +Hook's puns; for the fabulist has a pleasant knack of making +puns--outrageous and unhesitating ones--exactly of the kind to set +off the general style of his verse. The sternest critic could hardly +help relaxing over such a bundle of them as are contained in Apollo's +lament over the 'treeification' of his Daphne.... The _Fable_ is a +sort of review in verse of American poets. Much of the Boston leaven +runs through it; the wise men of the East are all glorified intensely, +while Bryant and Halleck are studiously depreciated. But though thus +freely exercising his own critical powers in verse, the author is most +bitter against all critics in prose, and gives us a ludicrous picture +of one-- + + A terrible fellow to meet in society, + Not the toast that he buttered was ever so dry at tea. + +And this gentleman is finely shown up for his condemnatory +predilections and inability to discern or appreciate beauties. The +cream of the joke against him is, that being sent by Apollo to +choose a lily in a flower-garden, he brings back a thistle as all he +could find. The picture is a humorous one, but we are at a loss to +conjecture who can have sat for it in America, where the tendency +is all the other way, reviewers being apt to apply the butter of +adulation with the knife of profusion to every man, woman, or child +who rushes into print. Some of his complaints, too, against the critic +sound very odd; as, for instance, that + + His lore was engraft, something foreign that grew in him. + +Surely the very meaning of _learning_ is that it is something which +a man learns--_acquires_ from other sources--does not originate in +himself. But it is a favorite practice with Mr. Lowell's set to rail +against dry learning and pedants, while at the same time there are no +men more fond of showing off cheap learning than themselves: Lowell +himself never loses an opportunity of bringing in a bit of Greek or +Latin. Our readers must have known such persons--for, unfortunately, +the United States has no monopoly of them--men who delight in quoting +Latin before ladies, talking Penny-Magazine science in the hearing of +clodhoppers, and preaching of high art to youths who have never had +the chance of seeing any art at all. _Then_ you will hear them say +nothing about pedantry. But let a man be present who knows more Greek +than they do, or who has a higher standard of poetry or painting or +music, and wo be to him! Him they will persecute to the uttermost. +What is to be done with such men but to treat them _a la_ Shandon, +'Give them Burton's _Anatomy_, and leave them to their own abominable +devices?' + +"The _Biglow Papers_ are imaginary epistles from a New England farmer, +and contain some of the best specimens extant of the 'Yankee,' or New +England dialect,--better than Haliburton's, for Sam Slick sometimes +mixes Southern, Western, and even English vulgarities with his Yankee. +Mr. Biglow's remarks treat chiefly of the Mexican war, and subjects +immediately connected with it, such as slavery, truckling of +Northerners to the south, &c. The theme is treated in various ways +with uniform bitterness. Now he sketches a 'Pious Editors Creed,' +almost too daring in its Scriptural allusions, but terribly severe +upon the venal fraternity. At another time he sets one of Calhoun's +pro-slavery speeches to music. The remarks of the great Nullifier form +the air of the song, and the incidental remarks of honorable senators +on the same side make up a rich chorus, their names supplying happy +tags to the rhymes. But best of all are the letters of his friend the +returned volunteer, Mr. Birdofredom Sawin, who draws a sad picture +of the private soldier's life in Mexico. He had gone out with hopes +of making his fortune. But he was sadly disappointed and equally so +in his expectations of glory, which 'never got so low down as the +privates.' + +"But it is time to bring this notice to a close not, however, that +we have by any means exhausted the subject. For have we not already +stated that there are, at the lowest calculation, ninety American +poets, spreading all over the alphabet, from Allston, who is +unfortunately dead, to Willis, who is fortunately living, and writing +_Court Journals_ for the 'Upper Ten Thousand,' as he has named the +quasi-aristocracy of New York? And the lady-poets--the poetesses, what +shall we say of them? Truly it would be ungallant to say anything ill +of them, and invidious to single out a few among so many; therefore, +it will be best for us to say--nothing at all about any of them." + + * * * * * + + + + +ORIGINAL POETRY. + + +A RETROSPECT. + +BY HERMANN. + + + On this rustic footbridge sitting, + I have passed delightful eyes, + Moonbeams round about me flitting + Through the overhanging leaves. + + With me often came another, + When the west wore hues of gold, + And 'twas neither sister--brother-- + One the heart may dearer hold. + + She was fair and lightly moulded, + Azure eyed and full of grace; + Gentler form was never folded + In a lover's warm embrace. + + Oh those hours of sacred converse, + Their communion now is o'er + And our straying feet shall traverse + Those remembered paths no more. + + Hours they were of love and gladness, + Fraught with holy vows of truth: + Not a single thought of sadness + Shadowing o'er the hopes of youth. + + I am sitting sad and lonely + Where she often sat with me, + And the voice I hear is only + Of the silvery streamlet's glee. + + Where is she, whose gentle fingers, + Oft were wreathed amidst my hair? + Still methinks their pressure lingers, + But, ah no! they are not there. + + They are whiter now than ever, + In a light I know not of, + Sweeping o'er the chords of silver + To a song of joy and love. + + Though so lonely I am sitting, + This sweet thought of joy may bring, + That she still is round me flitting, + On an angel's tireless wing. + + * * * * * + +THE AUTHOR OF "ION." + + +"Mr. Talfourd is now a Justice, and we find in the London journals an +account of a visit to his residence by a deputation from his native +town, to present to him a silver candelabrum, subscribed for by a +large number of the inhabitants of the borough, of all parties. The +base of the candelabrum is a tripod, on which stands a group of three +female figures; representing Law, Justice, and Poetry, the two former +modeled from Flaxman's sculpture on Lord Mansfield's monument in +Westminster Abbey, the latter from a drawing of the Greek Antique, +bearing a scroll inscribed with the word "Ion" in Greek characters. +The arms of Mr. Talfourd and of the borough of Reading are engraved on +the base. The testimonial was presented to the Justice in the presence +of his family, including the venerable Mrs. Talfourd, his mother, +and a large circle of private friends. In answer to the gentleman who +presented the testimonial, Mr. Talfourd replied: + +"If I felt that the circumstances of this hour, and the eloquent +kindness which has enriched it, appealed for a response only to +personal qualities, I should be too conscious of the poverty of such +materials for an answer to attempt one; but the associations they +suggest expand into wider circles than self impels, and while they +teach me that this occasion is not for the indulgence of vanity, +but for the cultivation of humble thankfulness, they impart a nobler +significance to your splendid gift and to your delightful praise. They +remind me that my intellectual being has, from its first development, +been nurtured by the partiality of those whom, living and dead, you +virtually represent to-day; they concentrate the wide-spread instances +of that peculiar felicity in my lot whereby I have been privileged to +find aid, comfort, inspiration, and allowance in that local community +amidst which my life began; and they invite me, from that position +which once bounded my furthest horizon of personal hope, to live along +the line of past existence; to recognize the same influence everywhere +pervading it: and to perceive how its struggles have been assisted; +its errors softened down or vailed, and its successes enhanced, by the +constant presence of home-born regards. Embracing in a rapid glance +the events of many years, I call to mind how at an early age--earlier +than is generally safe or happy for youths--the incidents of life, +supplying an unusual stimulus to ordinary powers, gave vividness to +those dreams of human excellence and progress which, at some time, +visit all; how by the weakness which precluded them from assuming +those independent shapes which require the plastic force of higher +powers, they became associated with the scenes among which they were +cherished, and clove to them with earnest grasp; and how the fervid +expressions which that combination prompted, were accepted by generous +friends as indicating faculties 'beyond the reaches of my soul,' +and induced them to encourage me by genial prophecies which, with +unwearied purpose, they endeavored to fulfill. I renew that golden +season when such vague aspirations were at once cherished and +directed by the Christian wisdom of the venerated master of Reading +School--who, during his fifty years of authority, made the name of +our town a household word to successive generations of scholars, +who honored him in all parts of the world, and all departments of +society--whose long life was one embodied charity--and who gave +steadiness and object to those impulses in me which else might have +ended, as they began, in dreams. I remember, when pausing on the +slippery threshold of active life, and looking abroad on the desolate +future, how the earnestness of my friends gave me courage, and +emboldened me, with no patrons but themselves, to enter the profession +of my choice by its most dim and laborious avenue, and to brace myself +for four years of arduous pupilage; how they crowded with pleasures +the intervals of holiday I annually enjoyed among them during that +period, and another of equal length passed in a special pleader's +anxieties and toils; how they greeted with praise, sweeter than +the applause of multitudes to him who wins it, the slender literary +effusions by which I supplied the deficiency of professional income; +and how, when I dared the hazard of the bar, they provided for me +opportunities such as riper scholars and other advocates wait long +for, by confiding important matters to my untried hands; how they +encircled my first tremulous efforts by an atmosphere of affectionate +interest, roused my faint heart to exertion, absorbed the fever that +hung upon its beatings, and strengthened my first perceptions of +capacity to make my thoughts and impressions intelligible, on the +instant, to the minds of courts and juries. The impulse thus given to +my professional success at Reading, and in the sessions of Berkshire +during twelve years, gradually extended its influence through my +circuit, until it raised me to a position among its members beyond +my deserts and equal to my wishes. Another opening of fortune +soon dawned on me; in the maturity of life I aspired to a seat +in parliament--rather let me say, to _that_ seat which only I +coveted--and then, almost without solicitation, from many surviving +patrons of my childhood, and from the sons of others who inherited the +kindness of their fathers, I received an honor more precious to me as +the token of concentrated regards than as the means of advancement; +yet greatly heightened in practical importance by the testimony +it implied from the best of all witnesses. That honor, three times +renewed, was attended by passages of excitement which look dizzy even +in the distance--with much on my part requiring allowance, and much +allowance rendered by those to whom my utmost services were due; with +the painful consciousness of wide difference of opinion between some +of my oldest friends and myself, and with painful contests which those +differences rendered inevitable, yet cheered by attachments which +the vivid lights struck out in the conflict of contending passions +exhibited in scatheless strength, until I received that appointment +which dissolved the parliamentary connection, and with it annihilated +all the opposition of feeling which had sometimes saddened it, and +invested the close of my life with the old regard, as unclouded by +controversy as when it illumined its opening. And now the expressions +of your sympathy await me, when, by the gracious providence of God, +I have been permitted to enter on a course of less fervid action, of +serener thought, of plainer duty. For me political animosities are +forever hushed and absorbed in one desire, which I share with you +all, for the happiness and honor of our country, and the peaceful +advancement of our species; and all the feverish excitements and +perils of advocacy, its ardent partisanship with various interests, +anxieties, and passions, are displaced by the office of seeking to +discover truth and to maintain justice. I am no longer incited to +aspire to public favor, even under your auspices: my course is marked +right onward--to be steadily trodden, whether its duties may accord +with the prevalent feeling of the hour, or may oppose the temporary +injustice of its generous errors: but it is not forbidden me to prize +the esteem of those who have known me longest and best, and to indulge +the hope that I may retain it to the last. To encourage me in the +aim still to deserve that esteem, I shall look on this gift of those +numbers of my townsmen whose regards have just found such cordial +expression. I shall cherish it as a memorial of earliest hopes +that gleam out from the depth of years; as a memorial of a thousand +incentives to virtuous endeavor, of sacred trusts, of delighted +solaces; as a memorial of affections which have invested a being, +frail, sensitive, and weak, with strength not its own, and under God, +have insured for it an honorable destiny; as a memorial of this hour, +when, in the presence of those who are nearest and dearest to me on +earth, my course has been pictured in the light of those friendships +which have gladdened it--an hour of which the memory and the influence +will not pass away, but, I fondly trust, will incite those who will +bear my name after me, and to whose charge this gift will be confided +when I shall cease to behold it, better to deserve, though they cannot +more dearly appreciate, such a succession of kindnesses as that to +which the crowning grace is now added, and for which, with my whole +heart, I thank you." + + * * * * * + +Cultivate and exercise a serene faith, and you shall acquire wonderful +power and insight; its results are sure and illimitable, moulding and +moving to its purposes equally spirit, mind, and matter. It is the +power-endowing essential of all action. + + * * * * * + + + + +RECENT DEATHS. + + +Under this head we have rarely to present so many articles as are +demanded by the foreign journals received during the week, and by the +melancholy disaster which caused the death of the MARCHESA D'OSSOLI, +with her husband, and Mr. SUMNER. Of MARGARET FULLER D'OSSOLI a sketch +is given in the preceding pages, and we reserve for our next number +an article upon the history of Sir ROBERT PEEL. The death of this +illustrious person has caused a profound sensation not only in Great +Britain, but throughout Europe. In the House of Lords, most eloquent +and impressive speeches upon the exalted character of the deceased, +and the irreparable loss of the country, were delivered by the Marquis +of Lansdowne, Lord Stanley, Lord Brougham, the Duke of Wellington, +and the Duke of Cleveland, and in the House of Commons, by Lord John +Russell, and Messrs. Hume, Gladstone, Goulburn, Herries, Napier, +Inglis and Somervile. The House, in testimony of its grief, adjourned +without business, an act without precedent, except in case of death +in the royal family. A noble tribute of respect was also paid by the +French Assembly to the memory of Sir Robert Peel. The President, M. +Dupin, pronounced an affecting eulogy upon the deceased, which was +received with the liveliest sympathy by the Chamber, and was ordered +to be recorded in its journal. A compliment like this is totally +unprecedented in France, and the death of no other foreigner in the +world could have elicited it. + + * * * * * + +BOYER, EX-PRESIDENT OF HAYTI. + +Jean Pierre Boyer, a mulatto, distinguished in affairs, and for his +abilities and justice, was born at Port-au-Prince, on the 6th of +February, 1776. His father, by some said to have been of mixed blood, +was a tailor and shopkeeper, of fair reputation and some property, and +his mother a negress from Congo in Africa, who had been a slave in +the neighborhood. He joined the French Commissioners, Santhonax and +Polverel, in