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diff --git a/old/13711.txt b/old/13711.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..adb6102 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13711.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3684 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. +1, No. 7, 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: The International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 7 + Of Literature, Art, and Science, August 12, 1850 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 11, 2004 [EBook #13711] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE 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 12, 1850. No. 7. + + * * * * * + + + + +WOMEN AND LITERATURE IN FRANCE. + +From a sprightly letter from Paris to the _Cologne Gazette_, we +translate for _The International_ the following account of the +position of women in the French Republic, together with the +accompanying gossip concerning sundry ladies whose names have long +been quite prominently before the public: + +"It is curious that the idea of the emancipation of women should have +originated in France, for there is no country in Europe where the +sex have so little reason to complain of their position as in this, +especially at Paris. Leaving out of view a certain paragraph of the +_Code Civile_--and that is nothing but a sentence in a law-book--and +looking closely into the features of women's life, we see that they +are not only queens who reign, but also ministers who govern. + +"In France women are engaged in a large proportion of civil +employments, and may without hesitation devote themselves to art and +science. It is indeed astonishing to behold the interest with which +the beautiful sex here enter upon all branches of art and knowledge. + +"The ateliers of the painters number quite as many female as male +students, and there are apparently more women than men who copy the +pictures in the Louvre. Nothing is more pleasing than to see these +gentle creatures, with their easels, sitting before a colossal Rubens +or a Madonna of Raphael. No difficulty alarms them, and prudery is not +allowed to give a voice in their choice of subjects. + +"I have never yet attended a lecture, by either of the professors +here, but I have found some seats occupied by ladies. Even the +lectures of Michel Chevalier and Blanqui do not keep back the +eagerness of the charming Parisians in pursuit of science. That +Michelet and Edgar Quinet have numerous female disciples is +accordingly not difficult to believe. + +"Go to a public session of the Academy, and you find the '_cercle_' +filled almost exclusively by ladies, and these laurel-crowned heads +have the delight of seeing their immortal works applauded by the +clapping of tenderest hands. In truth, the French savan is uncommonly +clear in the most abstract things; but it would be an interesting +question, whether the necessity of being not alone easily intelligible +but agreeable to the capacity of comprehension possessed by the +unschooled mind of woman, has not largely contributed to the facility +and charm which is peculiar to French scientific literature. Read +for example the discourse on Cabanis, pronounced by Mignet at the +last session. It would be impossible to write more charmingly, more +elegantly, more attractively, even upon a subject within the range +of the fine arts. The works, and especially the historical works, of +the French, are universally diffused. Popular histories, so-called +editions for the people, are here entirely unknown; everything that +is published is in a popular edition, and if as great and various care +were taken for the education of the people as in Germany, France would +in this respect be the first country in the world. + +"With the increasing influence of monarchical ideas in certain +circles, the women seem to be returning to the traditions of monarchy, +and are throwing themselves into the business of making memoirs. +Hardly have George Sand's Confessions been announced, and already new +enterprises in the same line are set on foot. The European dancer, +who is perhaps more famous for making others dance to her music, +and who has enjoyed a monopoly of cultivated scandal, Lola Montes, +also intends to publish her memoirs. They will of course contain +an interesting fragment of German federal politics, and form a +contribution to German revolutionary literature. Lola herself is still +too beautiful to devote her own time to the writing. Accordingly, she +has resorted to the pen of M. Balzac. If Madame Balzac has nothing to +say against the necessary intimacy with the dangerous Spanish or Irish +or whatever woman--for Lola Montes is a second Homer--the reading +world may anticipate an interesting, chapter of life. No writer is +better fitted for such a work than so profound a man of the world, and +so keen a painter of character, as Balzac. + +"The well-known actress, Mlle. Georges, who was in her prime during +the most remarkable epoch of the century, and was in relations +with the most prominent persons of the Empire, is also preparing a +narrative of her richly varied experiences. Perhaps these attractive +examples may induce Madame Girardin also to bestow her memoirs upon +us, and so the process can be repeated infinitely." + + * * * * * + + + + +AUTHORS AND BOOKS. + + * * * * * + +Parke Godwin has just given to the public, through Mr. Putnam, a new +edition of the translation made by himself and some literary friends, +of Goethe's "Autobiography, or Truth and Poetry from My Life." In his +new preface Mr. Godwin exposes one of the most scandalous pieces of +literary imposition that we have ever read of. This translation, with +a few verbal alterations which mar its beauty and lessen its fidelity, +has been reprinted in "Bohn's Standard Library," in London, as an +original English version, in the making of which "the American was of +_occasional use_," &c. Mr. Godwin is one of our best German scholars, +and his discourse last winter on the character and genius of Goethe, +illustrated his thorough appreciation of the Shakspeare of the +Continent, and that affectionate sympathy which is so necessary to +the task of turning an author from one language into another. There +are very few books in modern literature more attractive or more +instructive to educated men than this Autobiography of Goethe, for +which we are indebted to him. + + * * * * * + +John Randolph is the best subject for a biography, that our political +experience has yet furnished. Who that remembers the long and slender +man of iron, with his scarcely human scorn of nearly all things +beyond his "old Dominion," and his withering wit, never restrained +by any pity, and his passion for destroying all fabrics of policy or +reputation of which he was not himself the architect, but will read +with anticipations of keen interest the announcement of a life of +the eccentric yet great Virginian! Such a work, by the Hon. Hugh +A. Garland, is in the press of the Appletons. We know little of Mr. +Garland's capacities in this way, but if his book prove not the most +attractive in the historical literature of the year, the fault will +not be in its subject. + + * * * * * + +The Scottish Booksellers have instituted a society for professional +objects under the title of the "Edinburgh Booksellers' Union." In +addition to business purposes, they propose to collect and preserve +books and pamphlets written by or relating to booksellers, printers, +engravers, or members of collateral professions,--rare editions of +other works--and generally articles connected with parties belonging +to the above professions, whether literary, professional, or personal. + + * * * * * + +D'Israeli abandons himself now-a-days entirely to politics. "The +forehead high, and gleaming eye, and lip awry, of Benjamin D'Israeli," +sung once by _Fraser_ are no longer seen before the title-pages of +"Wondrous Tales," but only before the Speaker. It is much referred to, +that in the recent parliamentary commemoration of Sir Robert Peel, +the Hebrew commoner kept silence; his long war of bitter sarcasm and +reproach on the defunct statesman was too freshly remembered. Peel +rarely exerted himself to more advantage than in his replies, to +D'Israeli, all noticeable for subdued disdain, conscious patriotism, +and argumentative completeness. For injustice experienced through +life, the meritorious dead are in a measure revenged by the +feelings of their accusers or detractors, when the latter retain the +sensibility which the grave usually excites, and especially amid such +a chorus of applause from all parties, and a whole people, as we have +now in England for Sir Robert Peel--the only man in the Empire, except +Wellington, who had a strictly personal authority. + + * * * * * + +Dr. Dickson, recently of the Medical Department of the New York +University, and whose ill-health induced the resignation of the chair +he held there, has returned to Charleston, and we observe that his +professional and other friends in that city greeted him with a public +dinner, on the 9th ult. Dr. Dickson we believe is one of the most +classically elegant writers upon medical science in the United States. +He ranks with Chapman and Oliver Wendell Holmes in the grace of +his periods as well as in the thoroughness of his learning and the +exactness and acuteness of his logic. Like Holmes, too, he is a poet, +and, generally, a very accomplished _litterateur_. We regret the loss +that New York sustains in his removal, but congratulate Charleston +upon the recovery of one of the best known and most loved attractions +of her society. + + * * * * * + +Mr. John R. Bartlett's boundary commission will soon be upon the +field of its activity. We were pleased to see that Mr. Davis, of +Massachusetts, a few days ago presented in the Senate petitions +from Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, and others, and from the American +Academy of Arts and Sciences, at Boston, to the effect that it would +be of great public utility to attach to the boundary commission to +run the line between the United States and Mexico, a small corps of +persons well qualified to make researches in the various departments +of science. + + * * * * * + +William C. Richards, the very clever and accomplished editor of the +_Southern Literary Gazette_ was the author of "Two Country Sonnets," +contributed to a recent number of _The International_, which we +inadvertently credited to his brother, T. Addison Richards the +well-known and much esteemed landscape painter. + + * * * * * + +MAJOR POUSSIN, so well-known for his long residence in this country +as an officer of engineers, and, more recently, as Minister of the +French republic,--which, intelligent men have no need to be assured, +he represented with uniform wisdom and manliness,--is now engaged +at Paris upon a new edition of his important book, _The Power and +Prospects of the United States_. We perceive that he has lately +published in the Republican journal _Le Credit_, a translation of the +American instructions to Mr. Mann, respecting Hungary. In his preface +to this document, Major Poussin pays the warmest compliments to the +feelings, measures and policy of our administration, with which he +contrasts, at the same time, those of the French Government. He +hopes a great deal for the Democratic cause in Europe from the _moral +influences_ of the United States. + + * * * * * + +DR. JOHN W. FRANCIS, one of the most excellent men, as well as one of +the best physicians of New York, has received from Trinity College, +Hartford, the degree of Doctor of Laws. We praise the authorities of +Trinity for this judicious bestowal of its honors. Francis's career +of professional usefulness and variously successful intellectual +activity, are deserving such academical recognition. His genial love +of learning, large intelligence, ready appreciation of individual +merit, and that genuine love of country which has led him to the +carefullest and most comprehensive study of our general and particular +annals, and to the frequentest displays of the sources of its enduring +grandeur, constitute in him a character eminently entitled to our +affectionate admiration. + + * * * * * + +THE POEMS OF GRAY, in an edition of singular typographical and +pictorial beauty, are to be issued as one of the autumn gift-books +by Henry C. Baird, of Philadelphia. They are to be edited by the +tasteful and judicious critic, Professor Henry Reed, of the University +of Pennsylvania, to whom we were indebted for the best edition of +Wordsworth that appeared during the life of that poet. We have looked +over Professor Reed's life of Gray, and have seen proofs of the +admirable engravings with which the work will be embellished. It will +be dedicated to our American Moxon, JAMES T. FIELDS, as a souvenir. +we presume, of a visit to the grave of the bard, which the two young +booksellers made together during a recent tour in Europe. Mr. Baird +and Mr. Fields are of the small company of publishers, who, if it +please them, can write their own books. They have both given pleasant +evidence of abilities in this way. + + * * * * * + +BURNS.--It appears from the Scotch papers that the house in +Burns-street, Dumfries, in which the bard of "Tam o'Shanter" and his +wife "bonnie Jean," lived and died, is about to come into the market +by way of public auction. + + * * * * * + +"EUROPE, PAST AND PRESENT:" A comprehensive manual of European +Geography and History, derived from official and authentic sources, +and comprising not only an accurate geographical and statistical +description, but also a faithful and interesting history of all +European States; to which is appended a copious and carefully arranged +index, by Francis H. Ungewitter, LL.D.,--is a volume of some six +hundred pages, just published by Mr. Putnam. It has been prepared +with much well-directed labor, and will be found a valuable and +comprehensive manual of reference upon all questions relating to the +history, geographical position, and general statistics of the several +States of Europe. + + * * * * * + +M. LIBRI, of whose conviction at Paris (_par contumace_, that is, +in default of appearance), of stealing books from public libraries, +we have given some account in _The International_, is warmly and it +appears to us successfully defended in the Athenaeum, in which it is +alleged that there was not a particle of legal evidence against him. +M. Libri is, and was at the time of the appearance of the accusation +against him, a political exile in England. + + * * * * * + +MAJOR RAWLINSON, F.R.S., has published a "Commentary on the Cuneiform +Inscriptions of Babylon and Assyria," including readings of the +inscriptions on the Nimroud Obelisk, discovered by Mr. Layard, and a +brief notice of the ancient kings of Nineveh and Babylon. It was read +before the Royal Asiatic Society. + + * * * * * + +REV. DR. WISEMAN, author of the admirable work on the Connection +between Science and Religion, is to proceed to Rome toward the close +of the present month to receive the hat of a cardinal. It is many +years since any English Roman Catholic, resident in England, attained +this honor. + + * * * * * + +THE OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY has published several interesting volumes, +of which the most important are those of Judge Burnett. An address, by +William D. Gallagher, its President, on the History and Resources of +the West and Northwest, has just been issued: and it has nearly ready +for publication a volume of Mr. Hildreth. + + * * * * * + +THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY AT VIENNA has been enriched by a very old Greek +manuscript on the Advent of Christ, composed by a bishop of the second +century, named Clement. This manuscript was discovered a short time +since by M. Waldeck, the philologist, at Constantinople. + + * * * * * + +MR. KEIGHTLEY's "History of Greece" has been translated into modern +Greek and published at Athens. + + * * * * * + +GUIZOT's book on Democracy, has been prohibited in Austria, through +General Haynau's influence. + + * * * * * + +WORDSWORTH'S POSTHUMOUS POEM, "The Prelude," is in the press of the +Appletons, by whose courtesy we are enabled to present the readers +of _The International_ with the fourth canto of it, before its +publication in England. The poem is a sort of autobiography in blank +verse, marked by all the characteristics of the poet--his original +vein of thought; his majestic, but sometimes diffuse, style of +speculation; his large sympathies with humanity, from its proudest +to its humblest forms. It will be read with great avidity by his +admirers--and there are few at this day who do not belong to that +class--as affording them a deeper insight into the mind of Wordsworth +than any of his other works. It is divided into several books, named +from the different situations or stages of the author's life, or the +subjects which at any period particularly engaged his attention. We +believe it will be more generally read than any poem of equal length +that has issued from the press in this age. + + * * * * * + +Miss COOPER's "RURAL HOURS"[1] is everywhere commended as one of +the most charming pictures that have ever appeared of country life. +The books of the Howitts, delineating the same class of subjects +in England and Germany, are not to be compared to Miss Cooper's for +delicate painting or grace and correctness of diction. The Evening +Post observes: + + "This is one of the most delightful books we have lately + taken up. It is a journal of daily observations made by an + intelligent and highly educated lady, residing in a most + beautiful part of the country, commencing with the spring of + 1848, and closing with the end of the winter of 1849. They + almost wholly concern the occupations and objects of country + life, and it is almost enough to make one in love with such a + life to read its history so charmingly narrated. Every day has + its little record in this volume,--the record of some rural + employment, some note on the climate, some observation + in natural history, or occasionally some trait of rural + manners. The arrival and departure of the birds of passage + is chronicled, the different stages of vegetation are noted, + atmospheric changes and phenomena are described, and the + various living inhabitants of the field and forest are made + to furnish matter of entertainment for the reader. All this + is done with great variety and exactness of knowledge, and + without any parade of science. Descriptions of rural holidays + and rural amusements are thrown in occasionally, to give a + living interest to a picture which would otherwise become + monotonous from its uniform quiet. The work is written in + easy and flexible English, with occasional felicities of + expression. It is ascribed, as we believe we have informed our + readers, to a daughter of J. Fenimore Cooper. Our country is + full of most interesting materials for a work of this sort; + but we confess we hardly expected, at the present time, to see + them collected and arranged by so skillful a hand." + +[Footnote 1: RURAL HOURS: by a Lady, George P. Putnam, 155 Broadway. +1850.] + + * * * * * + +THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH's "Sketches of Modern Philosophy," remarks the +Tribune, "consist of a course of popular lectures on the subject, +delivered in the Royal Institution of London in the years 1804-5-6. +As a contribution to the science of which they profess to treat, their +claims to respect are very moderate. Indeed, no one would ridicule any +pretensions of that kind with more zeal than the author himself. The +manuscripts were left in an imperfect state, Sydney Smith probably +supposing that no call would ever be made for their publication. +They were written merely for popular effect, to be spoken before +a miscellaneous audience, in which any abstract topics of moral +philosophy would be the last to awaken an interest. The title of +the book is accordingly a misnomer. It would lead no one to suspect +the rich and diversified character of its contents. They present no +ambitious attempts at metaphysical disquisition. They are free from +dry technicalities of ethical speculation. They have no specimens of +logical hair-splitting, no pedantic array of barren definitions, no +subtle distinctions proceeding from an ingenious fancy, and without +any foundation in nature. On the contrary, we find in this volume a +series of lively, off-hand, dashing comments on men and manners, often +running into broad humor, and always marked with the pungent common +sense that never forsook the facetious divine. His remarks on the +conduct of the understanding, on literary habits, on the use and value +of books, and other themes of a similar character, are for the most +part instructive and practical as well as piquant, and on the whole, +the admirers of Sydney Smith will have no reason to regret the +publication of the volume." + + * * * * * + +[FROM THE LONDON TIMES.] + +BIOGRAPHY OF SIR ROBERT PEEL. + +In the following brief narrative of the principal facts in the life of +the great statesman who has just been snatched from among us, we must +disclaim all intention of dealing with his biography in any searching +or ambitious spirit. The national loss is so great, the bereavement +is so sudden, that we cannot sit down calmly either to eulogize or +arraign the memory of the deceased. We cannot forget that it was not +a week ago we were occupied in recording and commenting upon his last +eloquent address to that assembly which had so often listened with +breathless attention to his statesmanlike expositions of policy. We +could do little else when the mournful intelligence reached us that +Sir Robert Peel was no more, than pen a few expressions of sorrow +and respect. Even now the following imperfect record of facts must +be accepted as a poor substitute for the biography of that great +Englishman whose loss will be felt almost as a private bereavement by +every family throughout the British Empire:-- + +Sir Robert Peel was in the 63d year of his age, having been born near +Bury, in Lancashire, on the 5th of February, 1788. His father was a +manufacturer on a grand scale, and a man of much natural ability, and +of almost unequaled opulence. Full of a desire to render his son and +probable successor worthy of the influence and the vast wealth which +he had to bestow, the first Sir Robert Peel took the utmost pains +personally with the early training of the future prime minister. He +retained his son under his own immediate superintendence until he +arrived at a sufficient age to be sent to Harrow. Lord Byron, his +contemporary at Harrow, was a better declaimer and a more amusing +actor, but in sound learning and laborious application to school +duties young Peel had no equal. He had scarcely completed his 16th +year when he left Harrow and became a gentleman commoner of Christ +Church, Oxford, where he took the degree of A.B., in 1808, with +unprecedented distinction. + +The year 1809 saw him attain his majority, and take his seat in the +House of Commons as a member for Cashel, in Tipperary. + +The first Sir Robert Peel had long been a member of the House of +Commons, and the early efforts of his son in