whose company, after the arrival of the English, he +withdrew to Jacqemel. Here he attached himself to Rigaud, set out +with him to France, and was captured on his passage by the Americans, +during the war between France and the United States. Being released +at the end of the war, he proceeded to Paris, where he remained until +the organization of Le Clerc's expedition against St. Domingo. This +expedition he with many other persons of color joined; but on the +death of Le Clerc he attached himself to the party of Petion, with +whom he acted during the remainder of that chieftain's life, which +terminated on the 29th of March, 1818. Under Petion he rose from +the post of aid-de-camp and private secretary to be general of +the arrondissement of Port-au-Prince; and Petion named him for +the succession in the Presidency, to which he was inducted without +opposition. When the revolution broke out in the northern part of the +island, in 1820, Boyer was invited by the insurgents to place himself +at their head; and on the death of Christophe, the northern and +southern parts of the island were united under his administration +into one government, under the style of the Republic of Hayti. In +the following year the Spanish inhabitants of the eastern part of the +island voluntarily placed themselves under the government of Boyer, +who thus became, chiefly by the force of character, without much +positive effort, the undisputed master of all St. Domingo. + +It is not questionable that the productions and general prosperity of +the island decreased under Boyer's administration. The blacks needed +the stringent policy of some such tyrant as Christophe. And the +popularity of Boyer was greatly lessened by his approval or direct +negotiation of a treaty with France, by which he agreed to pay to +that country an indemnity of 150,000,000 of francs, in five annual +instalments. The French Government recognized the independence of +Hayti, but it was impossible for Boyer to meet his engagements. He +however conducted the administration with industry, discretion, and +repose, for fifteen years, when a long-slumbering opposition, for +his presumed preference of the mulatto to the black population in the +dispensations of government favor, began to exhibit itself openly. +When this feeling was manifested in the second chamber of the +Legislature, in 1843, the promptness and decision with which he +attempted to suppress it, induced an insurrection among the troops, +and he was compelled to fly, with about thirty followers, to Jamaica. +He afterward proceeded to London, and finally to Paris, where he lived +quietly in the Rue de Madeline, enjoying the respect of many eminent +men, and surrounded by attached followers who shared his exile, until +the 10th of July. On the 12th he was buried with appropriate funeral +honors. + + * * * * * + +THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE. + +The death of the Duke of Cambridge, brother of the late William IV., +occurred the 8th of July, and was quite sudden. He was the seventh +son of George III., was born in 1774, received his earliest education +at Kew, and finished his studies at Gottingen. He entered the army, +and experiencing much active service, was promoted, until in 1813 he +attained the distinction of Field Marshal. He soon afterward became +Governor-General of Hanover, and continued to fill that post until +the accession of the Duke of Cumberland, in 1839. His subsequent life +presented few features of much interest. His name was to be found as +a patron and a contributor to many most valuable institutions, and +he took delight in presiding at benevolent festivals and anniversary +dinners, when, though without the slightest pretension to eloquence, +the frankness and _bonhommie_ of his manners, and his simple +straight-forward earnestness of speech, used to make him an universal +favorite. He took but little part in the active strife of parties. He +died in his seventy-seventh year, leaving one son, Prince George of +Cambridge, and two daughters. + + * * * * * + +GEORGE W. ERVING. + +This distinguished public man died in New York, on the 22d ult. A +correspondent of the _Evening Post_ gives the following account of his +history: + +"The journals furnish us with a brief notice of the death of the +venerable George W. Erving, who was for so many years, dating from the +foundation of our government, connected with the diplomatic history of +the country, as an able, successful and distinguished negotiator. The +career of this gentleman has been so marked, and is so instructive, +that it becomes not less a labor of love than an act of public duty, +with the press, to make it the occasion of comment. At the breaking +out of our revolution, the father of the subject of this imperfect +sketch was an eminent loyalist of Massachusetts, residing in Boston, +connected by affinity with the Shirleys, the Winslows, the Bowdons, +and Winthrops of that State. Like many other men of wealth, at that +day, he joined the royal cause, forsook his country and went to +England. There his son, George William, who had always been a sickly +delicate child, reared with difficulty, was educated, and finally +graduated at Oxford, where he was a classmate of Copley, now Lord +Lyndhurst. Following this, on the attainment of his majority, and +during the lifetime of his father, notwithstanding the most powerful +and seductive efforts to attach him to the side of Great Britain, +the more persevering from the great wealth, and the intellectual +attainments of the young American--notwithstanding the importunities +of misjudging friends and relatives, the incitements found in ties of +consanguinity with some, and his intimate personal associations with +many of the young nobility at that aristocratic seat of learning, and +notwithstanding the blandishments of fashionable society--the love of +country and the holy inspirations of patriotism, triumphed over all +the arts that power could control, and those allurements usually so +potent where youth is endowed with great wealth. The young patriot +promptly, cheerfully, sacrificed all, for his country--turned his back +upon the unnatural stepmother, and came back, to share the good or +evil fortunes of his native land. + +"Such facts as these should not be lost sight of at the present +day--such an example it is well to refer to now, in the day of our +prosperity. And we would ask--in no ill-natured or censorious spirit, +but rather that the lessons of history should not be forgotten--how +many young men of these days under like circumstances, would make +a similar sacrifice upon the altar of their country? The solemn and +impressive event which has produced this notice seems to render this +question not entirely inappropriate; for years should not dim in the +minds of the rising generation the memory of those pure and strong +men, who, in the early trials of their country, rose equal to the +occasion. When, at a later period, political parties began to develop +themselves, Mr. Erving, then a resident of Boston, identified himself +with the great republican party, and became actively instrumental in +securing the election of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency. From +that time forward until the day of his death, he never faltered in his +political faith. + +"Few men have been, for so long a period, so intimately connected with +the diplomatic history of our country. He received his first public +appointment, as Consul and Commissioner of Claims at London, nearly +half a century since. This appointment was conferred upon him without +his solicitation, and was at first declined. Subsequent reflection, +however, induced him to waive all private and personal considerations, +and he accepted the post assigned to him. The manner in which he +discharged the duties of that trust, impressed the government with the +expediency of securing his services in more important negotiations, +and he was sent as Commissioner and Charge d'Affaires to Denmark. His +mission to the court of that country was, at that period, a highly +important one. The negotiations he had to conduct there, required +great tact and ability. + +"While at Copenhagen, he secured, in an eminent degree, the esteem +and confidence of the Danish authorities, and brought to a successful +solution the questions then arising out of the interests committed to +him. In consequence, the government was enabled to avail itself of +his experience at the Court of Berlin, where events seemed to require +the exercise of great diplomatic ability. He was afterward appointed +to Madrid, where, by his highly honorable personal character, and +captivating manners, he obtained great influence, even at that most +proud and distrustful court, and conducted, with consummate skill and +marked success, the important and delicate negotiations then pending +between the United States and Spain. He remained at Madrid for many +years, where he attained the reputation of being one of the most able +and accomplished diplomatists that the United States had ever sent +abroad. Upon his final retirement from this post, and, in fact, from +all public employment, the administration of General Jackson sought +to secure his services in the mission to Constantinople, but the +proffered appointment was declined. + +"There are many interesting incidents in his public and diplomatic +career, which a more extended notice would enable us to detail. +Indeed, we hope that so instructive a life as that of Mr. Erving +may hereafter find a fit historian. That historian may not have +to chronicle victories won upon the battle field, but the civic +achievement he will have to record, if not so dazzling as the former, +will, at least, be as replete with evidences of public usefulness. + +"The latter years of his life were passed in Europe, chiefly in Paris. +The public agitations consequent upon the last French revolution, +need of quiet at his advanced age, and the presentiment of approaching +dissolution, induced him to return home. Indeed it was meet that he +should close his mortal career in that country which he had so long +and faithfully served, and whose welfare and happiness had been the +constant object of his every earthly aspiration." + + * * * * * + +DR. JOHN BURNS. + +Among those who perished in the wreck of the _Orion_, was Dr. John +Burns, Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow, aged about +eighty years. Dr. Burns held a distinguished place in the medical +world, for at least half a century, as an author and a teacher. He was +a son of the Rev. Dr. John Burns, for more than sixty years minister +of the Barony parish of Glasgow, who died about fourteen years ago, +at the age of ninety. He was originally intended to be a manufacturer, +and in his time the necessary training for this business included +a practical application to the loom. A disease of the knee-joint +unfitted him for becoming a weaver, and he turned his attention to +the medical profession, winch the neighboring university afforded him +easy and ample means of studying. He early entered into business as +a general practitioner, but his ambition led him very soon to be an +instructor. In 1800, he published _Dissertations on Inflammation_, +which raised his name to a high position in the literature of his +profession. In 1807, he published a kindred volume on Hemorrhage. +In the mean time he had turned his attention to lecturing, and +he continued to give, for many years, lectures on midwifery. His +observations and experience on this subject he offered to the world +in _The Principles of Midwifery_, a work which has run through +twelve editions, and been translated into several of the continental +languages. It is very elaborate and valuable, and as each succeeding +edition presented the result of the author's increasing experience, it +became a standard in every medical library. Its chief defect is a want +of clearness in the arrangement, and sometimes in the language. In +1815, the crown instituted a Professorship of Surgery in the Glasgow +University, and the Duke of Montrose, its chancellor, appointed to +it Mr. Burns, a choice which the voice of the profession generally +approved. The value of the professorship might average 500l. yearly. + +As a professor, Dr. Burns was highly popular. He had a cheerful and +attractive manner, and was fond of bringing in anecdotes more or less +applicable, but always enlivening. His language was plain and clear, +but not always correct or elegant. In personal appearance, he was +of the middle size, of an anxious and careworn, but gentlemanly +and intelligent, expression of countenance. In 1830, he published +_Principles of Surgery_, first volume, which was followed by another. +This work is confused, both in style and arrangement, and has been +very little read, but it did credit to his zeal and industry, for he +had now acquired fame and fortune, and had long had at his command +the most extensive practice in the west of Scotland. John Burns, +the younger, had written and published a work on the evidences and +principles of Christianity, which was extensively read, and went +through many editions. His name was not at first on the title-page, +but that it was the production of a medical man was obvious. He gave +a copy to his father, who shortly after said, "Ah, John, I wish _you_ +could have written such a book!" Dr. Burns has many friends in the +United States, who were once his pupils. One of the most eminent of +them is Professor Pattison of the Medical Department of the New York +University, in this city. + + * * * * * + +HORACE SUMNER. + +This gentleman, one of the victims of the lamentable wreck of the +Elizabeth, was the youngest son of the late Charles P. Sumner, of +Boston, for many years Sheriff of Suffolk county, and the brother of +George Sumner, Esq., of Boston, who is well known for his legal and +literary eminence throughout the country. He was about twenty-four +years of ago, and has been abroad for nearly a year, traveling in the +south of Europe for the benefit of his health. The past winter was +spent by him chiefly in Florence, where he was on terms of familiar +intimacy with the Marquis and Marchioness d'Ossoli, and was induced +to take passage in the same vessel with them for his return to his +native land. He was a young man of singular modesty of deportment, +of an original turn of mind, and greatly endeared to his friends +by the sweetness of his disposition and the purity of his +character.--_Tribune_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FINE ARTS. + + +POWERS'S STATUE OF CALHOUN.--An unfortunate fatality appears to wait +upon the works of Hiram Powers. It is but a few weeks since his "Eve" +was lost on the coast of Spain, and it is still uncertain here whether +that exquisite statue is preserved without such injury as materially +to affect its value. And his masterpiece in history--perhaps his +masterpiece in all departments--the statue of Calhoun, which has been +so anxiously looked-for ever since the death of the great senator, was +buried under the waves in which Madame d'Ossoli and Horace Sumner were +lost, on the morning of the 19th, near Fire Island. At the time this +sheet is sent to press we are uncertain as to the recovery of the +statue, but we hope for the sake of art and for the satisfaction of +all the parties interested, that it will still reach its destination. +It is insured in Charleston, and Mr. Kellogg, the friend and agent +of Mr. Powers, has been at the scene of the misfortune, with all +necessary means for its preservation, if that be possible. + + * * * * * + +HORACE VERNET, the great painter, has returned to Paris from St. +Petersburgh. Offensive reports were current respecting his journey: he +had been paid, it was alleged, in most princely style by the Emperor, +for his masterly efforts in translating to canvas the principal +incidents of the Hungarian and Polish wars. He came back, it was +declared, loaded and content, with a hundred thousand dollars and a +kiss--an actual kiss--from his Imperial Majesty. M. Vernet has deemed +it necessary to publish a letter, correcting what was erroneous in +these reports. He says:--"In repairing to Russia I was actuated by +only one desire, and had but a single object, and that was, to thank +His Majesty, the Emperor, for the honors with which he had already +loaded me, and for the proofs of his munificence which I had +previously received. I intended to bring back, and in fact have +brought back from the journey, nothing but the satisfaction of having +performed an entirely disinterested duty of respectful gratitude." It +is true, however, that he lent his powers to illustrate the triumph of +despotism, and if he brought back no gold the matter is not all helped +by that fact. + + * * * * * + + + + +AUTHORS AND BOOKS. + + +THE REV. JAMES H. PERKINS, of Cincinnati, whose suicide during a fit +of madness, several months ago, will be generally recollected for +the many expressions of profound regret which it occasioned, we are +pleased to learn, is to be the subject of a biography by the Rev. W.H. +Channing. Mr. Perkins was a man of the finest capacities, and of large +and genial scholarship. He wrote much, in several departments, and +almost always well. His historical works, relating chiefly to the +western States, have been little read in this part of the Union; +but his contributions to the North American Review and the Christian +Examiner, and his tales, sketches, essays, and poems, printed under +various signatures, have entitled him to a desirable reputation as +a man of letters. These are all to be collected and edited by Mr. +Channing. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. ESLING, better known as Miss Catherine H. Waterman, under which +name she wrote the popular and beautiful lyric, "Brother, Come Home!" +has in press a collection of her writings, under the title of _The +Broken Bracelet and other Poems_, to be published by Lindsay & +Blackiston of Philadelphia. + + * * * * * + +M. ROSSEEUW ST. HILAIRE, of Paris, is proceeding with his great work +on the History of Spain with all the rapidity consistent with the +nature of the subject and the elaborate studies it requires. The work +was commenced ten years ago, and has since been the main occupation of +its author. The fifth volume has just been published, and receives the +applause of the most competent critics. It includes the time from 1336 +to 1492, which comes down to the very eve of the great discovery of +Columbus, and includes that most brilliant period, in respect of which +the history of Prescott has hitherto stood alone, namely, the reign of +Ferdinand and Isabella. M. St. Hilaire has had access to many sources +of information not accessible to any former writer, and is said +to have availed himself of them with all the success that could be +anticipated from his rare faculty of historical analysis and the +beautiful transparency of his style. + + * * * * * + +THE REV. ROBERT ARMITAGE, a rector in Shropshire, is the author of +"Dr. Hookwell," and "Dr. Johnson, his Religious Life and his Death." +In this last work, the _Quarterly Review_ observes, "Johnson's name is +made the peg on which to hang up--or rather the line on which to hang +out--much hackneyed sentimentality, and some borrowed learning, with +an awful and overpowering quantity of twaddle and rigmarole." The +writer concludes his reviewal: "We are sorry to have had to make such +an exposure of a man, who, apart from the morbid excess of vanity +which has evidently led him into this scrape, may be, for aught we +know, worthy and amiable. His exposure, however, is on his own +head: he has ostentatiously and pertinaciously forced his ignorance, +conceit, and effrontery on public notice." We quite agree with the +_Quarterly_. + + * * * * * + +JOHN MILLS--"John St. Hugh Mills," it was written then--was familiarly +known in the printing offices of Ann street in this city a dozen +years ago; he assisted General Morris in editing the Mirror, and wrote +paragraphs of foreign gossip for other journals. A good-natured aunt +died in England, leaving him a few thousand a year, and he returned +to spend his income upon a stud and pack and printing office, sending +from the latter two or three volumes of pleasant-enough mediocrity +every season. His last work, with the imprint of Colburn, is called +"Our Country." + + * * * * * + +Mr. PRESCOTT, the historian, who is now in England, has received the +degree of Doctor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford. Two or +three years ago he was elected into the Institute of France. + + * * * * * + +DR. MAGINN's "Homeric Ballads," which gave so much attraction +during several years to _Fraser's Magazine_, have been collected and +republished in a small octavo. + + * * * * * + +Mr. KENDALL, of the _Picayune_, has sailed once more for Paris, to +superintend there the completion of his great work on the late war +in Mexico upon which he has been engaged for the last two years. The +highest talent has been employed in the embellishment of this book, +and the care and expense incurred may be estimated from the fact that +sixty men, coloring and preparing the plates, can finish only one +hundred and twenty copies in a month. The original sketches were +taken by a German, Carl Nebel, who accompanied Mr. Kendall in Mexico, +and drew his battle scenes at the very time of their occurrence. He +has engaged in the prosecution of the whole enterprise with as much +zeal and interest as Mr. Kendall himself, and has spared no pains to +procure the assistance of the most skillful operatives. The book is +folio in size, and will be published early in the fall. The letter +press has long been finished, and only waiting for the completion of +the plates. These are twelve, and their subjects are Palo Alto, the +Capture of Monterey, Buena Vista: the Landing at Vera Cruz, Cerro +Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco, Molino del Rey, two views of the +Storming of Chapultepec, and Gen. Scott's entrance into the city of +Mexico. The lithographs are said to be unsurpassed in felicity of +design, perfection of coloring, and in the animation and expression +of all the figures and groups. No such finished specimens of colored +lithography were ever exhibited in this country. The plates will have +unusual value, not only on account of their intrinsic superiority, +but because of their rare historical merit, since they are exact +delineations of the topography of the scenes they represent and +faithful representations in every particular of the military positions +and movements at the moment chosen for illustration. + + * * * * * + +MRS. TROLLOPPE is as busy as she has ever been since the failure of +her shop at Cincinnati--trading in fiction, with the capital won +by her first adventure in this way, "The Domestic Manners of the +Americans." Her last novel, which is just out, has in its title the +odor of her customary vulgarity; it is called "Petticoat Government." +Her son, Mr. A. Trolloppe, his just given the world a new book also, +"La Vendee" a historical romance which is well spoken of. + + * * * * * + +THE REV. DR. WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, it will gratify the friends of +literature and religion to learn, has consented to give to the press +several works upon which he has for some time been engaged. They +will be published by Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, of Boston. In the next +number of _The International_ we shall write more largely of this +subject. + + * * * * * + +Dr. BUCKLAND, the Dean of Westminster--the eloquent and the learned +writer of the remarkable "Bridgewater Treatise" is bereft of reason, +and is now an inmate of an asylum near Oxford. + + * * * * * + +Dr. WAYLAND's "Tractate on Education," in which he proposes a thorough +reform in the modes of college instruction, has, we are glad to see, +had its desired effect. The Providence _Journal_ states that the +entire subscription to the fund of Brown University has reached +$110,000, which is within $15,000 of the sum originally proposed. +The subscription having advanced so far, and with good assurances of +further aid, the committee have reported to the President, that the +success of the plan, so far as the money is concerned, may be regarded +as assured, and that consequently it will be safe to go on with the +new organization as rapidly as may he deemed advisable. Of the sum +raised, about $96,000 have come from Providence. A meeting of the +Corporation of the University will soon be called, when the entire +plan will be decided upon, and carried into effect as rapidly as so +important a change can be made with prudence. + + * * * * * + +SIR JAMES EMERSON TENNANT has in the press of Mr. Murray a work +which will probably be read with much interest in this country, +upon Christianity in Ceylon, its introduction and progress under the +Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and the American missions, with a +Historical View of the Brahminical and Buddhist superstitions. + + * * * * * + +CHARLES EAMES, formerly one of the editors of the Washington _Union_, +and more recently United States Commissioner to the Sandwich Islands, +is to be the orator of the societies of Columbia College, at the +commencement, on the evening of the 6th of October. Bayard Taylor will +be the poet for the same occasion. + + * * * * * + +CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS.--The eleventh and last volume has just been +published at Paris in the book form, and will soon be completed in +the _feuilletons_. An additional volume is however to be brought out, +under the title of "Supplement to the Memoirs." + + * * * * * + +THE THIRD AND FOURTH SERIES of Southey's Common-Place Book are in +preparation, and they will be reprinted by the Harpers. The third +contains Analytical Readings, and the fourth, Original Memoranda. + + * * * * * + +WASHINGTON IRVING's Life of General Washington, in one octavo volume, +is announced by Murray. It will appear simultaneously from the press +of Putnam. + + * * * * * + +MRS. JAMESON has in press Legends of the Monastic Orders, as +illustrated in art. + + * * * * * + +Dr. ACHILLI is the subject of an article in the July number of the +_Dublin Review_--the leading Roman Catholic journal in the English +language. Of course the history of the missionary is not presented in +very flattering colors. + + * * * * * + +[FROM HOUSEHOLD WORDS.] + +THE SERF OF POBEREZE. + + +The materials for the following tale were furnished to the writer +while traveling last year near the spot on which the events it +narrates took place. It is intended to convey a notion of some of the +phases of Polish, or rather Russian serfdom (for, as truly explained +by one of the characters in a succeeding page, it is Russian), and of +the catastrophes it has occasioned, not only in Catherine's time, +but occasionally at the present. The Polish nobles--themselves in +slavery--earnestly desire the emancipation of their serfs, which +Russian domination forbids. + +The small town of Pobereze stands at the foot of a stony mountain, +watered by numerous springs in the district of Podolia, in Poland. It +consists of a mass of miserable Cabins, with a Catholic chapel and two +Greek churches in the midst, the latter distinguished by their gilded +towers. On one side of the market-place stands the only inn, and on +the opposite side are several shops, from whose doors and windows +look out several dirtily dressed Jews. At a little distance, on a hill +covered with vines and fruit-trees, stands the Palace, which does not, +perhaps, exactly merit such an appellation, but who would dare to call +otherwise the dwelling of the lord of the domain? + +On the morning when our tale opens, there had issued from this palace +the common enough command to the superintendent of the estate, to +furnish the master with a couple of strong boys, for service in the +stables, and a young girl to be employed in the wardrobe. Accordingly, +a number of the best-looking young peasants of Olgogrod assembled +in the avenue leading to the palace. Some were accompanied by their +sorrowful and weeping parents, in all of whose hearts, however, rose +the faint whispered hope, "Perhaps it will not be _my_ child they will +choose!" + +Being brought into the court-yard of the palace, the Count Roszynski, +with the several members of his family, had come out to pass in review +his growing subjects. He was a small and insignificant-looking man, +about fifty years of age, with deep-set eyes and overhanging brows. +His wife, who was nearly of the same age, was immensely stout, with +a vulgar face and a loud, disagreeable voice. She made herself +ridiculous in endeavoring to imitate the manners and bearing of the +aristocracy, into whose sphere she and her husband were determined +to force themselves, in spite of the humbleness of their origin. The +father of the "Right-Honorable" Count Roszynski was a valet, who, +having been a great favorite with his master, amassed sufficient money +to enable his son, who inherited it, to purchase the extensive estate +of Olgogrod, and with it the sole proprietorship of 1600 human beings. +Over them he had complete control; and, when maddened by oppression, +if they dared resent, woe unto them! They could be thrust into a +noisome dungeon, and chained by one hand from the light of day for +years, until their very existence was forgotten by all except the +jailor who brought daily their pitcher of water and morsel of dry +bread. + +Some of the old peasants say that Sava, father of the young peasant +girl, who stands by the side of an old woman, at the head of her +companions in the court-yard, is immured in one of these subterranean +jails. Sava was always about the Count, who, it was said, had brought +him from some distant land, with his little motherless child. Sava +placed her under the care of an old man and woman, who had the charge +of the bees in a forest near the palace, where he came occasionally to +visit her. But once, six long months passed, and he did not come! In +vain Anielka wept, in vain she cried, "Where is my father?" No father +appeared. At last it was said that Sava had been sent to a long +distance with a large sum of money, and had been killed by robbers. +In the ninth year of one's life the most poignant grief is quickly +effaced, and after six months Anielka ceased to grieve. The old people +were very kind to her, and loved her as if sue were their own child. +That Anielka might be chosen to serve in the palace never entered +their head, for who would be so barbarous as to take the child away +from an old woman of seventy and her aged husband? + +To-day was the first time in her life that she had been so far from +home. She looked curiously on all she saw,--particularly on a young +lady about her own age, beautifully dressed, and a youth of eighteen, +who had apparently just returned from a ride on horse-back, as he held +a whip in his hand, whilst walking up and down examining the boys who +were placed in a row before him. He chose two amongst them, and the +boys were led away to the stables. + +"And I choose this young girl," said Constantia Roszynski, indicating +Anielka; "she is the prettiest of them all. I do not like ugly faces +about me." + +When Constantia returned to the drawing-room, she gave orders for +Anielka to be taken to her apartments, and placed under the tutelage +of Mademoiselle Dufour, a French maid, recently arrived from the first +milliner's shop in Odessa. Poor girl! when they separated her from her +adopted mother, and began leading her toward the palace, she rushed, +with a shriek of agony, from them, and grasped her old protectress +tightly in her arms! They were torn violently asunder, and the Count +Roszynski quietly asked, "Is it her daughter, or her grand-daughter?" + +"Neither, my lord,--only an adopted, child." + +"But who will lead the old woman home, as she is blind?" + +"I will, my lord," replied one of his servants, bowing to the ground; +"I will let her, walk by the side of my horse, and when she is in +her cabin she will have her old husband,--they must take care of each +other." + +So saying, he moved away with the rest of the peasants and domestics. +But the poor old woman had to be dragged along by two men; for in the +midst of her shrieks and tears she had fallen to the ground, almost +without life. + +And Anielka? They did not allow her to weep long. She had now to +sit all day in the corner of a room to sew. She was expected to do +everything well from the first; and if she did not, she was kept +without food or cruelly punished. Morning and evening she had to +help Mdlle. Dufour to dress and undress her mistress. But Constantia, +although she looked with hauteur on everybody beneath her, and +expected to be slavishly obeyed, was tolerably kind to the poor +orphan. Her true torment began, when, on laving her young lady's +room, she had to assist Mdlle. Dufour. Notwithstanding that she tried +sincerely to do her best, she was never able to satisfy her, or to +draw from her naught but harsh reproaches. + +Thus two months passed. + +One day Mdlle. Dufour went very early to confession, and Anielka was +seized with an eager longing to gaze once more in peace and freedom +on the beautiful blue sky and green trees, as she used to do when the +first rays of the rising sun streamed in at the window of the little +forest cabin. She ran into the garden. Enchanted by the sight of so +many beautiful flowers, she went farther and farther along the smooth +and winding walks. till she entered the forest. She who had been, so +long away from her beloved trees, roamed where they were thickest. +Here she gazes boldly around. She sees no one! She is alone! A little +farther on she meets with a rivulet which flows through the forest. +Here she remembers that she has not yet prayed. She kneels down, and +with hands clasped and eyes upturned she begins to sing in a sweet +voice the Hymn to the virgin. + +As she went on she sang louder and with increased fervor. Her breast +heaved with emotion, her eyes shone with unusual brilliancy; but when +the hymn was finished she lowered her head, tears began to fall over +her cheeks, until at last she sobbed aloud. She might have remained +long in this condition, had not some one come behind her, saying, +"Do not cry, my poor girl; it is better to sing than to weep." The +intruder raised her head, wiped her eyes with his handkerchief, and +kissed her on the forehead. + +It was the Count's son, Leon! + +"You must not cry," he continued; "be calm, and when the filipony +(peddlers) come, buy yourself a pretty handkerchief." He then gave +her a ruble and walked away. Anielka, after concealing the coin in her +corset, ran quickly back to the palace. + +Fortunately, Mdlle. Dufour had not yet returned, and Anielka seated +herself in her accustomed corner. She often took out the ruble to, +gaze fondly upon it, and set to work to make a little purse, which, +having fastened to a ribbon, she hung round her neck. She did not +dream of spending it, for it would have deeply grieved her to part +with the gift of the only person in the whole house who had looked +kindly on her. + +From this time Anielka remained always in her young mistress's room; +she was better dressed, and Mdlle. Dufour ceased to persecute her. To +what did she owe this sudden change? Perhaps to a remonstrance from +Leon. Constantia ordered Anielka to sit beside her whilst taking her +lessons from her music masters, and on her going to the drawing-room, +she was left in her apartments alone. Being thus more kindly treated. +Anielka lost by degrees her timidity; and when her young mistress, +whilst occupied over some embroidery, would tell her to sing, she +did so boldly and with a steady voice. A greater favor awaited her. +Constantia, when unoccupied, began teaching Anielka to read in Polish; +and Mdlle. Dufour thought it politic to follow the example of her +mistress, and began to teach her French. + +Meanwhile, a new kind of torment commenced. Having easily learnt the +two languages, Anielka acquired an irresistible passion for reading. +Books had for her the charm of the forbidden fruit, for she could only +read by stealth at night, or when her mistress went visiting in the +neighborhood. The kindness hitherto shown her for a time, began to +relax. Leon had set off on a tour, accompanied by his old tutor, and a +bosom friend, as young, as gay, and as thoughtless as himself. + +So passed the two years of Leon's absence. When he returned, Anielka +was seventeen, and had become tall and handsome. No one who had +not seen her during this time, would have recognized her. Of this +number was Leon. In the midst of perpetual gayety and change, it +was not possible he could have remembered a poor peasant girl; but +in Anielka's memory he had remained as a superior being, as her +benefactor, as the only one who had spoken kindly to her, when poor, +neglected, forlorn! When in some French romance she met with a young +man of twenty, of a noble character and handsome appearance, she +bestowed on him the name of Leon. The recollection of the kiss be had +given her ever brought a burning blush to her cheek, and made her sigh +deeply. + +One day Leon came to his sister's room. Anielka was there, seated in +a corner at work. Leon himself had considerably changed; from a boy he +had grown into a man. "I suppose, Constantia," he said, "you have +been told what a, good boy I am, and with what docility I shall submit +myself to the matrimonial yoke, which the Count and Countess have +provided for me?" and he began whistling, and danced some steps of the +Mazurka. + +"Perhaps you will be refused," said Constantia coldly. + +"Refused! Oh, no. The old Prince has already given his consent, and +as for his daughter, she is desperately in love with me. Look at these +moustachios; could anything be more irresistible?" and he glanced in +the glass and twirled them round his fingers; then continuing in a +graver tone, he said, "To tell the sober truth, I cannot say that +I reciprocate. My intended is not at all to my taste. She is nearly +thirty, and so thin, that whenever I look at her, I am reminded of +my old tutor's anatomical sketches. But, thanks to her Parisian +dress-maker, she makes up a tolerably good figure, and looks well in +a Cachemere. Of all things, you know, I wished for a wife with an +imposing appearance, and I don't care about love. I find it's not +fashionable, and only exists in the exalted imagination of poets." + +"Surely people are in love with one another sometimes," said the +sister. + +"Sometimes," repeated Anielka, inaudibly. The dialogue had painfully +affected her, and she knew not why. Her heart beat quickly, and her +face was flushed, and made her look more lovely than ever. + +"Perhaps. Of course we profess to adore every pretty woman," Leon +added abruptly. "But, my dear sister, what a charming ladies' maid you +have!" He approached the corner, where Anielka sat, and bent on her a +coarse familiar smile. Anielka, although a serf, was displeased, and +returned it with a glance full of dignity. But when her eyes rested +on the youth's handsome face, a feeling, which had been gradually and +silently growing in her young and inexperienced heart, predominated +over her pride and displeasure. She wished ardently to recall herself +to Leon's memory, and half unconsciously raised her hand to the little +purse which always hung round her neck. She took from it the rouble he +had given her. + +"See!" shouted Leon, "what a droll girl; how proud she is of her +riches! Why, girl, you are a woman of fortune, mistress of a whole +rouble!" + +"I hope she came by it honestly," said the old Countess, who at this +moment entered. + +At this insinuation, shame and indignation kept Anielka, for a time, +silent. She replaced the money quickly in its purse, with the bitter +thought that the few happy moments which had been so indelibly stamped +upon her memory, had been utterly forgotten by Leon. To clear herself, +she at last stammered out, seeing they all looked at her inquiringly, +"Do you not remember, M. Leon, that you gave me this coin two years +ago in the garden"?" + +"How odd!" exclaimed Leon, laughing, "do you expect me to remember +all the pretty girls to whom I have given money? But I suppose you are +right, or you would not have treasured up this unfortunate rouble as +if it were a holy relic. You should not be a miser, child; money is +made to be spent." + +"Pray put an end to these jokes," said Constantia impatiently; "I like +this girl, and I will not have her teased. She understands my ways +better than any one, and often puts me in a good humor with her +beautiful voice." + +"Sing something for me pretty damsel," said Leon, "and I will give you +another rouble, a new and shining one." + +"Sing instantly," said Constantia imperiously. + +At this command Anielka could no longer stifle her grief; she covered +her face with her hands, and wept violently. + +"Why do you cry?" asked her mistress impatiently; "I cannot bear it; I +desire you to do as you are bid." + +It might have been from the constant habit of slavish obedience, or a +strong feeling of pride, but Anielka instantly ceased weeping. There +was a moment's pause, during which the old Countess went grumbling out +of the room. Anielka chose the Hymn to the Virgin she had warbled in +the garden, and as she sung, she prayed fervently;--she prayed for +peace, for deliverance from the acute emotions which had been aroused +within her. Her earnestness gave an intensity of expression to the +melody, which affected her listeners. They were silent for some +moments after its conclusion. Leon walked up and down with his arms +folded on his breast. Was it agitated with pity for the accomplished +young slave? or by any other tender emotion? What followed will show. + +"My dear Constantia," he said, suddenly stopping before his sister and +kissing her hand, "will you do me a favor?" + +Constantia looked inquiringly in her brother's face without speaking. + +"Give me this girl" + +"Impossible!" + +"I am quite in earnest," continued Leon, "I wish to offer her to my +future wife. In the Prince her father's private chapel they are much +in want of a solo soprano." + +"I shall not give her to you," said Constantia." + +"Not as a free gift, but in exchange. I will give you instead a +charming young negro--so black. The women in St. Petersburgh and in +Paris raved about him: but I was inexorable: I half refused him to my +princess." + +"No, no," replied Constantia; "I shall be lonely without this girl, I +am so used to her." + +"Nonsense! you can get peasant girls by the dozen; but a black +page, with teeth whiter than ivory, and purer than pearls; a perfect +original in his way; you surely cannot withstand. You will kill half +the province with envy. A negro servant is the most fashionable thing +going, and yours will be the first imported into the province." + +This argument was irresistible. "Well," replied Constantia, "when do +you think of taking her?" + +"Immediately; to-day at five o'clock," said Leon; and he went merrily +out of the room. + +This then was the result of his cogitation--of Anielka's Hymn to the +Virgin. Constantia ordered Anielka to prepare herself for the journey, +with as little emotion as if she had exchanged away a lap-dog, or +parted with parrot. + +She obeyed in silence. Her heart was full. She went into the garden +that she might relieve herself by weeping unseen. With one hand +supporting her burning head, and the other pressed tightly against her +heart, to stifle her sobs, she wandered on mechanically till she found +herself by the side of the river. She felt quickly for her purse, +intending to throw the rouble into the water, but as quickly thrust it +back again, for she could not bear to part with the treasure. She felt +as if without it she would be still more an orphan. Weeping bitterly, +she leaned against the tree which had once before witnessed her tears. + +By degrees the stormy passion within her gave place to calm +reflection. This day she was to go away; she was to dwell beneath +another roof, to serve another mistress. Humiliation! always +humiliation! But at least it would be some change in her life. As she +thought of this, she returned hastily to the palace that she might +not, on the last day of her servitude, incur the anger of her young +mistress. + +Scarcely was Anielka attired in her prettiest dress, when Constantia +came to her with a little box, from which she took several gay-colored +ribbons, and decked her in them herself, that the serf might do her +credit in the new family. And when Anielka, bending down to her feet, +thanked her, Constantia, with marvelous condescension, kissed her on +her forehead. Even Leon cast an admiring glance upon her. His servant +soon after came to conduct her to the carriage, and showing her where +to seat herself, they rolled off quickly toward Radapol. + +For the first time in her life Anielka rode in a carriage. Her head +turned quite giddy, she could not look at the trees and fields as they +flew past her; but by degrees she became more accustomed to it, and +the fresh air enlivening her spirits, she performed the rest of the +journey in a tolerably happy state of mind. At last they arrived in +the spacious court-yard before the Palace of Radapol, the dwelling +of a once rich and powerful Polish family, now partly in ruin. It was +evident, even to Anielka, that the marriage was one for money on the +one side, and for rank on the other. + +Among other renovations at the castle, occasioned by the approaching +marriage, the owner of it, Prince Pelazia, had obtained singers +for the chapel, and had engaged Signer Justiniani, an Italian, as +chapel-master. Immediately on Leon's arrival, Anielka was presented +to him. He made her sing a scale, and pronounced her voice to be +excellent. + +Anielka found that, in Radapol, she was treated with a little more +consideration than at Olgogrod, although she had often to submit to +the caprices of her new mistress, and she found less time to read. But +to console herself, she gave all her attention to singing, which she +practiced several hours a day. Her naturally great capacity, under +the guidance of the Italian, began to develop itself steadily. Besides +sacred, he taught her operatic music. On one occasion Anielka sung +an aria in so impassioned and masterly style, that the enraptured +Justiniani clapped his hands for joy, skipped about the room, and not +finding words enough to praise her, exclaimed several times, "Prima +Donna! Prima Donna!" + +But the lessons were interrupted. The Princess's wedding-day was +fixed upon, after which event she and Leon were to go to Florence, and +Anielka was to accompany them. Alas! feelings which gave her poignant +misery still clung to her. She despised herself for her weakness; but +she loved Leon. The sentiment was too deeply implanted in her bosom to +be eradicated; too strong to be resisted. It was the first love of a +young and guileless heart, and had grown in silence and despair. + +Anielka was most anxious to know something of her adopted parents. +Once, after the old prince had heard her singing, he asked her with +great kindness about her home. She replied, that she was an orphan, +and had been taken by force from those who had so kindly supplied the +place of parents, Her apparent attachment to the old bee-keeper and +his wife so pleased the prince, that he said, "You are a good child. +Anielka, and to-morrow I will send you to visit them. You shall take +them some presents." + +Anielka, overpowered with gratitude, threw herself at the feet of the +prince. She dreamed all night of the happiness that was in store for +her, and the joy of the poor, forsaken, old people; and when the next +morning she set off, she could scarcely restrain her impatience. At +last they approached the cabin; she saw the forest, with its tall +trees, and the meadows covered with flowers. She leaped from the +carriage, that she might be nearer these trees and flowers, every +one of which she seemed to recognize. The weather was beautiful. She +breathed with avidity the pure air which, in imagination, brought to +her the kisses and caresses of her poor father! Her foster-father was, +doubtless, occupied with his bees; but his wife? + +Anielka opened the door of the cabin; all was silent and deserted. The +arm-chair on which the poor old woman used to sit, was overturned in a +corner. Anielka was chilled by a fearful presentiment. She went with a +slow step toward the bee-hives; there she saw a little boy tending the +bees, whilst the old man was stretched on the ground beside him. The +rays of the sun, falling on his pale and sickly face, showed that he +was very ill. Anielka stooped down over him, and said, "It is I, it is +Anielka, your own Anielka, who always loves you." + +The old man raised his head, gazed upon her with a ghastly smile, and +took off his cap. + +"And my good old mother, where is she?" Anielka asked. + +"She is dead!" answered the old man, and falling back he began +laughing idiotically. Anielka wept. She gazed earnestly on the worn +frame, the pale and wrinkled cheeks, it which scarcely a sign of +life could be perceived; it seemed to her that he had suddenly fallen +asleep, and not wishing to disturb him, she went to the carriage for +the presents. When she returned, she took his hand. It was cold. The +poor old bee-keeper had breathed his last! + +Anielka was carried almost senseless back to the carriage, which +quickly returned with her to the castle. There she revived a little; +but the recollection that she was now quite alone in the world, almost +drove her to despair. + +Her master's wedding and the journey to Florence were a dream to +her. Though the strange sights of a strange city slowly restored her +perceptions, they did not her cheerfulness. She felt as if she could +no longer endure the misery of her life; she prayed to die. + +"Why are you so unhappy?" said the Count Leon kindly to her, one day. + +To have explained the cause of her wretchedness would have been death +indeed. + +"I