that assembly were +regarded with considerable interest, not only on account of his +University reputation, but also because he was the son of such a +father. He did not, however, begin public life by staking his fame on +the results of one elaborate oration; on the contrary, he rose now and +then on comparatively unimportant occasions; made a few brief modest +remarks, stated a fact or two, explained a difficulty when he happened +to understand the matter in hand better than others, and then sat down +without taxing too severely the patience or good nature of an auditory +accustomed to great performances. Still in the second year of his +parliamentary course he ventured to make a set speech, when, at the +commencement of the session of 1810, he seconded the address in +reply to the King's speech. Thenceforward for nineteen years a more +highflying Tory than Mr. Peel was not to be found within the walls of +parliament. Lord Eldon applauded him as a young and valiant champion +of those abuses in the state which were then fondly called "the +institutions of the country." Lord Sidmouth regarded him as the +rightful political heir, and even the Duke of Cumberland patronized +Mr. Peel. He further became the favorite _eleve_ of Mr. Perceval, the +first lord of the treasury, and entered office as under-secretary +for the home department. He continued in the home department for two +years, not often speaking in parliament, but rather qualifying himself +for those prodigious labors in debate, in council, and in office, +which it has since been his lot to encounter and perform. + +In May, 1812, Mr. Perceval fell by the hand of an assassin, and the +composition of the ministry necessarily underwent a great change. The +result, so far as Mr. Peel was concerned, was, that he was appointed +Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Mr. Peel had only +reached his 26th year when, in the month of September, 1812, the +duties of that anxious and laborious position were entrusted to his +hands. The legislative union was then but lately consummated, and the +demand for Catholic emancipation had given rise to an agitation of +only very recent date. But, in proportion to its novelty, so was its +vigor. Mr. Peel was, therefore, as the representative of the old tory +Protestant school, called upon to encounter a storm of unpopularity, +such as not even an Irish secretary has ever been exposed to. The +late Mr. O'Connell in various forms poured upon Mr. Peel a torrent +of invective which went beyond even his extraordinary performances +in the science of scolding. At length he received from Mr. Peel a +hostile message. Negotiations went on for three or four days, when +Mr. O'Connell was taken into custody and bound over to keep the peace +toward all his fellow-subjects in Ireland. Mr. Peel and his friend +immediately went to England, and subsequently proceeded to the +continent. Mr. O'Connell followed them to London, but the police were +active enough to bring him before the chief justice, when he entered +into recognizances to keep the peace toward all his majesty's +subjects; and so ended one of the few personal squabbles in which Mr. +Peel had ever been engaged. For six years he held the office of chief +secretary to the lord-lieutenant, at a time when the government was +conducted upon what might be called "anti-conciliation principles." +The opposite course was commenced by Mr. Peel's immediate successor, +Mr. Charles Grant, now Lord Glenelg. + +That a chief secretary so circumstanced, struggling to sustain extreme +Orangeism in its dying agonies, should have been called upon to +encounter great toil and anxiety is a truth too obvious to need +illustration. That in these straits Mr. Peel acquitted himself with +infinite address was as readily acknowledged at that time as it has +ever been even in the zenith of his fame. He held office in that +country under three successive viceroys, the Duke of Richmond, Earl +Whitworth, and Earl Talbot, all of whom have long since passed away +from this life, their names and their deeds long forgotten. But the +history of their chief secretary happens not to have been composed +of such perishable materials, and we now approach one of the most +memorable passages of his eventful career. He was chairman of the +great bullion committee; but before he engaged in that stupendous task +he had resigned the chief secretaryship of Ireland. As a consequence +of the report of that committee, he took charge of and introduced the +bill for authorizing a return to cash payments which bears his name, +and which measure received the sanction of parliament in the year +1819. That measure brought upon Mr. Peel no slight or temporary odium. +The first Sir Robert Peel was then alive, and altogether differed from +his son as to the tendency of his measure. It was roundly asserted at +the time, and very faintly denied, that it rendered that gentleman a +more wealthy man, by something like half a million sterling, than he +had previously been. The deceased statesman, however, must, in common +justice, be acquitted of any sinister purpose. + +This narrative now reaches the year 1820, when we have to relate the +only domestic event in the history of Sir Robert Peel which requires +notice. On the 8th of June, being then in the 33d year of his age, +he married Julia, daughter of General Sir John Floyd, who had then +attained the age of 25. + +Two years afterward there was a lull in public affairs, which gave +somewhat the appearance of tranquillity. Lord Sidmouth was growing +old, he thought that his system was successful, and that at length he +might find repose. He considered it then consistent with his public +duty to consign to younger and stronger hands the seals of the home +department. He accepted a seat in the cabinet without office, and +continued to give his support to Lord Liverpool, his ancient political +chief. In permitting his mantle to fall upon Mr. Peel, he thought he +was assisting to invest with authority one whose views and policy were +as narrow as his own, and whose practise in carrying them out would +be not less rigid and uncompromising. But, like many others, he lived +long enough to be grievously disappointed by the subsequent career of +him whom the liberal party have since called "the great minister of +progress," and whom their opponents have not scrupled to designate +by appellations not to be repeated in these hours of sorrow and +bereavement. On the 17th of January, 1822, Mr. Peel was installed at +the head of the home department, where he remained undisturbed till +the political demise of Lord Liverpool in the spring of 1827. The most +distinguished man that has filled the chair of the House of Commons +in the present century was Charles Abbott, afterward Lord Colchester. +In the summer of 1817 he had completed sixteen years of hard service +in that eminent office, and he had represented the University for +eleven years. His valuable labors having been rewarded with a pension +and a peerage, he took his seat, full of years and honors, among +the hereditary legislators of the land, and left a vacancy in the +representation of his _alma mater_, which Mr. Peel above all living +men was deemed the most fitting person to occupy. At that time he was +an intense tory--or as the Irish called him, an Orange Protestant +of the deepest dye--one prepared to make any sacrifice for the +maintenance of church and state as established by the revolution of +1688. Who, therefore, so fit as he to represent the loyalty, learning, +and orthodoxy of Oxford? To have done so had been the object of Mr. +Canning's young ambition: but in 1817 he could not be so ungrateful to +Liverpool as to reject its representation even for the early object +of his parliamentary affections. Mr. Peel, therefore, was returned +without opposition, for that constituency which many consider the most +important in the land--with which he remained on the best possible +terms for twelve years. The question of the repeal of the penal +laws affecting the Roman Catholics, which severed so many political +connections, was, however, destined to separate Mr. Peel from Oxford. +In 1828 rumors of the coming change were rife, and many expedients +were devised to extract his opinions on the Catholic question. But +with the reserve which ever marked his character, left all curiosity +at fault. At last, the necessities of the government rendered further +concealment impossible, and out came the truth that he was no longer +an Orangeman. The ardent friends who had frequently supported +his Oxford elections, and the hot partisans who shouted "Peel and +Protestantism," at the Brunswick Clubs, reviled him for his defection +in no measured terms. On the 4th of February, 1829, he addressed a +letter to the vice-chancellor of Oxford, stating, in many well-turned +phrases, that the Catholic question must forthwith be adjusted, under +advice in which he concurred; and that, therefore, he considered +himself bound to resign that trust which the University had during so +many years confided to his hands. His resignation was accepted; but as +the avowed purpose of that important step was to give his constituents +an opportunity of pronouncing an opinion upon a change of policy, +he merely accepted the Chiltern Hundreds with the intention of +immediately becoming a candidate for that seat in parliament which he +had just vacated. At this election Mr. Peel was opposed by Sir Robert +Inglis, who was elected by 755 to 609. Mr. Peel was, therefore, +obliged to cast himself on the favor of Sir Manasseh Lopez, who +returned him for Westbury, in Wiltshire, which constituency he +continued to represent two years, until at the general election in +1830 he was chosen for Tamworth, in the representation for which he +continued for twenty years. + +The main features of his official life still remain to be noticed. +With the exception of Lord Palmerston, no statesman of modern times +has spent so many years in the civil service of the crown. If no +account be taken of the short time he was engaged upon the bullion +committee in effecting the change in the currency, and in opposing for +a few months the ministries of Mr. Canning and Lord Goderich, it may +be stated that from 1810 to 1830 he formed part of the government, and +presided over it as a first minister in 1834-5, as well as from 1841 +to 1846 inclusive. During the time that he held the office of home +secretary under Lord Liverpool he effected many important changes +in the administration of domestic affairs, and many legislative +improvements of a practical and comprehensive character. But his fame +as member of parliament was principally sustained at this period of +his life by the extensive and admirable alterations which he effected +in the criminal law. Romilly and Mackintosh had preceded him in the +great work of reforming and humanizing the code of England. For his +hand, however, was reserved the introduction of ameliorations which +they had long toiled and struggled for in vain. The ministry through +whose influence he was enabled to carry these reforms lost its chief +in Lord Liverpool during the early part of the year 1827. When Mr. +Canning undertook to form a government, Mr. Peel, the late Lord Eldon, +the Duke of Wellington, and other eminent tories of that day, threw up +office, and are said to have persecuted Mr. Canning with a degree of +rancor far outstripping the legitimate bounds of political hostility. +Lord George Bentinck said "they hounded to the death my illustrious +relative"; and the ardor of his subsequent opposition to Sir Robert +Peel evidently derived its intensity from a long cherished sense of +the injuries supposed to have been inflicted upon Mr. Canning. It +is the opinion of men not ill informed respecting the sentiments of +Canning, that he considered Peel as his true political successor--as a +statesman competent to the task of working out that large and liberal +policy which he fondly hoped the tories might, however tardily, +be induced to sanction. At all events, he is believed not to have +entertained toward Mr. Peel any personal hostility, and to have stated +during his short-lived tenure of office that that gentleman was the +only member of his party who had not treated him with ingratitude and +unkindness. + +In January, 1828, the Wellington ministry took office and held it till +November, 1830. Mr. Peel's reputation suffered during this period +very rude shocks. He gave up, as already stated, his anti-Catholic +principles, lost the force of twenty years' consistency, and under +unheard-of disadvantages introduced the very measure he had spent so +many years in opposing. The debates on Catholic emancipation, which +preceded the great reform question, constitute a period in his life, +which, twenty years ago, every one would have considered its chief +and prominent feature. There can be no doubt that the course he then +adopted demanded greater moral courage than at any previous period +of his life he had been called upon to exercise. He believed himself +incontestibly in the right; he believed, with the Duke of Wellington, +that the danger of civil war was imminent, and that such an event +was immeasurably a greater evil than surrendering the constitution +of 1688. But he was called upon to snap asunder a parliamentary +connection of twelve years with a great university, in which the most +interesting period of his youth had been passed; to encounter the +reproaches of adherents whom he had often led in well-fought contests +against the advocates of what was termed "civil and religious +liberty;" to tell the world that the character of public men for +consistency, however precious, is not to be directly opposed to +the common weal; and to communicate to many the novel as well as +unpalatable truth that what they deemed "principle" must give way to +what he called "expediency." + +When he ceased to be a minister of the crown, that general movement +throughout Europe which succeeded the deposition of the elder branch +of the Bourbons rendered parliamentary reform as unavoidable as two +years previously Catholic emancipation had been. He opposed this +change, no doubt with increased knowledge and matured talents, but +with impaired influence and few parliamentary followers. The history +of the reform debates will show that Sir Robert Peel made many +admirable speeches, which served to raise his reputation, but never +for a moment turned the tide of fortune against his adversaries, and +in the first session of the first reformed parliament he found himself +at the head of a party that in numbers little exceeded one hundred. As +soon as it was practicable he rallied his broken forces; either he or +some of his political friends gave them the name of "Conservatives," +and it required but a short interval of reflection and observation +to prove to his sagacious intellect that the period of reaction was +at hand. Every engine of party organization was put into vigorous +activity, and before the summer of 1834 reached its close he was at +the head of a compact, powerful, and well-disciplined opposition. Such +a high impression of their vigor and efficiency had King William IV +received, that when, in November, Lord Althorp became a peer, and the +whigs therefore lost their leader to the House of Commons, his Majesty +sent in Italy to summon Sir Robert Peel to his councils, with a view +to the immediate formation of a conservative ministry. He accepted +this responsibility, though he thought the King had mistaken the +condition of the country and the chances of success which had awaited +his political friends. A new House of Commons was instantly called, +and for nearly three months Sir Robert Peel maintained a struggle +against the most formidable opposition that for nearly a century any +minister had been called to encounter. At no time did his command of +temper, his almost exhaustless resources of information, his vigorous +and comprehensive intellect appear to create such astonishment or draw +forth such unbounded admiration as in the early part of 1835. But, +after a well-fought contest he retired once more into the opposition +till the close of the second Melbourne Administration in 1841. It +was in April, 1835, that Lord Melbourne was restored to power, but +the continued enjoyment of office did not much promote the political +interests of his party, and from various causes the power of the +whigs began to decline. The commencement of a new reign gave them some +popularity, but in the new House of Commons, elected in consequence +of that event, the conservative party were evidently gaining strength; +still, after the failure of 1834-5, it was no easy task to dislodge an +existing ministry, and at the same time to be prepared with a cabinet +and a party competent to succeed them. Sir Robert Peel, therefore, +with characteristic caution, "bided his time", conducting the business +of opposition throughout the whole of this period with an ability and +success of which history affords few examples. He had accepted the +Reform Bill as the established law of England, and as the system upon +which the country was thenceforward to be governed. He was willing +to carry it out in its true spirit, but he would proceed no further. +He marshaled his opposition upon the principle of resistance to any +further organic changes, and he enlisted the majority of the peers +and nearly the whole of the country gentlemen of England in support +of the great principle of protection to British industry. The little +maneuvres and small political intrigues of the period are almost +forgotten, and the remembrance of them is scarcely worthy of revival. +It may, however, be mentioned, that in 1839 ministers, being left in +a minority, resigned, and Sir Robert Peel, when sent for by the Queen, +demanded that certain ladies in the household of her majesty,--the +near relatives of eminent whig politicians,--should be removed +from the personal service of the sovereign. As this was refused, +he abandoned for the time any attempt to form a government, and his +opponents remained in office till September, 1841. It was then Sir +Robert Peel became the first lord of the treasury, and the Duke of +Wellington, without office, accepted a seat in the cabinet, taking +the management of the House of Lords. His ministry was formed on +protectionist principles, but the close of its career was marked by +the adoption of free trade doctrines differing in the widest and most +liberal sense. Sir Robert Peel's sense of public duty impelled him +once more to incur the odium and obliquy which attended a fundamental +change of policy, and a repudiation of the political partizans +by whose ardent support a minister may have attained office and +authority. It was his fate to encounter more than any man ever did, +that hostility which such conduct, however necessary, never fails +to produce. This great change in our commercial policy, however +unavoidable, must be regarded as the proximate cause of his final +expulsion from office in July, 1846. His administration, however, had +been signalized by several measures of great political importance. +Among the earliest and most prominent of these were his financial +plans, the striking feature of which was an income-tax; greatly +extolled for the exemption it afforded from other burdens pressing +more severely on industry, but loudly condemned for its irregular and +unequal operation, a vice which has since rendered its contemplated +increase impossible. + +Of the ministerial life of Sir Robert Peel little more remains to be +related except that which properly belongs rather to the history of +the country than to his individual biography. But it would be unjust +to the memory of one of the most sagacious statesman that England ever +produced to deny that his latest renunciation of political principles +required but two short years to attest the vital necessity of that +unqualified surrender. If the corn laws had been in existence at the +period when the political system of the continent was shaken to its +centre and dynasties crumbled into dust, a question would have been +left in the hands of the democratic party of England, the force of +which neither skill nor influence could then have evaded. Instead +of broken friendships, shattered reputations for consistency, or +diminished rents, the whole realm of England might have borne a +fearful share in that storm of wreck and revolution which had its +crisis in the 10th of April, 1848. + +In the course of his long and eventful life many honors were conferred +upon Sir Robert Peel. Wherever he went, and almost at all times, +he attracted universal attention, and was always received with the +highest consideration. At the close of 1836 the University of Glasgow +elected him Lord Rector, and the conservatives of that city, in +January, 1837, invited him to a banquet at which three thousand +gentlemen assembled to do honor to their great political chief. But +this was only one among many occasions on which he was "the great +guest." Perhaps the most remarkable of these banquets was that given +to him in 1835 at Merchant Tailors' Hall by three hundred members of +the House of Commons. Many other circumstances might be related to +illustrate the high position which Sir Robert Peel occupied. Anecdotes +innumerable might be recorded to show the extraordinary influence in +Parliament which made him "the great commoner" of the age; for Sir +Robert Peel was not only a skillful and adroit debater, but by many +degrees the most able and one of the most eloquent men in either house +of parliament. Nothing could be more stately or imposing than the +long array of sounding periods in which he expounded his doctrines, +assailed his political adversaries, or vindicated his own policy. But +when the whole land laments his loss, when England mourns the untimely +fate of one of her noblest sons, the task of critical disquisition +upon literary attainments or public oratory possesses little +attraction. It may be left for calmer moments, and a more distant +time, to investigate with unforgiving justice the sources of his +errors, or to estimate the precise value of services which the +public is now disposed to regard with no other feelings than those of +unmingled gratitude. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +FROM THE ART-JOURNAL. + +MEMORIES OF MISS JANE PORTER. + +BY MRS. S.C. HALL. + +The frequent observation of foreigners is, that in England we have +few "celebrated women." Perhaps they mean that we have few who are +"notorious;" but let us admit that in either case they are right; and +may we not express our belief in its being better for women and for +the community that such is the case. "Celebrity" rarely adds to the +happiness of a woman, and almost as rarely increases her usefulness. +The time and attention required to attain "celebrity," must, except +under very peculiar circumstances, interfere with the faithful +discharge of those feminine duties upon which the well-doing of +society depends, and which shed so pure a halo around our English +homes. Within these "homes" our heroes, statesmen, philosophers, men +of letters, men of genius, receive their first impressions, and the +_impetus_ to a faithful discharge of their after callings as Christian +subjects of the State. + +There are few of such men who do not trace back their resolution, +their patriotism, their wisdom, their learning--the nourishment of +all their higher aspirations--to a wise, hopeful, loving-hearted +and faith-inspired Mother; one who believed in a son's destiny to be +great; it may be, impelled to such belief rather by instinct than by +reason: who cherished (we can find no better word) the "Hero-feeling" +of devotion to what was right; though it might have been unworldly; +and whose deep heart welled up perpetual love and patience toward the +overboiling faults and frequent stumblings of a hot youth, which she +felt would mellow into a fruitful manhood. + +The strength and glory of England are in the keeping of the wives +and mothers of its men; and when we are questioned touching our +"celebrated women", we may in general terms refer to those who have +watched over, moulded, and inspired our "celebrated men". + +Happy is the country where the laws of God and Nature are held in +reverence--where each sex fulfills its peculiar duties, and renders +its sphere a sanctuary! And surely such harmony is blessed by the +Almighty--for while other nations writhe in anarchy and poverty, our +own spreads wide her arms to receive all who seek protection or need +repose. + +But if we have few "celebrated" women, few who, impelled either by +circumstances or the irrepressible restlessness of genius, go forth +amid the pitfalls of publicity, and battle with the world, either as +poets, or dramatists, or moralists, or mere tale-tellers in simple +prose--or, more dangerous still, "hold the mirror up to nature" on +the stage that mimics life--if we have but few, we have, and have +had _some_, of whom we are justly proud; women of such well-balanced +minds, that toil they ever so laboriously in their public and perilous +paths, their domestic and social duties have been fulfilled with as +diligent and faithful love as though the world had never been purified +and enriched by the treasures of their feminine wisdom; yet this +does not shake our belief, that despite the spotless and well-earned +reputations they enjoyed, the homage they received, (and it has its +charm,) and even the blessed consciousness of having contributed to +the healthful recreation, the improved morality, the diffusion of the +best sort of knowledge--the _woman_ would have been happier had she +continued enshrined in the privacy of domestic love and domestic duty. +She may not think this at the commencement of her career; and at its +termination, if she has lived sufficiently long to have descended, +even gracefully, from her pedestal, she may often recall the homage of +the _past_ to make up for its lack in the _present_. But so perfectly +is woman constituted for the cares, the affections, the duties--the +blessed duties of un-public life--that if she give nature way it will +whisper to her a text, that "celebrity never added to the happiness of +a true woman". She must look for her happiness to HOME. We would have +young women ponder over this, and watch carefully, ere the veil is +lifted, and the hard cruel eye of public criticism fixed upon them. +No profession is pastime; still less so now than ever, when so many +people are "clever", though so few are great. We would pray those +especially who direct their thoughts to literature, to think of what +they have to say, and why they wish to say it; and above all, to weigh +what they may expect from a capricious public, against the blessed +shelter and pure harmonies of private life. + +But we have had some--and still have some--"celebrated" women, of whom +we have said "we may be justly proud". We have done pilgrimage to the +shrine of Lady Rachel Russell, who was so thoroughly "domestic", that +the Corinthian beauty of her character would never have been matter +of history, but for the wickedness of a bad king. We have recorded +the hours spent with Hannah More; the happy days passed with, and the +years invigorated by, the advice and influence of Maria Edgworth. We +might recall the stern and faithful puritanism of Maria Jane Jewsbury, +and the Old World devotion of the true and high-souled daughter of +Israel--Grace Aguilar. The mellow tones of Felicia Hemans' poetry +lingers still among all who appreciate the holy sympathies of religion +and virtue. We could dwell long and profitably on the enduring +patience and lifelong labor of Barbara Hofland, and steep a diamond in +tears to record the memories of L.E.L. We could,--alas! alas! barely +five and twenty years' acquaintance with literature and its ornaments, +and the brilliant catalogue is but a _Memento Mori_. Perhaps of all +this list, Maria Edgworth's life was the happiest: simply because she +was the most retired, the least exposed to the gaze and observation of +the world, the most occupied by loving duties toward the most united +circle of old and young we ever saw assembled in one happy home. + +The very young have never, perhaps, read one of the tales of a lady +whose reputation as a novelist was in its zenith when Walter Scott +published his first novel. We desire to place a chaplet upon the grave +of a woman once "celebrated" all over the known world, yet who drew +all her happiness from the lovingness of home and friends, while her +life was as pure as her renown was extensive. + +In our own childhood romance-reading was prohibited, but earnest +entreaty procured an exception in favor of the "Scottish Chiefs". It +was the bright summer, and we read it by moonlight, only disturbed +by the murmur of the distant ocean. We read it, crouched in the deep +recess of the nursery-window; we read it until moonlight and morning +met, and the breakfast-bell ringing out into the soft air from the +old gable, found us at the end of the fourth volume. Dear old times! +when it would have been deemed little less than sacrilege to crush a +respectable romance into a shilling volume, and our mammas considered +_only_ a five-volume story curtailed of its just proportions. + +Sir William Wallace has never lost his heroic ascendancy over us, +and we have steadily resisted every temptation to open the "popular +edition" of the long-loved romance, lest what people will call "the +improved state of the human mind", might displace the sweet memory of +the mingled admiration and indignation that chased each other, while +we read and wept, without ever questioning the truth of the absorbing +narrative. + +Yet the "Scottish Chiefs" scarcely achieved the popularity of +"Thaddeus of Warsaw"--the first romance originated by the active +brain and singularly constructive power of Jane Porter--produced at an +almost girlish age. + +The hero of "Thaddeus of Warsaw" was really Kosciuszko, the beloved +pupil of George Washington, the grandest and purest patriot the modern +world has known. The enthusiastic girl was moved to its composition by +the stirring times in which she lived, and a personal observation +of and acquaintance with some of those brave men whose struggles for +liberty only ceased with their exile or their existence. + +Miss Porter placed her standard of excellence on high ground, and--all +gentle-spirited as was her nature--it was firm and unflinching toward +what she believed the right and true. We must not therefore judge +her by the depressed state of "feeling" in these times, when its +demonstration is looked upon as artificial or affected. Toward the +termination of the last, and the commencement of the present century, +the world was roused into an interest and enthusiasm, which now we +can scarcely appreciate or account for; the sympathies of England were +awakened by the terrible revolutions of France and the desolation of +Poland; as a principle, we hated Napoleon, though he had neither act +nor part in the doings of the democrats; and the sea-songs of Dibdin, +which our youth _now_ would call uncouth and ungraceful rhymes, were +key-notes to public feeling; the English of that time were thoroughly +"awake"--the British Lion had not slumbered through a thirty years' +peace. We were a nation of soldiers, and sailors, and patriots; +not of mingled cotton-spinners, and railway speculators, and angry +protectionists. We do not say which state of things is best or worst, +we desire merely to account for what may be called the taste for +_heroic_ literature at that time, and the taste for--we really hardly +know what to call it--literature of the present, made up, as it +too generally is, of shreds and patches--bits of gold and bits of +tinsel--things written in a hurry, to be read in a hurry, and never +thought of afterward--suggestive rather than reflective, at the best: +and we must plead guilty to a too great proneness to underrate what +our fathers probably overrated. + +At all events we must bear in mind, while reading or thinking over +Miss Porter's novels, that in her day, even the exaggeration +of enthusiasm was considered good tone and good taste. How this +enthusiasm was _fostered_, not subdued, can be gathered by the +author's ingenious preface to the, we believe, tenth edition of +"Thaddeus of Warsaw." + +[Illustration] + +This story brought her abundant honors, and rendered her society, +as well as the society of her sister and brother, sought for by all +who aimed at a reputation for taste and talent. Mrs. Porter, on her +husband's death, (he was the younger son of a well-connected Irish +family, born in Ireland, in or near Coleraine, we believe, and a major +in the Enniskillen Dragoons,) sought a residence for her family in +Edinburgh, where education and good society are attainable to persons +of moderate fortunes, if they are "well-born;" but the extraordinary +artistic skill of her son Robert required a wider field, and she +brought her children to London sooner than she had intended, that his +promising talents might be cultivated. We believe the greater part +of "Thaddeus of Warsaw" was written in London, either in St. Martin's +Lane, Newport Street, or Gerard Street, Soho, (for in these three +streets the family lived after their arrival in the metropolis); +though, as soon as Robert Ker Porter's abilities floated him on the +stream, his mother and sisters retired, in the brightness of their +fame and beauty, to the village of Thames Ditton, a residence they +loved to speak of as their "home." The actual labor of "Thaddeus"--her +first novel--must have been considerable: for testimony was frequently +borne to the fidelity of its localities, and Poles refused to believe +the author had not visited Poland; indeed, she had a happy power in +describing localities. It was on the publication of Miss Porter's two +first works in the German language that their author was honored by +being made a Lady of the Chapter of St. Joachim, and received the +gold cross of the order from Wurtemberg; but "The Scottish Chiefs" was +never so popular on the Continent as "Thaddeus of Warsaw", although +Napoleon honored it with an interdict, to prevent its circulation in +France. If Jane Porter owed her Polish inspirations so peculiarly +to the tone of the times in which she lived, she traces back, in +her introduction to the latest edition of "The Scottish Chiefs." her +enthusiasm in the cause of Sir William Wallace to the influence an +old "Scotch wife's" tales and ballads produced upon her mind while in +early childhood. She wandered amid what she describes as "beautiful +green banks," which rose in natural terraces behind her mothers house, +and where a cow and a few sheep occasionally fed. This house stood +alone, at the head of a little square, near the high school; the +distinguished Lord Elchies formerly lived in the house, which was very +ancient, and from those green banks it commanded a fine view of the +Firth of Forth. While gathering "_gowans_" or other wild-flowers for +her infant sister, (whom she loved more dearly than her life, during +the years they lived in most tender and affectionate companionship), +she frequently encountered this aged woman, with her knitting in her +hand; and she would speak to the eager and intelligent child of the +blessed quiet of the land, where the cattle were browsing without fear +of an enemy; and then she would talk of the awful times of the brave +Sir William Wallace, when he fought for Scotland, "against a cruel +tyrant; like unto them whom Abraham overcame when he recovered Lot, +with all his herds and flocks, from the proud foray of the robber +kings of the South," who, she never failed to add, "were all rightly +punished for oppressing the stranger in a foreign land! for the Lord +careth for the stranger." Miss Porter says that this woman never +omitted mingling pious allusions with her narrative. "Yet she was a +person of low degree, dressed in a coarse woollen gown, and a plain +_Mutch_ cap, clasped under the chin with a silver brooch, which her +father had worn at the battle of Culloden." Of course she filled with +tales of Sir William Wallace and the Bruce the listening ears of the +lovely Saxon child, who treasured them in her heart and brain, until +they fructified in after years into "The Scottish Chiefs." To these +two were added "The Pastor's Fireside," and a number of other tales +and romances. She contributed to several annuals and magazines, and +always took pains to keep up the reputation she had won, achieving +a large share of the popularity, to which, as an author, she never +looked for happiness. No one could be more alive to praise or more +grateful for attention, but the heart of a genuine, pure, loving +woman, beat within Jane Porter's bosom, and she was never drawn out of +her domestic circle by the flattery that has spoiled so many, men as +well as women. Her mind was admirably balanced by her home affections, +which remained unsullied and unshaken to the end of her days. She +had, in common with her three brothers and her charming sister, the +advantage of a wise and loving mother--a woman pious without cant, and +worldly-wise without being worldly. Mrs. Porter was born at Durham, +and when very young bestowed her hand and heart on Major Porter. +An old friend of the family assures us that two or three of their +children were born in Ireland, and that certainly Jane was amongst the +number. Although she left Ireland when in early youth, perhaps almost +an infant, she certainly must be considered Irish, as her father was +so both by birth and descent, and esteemed during his brief life as a +brave and generous gentleman. He died young, leaving his lovely widow +in straitened circumstances, having only her widow's pension to depend +on. The eldest son--afterward Colonel Porter--was sent to school by +his grandfather. + +We have glanced briefly at Sir Robert Ker Porter's wonderful +talents, and Anna Maria, when in her twelfth year, rushed, as +Jane acknowledged, "prematurely into print." Of Anna Maria we knew +personally but very little, enough however to recall with a pleasant +memory her readiness in conversation and her bland and cheerful +manners. No two sisters could have been more different in bearing and +appearance; Maria was a delicate blonde, with a _riant_ face, and +an animated manner--we had said almost _peculiarly Irish_--rushing +at conclusions, where her more thoughtful and careful sister paused +to consider and calculate. The beauty of Jane was statuesque, her +deportment serious yet cheerful, a seriousness quite as natural as +her younger sister's gaiety; they both labored diligently, but Anna +Maria's labor was sport when compared to her eldest sister's careful +toil; Jane's mind was of a more lofty order, she was intense, and felt +more than she said, while Anna Maria often said more than she felt; +they were a delightful contrast, and yet the harmony between them was +complete; and one of the happiest days we ever spent, while trembling +on the threshold of literature, was with them at their pretty +road-side cottage in the village of Esher before the death of their +venerable and dearly beloved mother, whose rectitude and prudence had +both guided and sheltered their youth, and who lived to reap with +them the harvest of their industry and exertion. We remember the drive +there, and the anxiety as to how those very "clever ladies" would +look, and what they would say; we talked over the various letters +we had received from Jane, and thought of the cordial invitation to +their cottage--their "mother's cottage"--as they always called it. We +remember the old white friendly spaniel who looked at us with blinking +eyes, and preceded us up stairs; we remember the formal old-fashioned +courtesy of the venerable old lady, who was then nearly eighty--the +blue ribands and good-natured frankness of Anna Maria, and the noble +courtesy of Jane, who received visitors as if she granted an audience; +this manner was natural to her; it was only the manner of one whose +thoughts have dwelt more upon heroic deeds, and lived more with heroes +than with actual living men and women; the effect of this, however, +soon passed away, but not so the fascination which was in all she +said and did. Her voice was soft and musical, and her conversation +addressed to one person rather than to the company at large, while +Maria talked rapidly to every one, or _for_ every one who chose to +listen. How happily the hours passed!--we were shown some of those +extraordinary drawings of Sir Robert, who gained an artists reputation +before he was twenty, and attracted the attention of West and Shee[2] +in his mere boyhood. We heard all the interesting particulars of his +panoramic picture of the Storming of Seringapatam, which, the first +of its class, was known half over the world. We must not, however, +be misunderstood--there was neither personal nor family egotism in +the Porters; they invariably spoke of each other with the tenderest +affection--but unless the conversation was _forced_ by their +friends--they never mentioned their own, or each other's works, while +they were most ready to praise what was excellent in the works of +others; they spoke with pleasure of their sojourns in London; while +their mother said, it was much wiser and better for young ladies +who were not rich, to live quietly in the country, and escape the +temptations of luxury and display. At that time the "young ladies" +seemed to us certainly _not_ young: that was about two-and-twenty +years ago, and Jane Porter was seventy-five when she died. They talked +much of their previous dwelling at Thames Ditton, of the pleasant +neighborhood they enjoyed there, though their mother's health and +their own had much improved since their residence on Esher hill; +their little garden was bounded at the back by the beautiful park of +Claremont, and the front of the house overlooked the leading roads, +broken as they are by the village green, and some noble elms. The view +is crowned by the high trees of Esher Place; opening from the village +on that side of the brow of the hill. Jane pointed out the _locale_ +of the proud Cardinal Wolsey's domain, inhabited during the days: of +his power over Henry VIII., and in their cloudy evening, when that +capricious monarch's favor changed to bitterest hate. It was the very +spot to foster her high romance, while she could at the same time +enjoy the sweets of that domestic converse she loved best of all. +We were prevented by the occupations and heart-beatings of our own +literary labors from repeating this visit; and in 1831, four years +after these well-remembered hours, the venerable mother of a family +so distinguished in literature and art, rendering their names known +and honored wherever art and letters flourish, was called HOME. The +sisters, who had resided ten years at Esher, left it, intending to +sojourn for a time with their second brother, Doctor Porter, (who +commenced his career as a surgeon in the navy) in Bristol; but within +a year the youngest, the light-spirited, bright-hearted Anna Maria +died; her sister was dreadfully shaken by her loss, and the letters +we received from her after this bereavement, though containing the +outpourings of a sorrowing spirit, were full of the certainty of +that re-union hereafter which became the hope of her life. She soon +resigned her cottage home at Esher, and found the affectionate welcome +she so well deserved in many homes, where friends vied with each +other to fill the void in her sensitive heart. She was of too wise +a nature, and too sympathizing a habit, to shut out new interests +and affections, but her _old ones_ never withered, nor were they +ever replaced; were the love of such a sister-friend--the watchful +tenderness and uncompromising love of a mother--ever "replaced," to a +lonely sister _or_ a bereaved daughter! Miss Porters pen had been laid +aside for some time, when suddenly she came before the world as the +editor of "Sir Edward Seward's Narrative", and set people hunting over +old atlases to find out the island where he resided. The whole was +a clever fiction; yet Miss Porter never confided its authorship, we +believe, beyond her family circle; perhaps the correspondence and +documents, which are in the hands of one of her kindest friends (her +executor), Mr. Shepherd, may throw some light upon a subject which the +"Quarterly" honored by an article. We think the editor certainly used +her pen as well as her judgment in the work, and we have imagined that +it might have been written by the family circle, more in sport than in +earnest, and then produced to serve a double purpose. + +[Footnote 2: In his early days the President of the Royal Academy +painted a very striking portrait of Jane Porter, as "Miranda," +and Harlowe painted her in the canoness dress of the order of St. +Joachim.] + +After her sister's death Miss Jane Porter was afflicted with so +severe an illness, that we, in common with her other friends, thought +it impossible she could carry out her plan of journeying to St. +Petersburgh to visit her brother, Sir Robert Ker Porter, who had +been long united to a Russian princess, and was then a widower; her +strength was fearfully reduced; her once round figure become almost +spectral, and little beyond the placid and dignified expression of +her noble countenance remained to tell of her former beauty; but her +resolve was taken; she wished, she said, to see once more her youngest +and most beloved brother, so distinguished in several careers, almost +deemed incompatible,--as a painter, an author, a soldier, and a +diplomatist, and nothing could turn her from her purpose: she reached +St. Petersburgh in safety, and with apparently improved health, found +her brother as much courted and beloved there as in his own land, +and his daughter married to a Russian of high distinction. Sir Robert +longed to return to England. He did not complain of any illness, and +everything was arranged for their departure; his final visits were +paid, all but one to the Emperor, who had ever treated him as a +friend; the day before his intended journey he went to the palace, was +graciously received, and then drove home, but when the servant opened +the carriage-door at his own residence he was dead! One sorrow after +another pressed heavily upon her; yet she was still the same sweet, +gentle, holy-minded woman she had ever been, bending with Christian +faith to the will of the Almighty,--"biding her time". + +How differently would she have "watched and waited" had she been +tainted by vanity, or fixed her soul on the mere triumphs of "literary +reputation". While firm to her own creed, she fully enjoyed the +success of those who scramble up--where she bore the standard to the +heights of Parnassus; she was never more happy than when introducing +some literary "Tyro" to those who could aid or advise a future career. +We can speak from experience of the warm interest she took in the +Hospital for the cure of Consumption, and the Governesses' Benevolent +Institution; during the progress of the latter, her health was +painfully feeble, yet she used her personal influence for its success, +and worked with her own hands for its bazaars. She was ever aiding +those who could not aid themselves; and all her thoughts, words, and +deeds, were evidence of her clear, powerful mind and kindly loving +heart; her appearance in the London _coteries_ was always hailed with +interest and pleasure; to the young she was especially affectionate; +but it was in the quiet mornings, or in the long twilight evenings +of summer, when visiting her cherished friends at Shirley Park, in +Kensington Square, or wherever she might be located for the time--it +was then that her former spirit revived, and she poured forth anecdote +and illustration, and the store of many years' observation, filtered +by experience and purified by that delightful faith to which she +held,--that "all things work together for good to them that love the +Lord". She held this in practice, even more than in theory; you saw +her chastened yet hopeful spirit beaming forth from her gentle eyes, +and her sweet smile can never be forgotten. The last time we saw her, +was about two years ago--in Bristol--at her brother's, Dr. Porter's, +house in Portland Square: then she could hardly stand without +assistance, yet she never complained of her own suffering or +feebleness, all her anxiety was about the brother--then dangerously +ill, and now the last of "his race." Major Porter, it will be +remembered, left five children, and these have left only one +descendant--the daughter of Sir Robert Ker Porter and the Russian +Princess whom he married, a young Russian lady, whose present name we +do not even know. + +We did not think at our last leave-taking that Miss Porter's fragile +frame could have so long withstood the Power that takes away all we +hold most dear; but her spirit was at length summoned, after a few +days' total insensibility, on the 24th of May. + +We were haunted by the idea that the pretty cottage at Esher, where +we spent those happy hours, had been treated even as "Mrs. Porter's +Arcadia" at Thames Ditton--now altogether removed; and it was with a +melancholy pleasure we found it the other morning in nothing changed; +and it was almost impossible to believe that so many years had passed +since our last visit. While Mr. Fairholt was sketching the cottage, we +knocked at the door, and were kindly permitted by two gentle sisters, +who now inhabit it, to enter the little drawing-room and walk round +the garden: except that the drawing-room has been re-papered and +painted, and that there were no drawings and no flowers the room was +not in the least altered; yet to us it seemed like a sepulcher, and we +rejoiced to breathe the sweet air of the little garden, and listen to +a nightingale, whose melancholy cadence harmonized with our feelings. + +"Whenever you are at Esher," said the devoted daughter, the last +time we conversed with her, "do visit my mother's tomb." We did so. +A cypress flourishes at the head of the grave; and the following +touching inscription is carved on the stone:-- + + Here sleeps in Jesus a Christian widow, JANE PORTER. Obiit + June 18th, 1831, aetat. 86; the beloved mother of W. Porter, + M.D., of Sir Robert Ker Porter, and of Jane and Anna Maria + Porter, who mourn in hope, humbly trusting to be born again + with her unto the blessed kingdom of their Lord and Savior. + Respect her grave, for she ministered to the poor. + + * * * * * + + + + +RECENT DEATHS. + + * * * * * + +MR. KIRBY, THE ENTOMOLOGIST. + +The Rev. William Kirby, Rector of Barham, Suffolk, who died on the 4th +ult. in the ninety-first year of his age, with his faculties little +impaired, ranked as the father of Entomology in England; and to the +successful results of his labors may he chiefly attributed the advance +which has been made in this over other kindred departments of natural +history. His reputation is based not so much on the discoveries made +by him in the science as on the manner of its teaching. No man ever +approached the study of the works of nature with a purer or more +earnest zeal. His interpretation of the distinguishing characters of +insects for the purposes of classification has excited the warmest +approval of entomologists at home and abroad; while his agreeable +narrative of their wonderful transformations and habits, teeming with +analyses and anecdote, has a charm for almost every kind of reader. + +Mr. Kirby's first work of particular note was the "Monographia Apum +Angliae", in two volumes published half a century ago at Ipswich; to +which town he was much endeared, and in whose Museum, as President, +under the friendly auspices of its Secretary, Mr. George Ransome, he +took a lively interest. His admirable work on the Wild Bees of Great +Britain was composed from materials collected almost entirely by +himself,--and most of the plates were of his etching. Entomology was +at that time a comparatively new science in this country, and it is an +honorable proof of the correctness of the author's views that they are +still acknowledged to be genuine. + +His further progress in entomology is abundantly marked by various +papers in the "Transactions of the Linnaean Society",--by the +entomological portion of the Bridgewater Treatise "On the History, +Habits, and Instincts of Animals,"--and by his descriptions, occupying +a quarto volume, of the insects of Sir John Richardson's "Fauna +Boreali-Americana." The name of Kirby will, however, be chiefly +remembered for the "Introduction on Entomology" written by him in +conjunction with Mr. Spence. In this work a vast amount of material, +acquired after many years' unremitting observation of the insect +world, is mingled together by two different but congenial minds in +the pleasant form of familiar letters. The charm, based on substantial +knowledge of the subject, which these letters impart, has caused +them to be studied with an interest never before excited by any work +on natural history,--and they have served for the model of many an +interesting and instructive volume. Whether William Kirby or William +Spence had the more meritorious share in the composition of these +Letters, has never been ascertained; for each, in the plenitude of his +esteem and love for the other, renounced all claim, in favor of his +coadjutor, to whatever portion of the matter might be most valued. + +In addition to the honor of being President of the Museum of his +county town--in which there is an admirable portrait of him--Mr. Kirby +was Honorary President of the Entomological Society of London, Fellow +of the Royal, Linnaean, Geological, and Zoological Societies of the +same city, and corresponding member of several foreign societies. + + * * * * * + +The death of REV. DR. GRAY, Professor of Oriental Languages in the +University of Glasgow, is reported in the Scotch papers. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FINE ARTS. + + * * * * * + +One of the favorite painters of Paris is Ingres, renowned especially +for the beauty of his designs from the human figure, and the sweetness +of his coloring. Eight years ago he was commissioned by M. de Luynes, +who then wore the title of Duke--which, it must be said, he is +still called by, though the Republic frowns on such aristocratic +distinctions--to paint two historical pictures in fresco, for a +country-house near Paris. The subjects were left to the choice of +the artist, who was to have 100,000 francs (or L20,000) for the two +pictures, one quarter of which was paid him in advance. During these +eight years Mr. Ingres has begun various designs, and done his best +to satisfy himself in the planning and execution of the pictures; but +in vain did he blot out one design and labor long and earnestly upon +another--success still fled from his pencil. At last, after eight +years' fruitless exertion, he despaired, and going to M. de Luynes, +told him that he could not make the pictures. At the same time he +offered to return the L5,000; but M. de Luynes, one of the most +munificent gentlemen in France, refused to receive it. Madame Ingres, +however, arranged the difficulty. She remembered that during these +eight years her kitchen had been regularly supplied with vegetables +from M. de Luynes' garden, and these she insisted on paying for. "Very +well," said M. de Luynes, "if you will have it so, my gardener shall +bring you his bill." Accordingly, not long after, the gardener brought +a bill for twenty-five francs. "My friend," said Madame Ingres to him, +"you are mistaken in the amount: this is very natural, considering the +length of the time. I have a better memory: your master will find in +this envelope the exact sum." When M. de Luynes opened the envelope, +he found in it bills for twenty thousand francs. + + * * * * * + +LESTER, BRADY & DAVIGNON's "_Gallery of Illustrious Americans_," is +very favorably noticed generally by the foreign critics. _The Art +Journal_ says of it: "This work is, as its title imports, of a +strictly national character, consisting of portraits and biographical +sketches of twenty-four of the most eminent of the citizens of the +Republic, since the death of Washington; beautifully lithographed from +daguerreotypes. Each number is devoted to a portrait and memoir, the +first being that of General Taylor (eleventh President of the United +States), the second, of John C. Calhoun. Certainly, we have never seen +more truthful copies of nature than these portraits; they carry in +them an indelible stamp of all that earnestness and power for which +our trans-Atlantic brethren have become famous, and are such heads as +Lavater would have delighted to look upon. They are, truly, speaking +likenesses, and impress all who see them with the certainty of their +accuracy, so self-evident is their character. We are always rejoiced +to notice a great nation doing honor to its great men; it is a noble +duty which when properly done honors all concerned therewith. We see +no reason to doubt that America may in this instance rank with the +greatest." + + * * * * * + +DR. WAAGEN, so well known for his writings on Art, is at present in +England for the purpose of adding to his knowledge of the private +collection of pictures there, but principally to make himself +acquainted with ancient illuminated manuscripts in several British +collections. + + * * * * * + +A MONUMENT IN HONOR OF COWPER, THE POET, is proposed to be erected in +Westminster Abbey, from a design by Marshall, the Sculptor, exhibited +at the Royal Academy in 1849. + + * * * * * + + +SUMMER VACATION. + +THE FOURTH BOOK OF WORDSWORTH'S UNPUBLISHED POEM.[3] + + + Bright was the summer's noon when quickening steps + Followed each other till a dreary moor + Was crossed, a bare ridge clomb, upon whose top + Standing alone, as from a rampart's edge, + I overlooked the bed of Windermere, + Like a vast river, stretching in the sun. + With exultation at my feet I saw + Lake, islands, promontories, gleaming bays, + A universe of Nature's fairest forms + Proudly revealed with instantaneous burst, + Magnificent, and beautiful, and gay. + I bounded down the hill shouting amain + For the old Ferryman; to the shout the rocks + Replied, and when the Charon of the flood + Had stayed his oars, and touched the jutting pier, + I did not step into the well-known boat + Without a cordial greeting. Thence with speed + Up the familiar hill I took my way + Toward that sweet Valley where I had been reared; + 'Twas but a shore hour's walk, ere veering round + I saw the snow-white church upon her hill + Sit like a throned Lady, sending out + A gracious look all over her domain. + You azure smoke betrays the lurking town; + With eager footsteps I advance and reach + The cottage threshold where my journey closed. + Glad welcome had I, with some tear, perhaps, + From my old Dame, so kind and motherly, + While she perused me with a parent's pride. + The thoughts of gratitude shall fall like dew + Upon thy grave, good creature! While my heart + Can beat never will I forget they name. + Heaven's blessing be upon thee where thou liest + After thy innocent and busy stir + In narrow cares, thy little daily growth + Of calm enjoyments, after eighty years, + And more than eighty, of untroubled life, + Childless, yet by the strangers to thy blood + Honored with little less than filial love. + What joy was mine to see thee once again, + Thee and they dwelling, and a crowd of things + About its narrow precincts all beloved, + And many of them seeming yet my own! + Why should I speak of what a thousand hearts + Have felt, and every man alive can guess? + The rooms, the court, the garden were not left + Long unsaluted, nor the sunny seat + Round the stone table under the dark pine, + Friendly to studious or to festive hours; + Nor that unruly child of mountain birth, + The famous brook, who, soon as he was boxed + Within our garden, found himself at once, + As if by trick insidious and unkind, + Stripped of his voice and left to dimple down + (Without an effort and without a will) + A channel paved by man's officious care. + I looked at him and smiled, and smiled again, + And in the press of twenty thousand thought, + "Ha," quoth I, "pretty prisoner, are you there!" + Well might sarcastic Fancy then have whispered, + "An emblem here behold of they own life; + In its late course of even days with all + Their smooth enthralment;" but the heart was full, + Too full for that reproach. My aged Dame + Walked proudly at my side: she guided me; + I willing, nay--nay, wishing to be led. + --The face of every neighbor whom I met + Was like a volume to me; some were hailed + Upon the road, some busy at their work, + Unceremonious greetings interchanged + With half the length of a long field between. + Among my schoolfellows I scattered round + Like recognitions, but with some constraint + Attended, doubtless, with a little pride, + But with more shame, for my habiliments, + The transformation wrought by gay attire. + Not less delighted did I take my place + At our domestic table: and, dear Friend! + In this endeavor simply to relate + A Poet's history, may I leave untold + The thankfulness with which I laid me down + In my accustomed bed, more welcome now + Perhaps than if it had been more desired + Or been more often thought of with regret; + That lowly bed whence I had heard the wind + Roar and the rain beat hard, where I so oft + Had lain awake on summer nights to watch + The moon in splendor couched among the leaves + Of a tall ash, that near our cottage stood; + Had watched her with fixed eyes while to and fro + In the dark summit of the waving tree + She rocked with every impulse of the breeze. + Among the favorites whom it pleased me well + To see again, was one by ancient right + Our inmate, a rough terrier of the hills; + By birth and call of nature pre-ordained + To hunt the badger and unearth the fox + Among the impervious crags, but having been + From youth our own adopted, he had passed + Into a gentler service. And when first + The boyish spirit flagged, and day by day + Along my veins I kindled with the stir, + The fermentation, and the vernal heat + Of poesy, affecting private shades + Like a sick Lover, then this dog was used + To watch me, an attendant and a friend, + Obsequious to my steps early and late, + Though often of such dilatory walk + Tired, and uneasy at the halts I made. + A hundred times when, roving high and low, + I have been harassed with the toil of verse, + Much pains and little progress, and at once + Some lovely Image in the song rose up + Full-formed, like Venus rising from the sea; + Then have I darted forward to let loose + My hand upon his back with stormy joy, + Caressing him again and yet again. + And when at evening on the public way + I sauntered, like a river murmuring + And talking to itself when all things else + Are still, the creature trotted on before; + Such was his custom; but whene'er he met + A passenger approaching, he would turn + To give me timely notice, and straightway, + Grateful for that admonishment, I hushed + My voice, composed my gait, and, with the air + And mein of one whose thoughts are free, advanced + To give and take a greeting that might save + My name from piteous rumors, such as wait + On men suspected to be crazed in brain. + Those walks well worth to be prized and loved-- + Regretted!--that word, too, was on my tongue, + But they were richly laden with all good, + And cannot be remembered but with thanks + And gratitude, and perfect joy of heart-- + Those walks in all their freshness now came back + Like a returning Spring. When first I made + Once more the circuit of our little lake, + If ever happiness hath lodged with man, + That day consummate happiness was mine, + Wide-spreading, steady, calm, contemplative. + The sun was set, or setting, when I left + Our cottage door, and evening soon brought on + A sober hour, not winning or serene, + For cold and raw the air was, and untuned; + But as a face we love is sweetest then + When sorrow damps it, or, whatever look + It chance to wear, is sweetest if the heart + Have fullness in herself; even so with me + It fared that evening. Gently did my soul + Put off her veil, and, self-transmuted, stood + Naked, as in the presence of her God. + While on I walked, a comfort seemed to touch + A heart that had not been disconsolate: + Strength came where weakness was not known to be, + At least not felt; and restoration came + Like an intruder knocking at the door + Of unacknowledged weariness. I took + The balance, and with firm hand weighted myself. + --Of that external scene which round me lay, + Little, in this abstraction, did I see; + Remembered less; but I had inward hopes + And swellings of the spirit, was rapt and soothed, + Conversed with promises, had glimmering views + How life pervades the undecaying mind; + How the immortal soul with God-like power + Informs, creates, and thaws the deepest sleep + That time can lay upon her; how on earth, + Man, if he do but live within the light + Of high endeavors, daily spreads abroad + His being armed with strength that cannot fail + Nor was there want of milder thoughts, of love + Of innocence, and holiday repose; + And more than pastoral quiet, 'mid the stir + Of boldest projects, and a peaceful end + At last, or glorious, by endurance won. + Thus musing, in a wood I sat me down + Alone, continuing there to muse: the slopes + And heights meanwhile were slowly overspread + With darkness, and before a rippling breeze + The long lake lengthened out its hoary line, + And in the sheltered coppice where I sat, + Around me from among the hazel leaves, + Now here, now there, moved by the straggling wind, + Came ever and anon a breath-like sound, + Quick as the pantings of the faithful dog, + The off and on companion of my work; + And such, at times, believing them to be, + I turned my head to look if he were there; + Then into solemn thought I passed once more. + A freshness also found I at this time + In human Life, the daily life of those + Whose occupations really I loved; + The peaceful scene oft filled me with surprise, + Changed like a garden in the heat of spring + After an eight days' absence. For (to omit + The things which were the same and yet appeared + Far otherwise) amid this rural solitude. + A narrow Vale where each was known to all, + 'Twas not indifferent to a youthful mind + To mark some sheltering bower or sunny nook, + Where an old man had used to sit alone, + Now vacant; pale-faced babes whom I had left + In arms, now rosy prattlers at the feet + Of a pleased grandame tottering up and down; + And growing girls whose beauty, filched away + With all its pleasant promises, was gone + To deck some slighted playmate's homely cheek. + Yes, I had something of a subtler sense, + And often looking round was moved to smiles + Such as a delicate work of humor breeds; + I read, without design, the opinions, thoughts, + Of those plain-living people now observed + With clearer knowledge; with another eye + I saw the quiet woodman in the woods, + The shepherd roam the hills. With new delight, + This chiefly, did I note my gray-haired Dame; + Saw her go forth to church or other work + Of state, equipped in monumental trim; + Short velvet cloak, (her bonnet of the like,) + A mantle such as Spanish Cavaliers + Wore in old time. Her smooth domestic life, + Affectionate without disquietude, + Her talk, her business, pleased me; and no less + Her clear though sallow stream of piety + That ran on Sabbath days a fresher course; + With thoughts unfelt till now I saw her read + Her Bible on hot Sunday afternoons, + And loved the book, when she had dropped asleep + And made of it a pillow for her head. + Nor less do I remember to have felt, + Distinctly manifested at this time, + A human-heartedness about my love + For objects hitherto the absolute wealth + Of my own private being and no more: + Which I had loved even as a blessed spirit + Or Angel, if he were to dwell on earth, + Might love in individual happiness. + But now there opened on me other thoughts + Of change, congratulation or regret, + A pensive feeling! It spread far and wide; + The trees, the mountains shared it, and the brooks, + The stars of heaven, now seen in their old haunts-- + White Sirius glittering o'er the southern crags, + Orion with his belt, and those fair Seven, + Acquaintances of every little child, + And Jupiter, my own beloved star! + Whatever shadings of mortality, + Whatever imports from the world of death + Had come among these objects heretofore, + Were, in the main, of mood less tender: strong, + Deep, gloomy were they, and severe: the scatterings + Of awe or tremulous dread, that had given way + In latter youth to yearnings of a love + Enthusiastic, to delight and hope. + As one who hangs down-bending from the side + Of a slow-moving boat, upon the breast + Of a still water, solacing himself + With such discoveries as his eye can make + Beneath him in the bottom of the deep, + Sees many beauteous sights--weeds, fishes, flowers, + Grots, pebbles, roots of trees, and fancies more, + Yet often is perplexed and cannot part + The shadow from the substance, rocks and sky + Mountains and clouds, reflected in the depth + Of the clear flood, from things which there abide + In their true dwelling; now is crossed by gleam + Of his own image, by a sunbeam now, + And wavering motions sent he knows not whence, + Impediments that make his task more sweet; + Such pleasant office have we long pursued + Incumbent o'er the surface of past time + With like success, nor often have appeared + Shapes fairer or less doubtfully discerned + Than those to which the Tale, indulgent Friend! + Would now direct thy notice. Yet in spite + Of pleasure won, and knowledge not withheld, + There was an inner falling off--I loved, + Loved deeply all that had been loved before + More deeply even than ever: but a swarm + Of heady schemes jostling each other, gawds, + And feast and dance, and public revelry, + And sports and games (too grateful in themselves, + Yet in themselves less grateful, I believe, + Than as they were a badge glossy and fresh + Of manliness and freedom) all conspired + To lure my mind from firm habitual quest + Of feeding pleasures, to depress the zeal + And damp those yearnings which had once been mine-- + A wild, unworldly-minded youth, given up + To his own eager thoughts. It would demand + Some skill, and longer time than may be spared, + To paint these vanities, and how they wrought + In haunts where they, till now, had been unknown. + It seemed the very garments that they wore + Preyed on my strength, and stopped the quiet stream + Of self-forgetfulness. + Yes, that heartless chase + Of trivial pleasures was a poor exchange + For books and nature at that early age. + 'Tis true, some casual knowledge might be gained + Of character or life; but at that time, + Of manners put to school I took small note, + And all my deeper passions lay elsewhere. + Far better had it been to exalt the mind + By solitary study, to uphold + Intense desire through meditative peace; + And yet, for chastisement of these regrets, + The memory of one particular hour + Doth here rise up against me. 