am going to give you a treat," continued Leon. "A celebrated singer +is to appear to-night in the theater. I will send you to hear her, and +afterward you shall sing to me what you remember of her performances." + +Anielka went. It was a new era in her existence. Herself, by this +time, an artist, she could forget her griefs, and enter with her +whole soul into the beauties of the art she now heard practiced in +perfection for the first time. To music a chord responded in her +breast which vibrated powerfully. During the performances she was +at one moment pale and trembling, tears rushing into her eyes; at +another, she was ready to throw herself at the feet of the cantatrice, +in an ecstacy of admiration. "Prima donna,"--by that name the public +called on her to receive their applause, and it was the same, thought +Anielka, that Justiniani had bestowed upon her. Could she also be a +prima donna? What a glorious destiny! To be able to communicate one's +own emotions to masses of entranced listeners; to awaken in them, by +the power of the voice, grief, love, terror. + +Strange thoughts continued to haunt her on her return home. She was +unable to sleep. She formed desperate plans. At last she resolved to +throw off the yoke of servitude, and the still more painful slavery of +feelings which her pride disdained. Having learnt the address of the +prima donna, she went early one morning to her house. + +On entering she said, in French, almost incoherently, so great was her +agitation--"Madam, I am a poor serf belonging to a Polish family who +have lately arrived in Florence. I have escaped from them; protect, +shelter me. They say I can sing." + +The Signora Teresina, a warm-hearted, passionate Italian, was +interested by her artless earnestness. She said, "Poor child! you must +have suffered much,"--she took Anielka's hand in hers. "You say you +can sing; let me hear you." Anielka seated herself on an ottoman. She +clasped her hands over her knees, and tears fell into her lap. With +plaintive pathos, and perfect truth of intonation, she prayed in +song. The Hymn to the Virgin seemed to Teresina to be offered up by +inspiration. + +The Signora was astonished. "Where," she asked, in wonder, "were you +taught?" + +Anielka narrated her history, and when she had finished, the prima +donna spoke so kindly to her that she felt as if she had known her for +years. Anielka was Teresina's guest that day and the next. After the +Opera, on the third day, the prima donna made her sit beside her, and +said:-- + +"I think you are a very good girl, and you shall stay with me always." + +The girl was almost beside herself with joy. + +"We will never part. Do you consent, Anielka?" + +"Do not call me Anielka. Give me instead some Italian name." + +"Well, then, be Giovanna. The dearest friend I ever had but whom I +have lost--was named Giovanna," said the prima donna. + +"Then, I will be another Giovanna to you." + +Teresina then said, "I hesitated to receive you at first, for your +sake as well as mine; it you are safe now. I learn that your master +and mistress, after searching vainly for you, have returned to +Poland." + +From this time Anielka commenced an entirely new life. She took +lessons in singing every day from the Signora. and got an engagement +to appear in inferior characters at the theater. She had now her own +income, and her own servant--she, who till then had been obliged to +serve herself. She acquired the Italian language rapidly, and soon +passed for a native of the country. + +So passed three years. New and varied impressions failed, however, +to blot out the old ones. Anielka arrived at great perfection in her +singing, and even began to surpass the prima donna, who was losing +her voice from weakness of the chest. This sad discovery changed the +cheerful temper of Teresina. She ceased to sing in public; for she +could not endure to excite pity, where she had formerly commanded +admiration. + +She determined to retire. "You," she said to Anielka, "shall now +assert your claim to the first rank in the vocal art. You will +maintain it. You surpass me. Often, on hearing you sing, I have +scarcely been able to stifle a feeling of jealousy." + +Anielka placed her hand on Teresina's shoulder, and kissed her. + +"Yes," continued Teresina, regardless of everything but the bright +future she was shaping for her friend. "We will go to Vienna--there +you will be understood and appreciated. You shall sing at the +Italian Opera, and I will be by your side--unknown, no longer sought, +worshiped--but will glory in your triumphs. They will be a repetition +of my own; for have I not taught you? Will they not be the result of +my work!" + +Though Anielka's ambition was fired, her heart was softened, and she +wept violently. + +Five months had scarcely elapsed, when a _furore_ was created in +Vienna by the first appearance, at the Italian Opera, of the Signora +Giovanna. Her enormous salary at once afforded her the means of even +extravagant expenditure. Her haughty treatment of male admirers only +attracted new ones; but in the midst of her triumphs she thought often +of the time when the poor orphan of Pobereze was cared for by nobody. +This remembrance made her receive the flatteries of the crowd with +an ironical smile; their fine speeches fell coldly on her ear, their +eloquent looks made no impression on her heart: _that_, no change +could alter, no temptation win. + +In the flood of unexpected success a new misfortune overwhelmed her. +Since their arrival at Vienna, Teresina's health rapidly declined, and +in the sixth month of Anielka's operatic reign she expired, leaving +all her wealth, which was considerable, to her friend. + +Once more Anielka was alone in the world. Despite all the honors and +blandishments of her position, the old feeling of desolateness came +upon her. The new shock destroyed her health. She was unable to appear +on the stage. To sing was a painful effort; she grew indifferent to +what passed around her. Her greatest consolation was in succoring the +poor and friendless, and her generosity was most conspicuous to all +young orphan girls without fortune. She had never ceased to love her +native land, and seldom appeared in society, unless it was to meet her +countrymen. If ever she sang, it was in Polish. + +A year had elapsed since the death of the Signora Teresina, when +the Count Selka, a rich noble of Volkynia, at that time in Vienna, +solicited her presence at a party. It was impossible to refuse the +Count and his lady, from whom she had received great kindness. +She went. When in their saloons, filled with all the fashion and +aristocracy in Vienna, the name of Giovanna was announced, a general +murmur was heard. She entered, pale and languid, and proceeded between +the two rows made for her by the admiring assembly, to the seat of +honor beside the mistress of the house. + +Shortly after, the Count Selka led her to the piano. She sat down +before it, and thinking what she should sing, glanced round upon the +assembly. She could not help feeling that the admiration which beamed +from the faces around her was the work of her own merit, for had she +neglected the great gift of nature--her voice, she could not have +excited it. With a blushing cheek, and eyes sparkling with honest +pride, she struck the piano with a firm hand, and from her seemingly +weak and delicate chest poured forth a touching Polish melody, with a +voice pure, sonorous, and plaintive. Tears were in many eyes, and the +beating of every heart was quickened. + +The song was finished, but the wondering silence was unbroken. +Giovanna leaned exhausted on the arm of the chair, and cast down +her eyes. On again raising them, she perceived a gentleman who gazed +fixedly at her, as if he still listened to echoes which had not +yet died within him. The master of the house, to dissipate his +thoughtfulness, led him toward Giovanna. "Let me present to you, +Signora," he said, "a countryman, the Count Leon Roszynski." + +The lady trembled; she silently bowed, fixed her eyes on the ground, +and dared not raise them. Pleading indisposition, which was fully +justified by her pallid features, she soon after withdrew. + +When on the following day Giovanna'a servant announced the Counts +Selka and Roszynski, a peculiar smile played on her lips, and when +they entered, she received the latter with the cold and formal +politeness of a stranger. Controlling the feelings of her heart, +she schooled her features to an expression of indifference. It was +manifest from Leon's manner, that without the remotest recognition, an +indefinable presentiment regarding her possessed him. The Counts had +called to know if Giovanna had recovered from her indisposition. Leon +begged to be permitted to call again. + +Where was his wife? why did he never mention her? Giovanna continually +asked herself these questions when they had departed. + +A few nights after, the Count Leon arrived sad and thoughtful. He +prevailed on Giovanna to sing one of her Polish melodies; which she +told him had been taught, when a child, by her muse. Roszynski, unable +to restrain the expression of an intense admiration he had long felt, +frantically seized her hand, and exclaimed, "I love you!" + +She withdrew it from his grasp, remained silent for a few minutes, +and then said slowly, distinctly, and ironically, "But I do not love +_you_, Count Roszynski." + +Leon rose from his seat. He pressed his hands to his brow, and was +silent. Giovanna remained calm and tranquil. "It is a penalty from +Heaven," continued Leon, as if speaking to himself, "for not having +fulfilled my duty as a husband toward one whom I chose voluntarily, +but without reflection. I wronged her, and am punished." + +Giovanna turned her eyes upon him. Leon continued, "Young, and with +a heart untouched, I married a princess about ten years older than +myself, of eccentric habits and bad temper. She treated me as an +inferior. She dissipated the fortune hoarded up with so much care by +my parents, and yet was ashamed on account of my origin to be called +by my name. Happily for me, she was fond of visiting and amusements. +Otherwise, to escape from her, I might have become a gambler, or +worse; but, to avoid meeting her, I remained at home--for there she +seldom was. At first from ennui, but afterward from real delight in +the occupation, I gave myself up to study. Reading formed my mind and +heart. I became a changed being. Some months ago my father died, my +sister went to Lithuania, whilst my mother, in her old age, and with +her ideas, was quite incapable of understanding my sorrow. So when my +wife went to the baths for the benefit of her ruined health, I came +here in the hope of meeting with some of my former friends--I saw +you--" + +Giovanna blushed like one detected; but speedily recovering herself, +asked with calm pleasantry, "Surely you do not number _me_ among your +former friends?" + +"I know not. I have been bewildered. It is strange; but from the +moment that I saw you at Count Selka's, a powerful instinct of love +overcame me; not a new feeling; but as if some latent, long-hid, +undeveloped sentiment had suddenly burst forth into an uncontrollable +passion. I love, I adore you. I--" + +The Prima Donna interrupted him--not with speech, but with a look +which awed, which chilled him. Pride, scorn, irony sat in her smile. +Satire darted from her eyes. After a pause, she repeated slowly and +pointedly, "Love _me_, Count Roszynski?" + +"Such is my destiny," he replied. "Nor, despite your scorn, will I +struggle against it. I feel it is my fate ever to love you; I fear it +is my fate never to be loved by you. It is dreadful." + +Giovanna witnessed the Count's emotion with sadness. "To have," she +said mournfully, "one's first, pure, ardent, passionate affection +unrequited, scorned, made a jest of, is indeed a bitterness, almost +equal to that of death." + +She made a strong effort to conceal her emotion. Indeed she controlled +it so well as to speak the rest with a sort of gayety. + +"You have at least been candid, Count Roszynski; I will imitate you +by telling a little history that occurred in your country. There was +a poor girl born and bred a serf to her wealthy lord and master. When +scarcely fifteen years old, she was torn from a state of happy rustic +freedom--the freedom of humility and content--to be one of the courtly +slaves of the Palace. Those who did not laugh at her, scolded her. +One kind word was vouchsafed to her, and that came from the lord's +son. She nursed it and treasured it; till, from long concealing and +restraining her feelings, she at last found that gratitude had changed +into a sincere affection. But what does a man of the world care for +the love of a serf? It does not even flatter his vanity. The young +nobleman did not understand the source of her tears and her grief, and +he made a present of her, as he would have done of some animal, to his +betrothed." + +Leon, agitated and somewhat enlightened, would have interrupted her; +but Giovanna said, "Allow me to finish my tale. Providence did not +abandon this poor orphan, but permitted her to rise to distinction by +the talent with which she was endowed by nature. The wretched serf +of Pobereze became a celebrated Italian cantatrice. _Then_ her former +lord meeting her in society, and seeing her admired and courted by all +the world, without knowing who she really was, was afflicted, as if by +the dictates of Heaven, with a love for this same girl,--with a guilty +love"-- + +And Giovanna rose, as she said this, to remove herself further from +her admirer. + +"No, no!" he replied earnestly; "with a pure and holy passion." + +"Impossible!" returned Giovanna. "Are you not married?" + +Roszynski vehemently tore a letter from his vest, and handed it to +Giovanna. It was sealed with black, for it announced the death of his +wife at the baths. It had only arrived that morning. + +"You have lost no time," said the cantatrice, endeavoring to conceal +her feelings under an iron mask of reproach. + +There was a pause. Each dared not speak. The Count knew--but without +actually and practically believing what seemed incredible--that +Anielka and Giovanna were the same person--_his slave_. That terrible +relationship checked him. Anielka, too, had played her part to the end +of endurance. The long cherished tenderness, the faithful love of her +life could not longer be wholly mastered. Hitherto they had spoken in +Italian. She now said, in Polish, + +"You have a right, my Lord Roszynski, to that poor Anielka who escaped +from the service of your wife in Florence; you can force her back to +your palace, to its meanest work; but"-- + +"Have mercy on me!" cried Leon. + +"But," continued the serf of Pobereze, firmly, "you cannot force me to +love you." + +"Do not mock--do not torture me more; you are sufficiently revenged. +I will not offend you by importunity. You must indeed hate me! But +remember that we Poles wished to give freedom to our serfs; and for +that very reason our country was invaded and dismembered by despotic +powers. We must therefore continue to suffer slavery as it exists in +Russia; but, soul and body, we are averse to it; and when our country +once more becomes free, be assured no shadow of slavery will remain in +the land. Curse then our enemies, and pity us that we stand in such +a desperate position between Russian bayonets and Siberia, and the +hatred of our serfs." + +So saying, and without waiting for a reply, Leon rushed from the room. +The door was closed. Giovanna listened to the sounds of his rapid +footsteps till they died in the street. She would have followed, but +dared not. She ran to the window. Roszynski's carriage was rolling +rapidly away, and she exclaimed vainly, "I love you, Leon; I loved you +always!" + +Her tortures were unendurable. To relieve them she hastened to her +desk, and wrote these words: + +"Dearest Leon, forgive me; let the past be forever forgotten. Return +to your Anielka. She always has been, ever will be, yours!" + +She dispatched the missive. Was it too late, or would it bring him +back? In the latter hope she retired to her chamber, to execute a +little project. + +Leon was in despair. He saw he had been premature in so soon declaring +his passion after the news of his wife's death, and vowed he would +not see Anielka again for several months. To calm his agitation, he +had ridden some miles into the country. When he returned to his hotel +after some hours, he found her note. With the wild delight it had +darted into his soul, he flew back to her. + +On regaining her saloon a new and terrible vicissitude seemed +to sport with his passion--she was nowhere to be seen. Had the +Italian cantatrice fled? Again he was in