'Mid a throng + Of maids and youths, old men, and matrons staid, + A medley of all tempers, I had passed + The night in dancing, gayety, and mirth, + With din of instruments and shuffling feet, + And glancing forms, and tapers glittering, + And unaimed prattle flying up and down; + Spirits upon the stretch, and here and there + Slight shocks of young love-liking interspersed, + Whose transient pleasure mounted to the head, + And tingled through the veins. Ere we retired + The cock had crowed, and now the eastern sky + Was kindling, not unseen, from humble copse + And open field, through which the pathway wound, + And homeward led my steps. Magnificent + The morning rose, in memorable pomp, + Glorious as e'er I had beheld--in front, + The sea lay laughing at a distance; near, + The solid mountains shone, bright as the clouds, + Grain-tinctured, drenched in Empyrean light; + And in the meadows and the lower grounds + Was all the sweetness of a common dawn-- + Dews, vapors, and the melody of birds, + And laborers going forth to till the fields. + Ah! need I say, dear Friend! that to the brim + My heart was full; I made no vows, but vows + Were then made for me; bond unknown to me + Was given, that I should be, else sinning greatly, + A dedicated Spirit. On I walked + In thankful blessedness, which yet survives. + Strange rendezvous! My mind was at that time + A parti-colored show of grave and gay, + Solid and light, short-sighted and profound; + Of inconsiderate habits and sedate, + Consorting in one mansion unreproved. + The worth I knew of powers that I possessed, + Though slighted and too oft misused. Besides, + That summer, swarming as it did with thoughts + Transient and idle, lacked not intervals + When Folly from the frown of fleeting Time + Shrunk, and the mind experienced in herself + Conformity as just as that of old + To the end and written spirit of God's works, + Whether held forth in Nature or in Man, + Through pregnant vision, separate or conjoined. + When from our better selves we have too long + Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop, + Sick of its business, of its pleasure tired, + How gracious, how benign, is Solitude; + How potent a mere image of her sway; + Most potent when impressed upon the mind + With an appropriate human centre--hermit, + Deep in the bosom of the wilderness; + Votary (in vast cathedral, where no foot + Is treading, where no other face is seen) + Kneeling at prayers; or watchman on the top + Of lighthouse, beaten by Atlantic waves; + Or as the soul of that great Power is met + Sometimes embodied on a public road, + When, for the night deserted, it assumes + A character of quiet more profound + Than pathless wastes. + Once, when those summer months, + Where flown, and autumn brought its annual show + Of oars with oars contending, sails with sails, + Upon Windander's spacious breast, it chanced + That--after I had left a flower-decked room + (Whose in-door pastime, lighted up, survived + To a late hour), and spirits overwrought + Were making night do penance for a day + Spent in a round of strenuous idleness-- + My homeward course led up a long ascent, + Where the road's watery surface, to the top + Of that sharp rising, glittered to the moon + And bore the semblance of another stream + Stealing with silent lapse to join the brook + That murmured in the vale. All else was still; + No living thing appeared in earth or air, + And, save the flowing water's peaceful voice, + Sound there was none--but, lo! an uncouth shape, + Shown by a sudden turning of the road, + So near that, slipping back into the shade + Of a thick hawthorn, I could mark him well, + Myself unseen. He was of stature tall, + A span above man's common measure, tall, + Stiff, land, and upright; a more meager man + Was never seen before by night or day. + Long were his arms, pallid his hands; his mouth + Looked ghastly in the moonlight: from behind, + A mile-stone propped him; I could also ken + That he was clothed in military garb. + Though faded, yet entire. Companionless, + No dog attending, by no staff sustained, + He stood, and in his very dress appeared + A desolation, a simplicity, + To which the trappings of a gaudy world + Make a strange back-ground. From his lips, ere long, + Issued low muttered sounds, as if of pain + Or some uneasy thought; yet still his form + Kept the same awful steadiness--at his feet + His shadow lay, and moved not. From self-blame + Not wholly free, I watched him thus; at length + Subduing my heart's specious cowardice, + I left the shady nook where I had stood + And hailed him. Slowly from his resting-place + He rose, and with a lean and wasted arm + In measured gesture lifted to his head + Returned my salutation; then resumed + His station as before: and when I asked + His history, the veteran, in reply, + Was neither slow nor eager; but, unmoved, + And with a quiet, uncomplaining voice, + A stately air of mild indifference, + He told in few plain words a soldier's tale-- + That in the Tropic Islands he had served, + Whence he had landed scarcely three weeks past; + That on his landing he had been dismissed, + And now was traveling toward his native home. + This heard, I said, in pity, "Come with me." + He stooped, and straightway from the ground took up, + An oaken staff by me yet unobserved-- + A staff which must have dropt from his slack hand + And lay till now neglected in the grass. + Though weak his step and cautious, he appeared + To travel without pain, and I beheld, + With an astonishment but ill-suppressed, + His ghostly figure moving at my side; + Nor could I, while we journeyed thus, forbear + To turn from present hardships to the past, + And speak of war, battle, and pestilence, + Sprinkling this talk with questions, better spared. + On what he might himself have seen or felt + He all the while was in demeanor calm. + Concise in answer: solemn and sublime + He might have seen, but that in all he said + There was a strange half-absence, as of one + Knowing too well the importance of his theme + But feeling it no longer. Our discourse + Soon ended, and together on we passed + In silence through a wood gloomy and still. + Up-turning, then, along an open field, + We reached a cottage. At the door I knocked. + And earnestly to charitable care + Commended him as a poor friendless man, + Belated and by sickness overcome. + Assured that now the traveler would repose + In comfort, I entreated that henceforth + He would not linger in the public ways, + But ask for timely furtherance and help + Such as his state required. At this reproof, + With the same ghastly mildness in his look, + He said, "My trust is in the God of Heaven, + And in the eye of him who passes me!" + The cottage door was speedily unbarred, + And now the soldier touched his hat once more + With his lean hand, and in a faltering voice, + Whose tone bespake reviving interests + Till then unfelt, he thanked me; I returned + The farewell blessing of the patient man, + And so we parted. Back I cast a look, + And lingered near the door a little space, + Then sought with quiet heart my distant home. + +[Footnote 3: In the press of Appleton & Co.] + + * * * * * + + +THE IVORY MINE: + +A TALE OF THE FROZEN SEA. + + * * * * * + +VI.--THE IVORY MINE. + +The end of so perilous and novel a journey, which must necessarily, +under the most favorable circumstances, have produced more honor +than profit, was attained; and yet the success of the adventure was +doubtful. The season was still too cold for any search for fossil +ivory, and the first serious duty was the erection of a winter +residence. Fortunately there was an ample supply of logs of wood, some +half-rotten, some green, lying under the snow on the shores of the bay +into which the river poured, and which had been deposited there by +the currents and waves. A regular pile, too, was found, which had been +laid up by some of the provident natives of New Siberia, who, like +the Esquimaux, live in the snow. Under this was a large supply of +frozen fish, which was taken without ceremony, the party being near +starvation. Of course Sakalar and Ivan intended replacing the hoard, +if possible, in the short summer. + +Wood was made the groundwork of the winter hut which was to be +erected, but snow and ice formed by far the larger portion of the +building materials. So hard and compact did the whole mass become when +finished, and lined with bear-skins and other furs, that a huge lamp +sufficed for warmth during the day and night, and the cooking was +done in a small shed by the side. The dogs were now set to shift for +themselves as to cover, and were soon buried in the snow. They were +placed on short allowance, now they had no work to do, for no one yet +knew what were the resources of this wild place. + +As soon as the more immediate duties connected with a camp had been +completed, the whole party occupied themselves with preparing traps +for foxes, and in other hunting details. A hole was broken in the +ice in the bay, and this the Kolimsk men watched with assiduity for +seals. One or two rewarded their efforts, but no fish were taken. +Sakalar and Ivan, after a day or two of repose, started with some +carefully-selected dogs in search of game, and soon found that the +great white bear took up his quarters even in that northern latitude. +They succeeded in killing several, which the dogs dragged home. + +About ten days after their arrival in the great island, Sakalar, who +was always the first to be moving, roused his comrades round him just +as a party of a dozen strange men appeared in the distance. They were +short, stout fellows, with long lances in their hands, and by their +dress very much resembled the Esquimaux. Their attitude was menacing +in the extreme, and by the advice of Sakalar, a general volley was +fired over their heads. The invaders halted, looked confusedly around, +and then ran away. Firearms retained. therefore, all their pristine +qualities with these savages. + +"They will return," said Sakalar, moodily; "they did the same when +I was here before, and then came back and killed my friend at night. +Sakalar escaped." + +Counsel was now held, and it was determined, after due deliberation, +that strict watch should be kept at all hours, while much was +necessarily trusted to the dogs. All day one of the party was on the +lookout, while at night the hut had its entrance well barred. Several +days, however, were thus passed without molestation, and then Sakalar +took the Kolimsk men out to hunt, and left Ivan and Kolina together. +The young man had learned the value of his half-savage friend: her +devotion to her father and the party generally was unbounded. She +murmured neither at privations nor at sufferings, and kept up the +courage of Ivan by painting in glowing terms all his brilliant future. +She seemed to have laid aside her personal feelings, and to look on +him only as one doing battle with fortune in the hope of earning the +hand of the rich widow of Yakoutsk. But Ivan was much disposed to +gloomy fits; he supposed himself forgotten, and slighted, and looked +on the time of his probation as interminable. It was in this mood that +one day he was roused from his fit by a challenge from Kolina to go +and see if the seals had come up to breathe at the hole which every +morning was freshly broken in the ice. Ivan assented, and away they +went gaily down to the bay. No seals were there, and after a short +stay they returned toward the hut, recalled by the distant howling +of the dogs. But as they came near, they could see no sign of men or +animals, though the sensible brutes still whined under the shelter +of their snow-heaps. Ivan, much surprised, raised the curtain of the +door, his gun in hand, expecting to find that some animal was inside. +The lamp was out, and the hut in total darkness. Before Ivan could +recover his upright position, four men leaped on him, and he was a +prisoner. + +Kolina drew back, and cocked her gun; but the natives, satisfied +with their present prey, formed round Ivan in a compact body, tied +his hands, and bade him walk. Their looks were sufficiently wild +and menacing to make him move, especially as he recognized them +as belonging to the warlike party of the Tchouktchas--a tribe of +Siberians who wander about the Polar Seas in search of game, who cross +Behring's Straits in skin-boats, and who probably are the only persons +who by their temporary sojourn in New Siberia, have caused some to +suppose it inhabited. Kolina stood uncertain what to do, but in a few +minutes she roused four of the dogs, and followed. Ivan bawled to her +to go back, but the girl paid no attention to his request, determined, +as it seemed, to know his fate. + +The savages hurried Ivan along as rapidly as they could; and soon +entered a deep and narrow ravine, which about the middle parted into +two. The narrowest path was selected, and the dwelling of the natives +soon reached. It was a cavern, the narrow entrance of which they +crawled through; Ivan followed the leader, and soon found himself in +a large and wonderful cave. It was by nature divided into several +compartments, and contained a party of twenty men, as many or more +women, and numerous children. It was warmed in two ways--by wood-fires +and grease-lamps, and by a bubbling semi-sulphurous spring, that +rushed up through a narrow hole, and then fell away into a deep well, +that carried its warm waters to mingle with the icy sea. The acrid +smoke escaped by holes in the roof. Ivan, his arms and legs bound, was +thrust into a separate compartment filled with furs, and formed by a +projection of the rock and the skin-boats which this primitive race +employed to cross the most stormy seas. He was almost stunned; he lay +for a while without thought or motion. Gradually he recovered, and +gazed around; all was night, save above, where by a narrow orifice +he saw the smoke which hung in clouds around the roof escaping. +He expected death. He knew the savage race he was among, who hated +interference with their hunting-grounds, and whose fish he and his +party had taken. What, therefore, was his surprise, when from the +summit of the roof, he heard a gentle voice whispering in soft accents +his own name. His ears must, he thought, deceive him. The hubbub close +at hand was terrible. A dispute was going on. Men, women. and children +all joined, and yet he had heard the word "Ivan." "Kolina," he +replied, in equally low but clear tones. As he spoke a knife rolled +near him. But he could not touch it. Then a dark form filled the +orifice about a dozen feet above his head, and something moved down +among projecting stones, and then Kolina stood by him. In an instant +Ivan was free, and an axe in his hand. The exit was before them. Steps +were cut in the rock, to ascend to the upper entrance, near which Ivan +had been placed without fear, because tied. But a rush was heard, and +the friends had only time to throw themselves deeper into the cave, +when four men rushed in, knife in hand, to immolate the victim. Such +had been the decision come to after the debate. + +The lamps revealed the escape of the fugitive. A wild cry drew all the +men together, and then up they scampered along the rugged projections, +and the barking of the dogs as they fled showed that they were in hot +and eager chase. Ivan and Kolina lost no time. They advanced boldly, +knife and hatchet in hand, sprang amid the terrified women, darted +across their horrid cavern, and before one of them had recovered from +her fright, were in the open air. On they ran in the gloom for some +distance, when they suddenly heard muttering voices. Down they sank +behind the first large stone, concealing themselves as well as they +could in the snow. The party moved slowly on toward them. + +"I can trace their tracks still," said Sakalar, in a low deep tone. +"On, while they are alive, or at least for vengeance!" + +"Friends!" cried Ivan. + +"Father!" said Kolina, and in an instant the whole party were united. +Five words were enough to determine Sakalar. The whole body rushed +back, entered the cavern, and found themselves masters of it without +a struggle. The women and children attempted no resistance. As soon +as they were placed in a corner, under the guard of the Kolimsk men, +a council was held. Sakalar, as the most experienced, decided what +was to be done. He knew the value of threats: one of the women was +released, and bade go tell the men what had occurred. She was to add +the offer of a treaty of peace, to which, if both parties agreed, +the women were to be given up on the one side, and the hut and its +contents on the other. But the victors announced their intention +of taking four of the best-looking boys as hostages, to be returned +whenever they were convinced of the good faith of the Tchouktchas. The +envoy soon returned, agreeing to everything. They had not gone near +the hut, fearing an ambuscade. The four boys were at once selected, +and the belligerents separated. + +Sakalar made the little fellows run before, and thus the hut was +regained. An inner cabin was erected for the prisoners, and the dogs +placed over them as spies. But as the boys understood Sakalar to mean +that the dogs were to eat them if they stirred, they remained still +enough, and made no attempt to run away. + +A hasty meal was now cooked, and after its conclusion Ivan related +the events of the day, warmly dilating on the devotion and courage of +Kolina, who, with the keenness of a Yakouta, had found out his prison +by the smoke, and had seen him on the ground despite the gloom. +Sakalar then explained how, on his return, he had been terribly +alarmed, and had followed the trail on the snow. After mutual +congratulations the whole party went to sleep. + +The next morning early, the mothers came humbly with provisions for +their children. They received some trifling presents and were sent +away in delight. About midday the whole tribe presented themselves +unarmed, within a short distance of the hut, and offered a traffic. +They brought a great quantity of fish, which they wanted to exchange +for tobacco. Sakalar, who spoke their language freely, first gave them +a roll, letting them understand it was in payment of the fish taken +without leave. This at once dissipated all feelings of hostility, and +solid peace was insured. So satisfied was Sakalar of their sincerity, +that he at once released the captives. + +From that day the two parties were one, and all thoughts of war were +completely at an end. A vast deal of bloodshed had been prevented by a +few concessions on both sides. The same result might indeed have been +come to by killing half of each little tribe, but it is doubtful if +the peace would have been as satisfactory to the survivors. + + * * * * * + +VII.--THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN. + +Occupied with the chase, with bartering, and with conversing with +their new friends, the summer gradually came around. The snow melted, +the hills became a series of cascades, in every direction water +poured toward the sea. But the hut remained solid and firm, a little +earth only being cast over the snow. Flocks of ducks and geese soon +appeared, a slight vegetation was visible, and the sea was in motion. +But what principally drew all eyes were the vast heaps of fossil ivory +exposed to view on the banks of the stream, laid bare more and more +every year by the torrents of spring. A few days sufficed to collect +a heap greater than they could take away on the sledges in a dozen +journeys. Ivan gazed at his treasure in mute despair. Were all that +at Yakoutsk, he was the richest merchant in Siberia; but to take it +thither seemed impossible. But in stepped the adventurous Tchouktchas. +They offered, for a stipulated sum in tobacco and other valuables, to +land a large portion of the ivory at a certain spot on the shores of +Siberia, by means of their boats. Ivan, though again surprised at the +daring of these wild men, accepted the proposal, and engaged to give +them his whole stock. The matter was then settled, and our adventurers +and their new friends dispersed to their summer avocations. + +These consisted in fishing and hunting, and repairing boats and +sledges. Their canoes were made of skins and whalebone, and bits of +wood; but they were large, and capable of sustaining great weight. +They proposed to start as soon as the ice was broken up, and to brave +all the dangers of so fearful a navigation. They were used to impel +themselves along in every open space, and to take shelter on icebergs +from danger. When one of these icy mountains went in the right +direction, they stuck to it; but at others they paddled away, amid +dangers of which they seemed wholly unconscious. + +A month was taken up in fishing, in drying the fish, or in putting +it in holes where there was eternal frost. An immense stock was laid +in: and then one morning the Tchouktchas took their departure, and +the adventurers remained alone. Their hut was broken up, and all made +ready for their second journey. The sledges were enlarged, to bear +the heaviest possible load at starting. A few days' overloading were +not minded, as the provisions would soon decrease. Still not half so +much could be taken as they wished, and yet Ivan had nearly a ton of +ivory, and thirty tons was the greatest produce of any one year in all +Siberia. + +But the sledges were ready long before the sea was so. The interval +was spent in continued hunting, to prevent any consumption of the +traveling store. All were heartily tired, long before it was over, +of a day nearly as long as two English months. Soon the winter set in +with intense rigor; the sea ceased to toss and heave; the icebergs and +fields moved more and more slowly; at last ocean and land were blended +into one--the night of a month came, and the sun was seen no more. + +The dogs were now roused up; the sledges harnessed; and the instant +the sea was firm enough to sustain them, the party started. Sakalar's +intention was to try forced marches in a straight line. Fortune +favored them. Not an accident occurred for days. At first they did not +move exactly in the same direction as when they came, but they soon +found traces of their previous journey, proving that a plain of ice +had been forced away at least fifty miles during the thaw. + +The road was now again rugged and difficult, firing was getting +scarce, the dogs were devouring the fish with rapidity, and only one +half the ocean-journey was over. But on they pushed with desperate +energy, each eye once more keenly on the look-out for game. Every one +drove his team in sullen silence, for all were on short allowance, and +all were hungry. They sat on what was to them more valuable than gold, +and yet they had not what was necessary for subsistence. The dogs were +urged every day to the utmost limits of their strength. But so much +space had been taken up by the ivory, that at last there remained +neither food nor fuel. None knew at what distance they were from the +shore, and their position seemed desperate. There were even whispers +of killing some of the dogs; and Sakalar and Ivan were upbraided for +the avarice which had brought them to such straits. + +"See!" said the old hunter suddenly, with a delighted smile, pointing +toward the south. + +The whole party looked eagerly. A thick column of smoke rose in the +air at no very considerable distance. This was the signal agreed on +with the Tchouktchas, who were to camp where there was plenty of wood. + +Every hand was raised to urge on the dogs to this point, and at last, +from the summit of a hill of ice they saw the shore and the blaze of +the fire. The wind was toward them, and the atmosphere heavy. The dogs +smelled the distant camp, and darted almost recklessly forward. At +last they sank near to the Tchouktcha huts, panting and exhausted. + +Their allies of the spring were true; they gave them food, of +which both man and beast ate greedily, and then sought repose. The +Tchouktchas had then formed their journey with wonderful success and +rapidity, and had found time to lay in a pretty fair stock of fish. +This they freely shared with Ivan and his party, and were delighted +when he abandoned to them all his tobacco and rum, and part of his +tea. + +The Tchouktchas had been four years absent in their wanderings, and +were eager to get home once more to the land of the reindeer, and to +their friends. They were perhaps the greatest travelers of a tribe +noted for its facility of locomotion. And so, with warm expressions +of esteem and friendship on both sides, the two parties separated--the +men of the east making their way on foot, toward the Straits of +Behring. + + * * * * * + +VIII.--THE VOYAGE HOME. + +Under considerable disadvantages did Sakalar, Ivan, and their friends +prepare for the conclusion of their journey. Their provisions were +very scanty, and their only hope of replenishing their stores was on +the banks of the Vchivaya River, which being in some places pretty +rapid might not be frozen over. Sakalar and his friends determined to +strike out in a straight line. Part of the ivory had to be concealed +and abandoned, to be fetched another time; but as their stock of +provisions was so small, they were able to take the principal part. It +had been resolved, after some debate, to make in a direct line for the +Vchivaya river, and thence to Vijnei-Kolimsk. The road was of a most +difficult, and, in part, unknown character; but it was imperative to +move in as straight a direction as possible. Time was the great enemy +they had to contend with, because their provisions were sufficient for +a limited period only. + +The country was at first level enough, and the dogs, after their +rest, made sufficiently rapid progress. At night they had reached the +commencement of a hilly region, while in the distance could be seen +pretty lofty mountains. According to a plan decided on from the first, +the human members of the party were placed at once on short allowance, +while the dogs received as much food as could be reasonably given. +At early dawn the tent was struck, and the dogs were impelled along +the banks of a small river completely frozen. Indeed, after a short +distance, it was taken as the smoothest path. But at the end of a +dozen miles they found themselves in a narrow gorge between two +hills; at the foot of a once foaming cataract, now hard frozen. It +was necessary to retreat some miles, and gain the land once more. The +only path which was now found practicable was along the bottom of some +pretty steep rocks. But the track got narrower and narrower, until the +dogs were drawing along the edge of a terrific precipice with not four +feet of holding. All alighted, and led the dogs, for a false step was +death. Fortunately the path became no narrower, and in one place it +widened out and made a sort of hollow. Here a bitter blast, almost +strong enough to cast them from their feet, checked further progress, +and on that naked spot, under a projecting mass of stone, without +fire, did the whole party halt. Men and dogs huddled together for +warmth, and all dined on raw and frozen fish. A few hours of sleep, +however, were snatched; and then, as the storm abated, they again +advanced. The descent was soon reached, and led into a vast plain +without tree or bush. A range of snow-clad hills lay before them, and +through a narrow gully between two mountains was the only practicable +pathway. But all hearts were gladdened by the welcome sight of some +_argali_, or Siberian sheep, on the slope of a hill. These animals are +the only winter game, bears, and wolves excepted. Kolina was left with +the dogs, and the rest started after the animals, which were pawing in +the snow for some moss or half-frozen herbs. Every caution was used +to approach them against the wind, and a general volley soon sent them +scampering away to the mountain-tops, leaving three behind. + +But Ivan saw that he had wounded another, and away he went in chase. +The animal ascended a hill, and then halted. But seeing a man coming +quickly after him, it turned and fled down the opposite side. Ivan was +instantly after him. The descent was steep, but the hunter saw only +the argili, and darted down. He slid rather than ran with fearful +rapidity, and passed the sheep by, seeking to check himself too late. +A tremendous gulf was before him, and his eyes caught an instant +glance of a deep distant valley. Then he saw no more until he found +himself lying still. He had sunk, on the very brink of the precipice, +into a deep snow bank formed by some projecting rock, and had only +thus been saved from instant death. Deeply grateful, Ivan crept +cautiously up the hill-side, though not without his prize, and +rejoined his companions. + +The road now offered innumerable difficulties, it was rough and +uneven--now hard, now soft. They made but slow progress for the next +three days, while their provisions began to draw to an end. They had +at least a dozen days more before them. All agreed that they were now +in the very worst difficulty they had been in. That evening they dined +on the last meal of mutton and fish; they were at the foot of a lofty +hill, which they determined to ascend while strength was left. The +dogs were urged up the steep ascent, and after two hours' toil, they +reached the summit. It was a table-land, bleak and miserable, and the +wind was too severe to permit camping. On they pushed, and camped a +little way down its sides. + +The next morning the dogs had no food, while the men had nothing but +large draughts of warm tea. But it was impossible to stop. Away they +hurried, after deciding that, if nothing turned up the next morning, +two or three of the dogs must be killed to save the rest. Little was +the ground they got over, with hungry beasts and starving men, and +all were glad to halt near a few dried larches. Men and dogs eyed each +other suspiciously, The animals, sixty-four in number, had they not +been educated to fear man, would have soon settled the matter. But +there they lay, panting and faint--to start up suddenly with a fearful +howl. A bear was on them. Sakalar fired, and then in rushed the dogs, +savage and fierce. It was worse than useless, it was dangerous, for +the human beings of the party to seek to share this windfall. It was +enough that the dogs had found something to appease their hunger. + +Sakalar, however, knew that his faint and weary companions could not +move the next day if tea alone were their sustenance that night. He +accordingly put in practice one of the devices of his woodcraft. The +youngest of the larches was cut down, and the coarse outside bark was +taken off. Then every atom of the soft bark was peeled off the tree, +and being broken into small pieces, was cast into the boiling pot, +already full of water. The quantity was great, and made a thick +substance. Round this the whole party collected, eager for the moment +when they could fall to. But Sakalar was cool and methodical even in +that terrible hour. He took a spoon, and quietly skimmed the pot, +to take away the resin that rose to the surface. Then gradually the +bark melted away, and presently the pot was filled by a thick paste, +and looked not unlike glue. All gladly ate, and found it nutritive, +pleasant, and warm. They felt satisfied when the meal was over, and +were glad to observe that the dogs returned to the camp completely +satisfied also, which, under the circumstances, was matter of great +gratification. + +In the morning, after another mess of larch-bark soup, and after a +little tea, the adventurers again advanced on their journey. They were +now in an arid, bleak, and terrible plain of vast extent. Not a tree, +not a shrub, not an elevation was to be seen. Starvation was again +staring them in the face, and no man knew when this dreadful plain +would end. That night the whole party cowered in their tent without +fire, content to chew a few tea-leaves preserved from the last meal. +Serious thoughts were now entertained of abandoning their wealth in +that wild region. But as none pressed the matter very hardly, the +ledges were harnessed again next morning, and the dogs driven on. But +man and beast were at the last gasp, and not ten miles were traversed +that day, the end of which brought them to a large river, on the +borders of which were some trees. Being wide and rapid, it was not +frozen, and there was still hope, The seine was drawn from a sledge, +and taken into the water. It was fastened from one side to another of +a narrow gut, and there left. It was of no avail examining it until +morning, for the fish only come out at night. + +There was not a man of the party who had his exact sense about him, +while the dogs lay panting on the snow, their tongues hanging out, +their eyes glaring with almost savage fury. The trees round the bank +were large and dry, and not one had an atom of soft bark on it. All +the resource they had was to drink huge draughts of tea, and then +seek sleep. Sakalar set the example, and the Kolimsk men, to whom such +scenes were not new, followed his advice; but Ivan walked up and down +before the tent. A huge fire had been made, which was amply fed by the +wood of the river bank, and it blazed on high, showing in bold relief +the features of the scene. Ivan gazed vacantly at everything; but he +saw not the dark and glancing river--he saw not the bleak plain of +snow--his eyes looked not on the romantic picture of the tent and its +bivouac-fire: his thoughts were on one thing alone. He it was who +had brought them to that pass, and on his head rested all the misery +endured by man and beast, and, worst of all, by the good and devoted +Kolina. + +There she sat, too, on the ground, wrapped in her warm clothes, her +eyes, fixed on the crackling logs. Of what was she thinking? Whatever +occupied her mind, it was soon chased away by the sudden speech +of Ivan. "Kolina," said he, in a tone which borrowed a little of +intensity from the state of mind in which hunger had placed all of +them, "canst thou ever forgive me?" + +"What?" replied the young girl softly. + +"My having brought you here to die, far away from your native hills?" + +"Kolina cares little for herself," said the Yakouta maiden, rising and +speaking perhaps a little wildly; "let her father escape, and she is +willing to lie near the tombs of the old people on the borders of the +icy sea." + +"But Ivan had hoped to see for Kolina many bright, happy days; for +Ivan would have made her father rich, and Kolina would have been the +richest unmarried girl in the plain of Mioure!" + +"And would riches make Kolina happy?" said she sadly. + +"Young girl of the Yakouta, hearken to me! Let Ivan live or die this +hour; Ivan is a fool. He left home and comfort to cross the icy seas +in search of wealth, and to gain happiness; but if he had only had +eyes, he would have stopped at Mioure. There he saw a girl, lively as +the heaven-fire in the north, good, generous, kind; and she was an old +friend, and might have loved Ivan; but the man of Yakoutsk was blind, +and told her of his passion for a selfish widow, and the Yakouta +maiden never thought of Ivan but as a brother!" + +"What means Ivan?" asked Kolina, trembling with emotion. + +"Ivan has long meant, when he came to the yourte of Sakalar, to lay +his wealth at his feet, and beg of his old friend to give him his +child: but Ivan now fears that he may die, and wishes to know what +would have been the answer of Kolina?" + +"But Maria Vorotinska?" urged the girl, who seemed dreaming. + +"Has long been forgotten. How could I not love my old playmate and +friend! Kolina--Kolina, listen to Ivan! Forget his love for the widow +of Yakoutsk, and Ivan will stay in the plain of Vchivaya and die." + +"Kolina is very proud," whispered the girl, sitting down on a log near +the fire, and speaking in a low tone; "and Kolina thinks yet that the +friend of her father has forgotten himself. But if he be not wild, if +the sufferings of the journey have not made him say that which is not, +Kolina would be very happy." + +"Be plain, girl of Mioure--maiden of the Yakouta tribe! and play not +with the heart of a man. Can Kolina take Ivan as her husband?" + +A frank and happy reply gave the Yakoutsk merchant all the +satisfaction he could wish; and then followed several hours of those +sweet and delightful explanations which never end between young lovers +when first they have acknowledged their mutual affection. They had +hitherto concealed so much, that there was much to tell; and Ivan +and Kolina, who for nearly three years had lived together, with a bar +between their deep but concealed affection, seemed to have no end of +words. Ivan had begun to find his feelings change from the very hour +Sakalar's daughter volunteered to accompany him, but it was only in +the cave of New Siberia that his heart had been completely won. + +So short, and quiet, and sweet were the hours, that the time of rest +passed by without the thought of sleep. Suddenly, however, they were +roused to a sense of their situation, and leaving their wearied and +exhausted companions still asleep, they moved with doubt and dread to +the water's side. Life was now doubly dear to both, and their fancy +painted the coming forth of an empty net as the termination of all +hope. But the net came heavily and slowly to land. It was full of +fish. They were on the well-stocked Vchivaya. More than three hundred +fish, small and great, were drawn on shore; and then they recast the +net. + +"Up, man and beast!" thundered Ivan, as, after selecting two dozen of +the finest, he abandoned the rest to the dogs. + +The animals, faint and weary, greedily seized on the food given them, +while Sakalar and the Kolimsk men could scarcely believe their senses. +The hot coals were at once brought into requisition, and the party +were soon regaling themselves on a splendid meal of tea and broiled +fish. I should alarm my readers did I record the quantities eaten. An +hour later, every individual was a changed being, but most of all the +lovers. Despite their want of rest, they looked fresher than any of +the party. It was determined to camp at least twenty hours more in +that spot; and the Kolimsk men declared that the river must be the +Vchivaya, they could draw the seine all day, for the river was deep, +its waters warmer than others, and its abundance of fish such as to +border on the fabulous. They went accordingly down to the side of +the stream, and then the happy Kolina gave free vent to her joy. +She burst out into a song of her native land, and gave way to some +demonstrations of delight, the result of her earlier education, that +astonished Sakalar. But when he heard that during that dreadful night +he had found a son, Sakalar himself almost lost his reason. The old +man loved Ivan almost as much as his own child, and when he saw the +youth in his yourte on his hunting trips, had formed some project of +the kind now brought about; but the confessions of Ivan on his last +visit to Mioure had driven all such thoughts away. + +"Art in earnest, Ivan?" said he, after a pause of some duration. + +"In earnest!" exclaimed Ivan, laughing; "why, I fancy the young men of +Mioure will find me so, if they seek to question my right to Kolina!" + +Kolina smiled, and looked happy; and the old hunter heartily blessed +his children, adding that the proudest, dearest hope of his heart was +now within probable realization. + +The predictions of the Kolimsk men were realized. The river gave them +as much fish as they needed for their journey home; and as now Sakalar +knew his way, there was little fear for the future. An ample stock was +piled on the sledges, the dogs had unlimited feeding for two days, and +then away they sped toward an upper part of the river, which, being +broad and shallow, was no doubt frozen on the surface. They found it +as they expected, and even discovered that the river was gradually +freezing all the way down. But little caring for this now, on they +went, and after considerable fatigue and some delay, arrived at +Kolimsk, to the utter astonishment of all the inhabitants, who had +long given them up for lost. + +Great rejoicings took place. The friends of the three Kolimsk men +gave a grand festival, in which the rum, and tobacco, and tea, which +had been left at the place for payment for their journey, played +a conspicuous part. Then, as it was necessary to remain here some +time, while the ivory was brought from a deposit near the sea, +Ivan and Kolina were married. Neither of them seemed to credit the +circumstance, even when fast tied by the Russian church. It had come +so suddenly, so unexpectedly on both, that their heads could not quite +make the affair out. But they were married in right down earnest, and +Kolina was a proud and happy woman. The enormous mass of ivory brought +to Kolimsk excited the attention of a distinguished exile, who drew +up a statement in Ivan's name, and prepared it for transmission to the +White Czar, as the emperor is called in these parts. + +When summer came, the young couple, with Sakalar and a caravan of +merchants, started for Yakoutsk, Ivan being by far the richest and +most important member of the party. After a single day's halt at +Mioure, on they went to the town, and made their triumphal entry in +September. Ivan found Maria Vorotinska a wife and mother, and his +vanity was not much wounded by the falsehood. The _ci-devant_ widow +was a little astonished at Ivan's return, and particularly at his +treasure of ivory: but she received his wife with politeness, a little +tempered by her sense of her own superiority to a savage, as she +designated Kolina to her friends in a whisper. But Kolina was so +gentle, so pretty, so good, so cheerful, so happy, that she found her +party at once, and the two ladies became rival leaders of the fashion. + +This lasted until the next year, when a messenger from the capital +brought a letter to Ivan from the emperor himself, thanking him for +his narrative, sending him a rich present, his warm approval, and the +office of first civil magistrate in the city of Yakoutsk. This turned +the scales wholly on one side, and Maria bowed low to Kolina. But +Kolina had no feelings of the parvenu, and she was always a general +favorite. Ivan accepted with pride his sovereign's favor, and by +dint of assiduity, soon learned to be a useful magistrate. He always +remained a good husband, a good father, and a good son, for he made +the heart of old Sakalar glad. He never regretted his journey: he +always declared he owed to it wealth and happiness, a high position in +society, and an admirable wife. Great rejoicings took place many years +after in Yakoutsk, at the marriage of the son of Maria, united to +the daughter of Ivan, and from the first unto the last, none of the +parties concerned ever had reason to mourn over the perilous journey +in search of the Ivory Mine. + + * * * * * + +For the information of the non-scientific, it may be necessary to +mention that the ivory alluded to in the preceding tale, is derived +from the tusks of the mammoth, or fossil elephant of the geologist. +The remains of this gigantic quadruped are found all over the northern +hemisphere, from the 40th to the 75th degree of latitude: but most +abundantly in the region which lies between the mountains of Central +Asia and the shores and islands of the Frozen Sea. So profusely do +they exist in this region, that the tusks have for more than a century +constituted an important article of traffic--furnishing a large +proportion of the ivory required by the carver and turner. The remains +lie imbedded in the upper tertiary clays and gravels; and these, by +exposure to the river-currents, to the waves of the sea, and other +erosive agencies, are frequently swept away during the thaws of +summer, leaving tusks and bones in masses, and occasionally even +entire skeletons, in a wonderful state of preservation. The most +perfect specimen yet obtained, and from the study of which the +zoologist has been enabled to arrive at an accurate knowledge of the +structure and habits of the mammoth, is that discovered by a Tungusian +fisherman, near the mouth of the river Lena, in the summer of 1799. + +Being in the habit of collecting tusks among the debris of the +gravel-cliffs, (for it is generally at a considerable elevation in the +cliffs and river banks that the remains occur,) he observed a strange +shapeless mass projecting from an ice-bank some fifty or sixty feet +above the river; during next summer's thaw he saw the same object, +rather more disengaged from amongst the ice; in 1801 he could +distinctly perceive the tusk and flank of an immense animal; and in +1803, in consequence of an earlier and more powerful thaw, the huge +carcase became entirely disengaged, and fell on the sandbank beneath. +In the spring of the following year the fisherman cut off the tusks, +which he sold for fifty rubles (L7, 10s.;) and two years afterward, +our countryman, Mr. Adams, visited the spot, and gives the following +account of the extraordinary phenomenon: + +"At this time I found the mammoth still in the same place, but +altogether mutilated. The discoverer was contented with his profit +for the tusks, and the Yakoutski of the neighborhood had cut