despair-stupefied with +disappointment. As he stood uncertain how to act, in the midst of +the floor, he heard, as from a distance, an Ave Maria poured forth +in tones he half recognized. The sounds brought back to him a host +of recollections: a weeping serf--the garden of his own palace. In a +state of new rapture he followed the voice. He traced it to an inner +chamber, and he there beheld the lovely singer kneeling in the costume +of a Polish serf. She rose, greeted Leon with a touching smile, and +stepped forward with serious bashfulness. Leon extended his arms; she +sank into them; and in that fond embrace all past wrongs and sorrows +were forgotten! Anielka drew from her bosom a little purse, and took +from it a piece of silver, It was the rouble. Now, Leon did not smile +at it. He comprehended the sacredness of this little gift, and some +tears of repentance fell on Anielka's hand. + +A few months after, Leon wrote to the steward of Olgogrod to prepare +everything splendidly for the reception of his second wife. He +concluded his letter with these words: + +"I understand that in the dungeon beneath my palace there are some +unfortunate men, who were imprisoned during my father's lifetime. Let +them be instantly liberated. This is my first act of gratitude to God, +who has so infinitely blessed me!" + +Anielka longed ardently to behold her native land. They left Vienna +immediately after the wedding, although it was in the middle of +January. + +It was already quite dark when the carriage, with its four horses, +stopped in front of the portico of the palace of Olgogrod. Whilst the +footman was opening the door on one side, a beggar soliciting alms +appeared at the other, where Anielka was seated. Happy to perform a +good action as she crossed the threshold of her new home, she gave him +some money; but the man, instead of thanking her, returned her bounty +with a savage laugh, at the same time scowling at her in the fiercest +manner from beneath his thick and shaggy brows. The strangeness +of this circumstance sensibly affected Anielka, and clouded her +happiness. Leon soothed and reassured her. In the arms of her beloved +husband she forgot all but the happiness of being the idol of his +affections. + +Fatigue and excitement made the night most welcome. All was dark and +silent around the palace, and some hours of the night had passed, +when suddenly flames burst forth from several parts of the building at +once. The palace was enveloped in fire; it raged furiously. The flames +mounted higher and higher; the windows cracked with a fearful sound, +and the smoke penetrated into the most remote apartments. + +A single figure of a man was seen stealing over the snow, which lay +like a winding-sheet on the solitary waste; his cautious steps were +heard on the frozen snow as it crisped beneath his tread. It was the +beggar who had accosted Anielka. On a rising ground he turned to gaze +on the terrible scene. + +"No more unfortunate creatures will now be doomed to pass their lives +in your dungeons," he exclaimed. "What was _my_ crime? Reminding my +master of the lowness of his birth. For this they tore me from my only +child--my darling little Anielka; they had no pity even for her orphan +state; let them perish all!" + +Suddenly a young and beautiful creature rushes wildly to one of the +principal windows: she makes a violent effort to escape. For a moment +her lovely form, clothed in white, shines in terrible relief against +the background of blazing curtains and walls of fire, and as instantly +sinks back into the blazing element. Behind her is another figure, +vainly endeavoring to aid her--he perishes also: neither of them are +ever seen again! + +This appalling tragedy horrified even the perpetrator of the crime. He +rushed from the place, and as he heard the crash of the falling walls, +he closed his ears with his hands, and darted on faster and faster. + +The next day some peasants discovered the body of a man frozen +to death, lying on a heap of snow--it was that of the wretched +incendiary. Providence, mindful of his long, of his cruel imprisonment +and sufferings, spared him the anguish of knowing that the mistress of +the palace he had destroyed, and who perished in the flames, was his +own beloved daughter--the Serf of Pobereze! + + * * * * * + +A TRUE POET never takes a "poetic license." + + * * * * * + +FROM THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. + +THE MYSTERIOUS COMPACT. + +IN TWO PARTS.--PART I. + + +In the latter years of the last century, two youths, Ferdinand Von +Hallberg and Edward Von Wensleben were receiving their education in +the military academy of Mariensheim. Among their schoolfellows they +were called Orestes and Pylades, or Damon and Pythias, on account +of their tender friendship, which constantly recalled to their +schoolfellows' minds the history of these ancient worthies. Both were +sons of officers who had long served the state with honor, both were +destined for their father's profession, both accomplished and endowed +by nature with no mean talents. But fortune had not been so impartial +in the distribution of her favors--Hallberg's father lived on a small +pension, by means of which he defrayed the expenses of his son's +schooling at the cost of the government; while Wensleben's parents +willingly paid the handsomest salary in order to insure to their +only child the best education which the establishment afforded. +This disparity in circumstances at first produced a species of proud +reserve, amounting to coldness, in Ferdinand's deportment, which +yielded by degrees to the cordial affection that Edward manifested +toward him on every occasion. Two years older than Edward, of a +thoughtful and almost melancholy turn of mind, Ferdinand soon gained +a considerable influence over his weaker friend, who clung to him with +almost girlish dependence. + +Their companionship had now lasted with satisfaction and happiness to +both, for several years, and the youths had formed for themselves the +most delightful plans--how they were never to separate, how they were +to enter the service in the same regiment, and if a war broke out, +how they were to fight side by side, and conquer or die together. But +destiny, or rather Providence--whose plans are usually opposed to the +designs of mortals--had ordained otherwise. + +Earlier than was expected, Hallberg's father found an opportunity to +have his son appointed to an infantry regiment, and he was ordered +immediately to join the staff in a small provincial town, in an +out-of-the-way mountainous district. This announcement fell like a +thunderbolt on the two friends; but Ferdinand considered himself by +far the more unhappy, since it was ordained that he should be the one +to sever the happy bond that bound them, and to inflict a deep wound +on his loved companion. His schoolfellows vainly endeavored to console +him by calling his attention to his new commission, and the preference +which had been shown him above so many others. He only thought of the +approaching separation; he only saw his friend's grief, and passed the +few remaining days that were allowed him at the academy by Edward's +side, who husbanded every moment of his Ferdinand's society with +jealous care, and could not bear to lose sight of him for an instant. +In one of their most melancholy hours, excited by sorrow and youthful +enthusiasm, they bound themselves by a mysterious vow, namely, that +the one whom God should think fit to call first from this world, +should bind himself (if conformable to the Divine will) to give some +sign of his remembrance and affection to the survivor. + +The place where this vow was made was a solitary spot in the garden, +by a monument of gray marble, overshadowed by dark firs, which the +former director of the institution had caused to be erected to the +memory of his son, whose premature death was recorded on the stone. + +Here the friends met at night, and by the fitful light of the moon +they pledged themselves to the rash and fanciful contract, and +confirmed and consecrated it the next morning by a religious ceremony. +After this they were able to look the approaching separation in the +face more manfully, and Edward strove hard to quell the melancholy +feeling which had lately arisen in his mind on account of the constant +foreboding that Ferdinand expressed of his own early death. "No," +thought Edward, "his pensive turn of mind and his wild imagination +cause him to reproach himself without a cause for my sorrow and his +own departure. Oh, no, Ferdinand will not die early--he will not die +before me. Providence will not leave me alone in the world." + + * * * * * + +The lonely Edward strove hard to console himself, for after +Ferdinand's departure, the house, the world itself, seemed a desert; +and absorbed by his own memories, he now recalled to mind many a dark +speech which had fallen from his absent friend, particularly in the +latter days of their intercourse, and which betokened but too plainly +a presentiment of early death. But time and youth exercised, even +over these sorrows, their irresistible influence. Edward's spirits +gradually recovered their tone, and as the traveler always has the +advantage over the one who remains behind, in respect of new objects +to occupy his mind, so was Ferdinand even sooner calmed and cheered, +and by degrees he became engrossed by his new duties and new +acquaintances, not to the exclusion, indeed, of his friend's memory, +but greatly to the alienation of his own sorrow. It was natural, in +such circumstances, that the young officer should console himself +sooner than poor Edward. The country in which Hallberg found +himself was wild and mountainous, but possessed all the charms and +peculiarities of "far off" districts--simple, hospitable manners, +old-fashioned customs, many tales and legends which arise from +the credulity of the mountaineers, who invariably lean toward the +marvelous, and love to people the wild solitudes with invisible +beings. + +Ferdinand had soon, without seeking for it, made acquaintance with +several respectable families in the town; and as it generally +happens in such cases, he had become quite domesticated in the best +country-houses in the neighborhood; and the well-mannered, handsome, +and agreeable youth was welcomed everywhere. The simple, patriarchal +life in these old mansions and castles--the cordiality of the people, +the wild, picturesque scenery, nay, the very legends themselves, were +entirely to Hallberg's taste. He adapted himself easily to his new +mode of life, but his heart remained tranquil. This could not last. +Before half a year had passed, the battalion to which he belonged was +ordered to another station, and he had to part with many friends. The +first letter which he wrote after this change bore the impression +of impatience at the breaking up of a happy time. Edward found this +natural enough; but he was surprised in the following letters to +detect signs of a disturbed and desultory state of mind, wholly +foreign to his friend's nature. The riddle was soon solved. +Ferdinand's heart was touched for the first time, and perhaps because +the impression had been made late, it was all the deeper. Unfavorable +circumstances opposed themselves to his hopes: the young lady was +of an ancient family, rich, and betrothed since her childhood to a +relation, who was expected shortly to arrive in order to claim her +promised hand. Notwithstanding this engagement, Ferdinand and the +young girl had become sincerely attached to each other, and had +both resolved to dare everything with the hope of being united. They +pledged their troth in secret; the darkest mystery enveloped not only +their plans, but their affections; and as secrecy was necessary to +the advancement of their projects, Ferdinand entreated his friend to +forgive him if he did not intrust his whole secret to a sheet of paper +that had at least sixty miles to travel, and which must pass through +so many hands. It was impossible from his letter to guess the name of +the person or the place in question. "You know that I love," he wrote, +"therefore you know that the object of my secret passion is worthy +of any sacrifice; for you know your friend too well to believe him +capable of any blind infatuation, and this must suffice for the +present. No one must suspect what we are to each other; no one here or +round the neighborhood must have the slightest clew to our plans. An +awful personage will soon make his appearance among us. His violent +temper, his inveterate obstinacy, (according to all that one hears of +him,) are well calculated to confirm in _her_ a well-founded aversion. +But family arrangements and legal contracts exist, the fulfillment +of which the opposing party are bent on enforcing. The struggle will +be hard--perhaps unsuccessful; notwithstanding, I will strain every +nerve. Should I fail, you must console yourself, my dear Edward, +with the thought, that it will be no misfortune to your friend to +be deprived of an existence rendered miserable by the failure of his +dearest hopes, and separation from his dearest friend. Then may all +the happiness which Heaven has denied me be vouchsafed to you and her, +so that my spirit may look down contentedly from the realms of light, +and bless and protect you both." + +Such was the usual tenor of the letters which Edward received during +that period, His heart was full of anxiety--he read danger and +distress in the mysterious communications of Ferdinand; and every +argument that affection and good sense could suggest did he make use +of, in his replies, to turn his friend from this path of peril which +threatened to end in a deep abyss. He tried persuasion, and urged him +to desist for the sake of their long-tried affection--but when did +passion ever listen to the expostulations of friendship? + +Ferdinand only saw one aim in life--the possession of the beloved +one. All else faded from before his eyes, and even his correspondence +slackened, for his time was much taken up in secret excursions, +arrangements of all kinds, and communications with all manner of +persons; in fact every action of his present life tended to the +furtherance of his plan. + +All of a sudden his letters ceased. Many posts passed without a sign +of life. Edward was a prey to the greatest anxiety; he thought his +friend had staked and lost. He imagined an elopement, a clandestine +marriage, a duel with a rival, and all these casualties were the more +painful to conjecture, since his entire ignorance of the real state +of things gave his fancy full range to conjure up all sorts of +misfortunes. At length, after many more posts had come in without a +line to pacify Edward's fears, without a word in reply to his earnest +entreaties for some news, he determined on taking a step which he had +meditated before, and only relinquished out of consideration for his +friend's wishes. He wrote to the officer commanding the regiment, +and made inquiries respecting the health and abode of Lieutenant Von +Hallberg, whose friends in the capital had remained for nearly two +months without news of him, he who had hitherto proved a regular and +frequent correspondent. + +Another fortnight dragged heavily on, and at length the announcement +came in an official form. Lieutenant Von Hallberg had been invited +to the castle of a nobleman whom he was in the custom of visiting, in +order to be present at the wedding of a lady; that he was indisposed +at the time, that he grew worse, and on the third morning had been +found dead in his bed, having expired during the night from an attack +of apoplexy. + +Edward could not finish the letter--it fell from his trembling hand. +To see his worst fears realized so suddenly, overwhelmed him at first. +His youth withstood the bodily illness which would have assailed a +weaker constitution, and perhaps mitigated the anguish of his grief. +He was not dangerously ill, but they feared many days for his reason; +and it required all the kind solicitude of the director of the +college, combined with the most skillful medical aid, to stem the +torrent of his sorrow, and to turn it gradually into a calmer channel, +until by degrees the mourner recovered both health and reason. His +youthful spirits, however, had received a blow from which they +never rebounded, and one thought lay heavy on his mind, which he was +unwilling to share with any other person, and which, on that account, +grew more and more painful. It was the memory of that holy promise +which had been mutually contracted, that the survivor was to receive +some token of his friend's remembrance of him after death. Now two +months had already passed since Ferdinand's earthly career had been +arrested, his