off +the flesh, with which they fed their dogs. During the scarcity, wild +beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines, and foxes, also +fed upon it, and the traces of their footsteps were seen around. The +skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, remained whole, with +the exception of a foreleg. The head was covered with a dry skin; +one of the ears, well preserved, was furnished with a tuft of hair. +All these parts have necessarily been injured in transporting them a +distance of 7,330 miles, (to the Imperial museum of St. Petersburgh,) +but the eyes have been preserved, and the pupil of one can still be +distinguished. The mammoth was a male, with a long mane on the neck. +The tail and proboscis were not preserved. The skin, of which I +possess three-fourths, is of a dark-gray color, covered with a reddish +wool and black hairs: but the dampness of the spot where it had lain +so long had in some degree destroyed the hair. The entire carcase, +of which I collected the bones on the spot, was nine feet four inches +high, and sixteen feet four inches long, without including the tusks, +which measured nine feet six inches along the curve. The distance from +the base or root of the tusk to the point is three feet seven inches. +The two tusks together weighed three hundred and sixty pounds, English +weight, and the head alone four hundred and fourteen pounds. The skin +was of such weight that it required ten persons to transport it to +the shore; and after having cleared the ground, upward of thirty-six +pounds of hair were collected, which the white bears had trodden while +devouring the flesh." + +Since then, other carcases of elephants have been discovered, in +a greater or less degree of preservation; as also the remains of +rhinoceroses, mastodons, and allied pachyderms--the mammoth more +abundantly in the old world, the mastodon in the new. In every case +these animals differ from existing species: are of more gigantic +dimensions; and, judging from their natural coverings of thick-set +curly-crisped wool and strong hair, upward of a foot in length, were +fitted to live, if not in a boreal, at least in a coldly-temperate +region. Indeed, there is proof positive of the then more milder +climate of these regions in the discovery of pine and birch-trunks +where no vegetation now flourishes; and further, in the fact that +fragments of pine-leaves, birch-twigs, and other northern plants, have +been detected between the grinders and within the stomachs of these +animals. We have thus evidence, that at the close of the tertiary, +and shortly after the commencement of the current epoch, the northern +hemisphere enjoyed a much milder climate; that it was the abode of +huge pachyderms now extinct; that a different distribution of sea +and land prevailed; and that on a new distribution or sea and land, +accompanied also by a different relative level, these animals died +away, leaving their remains imbedded in the clays, gravels, and other +alluvial deposits, where, under the antiseptic influence of an almost +eternal frost, many of them have been preserved as entire as at the +fatal moment they sank under the rigors of external conditions no +longer fitted for their existence. It has been attempted by some to +prove the adaptability of these animals to the present conditions +of the northern hemisphere; but so untenable in every phase is this +opinion, that it would be sheer waste of time and space to attempt its +refutation. That they may have migrated northward and southward with +the seasons is more than probable, though it has been stated that the +remains diminish in size the farther north they are found; but that +numerous herds of such huge animals should have existed in these +regions at all, and that for thousands of years, presupposes an +exuberant arboreal vegetation, and the necessary degree of climate for +its growth and development. It has been mentioned that the mastodon +and mammoth seem to have attained their meridian toward the close of +the tertiary epoch, and that a few may have lived even in the current +era; but it is more probable that the commencement of existing +conditions was the proximate cause of their extinction, and that not +a solitary specimen ever lived to be the contemporary of man. + + * * * * * + +[FROM FRASER'S MAGAZINE.] + +ENGLISH HEXAMETERS. + +BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. + + Askest thou if in my youth I have mounted, as others have mounted, + Galloping Hexameter, Pentameter cantering after, + English by dam and by sire; bit, bridle, and saddlery, English; + English the girths and the shoes; all English from snaffle to crupper; + Everything English around, excepting the tune of the jockey? + Latin and Greek, it is true, I have often attach'd to my phaeton + Early in life, and sometimes have I ordered them out in its evening, + Dusting the linings, and pleas'd to have found them unworn and untarnisht. + Idle! but Idleness looks never better than close upon sunset. + Seldom my goosequill, of goose from Germany, fatted in England, + (Frolicksome though I have been) have I tried on Hexameter, knowing + Latin and Greek are alone its languages. We have a measure + Fashion'd by Milton's own hand, a fuller, a deeper, a louder. + Germans may flounder at will over consonant, vowel, and liquid, + Liquid and vowel but one to a dozen of consonants, ending + Each with a verb at the tail, tail heavy as African ram's tail, + Spenser and Shakspeare had each his own harmony; each an enchanter + Wanting no aid from without. _Chevy Chase_ had delighted their fathers, + Though of a different strain from the song on the _Wrath of Achilles_. + Southey was fain to pour forth his exuberant stream over regions + Near and remote: his command was absolute; every subject, + Little or great, he controll'd; in language, variety, fancy, + Richer than all his compeers and wanton but once in dominion; + 'Twas when he left the full well that for ages had run by his homestead, + Pushing the brambles aside which encumber'd another up higher, + Letting his bucket go down, and hearing it bump in descending, + Grating against the loose stones 'til it came but half-full from the bottom. + Others abstain'd from the task. Scott wander'd at large over Scotland; + Reckless of Roman and Greek, he chanted the _Lay of the Minstrel_ + Better than ever before any minstrel in chamber had chanted. + Never on mountain or wild hath echo so cheerfully sounded, + Never did monarch bestow such glorious meeds upon knighthood, + Never had monarch the power, liberality, justice, discretion. + Byron liked new-papered rooms, and pull'd down old wainscot of cedar; + Bright-color'd prints he preferr'd to the graver cartoons of a Raphael, + Sailor and Turk (with a sack,) to Eginate and Parthenon marbles, + Splendid the palace he rais'd--the gin-palace in Poesy's purlieus; + Soft the divan on the sides, with spittoons for the qualmish and queesy. + Wordsworth, well pleas'd with himself, cared little for modern or ancient. + His was the moor and the tarn, the recess in the mountain, the woodland + Scatter'd with trees far and wide, trees never too solemn or lofty, + Never entangled with plants overrunning the villager's foot-path. + Equable was he and plain, but wandering a little in wisdom, + Sometimes flying from blood and sometimes pouring it freely. + Yet he was English at heart. If his words were too many; if Fancy's + Furniture lookt rather scant in a whitewasht homely apartment; + If in his rural designs there is sameness and tameness; if often + Feebleness is there for breadth; if his pencil wants rounding and pointing; + Few of this age or the last stand out on the like elevation. + There is a sheepfold he rais'd which my memory loves to revisit, + Sheepfold whose wall shall endure when there is not a stone of the palace. + Still there are walking on earth many poets whom ages hereafter + Will be more willing to praise than they are to praise one another: + Some do I know, but I fear, as is meet, to recount or report them, + For, be whatever the name that is foremost, the next will run over, + Trampling and rolling in dust his excellent friend the precursor. + Peace be with all! but afar be ambition to follow the Roman, + Led by the German, uncomb'd, and jigging in dactyl and spondee, + Lumbering shapeless jackboots which nothing can polish or supple. + Much as old metres delight me, 'tis only where first they were nurtured, + In their own clime, their own speech: than pamper them here I would rather + Tie up my Pegasus tight to the scanty-fed rack of a sonnet. + + * * * * * + +[FROM HOUSEHOLD WORDS.] + +A MIGHTIER HUNTER THAN NIMROD. + +A great deal has been said about the prowess of Nimrod, in connection +with the chase, from the days of him of Babylon to those of the late +Mr. Apperley of Shropshire; but we question whether, among all the +sporting characters mentioned in ancient or modern story, there ever +was so mighty a hunter as the gentleman whose sporting calendar +now lies before us.[4] The annals of the chase, so far as we are +acquainted with them, supply no such instances of familiar intimacy +with lions, elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, serpents, +crocodiles, and other furious animals, with which the human species +in general is not very forward in cultivating an acquaintance. + +[Footnote 4: A Hunter's Life in South Africa. By R. Gordon Cumming, +Esq., of Altyre.] + +Mr. Cumming had exhausted the deer-forests of his native Scotland; +he had sighed for the rolling prairies and rocky mountains of the Far +West, and was tied down to military routine as a mounted rifleman in +the Cape Colony; when he determined to resign his commission into the +hands of Government, and himself to the delights of hunting amid the +untrodden plains and forests of South Africa. Having provided himself +with wagons to travel and live in, with bullocks to draw them, and +with a host of attendants; a sufficiency of arms, horses, dogs, and +ammunition, he set out from Graham's-Town in October, 1843. From that +period his hunting adventures extended over five years, during which +time he penetrated from various points and in various directions from +his starting-place in lat. 33 down to lat. 20, and passed through +districts upon which no European foot ever before trod; regions where +the wildest of wild animals abound--nothing less serving Mr. Cumming's +ardent purpose. + +A lion story in the early part of his book will introduce this +fearless hunter-author to our readers better than the most elaborate +dissection of his character. He is approaching Colesberg, the +northernmost military station belonging to the Cape Colony. He is on +a trusty steed, which he calls also "Colesberg." Two of his attendants +on horseback are with him. "Suddenly," says the author, "I observed +a number of vultures seated on the plain about a quarter of a mile +ahead of us, and close beside them stood a huge lioness, consuming +a blesblok which she had killed. She was assisted in her repast by +about a dozen jackals, which were feasting along with her in the most +friendly and confidential manner. Directing my followers' attention to +the spot, I remarked, 'I see the lion;' to which they replied, 'Whar? +whar? Yah! Almagtig! dat is he;' and instantly reining in their steeds +and wheeling about, they pressed their heels to their horses' sides, +and were preparing to betake themselves to flight. I asked them what +they were going to do? To which they answered, 'We have not yet placed +caps on our rifles.' This was true; but while this short conversation +was passing, the lioness had observed us. Raising her full round +face, she overhauled us for a few seconds, and then set off at a smart +canter toward a range of mountains some miles to the northward; the +whole troop of jackals also started off in another direction; there +was therefore no time to think of caps. The first move was to bring +her to bay, and not a second was to be lost. Spurring my good and +lively steed, and shouting to my men to follow, I flew across the +plain, and, being fortunately mounted on Colesberg, the flower of +my stud, I gained upon her at every stride. This was to me a joyful +moment, and I at once made up my mind that she or I must die. The +lioness soon after suddenly pulled up, and sat on her haunches like +a dog, with her back toward me, not even deigning to look round. She +then appeared to say to herself, 'Does this fellow know who he is +after?' Having thus sat for half a minute, as if involved in thought, +she sprang to her feet, and facing about, stood looking at me for a +few seconds, moving her tail slowly from side to side, showing her +teeth and growling fiercely. She next made a short run forward, making +a loud, rumbling noise like thunder. This she did to intimidate +me; but finding that I did not flinch an inch, nor seem to heed her +hostile demonstrations, she quietly stretched out her massive arms, +and lay down on the grass. My Hottentots now coming up, we all three +dismounted, and drawing our rifles from their holsters, we looked to +see if the powder was up in the nipples, and put on our caps. While +this was doing, the lioness sat up, and showed evident symptoms of +uneasiness. She looked first at us, and then behind her, as if to see +if the coast were clear; after which she made a short run toward us, +uttering her deep-drawn murderous growls. Having secured the three +horses to one another by their rheims, we led them on as if we +intended to pass her, in the hope of obtaining a broadside; but this +she carefully avoided to expose, presenting only her full front. I had +given Stofolus my Moore rifle, with orders to shoot her if she should +spring upon me, but on no account to fire before me. Kleinboy was to +stand ready to hand me my Purdey rifle, in case the two-grooved Dixon +should not prove sufficient. My men as yet had been steady, but +they were in a precious stew, their faces having assumed a ghastly +paleness; and I had a painful feeling that I could place no reliance +on them. Now, then, for it, neck or nothing! She is within sixty yards +of us, and she keeps advancing. We turned the horses' tails to her. +I knelt on one side, and taking a steady aim at her breast, let fly. +The ball cracked loudly on her tawny hide, and crippled her in the +shoulder; upon which she charged with an appalling roar, and in +the twinkling of an eye she was in the midst of us. At this moment +Stofolus'a rifle exploded in his hand, and Kleinboy, whom I had +ordered to stand ready by me, danced about like a duck in a gale of +wind. The lioness sprang upon Colesberg, and fearfully lacerated his +ribs and haunches with her horrid teeth and claws. The worst wound was +on his haunch, which exhibited a sickening, yawning gash, more than +twelve inches long, almost laying bare the very bone. I was very +cool and steady, and did not feel in the least degree nervous, having +fortunately great confidence in my own shooting; but I must confess, +when the whole affair was over, I felt that it was a very awful +situation, and attended with extreme peril, as I had no friend with +me on whom I could rely. When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I +stood out from the horses, ready with my second barrel for the first +chance she should give me of a clear shot. This she quickly did; for, +seemingly satisfied with the revenge she had now taken, she quitted +Colesberg, and slewing her tail to one side, trotted sulkily past +within a few paces of me, taking one step to the left. I pitched my +rifle to my shoulder, and in another second the lioness was stretched +on the plain a lifeless corpse." + +This is, however, but a harmless adventure compared with a subsequent +escapade--not with one, but with six lions. It was the hunter's habit +to lay wait near the drinking-places of these animals, concealed in a +hole dug for the purpose. In such a place on the occasion in question, +Mr. Cumming--having left one of three rhinoceroses he had previously +killed as a bait--ensconsed himself. Such a savage festival as that +which introduced the adventure, has never before, we believe, been +introduced through the medium of the softest English and the finest +hot-pressed paper to the notice of the civilized public. "Soon after +twilight," the author relates, "I went down to my hole with Kleinboy +and two natives, who lay concealed in another hole, with Wolf and +Boxer ready to slip, in the event of wounding a lion. On reaching +the water I looked toward the carcase of the rhinoceros, and, to +my astonishment, I beheld the ground alive with large creatures, +as though a troop of zebras were approaching the fountain to drink. +Kleinboy remarked to me that a troop of zebras were standing on the +height. I answered, 'Yes,' but I knew very well that zebras would not +be capering around the carcase of a rhinoceros. I quickly arranged my +blankets, pillow, and guns in the hole, and then lay down to feast my +eyes on the interesting sight before me. It was bright moonlight, as +clear as I need wish, and within one night of being full moon. There +were six large lions, about twelve or fifteen hyenas, and from twenty +to thirty jackals, feasting on and around the carcases of the three +rhinoceroses. The lions feasted peacefully, but the hyenas and jackals +fought over every mouthful, and chased one another round and round +the carcases, growling, laughing, screeching, chattering, and howling +without any intermission. The hyenas did not seem afraid of the lions, +although they always gave way before them; for I observed that they +followed them in the most disrespectful manner, and stood laughing, +one or two on either side, when any lions came after their comrades to +examine pieces of skin or bones which they were dragging away. I had +lain watching this banquet for about three hours, in the strong hope +that, when the lions had feasted, they would come and drink. Two black +and two white rhinoceroses had made their appearance, but, scared by +the smell of the blood, they had made off. At length the lions seemed +satisfied. They all walked about with their heads up, and seemed to +be thinking about the water; and in two minutes one of them turned his +face toward me, and came on; he was immediately followed by a second +lion, and in half a minute by the remaining four. It was a decided +and general move, they were all coming to drink right bang in my face, +within fifteen yards of me." + +The hunters were presently discovered. "An old lioness, who seemed to +take the lead, had detected me, and, with her head high and her eyes +fixed full upon me she was coming slowly round the corner of the +little vley to cultivate further my acquaintance! This unfortunate +coincidence put a stop at once to all further contemplation. I +thought; in my haste, that it was perhaps most prudent to shoot +this lioness, especially as none of the others had noticed me. I +accordingly moved my arm and covered her; she saw me move and halted, +exposing a full broadside. I fired; the ball entered one shoulder, and +passed out behind the other. She bounded forward with repeated growls, +and was followed by her five comrades all enveloped in a cloud of +dust; nor did they atop until they had reached the cover behind +me, except one old gentleman, who halted and looked back for a few +seconds, when I fired, but the ball went high. I listened anxiously +for some sound to denote the approaching end of the lioness; nor +listened in vain. I heard her growling and stationary, as if dying. In +one minute her comrades crossed the vley a little below me, and made +toward the rhinoceros. I then slipped Wolf and Boxer on her scent, +and, following them into the cover, I found her lying dead." + +Mr. Cumming's adventures with elephants are no less thrilling. He had +selected for the aim of his murderous rifle two huge female elephants +from a herd. "Two of the troop had walked slowly past at about sixty +yards, and the one which I had selected was feeding with two others +on a thorny tree before me. My hand was now as steady as the rock on +which it rested, so, taking a deliberate aim, I let fly at her head, a +little behind the eye. She got it hard and sharp, just where I aimed, +but it did not seem to affect her much. Uttering a loud cry, she +wheeled about, when I gave her the second ball, close behind the +shoulder. All the elephants uttered a strange rumbling noise, and made +off in a line to the northward at a brisk ambling pace, their huge +fanlike ears flapping in the ratio of their speed. I did not wait to +load, but ran back to the hillock to obtain a view. On gaining its +summit, the guides pointed out the elephants; they were standing in +a grove of shady trees, but the wounded one was some distance behind +with another elephant, doubtless its particular friend, who was +endeavoring to assist it. These elephants had probably never before +heard the report of a gun; and having neither seen nor smelt me, they +were unaware of the presence of man, and did not seem inclined to go +any further. Presently my men hove in sight, bringing the dogs; and +when these came up, I waited some time before commencing the attack, +that the dogs and horses might recover their wind. We then rode slowly +toward the elephants, and had advanced within two hundred yards of +them, when, the ground being open, they observed us, and made off +in an easterly direction; but the wounded one immediately dropped +astern, and next moment she was surrounded by the dogs, which, barking +angrily, seemed to engross her attention. Having placed myself between +her and the retreating troop, I dismounted to fire, within forty +yards of her, in open ground. Colesberg was extremely afraid of the +elephants, and gave me much trouble, jerking my arm when I tried to +fire. At length I let fly; but, on endeavoring to regain my saddle. +Colesberg declined to allow me to mount; and when I tried to lead him, +and run for it, he only backed toward the wounded elephant. At this +moment I heard another elephant close behind: and on looking about I +beheld the 'friend,' with uplifted trunk, charging down upon me at top +speed, shrilly trumpeting, and following an old black pointer named +Schwart, that was perfectly deaf, and trotted along before the enraged +elephant quite unaware of what was behind him. I felt certain that +she would have either me or my horse. I, however, determined not to +relinquish my steed, but to hold on by the bridle. My men, who of +course kept at a safe distance, stood aghast with their mouths open, +and for a few seconds my position was certainly not an enviable +one. Fortunately, however, the dogs took off the attention of the +elephants; and, just us they were upon me I managed to spring into the +saddle, where I was safe. As I turned my back to mount, the elephants +were so very near, that I really expected to feel one of their +trunks lay hold of me. I rode up to Kleinboy for my double-barrelled +two-grooved rifle; he and Isaac were pale and almost speechless with +fright. Returning to the charge, I was soon once more alongside, +and, firing from the saddle, I sent another brace of bullets into the +wounded elephant. Colesberg was extremely unsteady, and destroyed the +correctness of my aim. The 'friend' now seemed