spirit was free, why no sign? In the moment of death +Edward had had no intimation, no message from the passing spirit, and +this apparent neglect, so to speak, was another deep wound in Edward's +breast. Do the affections cease with life? Was it contrary to the will +of the Almighty that the mourner should taste this consolation? Did +individuality lose itself in death, and with it memory? Or did one +stroke destroy spirit and body? These anxious doubts, which have +before now agitated many who reflect on such subjects, exercised their +power over Edward's mind with an intensity that none can imagine save +one whose position is in any degree similar. + +Time gradually deadened the intensity of his affliction. The violent +paroxysms of grief subsided into a deep but calm regret. It was as +if a mist had spread itself over every object which presented itself +before him, robbing them indeed of half their charms, yet leaving them +visible, and in their real relation to himself. During this mental +change the autumn arrived, and with it the long-expected commission. +It did not indeed occasion the joy which it might have done in former +days, when it would have led to a meeting with Ferdinand, or at +all events to a better chance of meeting, but it released him from +the thraldom of college, and it opened to him a welcome sphere of +activity. Now it so happened that his appointment led him accidentally +into the very neighborhood where Ferdinand had formerly resided, only +with this difference, that Edward's squadron was quartered in the +lowlands, about a short day's journey from the town and woodland +environs in question. + +He proceeded to his quarters, and found an agreeable occupation in the +exercise of his new duties. + +He had no wish to make acquaintances, yet he did not refuse the +invitations that were pressed upon him, lest he should he accused of +eccentricity and rudeness; and so be found himself soon entangled in +all sorts of engagements with the neighboring gentry and nobility. If +these so-called gayeties gave him no particular pleasure, at least for +the time they diverted his thoughts; and with this view he accepted +an invitation (for the new-year and carnival were near at hand) to +a great shooting-match which was to be held in the mountains--a spot +which it was possible to reach in one day, with favorable weather +and the roads in good state. The day was appointed, the air tolerably +clear; a mild frost had made the roads safe and even, and Edward had +every expectation of being able to reach Blumenberg in his sledge +before night, as on the following morning the match was to take place. +But as soon as he got near the mountains, where the sun retires so +early to rest, snow-clouds drove from all quarters, a cutting wind +came roaring through the ravines, and a heavy fall of snow began. +Twice the driver lost his way, and daylight was gone before he had +well recovered it; darkness came on sooner than in other places, +walled in as they were by dark mountains, with dark clouds above their +heads. It was out of the question to dream of reaching Blumenberg that +night; but in this hospitable land, where every householder welcomes +the passing traveler, Edward was under no anxiety as to shelter. +He only wished, before the night quite set in, to reach some +country-house or castle; and now that the storm had abated in some +degree, that the heavens were a little clearer, and that a few +stars peeped out, a large valley opened before them, whose bold +outline Edward could distinguish, even in the uncertain light. The +well-defined roofs of a neat village were perceptible, and behind +these, half-way up the mountain that crowned the plain, Edward thought +he could discern a large building which glimmered with more than one +light. The road led straight into the village. Edward stopped and +inquired. + +That building was indeed a castle: the village belonged to it, and +both were the property of the Baron Friedenberg. "Friedenberg!" +repeated Edward: the name sounded familiar to him, yet he could not +call to mind when and where he had heard it. He inquired if the family +were at home, hired a guide, and arrived at length by a rugged path +which wound itself round steep rocks, to the summit of them, and +finally to the castle, which was perched there like an eagle's nest. +The tinkling of the bells on Edward's sledge attracted the attention +of the inmates; the door was opened with prompt hospitality; servants +appeared with torches; Edward was assisted to emerge from under the +frozen apron of his carriage, out of his heavy pelisse, stiff with +hoar-frost, and up a comfortable staircase into a long saloon of +simple construction, where a genial warmth appeared to welcome him +from a huge stove in the corner. The servants here placed two large +burning candles in massive silver sconces, and went out to announce +the stranger. + +The fitting-up of the room, or rather saloon, was perfectly simple. +Family portraits, in heavy frames, hung round the walls, diversified +by some maps. Magnificent stags' horns were arranged between; and +the taste of the master of the house was easily detected in the +hunting-knives, powder-flasks, carbines, smoking-bags, and sportsmen's +pouches, which were arranged, not without taste, as trophies of the +chase. The ceiling was supported by large beams, dingy with smoke +and age; and on the sides of the room were long benches, covered and +padded with dark cloth, and studded with large brass nails; while +round the dinner-table were placed several arm-chairs, also of +ancient date. All bore the aspect of the good old times, of a simple, +patriarchal life with affluence. Edward felt as if there were a +kind welcome in the inanimate objects which surrounded him, when the +inner-door opened, and the master of the house entered, preceded by a +servant, and welcomed his guest with courteous cordiality. + +Some apologies which Edward offered on account of his intrusion, were +silenced in a moment. + +"Come, now, Lieutenant," said the Baron, "I must introduce you to my +family. You are not such a stranger to us, as you fancy." + +With these words he took Edward by the arm, and, lighted by the +servant, they passed through several lofty rooms, which were very +handsomely furnished, although in an old-fashioned style, with faded +Flemish carpets, large chandeliers, and high-backed chairs: everything +in keeping with what the youth had already seen in the castle. Here +were the ladies of the house. At the other end of the room, by the +side of an immense stove, ornamented with a large shield of the family +arms, richly emblazoned, and crowned by a gigantic Turk, in a most +comfortable attitude of repose sat the lady of the house, an elderly +matron of tolerable circumference, in a gown of dark red satin, with +a black mantle and a snow-white cap. She appeared to be playing cards +with the chaplain, who sat opposite to her at the table, and the Baron +Friedenberg to have made the third hand at ombre, till he was called +away to welcome his guest. On the other side of the room were two +young ladies, an elder person, who might be a governess, and a couple +of children, very much engrossed by a game at lotto. + +As Edward entered, the ladies rose to greet him, a chair was placed +for him near the mistress of the house, and very soon a cup of +chocolate and a bottle of tokay were served on a rich silver salver, +to restore the traveler after the cold and discomfort of his drive: +in fact it was easy for him to feel that these "far away" people were +by no means displeased at his arrival. An agreeable conversation +soon began among all parties. His travels, the shooting-match, the +neighborhood, agriculture, all afforded subjects, and in a quarter +of an hour Edward felt as if he had long been domesticated with these +simple but truly well-informed people. + +Two hours flew swiftly by, and then a bell sounded for supper; the +servants returned with lights, announced that the supper was on the +table, and lighted the company into the dining-room--the same into +which Edward had first been ushered. Here, in the background, some +other characters appeared on the scene--the agent, a couple of his +subalterns, and the physician. The guests ranged themselves round the +table. Edward's place was between the Baron and his wife. The chaplain +said a short grace, when the Baroness, with an uneasy look, glanced at +her husband over Edward's shoulder, and said, in a low whisper-- + +"My love, we are thirteen--that will never do." + +The Baron smiled, beckoned to the youngest of the clerks, and +whispered to him. The youth bowed, and withdrew. The servant took the +cover away, and served his supper in the next room. + +"My wife," said Friedenberg, "is superstitious, as all mountaineers +are. She thinks it unlucky to dine thirteen. It certainly has happened +twice (whether from chance or not who can tell?) that we have had to +mourn the death of an acquaintance who had, a short time before, made +the thirteenth at our table." + +"This idea is not confined to the mountains. I know many people in the +capital who think with the Baroness," said Edward. "Although in a town +such ideas, which belong more especially to the olden time, are more +likely to be lost in the whirl and bustle which usually silences +everything that is not essentially matter of fact." + +"Ah, yes, Lieutenant," replied the Baron, smiling good-humoredly, +"we keep up old customs better in the mountains. You see that by our +furniture. People in the capital would call this sadly old-fashioned." + +"That which is really good and beautiful can never appear out of +date," rejoined Edward courteously; "and here, if I mistake not, +presides a spirit that is ever striving after both. I must confess, +Baron, that when I first entered your house, it was this very aspect +of the olden time that enchanted me beyond measure." + +"That is always the effect which simplicity has on every unspoiled +mind," answered Friedenberg: "but townspeople have seldom a taste for +such things." + +"I was partly educated on my father's estate," said Edward, "which was +situated in the Highlands; and it appears to me as if, when I entered +your house, I were visiting a neighbor of my father's, for the general +aspect is quite the same here as with us." + +"Yes," said the chaplain, "mountainous districts have all a family +likeness: the same necessities, the same struggles with nature, the +same seclusion, all produce the same way of life among mountaineers." + +"On that account the prejudice against the number thirteen was +especially familiar to me," replied Edward. "We also dislike it; +and we retain a consideration for many supernatural, or at +least inexplicable things, which I have met with again in this +neighborhood." + +"Yes, here, almost more than anywhere else," continued the chaplain, +"I think we excel all other mountaineers in the number and variety of +our legends and ghost stories. I assure you that there is not a cave +or a church, or, above all, a castle, for miles round about, of which +we could not relate something supernatural." + +The Baroness, who perceived the turn which the conversation was likely +to take, thought it better to send the children to bed; and when they +were gone, the priest continued, "Even here, in this castle--" + +"Here!" inquired Edward, "in this very castle?" + +"Yes, yes! Lieutenant," interposed the Baron, "this house has the +reputation of being haunted; and the most extraordinary thing is, that +the matter cannot be denied by the skeptical, or accounted for by the +reasonable." + +"And yet," said Edward, "the castle looks so cheerful, so habitable." + +"Yes, this part which we live in," answered the Baron; "but it +consists of only a few apartments sufficient for my family and these +gentlemen; the other portion of the building is half in ruins, and +dates from the period when men established themselves on the mountains +for greater safety." + +"There are some who maintain," said the physician, "that a part of the +walls of the stern tower itself are of Roman origin; but that would +surely be difficult to prove." + +"But, gentlemen," observed the Baroness, "you are losing yourselves in +learned descriptions as to the erection of the castle, and our guest +is kept in ignorance of what he is anxious to hear." + +"Indeed, madam," replied the chaplain, "this is not entirely foreign +to the subject, since in the most ancient part of the building lies +the chamber in question." + +"Where apparitions have been seen?" inquired Edward, eagerly. + +"Not exactly," replied the Baroness; "there is nothing fearful to be +seen." + +"Come, let us tell him at once," interrupted the Baron. "The fact is, +that every guest who sleeps for the first time in this room (and it +has fallen to the lot of many, in turn, to do so,) is visited by some +important, significant dream or vision, or whatever I ought to call +it, in which some future event is prefigured to him, or some past +mystery cleared up, which he had vainly striven to comprehend before." + +"Then," interposed Edward, "it must be something like what is known +in the Highlands, under the name of second sight, a privilege, as some +consider it, which several persons and several families enjoy." + +"Just so," said the physician, "the cases are very similar; yet the +most mysterious part of this affair is, that it does not appear to +originate with the individual, or his organization, or his sympathy +with beings of the invisible world; no, the individual has nothing to +say to it--the locality does it all. Every one who sleeps there has +his mysterious dream, and the result proves its truth." + +"At least, in most instances," continued the Baron, "when we have had +an opportunity of hearing the cases confirmed. I remember once, in +particular. You may recollect, Lieutenant, that when you first came +in, I had the honor of telling you you were not quite a stranger to +me." + +"Certainly, Baron; and I have been wishing for a long time to ask an +explanation of these words." + +"We have often heard your name mentioned by a particular friend of +yours--one who could never pronounce it without emotion." + +"Ah!" cried Edward, who now saw clearly why the Baron's name had +sounded familiar to him also--"ah! you speak of my friend Hallberg; +truly do you say, we were indeed dear to each other." + +"Were!" echoed the Baron, in a faltering tone, as he observed the +sudden change in Edward's voice and countenance; "can the blooming, +vigorous youth be--" + +"Dead!" exclaimed Edward; and the Baron deeply regretted that he had +touched so tender a chord, as he saw the young officer's eyes fill +with tears, and a dark cloud pass over his animated features. + +"Forgive me," he continued, while he leaned forward and pressed +his companion's hand; "I grieve that a thoughtless word should have +awakened such deep sorrow. I had no idea of his death; we all loved +the handsome young man, and by his description of you were already +much interested in you before we had ever seen you." + +The conversation now turned entirely on Hallberg. Edward related the +particulars of his death. Every one present had something to say in +his praise; and although this sudden allusion to his dearest friend +had agitated Edward in no slight degree, yet it was a consolation to +him to listen to the tribute these worthy people paid to the memory of +Ferdinand, and to see how genuine was their regret at the tidings of +his early death. The time passed swiftly away in conversation of much +interest, and the whole company were surprised to hear ten o'clock +strike, an unusually late hour for this quiet, regular family. The +chaplain read prayers, in which Edward devoutly joined, and then +he kissed the matron's hand, and felt almost as if he were in his +father's house. The Baron offered to show his guest to his room, and +the servant preceded them with lights. The way led past the staircase, +and then on one side into a long gallery, which communicated with +another wing of the castle. + +The high-vaulted ceilings, the curious carving on the ponderous +doorways, the pointed gothic windows, through many broken panes of +which a sharp nightwind whistled, proved to Edward that he was in the +old part of the castle, and that the famous chamber could not be far +off. + +"Would it be possible for me to be quartered there," he began, rather +timidly; "I should like it of all things." + +"Really!" inquired the Baron, rather surprised; "have not our ghost +stories alarmed you?" + +"On the contrary," was the reply, "they have excited the most earnest +wish--" + +"Then, if that be the case," said the Baron, "we will return. The room +was already prepared for you, being the