resolved to do some +mischief, and charged me furiously, pursuing me to a distance of +several hundred yards. I therefore deemed it proper to give her +a gentle hint to act less officiously, and so, having loaded, I +approached within thirty yards, and gave it her sharp, right and left, +behind the shoulder; upon which she at once made off with drooping +trunk, evidently with a mortal wound. Two more shots finished her; on +receiving them she tossed her trunk up and down two or three times, +and falling on her broadside against a thorny tree, which yielded like +grass before her enormous weight, she uttered a deep hoarse cry and +expired." + +Mr. Cumming's exploits in the water are no less exciting than his land +adventures. Here is an account of his victory over a hippopotamus, on +the banks of the Limpopo river, near the northernmost extremity of his +journeyings. + +"There were four of them, three cows and an old bull; they stood in +the middle of the river, and though alarmed, did not appear aware of +the extent of the impending danger. I took the sea-cow next me, and +with my first ball I gave her a mortal wound, knocking loose a great +plate on the top of her skull. She at once commenced plunging round +and round, and then occasionally remained still, sitting for a few +minutes on the same spot. On hearing the report of my rifle two of +the others took up stream, and the fourth dashed down the river; they +trotted along, like oxen, at a smart pace as long as the water was +shallow. I was now in a state of very great anxiety about my wounded +sea-cow, for I feared that she would get down into deep water, and +be lost like the last one; her struggles were still carrying her +down stream, and the water was becoming deeper. To settle the matter +I accordingly fired a second shot from the bank, which, entering +the roof of her skull, passed out through her eye; she then, kept +continually splashing round and round in a circle in the middle of the +river. I had great fears of the crocodiles, and I did not know that +the sea-cow might not attack me. My anxiety to secure her, however, +overcame all hesitation; so, divesting myself of my leathers, and +armed with a sharp knife. I dashed into the water, which at first took +me up to my arm-pits, but in the middle was shallower. As I approached +Behemoth her eye looked very wicked. I halted for a moment, ready to +dive under the water if she attacked me, but she was stunned, and did +not know what she was doing; so, running in upon her, and seizing +her short tail, I attempted to incline her course to land. It was +extraordinary what enormous strength she still had in the water. I +could not guide her in the slightest, and she continued to splash, and +plunge, and blow, and make her circular course, carrying me along with +her as if I was a fly on her tail. Finding her tail gave me but a poor +hold, as the only means of securing my prey, I took out my knife, and +cutting two deep parallel incisions through the skin on her rump, and +lifting this skin from the flesh, so that I could get in my two hands, +I made use of this as a handle; and after some desperate hard work, +sometimes pushing and sometimes pulling, the sea-cow continuing her +circular course all the time and I holding on at her rump like grim +Death, eventually I succeeded in bringing this gigantic and most +powerful animal to the bank. Here the Bushman, quickly brought me a +stout buffalo-rheim from my horse's neck, which I passed through the +opening in the thick skin, and moored Behemoth to a tree. I then took +my rifle, and sent a ball through the center of her head, and she was +numbered with the dead." There is nothing in "Waterton's Wanderings," +or in the "Adventures of Baron Munchausen" more startling than this +"Waltz with a Hippopotamus!" + +In the all-wise disposition of events, it is perhaps ordained that +wild animals should be subdued by man to his use at the expense +of such tortures as those described in the work before us. Mere +amusement, therefore, is too light a motive for dealing such wounds +and death Mr. Cumming owns to; but he had other motives,--besides a +considerable profit he has reaped in trophies, ivory, fur, &c., he has +made in his book some valuable contributions to the natural history of +the animals he wounded and slew. + + * * * * * + +FROM GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE FOR AUGUST + +MANUELA. + +A BALLAD OF CALIFORNIA. + +BY BAYARD TAYLOR. + + From the doorway, Manuela, in the sheeny April morn, + Southward looks, along the valley, over leagues of gleaming corn; + Where the mountain's misty rampart like the wall of Eden towers, + And the isles of oak are sleeping on a painted sea of flowers. + All the air is full of music, for the winter rains are o'er, + And the noisy magpies chatter from the budding sycamore; + Blithely frisk unnumbered squirrels, over all the grassy slope; + Where the airy summits brighten, nimbly leaps the antelope. + Gentle eyes of Manuela! tell me wherefore do ye rest + On the oaks' enchanted islands and the flowery ocean's breast? + Tell me wherefore down the valley, ye have traced the highway's mark + Far beyond the belts of timber, to the mountain-shadows dark? + Ah, the fragrant bay may blossom, and the sprouting verdure shine + With the tears of amber dropping from the tassels of the pine. + And the morning's breath of balsam lightly brush her sunny cheek-- + Little recketh Manuela of the tales of Spring they speak. + When the Summer's burning solstice on the mountain-harvests glowed, + She had watched a gallant horseman riding down the valley road; + Many times she saw him turning, looking back with parting thrills, + Till amid her tears she lost him, in the shadow of the hills. + Ere the cloudless moons were over, he had passed the Desert's sand. + Crossed the rushing Colorada and the dark Apache Land, + And his laden mules were driven, when the time of rains began. + With the traders of Chihuaha, to the Fair of San Juan. + Therefore watches Manuela--therefore lightly doth she start, + When the sound of distant footsteps seems the beating of her heart; + Not a wind the green oak rustles or the redwood branches stirs, + But she hears the silver jingle of his ringing bit and spurs. + Often, out the hazy distance, come the horsemen, day by day, + But they come not as Bernardo--she can see it, far away; + Well she knows the airy gallop of his mettled _alazan_,[5] + Light as any antelope upon the Hills of Gavilan. + She would know him mid a thousand, by his free and gallant air; + By the featly-knit sarape,[6] such as wealthy traders wear; + By his broidered calzoneros[7] and his saddle, gaily spread, + With its cantle rimmed with silver, and its horn a lion's head. + None like he the light riata[8] on the maddened bull can throw; + None amid the mountain-canons, track like he the stealthy doe; + And at all the Mission festals, few indeed the revelers are + Who can dance with him the jota, touch with him the gay guitar. + He has said to Manuela, and the echoes linger still + In the cloisters of her bosom, with a secret, tender thrill, + When the hay again has blossomed, and the valley stands in corn, + Shall the bells of Santa Clara usher in the wedding morn. + He has pictured the procession, all in holyday attire, + And the laugh and look of gladness, when they see the distant spire; + Then their love shall kindle newly, and the world be doubly fair, + In the cool delicious crystal of the summer morning air. + Tender eyes of Manuela! what has dimmed your lustrous beam? + 'Tis a tear that falls to glitter on the casket of her dream. + Ah, the eye of love must brighten, if its watches would be true, + For the star is falsely mirrored in the rose's drop of dew! + But her eager eyes rekindle, and her breathless bosom stills, + As she sees a horseman moving in the shadow of the hills; + Now in love and fond thanksgiving they may loose their pearly tides-- + 'Tis the alazan that gallops, 'tis Bernardo's self that rides! + +[Footnote 5: In California horses are named according to their color. +An _alazan_ is a sorrel--a color generally preferred, as denoting +speed and mettle.] + +[Footnote 6: The sarape is a knit blanket of many gay colors, worn +over the shoulders by an opening in the center, through which the head +is thrust.] + +[Footnote 7: Calzoneros are trowsers, generally made of blue cloth +or velvet, richly embroidered, and worn over an under pair of white +linen. They are slashed up the outside of each leg, for greater +convenience in riding, and studded with rows of silver buttons.] + +[Footnote 8: The lariat, or riata, as it is indifferently called in +California and Mexico, is precisely the same as the lasso of South +America.] + + * * * * * + +FROM FRASER'S MAGAZINE FOR JULY. + +LEDRU ROLLIN. + +Ledru Rollin is now in his forty-fourth or forty-fifth year, +having been born in 1806 or 1807. He is the grandson of the famous +_Prestidigateur_, or Conjurer Comus, who, about four or five-and-forty +years ago, was in the acme of his fame. During the Consulate, and a +considerable portion of the Empire, Comus traveled from one department +of France to the other, and is even known to have extended his +journeys beyond the Rhine and the Moselle on one side, and beyond the +Rhone and Garonne on the other. Of all the conjurers of his day he was +the most famous and the most successful, always, of course, excepting +that Corsican conjurer who ruled for so many years the destinies +of France. From those who have seen that famous trickster, we +have learned that the Charleses, the Alexanders, even the Robert +Houdins, were children compared with the magical wonder-worker of +the past generation. The fame of Comus was enormous, and his gains +proportionate; and when he had shuffled off this mortal coil it +was found he had left to his descendants a very ample--indeed, for +France, a very large fortune. Of the descendants in a right line, his +grandson, Ledru Rollin, was his favorite, and to him the old man left +the bulk of his fortune, which, during the minority of Ledru Rollin, +grew to a sum amounting to nearly, if not fully, L4,000 per annum. + +The scholastic education of the young man who was to inherit this +considerable fortune, was nearly completed during the reign of +Louis XVIII., and shortly after Charles X. ascended the throne _il +commencait a faire sur droit_, as they phrase it in the _pays Latin_. +Neither during the reign of Louis XVIII., nor indeed now, unless in +the exact and physical sciences, does Paris afford a very solid and +substantial education. Though the Roman poets and historians are +tolerably well studied and taught, yet little attention is paid to +Greek literature. The physical and exact sciences are unquestionably +admirably taught at the Polytechnique and other schools; but neither +at the College of St. Barbe, nor of Henry IV., can a pupil be so well +grounded in the rudiments and humanities as in our grammar and public +schools. A studious, pains-taking, and docile youth, will, no doubt, +learn a great deal, no matter where he has been placed in pupilage; +but we have heard from a contemporary of M. Rollin, that he was not +particularly distinguished either for his industry or his docility in +early life. The earliest days of the reign of Charles X. saw M. Ledru +Rollin an _etudiant en droit_ in Paris. Though the schools of law +had been re-established during the Consulate pretty much after the +fashion in which they existed in the time of Louis the XIV., yet the +application of the _alumni_ was fitful and desultory, and perhaps +there were no two classes in France, at the commencement of 1825. who +were more imbued with the Voltarian philosophy and the doctrines and +principles of Rousseau, than the _eleves_ of the schools of law and +medicine. + +Under a king so sceptical and voluptuous, so much of a _philosophie_ +and _phyrroneste_, as Louis XVIII., such tendencies were likely to +spread themselves through all ranks of society--to permeate from +the very highest to the very lowest classes: and not all the lately +acquired asceticism of the monarch, his successor, nor all the +efforts of the Jesuits could restrain or control the tendencies of +the _etudiants en droit_. What the law-students were antecedently and +subsequent to 1825, we know from the _Physiologie de l'Homme de Loi_; +and it is not to be supposed that M. Ledru Rollin, with more ample +pecuniary means at command, very much differed from his fellows. +After undergoing a three years' course of study, M. Rollin obtained +a diploma as a _licencie en droit_, and commenced his career as +_stagiare_ somewhere about the end of 1826 or the beginning of 1827. +Toward the close of 1829, or in the first months of 1830, he was, we +believe, placed on the roll of advocates; so that he was called to +the bar, or, as they say in France, received an advocate, in his +twenty-second or twenty-third year. + +The first years of an advocate, even in France, are generally passed +in as enforced an idleness as in England. Clients come not to consult +the greenhorn of the last term; nor does any _avoue_ among our +neighbors, any more than any attorney among ourselves, fancy that an +old head is to be found on young shoulders. The years 1830 and 1831 +were not marked by any oratorical effort of the author of the _Decline +of England_; nor was it till 1832 that, being then one of the youngest +of the bar of Paris, he prepared and signed an opinion against the +placing of Paris in a state of siege consequent on the insurrections +of June. Two years after he prepared a memoir; or _factum_, on +the affair of the Rue Transonain, and defended Dupoty, accused +of _complicite morale_, a monstrous doctrine invented by the +Attorney-General Hebert. From 1834 to 1841 he appeared as counsel in +nearly all the cases of _emeute_ or conspiracy where the individuals +prosecuted were Republicans, or _quasi_-Republicans. Meanwhile, he +had become the proprietor and _redacteur en chef_ of the _Reforme_ +newspaper, a political journal of an ultra-Liberal--indeed of a +Republican--complexion, which was then called of extreme opinions, as +he had previously been editor of a legal newspaper called _Journal +du Palais_. _La Reforme_ had been originally conducted by Godefroy +Cavaignac, the brother of the general, who continued editor till the +period of the fatal illness which preceded his death. The defense +of Dupoty, tried and sentenced under the ministry of Thiers to five +years' imprisonment, as a regicide, because a letter was found open +in the letter-box of the paper of which he was editor, addressed to +him by a man said to be implicated in the conspiracy of Quenisset, +naturally brought M. Rollin into contact with many of the writers in +_La Reforme_; and these persons, among others Guinard Arago, Etienne +Arago, and Flocon, induced him to embark some portion of his fortune +in the paper. From one step he was led on to another, and ultimately +became one of the chief--indeed, if not the chief proprietor. The +speculation was far from successful in a pecuniary sense, but M. +Rollin, in furtherance of his opinions, continued for some years to +disburse considerable sums in the support of the journal. By this he +no doubt increased his popularity and his credit with the Republican +party, but it cannot be denied that he very materially injured his +private fortune. In the earlier portion of his career, M. Rollin was, +it is known, not indisposed to seek a seat in the Chamber, under the +auspices of M. Barrot, but subsequently to his connection with the +_Reforme_, he had himself become thoroughly known to the extreme party +in the departments, and on the death of Gamier Pages the elder, was +elected in 1841 for Le Mans, in La Sarthe. + +In addressing the electors, after his return, M. Rollin delivered +a speech much more Republican than Monarchical. For this he was +sentenced to four months' imprisonment, but the sentence was appealed +against and annulled on a technical ground, and the honorable member +was ultimately acquitted by the Cour d'Assizes of Angers. + +The parliamentary _debut_ of M. Rollin took place in 1842. His first +speech was delivered on the subject of the secret-service money. +The elocution was easy and flowing, the manner oratorical, the style +somewhat turgid and bombastic. But in the course of the session M. +Rollin improved, and his discourse on the modification of the criminal +law, on other legal subjects, and on railways, were more sober +specimens of style. In 1843 and 1844 M. Rollin frequently spoke; but +though his speeches were a good deal talked of outside the walls of +the Chamber, they produced little effect within it. Nevertheless, +it was plain to every candid observer that he possessed many of the +requisites of the orator--a good voice, a copious flow of words, +considerable energy and enthusiasm, a sanguine temperament and jovial +and generous disposition. In the sessions of 1845-46, M. Rollin took +a still more prominent part. His purse, his house in the Rue Tournon, +his counsels and advice, were all placed at the service of the +men of the movement; and by the beginning of 1847 he seemed to be +acknowledged by the extreme party as its most conspicuous and popular +member. Such indeed was his position when the electoral reform +banquets, on a large scale, began to take place in the autumn of 1847. +These banquets, promoted and forwarded by the principal members of the +opposition to serve the cause of electoral reform, were looked on +by M. Rollin and his friends in another light. While Odillon Barrot, +Duvergier d'Haurunne, and others, sought by means of them to produce +an enlarged constituency, the member for Sarthe looked not merely to +functional, but to organic reform--not merely to an enlargement of +the constituency, but to a change in the form of the government. The +desire of Barrot was _a la verite a la sincerite des institutions +conquises en Juillet_ 1830; whereas the desire of Rollin was, _a +l'amelioration des classes laborieuses_; the one was willing to go +on with the dynasty of Louis Philippe and the Constitution of July +improved by diffusion and extension of the franchise, the other +looked to a democratic and social republic. The result is now known. +It is not here our purpose to go over the events of the Revolution +of February 1848, but we may be permitted to observe, that the +combinations by which that event was effected were ramified and +extensive, and were long silently and secretly in motion. + +The personal history of M. Rollin, since February 1848, is well-known +and patent to all the world. He was the _ame damnee_ of the +Provisional Government--the man whose extreme opinions, intemperate +circulars, and vehement patronage of persons professing the political +creed of Robespierre--indisposed all moderate men to rally around the +new system. It was in covering Ledru Rollin with the shield of his +popularity that Lamartine lost his own, and that he ceased to be the +political idol of a people of whom he must ever be regarded as one +of the literary glories and illustrations. On the dissolution of +the Provisional Government, Ledru Rollin constituted himself one of +the leaders of the movement party. In ready powers of speech and in +popularity no man stood higher; but he did not possess the power of +restraining his followers or of holding them in hand, and the result +was, that instead of being their leader he became their instrument. +Fond of applause, ambitious of distinction, timid by nature, destitute +of pluck, and of that rarer virtue moral courage, Ledru Rollin, +to avoid the imputation of faint-heartedness, put himself in the +foreground, but the measures of his followers being ill-taken, the +plot in which he was mixed up egregiously failed, and he is now in +consequence an exile in England. + + * * * * * + +GENERAL GARIBALDI. + +MR. FILIPANTE gives the following notice of this Italian revolutionary +leader in a communication to the _Evening Post_. "His exertions in +behalf of the liberal movement in Italy have been indefatigable. As +active as he was courageous, he was among the first to take up arms +against Austrian tyranny, and the last to lay them down. Even when the +triumvirate at Rome had been overthrown, and the most ardent spirits +despaired of the republic, Garibaldi and his noble band of soldiers +refused to yield; they maintained a vigorous resistance to the last, +and only quitted the ground when the cause was so far gone that their +own success would have been of no general advantage. + +"The General is about forty years of age. He was in early life an +officer in the Sardinian service, but, engaging in an unsuccessful +revolt against the government of Charles Albert, he was compelled to +leave his native land. He fled to Montevideo, where he fought with +distinction in the wars against Rosas. At the breaking out of the late +revolution he returned. His military capacities being well known, he +was entrusted with a command; and throughout the war his services were +most efficient. He defeated the allied troops of Austria, France, +and Naples, in several battles; his name, in fact, became a terror, +and when the republic fell, and he was compelled to retire to the +Appenines, the invaders felt that his return would be more formidable +than any other event. + +"From Italy he went to Morocco, where he has since lived. But his +friends, desiring that his great energies should be actively employed, +have offered him the command of a merchant ship, which he has +accepted. He will, therefore, hereafter be engaged in the peaceful +pursuits of commerce, unless his country should again require his +exertions." + + * * * * * + +CRIME, IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. + +In recent discussions of the effects of education upon morals, the +relative conditions of Great Britain and France in this respect +have often been referred to. The following paragraph shows that the +statistics in the case have not been well understood: + +"In a recent sitting of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, +M. Leon Faucher, the representative, read a paper on the state of +crime in England; and some of the journals have taken advantage +of this to institute a comparison with returns of the criminality +of France, recently published by the Government--the result being +anything but flattering to England. But M. Faucher, the Academy, the +newspapers, and almost everybody else in France, seems to be entirely +ignorant that it is impossible to institute a comparison between the +amount of crime in England and the amount of crime in France, inasmuch +as crimes are not the same in both countries. Thus, for example, it +is a felony in England to steal a pair of shoes, the offender is sent +before the Court of Assize, and his offense counts in the official +returns as a "crime;" in France, on the contrary, a petty theft is +considered a _delit_, or simple offense, is punished by a police +magistrate, and figures in the returns as an "offense." With +respect to murders, too, the English have only two general names for +killing--murder or manslaughter--but the French have nearly a dozen +categories of killing, of which what the English call murder forms +only one. 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