most comfortable and the best +in the whole wing; only I fancied, after our conversation--" + +"Oh, certainly not," exclaimed Edward; "I could only long for such +dreams." + +During this discourse they had arrived at the door of the famous room. +They went in. They found themselves in a lofty and spacious apartment, +so large that the two candles which the servant carried only shed a +glimmering twilight over it, which did not penetrate to the furthest +corner. A high-canopied bed, hung with costly but old-fashioned +damask, of dark green, in which were swelling pillows of snowy +whiteness, tied with green bows, and a silk coverlet of the same +color, looked very inviting to the tired traveler. Sofa and chairs +of faded needlework, a carved oak commode and table, a looking-glass +in heavy framework, a prie-dieu and crucifix above it, constituted +the furniture of the room, where, above all things, cleanliness and +comfort preponderated, while a good deal of silver plate was spread +out on the toilet-table. + +Edward looked round. "A beautiful room!" he said. "Answer me one +question, Baron, if you please. Did he ever sleep here?" + +"Certainly," replied Friedenberg; "it was his usual room when he +was here, and he had a most curious dream in that bed, which, as he +assured us, made a great impression on him." + +"And what was it?" inquired Edward. + +"He never told us, for, as you well know, he was reserved by nature; +but we gathered from some words that he let slip, that an early and +sudden death was foretold. Alas! your narrative has confirmed the +truth of the prediction." + +"Wonderful! He always had a similar foreboding, and many a time has +he grieved me by alluding to it," said Edward; "yet it never made +him gloomy or discontented. He went on his way firmly and calmly, and +looked forward with joy, I might almost say, to another life." + +"He was a superior man," answered the Baron. "whose memory will ever +be dear to us. But now I will detain you no longer. Good night. Here +is the bell"--he showed him the cord in between the curtains--"and +your servant sleeps in the next room." + +"Oh, you are too careful of me," said Edward, smiling; "I am used to +sleep by myself." + +"Still," replied the Baron, "every precaution should be taken. Now +once more good night." + +He shook him by the hand, and, followed by the servant, left the room. + +Thus Edward found himself alone, in the large, mysterious-looking, +haunted room, where his deceased friend had so often reposed; where +he also was expected to see a vision. The awe which the place itself +inspired, combined with the sad and yet tender recollection of the +departed Ferdinand, produced a state of mental excitement which was +not favorable to his night's rest. He had already undressed with the +aid of his servant (whom he had then dismissed,) and had been in +bed some time, having extinguished the candles. No sleep visited his +eyelids; and the thought recurred which had so often troubled him, +why he had never received the promised token from Ferdinand, whether +his friend's spirit were among the blest--whether his silence (so to +speak) proceeded from unwillingness or incapacity to communicate with +the living. A mingled train of reflections agitated his mind; his +brain grew heated; his pulse beat faster and faster. The castle clock +tolled eleven--half-past eleven. He counted the strokes: and at +that moment the moon rose above the dark margin of the rocks which +surrounded the castle, and shed her full light into Edward's room. +Every object stood out in relief from the darkness. Edward gazed, and +thought, and speculated. It seemed to him as if something moved in the +furthest corner of the room. The movement was evident--it assumed a +form--the form of a man, which appeared to advance, or rather to float +forward. Here Edward lost all sense of surrounding objects, and found +himself once more sitting at the foot of the monument in the garden +of the academy, where he had contracted the bond with his friend. +As formerly, the moon streamed through the dark branches of the +fir-trees, and shed its pale cold light on the cold white marble of +the monument. Then the floating form which had appeared in the room of +the castle became clearer, more substantial, more earthly-looking; it +issued from behind the tombstone, and stood in the full moonlight. It +was Ferdinand, in the uniform of his regiment, earnest and pale, but +with a kind smile on his features. + +"Ferdinand, Ferdinand!" cried Edward, overcome by joy and surprise, +and he strove to embrace the well-loved form, but it waved him aside +with a melancholy look. + +"Ah! you are dead," continued the speaker; "and why then do I see you +just as you looked when living?" + +"Edward," answered the apparition, in a voice that sounded as if it +came from afar, "I am dead, but my spirit has no peace." + +"You are not with the blest?" cried Edward, in a voice of terror. + +"God is merciful," it replied; "but we are frail and sinful creatures; +inquire no more, but pray for me." + +"With all my heart," cried Edward, in a tone of anguish, while he +gazed with affection on the familiar features; "but speak, what can I +do for thee?" + +"An unholy tie still binds me to earth. I have sinned. I was cut off +in the midst of my sinful projects. This ring burns." He slipped a +small gold ring from his left hand. "Only when every token of this +unholy compact is destroyed, and when I recover the ring which I +exchanged for this, only then can my spirit be at rest. Oh, Edward, +dear Edward, bring me back my ring!" + +"With joy--but where, where am I to seek it?" + +"Emily Varnier will give it thee herself; our engagement was contrary +to holy duties, to prior engagements, to earlier vows. God denied +his blessing to the guilty project, and my course was arrested in a +fearful manner. Pray for me, Edward, and bring me back the ring, my +ring," continued the voice, in a mournful tone of appeal. + +Then the features of the deceased smiled sadly but tenderly; then all +appeared to float once more before Edward's eyes--the form was lost +in mist, the monument, the fir-grove, the moonlight, disappeared; a +long, gloomy, breathless pause followed. Edward lay, half sleeping, +half benumbed, in a confused manner; portions of the dream returned +to him--some images, some sounds--above all, the petition for the +restitution of the ring. But an indescribable power bound his limbs, +closed his eyelids, and silenced his voice; mental consciousness alone +was left him, yet his mind was a prey to terror. + +At length these painful sensations subsided--his nerves became more +braced, his breath came more freely, a pleasing languor crept over his +limbs, and he fell into a peaceful sleep. When he awoke it was already +broad daylight; his sleep toward the end of the night had been +quiet and refreshing. He felt strong and well, but as soon as the +recollection of his dream returned, a deep melancholy took possession +of him, and he felt the traces of tears which grief had wrung from +him on his eyelashes. But what had the vision been? A mere dream +engendered by the conversation of the evening, and his affection for +Hallberg's memory, or was it at length the fulfillment of the compact? + +There, out of that dark corner, had the form risen up, and moved +toward him. But might it not have been the effect of light and shade +produced by the moonbeams, and the dark branches of a large tree close +to the window, when agitated by the high wind? Perhaps he had seen +this, and then fallen asleep, and all combined, had woven itself into +a dream. But the name of Emily Varnier! Edward did not remember ever +to have heard it; certainly it had never been mentioned in Ferdinand's +letters. Could it be the name of his love, of the object of that +ardent and unfortunate passion? Could the vision be one of truth? He +was meditating, lost in thought, when there was a knock at his door, +and the servant entered. Edward rose hastily, and sprang out of +bed. As he did so, he heard something fall with a ringing sound; +the servant stooped and picked up a gold ring, plain gold, like a +wedding-ring. Edward shuddered: he snatched it from the servant's +hand, and the color forsook his cheeks as he read the two words +"Emily Varnier" engraved inside the hoop. He stood there like one +thunderstruck, as pale as a corpse, with the proof in his hand that +he had not merely dreamed, but had actually spoken with the spirit +of his friend. A servant of the household came in to ask whether the +Lieutenant wished to breakfast in his room, or down stairs with the +family. Edward would willingly have remained alone with the thoughts +that pressed heavily on him, but a secret dread lest his absence +should be remarked, and considered as a proof of fear, after all +that had passed on the subject of the haunted room, determined him +to accept the proposal. He dressed hastily, and arranged his hair +carefully, but the paleness of his face, and the traces of tears in +his eyes, were not to be concealed, and he entered the saloon, where +the family were already assembled at the breakfast-table, with the +chaplain and the doctor. + +The Baron rose to greet him: one glance at the young officer's face +was sufficient; he pressed his hand in silence, and led him to a +place by the side of the Baroness. An animated discussion now began +concerning the weather, which was completely changed; a strong south +wind had risen in the night, so there was now a thaw. The snow was all +melted--the torrents were flowing once more, and the roads impassable. + +"How can you possibly reach Blumenberg, to-day?" the Baron inquired of +his guest. + +"That will be well nigh impossible," said the doctor. "I am just +come from a patient at the next village, and I was nearly an hour +performing the same distance in a carriage that is usually traversed +on foot in a quarter of an hour." + +Edward had not given a thought this morning to the shooting-match. Now +that it had occurred to him to remember it, he felt little regret at +being detained from a scene of noisy festivity which, far from being +desirable, appeared to him actually distasteful in his present frame +of mind. Yet he was troubled by the thought of intruding too long +on the hospitality of his new friends; and he said, in a hesitating +manner-- + +"Yes! but I must try how far--" + +"That you shall not do," interrupted the Baron. "The road is always +bad: and in a thaw it is always dangerous. It would go against +my conscience to allow you to risk it. Remain with us: we have no +shooting-match or ball to offer you, but--" + +"I shall not certainly regret either," cried Edward, eagerly. + +"Well, then, remain with us, Lieutenant," said the matron, laying +her hand on his arm, with a kind, maternal gesture. "You are heartily +welcome; and the longer you stay with us, the better shall we be +pleased." + +The youth bowed, and raised the lady's hand to his lips, and said-- + +"If you will allow me--if you feel certain that I am not intruding--I +will accept your kind offer with joy. I never care much for a ball, +at any time, and to-day in particular"--. He stopped short, and then +added, "In such bad weather as this, the small amusement--" + +"Would be dearly bought." interposed the Baron. "Come, I am delighted; +you will remain with us." + +He shook Edward warmly by the hand. + +"You know you are with old friends." + +"And, beside," said the doctor, with disinterested solicitude, "it +would be imprudent, for M. de Wensleben does not look very well. Had +you a good night, sir?" + +"Very good," replied Edward. + +"Without much dreaming?" continued the other, pertinaciously. + +"Dreaming! oh, nothing wonderful," answered the officer. + +"Hem!" said the doctor, shaking his head, portentiously. "No one +yet--" + +"Were I to relate my dream," replied Edward, "you would understand it +no more than I did. Confused images--" + +The Baroness, who saw the youth's unwillingness to enlarge upon the +subject, here observed-- + +"That some of the visions had been of no great importance--those which +she had heard related, at least." + +The chaplain led the conversation from dreams, themselves, to their +origin, on which subject he and the doctor could not agree; and Edward +and his visions were left in peace at last. But when every one had +departed, each to his daily occupation, Edward followed the Baron into +his library. + +"I answered in that manner," he said, "to get rid of the doctor +and his questioning. To you I will confess the truth. Your room has +exercised its mysterious influence over me." + +"Indeed!" said the baron, eagerly. + +"I have seen and spoken with my Ferdinand, for the first time since +his death. I will trust to your kindness--your sympathy--not to +require of me a description of this exciting vision. But I have a +question to put to you." + +"Which I will answer in all candor, if it be possible." + +"Do you know the name of Emily Varnier?" + +"Varnier!--certainly not." + +"Is there no one in this neighborhood who bears that name?" + +"No one: it sounds like a foreign name." + +"In the bed in which I slept I found this ring," said Edward, while he +produced it; "and the apparition of my friend pronounced that name." + +"Wonderful! As I tell you, I know no one so called--this is the +first time I ever heard the name. But it is entirely unaccountable +to me, how the ring should have come into that bed. You see, M. von +Wensleben, what I told you is true. There is something very peculiar +about that room: the moment you entered, I saw that the spell had been +working on you also, but I did not wish to forestall or force your +confidence." + +"I felt the delicacy, as I do now the kindness, of your intentions. +Those who are as sad as I am can alone tell the value of tenderness +and sympathy." + +Edward remained this day and the following at the castle, and felt +quite at home with its worthy inmates. He slept twice in the +haunted room. He went away, and came back often; was always welcomed +cordially, and always quartered in the same apartment. But, in spite +of all this, he had no clew, he had no means of lifting the vail of +mystery which hung round the fate of Ferdinand Hallberg and of Emily +Varnier. + + * * * * * + +FROM PUNCH. + +OUR "IN MEMORIAM." + + Not in the splendor of a ruinous glory + Emblazoned, glitters our lost Statesman's name: + The great deeds that have earned him deathless fame + Will cost us merely thanks. Their inventory + Of peaceful heroism will be a story, + Of wise assertion of a rightful claim, + And Commerce freed by sagely daring aim. + Famine averted; Revolution glory + Disarmed; and the exhausted Commonweal + Recruited; these are things that England long + Will couple with the name of ROBERT PEEL, + Of whom the worst his enemies can say + Is, that he left the error of his way + When Conscience told him he was in the wrong. + + * * * * * + +FROM THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER. + +TO W.J.R., WITH A MS. + + A little common weed, a simple shell, + From the waste margent of a classic sea; + A flower that grew where some great empire fell, + Worthless themselves, are rich to Memory. + And thus these lines are precious, for the hand + That penned their music crumbles into mould; + And the hot brain that shaped them now is cold + In its own ashes, like a blackened brand.-- + But where the fiery soul that wove the spell; + Weeping with trailing wings beside his tomb? + Or stretched and tortured on the racks of Hell + Dark-scowling at the ministers of doom?-- + Peace! this is but a dream, there cannot be + More suffering for him in Eternity! + +R.H. STODDARD + + * * * * * + +FROM THE KNICKERBOCKER MAGAZINE. + +THE ACTUAL. + + Away! no more shall shadows entertain; + No more shall fancy paint and dreams delude; + No more shall these illusions of the brain + Divert me with their pleasing interlude; + Forever are ye banished, idle joys; + Welcome, stern labor-life--this is no world for toys! + + Blessed labor-life! victorious only he + Who in its lists doth valiantly contend; + For labor in itself is victory; + Yield never to repose; but let the end + Of Life's great battle be--the end of life: + A glorious immortality shall crown the strife. + +R.B.X. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. +I, No. 6, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY *** + +***** This file should be named 13643.txt or 13643.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/6/4/13643/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, William Flis, the PG Online Distributed +Proofreading Team, and Cornell University + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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